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beatriceeagle · 10 months

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I love your theories about what “A Merry Note” and “New Beginning” are about, but do you have any thoughts on why they got uploaded when they did? Especially “A Merry Note”, because it seems to me that Peter and Balthazar weren’t really talking that much over the break (although what their relationship looked like post-one foot is still something I can’t wrap my head around). And for “New Beginning”, do you think that was peter-initiated, in an attempt to cheer a “freaking out” Balthazar up?

So many thoughts. Once upon a time, obsessively laying out the pre-Wellington timeline in LoLiLo was like half of what I thought about.

So just to lay out some timeline stuff that I think helps in this conversation, as I've mentioned before, I'm pretty sure that "New Beginnings" was uploaded at the wrong "in-universe" date. "A Merry Note" and "New Beginnings" are the first two videos on Peter's channel, and in the "Balth in a Bath" videos, set in February, Balth says that there are only two videos on the channel—but the upload date of "New Beginnings" is in March. So I think we can safely say that the intended in-universe upload date of "New Beginnings" is sometime in late January/early February, before the filming of "Balth in a Bath."

That in mind, it seems like the timeline of events is probably something like:

October 31, 2014: Ben films "one foot in sea."

November 1, 2014: Pedro attends Balthazar's gig, sees him talking to Damian, and leaves without talking to him.

November 2014: Balth and Damian get back together.

Late December, 2014: School ends. (Going by google for this one.)

December 24, 2014: "A Merry Note" uploaded.

January 1, 2015: Ben speaks to Balth and Peter at a New Year's party, and they agree to live together in Wellington.

January 2015 (no particular order):

Balth's family reunion

Balth and Damian break up

Late January/early February 2015 (in order):

flat move-in

"New Beginnings"

"Balth in a Bath"

(I can reference in-universe sources for all of this, but I'm trying to keep this relatively brief.)

So my takeaway from this, in combination with the vague things that the characters say about their emotional states at this point (and the tone of Balth's songs) is that Peter and Balth were distant and busy between "one foot" and "Balth in a Bath," but they weren't totally out of communication. They were very close friends, so they probably did hang out, especially before school ended. (And I do think "A Merry Note" was probably filmed before or very shortly after the end of classes.) They just weren't talking about anything meaningful during that time, in part because Balth was still dating Damian. (And then after Balth and Damian broke up, they were kind of scattered and busy and not seeing each other.) And so I would imagine "A Merry Note" came out of what was, on the surface, a pretty normal hang-out. Talking about and making music is just one of the ways that Peter and Balth communicate.

As for "New Beginnings," I think it was probably an honest communication of Balth's emotional state at that point! He would have written and recorded it before "Balth in a Bath," before Peter went off the rails, before he himself got overloaded with school. I really do think that Balth viewed the move to Wellington as a fresh start, a chance at a new beginning. He'd just graduated, he'd just broken up with someone with whom he clearly had some baggage, he was in a new town and starting a new phase of his life—optimism seems really reasonable there.

It's just that we only get to see about 15 total minutes out of that time period, so it reads as very odd from the vantage point of the rest of LoLiLo.

#lovely little losers #nothing much to do #lolilo meta #meta #all around great guy pedro donaldson #balthazar jones #ask

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superbastard-ocs · 4 years

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Character Profiles for the Balthazar the Almighty Gang

Really oughta jot these down so people can send me asks on my main, so yeah, here’s some much needed information on The Lads.

(Also, please note that I gave Floyd his name before the police violence that occurred in 2020, but as I’m so attached to the name, I don’t plan on changing it)

True Name: Clement Grounding Tavern Name: Balthazar the Almighty Gender: Cismale Ethnicity: African American Age: 9-10 Height: 4"4 Eye Color: Brown Hair Color: Black Sexuality: Unknown Birthday: January 10th (Capricorn) Their Mother(s): Adela Paul Their Father(s): Grant Grounding Their Sibling(s): Ophelia Grounding (7), Hope Grounding (6), Grant Grounding Jr (3) Their Kid(s): None Enneagram Type: Four Personality: Considered to be very mature for his age, Balthazar is incredibly distrustful of most authority figures (AKA all adults) that he encounters, believing them to be dangerous and/or against him. When he feels like he's not in danger, Balth is fairly outgoing around his friends and teammates, preferring to take a leadership role if he’s able to so he can keep everyone safe. Backstory: When Clement was just an infant, his parents were incarcerated for growing weed in their apartment, and as a result Clement was put into foster care. While in foster care, Clement suffered in several different abusive homes, with very few being safe. Now that he's becoming an adventurer, Balthazar feels better than he ever has before, but it's going to take a lot of time before he feels safe enough to let his walls down and trust adults again.

True Name: REDACTED Tavern Name: Alistair the Loving Gender: Non-binary (DMAB) Ethnicity: Unknown Age: 33 Height: 5"2 (short kings rise up) Eye Color: Grey Hair Color: Unknown Sexuality: Panromantic, Pansexual (Poly) Birthday: November 4th (Scorpio) Their Mother(s): Beatrice, daughter of Mercy Their Father(s): James, son of Frederick Their Sibling(s): James Jr (40), Cassian (40), Beatrice (38), Lavinia (38), Gratiana (37), Hugh (37), Aquila (35), Augustus (35), Severin (33), Viola (33), Regina (30), Maximus (30) Their Kid(s): Balthazar the Almighty (10 - Adopted) Enneagram Type: Seven Personality: Upbeat, optimistic, and devoted to their own self-improvement, Alistair is a beacon of affection and hope, truly believing that the universe around them is a loving one. They’re easily distracted at times, and can get stubborn about their trust in others (save for the Fae, who they will never trust), but they are still a very kind-hearted person who wants to see their loved ones and peers thrive. They’re also very energetic and reckless, something that routinely gets them into trouble. Smarter than they let on. Backstory: Born into a truly massive family in the medieval ages, Alistair grew up surrounded by siblings, always competing for their parents’ (primarily their father’s) attention and love. At a young age, they began their training as a knight, and quickly became the best in their class, eventually graduating and becoming a fully fledged knight of the royal guard. They had an amazing career, and retired at the ripe old age of 28. Now that they’re stuck in the tavern, they dream of truly fulfilling themselves, and figuring out why they feel so empty even though it seemed like they had a nice life up until now. Cue a brave but troubled orphan entering the tavern, and now Alistair hopes to find fulfillment through teaching this child to wield a sword and fight evil.

True Name: REDACTED Tavern Name: Margaret the Misunderstood Gender: Cisfemale Ethnicity: Latina Age: 29 Height: 5"8 Eye Color: Brown Hair Color: Black Birthday: April 13th (Aries) Sexuality: Bisexual, Biromantic (Poly) Their Mother(s): Unknown Their Father(s): Adrian Myers Their Sibling(s): None Their Kid(s): Balthazar the Almighty (10 - Adopted) Enneagram Type: Six Personality: Loud and somewhat arrogant at times, Margaret is routinely treated as an out of control woman for her behavior, but she doesn't let it get her down, determined to fill the sadness in her life with action and volume. Although she's viewed as antagonistic by most, she's actually one of the most empathetic people you'll ever meet, being capable of understanding her peers' issues better than anyone else. Backstory: [REDACTED BACKSTORY] When Margaret awoke in the tavern one evening, she had no memory of her past life, her frustration with this resulting in her current arrogance and hostile behavior, but will a tiny excuse for a kid in desperate need of protection help her move on and make a life for herself?

True Name: REDACTED Tavern Name: Floyd the Determined Gender: Cismale Ethnicity: African American Age: 25 Height: 6"4 Eye Color: Grey Hair Color: Black Birthday: June 29th (Cancer) Sexuality: Panromantic, Pansexual (Poly) Their Mother(s): Whitney Washington Their Father(s): Unknown Their Sibling(s): Thomas Washington (29) Their Kid(s): Balthazar the Almighty (10 - Adopted) Enneagram Type: Two Personality: A gentle giant, Floyd has never been one for violence or competition, preferring to break up fights rather than start them. Deep down, he dreams of being the wonderful father he always needed growing up, resulting in his kindness and tolerance for misbehavior that tends to be a bit much at times. Although it's a rarity, he does have the potential to be intimidating, but only when protecting those he loves. Backstory: Coming from the Vietnam era, Floyd was drafted into the military and forced to participate in the horrors of war, something that greatly traumatized him. It didn't help that his fellow soldiers routinely mocked him, accusing him of being gay because he didn't want to hurt his future children. After the war, he returned home weathered and depressed, and sought out a bar to drown his sorrows, leading him into The Courier's Haven. Now trapped in the tavern until his destiny is fulfilled, Floyd tries desperately to help keep the peace among the other patrons, but the appearance of a young child changes everything for him, finally giving him a chance to be the father he dreams of becoming someday.

#my ocs #balthazar the almighty #alistair the loving #margaret the misunderstood #floyd the determined #oc explanations

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gray-zelle · 7 years

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Headcanons for Valerie Da Vinci

honestly?? i love Valerie and the character potential she has, which i’ll use in fic, and if you don’t like her that’s okay, you don’t have to like her

she’s in her mid 30′s at least, and at best

was born in the early 80′s, maybe 1980-81

her Mom left when she was real young

her Dadda is a huge, buff man with a beard and is a Lieutenant Colonel of the US Military (or high up anyway), but is a really kind and a good guy

she loves her Dadda a lot and although they don’t talk much anymore, it’s bc they’re both busy

Dadda is also real proud of her achievements

was raised by her Aunties and cousins, also involved in the military, who taught her anyone can look good while kicking ass

gave up on Halloween and lost part of her childhood innocence at 7, when she dressed up as a General of the Army and was told she, as a girl, would only ever wear that outfit as a Halloween costume (am i using this in a fic? yes)

she didn’t like Evil Bratt and laughed at Balth’s downfall

wasn’t too popular at school, mainly bc of her looks, intelligence, and bossiness

was like Hermione, but no one liking her turned her bitter af

got really insecure about her nose and maybs her teeth

and never had a boyfriend as a teenager/ college student

likes sushi

uses chopsticks with both hands, can use them in both hands at the same time

California rolls are her stress food/comfort food

she’ll go to the sushi place near her apartment and will order from 6 to 24 large California rolls and will go home and finish them

work-related stress is her drug but too much does make her upset

workaholic

will stay at the office for HOURS after everyone, even the janitor, leaves

will come to work with a bad cold, no sweat

*coughing up blood* i’m fine

Doctor: you need a week off of work Vals: oh look my lunchbreak is over bye

doesn’t miss work for a n y t h i n g

has an extensive collection of makeup

has a collection of lacy lingerie which others find weird bc she’s single and has no one to impress

(Vals can impress herself ffs Scarlet)

soooo unlucky in love it’s not funny

“i heard Valerie once bored her blind date with talking about work so much he fell asleep and stopped breathing” “omfg what did she do with him?” “left him there. she forgot to add an important note to a mission file so she went back to the base”

hates children and has no idea what to do with them

and she’ll yell at kids

yells. a lot.

has to have honey in her green tea bc of her yelling making her voice hoarse

she green tea, chai tea, any bitter tea

despises greasy junk food

is a riot when drunk

snores. real bad. and real loudly.

likes Anastacia; y’know, the tiny 2000′s singer with the coloured glasses?

her fave Anastacia songs: Sexy Single, Not That Kind, I’m Outta Love

Gru: is liking de sexy song an ironic thing or

she’s relatively fit tho she doesn’t look it

doesn’t work out as much as she used to

those boobs aren’t implants

knows a fair bit about combat even if she came from Head Office and everyone thinks she has no idea

(thanks Dadda and the military!)

it would take a lot for a bunch of villains working together to subdue her bc she knows how to fight dirty

solitary

knows she has an extensive support network, with the fam and her fam, but deals with things alone

is very reluctant to accept help, even in life-threatening situations

STUBBORN

it’s Vals’s way or the highway, even if the highway leads to hell i s2g

#maybe i'm putting too much thought into vals #then again i don't want her to be a throwaway character and worse still more of a throwaway character than the villains are #valerie da vinci #vals #dm character headcanons #I LOVE VALS BC SHE HAS SO MUCH POTENTIAL FOR A CHARACTER ARC AND Y'ALL SHOULD SEE HOW MUCH I'M GONNA USE IT #valerie #valerie headcanons

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literaryinspiredwebserieslove · 7 years

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LIW Review: Lovely Little Losers

Much as I love NMTD as my favorite adaptation of my favorite Shakespeare play, LBD for introducing me to the genre and the genre to the world, and so many other literary-inspired webseries for so many reasons, Lovely Little Losers will always be my favorite.

The premise is simple: Benedick, Balthazar, and Pedro (now going by Peter) from Nothing Much To Do are going to university in Wellington and living in a flat together with the lovely and awkward Freddie Kingston. Freddie and Ben decide to impose some order on the flat with a set of absurd flat rules that everyone has to follow, including a curfew, vegetarianism (and vegan Fridays), Ben getting to film everything, imposed flat bonding in the form of challenges, and the worst rule of all, no romantic relationships, aka no shenanigans.

The series is loosely based on Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost, but in reality there are only about five episodes that have anything to do with the plot of the original play. Apart from those moments, the inspiration mostly just creates the premise and the names of certain characters.

Plot overview:

Freddie, Benedick, Peter, and Balthazar sign a bunch of ridiculous flat rules that at first seem like a good idea and quickly spiral out of control. Then Beatrice and Meg decide to road trip to Wellington, where, due to The Rules, they end of sleeping in a tent in the back garden along with Kit, another friend of the flat. It’s hard to say more about the actual plot without spoilers, since it’s barely revealed what’s been going on until almost the end (starting around “SARDINES” and going until “FEATHERS”), so I’ll move on to my other categories.

Format:

All actual episodes are posted on the Lovely Little Losers YouTube channel, with Ben as the main (unreliable) narrator, Meg as secondary (mostly reliable) narrator, and other characters (such as Beatrice and Peter) occasionally filming/uploading videos as well. Fifteen videos are devoted to “Balth in a Bath,” which was all filmed on the same day in February but is uploaded sporadically throughout the year. There are also between fourteen and seventeen song videos, depending on how you define “song” (more on that later). There are also a few extras on other YouTube channels that, while not technically part of the story, help illuminate things considerably (the channel I’m referring to here is Zoos Job, though there are also two videos on the Nothing Much To Do channel).

How to watch LoLiLo:

This is ordinarily not one of my categories, but in this case it is very necessary. You MUST read the video descriptions, and also check the comments section, to have ANY idea what’s really going on here, and even then most of it’s going to be subtext. You can watch the series either in the order it was intended to be watched in or in chronological order (which ruins a little of the mystery but averts a Zoos Job marathon later on. Links to both playlists are below). Keep in mind that Benedick is the narrator of nearly the whole thing, and that he is editing the content to fit his own agenda – the one @beatriceeagle calls “Project Birdy-Fingers.” This means that two-thirds of the love stories in LoLiLo are almost entirely hidden from the viewers and once again need to be read through subtext.

Realism:

Off the charts dedicated. This series has a much more experimental style than NMTD – several episodes use more than one camera angle, nearly every episodes has multiple characters in it, and is frequently filmed over multiple days and edited into non-chronological order – but there is still always a reason for the camera to be there and always a reason, in-universe, for it to have been edited and uploaded the way it was. This dedication to realism made things that much more difficult for The Candle Wasters, but it also adds hugely to the value of the series.

Music:

As I mentioned above, many, many episodes of LLL are actually songs. The series has been referred to by many people as a “secret musical” because of this. 11 songs are almost entirely character development. “A Merry Note” was written by Shakespeare and was mostly The Candle Wasters being clever and making us think our ship had sailed. “Heaven in Her Lips” is a cute love song. “Stay” is secretly plot, though the lyrics also assist in understanding “one foot on sea one on shore one in the boiling hot lava,” which is the real first episode of LoLiLo. Then we get to the question of whether certain other videos are songs. “Berry Nice,” while a Balth in a Bath episode, is clearly a song. But what about “Beatrice and Ballads,” which is essentially the reprise of “Beatrice, You’re Vivacious”? What about “A Sonnet,” which, although not a song, is the inverse of “An Ode” and should therefore be included for the sake of symmetry? Of course, the numbers don’t matter, because the songs are amazing. The songs themselves were mainly written by Reuben Hudson, Elsie Bollinger, and Maude Morris, with some help from other writers, and are performed mostly by Reuben Hudson and Mouce Young, with help from most of the rest of the cast.

Representation/diversity:

Very strong. Several characters are not white at all (Kit and Jaquie), and race just generally is a non-issue. LGBT representation is also great, especially for a pre-2016 webseries: Peter is now openly bisexual, Balthazar actually uses the word “gay” to describe himself, Paige and Chelsey are a lesbian couple who have basically the only functional relationship in the whole series, and the sexuality of several other characters (Kit, Freddie, Costa, Vegan Fred), is never defined, though I headcanon them all as bi. Though there are no disabled characters, there are extensive explorations of mental health issues, though as usual for The Candle Wasters, this is largely in subtext. Also, people actually talk about money in this and have realistic issues with money, which is a nice change from every other webseries I’ve seen.

Film quality:

Fantabulous, especially since The Candle Wasters had an actual budget for this series. As mentioned before, there are even episodes shot with multiple cameras THAT ACTUALLY WORK. Yay for realism and quality combined is all I can say.

My three favorite things about Lovely Little Losers:

1) My two favorite episodes, “RUSSIANFUDGE” and “ACCOSTED”

2) Balth in a Bath, because Balth in a Bath is perfect and innocent and lovely and actually includes a lot of exposition and character/relationship development that doesn’t exist anywhere else.

3) The fact that I keep getting more out of it on every rewatch – and I have now seen this thing in full ten times, though it’s been more like twenty for some episodes (”TEA,” “RUSSIANFUDGE”), and I have no idea how many times I’ve watched/listened to some of the songs.

Difficult things about Lovely Little Losers:

On first viewing it can be almost impossible to understand what’s going on almost all the time, and it can be easy to skip things because the series seems largely plotless. Do not give up hope! There is indeed a plot, but you have to hunt for it. If you finish the series and still feel confused or dissatisfied, I recommend a rewatch and @beatriceeagle and @marydebenham ‘s LLL rewatch metas, which have been invaluable for many the confused/dissatisfied viewer. It can also be frustrating that certain things (like apologies) are never said on camera, but we can blame realism for that.

All I can say is, despite its surface flaws, LoLiLo is not only my favorite webseries but also only of my favorite pieces of literature of all time. There’s so much here, in character, in content, and in theme, and I could talk about it for ages more than I already have. Although on first viewing I had no idea what to make of it, I now give LLL a solid and glowing 5/5 stars.

Cast:

Benedick Hobbes – Jake McGregor @jakeasaurus--rex

Peter Donaldson – Caleb Wells @letslipthedogsofwar

Freddie Kingston – Bonnie Simmonds @bonniesimmonds

Balthazar Jones – Reuben Hudson @reubenhudson

Meg Winter – Jessica Stansfield

Beatrice Duke – Harriett Maire @harriettstella

Kitso Harper – Phodiso Dintwe

Paige Moth – Mouce Young

Chelsey Long – Bronwyn Ensor

Rosa Jones – Ella McLeod

Hero Duke – Pearl Kennedy

Jaquie Manders – Kalisha Wasasala

Costa McClure – Robbie Nicol (Aka White Man Behind a Desk, now part of The Candle Wasters)

John Donaldson – Geroge Maunsell

Vegan Fred Boyet – Daniel McBride (aka Sheep, Dog & Wolf)

Dogberry – David Hannah

Claudio – Matthew J. Smith

Leo Duke – Alex McDonald

Ursula – Tina Pan

Zeb – Jim Mitford-Taylor

Kelsi Forrester – Calum Gittins

Julia – Mirabai Pease

Violet – Hannah Mitford-Taylor

Maria – Hannah Geddis

Created by The Candle Wasters @thecandlewasters

More complete social media links for the cast and crew are available from people who aren’t me :)

Running time:

Approximately ten hours.

Time frame:

December 24, 2014-December 25, 2015

Watch it in the original order here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ4M4eic7acR3w0c4lLxWE8SnpT2WzoCJ

Or in chronological (Zoos Job) order here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ4M4eic7acRAEqZtFwMqTz_lvB5YxKs4

Or in upload order as a slideshow here:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1tvK1vOQNA9ClJi8K061c_sxiY4pwHfxbUvj8yPd_yuE/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000&slide=id.p

#lolilo #lll #lovely little losers #the candle wasters #literary inspired webseries review #liw #pedrazar #beadick #balth in a bath #LIW Review

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