#also there is a kind of jump from 'tell me about love' to col 3

[hangovercurse]

Nothing

Part i of the Without You series: When Colson and Megan break up, the boys count on Y/N to piece Colson back together, which only leads to disaster.

Colson x Reader

Warnings: Colson being kind of a dick, cursing, a little bit of aggression/ violence. This one’s definitely angsty.

A/N: This was supposed to be just a one part fic. Then that turned into 2 parts. And then 3. And then all of a sudden I had written 5 parts and over 10,000 words. Enjoy 😊 (also this is v unedited so if you see a mistake... mind ya business)

Word Count: 2084

| ii | iii | iv | v | vi |

masterlist

When you got the text from Rook, you knew it was probably gonna be bad. 

Megan just left him, for good. Not gonna be pretty the next few days so maybe don’t come by anytime soon. 

Your heart broke for your best friend. Colson had been really in love with Megan. And as much as you hated seeing them together for your own personal reasons, you could tell he was really happy. 

Ok. Let me know if you guys need me. If it gets bad I can take Casie for a few days. Take care of him for me pls. 

You and Colson had been friends for years now. You knew almost everything about each other, you told him everything. He let you crash at his place after your ex kicked you out, and you had spent many hours curled up with him, watching stupid movies to distract him from his most recent breakup or mental breakdown. 

But this was different. Colson told you he wanted to marry her at some point, and you knew he wasn’t lying. And you couldn’t blame him. As much as you hated no longer being the only women (other than Casie) in his life, you couldn’t dislike Megan. She was just one of those people who everyone loved. 

The thought of texting Colson crossed your mind, but you weren’t sure if it would hurt or help. From the sound of it, he was a wreck.

So, naturally, you texted Pete. 

Have you talked to Cols yet?

With Colson came Pete, or came you, you weren’t really sure. Somewhere along the way you and Pete had become close friends. He was like the older brother you’d never asked for, and he would probably say something similar about you. 

You couldn’t really explain it, Pete could read you like a book. And because of that, he knew everything. He was the only one to catch on to the way you sometimes looked at Colson for too long, or got irritated when he’d bring a new girl around. 

I’m heading over there right now. You should talk to him.

You rolled your eyes.

Not sure that’s the best idea. You guys are better at handling... all that. Once he gets a little less angry then I’ll take him. 

Pete texted you back a few minutes later.

Thanks for the support, kid. I’ll keep you updated. Just pulled in.

Good luck, Petey.

You tossed your phone on your bed, a sigh leaving your lips. You decided worrying was a problem for another day.

No more than 12 hours later you were getting a phone call from Rook. 

“Dude it’s like 4 in the morning, why are you calling me.” 

“Y/N, we’ve tried everything. He’s locked up in his room and every time one of us tries to talk to him he blows up. Literally he almost punched Slim a few hours ago.”

You pinched the bridge of your nose, groaning at the predicament. “So now you want me to come over?” You asked, “What do you think I’m gonna be able to do?”

“Well he’s not gonna try and hit you for one. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but he’s significantly nicer to you than to anyone else.”

“What do I even say to him? “Sorry that the love of your life broke up with you but at least we can smoke pot and watch Spongebob?” I mean come on, man. I’m not good at this.”

“Please.” He pleaded, “We’re all out of options and I can’t stand to see him get any worse than he is.”

You moved off your bed and towards your dresser. “Fine, I’ll be there in 15.” 

You threw on the first pair of sweatpants you could find and slipped on shoes, grabbing your key and heading out the door.

True to your word, you pulled up to the house 15 minutes later, parking on the side of the street and heading straight into the house. When the guys saw you, they visibly brightened up. 

“You guys are such fucking wimps.” You rolled your eyes as you made your way towards the stairs. 

Baze chuckled, “We love you Y/N.”

You rolled your eyes and continued on your way, stopping by Casie’s room to see if she was asleep. To your surprise, she wasn’t. 

“Hey sweet girl,” you whispered as you entered her room, “why are you still up?”

She smiled a little when she saw you. “Couldn’t sleep. I’m really worried about Dad.” 

You leaned on her doorframe, sending her a sad smile. “I am too. But he’ll be okay. Your dad’s pretty tough.”

“I know,” she sighed, “but he really liked Megan.”

“Did you?” You ask, trying to gauge her emotions. 

“I mean, I guess so. She was nice to me. Most of his girlfriends aren’t that nice to me.” 

“That’s a pretty shitty way to measure if you like someone or not.” She giggles at that. “Don’t tell your dad I said that word in front of you.”

“Ok. She was nice. And she made him happy so, yeah, I guess I liked her. Not as much as I like you but...” Casie’s voice got higher as she dragged out the last word and you just rolled your eyes with a chuckle. 

Casie had this fantasy of you and Colson getting married one day, but you always told her it would never happen. 

“Ok kiddo, whatever you say.” You teased her, “try and get some sleep, okay?” 

She nodded with a smile. “Are you gonna go talk to Dad?”

“Yeah. I’ll talk to you later, okay? If you need to come over and talk or stay the night or anything just call me, okay?”

“Okay. Love you.” She said quietly. 

“Love you too, Case.”

You shut the door to her room, moving down the hallway to Colson’s door. You took a deep breath, trying to mentally prepare for what was about to happen, and knocked. 

“I told you guys to go the fuck away.” A muffled yet angry voice said from the opposite side of the door.

“It’s me, Cols. Y/N.” You said, hoping he could hear you. 

When you got no response you asked, “Can I come in?” 

A few more seconds of silence followed, and then the lock clicked and the door opened. You stood face-to-face with your best friend. His hair was a mess, falling in his face. The bags under his eyes were darker than ever, and the frown he wore made him look even more pathetic. You felt your heart breaking. 

As you met his eyes, you gave him a sad smile. “Hey Cols.” 

Instead of responding, he wrapped his arms around you, leaning down and resting his head on your shoulder. You reached up and ran your fingers through his hair. 

He started walking backwards, pulling you with him as he continued to hug you. One of his hands pushed the door shut and he sat on his bed, finally letting go of you. 

You looked down at him, grabbing his hand and holding it in your own. It was something you had done before, you two were very touchy people and so half of your friendship was just you two cuddling or play fighting or holding hands.

“So we can do one of three things,” you started, “We can talk about it, we can cuddle and watch something stupid and pretend nothing’s wrong, or we can get high and do something stupid.”

For the first time in what you would imagine to be all night, Colson smiled. it was a very small smile, but you took it. 

He looked up at you through his eyelashes. “And by stupid you mean...”

You rolled your eyes, “I mean we can go set off bottle rockets in the backyard or try to jump off your roof and into the pool.” 

“Oh damn. I was hoping you were gonna say you would suck my dick.” 

Your eyes widened at his bluntness and the implication. You shoved his shoulder, “Colson! That’s gross!” You giggled, but his expression was unwaveringly serious. 

“I’m being serious.” He deadpanned and you furrowed your eyebrows. 

“Colson what the fuck?” Your mind was spinning trying to figure out if he was joking. 

You got your answer when he stood up, grabbing your waist and leaning over you. “I thought you’d want to...” 

You took in a breath at the sudden proximity, trying to back away from him but his grip remaining firmly on your waist. “Colson, stop. Please. This isn’t funny.” 

You could smell the alcohol on his breath and you had to keep reminding yourself of that fact. He’s drunk, and sad, and doesn’t know what he’s saying. 

“I thought you’d want to, cause it’ll make me happy. And you’ll do anything to make me happy.” One of his hands reached up and grabbed your jaw, making sure you couldn’t look away.

“Colson you’re being a fucking weirdo, let me go.” You raised your voice. Your heart was racing at this point and the thoughts flowing around your head were not pretty. 

You were always anxious for the day he’d figure you out. When he’d finally realize how you felt for him. But this was worse than anything you’d thought of. 

“You’ll do anything to make me happy because you love me, right?” 

You felt tears stinging in your eyes, wanting nothing more but to look away from his sinister expression. The way he was looking at you made it very clear that he was enjoying your discomfort, your embarrassment. 

“Colso-” 

He walked forwards, pushing you gently against the wall. His arms went to either side of you, his face inches from yours. You tried to look away, but his hand on your jaw forced you to face him.

Any other time you would have loved for Colson to pin you against his wall, but this was wrong. 

“Just say it. Say you’re in love with me, and I’ll drop it.” 

“Colson, what the fuck are you on right now?” You tried to steer the topic away from you, but he wouldn’t have it. 

“Say it.” 

You reached up to try and push his chest away from you, but he was much taller and stronger than you, so you did nothing. 

“Just tell me!” He yelled at your silence. A tear slipped down your cheek as you trembled under him. His face was red and his eyes were watering. 

 “Why are you doing this?” You whispered. This all felt like a bad dream, like a nightmare you couldn’t wake up from. 

“Because I need to know if she was right.” His voice got a little quieter, but he still wouldn’t move away from you. “I need to know if the reason the love of my fucking life just left me is true.”

You were shaking, your breaths getting shorter. “What are you talking about.” Your words were choked. The grip on your jaw started to get a little too tight.

“I defended you!” He yelled, tears falling from his face. “She told me that you were in love with me and I defended you.”

“Colson you’re hurting me.” You whined, trying to wriggle your way out of his grasp. He ignored your statement and continued talking, but his grip loosened slightly.

“And then she told me that she thinks I’m in love with you.” His voice was getting darker. “And that’s why she left. So I want to make it very clear to you.” He paused, leaning closer to your ear. “I will never love you. Ever. Not now, not in a million lifetimes. You mean nothing to me.”

Your vision was blurry from your tears, so you blindly reached out to push him away from you. His body seemed to have given up, as he moved backwards out of your way, stumbling slightly. Through your tears you could make out a smug smile on the man before you ran out of the room, slamming the door behind you.

You ran down the stairs, the guys waiting for you to give them good news, but their hope turned to concern once they saw you. You walked straight past them towards the door, not trusting yourself to say anything without breaking completely.

As you reached for the door handle you heard a faint yell from upstairs, followed by loud banging, and then silence. You sniffled, turning the handle and leaving the house, much to the protest of your friends.

#mgk #mgk imagine #mgk angst #machine gun kelly #machine gun kelly imagine #Colson baker #colson x reader #colson baker imagine #colson baker angst #est #xx

[3pirouette]

A Red, White, and Blue Christmas (7/?)

By: TriplePirouette/3Pirouette

Disclaimer: They’re not mine.

Distribution: AO3 Anyone else please ask first :) 

Story Summary: White Christmas AU. Peggy is pulled from Project Rebirth, setting off a chain of events that leaves Steve and Bucky unharmed at the end of the War, but never having met. Until, that is, their paths cross as professional performers. Steggy Secret Santa gift for @roboticonography

Chapter 6: The Play’s The Thing

Chapter Summary: In which they start rehearsing for the show. 

Chapter A/N: Chapter 5 was about 3 minutes of screen time. Almost NONE of this is actually a part of the movie. I just… I don’t know anymore. This is going to be SO LONG.

Sorry about the hiatus. I had an amazing two weeks away. I hope to get back onto a regular posting schedule until this is done.

It has occurred to me, JUST NOW, that the same dining room they watch Sisters in the first time at the Inn, is ALSO the same room they use as a theater. As in, I was today years old when I figured that out about this movie. Go figure. For purposes of this story, they’re two separate places.

Also, for anyone interested, the costumes described below (if you’re not familiar with the film) can be found with a quick search. Angie’s is Vera Ellen’s white costume from “Mandy” and Peggy’s is Rosemary Clooney’s dress from the “Mr. Bones” number. 

The version of the song Peggy sings that I’m referencing is from (only slightly embarrassingly) Lois And Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. I was apparently very impressionable when I was young- I’ve never liked a version of that song better and I don’t know why. 

~*~

The front lawn of the Inn was a raucous mess of barely controlled chaos. Bucky and Jarvis directed the traffic as men and women unloaded trucks into the big barn, pulling large set pieces and small trunks across the too green grass. Peggy and Angie helped Ana sort out the rooms, taking people and luggage back to make way for the set pieces. Steve seemed to somehow have everything moving smoothly and quickly, Will and his trusty clipboard by his side as he bounced from truck to trunk to set piece to say help to everyone, thank them for coming, and see just who, and what, had made it up to Vermont.

To say the Colonel was surprised at the circus that greeted him as he drove up was an understatement. He’d left the quiet, empty inn just a few hours ago to head into town, and returned to more people at his Inn than he’d ever seen. He pressed his lips together as he pulled further up the driveway and caught sight of the mop of blonde hair dead in the center of it. “Rogers…” he mumbled to himself, watching another giant set piece be pulled into his barn.

He jumped out of his jeep, looking around and wishing, for once in his life, that he had his good old helmet. “Rogers! Barnes! Carter!” His bellow carried over the whole area, stopping every one dead in their tracks.

Steve felt a shiver go up his spine, the kind he hadn’t felt since the last time he’d been yelled at in the middle of occupied France. He turned, slowly, and joined Bucky and Peggy as they met Phillips by his car, Will moving everyone back into action at the wave of Steve’s hand.

“Sir,” Steve started, his voice far steadier than he felt when met with Phillips’ stern look.

“Col… Mister Phillips, sir,” Bucky stuttered out, the desire to call him by his rank strong enough to cause him to fumble.

Peggy stood tall and quiet, lips pressed tight to hold back a smile.

Phillips shook his head at her and eyed the boys. “What is all this?”

“Well, it’s a bit of a long story,” Steve started, only slightly bashful, “but you’re full by about half now.”

“Paying customers!” Bucky added, smiling.

Phillips shook his head. “While that’s lovely,” sarcasm dripped from his lips, “can you tell me why it looks like a circus is about to take up residence in my ski lodge?”

“Captain Rogers actually had quite the brilliant idea,” Peggy started. Steve couldn’t tell if she was trying to build him up or throw him under the bus. “We were discussing what a shame it was that they had no place to rehearse over the holiday and they had to cancel their shows and stop paying their performers because business was so bad.”

“Yeah,” Phillips groused, narrowing his eyes at her. He could tell it was a lie, but wasn’t about to let that on. “Keep going.”

“Well, sir, you see, this space is idea for rehearsing.” Steve smiled, but Phillips’ expression didn’t change and his smile faded. “It’s big and open and even has that elevated stage area. We figured if we brought some of the show up here, we could rehearse, and test out some new material.”

Phillips shook his head at Steve. “Carter’s right. That does sound just like some hair brained, half assed idea you’d have.”

“Sir, it really is ideal—” Bucky started, trying to help but still stammering a bit.

“Ideal. You keep saying that.” Phillips looked down his nose at the sergeant, causing him to snap his mouth shut. “How are you going to test out new material without an audience?” He shook his head then looked back over to the porch where Jarvis was helping Angie sort guests. “Mister Fancy Pants over there hasn’t cracked a smile since he got here, and he and his wife are the only reliable audience I can supply.”

“We were planning on taking a trip into town,” Peggy’s tone shifted, and Steve started to see the woman he was familiar with from Lehigh shine though: assured, confident, and with a plan. “Angie and I were going to spread some word-of-mouth rumors that Rogers and Barnes were up here, and that should at least get the ball rolling.”

“We ain’t never had a problem getting asses in seats.” Bucky’s smile faded when Phillips turned to him, disappointment clear on his face at his word choice. “Sir. Butts in… Derrieres in chairs.” He coughed, turning a little red. “People in the house.”

“Alright,” Phillips rolled his eyes at Bucky and looked them all over. “You can use it, though asking first might have been the better move…” He shifted his gaze, looking down his nose at Steve as if he were still a foot shorter. “But, whenever have you thought to ask first about anything, Rogers?”

Steve nodded, thinking back to when he went AWOL and against orders more times than not. “Yes, understood.”

“Good. Don’t let it happen again.” Phillips moved past them, shaking his head as he made his way towards Jarvis. “There is a lot about this showbusiness stuff I do not understand.”

~*~

By the afternoon, the ski lodge looked a different place: curtains were hung and sets were already starting to fill out the stage, while the chirus rehearsed brightly in the floor, chairs and tables pulled over to the sides of the room.

By the next morning, Peggy felt like they’d been in rehearsals already for weeks. Will was a dream: passing out scripts and sheet music, tacking down-to-the-minute rehearsal schedules to their doors, and answering any question she could come up with.

Steve and Bucky were a blur, bouncing around the lodge and leading the way as they started to tailor their show to what and who they had.

By that afternoon, Peggy had already had three rehearsals and found herself in a hastily constructed dressing room in a costume fitting with Angie in the little curtained stall next to her, the tones of the rehearsing chorus in the background.

Angie pulled the stockings up over her leg, bumping into the haphazardly hung curtains around her. “You know, I never thought this would be the kind of show I’d want to be in.”

“But?” Peggy’s voice drifted from the opposite side of the makeshift dressing room curtain where she was trying on her own costume.

Angie sighed, running her hands over the pile of white satin before she stepped into the leotard. “But… the costumes, the lights, the people…” She paused as she shimmied carefully into her costume, gently pulling the satin up over her hips. “I mean, gawd, English!” Her accent slipped heavily into her words as she fawned, running her hands over the satin. “It’s lined! I ain’t never had a lined costume before. And it don’t smell like cigarette butts, isn’t missing any spangles…” Angie sighed happily, stepping out of the one edge of the curtain and looked at herself in the mirror that was leaning against the wall there. She smiled at Ana, who was standing next to it with a measuring tape around her neck and a handful of pins. “You think they’d consider…”

Peggy huffed, still behind the curtain, the soft sounds of her voice making it clear she was having more trouble with her costume than Angie had had with hers. “Consider what?”

“Keeping us on?” Angie stood still, letting Ana move around her. Ana knelt to the floor, measuring the tulle that draped from her hips against her ankle and setting a straight pin in it.

“They’d be fools not to,” Ana chimed in. “The little that I’ve seen? You two shine next to those boys.”

“I’m sure they’d consider keeping us on for a bit,” Peggy mumbled, finally starting to sound more like herself.

“Well, if Bucky and I have our way,” Angie whispered down to Ana, a conspiratorial smile on her face, “Steve will be keeping you on for the long haul.”

“I couldn’t hear you, what was that?” Peggy called.

Angie hid her giggles. “Noth-thing,” she sing-songed, sharing another glace with Ana. “Just letting Ana make me look amazing.”

Peggy didn’t seem to hear any of their scheming and moved the conversation ahead. “How does yours fit?”

“Like a dream.” Angie smiled, but Ana frowned at her and gathered the considerable extra fabric around her bust and secured it with a pin. “Ok, so it’s got a little extra here and there, but nothing horrible, right?”

Ana smiled, speaking expertly around the pins she held in her teeth. “Not even the worst fit I’ve seen today.” She slipped them out from her lips and finished securing them in the costume, then turned Angie back to the mirror. Angie squealed in delight, and Ana turned back to the other make-shift dressing room. “What about you, Peggy?”

“I’m afraid it’s too tight.” Her voice was flat, and there was no sound of her moving to leave the small space.

“Well, don’t fret,” Ana turned back to the little table that held her tools. “Will said there’s plenty of options if we need to find another…” Ana’s words tumbled to a halt as Peggy stepped out of the curtain, eyes uncertain and hands at her sides.

“Oh no, it’s that bad?” Peggy asked, looking at herself in the mirror. “I knew it was too tight.”

Angie shook her head, eyes wide. “You’re gonna kill him.”

“What?” Peggy looked at her over her shoulder, still looking at how the black, sequined gown hugged every curve of her body in the mirror. “Who?”

“Steve! You’re gonna kill him!” Angie replied, louder this time. “The whole freakin’ Nazi army couldn’t do it and he’s gonna get one look at you in that dress and…” Angie whistled a long note as she tipped her hand down, mimicking him passing out. “Forget about tight, that’s just…”

“Stop it,” Peggy rolled her eyes, but neither Angie nor Ana missed the way her cheeks pinked up. “I don’t think I can breathe, never mind sing!”

“Actually…” Ana slipped behind Peggy, standing her up tall in the mirror. She looked her over, pulling her shoulders back and running her hand over the seams of the dress. Ana hummed, looking over where the dress hugged her tight, fingers pulling back rows of sequins to look at the seams.

“Can you fix it?” Peggy asked, meeting Ana’s eyes in the mirror. She ran her hands over her hips, “It really is quite beautiful.”

“Angie, hand me the seam ripper.” Ana grabbed Peggy’s hands and pressed them to the front of her chest, holding the sweetheart neckline with the tiny pop of red between her breasts against her chest. “Hands up, my friend, the chorus boys have been known to poke their heads in now and again.” Ana took the seam ripper from Angie and started gently pulling threads from the back. She smiled as Peggy finally took a deep breath when she was low enough.

“That feels so much better,” Peggy smiled and started to relax, but immediately pulled her hands back as the dress started to slip off of her.

“Oh, don’t tell me you’ll have to put straps on it!” Angie rested her hip on the little table, frowning.

“Oh no,” Ana pointed at, then held out her hand for, the red length of ribbon by Angie’s hip. “We tuck the extra black sequins under, then match this red ribbon here to the red accents up front and turn it into a corset back. Tight where she needs it, and room to breathe!” Ana spun Peggy to show her where she was holding the ribbon against her back to simulate the crisscross that would eventually be there.

Peggy admired herself in the mirror, a small smile forming on her face. “And they’re making you do the laundry around here. What a complete misuse of talent!”

Ana chuckled, waving at Angie for some pins from the table. “Well, you’d do the laundry, too, if you saw what happened when Colonel Phillips tried.”

“Knock knock,” Bucky’s voice sounded outside the curtain, interrupting their laughter. He didn’t wait for the invitation, though, and pushed his head through, a wolffish smile on his lips. “Came to see…. Wowza.” His expression changed as soon as she took them in, eyes blatantly raking over Angie and Peggy as Ana shook her head at him, fingers still diligently pinning Peggy’s dress. “You ladies look…”

“Good?” Angie asked, spinning for him. “Amazing?” She dipped, pressing her hips out just a little too much as she came back up. “Fabulous?”

“Ten out of ten,” Bucky replied, standing tall as he stepped in the room and smiling. “Total knock outs.”

“Quite different from our usual kit,” Peggy added in, amused at his antics.

He shook his head. “Those fluffy monstrosities weren’t doing you dames justice.”

“Did you have a reason for your visit,” Ana asked, fingers finally still and resting on her hips as she turned to him, “or did you just come to ogle?”

“Nah, ogling is a perk.” He smiled and lifted his eyebrows suggestively. He turned serious quickly, “I came to see if Peggy had a few minutes tonight to go over a new song I picked for her and Steve.”

Peggy turned to him, hands still holding the dress to her chest tightly. “I’m free right after this for a few minutes.” She shook her head. “Steve and Will have my day packed.”

“He’s really working hard to make sure this goes well for the Colonel.” Bucky’s silliness melted to sincerity. “I can’t tell you what a help you girls have been.” He paused, smiling at Ana. “All of you, really.” He included Ana with a nod of his head. “Stop by my little office,” he chuckled as he referred to the corner of the barn where he’d turned a few leftover milk-crates into a makeshift desk, “and we can talk through the song. We’ll schedule you two to work on it tomorrow.”

He turned, looking Angie over again. “You think you can dance in that?”

Angie rolled her eyes at him, circled her hips then kicked her leg up so high she purposefully just missed his chin. “What do you think, Barnes?”

He nodded, fighting the smile that wanted to erupt on his face. “I think we got the best Mandy we could have asked for.” He cleared his throat and turned back to Ana. “You think these will be ready for the runs right after lunch?”

“As long as Mister Jarvis can keep the Colonel busy, you’ll have them before lunch.” Ana smiled. “It’s so nice to be sitting at a sewing machine again.”

Bucky nodded, smiling. “You know, the way things are running so smooth here, Phillips will be lucky if we don’t steal you and Jarvis for our show. We ain’t never had it run this good.”

“Maybe you should just all stay here.” Angie mused, shrugging.

Bucky turned his head quickly, surprised and intrigued. “Stay here?”

“Why not?” Angie leaned back on the small table, playing with the tulle at her hip. “Summer season in New York, winter in Vermont.” She shrugged. “You’re spending all this time and money and energy on turning this barn into a stage, why not use it?”

Bucky’s face slowly changed, his eyes turning bright as thoughts raced through his head. He pulled Angie to him and smacked an energetic kiss on her cheek. “Bless you, I might get two hours to myself!”

The three women watched in amazement as he bounded out of the curtain. “You think he’s ever going to tell us what that’s about?” Peggy mused, shaking her head at the swinging curtain.

“I certainly hope so,” Angie groused. “I’m nosy and it’s driving me nuts not asking!”

~*~

The barn was chilly, and Peggy kept wrapped tight in the fluffy robe while she waited in the empty house, only a few sparse chairs here and there for the afternoon’s run through of the numbers that had been rehearsed already.

The majority of the show already existed and just needed to be adjusted for people who weren’t there or who were in new roles. It was just the numbers with Peggy and Angie, and the few things Steve and Bucky planned on changing, that needed to be taught and rehearsed.  Steve and Bucky had an amazing cast that dazzled her for the majority of the afternoon. She and Angie had watched nearly a dozen fabulous numbers make their way across the stage already. She and Angie still needed to learn quite a bit, but Steve and Bucky had been adamant they be involved in this first run.

On stage, Angie smiled as she spun and dipped, flanked by a bevy of strong men in green suits. Peggy couldn’t help but smile as they lifted her high. Angie loved every little thing about this show, and Peggy was going to move heaven and earth to make sure Rogers and Barnes kept her with them even when this was over. Peggy didn’t mind and even enjoyed singing to little crowds. All she wanted was a piano and a microphone and for the people she sang for to enjoy what she was doing and not be a part of a genocidal political party, and she’d be happy. Angie needed more. Angie wanted the rush of the stage and quick changes and the excitement of a standing ovation.

Peggy didn’t know what she was going to have to do to make that happen for her, but if she could take down Hydra, she could get her friend a job in this show.

“Mandy, there’s a minister handy…” the chorus sang brightly, most of them in costume, a handful of them only partly dressed as coats and pants waited to be altered. Angie looked like a pop of fresh snow in her white leotard against the red and green chorus and set. Peggy wondered at the way she moved, at how fast she’d learned the complicated duets and high-flying lifts over the staircase. Peggy was brave, but she didn’t know if she’d take her life in her hands and throw herself off stairs into the waiting arms of chorus boys she’d only met the day before.

Movement caught her eye, and she looked forward in the audience to see Steve sitting in his chair, a makeshift table of crates in front of him, his foot tapping along as he made notes. She watched the shadows curve over his silhouette, entranced at how he kept time and did so many other things at once.

“Ma’am?”

The voice startled her, and she looked up to find Will there, clipboard in hand. “Yes?”

“You’re next.”

She nodded, thanking him and slipping away. She was nervous. Steve had asked her to pick a song this morning in a rush between rehearsals. She hadn’t said much but simply nodded, memories of the night before burning to redden her cheeks as he walked away.

She’d never told anyone about her nightmares before, and while it made her feel so exposed, she’d also never slept as soundly, or feeling as safe, as she had when she’d gone back to bed that night.

She’d pulled the sheet music out of her bag, unsure, but had handed it to their pianist that morning, anyway. Now, as she slipped out of her robe and stood on the side of the stage in the sparkling black dress that Ana had so masterfully and quickly altered, Will ushering a single microphone to the center and one spotlight flickering to life for her, she was suddenly more nervous than she’d ever been.

The sounds of her heels on the wooden stage seemed too loud as she moved to take her place, her heart seemed to pound in her chest at the quiet breaths she could hear from the dark, mysterious audience. The dress all of a sudden felt too tight and too revealing.

He wasn’t going to like it.

She was going to pour her heart out in song, and he was going to hate it.

The song wouldn’t be right for the show.

The dress would be too much.

She wouldn’t be good enough to sing solo for a big show like this.

She’d never felt nerves like this before, but suddenly there was the familiar cord of the piano, and a calm descended over her. She stepped up to the microphone and took hold of it, closing her eyes.

If she could sing to the highest levels of Hitler’s regime and pretend to like it, she could damn well sing to Captain Rogers and enjoy it.

She took a deep breath, and her voice flowed out, low and honeyed. “How glad a million laddies, from millionaires to caddy’s would be… to capture me.” She took another slow breath and opened her eyes. “But you had such persistence, you wore down my resistance. I fell,” she smiled, the nerves flowing out of her and confidence building, “and it was swell.”

“You’re my big and brave and handsome Romeo,” she continued, shoulders starting to move with the cords of the piano. “How I won you I shall never, never know.” She set both hands on the microphone. “It’s not that you’re attractive, but oh, my heart grew active when you… came into view.”

She drew in a slow deep breath, wishing there was a drum to pull the low notes out of, to help her find the sway, but continued anyway. “I’ve got a crush on you, sweetie pie. All the day and night time, hear me sigh.” She let her voice lift high, soaring and falling with the melody. “I’ve never had the least notion, that I could fall with so much emotion.”

She continued singing, looking out into the dark where she saw a figure stand. It was only shadows, but she kept singing, watching as the shadowy figure stepped slowly closer and closer.

In Germany she would have tensed, let her hand slip lower to her thigh holster if anyone stood and approached while she was singing. Now, she let her hand slide over the sequins to her thigh, dipping forward and falling deeper into the music as she sang.

She’d always loved this song: always wished she’d fully feel what she thought it could be, always wished she’d know the kind of love that it extolled, and imagined night after night as she sang it that there was some sort of big love out there for her.

The shadowy figure continued to move forward, and it felt like a dream: like as soon as he stepped close enough into the light he’d reveal himself as her great love. It felt like a moment from a movie or a romance novel.

“We could share the world,” she let the note soar just as Steve stepped into the light, the shadows falling away around him, his face smooth and hard to read, but his eyes on her. “Well, pardon my mush,” she continued, looking him right back in the eyes, “but, I have got a crush,” she smiled, licking her bright red lips, but he didn’t move, “my baby, on you.”

She let the last note linger as the piano played low, concluding cords. She gently held the microphone stand with both hands, catching her breath.

Steve nodded once, almost a hint of a smile on his face, before he turned and left the barn.

She pretended not to feel hurt by the sound of his footsteps moving away, and instead smiled up at the raucous applause coming from those in the theater. She tried to focus on the wolf whistles and the bright, happy cheers from Angie whose voice she could pick out in any crowd, instead of the tightening in her chest.

~*~

He should go back.

He paced outside the barn; hands shoved in his pockets.

She was amazing. Her voice was far better than he could have imagined from their silly sister act, and that dress.

Good God, that dress.

He wasn’t sure if he should thank or fire Ana, but she looked amazing.

Too good for their little show.

He’d been compelled to stand, to go up close and see her, to see for himself that the notes coming out of her lips were her own, to be closer to the amazing energy she exhuded from that stage.

She didn’t belong in a little sister act.

He wanted to feature her, front and center in the show, let the world know what her voice and those hips could do.

He tried to shove away those thoughts: what she looked like in that dress, the stirrings that song made him feel deep in his belly, how her hand had felt so right in his just the night before.

How he wanted to make her front and center in his life.

He should go back. She’d be insulted he left.

The last thing he wanted to do was insult her.

God, he wanted to kiss her.

He turned, moving back to the barn, and ran straight into her.

Their arms both shot out, steadying the other. They spoke pleasantries of “sorry” and “excuse me” over one another until Steve shook his head, cleared his throat, and stepped back. “That was beautiful, Peggy.”

She looked at him for a second, stunned. “I— I thought you didn’t like it,” she barely whispered out, “You left.”

“I had to think,” he replied, knowing it was a silly excuse. “You’re far more talented than you give yourself credit for, and… and…” His hands twisted infront of him as he tried to find the right words.

She bit back her smile. “So, you liked it?”

Steve nodded, suddenly feeling like a shy schoolboy. “I did. You were right. A microphone and a piano are all you need to be amazing.”

He felt butterflies fill his stomach at her smile. “Thank you.”

The stirrings of the piano and the next number floated out to them. He shrugged and tipped his head. “I should…”

“I need to…” Peggy pointed towards her cabin, nodding and bouncing her hair over the robe.

“I loved it,” Steve whispered, suddenly serious, before darting past her to head back into the barn.

He sat back in his chair and picked up his pen, trying to pretend he was doing anything but thinking of her.

“What the hell was that?” Bucky leaned over and asked.

Steve waved him off. “I just needed some air.”

“Needed some air like you didn’t want to tell her you hated it, or needed—" Steve turned, glaring at him. Bucky smiled and nodded. “Good. Because that dame can sing.”

#Steggy Fic #steggy secret santa #3P's Fic #Roboticonography #I'm back

[inventors-fair]

Three Cheese Commentary: An exercise in utility

I really shouldn’t complain about contests being popular with people.

Still, what a way for the year’s contests to start. A heckuva lot of entries for a very hard prompt makes me feel good, in an odd way. I have a hypothesis that the clarity of directions and the examples provided were enough to make it feel as though there was a low barrier to entry. It’s interesting and kind of my fault that a lot of mythic legendary creatures found their way in. Ah well. Lessons learned.

If you’re reading this, I want to give you a little hint: we love hard decisions. If your cards really are brilliant, if you do your best to improve with each and every entry, if you listen to the commentary and submit the best possible card, then our jobs as judges would be nail-bitingly hard. And I love that. I love having to sigh wistfully and move a card from “winners” to “runners-up.” I love praising cards that contest for coolness in their spaces. In short: you don’t have to listen to us specifically because, well, we’re not professionals, but if you tweak the tweaks and polish on your polish, then—well, the goal is that you grow as designers and in your understanding of the game. And that you’ll have fun along the way. 

For every card, I’m going to converse with the intent, talk about where improvements can be made and what might have gone wrong, and then go through wording nitpicks (another part of what makes cards hard, heh. You gotta do design AND cost AND flavor without committee). Cards with JUDGE PICK are personal favorites that for whatever reason either didn’t meet the criteria for winners or just tickled my fancy despite being some kind of not-there-in-certain-ways. Or maybe they just got pushed out of runners-up because of space. See? Hard decisions.

Let’s talk about some cards:

@aethernalstars — Anurid Matriarch

Intent: The Matriarch feels like a casual build-around-me keyword card with some connection to the Anurids of Dominaria. There are only two frogs with reach (and none with first strike) to date but this isn’t supposed to be a tribal card, is it. Not like that, anyway. Giving keywords those ups makes sense. Token generation is pretty solidly GW, giving them flying is WU, sure. First strike to double feels distinctly white. I imagine this card as a casual build-around-me or a token generator. Five mana for a 1/1 token ain’t bad.

Improvement: I have no idea what this card really wants to be. First strike doesn’t see anything outside of white, and reach doesn’t see much inside white. Or blue, for that matter. The flying makes sense for blue but this whole card doesn’t feel cohesive in terms of colors or identity. I did my Anurid research and I don’t see any precedent for this. Frog beasts are cool but… Well, this card answers the question of “why” with “just because.” I don’t fully understand the niche it’s trying to fill or the environment in which it wants to exist. If you’re gonna make a Frog build-around-me, lean into that. If you’re gonna make a keyword tribal card, focus on just one. If you want to make it color-balanced, look at what everything could do together for a flavorful feel.

Nitpicks: Flying comes before double strike.

Amarinthe — Rashmi, Enlivened Artificer

Intent: Temur has a pseudo-foothold in Kaladesh mechanically, so I’m not surprised that Rashmi’s here doing her thing. Giving your cards Jump-start is interesting, as UR has a sort of flashback mechanic, plus the lands from the graveyard work into green quite well. What I really like is the way that the Crucible effect interacts with jump-start. That’s pretty cool design chops. I can see this in a supplemental Commander sphere or even as a Standard mythic for a three-color archetype. It doesn’t seem exceptionally broken on either front. From a purely mechanical perspective, I think you made an awesome card.

Improvement: This card perhaps feels RUG, but it 100% doesn’t feel like Rashmi or a druid. Elves can be artificers on Kaladesh, and that’s not an issue, but you call her an artificer, you type her as a druid (which yes, was her original type when she was more druidic), and you give her a primary ability that’s got basically nothing to do with artifacts or druidic principles. The lands work great with the druid part, but the flavor could be sorted out. I would take out “jump-start” as a keyword and just work in the wording “you may cast from your graveyard” etc., make a new character, and flavor them appropriately. The flavor text should complement the mechanics; as it is, I’m not certain.

Nitpicks: “jump-start” should be lowercase, but it doesn’t really matter if you do end up taking it out. 

@arashisann — Yurlok’s Conflux

Intent: With Yurlok being a new commander hotness, I can see the intent of this card as a Jundian standard/supplemental addendum. The lava flow makes mountains, then the second ability...represents something predatory? And the last is Jund destruction. The R>B>G makes sense there.

Improvement: I don’t know if this card is necessary salvageable as-is; you might be better off making two or three separate cards if you want to show this character. When making a saga, you have to tell a story in a limited form, and it’s hard, absolutely! You represented the lava flow in the first ability quite well, and I do like that a lot. The creature and artifact sacrifice isn’t indicative of anything that I can follow story-wise. Reading the wiki I understand the way that you might want to represent the Thrash dying or Esper being invaded. I don’t believe this is the way to do it. With the very last sentence not doing anything when you’re sacrificing anyway, I don’t believe the best card for you is a saga at all. How could you tell this in an instant or sorcery card, perhaps? The moment that Yurlok comes over the Esper border?

Nitpicks: “non-Mountain;” the land type should be capitalized in both parts, see Quicksilver Fountain. The ability should also be one word. As I mentioned, removing the counters doesn’t do anything mechanically because it’s sacrificed after resolution. Check the MSE Discord if you want to get your text fixed, BTW. I know how frustrating that can be.

@askkrenko — Etherium Restoration

Intent: You know, even without Ed being there, I’m getting a Bruna-ish feel. That’s not a bad thing, it’s just that UW expensive returning stuff kinda has those associations. The fact that the creature is being restored with etherium though is pretty awesome, and you know what, that alone (the return plus the re-artifacting) is a great way to convey what Esper does and wants to do. 

Improvement: The aura and equipment stuff doesn’t grab me, honestly. What do auras have to do with Esper? And the only equipment that I could find that fit was Mask of Riddles. So I’m going to stop here because the obvious answer is that you’re exploring new story design space for what Esper might be. I respect that. With the information we have now, it’s middle-of-the-road. My vote would be to make this (3)(B/W)(U) and make an argument for UW reanimation to artifice overall, then completely drop the aura/equipment part. Plus, gotta say, I know the flavor text is a pop culture thing but you’re messin’ with my favorite plane! Show some respect! /j

Nitpicks: If you do keep that second part, “Aura” and “Equipment” should be capitalized.

@bread-into-toast — Krofor, Corpse Hauler

Intent: It’s a nightmare insect? I’m down. Even without that particular piece of art I can see how people might be afraid of a giant bug. This is pretty evidently a Commander-geared card although I can see how casual brewers might want to throw it down in a combo match and do some graveyard hate. GW graveyard exile and black ability scavaging is pretty cool, so I can see where your intent was with that. Good catch putting “Nightmare” first, too. I almost suggested mixing it around. I like how aggressive this card can be.

Improvement: Firstly, Corpse Hauler is literally another card which already had a self-evident mechanical ability to get creatures back to the hand. Even if it’s an homage, I would distinguish it; besides, it’s not so much “hauling” corpses as it is eating them. Presumably. “All abilities” is a bit of a slippery slope, too. Activated abilities is one thing, but all abilities whatsoever? I’m uncertain if that’s design space you want to tap into, but don’t pull the trigger. My main issue is that you have the activated ability cost “X and W, B or G.” I understand what you were trying to do but that that point you might as well just have it be “1X.” There wouldn’t be anything stopping you from making that mana already. In short, rectify the name to fit flavor, change the ability cost, and be wary of weird interactions with abilities.

Nitpicks: “Lifelink” and “Vigilance” should be lowercase ‘l’ and ‘v’ respectively. The X in the rules text of the activated ability should also be spelled out and not a mana symbol. You can change this in MSE by highlighting, then going to the star next to the bold/italic toggle and turning it off.

@col-seaker-of-the-memiest-legion — Sevala, Exiled Naturalist

Intent: I read up on what happened with Selvala after the events of the first Conspiracy set, and I see how you set off to mimic that, but then I saw the note about the Timeshifting, and yeah, I guess that works.. The green landfall, the red flashback and the white Path come across well. I suppose this is more of an eternal-themed card, although I could be wrong.

Improvement: Yeah, technically there’s nothing stopping you from having a noncreature card as a partnerable card. I’m trying to be diplomatic about the implications, though. Okay. So Selvala’s white aspect was introduced in the first Conspiracy set as she was heavily connected to the citizens of Paliano and worked as a community diplomat against the establishment. She forged a stronger connection to nature and thus became more green in her overhaul of the city. Path to Exile is not in her wheelhouse. She does not exile; she parlays, communes with creatures, seeks out new futures. What exiling magic does she have? What judgement? It doesn’t exist in her character, nor does the redness. Frankly landfall doesn’t really fit her character as well. The point is that even if a character could have a partner that’s a concept (which is antithetical to the mechanic as a whole), the spell you have chosen contrasts with Selvala instead of complementing her. And what does she have to do with flashback anyway? To improve this card, completely restart the conceptual process.

Nitpicks: The character’s name is misspelled. 

@deafeningsandwichpeach — Ilharg, the Craze-Boar

Intent: Ha, I get it. I’m going to go out on a huge limb here, because I mean as much as I like all of this I get the feeling that either the name or art came before the full concept. Nothing wrong with that, because ultimately the card is good. SO. Either this is designed for a Timeshifted set where something really awful happens to our poor Boar God, or, well, something really bad DID happen to him somehow. I’m not sure what the land return represents flavorfully but it’s fine mechanically. The creature return as well is BR and I’m down for that, strong as it is. This card evokes the colors in a way that makes it slightly different than Jund; maybe it’s the art but I’m getting Innistrad vibes from him, the madness returning, the pain going on inside his head. It’s neat. Again, massive stretch though, let’s be real.

Improvement: And with that in mind, I wouldn’t have made him Ilharg. Honestly, this should’ve been a new character, and I would have been a lot more generous. I don’t really get what Ilharg as a whole even in an alternate timeline has to do with lands returning considering that he’s a big ol’ nasty city destroyer. Mechanically, this card needs to cost like EIGHT mana. The card you return from your graveyard to the battlefield stays there, and with a big enough graveyard you don’t have to worry about getting things from your hand anymore. Turns 1-4 dump all your creatures, turn five get the best of them if not earlier? Pretty busted in any format. For eight mana I wouldn’t complain.

Nitpicks: “up to two land cards,” not “lands.” Question: why isn’t he a God?

@deg99 — Radiant Return (JUDGE PICK)

Intent: Black reanimation, white attachment, red hastiness. All the colors are definitely there! There’s something Mardu-not-Mardu about this RWB card, and I think I like it. I could see it as a standard card, definitely, or as a commander staple for a really interesting commander. I’m honestly not sure exactly what kind of deck would really appreciate this card right now! Keskit/Akiri? The Auras part is a little more interesting. Ardenn/Vial...Smasher? The fact that it defies current archetypes but still makes sense is very cool to me. I also wonder what a standard expansion in which RWB auraquipment is an archetype would look like now.

Improvement: A little flavor text could make this work one degree better. It’s really on me that  you went into the future with this card, isn’t it. There’s no major improvement to be made besides that. Consider contextualizing for future contests, perhaps? When necessary, anyway.

Nitpicks: “Return target...to the battlefield, then attach any number of Auras and/or Equipment you control to it...etc.” Don’t need the trigger.

@demimonde-semigoddess — Seaglide Whaler

Intent: A pirate’s life for me! So we got an aggressive tempo-y pirate person with a decent couple of sharpshooter abilities. Blue sirens are certainly reasonable, as are Grixis pirates. I like the notion that it has to attack to “survey” and then take whatever shots it makes. I don’t think Ixalan could have had this card but honestly the future is a place where anything could happen.

Improvement: The problem with these colors is that in practical terms, the second mode is strictly black and yet can be played in an Izzet deck. Hybrid is a weird mistress. As much as these abilities might neatly tie into the three colors, hybrid makes deck construction nearly impossible. You can have a pinger in UB or a Fatal Blow in UR, both of which are either severe bends or breaks. Making this a straight UBR 3/1 flier could have been okay, perhaps, or having on-color activations, but as it is now, hybrid makes things hard. Consider looking at a Venn diagram between UB and UR to consider more appropriate abilities?

Nitpicks: Kathari Bomber implies the second mode to be “...damage this turn and sacrifice Seaglide Whaler.”

@dimestoretajic — The Dark Tendril

Intent: Sultai skulk-lord could be a fun card to open and build around in limited, and a BUG defender-y deck could have some fun application. I like how you’ve made the new character and sort of done another take on treefolk.

Improvement: For this contest, I don’t feel a strong color balance in this card. Skulk was a weird black/blue centered mechanic, sure, and green assigns the toughness, but… This feels like it’s trying to make skulk look cool rather than address the issue that skulk was just plain not a good mechanic. I get where the color weight is supposed to be but the whole thing is shadowed by that underlying desire. If this card had just been “Creatures you control can’t be blocked by creatures with greater power” and the other stuff, on a name/type that was more resonant, then I think it could have been a stronger contender. I don’t understand the world in which “The Dark Tendril” lives. I don’t understand why it’s a treefolk. I would get rid of naming skulk, make the type more apparent, and give the character some character.

Nitpicks: Three-colored cards really should have a gold border, not a hybrid one. Also, promo frames tend not to have flavor text (with exceptions for cards with no rules text like Memnite).

@driftingthruthecosmos — Ulti, Sudden Conjurer

Intent: I like that triggered ability because it’s got some smooth flow over it. GU has its flash aspect, but black also likes destructive instants, and then the Disentomb-effect fits nicely into a payoff that feels black for sure. I also like how you’re using the three colors to push the card into a really neat 3/3 aggressive creature. Flash and deathtouch literally only show up together in these three colors but not together—and here you are changing that on a powerful legend!

Improvement: But the fact that she can only return creatures with flash is kind of a bummer. Sure there are plenty of cards that could work with her, and having some Ambush Viper casual tribal wouldn’t be too bad, but it’s still limiting. I would have implied that she works with flash, or let players work with flash, without being so specific about it, and I feel that the card would be improved with implied flash tribal over explicit in this case. Additionally, what on earth is that last ability doing? Each end step, you have to sacrifice a creature or lose one of your potential targets for her trigger? I have the feeling that you may have been too cautious to push power levels here. If you want to limit her, have it be “Whenever you cast your first spell during each opponent’s turn…” or something, and axe that last part.

Nitpicks: “unless you sacrifice a nontoken creature.” Full stop, you can never sacrifice creatures you don’t control so adding “you control” is redundant.

@dumbellsndragons — Gorvax, Lich of the Horde

Intent: It’s a Mardu zombie orc wizard. At this point, you’re already doing something right for the Timmies out there. The first ability has Tainted Remedy plus some crazy draw after that, and oh man, it’s begging to be punishing. “I’m gonna Heliod’s Intervention you. Deck yourself. Runeflare Trap. Molten Psyche.” But also, that second ability? You can Bolt during an opponent’s turn and turn it into a one-red-mana Ancient Craving. For mythic, to build around? I honestly think that that’s perfectly fine. And insanely powerful.

Improvement: There’s weird stuff going on, but the hard part is that I don’t know if there’s things to improve. Giving your spells lifelink has Jeskai precedent, but it’s not NOT black. Doing a little digging, I can see that there are indeed zombies and even liches on Tarkir, but only in Sultai… But there’s no reason that the Mardu wouldn’t have them, right? Hm, maybe “Victory or Death” gets muddled here. Wizard, though, that’s a sticking point. And frankly, the whole “Lich” thing. I don’t see the lichiness in the abilities or the wizardry in the Mardu. You know what would be dumb fun? Ditching the Mardu aspect and making this WUBR. Wouldn’t fit the contest but what a friggin’ commander.

Nitpicks: None!

@emmypupcake — Knight of Summer’s Vigor

Intent: I was surprised to see that there are actually quite a few green Knights. It makes sense, of course, considering both Eldraine and Bant and Selesnya. So yeah, an elf knight who makes more knights? This is a powerful card with some crazy abilities if it gets out of control at all, but the color restrictions and the lack of substantial evasion ensure that it’s not busted out of the gate. The name’s pretty good, too! Oh, Knight of New Alara...

Improvement: For this contest, I don’t feel color blending as much. Tokens with GW and knights with R(W) are fine, yeah, but aside from that, the colors of the tokens and the general feeling of the card isn’t enough to really excite me. I do want to see a set in which this card could exist, perhaps, with multicolored knights and elves and whatnot. I don’t have any real improvements for this card; I just don’t think it stands out against some of the weirdness. Keep it around and add some flavor text. Consider: what would you like for this set to be? In what world would these knights exist? Why is summer important?

Nitpicks: “Whenever,” not “when.” See Pollenbright Wings

@evscfa1 — Estrid, the Unmasker

Intent: The Commander sets with shard Planeswalkers did give us a lot to work with but not a lot of extra stuff, so it makes sense that people might pick up on them for the contest. White auras, exile, and taxing all make sense mechanically. I feel that this is more standard than supplemental, a little weirdness for the way that the specific tokens and all would want to work. I don’t mind that part, honestly. Bringing Estrid back would be fine by me, even as monocolored. 

Improvement: Because, well, this is a mono-white card. The +1 creates white Auras (that don’t do anything, so that’s an issue), the -2 is close to Generous Gift, and the -8 is an enchantment-oriented Hum of the Radix, like a twist between Sphere of Safety and Aura of Silence. None of these abilities feel anything but white. The emblem is arguably UW, but not by much. With Auras that don’t do anything and a color identity that doesn’t mechanically contribute to the card, I feel that you can either keep her and buff some of the abilities or try to make her feel more in line with the contest, which you don’t really have to do at this point. I’m also worried about the name and the ability tie-ins. Estrid doesn’t “unmask” at all, does she? She’s a mask user, not a revealer of truth or any of the things “unmasking” would imply. Why would she make a False Mask? Is this some alternate storyline? If so, I don’t really understand what changed, or why.

Nitpicks: “*Its controller” in the -2, “*get an emblem” in the -8.

@fractured-infinity — Rhythm of Death (rare)

Intent: Red (/black) gains first strike, black (/green) has deathtouch, green (/red kind of) has lure. Everything’s coming together in a kind of keyword soup, so that’s all well and good! In limited someone who opens this will be very, very happy to make people cry. In casual Commander, it’s sure to help make negotiations.

Improvement: In terms of this contest, yeah, this isn’t really buttering my radishes. It’s there, it’s pretty standard, and it makes sense. There are two cards that have first strike and deathtouch and four more that can gain it naturally and all but one are in those colors. And that wouldn’t be a problem if this card was presented differently. I’m ignoring the art for now because it’s actually distracting here. What is the “rhythm?” Is something being given the rhythm? What’s repeating, cycled, constant? What about a rhythm gives the creature these abilities? Change the name, flavor it up, get some text in there, and use blank art. 

Nitpicks: “Enchant creature (lowercase) >> Enchanted creature has first strike and deathtouch, and must be blocked if able.” Take that with a grain of salt, though. Protective Bubble might have it say “Enchanted creature must be blocked if able and has first strike and deathtouch.” Or you can cut the middleman and make it two lines: “Enchanted creature has first strike and deathtouch. // Enchanted creature must be blocked if able.”

@gollumni — Exotic Wings

Intent: It’s interesting that we have two back-to-back “must be blocked” cards (hm, no shorthand?) in a row, both Auras no less, but very different. I like your flavor use with the wings being a status symbol, bright and glittery, and therefore turning the creature into irresistible prey of sorts. Aura colors are good, and the solid green effect is in there as well. The mechanics fit a pretty standard-ly powerful draft uncommon that can be used for beating down when necessary. 

Improvement: I’m 90% sure that right now GW doesn’t get flying by itself anymore, or at least very rarely. Pollenbright Wings and Shield of the Oversoul exist, so I’m on the fence. Maybe I’m biased with recent printings, but for two mana I’m not sure it’s what GW would need. That said, I’m sure there’s dissent and arguments to be made, and yes, I know its full color identity includes blue; this is pragmatic. I think this could have been solidly WUG with another buff, perhaps, but that just would have made it favorable for this contest and honestly it’s up to playtesting to see if those colors need a cheap flying aura. But the wings. The flavor. I… So these wings belong to birds, naturally? Who is summing this enchantment for mating? This is some kind of buff or boon that most any creature could have so in what world is some enchant-o-mancer giving “do me” wings to Mx. Passerby?? But, this may be just a quirk of the game, yeh?

Nitpicks: None!

@hiygamer — Etherium Replicator (JUDGE PICK)

Intent: Major kudos for making my look up Prototype Portal and seeing that my gut was wrong and that you DID use the right wording! This is a super-Esper card, more than any of the imprinted cards and honestly a great use of the art. Thopter Foundry is a great card but this one isn’t a bad use and would kind of make sense. Now, I’m not going to put this in improvements, because I want to ask a question: could this card be just plain UW? Possibly, but also consider: this card could be just a straight-up artifact as well, and it feels better how it is now. Why? Because the black invokes a different feeling. It invokes consumption, recycling, progress, larceny, calculation. It’s a very blue side of black. And it also feels, well, Esper! Its an established use of theme!... Honestly it’s probably more that. But I like it anyway. I’d say my bias was showing but none of the winners necessarily invoked Alara straight-up so thpt.

Improvement: There are mostly just wording errors. To be honest, if you’re getting something big, could this card be three mana? That’s probably pushing it, but worth testing. Multicolor custom cube time.

Nitpicks: “enterS the battlefield” (tense), “artifact or creature” (instead of the other way around), and most importantly: “Create a token that’s a copy of A CARD exiled with Etherium Replicator” etc. Because you can copy the ETB trigger and/or use shenanigans to exile other cards.

@hypexion — Ferrari, Sharp Scrapper

Intent: Well if my eyes don’t deceive me, it’s another Esper card! And an artifact-y card? Hm, artifact-enchant-y card. It’s easy to see the designation between colors, with self-mill and the lifegain going into black but leaning towards all three colors, the second ability being straight Disenchant, and the last one being an interesting UB pseudo-reanimation on the cheap, which is super interesting and aggressive. I can see this card intended as either a standard staple or being used as a supplemental planeswalker face card. There’d be a heavy amount of artifacts and enchantments for sure, probably artifact creatures.

Improvement: Did I miss something? When did WUB start caring about enchantments as a multicolor wedge identity? Alela and Zur have their thing, sure, but are those the baseline now? I’m more head-scratching and 0% mad, honestly. As a flavorful card, though, I’m not sure what you’re conveying exactly. So they get rid of stuff and they’re happy when they find garbage, but sometimes they want to scrap things they don’t like, but then they can recreate some of your garbage? Let’s back up and say that this card isn’t a Scrapper and that they’re an artifact/enchantment person. In the most general sense, I don’t really feel a harmony of ideas. The card feels one-note, like there’s very little to do besides abuse the -2 ability and maybe the -1 to get rid of some big thing on the table. The +1 exists to serve the -2, and the -1 feels like it’s trying to be protective for protection’s sake. I don’t know why this character does the things they do through the card. As utility planeswalkers become more abundant, the things they do have to be more resonant; imagine a fully-built world and put your card in the middle. No card is a metaphorical island.

Nitpicks: I think (maybe) that the +1 could be: “Mill up to three cards, then you gain 3 life for each artifact and/or enchantment card milled this way.”

@i-am-the-one-who-wololoes — Corpse Spell

Intent: I think you made this very apparent. As a counterspell, it does the job well, and then it lets you get an idea for free! The choice of casting a noncreature spell is particularly interesting, as it plays into this weird and not-really-that-common theme of transfiguration. Obviously polymorphing appears in blue and red but it feels black because of the flavor you’ve chosen to convey. That’s a great job.

Improvement: The big mechanical thing is that I would 100% make this let you case an instant, sorcery or creature instead of just a “noncreature spell.” These colors don’t really feel like they could transmute a creature into something that’s not an idea or, well, a corpse, and it really seems as though that’s the idea you’re going for. The big flavor thing, though, is the name. I really and truly don’t know what you’re trying to convey. Now, I’m aware that English isn’t your first language, and that’s a barrier that I’m not sure how to cross for this kind of criticism. “Corpse Spell” seems like a playtest name. As a concept, this card is great. As a submission, I’m still having to extrapolate a lot; most importantly, it doesn’t tell me how the caster is using the magic to turn a creature into something else. Work on telling that story, and when possible, use native speakers to help get ideas across.

Nitpicks: I think the wording would be: “Counter target creature spell. You may cast target noncreature card with converted mana cost less than or equal to that spell’s converted mana cost  from your graveyard without paying its mana cost, and if that card would be put into your graveyard this turn, exile it instead.” Because if you exile it as it resolves and it’s, like, an artifact or planeswalker, what’s the point? Hence my note about instants/sorceries and maybe other creatures.

@ignorantturtlegaming — Draxys, Scourge Eternal

Intent: This card absolutely fits the elemental shell. It feels to me like a standard or CMR-style bomb mythic that hits the table and kinda goes nuts. I mean, it wouldn’t be your commander probably, but in Conspiracy-style? Man. Multiplayer draft, that’s what I mean. It gets cards, it gets counters, it deals damage, then Blitz Hellion-s away. It does indeed feel like a blend of all the crazy things that come in these colors, and you did that much very well. It’s not broken, but it’s powerful, and it’s repeatedly monstrous (not the mechanic, lol) with the fear that it’ll return (until someone Doom Blades it, but that’s the game for ya). Great feeling of a massive beautiful monster.

Improvement: Really, the one thing I would do to improve it would be to consolidate the second and third triggers into “When Draxys enters the battlefield, draw four cards, put four +1/+1 counters on it, then it deals 4 damage divided as you choose among any number of creatures and/or planeswalkers.” No, wait—why not make it an 8/8 and just have it draw cards and deal damage? Because of its massive cost, you’re not gonna play it and then activate Wheel of Fortune in the same turn unless you’re playing some crazy massive game, and then it just shuffles away anyway! So, my suggestion would be to make this one massive bomb when it hits and really get the Timmy out of it.

Nitpicks: None!

@jsands84 — Quarrel, Tariff Enforcer

Intent: The colors are obvious enough, right? A sphinx (blue) based on taxing and punishing (white) to make your opponents lose life (black). Couldn’t be simpler. The color weight is reminiscent of standard cards like Ultimatum cycles but heck, we’ve seen weirder commander cards in the past. I like the fact that even though the color weight is really heavy, the keywords support that kind of aggression without being too overbearing like we’ve seen in other chase rares and mythics.

Improvement: That said, I don’t think it needs that weight at all. 3WUB would have done the exact same and it wouldn’t have looked awkward. Why would it need that weight in the first place? Well, perhaps if it entered the battlefield with an amazing immediate effect. And this card, well, it doesn’t. You have a great eye for flavor and the fact that a legendary (read:uniquely adept) sphinx is enforcing the tax laws of the universe? 10/10. But it doesn’t need that kind of punishment, especially considering, like, the effect really doesn’t come up outside of vintage. So yeah, reduce the weight.

Nitpicks: In the flavor text, “their” referring to the universe is kind of an odd pronoun. With most cases IIRC the concept is objectified instead of personalized, see Aether Adept. (Also there aren’t many cards with ‘universe’ in the flavor text, surprisingly.)

@justincase-1012 — Startling Wisp

Intent: Illusions are almost entirely blue (and one of only two illusions with zero blue in its box is Esper-centric, funnily enough) so that’s all interesting, but this is definitely breaking from the artifact theme and going for color flavor. The fact that it is the one doing the startling is somewhat black, but the discard definitely is. Because of the narrowness of this ability, I feel that it’s intended to be a draft/standard oriented card as opposed to eternal breadth. A 1/1 flying indestructible spirit in these colors is honestly pretty fair and ghostly!

Improvement: This card is too narrow to be common but definitely too specific to be rare, and that narrowness really is...weird. It doesn’t just require noncombat damage, but it requires noncombat damage from creatures. Why? “The next time a source would deal noncombat damage to you or another creature you control this turn” would be perfectly reasonable. Also, why the next phase? Just have it say “Then, if ~ is on the battlefield, return it to its owner’s hand.” The timing doesn’t feel necessary. And honestly, I don’t find this card “startling” much. It’s alluring, certainly, but not startling. Consider renaming and tightening the focus. Too narrow and things just get ugly.

Nitpicks: So you do need “this turn” as I said above, and then looking at other printed oracle text: “that damage is dealt to ~ instead” etc. etc. 

@kytheon4-4 — Surrak of New Atarka

Intent: Surrak was a three-color monster the last time we saw him, and he’s back in action now and reclaiming his colors. This is definitely meant to be a commander of sorts, hyper-aggressive with some awesome combat to boot. The first ability’s Gleam of Battle is really aggressively costed here but it makes sense in a timeline when he’s reclaimed some kind of new unity. And of course, the callbacks to both Tarkir timelines is there and well and good. Color-wise, your choice to then go ahead and make a future new timeline is really interesting and I can feel that sort of “new ‘Naya’” blood pumping in Surrak’s veins.

Improvement: The first damage trigger is great, if pretty pushed for Naya colors. The second clause is… Well, call it a “winmore” if you want, but it really is a winmore. Big creatures are big and that’s okay, but if they’re that big and dealing damage, then an indestructible counter is kind of adding insult to injury. And frankly, why not combine these all into one trigger, so that the Gleam ability is just a little less pushed? Whenever the creature deals damage, THEN it gets a counter, and IF it’s four or greater THEN you draw a card, and THEN if it’s eight or greater, something weird happens.

Nitpicks: None!

@mardu-lesbian — Contentious Pair

Intent: A white Soldier, a red Goblin, and a deathtouch counter, and yep, the gang’s all here. Token-making in red and white is pretty standard, a little less for BR and more heavily in the white part of WB, but all the same there’s nothing wrong with that appearing in the three-color combo. It’s interesting you went for a post-Conflux kind of deal with Alara...wedges? Really unique. This is most definitely designed to be a common card for a standard expansion, meant to be drafted and whatnot. It implies a lot about the potential future!

Improvement: I’m unsure how you came up with these colors and creature types. Bant, the shard of soldiers, and Jund, of Goblins, do have one shared color: green. But then this card would have been what, white-green-red? And that’s problematic in another way, and I get that. As it stands, though, this feels heavily weighted towards BR and less towards white, and honestly, this feels definitely uncommon. You get two bodies at instant speed, one of which will most likely destroy an attacking creature. Instant deathtouch isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and it’s been in standard for a bit. The bodies and potential permanent deathtouch when you have an empty board is what raises the complexity. My flavor question: why are they contentious? Makes me feel like we’re seeing the start of the story more than a split-second moment; this card might feel better as an uncommon sorcery.

(Also, I’m just imagining them coming over a mountain at instant-speed during combat, and the soldier and the goblin are just talking about their differences and the goblin is showing off their poison dagger when a beast just WHAMS into them and they both instantly die as the soldier looks on in shock and horror. I do love it when cards tell weird stories.)

Nitpicks: None, I don’t think.

@misterstingyjack — Galtiber, Segovian Titan

Intent: Ah, the memes. Well, still, 1/1 tribal is an interesting take on the whole build-around-me dealio. I can honestly say I’m unsure where this card would fit, but that’s not a bad thing. It feels build-around me, but could it work in a limited environment? You’d need a higher as-fan of 1/1s or tokens, and that’s not a bad thing. Honestly, this card doesn’t feel too bad. He’s a protector and he makes them all work together. It’s a neat little design that captures the diligence, unity and edification of these citizens.

Improvement: I really can’t think of a place where this card would see play, though, and the issue is? There’s no real way to improve that past putting this in a pretty bonkers set where it can either go nuts or be mediocre. There are a lot of cool things you can do with this card, but where does he fit? Segovia is a weird plane and designing for it is hard. I love this card and would love to build with it but the fact is that it’s just going to be weird. I’ll put this in nitpicks, but there’s wording issues. Additionally, talking about the character by name in the flavor text is a little off-putting to me. I’m sure it’s happened before but the story feels like a moment being described more than a character.

Nitpicks: “Creatures you control with base power and toughness 1/1” is the correct way to word these things, Iiii think.

@morbidlyqueerious — Ricantha, Ribbon-Dancer (mythic) (JUDGE PICK)

Intent: As much as this technically could be someone’s general, I like this card as a standard-legal mythic, like Kethis or Yarok. It’s surprisingly easy to understand while being quite powerful in its own way. I wouldn’t call it a Voltron card so much as I would call it a control bomb, certainly for limited. The white-blue deals with the tapping, more the blue with the freezing, and the alluring aspect and keywords fill in the green. It brings a lot of the multicolored feel even with a monocolor activated ability. 

Improvement: You know, the flavor almost outshines the color aspect. Looking back I do see the intent, but I’m also mostly seeing an interesting take on the dancing and the enchanting aspect. They’re vigilant, they ‘tie down’ the creatures, and they make other creatures follow them. Honestly, this is a case of “right card wrong contest,” where you made a great card to convey the specific act of ribbon-dancing and a dance leader so much that it overtakes the intent of color. The jokingly biting way of saying this is that you didn’t pander to me as a judge enough (/s). I don’t know about reach; first strike, maybe, to show their agility?

Nitpicks: The combat trigger should be one sentence, see the oracle on Kamigawa snakes.

@mtg-ds — Majak, Revival Instigator (JUDGE PICK)

Intent: Now I wouldn’t call this a gimmick card but I would say that there’s a lot going on here, again, with the flavor. Sacrificing each other creature actually feels white in a Cataclysmic way but with a black edge of making all the zombies. Hasty zombies fills in the red and plays into the instigative aspect, and man, getting everyone out onto the dance floor? I’ll admit that this card is kind of silly with the art, but there’s something unusually cathartic about it. He enters, turns them all into zombies, makes them dance, then whenever someone else dies they join the dance, and when he leaves the music stops. Like, it’s kind of brilliant, how the zombies can’t dance without him. As a flavorful card for a supplemental set I think that you did a fantastic job.

Improvement: My first small note is that the art is again really distracting, and like, I understand that that might’ve been the purpose but “zombie dance party” out of context feels a little unusual, and the name “Revival Instigator” is a touch on the nose. But those are small concerns next to the fact that this card really could have been black/red and wouldn’t have made that much of a difference. Could’ve even kept the Cleric typing. Again, I need to also say that this card is downright fantastic mechanically, but just not quite white there for the purposes of this contest. Keep this card as-is, maybe make him a Human IMO. I don’t have any significant improvements.

Nitpicks: None!

@naban-dean-of-irritation — Tamakoma, Spectral Shiver (JUDGE PICK)

Intent: Clever clogs, I looked up that name and it is indeed fitting! Very clever you are, just as clever as giving the UB flash ninja ETB feeling that strikes fear into the heart of those who don’t know she’s coming. White’s got the spirit flash and indestructible, black’s got deathtouch, flash, AND indestructible, and blue’s got the ninja feeling. Something tells me this would totally be a supplemental card unless Kamigawa goes three-colors, but to be honest I get a MH1 vibe more, and that’s okay too. Major kudos for making me double-check cards like Ambuscade Shaman for this weird wording.

Improvement: I can see how this card would be white flavorfully; I think its just precedent working against you. Because of the way that black has been encroaching upon indestructible in the past couple years, this card could just be blue-black and fit into the ninja feeling just as well. I personally like the white spirit aspect. It’s just not as present here as I would have liked for this contest. Great card, no mechanical improvements.

Nitpicks: I don’t know if “the hollows of the night” are, like, a thing? I don’t know, just as a writer it reads weird to me. One day I’ll be accredited and that won’t seem like such a jackass comment too.

@nine-effing-hells —  Llanlaia Rywh, the Inmost Eye

Intent: I like your take on elves here, using the focus and mood to turn the ordinarily green elves into some warrior monastery funky stuff. I’m getting the sense of a cave world, or some kind of twisted plane where expectations are thwarted and the different races of Magic have to find their own kind of way around. Definitely a face card for the tribe in whatever set it’s based in. 

Improvement: There’s no blue and black here, or at least I’m not feeling it mechanically, and for this contest that’s the most important thing. Giving a Runed Halo effect on a pump is really darn powerful, and to have this dismiss any damage or removal at instant speed is definitely powerful and definitely white. The concept of looking within for meditation is a bit blue, sure, but I don’t see that expressed on this card as much. I do have some major presentation issues. The name is almost completely unpronounceable, so consider shortening it and cleaning it significantly. The flavor text is also in need of shortening and edits. “Look within to look around.” With a hint that the elves are blind, boom, you’re golden. So: name change, flavor paring, and consider that this card feels overall white. That said, for flavor and balance reasons for this card, keeping those colors is fine. Also consider that this is a really damn powerful beater.

Nitpicks: None that I can tell.

@partlycloudy-partlyfuckoff — Everlasting Forefather

Intent: Here’s the thing: I’ll get to stuff in the ‘improvements’ section but mechanically, this card is really interesting for a number of flavorful reasons. Three-mana 4/3 with mentor is perfectly powerful in these colors, that’s great, flavorfully fine as a forefather. Creating two spirits upon death, awesome, those are the embodiments of his students and ideals, and most importantly, play into the embalm, where his zombie can teach the spirits after death and makes for great flying beaters, AND that Zombie token will make more spirits in remembrance. The use of flavorful mechanics gives it an interesting edge even if all these individual mechanics could be in mono-white.

Improvement: One, I would personally make this a warrior, but that’s super minor. Two… I can’t think of any reason outside a custom set where you’d have three non-evergreen mechanics from three different sets and two different planes on the same card. It feels like a custom card, not in the sense that it’s at all thoughtless or amateurish, because it’s not, but because there’s no way of making these pieces come together in a meaningful way; it feels like you’re removing the restrictions on what can go together for the sake of it. MH1 did have some mechanical mashups and we’ve explored that before. This feels like a bit too much for what we’re looking for. Honestly, for a custom multicolor cube or w/e, keep this card. But you might also want to consider MSE or having someone render for you, because with the VERY necessary rules text, this one takes up a lot of text; no room for flavor, and no need, ‘cause you do it all naturally anyway.

Nitpicks: Mm, none, I don’t think!

@reaperfromtheabyss — Glorified Minddrinker (JUDGE PICK)

Intent: This is definitely asking to be in a standard/draftable set as a tribal beater. You give it evasion, you use other vampires/warlocks to mess stuff up, you get in, and you drink. BW vampire lifegain meets the milling, and there you have it. What I really like is the fact that it’s “any card,” like Bloodchief Ascension, but that feels blue, because they’re drinking from the mind and not just the body, and I dunno, I REALLY like that kind of neat flavor niche. I also love how this makes a really roundabout already-exploited infinite combo with Sanguine Bond and Mindcrank, both of which are halves of other better combos.

Improvement: Mechanically, there’s nothing to improve here, except you might want to consider some kind of evasion. I think there’s just the nitpick of having “Glorified” in there without any understanding of what makes this creature glorified or why. A snippet of flavor could have helped with that, and with only two abilities. I don’t know, this one just didn’t pop to me for some reason. It’s a perfectly fine submission, and it just needs a little more pop.

Nitpicks: None! Nice and clear.

@shootingstarhunter — Storm Key

Intent: I find it interesting that the mana made from sacrificing is red but the abilities have a central Riku-like fascination. This feels like a supplemental card for sure, although I’m sure there are standard shenanigans. It would require a set in which RUG/Temur has an artifact theme and in which giving things storm is on the table. I have the feeling that in a genuinely competitive Maelstrom Wanderer deck that this card could turn a possible win into a guaranteed win. It’s there to help big things be bigger, but without a win-more feel, and I like that.

Improvement: In terms of this contest, it lacks elegance in its cohesion. The flavors don’t necessarily blend as well as they could. There’s a lot of rules text that emphasizes the separation rather than blending it together. My suggestions: Make it just cost RUG, no generic, reword the first ability to be: “When ~ is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, add R for each spell you’ve cast this turn,” and the second ability to “5, T, Sacrifice ~: When you cast your next instant, sorcery or creature spell this turn, copy it for each spell you’ve cast before it this turn.” And then add reminder text about targets and permanents. A tiny bit more flexible and less text, and you can add in some flavor. Personally I don’t really get the “Key” aspect. It feels more like a big machine of sorts.

Nitpicks: Remember to capitalize “Sacrifice” in the ability costs. Second reminder text should be “You don’t choose new targets for the copies.” I think, there’s not much precedent. Check the MSE Discord for tech help in getting your name/type text straightened out if you’d like.

@snugz — Erratic Polymorph (JUDGE PICK)

Intent: This does feel very wild, more of the Temur frontier or even the Ketria triome. Either one of those sets getting a return could have this, or a supplemental draft set on that world, or a commander product aimed at those timelines. This card’s pretty flexible in that sense! The red lack of control over twisty magic is definitely evident, with the green bear and the blue otters as representative of those sides of the wild. I like how you took blue’s natural sense and made it river/forest oriented. Big boys and little boys do different kinds of cool damage. I can dig it! (Although I’m more inclined to bears than otters myself…)

Improvement: I wouldn’t call this “elegant” as a primary adjective for its color balance, even though it’s very neat still overall. The obviousness of green being bears and blue being otters doesn’t take away from the fact that both of them make sense. The long and short is that I don’t have card improvements, and this card’s just for a different contest.

Nitpicks: None-zo

@starch255 — Dopplicant

Intent: Very clever, I see. You used white’s enchantment base for the card type even though it’s a strictly red and blue ability. Copying any spells is on the table now with Lithoform Engine so that makes sense. This could be in just about any set with these colors, and you know what, that’s perfectly fine. Jeskai, Raugrin (ugh), or otherwise, there’s cool stuff happening.

Improvement: With a vague name and flavor, it’s easy to have this card be a thumbs-up mechanically, but what...exactly is it? It’s name makes me think of the creature Duplicant, which is fine, makes sense, although it’s not a creature here like any of the other “-cant” cards. I just can’t place it, which is obviously a presentation thing over a mechanical issue. For the Fair, presentation is somewhat important, and also contextualizes your cards. It might just be a “me” thing to keep in mind for when I’m judging, so don’t take it personally at all. I think the idea is sound and all we need is polish.

Nitpicks: None~

@stormtide-leviathan — Jeskai Confluence

Intent: Like the confluences of C15, this is a charm-like modal spell with three pretty standard modes for the colors: blue draw, red damage, white erase. I can see this being part of either a standard return to that other timeline or as part of a “clan clash” supplemental set for sure. 

Improvement: In the main post, there were examples like Shattergang Brothers that were posted as technically fine but not elegant. Totally separating your colors and abilities was part of that, breaking the cohesion. Unfortunately, charm effects were most definitely part of that area. I know that Magic design space isn’t eternally open, and I hate to say this, but because this card uses 2/3 abilities already found on the printed confluences and only minorly changes the damage, this feels somewhat derivative. I would go back to the drawing board and look at overlap rather than individualization, what the colors could have done together to make a card that creates something unique.

Nitpicks: There should be a period after “once” instead of an emdash.

@thedirtside — Twisted Design

Intent: I think that with Tezzeret being who he is and with the cool trend of colored artifacts, this card could absolutely find play in a variety of places. It feels almost like a story card, someone’s terrible (well, twisted) creation. That much is absolutely apparent. The counter/exile is definitely blue and black-ish but I like how the theft kind of ends up being red as well and the artifact typing helps with that. Flavor text is pretty okay too. Short, simple.

Improvement: That...second ability. Are you choose a card as part of a cost? I’m no rules guru but I’m almost certain that you can’t do that. And it doesn’t specify the speed, so you can basically pay the (very fair) cost to exile the spell, but then very unfairly get it back anytime you want. Why random, too? What if that spell has other random restrictions or no legal targets? There’s a lot to unpack from that with no printed precedent because, to put it bluntly, it doesn’t work within the rules. I really like the idea of having a card where you can somehow steal, twist, or morph their spells into new nightmares or futures. Work with that idea to make something URBy that, well, works rules-wise.

Nitpicks: It took me a bit to find your source photo with your source link (X), and I don’t even think that blog’s using proper permission. Here’s the gist: if you can’t find the original photographer, either go stock or don’t use art, OR find a source that’s more easily traceable. Pretend that you’re someone who has to find the source working backwards.

@walker-of-the-yellow-path — Ziziphus, the Lotus Eater

Intent: I could never be like him, I could never talk like that. Also, thank you for making this explicitly commander-based, heh. Food tokens are interesting, and I can see the token art already as well as the kind of person you might imagine Ziziphus to be. Oddly enough, they feel Therosian, considering the “lotus eaters” in the Odyssey, and that’s not a bad thing I suppose. Food’s sort of in the green area, with blue-white profiteering, and the general combat lull sort of encapsulating the whole GWU-ish control feeling. Turbo-fog ahoy.

Improvement: Competitive commander gets shut down pretty easily and casual commander becomes almost instantly unfun. It’s an instant-speed everyone-gets-it nigh-uncounterable Pacifism array that’s flavorfully understandable but puts a target on you as the one person to kill if anyone wants this game to ever end. I understand the top-down design but it’s impractical and I don’t see a game where this being your commander would make the gameplay better. So like Gwafa Hazid, consider your design: what would entice people to take the food? What’s the payoff? How often do you want this to happen to improve gameplay without causing staleness? Is food where you want to go, using lifegain to then further prolong the game?... Oh. Oh, someone can also just lorus-ify Ziziphus itself and then nothing happens in this version. That’s something to consider.

Nitpicks: The name’s really similar to “Sisyphus” in pronunciation. I was distracted.

@whuh-oh — Tainted Lightninghorn

Intent: Some day, I think we’re gonna get a five-color Lightning Blankemental kind of card, and I can’t wait for it. So yeah, it’s an aggressive predatory insect elemental with nasty sauce, and I feel this in a supplemental set for sure. 

Improvement: So as an uncommon, it’s already pretty pushed, too much so. Ball Lightning set a precedent, and it’s a rare for a reason, honestly. That much power even for four mana with the abilities you’ve given it is a but much. For this card, most importantly, I need to be as clear as I can: The interaction between deathtouch and trample is an unintuitive quirk of the game. They do not belong on the same card with zero restrictions, especially not on an uncommon. Sometimes it’s okay to just make a cool card because it’s cool. I like my weird cards, I like my weird interactions. Forcing them feels like choosing indulgence over good design. I’m not feeling the uniqueness of the colors, I’m not feeling the flavor (why does lightning leave decay?), and I’m not feeling the gameplay. Where do we go from here? I think this general concept is fine for a personal set or a supplemental concept. Contextualize it for that area, look at environmental answers, and then see if you want to play with what the colors do.

Nitpicks: I’m 90% sure it’d go “Deathtouch, haste, menace, trample.” Also, I’m sure someone pointed out the whole flying-without-flying thing for the art, that’s very mildly distracting.

@wolkemesser — Murmurs of the Bosk

Intent: Yeah, this is very much a Lorwyn-inspired card, and I’m happy for that. Both the treefolk flavor and the permanent return are green, returning to the battlefield is white and black, and the white enchantment plus toughness matters (also in green) gives this card a magnificent flow of feeling, the trees returning. I can see this in any set, but especially a standard return to Lorwyn, and yet it could have a home in several cool recursion decks! It’s a nice little addition for both lovers of slow return and for treefolk fans.

Improvement: This card was going to be a runner-up or even a judge pick, but the severity of nitpicks grew until I realized that there were just too many problems to give it full commendation. I’ll put the revised wording in the ‘nitpicks’ bar and get to the big ones: the name, and the flavor text. The name is obviously an homage to Murmuring Bosk, right? That’s understandable, but the name is literally so close that I can’t think of anything else. The difference between being honoring and being derivative is enigmatic at times. This particular case is more evident. And the flavor text is almost completely ripped off from Doran’s card itself. Literally, it keeps the order and adds four words that don’t add sense or depth to the character. For future submissions, keep that in mind. As a mechanical suggestion, you could just have it be the greatest toughness without targeting, and it does need to target the card in the graveyard.

Nitpicks: “At the beginning of your upkeep, you may return target permanent card with converted mana cost X or less from your graveyard to the battlefield, where X is the greatest toughness among creatures you control.”

Join us tomorrow, for a new contest, and a brush...with DEATH.

- @abelzumi​

#mtg #magic the gathering #custom magic card #commentary #three cheese blend #inventor's fair #long post

[keelymewett]

Zombie Movie: I Am Legend (2007)

“Here’s Karen at the health desk.”

Karen from the health desk. (Picture: A female news anchor, Karen from the health desk.)

Language warning (sorry kids, but this is an MA15+ movie). 

I shit you not, that’s one of the opening quotes of the movies. So, friends and enemies, welcome to the longest review I’ve done of a zombie movie yet. It’s 1:35am here in Australia and I’ve just finished rewatching I Am Legend, everything’s fresh in my mind and I’m hyped up on chocolate. 

This movie has incredible tension, a fresh take on the zombie apocalypse, and it’s based on the 1954 novel by Richard Matherson, which inspired the modern day vampire and zombie movies. Why you may ask? Because it popularised the concept of a worldwide apocalypse due to a disease... now I’m beginning to realise that watching zombie movies during a global pandemic maybe wasn’t the best idea I’ve ever had. Any who. 

YouTube rewind made me forget how bloody good of an actor Will Smith is, and boy does he deliver in this movie. Robert’s (that his character, btw, though I will probably end up just referring to the character as Will Smith) interactions with Sam the goodest girl in the world (she’s a dog) and the mannequins is incredible.

The goodest girl in the world. (Picture: A dog (I’m sorry - I don’t know dog breeds! I’m 99% sure she’s a German Shepard) being given a bath and head scratches by Will Smith.)

Now: three things to look forward to in this “review” (assuming you read the spoilery section below). One: how realistic is this apocalypse? Two: there’s a dog. Three: zombie vampires. Vampire zombies? 

Backgrounds details! (Picture: Will Smith opened the fridge. On the fridge door are photos of his wife and daughter, a calendar dated for December, a drawing with “Marley” written in kids handwriting, post-it notes, a pamphlet with the heading “Quarantine”, and a Time Magazine cover of Robert Neville (Will Smith). The title reads (heading) “Saviour?” (sub-heading) “Soldier, Scientist” (body of text) “In a Battle that Could Save Thousands of Lives, Lt. Col. Robert Neville Takes on the XV Virus.”

Also, there’s banging in my house at the moment and when I say I’m peaking. I’m going to need to listen to some music while I write this.

Read on for a fun time! Spoilers ahoy!

Realism (the really relevant part. Yikes)

Okay, so what’s this fresh take on the apocalypse? Basically, this doctor cures cancer and it all goes to shit from there. I’m not 100% on the logistical jump from “destroying cancer cells” to ���humans (and animals) becoming bloodthirsty mutants that burn in the sun” - for instance, this is just my sci-fi high-school biology and physics brain working here, cancer is basically a rogue cell that mutates other cells and destroys them in the process, yeah? So if the doctor, like she said, uses these cancer cells to work for the body and in the process “cures” cancer, wouldn’t the humans just... infect each other and the virus would kill the host if it went south? Given, that did happen in like 90% of cases as Will Smith explains, but where does the sunlight allergy come in? Is cancer afraid of UV? Confused, but I digress. 

... Is that my queen, Missy, from Umbrella Academy? (Picture: A woman with blood leaking from her eyes, holding a child and shouting for help.)

The scene where they’re listening to the radio and the guy is like we’re “issuing a military quarantine of New York City” I’m like bitch you wish. Unrealistic. The USA currently (9/10/2020) has the highest cases of COVID-19 in the world (for future historians and poor school children, it’s at 7.68 MILLION cases, no statistic for recovered cases for some weird ass reason, and sadly, 212,000 deaths. For reference, here in Australia we’ve had as of today 27,206 cases, 24,807 recovered and 897 deaths. New Zealand, who went into hard lockdown, had as of today, 1,864 cases, 1,800 recovered, and 25 deaths, with a period where there were 0 new cases for several days.)

Though, with that in mind, everyone going outside and gathering in large crowds? Realistic. 

The actual movie part

Praises time! Will Smith has a stockpile of food. Also, him getting Sam (the dog) to eat her vegetables like she’s a little kid? Cutest thing ever. 

Stockpilesss. (Picture: Will Smith wearing an apron and preparing a meal in a kitchen chock full of food items, including things like Pringles and spaghetti sauce.)

Setting alarms on his watch for sunset? Brilliant, smart idea, fantastic. Re-enforced windows and door, AND booby-trapped house? Incredible, genius. Setting traps to catch the zomvamps? (like the dumb name I just came up with? Don’t worry, I’ll reveal the stupid arbitrary name they ACTUALLY came up with later) Talent, intelligence. 

Dude, why wouldn’t you restrain the head/chest? You know, the part that can bite you? (Picture: Will Smith in a lab coat standing over a female zombie-vampire who’s been secured to a metal bench by the wrists and ankles. Medical monitors are connected to her.)

Now, Will Smith is out here looking for a cure. And by looking, I mean actively creating. In a lab. He washes his hands before going in - *chef’s kiss* follow his example - and unlike other zombie movies where it’s super dramatic in the hunt for a cure, this is a lot more chill considering it’s a) been 3 years and b) is more like how science actually works. Trials, tests, animal test-subjects (there is a debate about the ethics of this which I won’t go into here) (I mean a debate in real life not in the zombie movie haha) and human test-subjects. 

“Did you kidnap my girlfriend, bro?” (Picture: bald, pale muscular dude-bro-looking zombie-vampire roaring in rage.)

The mother-fracking zombies

I have to say it: these are the most dumbass looking vampire-zombies. I say vampire-zombies (zomvamps) because they avoid sunlight but also eat people? 

Now, unlike most zombie movies, these are really bloody intelligent zomvamps. At one point, after setting a booby trap and catching a zomvamp after stumbling into a nest of them, Robert says “They’re not showing any human social behaviour.” Hahahaha. Okay bitch first of all dude bro screamed when you kidnapped his mate, secondly dude bro has pet dogs, thirdly dude bro fucking caught you in a trap. He took revenge on you there, love. He followed you home!

The zomvamps are apex predators, can climb, run, hunt in packs, communicate with each other, set booby traps, make coordinated attacks, follow you home, learn where you live and remember it, and holy fuck humans had no chance. 

Thank you for clarifying, because I actually found this quite funny. Like, look at him! (Picture: dude-bro zombie-vampire from earlier growling in front of a flaming car. The zombie-vampires are very CGI, pale, fish-person looking things with pale skin and completely bald of hair. This guy is wearing ripped clothes. The caption reads “Growls menacingly”.)

Random things I have in my notes but haven’t mentioned yet (yes I took notes) 

What’s with the apocalypse and mannequins? Looking at you, Five (Umbrella Academy). 

(Picture: Will Smith looking at a “female” mannequin, who is dressed in a coat and black bob wig. They’re in a movie store. Funnily enough, behind the mannequin is the “Adult” section of the films.)

I agree with the fuck-that-shit sentiment when you see a mannequin suddenly appear in a different part of the city - like how in the hell?? 

(Picture: Will Smith aiming a rifle at a mannequin in an orange jumper. Mannequin is usually located outside of the movie store, yet here it is randomly in the middle of the street at the end of a T-section. There are tall glass windows behind the mannequin, and the window to the right has a giant, gaping pitch black hole in it. It’s presumed that there is a nest of zombie-vampires in there.)

... so is this a booby trap for humans or for zomvamps? Because the former makes sense if that dude bro zomvamp analysed Will Smith’s trap from earlier and remade it (hence dropped the car off a bridge to string him up), and the latter doesn’t really make sense because a) you’ll only catch (and probably kill) one zomvamp and why would you want only one unless you’re Robert and two why tf aren’t you meeting up with Robert he’s been broadcasting and racing around town hunting deer (elk?) in a sports car. 

I’d like to know how hard it actually is to do like a weird sit-up and get yourself free of one of these kinds of traps. Am I dumb for thinking it’s not that hard? (Picture: Will Smith is suspended in the air by a rope tied around his ankle, the result of a booby-trap. He’s struggling to free himself.)

Come on, you’re literally a doctor and a soldier. Don’t tell me you’re actually considering pulling that out? (Picture: Will Smith has been impaled in the leg by something. It looks like he’s about to attempt to pull it out. He’s in the middle of the street as the sun sets, and Sam is right next to him.)

Sam is a queen. Here are some photos of her.

(Picture: Robert Neville’s wife carrying a baby Sam - Sam is a puppy, by the way, and very adorable. Neville’s young daughter is walking out of the gate to their house behind her mother.)

(Picture: Will Smith in a flashback saying goodbye to his wife and daughter and crying. Sam is licking away his tears.)

Sometimes I hate foreshadowing. (Picture: Will Smith searching a house. He opens a cupboard and there’s a newspaper article with a picture of a zombie-vampire dog. The article reads “Infected dogs can come out at dusk. Stay in the light.” There’s a number to call for questions.)

Worst birthday ever. Now I’m sad and there’s still half the movie left. 

(Picture: Will Smith sitting on the floor of his lab, hugging Sam, who’s just been bitten by infected dogs.) 

Get Shrek’d.

(Picture: The ‘Shrek’ movie playing on the TV in Neville’s house.)

Ma’am, do you not know how to ration? That is such a waste of food. (Picture: the woman and kid who rescued Will Smith have cooked breakfast. She’s cooked way too many scrambled eggs for two adults and a kid, and all the of the bacon for literally no reason.)

Oh yeah, wanna know what they call the zombies in this movie? 

Dark Seekers. They dropped that one on us well into the final half of the movie. Dark Seekers? Really? I won’t get into how dumb that sounds when you had two options to choose from - vampires and zombies. Hell, go with my suggestion of zomvamps, even vampzoms. Dark Seekers? Sorry, I get hung up on dumb zombie-alternative names. Sure, I get the atmosphere might be ruined by calling them vampires or zombies, but not even lying I didn’t realise she said “Dark Seekers” until I turned the CC on to grab a quote. I thought she said “Dog Keepers” hahahaha. “The dog keepers got them.” My defence is that the dude bro did keep dogs. 

Finally, wrapping this up at 2:15 before I add in pictures, you’re telling me approximately 100 zomvamps made a coordinated attack on Will Smith’s house to eat... 3 people? That’s like me and a hundred mates descending on the pentagon for a fucking snickers bar. We’d get like an atom each. 

Oh, what’s that? They’re here to rescue one person? Really? Really? How in the fuck are they even zombies if their primary purpose isn’t to eat humans. I’m disappointed. But points for a fresh take, at least. 

Now one of the things I remember about this movie is that is has an alternate ending. The actual ending (huge spoilers but then again, you’re in the spoiler section) has Will Smith sacrifice himself (read: blow himself and the zomvamps up with a grenade) to defend the cure and save his new friends. The alternate ending, which was scrapped due to negative audience reaction, has Will Smith communicate with the zomvamps who like actually calm down and listen to him. He gives the dude bro back his friend, and... no one dies. 

I’m sorry, how is an ending where, sure, a cure isn’t found YET, but, the “villains” of the movie are humanised and a new side of them is seen that shows, hey, maybe there’s another way through this apocalypse, better than an ending where Will Smith dies? Make it make sense test audience. Because, remember, there’s still a whole bunch of immune people living out here, and three of them are currently in the same room. Robert’s only been working on the cure for 3 years. How many years do you reckon it takes to cure cancer? Hint: it’s ongoing in real life. Just because the cure isn’t found in the movie doesn’t mean it won’t be found. Ughhhh. I digress again. 

I have more random photos but I am very tired. If anyone’s interested in hearing me roast butterflies, the world not actually ending in 2012, and a missed pun about Until Dawn (even though it was made like ten years after this), and a quick analysis on Robert Neville and God, let me know :) 

Have a great day everyone, wash your hands, social distance if possible, and quarantine. Just because the COVID-19 virus isn’t turning us into zombies doesn’t mean it isn’t hurting us. 

Worldwide statistics, 9/10/2020: 36.2M total cases, 25.3M recovered, 1.06M deaths. 

(Picture: Will Smith saying “I like ‘Shrek’ after just quoting an entire scene of it to win a kid’s trust.)

#zombie #movies #I Am Legend #Will Smith #vampires #zombies #Dark Seekers #quarantine #doggos #shrek #apocalypse #mannequins #The Umbrella Academy

[sometimesrosy]

Hi Rosy, hope all is well. It has been very interesting reading your Season 6 theories and am just wondering what you might think Madi's role will be next season? (v sorry if you have mentioned this but I don't recall coming across it) Hope you have a great weekend! xo

This is such a hard question. Even harder than the one about Bellamy, and I was working on it all day yesterday and getting distracted. Madi is hard to speculate for, because she doesn’t really have any unfinished stories, except the flame one, and we don’t know what that means yet. Or I don’t. I think that her storyline will be intimately connected with the most science fiction parts of the story. I also see Madi’s story as being connected to the final conclusion of the story, also about creating a new society.

I suspect that the AI in her head will have a lot to do with the new planet. I have two possibilities. 

An AI that Becca sent with the Eligius which never suffered perverse instantiation is working just fine and will be able to connect with Madi and the flame.

An ALIEN from the planet that exists on another plane from human can pick up the signals from the Flame, and it will become relevant again that way.

I say this because the ELigius instagram posted that story where SOMEONE knew that THEY were coming. I’m assuming Eligius 3. A ship of sleeping people. And then SOMEONE saw HER. Her who? And then SOMEONE said “SHE IS.” 

So basically, what I see, as the hint, is that someone on the planet, either AI or Alien being, or BOTH, knows of Madi. Her dreaming human body kept the AI active in her head, sending out messages, probably as dreams, which is the way the flame communicates with their host. As was stated by Lxa. 

So. Here’s some out there speculation I have, based on my belief that there will be an ALIE on the planet, and/or nonhumanoid aliens who have an altered reality. (this spec comes from both the past mythology of Becca, Eligius, Cadogan, The Flame, AND the books/movies/shows that JR has as recommended viewing/reading, along with the Eligius tease and the BTS photos of that castle.)

I’m putting this behind the jump. Because it’s long. It’s elaborate. There is LITTLE textual proof for it, it’s based on the hints and teases and on archetypes, mythology, science fiction tropes and the basic POINT of post apocalyptic fiction, which is REBUILDING A BETTER WORLD. (or deciding that humans are to blame and it’s the end, but I think JR is going for the positive one. since the POV that presented that is dead now, because that’s where that perspective goes.)

Buckle up. And don’t hate me. 

There is a FlameCLarke in Madi’s head that she is not telling Clarke about because Clarke would freak out. In fact, the more she learns to control the flame, the more it will be CLARKE who comes to her. Clarke was a commander. The flame was inside of her. The flame retains the consciousness of all the commanders, ergo, The Flame has a flameClarke along with the other commanders.

The “She” that the eligius instagram refers to is going to look like Clarke. Because if Madi is dreaming and sending out flame messages, it’s going to look like the commander she has the biggest connection to. OF COURSE IT’S CLARKE. We already know the AI will create the world and give the symbols that will best connect with the mind. This was said in the COL. 

If there is an AI on the planet, it won’t have an avatar, because Becca’s boyfriend invented the avatar, and the first time Becca saw it, ALIE told her there were too many people. But the Eligius mission had already been gone, before the avatar showed up. So it does not have an avatar. BUT if it is getting signals from a Flame Avatar that looks like Clarke, it’s going to want an avatar, too. And who will it dress up like? The flame Avatar. CLARKE. So we’re going to have an ALIEClarke. Hence the acting Challenge that Eliza will have. She’ll be playing three characters. Clarke. FlameClarke and ALIEClarke. 

The “Peaceful Society” won’t be peaceful. Or it will be peaceful for the chosen, because it is subjugating those who aren’t chosen. AKA repeating the sins of humanity. And because Clarke and Bellamy need to get back to the story that broke them, the genocide of MW. So I speculate that the new society will be a reflection of MW. It will again be a seemingly peaceful society that is rotten and evil to the bone. They will be subjugating the new planet and either the lower class OR the aliens of this world, because they are not human. I lean towards aliens now. 

Clarke is going to choose to fight for the aliens not the humans because it is the right thing to do, even if it’s not best for their people. And she’s going to come to realize that the genocide of MW was actually what was RIGHT. That WAS the good guys, because MW would have subjugated EVERYONE on the ground and treated the ground as THEIR birthright. This was clear in canon. But she couldn’t bear what she’d done, so she made herself the bad guy and it broke her. 

Clarke and Bellamy will be separated. Clarke will end up with the aliens, and so will Echo. I don’t know who else. But those BTS pictures had like 8 lounge chairs, which I suspect are where they recline when they have their flashbacks. Which won’t be hallucinations, but a kind of alien instigated spiritual journey. Thus we see Echo having memories of reapers, and Clarke having memories of Jake. We saw the actor dressed in reaper clothes, se we know that’s a flashback, and there are rumors (rumors still) of Jake being on set.

I suspect Bellamy will have to go rescue Clarke. And Echo. And whoever is with them. But, I’m going to guess that Madi will be with Bellamy. Because if Clarke is going into the wilderness she’d leave Madi to Bellamy. SO THEY are going to rescue Clarke. And everyone they love. 

They will be drawn into the plight of the aliens/humans opposed to the “Peaceful Society” I suspect that the aliens will also BOND with the humans and change them, so they’re not quite human anymore. 

When Madi and Bellamy get to Clarke and the rest, to save them from the savage aliens. Or maybe they’re on the aliens side idk. They will discover the real truth of Russell’s peaceful society and that it is based on bleeding the planet and aliens dry. Like MW. 

All those pretty people they’ve cast that we’re only finding out about now? They’re for midseason. Those are the humans who have rebelled against the “peaceful” society and come to live with the aliens, and perhaps now have altered consciousness or bodies or both. Thus the dancers. To denote that the aliens don’t move like humans. They are otherworldly. (I don’t know if the dancers are aliens or alien/human hybrids.) That castle is the heart of the alien/human hybrid rebellion. They will have our heroes enter an altered state of consciousness. That rose window on the castle? That’s either the actual alien or a representation of it. expect CGI.

Madi will have an innate connection to the alien and/or alien/human hybrids. Because she is an alien/human hybrid. since an AI is not human. Ok, that’s a stretch. Anyway. She’s not quite human. Madi will want to fight for the aliens. But the peaceful humans want to eradicate them. They want to dominate this new world like they did the last.

Which will lead to its ultimate destruction and a repetition of the cycle of abuse and violence which Clarke and Bellamy are trying to stop. Therefore. They must do what they did with MW, and commit genocide again, this time with full knowledge that it is to save the rest of humanity and alienkind. A new planet. The universe. (OH MY GOD THEY HAVE TO SAVE THE UNIVERSE!!! Not the delinquents. Not the sky people. Not all the survivors. Not the humanity. THE UNIVERSE. ESCALATION.) Knowing all they know this time, they will be ready to do this.

I see them actually destroying the “peaceful” society so that the aliens/hybrids can thrive. 

Raven will take off from the new planet, after destroying Russells fake peaceful people, with Clarke and Bellamy and their people, leaving they human/alien society behind to start a new world. This will be the third time she takes off from a planet, and this time it WON’T be on fire. Because she said “just once I’d like to take off from a planet that’s not on fire.”

HOWEVER.

Don’t hate me.

Madi is going to choose to stay behind with the alien/human hybrids. Because she has the flame. They need a leader. They need the flame to help them BUILD a new society. And she feels like they are her people. THIS is what the flame was created for. To end the violence of the human past, stop ALIE’s supremacy, and create a new world. 

Clarke losing Madi to a new world is heartbreaking but also mythic in nature. The child of her spirit is a sacrifice to healing and redeeming humanity. The son that died for our sins? She won’t die, but she might as well have, 

Because Clarke and Bellamy will be going back to earth, 200 years after they left it, to FIX WHAT THEY BROKE. To be responsible for humanity’s destruction of the earth. Lincoln said that we’re all responsible for our monster when we let it out, and leaving the earth behind is NOT being responsible. Moving on to a new planet is COLONIALIZATION. They have to go home.

So Clarke and Bellamy will take humanity home to start over on a now green planet, cleansed of humanity (there might be some survivors and might be giant sandworms frankly but that’s another story.)

And Madi will stay on the planet two suns to raise a new sentient species in peace and wisdom. 

Octavia will go with Clarke and Bellamy, because she also represents the child, HUMANITY, the one that almost destroyed itself with darkness, but will be redeemed and healed. Symbolically she represents humanity on earth while Madi represents the NEW society. Both are important. But CLarke and Bellamy need to guide humanity and let go of the human/alien hybrids to make their own way, rather than be colonialists and rule over them. 

And ECHO will stay with Madi, to be her protector, but also because she feels a kinship and a sense of belonging with the alien/hybrids because she TOO was a slave to the azgeda and gave up everything she ever wanted for them. This leads us back to Echo’s backstory, and her story which has been stated to be about loyalty, family, and belonging. She will choose Madi and the alien/human hybrids as where she belongs. She will get the free choice, not circumstances of survival and not being taken as a child and raised into it. 

I do not know if all this will happen in season 6. This might be a season 6-7 story. Or it could just be season 6 and s7 is them going home to the earth, and building a new society. idk. 

OKAY. So that’s my spec for Madi. I cannot separate it from the main story or from Clarke and Bellamy’s hero’s journeys or the rebuilding of humanity. Or the mythology of The 100 or the cyclical story structures, which actually means it’s probably more likely to go something like this. Because different story elements are feeding into it and it’s not isolated from the other stories. 

As you can see, I’ve made a lot of off the wall claims and predictions. And I could be wrong about any one of them or all of them. You take hints and interpret them, but you can interpret them the wrong way. So here I am. Out on a limb with more of rosy’s patented “crazy” spec. Just be aware that I also predicted the cryosleep solution before season 4 even aired. And Exodus theory/leaving Eden, before season 5 aired. 

So I might not be wrong with my crazy crack theories. They aren’t crack. They’re scifi. I’ve spent nearly 50 years consuming scifi. It’s in my bones. Geek child of geek parents. My first cats were named Kirk and Spock. I am geek. hear me meow. lol. 

#the 100 #speculation #madi #clarke x madi x bellamy #mythos #alien slavery theory #flameclarke theory #return to earth theory

[travllingbunny]

The 100 rewatch: 3x01/3x02 – Wanheda Part One and Two

My rewatch will have to be sped up so I could finish it before the season 6 premiere. I’ve seen up to 3x08, but from now on I have to watch more than one episode a day. I hope to be able to finish season 3 by the end of this week. Which means I’ll have to try to make my next posts shorter than this one, which I’m pretty sure is my longest rewatch review so far. Maybe I could try covering several episodes in one post to try not to repeat myself in the following reviews?

Season 3 is definitely my least favorite season of The 100, and so far, having rewatched half a season, I haven’t changed my mind on its quality. But, except for one instance of really lazy writing (which will, sadly, turn out to be something the writers like to do, since they did the same but in an even worse way in season 5), this two-parter was a solid opening to the season, which, unfortunately, started going downhill right after it.

Also, I only realized this on rewatch…. Clarke is Rapunzel?! Or anti-Rapunzel.

*These rewatch posts have spoilers for everything up to the end of season 5, and I may also mention stuff from the season 6 trailer. No spoilers for 6x01, and please don’t mention any if you reply or reblog with comments, I’m trying to avoid them (good luck to me on that).

3x01 Wanheda, Part One

Timeline: This is one of few episode reviews where it makes sense to start with this, because it’s the show’s first time-jump – it starts almost 3 months after the season 2 finale, or specifically 86 days,. In most other shows, this wouldn’t be considered a time jump, but most of The 100 episodes take place just a day or a few hours later (which was the case with the time that passed between the season 1 finale and the season 2 premiere), sometimes just a few minutes later (season 3 finale/season 4 premiere). It’s even notable and relatively rare when there is a week, or just two days between episodes. Although this is obviously nothing compared to the time jump in the season 4 finale (and, to an extent, season 5 finale – which was technically much bigger,, but only really counted for three characters), this time jump is still twice as long as the entirety of seasons 1 and 2, which lasted less than a month and a half.

The starting sequence is great, with Murphy with long shaggy hair and a beard, in a state of desperation after being locked up in the bunker for 86 days, to the point that he almost decides to shoot himself in the head. Similar to how Clarke almost shot herself in the head in the flashbacks in 5x01. Even the greatest of survivors come to the point when it’s just too much for a human being to bear. Clarke reached that point after a month of being not just all alone on a desert, radiation soaked planet, but likely to be all alone for at least 5 years, and even more likely to die of hunger, thirst or exposure. Murphy took 3 months, but was in situation where he didn’t lack food or drink or comfort – but isolation, without any human contact or entertainment, other than videos of a guy committing suicide because he felt responsible of the end of the world, has to be unbearable.

Introduction of Becca In one of the videos is good as we get more crucial info practically at the beginning of the season (and at the same time, not so good, because I can’t stand Becca and I’m really not fond of the entire storyline about the chip/Flame/Commanders).

Scenes in the mansion with Jaha and ALIE are really creepy, as we see just how much Jaha has become removed from reality and immersed in the City of Light. When Jaha explains the concept of COL, the prospect of getting rid of pain, hate and envy,  Murphy has maybe his best ever line, and pretty much his defining quote: “Pain, hate, envy… those are the ABCs of me. Take that and there’s nothing left.”

Getting thrown right into Camp Jaha, now called Arkadia, after 3 months, to see how much everyone’s lives have changed, works well for the most part (with one exception – see below). Jasper’s new look and attitude are shocking, but make sense. I don’t know if this is an unpopular opinion, but I think Jasper’s storyline was one of the best things in season 3 and even season 4, and I think it’s great that the show, for once, didn’t shy away from showing the consequences of emotional trauma (these people are teenagers who have been through terrible things in an extremely short time, it’s hard to believe everyone would soldier on and no one would break), and that they didn’t try to make a depressed person be more “likable” by being nice, even if it resulted in so many fans calling Jasper “annoying” and now showing any understanding for his mental health issues just because he wasn’t depressed in a nicer, more palatable way.

Raven’s story in seasons 3-4, which is also pretty good, also gets set up with a conversation with Abby about her pain, where Raven refuses an operation and they end up saying bad things to each other, as those two sometimes do. Raven calls out Abby on trying to hide from her own pain, too (over losing Clarke), which is a major theme this season. She also tells her she’s bad as both doctor and Chancellor, and much as I used to love Abby in S1 (and still like her) I’m afraid that this is least half-true since she’s sucked at politics most of season  2and 3. As a doctor, she’s good at healing people, but her bedside manner leaves a lot to be desired.

The show gets rid of the Raven/Wick romance plot (which had to be jettisoned due to Steve Talley being a terrible person IRL and tweeting racist “jokes”) in the best way it could, by referring to it in one line (according to Abby, Raven pushed Wick away) and never having him appear again.

They used “Add It Up” by Violent Femmes! And even Shawn Mendes’ cover worked well – his was a sad and plaintive ballad, as a contrast to the original, which is an energetic rock song. (I had no idea who Mendes was when I first watched this, but his cameo didn’t feel weird or out of place).

A huge plus because Emori makes a return. Also, Otan is introduced, who actually is her brother (it’s not just a classic thief/swindler thing where partners in crime are like “I’m an innocent damsel in distress and this dude is totally my brother…” thing).

There are several character introductions of characters that are varying degrees of interesting or not so interesting. Roan’s is especially intriguing right from the start, and there’s also Niylah, Becca and Gideon, and Gina. Speaking of…

My biggest problem with this episode is how weird and jarring it always felt that we just get introduced to Bellamy’s new girlfriend, a random character we’ve never met before and who doesn’t get developed at all. We know she’s nice and really into him, and he likes her fine enough, but there’s very little about their relationship that goes beyond very basic relationship-establishing stuff. This was all the more jarring because Bellamy had never previously been shown to have an actual girlfriend (rather than friends with benefits/fu*k buddies, which he had quite a few in season 1), and by what we know of his backstory and what we was like in season 1, I had always assumed he had never had a serious relationship or even a serious friendship, because he could never allow himself to trust people on the Ark, and he was too focused on protecting Octavia and keeping that huge secret. So for him to be a real relationship was a new development that I would have loved to actually see. And in general, how weird is it that the show seems to treat the love life of a major character – second protagonist as an afterthought, to the point that his relationships get developed completely off-screen and just get a few perfunctory scenes to establish “there was a time jump, it happened, this is a thing now, that’s all you need to know” (which was all the more jarring when Gina then got fridged just 3 episodes into the season). Hey, and just how weird would it be if the show did this TWICE? I have an idea why this happens – because neither of his relationships with Gina nor with Echo was ever treated by the show, as genuinely important or something we need to be invested in, but If I ever believed that Clarke and Bellamy were really totally platonic BFFs (because one major platonic relationship is not enough for Bellamy, who is one of the very few characters on the show who actually has a sibling, and his relationship with Octavia is also a major one the show focuses a lot..) and that the show wasn’t doing something else, I’d be really puzzled by such weird narrative choices.

·Raven teases Bellamy that Gina is “too good” for him. That may be because she is aware that he was “never as devoted to Gina” (compared to Clarke), as she taunts him as ALIE!Raven in 3x11.

Gina gives Bellamy Iliad as a gift, because his mother used to read it to him… an epic whose main theme is a warrior hero’s rage and all the mess it causes?

The Ice Nation aka Azgeda, after being referenced before, finally gets introduced (though Echo will get retconed revealed to be one of them), and I have very mixed feelings about this, because the oversimplified way the show tried to suddenly establish “Trikru=good Grounders, Azgeda=bad Grounders” in season 3 was kind of grating.

·Everyone is still bad at dealing with people with PTSD and mental health issues in general – as seen in the fact that they made the mistake to bring Jasper with them on a mission. This time, Bellamy had an inkling it was not a good idea, but Monty thought it would do Jasper good… and again, it didn’t end well.

Indra has changed her views a lot and is now the liaison between Trikru and the Arkers and o very friendly terms with Kane.

The relationship between Trikru and Arkadia is at this point kind of a mixed bag – they have a truce and cooperate, but there’s a problem of limited trade routes and ability for Arkers to get food, the Grounders are not happy with the prospect of them using Mount Weather, and Lexa has issued a kill order on Lincoln (which is why he has had to stay in Arkadia even if he didn’t want to – though it seems he does want to) just because he went back to help Arkers against Mount Weather (any disobedience of Commander’s orders, no matter how justified, is apparently punishable by death).

Something that’s annoying, but expected and in character: Octavia complaining about Lincoln wearing an Arkadia uniform and trying to integrate into the Arkadia society. It’s like she was so happy to be rebellious and have a cool Grouder boyfriend, and now she’s disappointed.  She tells him he will never be one of them (oh, the irony of this coming from Octavia, who says “I’m a Grounder” every second episode – which I don’t get, does she think being a Grounder is a lifestyle you can choose?) and even lectures him about the culture he grew up in: “At least you still speak our language” (meaning Grounder speech). LMAO

Octavia suggests they go off on their own and find Luna and her people – one of the many, many references to Luna going all the way back to season 1. No character has been set up so much long before they appeared.

It takes quite a long time for Clarke to actually appear in the episode, right after the revelation that she’s the titular Wanheda everyone is looking for.

About the nickname itself: Clarke herself hates it, of course (though she will kind of ‘reclaim’ it in 5x12) – because she feels deeply guilty and hates herself, but I’m sure that, for Grounders, “Commander of Death” an expression of awe and fear, not any kind of judgment, which wouldn’t make sense – we’ve seen multiple times that Grounders take the “kill them all If we can’t kill their leader” approach to their enemies, so I can’t see them being bothered by her killing all the Mountain Men. It’s the fact that she was able to destroy their old, powerful enemy that gives her a mythical aura. If you can kill the Mountain Men, you must be able to command death itself. They would also assign it all to Clarke, because, for starters, they weren’t there to know about Bellamy’s or Monty’s role, and secondly, Grounders tend to give all credit or blame to the leader, and they perceived Clarke as the sole leader of Skaikru during season 2.

This mythical status, however, merely makes Clarke a symbol and prize, due to the belief that killing someone means taking their power. (Which should also mean that she took the enormous power of Mount Weather in the eyes of the Grounders?) Does Queen Nia actually believe that she would literally take Clarke’s power if she killed her? I don’t know, but she probably just knows that people would perceive her as more powerful if she managed to do it.

Indra also explains that another reason the Ice Nation feels bold enough to make another move against Lexa/Trikru is that Clarke made Lexa look weak – which makes perfect sense, of course that’s what people would think after Lexa walked away from the battle and Clarke went in and killed the Mountain Men.

Seeing Clarke’s new look and persona was weird as hell the first time, but I don’t know how to feel about it as a plot point. I like it when characters’ traumas are not ignored, and it makes sense that, in her state, she wants to be anonymous and leave all she was behind. But Clarke as a great hunter after 3 months, making a living out of killing large animals? That’s a bit hard to believe. It’s not the first time the show is giving her unrealistic or, rapidly learned skills (overpowering an experienced warrior like Anya in a fight, apparently learning to ride a horse off-screen in a day, being such a good shooter to kill the MW sniper through Lincoln’s shoulder – after the short training she got from Bellamy in S1..) I complain about that with Octavia, so I should about Clarke, too (though it bothers me a lot more with Octavia since her being a great warrior  – with her few months of training -  is such a big part of her arc, while these skills are never supposed to be Clarke’s main strengths and don’t get much focus. But I like that she tells the panther “Your fight is over” while killing it.

Niylah, looking at Clarke’s back: “No kill marks”. Clarke: “My back is not big enough.”

Clarke sees Niylah has a wristband from one of the Delinquents, which is going to be a plot point in 3x11.

It’s nice to see someone expressing gratitude to Clarke for defeating the Mountain Men – Niylah says she appreciates it because her mother was a victim taken by Mount Weather. It would make sense if many more Grounders actually felt like that, but we don’t ever see many ordinary Grounders say anything about it. Usually it’s just Grounder leaders trying to make Clarke feel guilty over Mount Weather to manipulate her or excuse their own actions.

Clarke’s one night stand with Niylah is the first f/f sex scene in the show. It’s also, as far as we know, only the second time Clarke has had sex with anyone (the first one was way back in 1x04). At this point, Clarke can only bear to have physical intimacy, or any kind of human contact, if it’s not with anyone she has any stronger feelings for (and asks Niylah to stop talking before initiating sex, because she doesn’t want to risk any real intimacy). But at least Niylah is really nice and helpful, doesn’t cause drama and treats her better than any of her romantic partners have.

The first time I watched this, I found it funny that Clarke’s f*ck buddy got more screentime and development than Bellamy’s supposedly serious girlfriend.  But I didn’t know that the latter would die in two episodes, while the former will remain on the show into season 6 and get to have a role beyond that of Clarke’s occasional friend with benefit.

This turned out to be much longer than I wanted it to, but that’s because this episode juggles so many storylines and characters (and a bit of nice blatant fanservice, too – like the scene of Bellamy and Lincoln sparring shirtless, or a celebrity cameo).

But how about the one plot point that was completely ignored in this episode and the rest of season 3 (and 4, and 5, and we can assume will be ignored forever)? WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THE REAPERS?? Did they get cured, as the plan was originally? Abby was supposed to cure them when the alliance was still on. Did they get killed – and how, and by whom? Were they still roaming around in season 3 and 4? Why is there not a single word about any of that after season 2? Indra even recognized one of the Reapers in 2x15, it was obviously someone close to her, maybe a family member, maybe her husband/Gaia’s father? The show dropped that plot like a hot potato as soon as season 2 finished.

Body count: 

3 Ice Nation scouts killed during the confrontation (2 shot by Raven and Miller, one shot by Bellamy in the arm and then killed by Octavia)

Rating: 7/10

3x02 Wanheda, Part Two

This episode benefits from focusing on just a few storylines and characters and not featuring any of the poorer storylines.

Most of it is an exciting and intense action-adventure episode that revolves around Roan kidnapping Clarke ad trying to bring her to Lexa, as it turns out in the twist ending (after both Clarke and first time audience thought he was taking her to the Ice Nation Queen Nia), while a group from Arkadia including Bellamy, Kane and Monty are trying to rescue her.  

More new characters are introduced, including one with a huge role this season: our group (including Bellamy, Monty, Kane and Indra) has a surprise encounter with a group of survivors from the Farm Station, including Charles Pike and Monty’s mother Hannah. It was a weird meeting as it started as an ambush, before they recognized each other. Who did Pike’s group think they were ambushing and capturing? Some Grounders who stole clothes and weapons from dead Arkers? It doesn’t seem they were aware that there were any other survivors from the Ark, or else, they’d have tried to reunite with them. But it also can be seen as a sign that their terrible experiences on the ground and almost 4 months spent in the woods as guerrilla fighters have made them inclined to see enemies everywhere and mistake friends or allies for enemies.

We get the immediate “trouble ahead” warning moments when Pike calls his people “Grounder killers, all!” and they cheer, and our group looks uncomfortable because Indra is there, and then when Pike looks at Indra with animosity as soon as he hears she’s a Grounder and expresses distrust when hearing that they’re allies. But really, there’s nothing surprising about his attitude, at all, and I’ll never understand fans who are like “but why is Pike such a dick”? The show told you why, right from the start. Most of our protagonists had a similar attitude to Grounders in season 1 and early season 2, when their experiences with people on the ground consisted mostly of those people attacking them and trying to kill them. And Indra (just like many other Grounders) had the exact same attitude towards Sky people in early-to-mid season 2, as Pike has to Grounders now – when we first met her, she was constantly asking for all Sky people to be killed and trying to dissuade Lexa from an alliance, especially after Finn killed 18 unarmed people, mostly civilians, in a Grounder village. But these characters all got to have different kinds of interactions with each other and have character development since. Well, Pike and the rest of the Farm Station people have had only terrible experiences – being attacked by the people on the ground right after they landed, seeing over a hundred of their people killed in front of them, including 15 children, and they’ve spent all the time since fighting in the woods, with zero positive interactions with any Grounders. It’s really not surprising that they’re the ones with most extreme views.

Kane, however, tries to convince them that it’s all Ice Nation, they’re the bad ones, Trikru are their allies. When Pike asks for details about how that alliance happened, Bellamy gave him the shortest and nicest-sounding possible version: “We had a common enemy” – “What happened?” “We won”. Bellamy obviously doesn’t want to talk about any of it, since he’s tormented over Mount Weather even though he may not be showing it the way Clarke does. But we see that Monty later told Pike about everything that has happened, though we only see the end of that story, how they got out of Mount Weather. We can assume, however, that he did tell him all including Lexa’s betrayal, because Pike later references both that and Finn’s death in 3x08. Somehow I don’t think that hearing “well, Trikru tried to kill the kids in our camp, so we burned 300 of their warriors, then we made an alliance with them to fight the people from Mount Weather who were trying to kill us all, but they betrayed us and left us to die and we had to save ourselves on our own” helped change Pike’s opinion on the Grounders in general.

Having Zach McGowan on the show is always a good thing, and his screen presence helps make Roan an intriguing character. At this point he’s a mysterious kidnapper with a backstory about his banishment from Ice Nation which I really wanted to learn BUT THAT WE NEVER LEARNED (what the hell was up with that?) and (twist!) we learn in the last scene that he’s the Prince of Azgeda. Clarke and Roan had quite an interesting dynamic throughout the show – thank god for once that the show didn’t try to do an “Enemies to lovers” storyline (though I bet that’s just because the show already had two popular Clarke ships to juggle) but rather “Enemies to allies who are not exactly friends, definitely not romantic at all, who kind of bond and respect each other but are constantly trying to politically manipulate each other”.

Bellamy wanting to immediately run to save Clarke, the moment he saw that she had been kidnapped, and then dressing himself as an Azgeda warrior and going into enemy territory to rescue her, is a far cry from his behavior in 1x12 when he was able to be calm and rational about Clarke (and Finn and Monty) being kidnapped and presumed dead. It shows how much his feelings for her had become stronger since. In season 1, only the concern for his sister’s safety could make him have such a reaction. But he typically doesn’t make his best decision when he lets his emotions completely rule him and acts that impulsively, and in this case, his unsuccessful rescue attempt only made things worse, as it alerted Roan he was being followed, and made Clarke stop fighting and let Roan take her to his destination.

But it’s not just Bellamy who would “do anything for her, to protect her”, Clarke is equally determined to protect him at any cost, and we’ve seen evidence of that many times, including this time – when she begs Roan to spare Bellamy’s life and promises to do anything and stop fighting if he does. At the time, she believed Roan was taking her to Queen Nia to be executed, so she was basically ready to offer her life for his.

When I first saw that scene, I thought “Oh wow, show, you are really doing this? This must be the most romantically-coded scene in anything ever.” Before even starting to binge the show, I was always spoiled on the fact that Clarke and Bellamy are not a romantic couple to date and that people debate whether they’re just friends or not, and I always knew people shipped them, but that didn’t mean much since fans will ship anything (Broadchurch fans even ship the leads from that show, and they are genuinely nothing but platonic partners). So one of the bigger surprises of my initial binge was that the show is so blatant about this romantic subtext (which is more like text, a lot of the time), and has been since season 1, but they were relatively subtle with it at first and then more and more obvious as seasons went by. Maybe it jumps at you more when you’re binging it. In any case, this scene – the soft music, Bellamy touching Clarke’s hair, the way they look at each other after meeting for the first time after 3 months, Clarke begging for his life – it all looked like it was straight from some epic medieval-themed romance. I later heard people compare it to Tangled, but I’ve never seen that movie (it’s been a very long time since I’ve seen any Disney cartoons). But I’ve recently happened upon gifsets that compare that scene to a scene from Tangled: 

` Woah, they really did this. They modelled that scene after the scene where Rapunzel’s love interest tries to rescue her. And it’s not the last time they keep doing that and have used every goddamn romantic trope for the Bellamy/Clarke relationship. Is Jason Rothenberg for real? How do you do stuff like this, over and over, and then go in interviews: “Weeell, it’s Rorschah test, you can see this or you can see that, I mean maybe, but maybe they are just best buddies, ya know?” LMAO

Knowing about the Tangled reference suddenly makes me realize, they’re kind of doing this whole story as Rapunzel in reverse. We have our golden haired heroine who’s a target for her supposed special powers, and. Clarke finds herself as a literal Princess in the Tower at the end of this episode, and remains that for half of season 3. But while Rapunzel was trapped in the tower to begin with and wanted to escape and be free to see the world, Clarke was running away from the world, then got kidnapped and brought to the tower, and then decided to stay there.

 And what a freaking huge tower it is – I didn’t know the full significance of it (that it’s the former Polaris space station) when that reveal was the last moment of the episode. This thing must have been a great strategic asset, you’d have seen any army approaching from miles away.

I love the last scene, which is the first meeting Clarke and Lexa after season 2, because Clarke’s rage – spitting into Lexa’s face and yelling that she’s going to kill her, while she’s dragged away – is such a fitting and relatable reaction to the betrayal at Mount Weather, and, maybe even more, to the way Lexa starts talking to her without apologizing or even mentioning their history, being all business instead and talking about the current political situation and how Clarke can help her in that department. I didn’t even notice this before, but while Clarke just glares at Lexa at first and stays silent, it was when Lexa said “I need you” that Clarke spat in her face and went ballistic. It’s interesting to compare that to 3x05, when Bellamy had a bad reaction to Clarke telling him “I need you” in a similar context. It’s not the same thing, of course, because Clarke had not betrayed Bellamy (even if he may have kind of felt otherwise), but it’s a similar “I’ll just ignore our history – there’s nothing personal and painful to talk about here, la la la  – let’s instead just talk about how you can help me stop the war” approach.

I now love that scene even more because it’s the last time Clarke shows anger for the next two seasons. Or rather, she shows the same anger early on in the next episode in her conversation with Lexa and then when she was planning to kill her before changing her mind, but from that point on, there’s a shift in Clarke’s characterization that I’ve never liked. She was always smart, pragmatic, caring, vulnerable and good at using her words to convince people, but she also used to be vibrant, edgy, held grudges before finding a way to forgive people, and could be very impulsive. But in season 3, after the first couple of episodes, she kind of became a lot mellower and blander, and remained that way throughout season 3 and in season 4 (even though there’s otherwise a lot I like about her arc in season 4), where she would do ruthless things and feel sad about it and say “Sorry” a lot while other people told her she sucks, she would cry and look sad, but never ever show any anger herself. I really found myself wishing for her to finally show some anger at some point, at anyone, for any reasons, or go off and stop repressing her feelings and scream about her pain, break things, do something. I finally did get some of that – in 5x01 when she screamed at fate for taking everything away from her, and then, boy, did I get what I was wishing for in 5x09 – her slapping Bellamy and her silent but deadly rage/heartbreak at what she perceived as his betrayal, was the first time she had that kind of reaction to a person since her rage at Lexa in 3x02/3x03. (Unpopular opinion: I prefer season 5 Clarke to season 3 Clarke. Sure, season 5 Clarke was a total mess and reached rock bottom in many ways, but she was a more interesting and edgier mess. )

The B storylines were good, too. This is the first time we actually get to see what “the City of Light” looks like and learn about how it works. After Gideon, the big dude with a facial disfigurement, is killed by Emori in self-defense, we see him again in the “City of Light”, where he’s removed his disfigurement and can be a “normal” person rather than a “freak”. In later episodes, we see that Otan has done the same, but only Emori will not change herself physically, because she doesn’t have a problem with her body, just with the way others react to it, making her an outcast over it.

Nice to see Nyko again, one of my favorite minor characters. Unlike so many other people in this show, he’s always both nice and rational. When Abby, Jackson, Lincoln and Octavia took him to Mount Weather to find resources to cure him, and Lincoln was concerned because Grounders could have a problem with Arkers moving into Mount Weather because of their history with the place, Nyko pointed out “Places are not evil, people are.” The whole idea of the Arkers not being allowed to move into Mount Weather is stupid, knowing that the place had all those resources.

The show tried to give us bad vibes about Arkers moving into Mount Weather (which they absolutely had right to – they conquered it, so by the very rules of a warrior culture like the Grounder one, they could lay claim to it) with the talk from Octavia and Lincoln about how Grounders would have a problem with it because of bad memories. But that was just a red herring. Moving into Mount Weather turned out to be bad for a very different reason. We now know that at least the leaders of Ice Nation didn’t give a damn about their bad history with the Mountain Men, since they were working with Emerson.

What the heck was Abby thinking when she took Jasper to Mount Weather? She’s not a psychiatrist (did they even have psychiatrists on the Ark?) but I don’t think taking him back to the place of his greatest trauma is a good way to help his mental health. At least we get a nice scene for the Octavia/Jasper friendship, where she is comforting him while he remembers Maya, looking at her favorite painting, Second Circle of Hell by Dante. (The second circle of hell is for those guilty of lust... Is that why Jasper said it was ironic? Because he and Maya just kissed once and never got the chance to have sex?

Timeline: It seems that Parts One and Two lasted a little less than two days – Part One started during the day, Clarke spent a night with Niylah and immediately left in the morning, and Part Two took place during the following day.

Body count: 

Three Ice Nation warriors killed by Roan

A bounty hunter killed by Bellamy to save Niylah

Gideon, killed by Emori– but still “alive” in the City of Light

I don’t know if this counts for this episode, since it actually happened after the Farm Station landed on the ground, so somewhere around the season 1 finale and early season 2, but we only learn it now: about 120-130 people from the Farm station were killed since they landed (there are 63 Farm Station survivors, but Kane said the station initially had three times that number). A lot of them, including 15 children, were killed by the Ice Nation right after they landed, and Monty’s father, who saved four children, was killed when trying to save another one. I assume that some of the Farm Station people died fighting the Ice Nation in the woods, and that they also killed an unknown number of Azgeda people during that time. (Technically, this all happened during the timeline of season 2 and between the seasons.)

Rating: 8.5/10

#the 100 #the 100 rewatch #the 100 season 3 #wanheda part one #wanheda part two #the 100 3x01 #the 100 3x03 #clarke griffin #jasper jordan #raven reyes #monty green #marcus kane #abby griffin #roan kom azgeda #roan #indra #indra kom trikru #lincoln kom trikru #nyko #emori #john murphy #ALIE #becca #charles pike #niylah #gina martin #thelonius jaha

[vgwriter]

Metro Exodus: A Review

The End of a Trilogy

The Metro series is based off of the books by Dmitry Glukhovsky, with each game set in the world of Metro 2033 (the book) and at times, having Glukhovsky writing them. Metro 2033 came out in 2010 for the PS3 and Xbox 360 and was met with critical praise for its setting and horror aspects. Last Light came out in 2013 and built on 2033, adding better graphics and AI. Last Light was one of my favorites on the 7th generation. Exodus came out in February and took the series in drastically different direction. The complex and narrow Metro is traded in for large maps and non-linear missions. The changes are handled well by 4A. This game still brings great tension and story to the FPS genre but unfortunately still has bugs that have persisted through the entire series.

The Good

*SPOILERS*

#1-The Story

4A does something that not a lot of developers do when they make a modern FPS: they focus on the story. Exodus is the third installment of the Metro game continuity but it doesn't really build on the previous two, which were focused on the Dark Ones. Instead, it takes the story in a new direction with exploration outside Moscow and into Russia. The game explores several themes and ideologies with its story including religious extremism, slavery, the inherent violence and love in humanity. The player follows Artyom, his wife Anna, her father Col. Miller, and a half dozen Spartans as they go through nuked out Russia in search of a new home. They pick up a few people as the game goes on as well.

The story starts out with Artyom wanting to explore the outside world in hopes that there are people in it. Everyone says he is crazy but it turns out he is right and they steal a train to go explore Russia. They go to a marsh and pick up a nurse and her kid and one of the soldiers hits on her by making her tell him if her daughter knew her father was dead... it's really a touching scene. They get married later but Anna ruins it by coughing really loudly because she fell down into a toxic bunker two chapters ago (somehow no one saw her sickness coming). Then Artyom and Miller have to go and find her medicine all while Miller and Anna give Artyom back handed compliments or saying this all his fault for getting them kicked out of the Metro. They think they've found a home but turns out it's controlled by Petra Pan and the Lost Boys and Girls. Then they finally get the medicine and the ending depends on how the player played the game. It's not an original story by any stretch and has some dips in execution but coupled with the enviroments, it is a good enough story to warrant another post-apocalyptic setting in a rapidly saturating genre.

Now, there are a few big plot decisions that effect how the story plays out with the morality mechanic in this game. Basically, if the player kills people and does stuff that people normally do in a FPS game, they get the bad ending. If Artyom is just a sneaky little Russian, the crew stays together and they all live happily ever after. Well, kind of, it is a Russian story after all. Pretty simple choices but they do change the tone of the game considerably and for that I will give 4A props on making in game decisions matter.

The dialogue can be a little iffy at times and there are some parts that are roughly translated (Miller uses his Russian name instead of his Anglicized name during one scene) but each character is their own person and brings a great voice to the ensemble. My personal favorites were Anna and Nastya. Over all, the game tells an effective and gripping story of people trying to survive a moralless wasteland and remain the honest people they were before.

#2-Maps and Enviroment

The story is broken up in to 4 large maps with smaller train sections linking the travel to them. It's actually a great move and a refreshing change of pace from all the gigantic map games that have come out recently. The first two maps are just large enough to warrant not having a fast travel system while still making exploration interesting. The other maps in the game are more linear in design with the first and last map being down in the Metro again. This variety in maps keeps the game fresh and makes each area refreshing and interesting instead of an over used chore.

Where this game really shines is the enviroments. Each map feels completely brand new, with very few reused assets like in many other open world games (especially western). Each level seems fully realized and lived in as the player and Artyom pass through areas that feel like someone else's home. The best thing is that each level feels this way. In terms of enviroment, there are no dips in quality in any of the chapters. Each level has this realistic level of destruction and a shared struggle to survive that seeps into every corner of the game. The place where this really lifts this game up is the last level, Dead City. Without the enviroment, the story really wouldn't have landed well with its obvious forshadowing and unoriginal overarching story. The desolation of the city and constant danger everywhere do a great job of putting the player in Artyom's mind with his anxiety and desperation in trying to save Anna. The enviroments throughout the entire game lift up the psychological undercurrents of the characters and really put this game on an artistic level despite its other problems.

#3-Weapons and Customization

The weapons in Metro are the best kind of customizable in that the options the player makes for what weapons and how they customize them actually matter. There are five kinds of weapons: revolver, shotguns, rifles, sniper, and special. The specials are the air rifle and crossbow (there is also a railgun but I never figured out how to equip it). Each have different positives and negatives to them and feel different to play with in game. The customization is also diverse with each gun having different parts that the player can find out in the world. Unlike other games where the player must find several different components or blueprints (looking at you Andromeda and Fallout), 4A just gives the player the customization if they find it. It provides a great utility in the game without focusing on it, which is how customization should be.

The Bad

#1-The Combat

It is clear that 4A's focus on this game was stealth. The character is slow, the aiming for PS4 is absolutely terrible even after trying to tweak it, and the enemies are super shifty. All of this adds up to a bad combat experience. I can't count the number of times I just said "f*** it" after failing to hit the same guy 3 times only to discover that Artyom was caught in a corner of two inch ledges. This games combat is severely unpolished and makes the otherwise great game difficult to play for bad reasons. When compared to other fps's like Far Cry 5, this game feels definitively last generation. It's like the Crash Bandicoot of fps, really precise shooting on imprecise controls (don't @ me cause you know it's true). This really sapped the fun out of the game.

#2-The Clingy Map

I mentioned this in the last paragraph but the enviroment is not fun to move through. Artyom sticks to everything. There were times when playing this that I would try to be sneaking and come across a small step that I had to get over and couldn't. I had to jump and when I did the enemies who I was sneaking from would discover where I was instantly. They also messed up going down stairs, even though I'm pretty sure they discovered that technology in 2004. When Artyom "walks" down the stairs, he keeps his forward momentum and goes in an arch over the stairs he is "walkig" over. The maps do have a great feel about them but they are not fun to walk around and that really hurts this games replayability for me.

#3-Unpolished, Epic Games, and Bad Camp Design

I've heard and seen all sorts of bugs on the PC version but the PS4 has no shortage of bad glitches either. My very first shot, the first time I ever fired a gun in the game, it didn't make a sound. That sadly set the tone for the whole game. Each chapter was more frustrating than fun and that was caused for a number of reasons but all of them could go under the umbrella of unpolished game design. There have been several recorded game breaking glitches or the AI just acting real dumb. Aside from that the game is an exclusive on PC for Epic Games. Normally I don't concern myself with PC master race bullsh*t but Epic Games has some very shady business practices on a platform that has a great storefront in Steam. Sadly, this does effect the overall game for consumers and that is why I mention it in my review.

The last bad thing I'll mention is the camp conversation interface, or lackthereof. The characters just start talking and they never seem to stop. Being raised in a polite household has taught me to never walk away when someone is talking to me and this game made me rethink my entire upbringing. The conversations are okay but they are sooooo slow and there is no way to control them at all. They just talk to you and it is honestly annoying, easy to ignore but still annoying.

The Non-ESRB Rating

This is tough to give but Metro Exodus is a 2/5. While I love this game for everything that it adds, it is just more of a hassle to play than fun. The combat and general unpolishedness of the game are what really sink this game for me. I really hate that it does this too because the story and enviroments are really cool and enrich the story so much. The tension in the game is real and the map design is refreshing with its variety and design depth. This game had so much potential but it just feels wasted on such a buggy and unpolished product.

#metro exodus #review #video games #artyom

[jessicakehoe]

Is Cycling the New Yoga?

Photography via instagram/@anttonmiettinen

Do you remember hearing about goat yoga? That might have been the moment when yoga, at least as I perceive it, jumped the shark. To be fair, fitness trends come and go all the time, but until Lululemon launched in the late 90s in tandem with yoga’s explosion in popularity, this was a unique example of sport and fashion merging into lifestyle. Suddenly yoga pants, tops, water bottles, headbands and bags (for carrying your mat around) became not just the norm, but the thing. What you wore on a daily basis, told the world you were a devotee. And, it’s not that yoga has faded: As recently as 2016, the yoga market was valued at $16 billion in the US and $80 billion globally. Running has also blown up in a similar manner but so far, no goats.

Which brings us to cycling. If you live in any major city with not enough transit and plenty of roads, you’ll know paths have become either a battleground for tension between cyclist and driver or a joyful, utopian bikescape for the urbane few. Cycling is an activity that breeds a type of passion that can sometimes go beyond a ride to the corner store for eggs or milk; much like running can escalate into marathons, bike passion grows with every churn of the wheel.

But, the reality is, well, mosts cyclists look a little silly, as if going onto a ravine trail requires attire intended for the Tour de France. Rémi Clermont, noticed this too so he launched Café du Cycliste, to create cycling gear that was technical yet beautiful. His brand’s new lookbook and website is the kind of vision we see so rarely these days. Beautiful subtle images taken around the world that don’t scream cycling yet are deeply entrenched in the ideal. Having just picked up a new bike bell and basket, it got us thinking that cycling might be the next physical activity to cross over into fashion and lifestyle.

We spoke with Rémi Clermont, the co-founder and creative director of Café du Cycliste about cycling life and style.

What made you think there was room for something different when it come to cycling dress?

I wasn’t a professional cyclist, only someone who rides a bike from time to time, so for me, the main issue was the very limited choice of apparel. All the brands were competing to be the one that was and looked the most technical, but not the most stylish. As a customer your choice was very limited. There was no alternative.

These pieces are very fashionable. What were some of your influences?

There are many sources of inspiration, but most of the time I look far away from the cycling world. It can be other outdoor sports, it is also the French Riviera where we are based and places where we travel to ride our bikes. And of course, the long heritage of French garment-making that brings a lot of ideas and directions such as Breton stripes, which is now one of our best-selling jerseys.

When did cycling become such a lifestyle?

I started to feel it happening when I started Café du Cycliste nine years ago but it was only the beginning and we are still at the early days. I love to think that this lifestyle can spread much more worldwide and that we have not seen anything yet! The benefits for everyone (health, environment…) would be amazing and I am talking about way more important things than the growth of Café du Cycliste’s sales.

Can you identify three of your favourite bike routes in the world?

a) Le Col d’Eze, France: Our daily ride above Nice city. I ride it at lunch break when I can escape the office for an hour, I ride it on my way to Col de la Madone or on my way to a longer ride. It is perfect and warm in the winter as its facing south, so I ride it all the time. And still I can never have enough of the sea view, the special light on the morning and the evening, the pure French Riviera feeling.

b) Sutton Region, Quebec, Canada: Gravel riding paradise. No big climbs here, just rolling hills and very nice gravel roads to be enjoyed with wide tires. I am sure it’s good all year long but riding there in early October at the peak of fall foliage was very special. The peaceful atmosphere and intensity of the leaves’ colours make it a unique experience.

b) Road 307, Morocco: From Ouarzazate to Demnat it is 140 km of pure Atlas mountain beauty. I rode it for the first time with my dad in 2014. Some sections of the road can be in bad condition (sometimes very bad after a rainy day) but the scenery and landscape are likely one of the best you can find in the Atlas mountains on a road bike!

Tell me why you decided to use the Breton stripe so heavily in this collection?

Alongside the beret and the bleu-de-travail working man’s jacket, the Breton striped jumper is one of the most recognisably French items of clothing. Our Claudette Jersey has been in the collection since the very beginning and they became the signature design of the brand. I like the idea that it started in 1858 with navy seaman in Brittany. They inspired Coco Chanel and later Pablo Picasso made the stripes famous wearing them in his French Rivera studio. And now we see them on sweaty cyclists all over the world!

Photography via instagram/@anttonmiettinen

Why does your website look like a travel magazine?

This is our approach to road cycling. We are based in one of the best places in the world to cycle and being outside in those landscapes is extraordinary. We want people to travel the world to cycle. It’s not only about the effort or the fitness level, it is about riding with friends and enjoying a stunning sunset. As Creative Director, I am the eye behind the pictures, I make the final selection and guide most of the shoots. It’s important to me that we work with a very small number of photographers, all passionate cyclists. They have amazing skills and experience but the key is that we live the same passion. We are as happy to go riding with them for a day as we are jumping on a plane to head to a photo shoot.

What item do you think is best for the casual road biker who commutes to work but might not race?

Heidi jacket is without any doubt the best for that. It is a very technical jacket, perfect for the winter with its windproof panels. It is a real road cycling garment but it looks so casual (it could be a prêt-à-porter jacket if you look at from the front) that it’s great for commuting and non-cycling activities.

What are your favourite pieces from this collection?

Without any doubt, my favourite piece is the Alphonsine jersey. A modern version of the traditional polar fleece. Our fleece is made of merino wool and the outdoor spirit of this garment brings the road cyclist mind away from just riding a line of tarmac. It brings him where he belongs: the great outdoors!

Do you still find time to ride?

Not as much as I’d like to but I am lucky to be based in Nice where I can escape for a 90 minute lunch break and ride some epic roads that the entire world dreams of riding one day! So this is my lunch break and a good number of my business meetings take place on the bike!

See some of our favourite cycling looks from Café Du Cycliste:

1/6

Is Cycling the New Yoga?

Lou Lou

($44, Cafe Du Cycliste)

Buy Now

2/6

Is Cycling the New Yoga?

Jacqueline

($156, Cafe du Cycliste)

Buy Now

3/6

Is Cycling the New Yoga

Genevieve

($175, Cafe du Cycliste)

Buy Now

4/6

Is Cycling the New Yoga?

Dolores Provence

($50, Cafe du Cycliste)

Buy Now

5/6

Is Cycling the New Yoga?

Claudette

($220, Cafe du Cycliste)

Buy Now

6/6

Is Cycling the New Yoga?

Albertine

($300, Cafe du Cycliste)

Buy Now

The post Is Cycling the New Yoga? appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Is Cycling the New Yoga? published first on https://borboletabags.tumblr.com/

[canvaswolfdoll]

CanvasReads: Spice & Wolf

I so rarely do books.

Well, guess I did the entire Harry Potter series recently.

Point is, I’m not a voracious reader. I read, sure, but at a leisurely pace, reading bits and pieces before bed. It usually takes me about a month or more to get through a book because life gets busy, I have many interests, and it’s hard to multitask while reading.[1] Books also tend to be such a time commitment for me that I have really high standards.

What this means is it took me about seven years to crawl through the Spice & Wolf light novel series. Why did I do this? Well, I read almost the entirety of the Discworld series,[2] and I liked the anime, so might as well.

So I spent a few years alternating in and out of the series with abandon. It never really grabbed me fully at any point, but it served as a decent “Ugh, need a new book. Might as well” series. Now that I’ve read the initial 17 volumes, the time has come to ask “Do I read the Spring Logs and Wolf & Parchment, or is it time to let go?”

Great question, myself. You brillant, handsome bearded man you.

A big criticism you should know going in is that the actual writing is… not great on a technical level.

I don’t know if this is the case with the original Japanese text (which may have a different set of writing rules than the West) or the translation (because translation gets more difficult with more text) or a mixture, but the writing in the books is boring and sometimes confusing.

A big stumbling block is the lack of clear dialogue tags. When Lawrence and Holo start conversing, it’s easy to lose track of who says what because often lines of dialogue get entire paragraphs to themselves, then there’s a line of action, then a line of dialogue that’s unattributed. And, unlike in the Dub of the Spice & Wolf anime, Holo’s antiquated style of speech is not played up nearly as much, and there isn’t as much difference in word usage to distinguish between our leads.

Then they pick up some random kid named Col in volume 6, and suddenly it’s that’s much harder to track.

To be fair, writing unique voices can be very, very difficult, and I’m not even sure I could claim to have mastered it, since I’m too close to my own works to judge fairly.

The issue compounds with the books’ tendency to tell over showing (such as Holo’s much lauded wisdom, despite spending most of the series sitting about stubbornly waiting for Lawrence to solve the issue, before jumping in saying she knew so all along!) and also leaving a lot of details vaguely implied (such as the status of Lawrence and Holo’s relationship at any given time).

Leaving things unexplained and for the audience to figure out is fine, as long as the writer either explains themselves eventually (giving the solution to a mystery plot) or doesn’t require deciphering the meaning to understand the plot (as is the case with most secondary romance plots).

Spice & Wolf however seems to have a tendency to just assume the reader’s following in lock step with its various implication and winks, then proceeds forward without clarity. Which is pretty frustrating when half the book is about Medieval Economics and key concepts only get a very meager explanation.

Again, I don’t know if this because the original Japanese text was vague in parts, or if the translation did a poor job of elaborating on meaning and subtext that may have been inherent to the Japanese.

Then there’s the overuse of passive voice, which I know I can blame of the translator.

The passive voice is a technique that can help you reach your goal, provided that your goal is to have your writing be deprived of excitement and motion. It’s a sentence written in such a way where nouns have verbs occur to them rather than nouns performing verbs.  Basically, if the sentence sounds like an exaggerated police report, it’s probably written in a passive voice. It deprives the characters of ownership.

It took me several books to actually catch on that passive voice was to blame for how unexciting it felt to read.

But enough with my uncharacteristic dive into actual literary form and function! What about the actual story?

It was serviceable. On the whole, the anime adaption was a better experience, since that included a level of visual excitement that riding around in Lawrence’s head doesn’t afford. The actual economic hijinks had the potential to be interesting, but could be hard to follow without visual aids.

The anime adapted Books One through Three, skipped Four, and then adapted the fifth book. Besides some brief world details and a few changes, the anime did a good job of covering the stories.

The fourth volume, however, is probably my favorite story, since it did a good job of utilizing its low fantasy setting, working the medieval economics and socio-political environment into a plot, and actually acting upon Holo’s vaguely defined capabilities (it’s the only time she does anything related to being a harvest goddess).

In fact, unlike in the anime, the biggest drain on the narrative is Kraft Lawrence. In the anime, Lawrence is an everyman with a level of charm and knowledge, while book Lawrence is overly plain and becomes increasingly passive as the books go on. He takes risks less readily, and is just boring.

The extended cast is filled with interesting characters and hidden histories, all of who could carry a story of their own, and our protagonist is a guy moseying along, vaguely wants to own a store, but doesn’t actually pursue the goal with any vigor.

Even Holo, a literal deity trying to find her homeland from centuries ago, is slow to action.

Often throughout the series both will reflect melancholically on how they can’t journey together forever, and they’re both acutely aware of their growing affections, but they never commit to any certain course of action. For a dozen plus volumes, they go vaguely north, sometimes arguing, but such conflicts spawn from Holo being a ‘Mysterious Woman’.

Holo’s been around for ages, and is actually living through a period of decline for her ilk (pagan gods), but she never talks about it, and the narrative never explores it. There is fertile ground in Holo’s being, but nothing grows.

The protagonists are complacent, and the excitement usually comes from a third party. A miller and his priest girlfriend feeling alienated from their community. A Sheep god turned shepherd. A merchant guild attempting to build a town without the backing of noble blood, but with economic bedrock.

All along, Lawrence is wobbling back and forth asking if he should do something about anything.

Then he plays a relatively minor role in the resolutions, and rides on.

Even the introduction of Col to the merchant’s wagon doesn’t really add anything. He’s just kind of there, sometimes making dialogue a little more confusing.

The best stories are the short ones where neither Lawrence nor Holo appear, but instead develop the backstories of those they encounter.

There’s a story in one of the Side Colors volumes that actually shows how Eve became the ruthless merchant we meet in Volume 5. It’s pretty cool.

Then, when she appears in a later story (after Lawrence and Holo somehow manage to backpedal into going south), Lawrence treats the woman who conned and stabbed him with relative indifference.

There’s also two stories following Norah (the shepherd girl from Volume 2) told in first person perspective of her dog Enek.

They’re charming and I really want to steal the conceit for myself at some point.

The strengths of the anime and the books themselves are an interesting dichotomy. The anime finds strength in its characters and the relationship of the leads, with some economic lectures mixed in. The books, meanwhile, really thrive with the world it builds. With some economic lessons built in.

The nameless world of Spice & Wolf is clearly in the middle of change. The power of a monotheistic church is on the rise, pagan gods are diminishing and either disappearing or finding new jobs,[3] and there’s even a subtle shift in how economies function and hints of the inevitable rise of paper money.

Times are a changing, but it’s on the edges of the story, never full addressed but still lending a weight to the proceedings.

It’s a good setting, and would make good inspirations for a RPG setting. There’s something exciting about the concept of gods who’ve already lost a culture war they didn’t know was occuring. They’re living relics hiding in the fringes of society, even those trying to maintain some power in the new world order finding the earth shifting out from beneath of their feet at inopportune moments.

In short, I found the books inspiring if not particularly good. There’s plenty of ideas I would love to steal and run with, whether in my own fictions or collaborative works.[4]

As for if I’ll be reading the continuation… I might as well, I suppose. The stronger volumes are the vignette collections, which Spring Log promises to be, and I am rather fond of next generation stories, so seeing how Lawrence and Holo’s offspring turns out is a inviting concept.

However, she’s being teamed up with Col, who was a weakly written character in this original run of stories, and I’ve often talked of my dislike of large age differences in romantic pairings, so if Wolf & Parchment heads in that direction, I’ll probably jump ship in short order.

Well, this has been a rambling… review, I guess? New job had me out of sorts for a while, so I apologize if my writing’s ended up below my usual standards. I’ll try to shape back up.

If you wish to support me, considering checking out my other works, send me comments or questions, or even giving a few dollars to my patreon. Money brings me closer to my dream of… not having to be on the frontline against the general public.

Gall, do I hate customer service…

Kataal kataal.

[1] Audiobooks are expensive, and I have podcasts to listen to besides. [2] Still have to find and read Science of Discworld. Been reluctant because, well, science is the one subject that neither interests me nor am I good at. [3] An interesting parallel to the Discworld, especially Small Gods and Hogfather. Also Thief of Time I suppose… [4] Ryuutama, in particular, seems like a good fit for adapting Spice & Wolf plots for the table.

#CanvasReads #spice and wolf #CanvasReviews