#in the screenshots we got she seemed pretty confident but idk

[blubberingblobmonster]

Ok i know I'm like REALLY really late to the party (I probably even missed it) but I just got the chance to read Bloodmoon Huntress and I just wanna say...

OMFG IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW! THAT'S WHY RAYLA HATES WATER! BECAUSE OF KIM'DAEL!

I can't imagine what it was like for her in that moment. If it wasn't for Runaan saving her and Ethari's magic mouse finding her, she would've drowned. It must've been traumatising. I wonder how she'll deal with her water fear in season 5 considering the fact that they will probably spend almost the entire season on a boat which is in the water.

#judging from the poster btw #in the screenshots we got she seemed pretty confident but idk #we'll see in about 2 months #also Ethari is officially my favourite #he's the mom friend #I bet Rayla and Runaan have arguments frequently and Ethari's just tired of constantly trying to calm them down #he probably misses them so much right now #if we don't see them reunite in a later season then I'm throwing hands #the dragon prince #rayla tdp #runaan #ethari #rayla #bloodmoon huntress #tdp season 5 #kim'dael #tdp

[c0ntr0lledchaos]

oh god the brain rot.

generation loss brain dump under the cut as I go back and analyze the vod

so, my first thoughts are the set is very different in this episode, and we see that the more gl!ranboo moves around. The first episode was very much a stage-like set while this one was set in what looks like a mall. if that has anything to do with this episode showing more characters becoming aware of their situation and it not being just a show anymore idk.

It's fairly obvious that while looking for the key in gl!Charlie something happened so that the act was dropped for a couple seconds and what was 'really' happening was shown. I wonder if that was due to the person who has been communicating with gl!ranboo (I'm assuming they're 'the savior') trying to hack in.

that last point also makes me wonder if at the end of this, we will see clips from the first episode shown in a 'new light' and see what was actually happening. I already saw someone point out that the bowl of slime looked the same as the guts. was gl!charlie covered in blood actually? Were some of the ingredients not what they seemed?

Mr squiggles saying 'Hey new friends!' to a group of people tied up with bombs around their necks was just the start of all the creepy vibes I was getting from them this episode

THE HAT. Mr squiggles did not like the hat. the hat is defiantly the one gl!Sneeg wore in episode 1 but it is also implied it was planted in this episode since Mr. Squiggles says 'Who put that there.' (That is later confirmed by the savior as he was trying to save gl!Sneeg as well) as soon as gl!Sneeg put the hat on he immediately started freaking out and his eyes start darting around the room. we already saw that the slime was guts but what else did he see I wonder

the chills I got when the showfall masks came into view

gl!Sneeg gets back in place, the mind-control mask is removed, a new hat is put on his head, and the person doesn't even bother to handcuff him again before leaving, confident that he wouldn't try to escape. then everything goes back to normal and gl!Sneeg is notably using his 'streamer voice'

in that scene the camera also focuses on the puzzler's face a few times, showing a look of what I believe was confusion. he didn't know what was going on but was aware of what was happening unlike everyone else

Mr squiggles also goes on as if this is the first time they are acknowledging gl!Sneeg

again, Mr squiggles with a cute little animation saying 'I like them all, I wish they could all live' just unsettling now

The puzzler seems to have just a little bit of knowledge about what is actually going on, hinting to Chat being in control of helping during the choosing of who gets to live and also when gl!Sneeg and gl!Niki are about to go through the tunnel

shout out to @twilight-trix who translated the winding:

"Ah it's simple you just have to find the cage"

"The cage that's in Charlie remember?"

"Another piece is in a jar of something sweet"

"The last one comes at a price :/"

the fact that all the other victims were kept alive means they planned for all of them to die in the games and puzzles. for gl!Niki's death even though Mr squiggles had already said a price needed to be paid, the puzzler still acts surprised that she had to die even though he was the one who killed her

also, I scanned the QR code, it just takes you to the genloss website. buy their merch, this shit is fantastic

this fucking screenshot has no business being that creepy

so showfall grabbed the back of the mask and the light on the logo came on but what exactly did that do? did it just up the filtering considering what was 'really' about to happen would have been pretty gruesome. EDIT: so I didn't notice before but the mask flashed and turned off as Ranboo went to leave the room. maybe the mask only works for so long before it has to be turned back on?

again, the puzzler seems as if he is talking about chat, saying that someone is saying his puzzles are too easy and 'is this one too easy' before another pipe puzzle shows up on the screen. he even finish the puzzle for us

gl!ranboo said a few things threw out the episode that sounded like generic videogame protag dialogue but it felt strange having the prompts like 'where should I search?' but not giving us the option to actually choose. I wonder if that is due to the first episode being a point-and-click style while this one was more dedicated to puzzles. is he still stuck on point-and-click mode? or are the other NPCs searching before we even get the option?

speaking of protag dialogue, gl!ranboo says 'It must not be the way, maybe there is somewhere else' in the same tone while staring hard at gl!Ethan, the next person to die. I've been thinking about how much control showfall has over everyone in this episode since they seem to have at least a little control over everyone except the savior trying to help gl!ranboo. I don't think gl!ranboo knew that gl!Ethan was next to die but I also don't think he is the one talking when he says stuff like that. just like a game's dialogue is supposed to prompt the player in the right direction, I think showfall is using him to prompt their show in the direction they want it to go. not all the time but at least sometimes

he also does not react at all to gl!Ethan dying or the pool of blood, speaking again in the same tone

and now that gl!Ethan has died, gl!ranboo is the first to say the other door is the exit even though he had just said that it must not be that door. he even volunteers to go first! I wonder if in the next episode, gl!ranboo will feel guilt over the deaths he was forced to help cause

the puzzler is fiddling with the detonator, working on it for some reason. why?

'I hope he's ok' gl!ranboo says in the same unfeeling protag voice. there is a chance he is just doing it whenever to drive home the fact of he is a protag but whatever

gl!ranboo solves a freaking Rubix cube in less than a minute then immediately says that he doesn't know what to do. yes, it might have been just an excuse to flex his Rubix cube skills but him saying that after makes me think. Gl!ranboo is a really smart person but is being controlled by showfall to forward the plot whenever they see fit. just how much of the actual gl!ranboo have we seen and how much has been showfall speaking through him?

I think this is further proven when he declines to solve the other cube in favor of looking around more even though we saw how fast he could do it the first time

the puzzler says he had been prototyping toys that go on people's heads, could he have helped make the mask gl!ranboo is wearing? what if he is an ex showfall employee and that's why he seems to know a little bit about chat

I think the fact that the camera remains on the empty chair for so long means that showfall was not prepared for us to go into that room. gl!ranboo was not supposed to go in there

the puzzler knew he was going to die but didn't know how. he knew that showfall was going to kill him

the puzzler tells gl!ranboo to go, to be set free, and gl!ranboo ignore it. once again showing how he is under Showfall's control

even while the savior talks Mr squiggles is trying to tell gl!ranboo and us not to trust him

gl!ranboo looks at all the cameras, looking at the one that was following him just as it fades out

closing thoughts:

the cast is made up of npcs, gl!ranboo (who is the only playable character), and the savior who is not under showfalls control.

the 'vilians' are not actually villains, seen as gl!charlie (and I do mean gl!charlie and not cc!charlie) played a random person this episode and also the villain from the first episode. the npc's are random people who have had personalities programed by snowfall to help push the protagonist forward, like most story. I made a joke to my partner about gl!sneeg being 'factory reset' when the mask was put on him but I think that is more true than I realized.

the puzzler is still an npc but is special, he was on showfalls hitlist for some reason. I am going to go ahead and guess he was a former employee and because of that he has managed to retain some of the information even after being put in the show. that is why he knew he was going to die and spoke to chat a couple times.

finally, gl!ranboo, the only playable character but not to us. I belive it is showfall who is 'playing' gl!ranboo and is simply letting us make a few choices along the way. that would explain why we didn't get to control gl!ranboo as much as we did in the first episode. we are the viewer's, not the players. why we get to control him at all? I'm sure that will be discovered in the next episode now that the fourth wall is gone.

also, the mask is definitely who gl!ranboo is being controlled so storywise it would make sense if at the end of this, when he truly brakes free, he takes it off. while I'm not entirely sure if that is going to happen I have two guesses on what might happen if it does.

he takes the mask off and this is the biggest fucking face reveal ever that will be extremely difficult to beat

or he has some really cool gory sfx makeup under it that will be horrifying.

I will not be disappointed no matter what happens though so until then, we will just have to wait for the next episode.

#generation loss #ranboo #random thoughts #braindump #tw mind control mentioned #generation lost spoilers

[light-wynd]

Rambling About Menthe and Elphane

(Alternatively: My Exams Got Postponed But I'm Still In Too Much Pain to Draw, So Here I Am, Going On About My Favorite Melusines For Entirely Too Long)

Yeah. I think about these two in particular a lot, and just wanted to talk about... basically everything I could think of that I felt was worth mentioning regarding them (and a bit about Aeval too) to take my mind off of feeling like shit, along with a few general thoughts and speculations based on what we know about them.

Putting this under the cut, not because it's got story spoilers or anything (I don't think it does anyway), but because it's longer than anything I've posted before.

Does this qualify as a character analysis? Idk man I'm not a writer, I'm not confident enough to call it that.

Think I'll just begin with Menthe since I have the biggest soft spot for her - I honestly relate to her a lot more than I like to admit, and just... really want to give her a hug, she could probably use one. All we ever really see her do is stand there sighing to herself at Arouet's café, drinking tea and coffee just to keep herself awake. It's a stark contrast from how we see the other Melusines act, to say the least - not to mention how much trouble she seems to be having with adjusting to human society in comparison to them too. She's really bothered by how large everything in the city is (and that everything that is actually her size was made for young children). She's struggling with her job in the Gardiennage and thinking about finding a different one, even if there aren't a lot of options she's suited for when it comes to "human work". She even wishes her body was more humanoid like Sigewinne's if it could make these things any easier, and there's just something heartbreaking about that - not to mention her constant exhaustion. Yeah, poor thing's not doing great. The fact that she says she was initially very enthusiastic to integrate into human society makes it all even sadder - all these difficulties must have hit her particularly hard.

For this next point, I feel like I should include this screenshot from the café's message board (there's a couple more entries about her, but this is the most relevant one):

The thing about that is, all the other Melusines working for the Gardiennage must've encountered pretty similarly disturbing things just by the nature of the job, investigating crime scenes and all that - and yet only Menthe seems to be affected by it this deeply, judging by how cheerful the others act and how casually they talk about their work. This makes me think that she's either had some sort of traumatic experience that's unique to her (especially from the wording of "unfathomable darkness"), or that it all just gets to her more than the others for some reason. Either way, it would certainly explain why she'd like to change jobs - and I genuinely hope she manages to one day, for the sake of her well-being. Maybe she really will end up working in the infirmary together with Sigewinne despite her worries about the inmates not taking kindly to her, who knows. (Also I gotta say, when I first saw her "maybe I should just go underwater" line, I thought she meant she was thinking about giving up on human society and going back to Merusea Village - but of course she's talking about the infirmary in the Fortress of Meropide. Still, it does kind of sound like that is the last option she can think of when it comes to work she could do, which is a bit worrying in its own way.)

As for the adorably grumpy Elphane... can't really talk about her without bringing up Aeval too, they're a package deal after all. Most folks seem to assume that Aeval is the newer tour guide of the two, considering how enthusiastic she is, but funnily enough it's actually the opposite! (Probably just by a few days at most, but still.) It's easy to miss this since their aquabus dialogues seem pretty randomized and there's a lot of them, but these two both used to work for the Gardiennage as well - and apparently, Elphane was "the ace up the Marechaussee Phantom's sleeve", while Aeval on the other hand presumably didn't do so great (according to Talochard's quest, being assigned as a tour guide is what happens to a Melusine who's bad at being an investigator - and yeah, honestly I can see how that would be the case here). So first, Aeval got "promoted" to the aquabus (in her own words... guess nobody had the heart to tell her otherwise), which upset Elphane so much that she just quit her job - while on track to a high-paying promotion to the Opera Epiclese, mind you -, put on a new uniform and got on the aquabus with Aeval. Of course, they ultimately ended up assigned to separate lines, but at least they're colleagues again. It's pretty clear that Elphane isn't enjoying this job whatsoever, but she keeps doing it anyway for Aeval, and is still fairly skilled at it in her own way.

So yeah, Elphane is actually incredibly sweet and caring... when it comes to Aeval anyway. Hell, she even recommends that you visit Aeval's line at any chance she gets - whether it's for better commentary, a friendlier guide or just a more photo-ready aquabus, she directs you there. She genuinely seems to look up to her, and maybe even wishes she could do a better job as a guide like her deep down. Something that could point to this is that she gets very flustered by compliments, which might indicate that - unlike Aeval - she doesn't get a lot of positive feedback, so she's not quite sure how to handle it. Aeval looks up to her quite a lot too, and they seem to do pretty much everything together when they're off work (including shopping for cute clothes, which Elphane vehemently denies her interest in, ahahah) - I'm not sure what their relationship is, they just refer to each other as colleagues and Elphane being Aeval's senior, but they're clearly very close and it's absolutely precious. This is even reflected in their designs: they both have a very similar pink-blue color scheme too, just with Elphane being predominantly pink with blue accents and Aeval being the other way around - their uniforms included - and even their eyes are complementary colors to each other. Really cute way to show both their connection while also highlighting their personalities being pretty much opposites.

One last thing I want to point out is that both Menthe and Elphane struggle with their jobs in their own way, and seem to be among the few Melusines to really do so to this extent in the current time - but probably the biggest difference is that while Elphane doesn't show all that much enthusiasm or effort towards her work, it's kind of implied that Menthe on the other hand is overworking herself, judging by Arouet's comments on her constant mental and physical exhaustion. Of course, it could also be that she just has no energy because of how depressed she is - but in any case, she's doing her best to keep it together and power through it despite everything.

Aaand that would be all for... whatever this was. If even a single soul has actually read this whole thing, thank you so much, that alone makes having posted this feel worth it! And if anyone wants to talk Melusines, I'd be more than happy to ^^

#gonna have to get my hand looked at again at this point so that fuckin sucks #at least the exams won't be happening for a while in any case #ngl i'm pretty nervous to post this but fuck it. might as well #if it flops it flops #melusine #melusine genshin #menthe #menthe genshin #elphane #elphane genshin #genshin melusine

[sharpilu]

RiftClan Year 2

hello, i've officially given up on this clan. i'm just not interested anymore. but! i'm already starting plans for a new clangen to blog! so i'll be doing that soon :] feel free to read what i did do before moving on.

aaand we're finally back! sorry for the wait- got busy with runaways n stuff. you can find year 1 here! reminder: if you don't wanna see these, block the “riftclangen.blogging” tag <3

moon 13

just realized i never showed you my starclan guide- so here he is!

nothing special, but he's here.

not much happened this moon. Olivefleck and Streamsmoke had a successful hunt through the snow though so that's neat!

moon 14

OH MY GOD JUNIPERSTAR. also Flaxpaw is so fucking cute- though i decided to change her mentor to Skyglare. it just felt more right, especially considering Flaxpaw really seems to like her :]

she remains a cutie! and has become strict. sent her out on her first patrol and she got a vision. yippee.

WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK. OKAY. I GUESS. FIRST DEATH FUCK IT.

Crestedfeather lived to 109 moons in total.

moon 15

ah.

Juniperstar lived to 168 moons.

the only important lives Skystar got was confidence from Crestedfeather and leadership through the darkest times from Juniperstar. also grace from Lilacchaser but idrc about her lol

aside from that- Streamsmoke has yellowcough and Flaxpaw tried to convince Olivefleck to run away. i can figure out lore for that later.

Streamsmoke is the only eligible cat to be the deputy, but she's super sick so i've decided instead on Ashspark. also i checked on Namielle and they're old now lol

Flaxpaw got a mangled leg from a fox while out with Skystar, which i forgot to screenshot.

just thought this was really sweet <3

we met Moonclan! Marshalleaf was friendly to them and we had a nice conversation :D

moon 16

Skystar is old now!

also apparently someone has been pranking Echobeetle by putting thorns in his nest??? nerds. on the topic of Echobeetle tho- i just noticed he...isn't grieving Juniperstar. weird.

Skystar and Ashspark went on a date <3

okay i ignored it last moon but Pansystreak keeps getting visions from Starclan. i'm starting to think Riftclan might just...be really spiritually connected? idk

moon 17

OW?????

WDUIOSJAD I DIDN'T KNOW THAT WAS A FUCKING STATUS LMAO

nothing interesting happened on patrols.

moon 18

everyone is feeling better, though Skystar and Marshalleaf have running noses now. also- i only just now realized that Streamsmokes bite mark is on her normal sprite. so. oop. guess she has two now since they're in different spots!

yeah okay everyone is having visions i think we're just really spiritual or some shit.

Olivefleck stole a rabbit from Biteclan and got a torn pelt, i like to think Marshalleaf chewed him out for it afterwards lol (since she was also on the patrol)

moon 19

nothing interesting in moon events, though Olivefleck and Marshalleaf feel better now :]

we met Furzeclan! Pansystreak and Olivefleck had a nice convo with them :D

pretty boring moon. damn. Flaxpaw had her warrior assesment tho!

moon 20

Marshalleaf is adorable and FLAXROOT! i love that name <3

she is now careful and a fantastic hunter :]

nothing interesting happened on patrols. scared a rogue tho so ¯_(ツ)_/¯

moon 21

Skystar finally moved on from Crestedfeather, which means i can now officially make him and Ashspark mates! yippee

Pansystreak and Echobeetle had a conversation about the nature of Starclan. cute

moon 22

oh. shid.

Ashspark lived to 107 moons.

Echobeetle lived to 142 moons.

i've decided that Streamsmoke is the new deputy (has trained an apprentice, is calm and a fantastic teacher, seems like a good cat) and Pansystreak will be the new medicine cat (showed interest in learning from Echobeetle, is shameless)

clan is uh...not doing good. yeesh.

i've decided it was Echobeetle <3 gonna draw that sometime me thinks

WE GOT A KITTYPET AND SOME BABIES !!!!!

i love them sm but i decided to rename Avalanchekit, and i generated Squirrelkit! <3

moon 23

yippee! though i did change Archpaw to a medicine cat apprentice, under Pansystreak. cause. Echobeetle got me scared lmao

also, Petalpaw is now adventurous, Squirrelpaw is now daring, and Archpaw is faithful.

NOT ARCHPAW FINDING A FAMILY OF CORPSES HER FIRST TIME OUT OH MY GOD

#riftclangen.blogging

[kaustic]

Pls I would suck at all the other teams I exclusively watch Punz I can’t find proof of my first ever MCC just my second ever one but I’m pretty sure for my first one I tried to do multi twitch and have like dream,punz,BBH and like two or three others up because I was so excited and didn’t know who to watch because my punz hyperfix hadn’t fully clicked in yet

My second ever one tho I have a pic of my laptop (rip laptop the hinge broke and I haven’t gotten it fixed) and I had Sap,Punz and Wilbur on it :(( it’s so cute because Wilbur was part of what got me into DSMP like I was into mr beast and so ofc I heard about Karl doing streams and so my first ever stream of his and like DSMP in general was the masquerade

And I saw Wilbur on mr beast gaming and I had to pause take a screenshot and go ask who he was and so Wilbur was my first ever favorite and then somehow I moved onto sapnap and then moved onto Punz and I’ve had small stints with others like JM 😵‍💫… but no one as much as Punz like I will drop everything for that man I’ve had to have made at least 40+ edits of him including ones I deleted today that I never uploaded anywhere…

The only time I’ve willingly not watched his POV was for all stars where I watched the muffinteers and I can’t even remember specifically who’s POV I watched 💀 first pride MCC I didn’t watch second one I watched foosh the MCC Punz was benched I watched Hannah

I mean so I’m really only confident making Punz teams but I could probably manage to do the classic hermits and H team, toss DNF and toosh together and get ripped to shreds for it being too OP… Toss Sapnap ,Sam, Hannah and sylvee together and again get trashed for it being too OP .. I could also take sylvee out and put aimsey in to maybe get by with it

JoJo, blushi, puffy and gee would probably be good a little OP but also the Reddit is misogynistic and sexist so I could probably get by with it but idk tho they’re very rough on JoJo…

Other than that I don’t have any others in mind besides just Quig deserves a good team

we only need you for the punz teams! i Need foolish and punz on a team soon or I'll simply die i think. also that's so cool to read how you migrated povs cause i think my first live mcc was either dream's first one or second one and i have no missed a single dream pov since lmaoo

also the jojo blush puffy gee team would be SOOOO cool! i'd love to watch more jojo she seems awesome i just never get around to it. Also yeah, she's Crazy and does Not get enough credit from teh reddit (haha rhymes)

#i've only missed his pov in the ones he wasn't in and i watched punz or techno lol #dream stan through and through >.< #but yeah there's been times i've really wanted to watch like wilbur or tommy for a lot but can't bring myself to not watch dream #since it was like his only stream we'd get before he vanished off the face of the planet lol #kit's beloved anons

[survivor-marieta-islands]

Episode 9: "clefford is trying to idol raffy out with a disappearing candle"—Amy

[Editor's note: This screenshot from Raffy's confessional perfectly encapsulates this round.]

AJ

Wowie. What a tribal. #stopbeingmeantoAJinyourvotingmessages

Raffy

Throughout the day, I was taking last round very chill and I think it worked great for me. I did not honestly care who went between Maddison and AJ. Of course, the vote wasn't exactly how I expected, but it's whatever.

After tribal, I told AJ I voted Brandi at the behest of Brandi. Later, I found out Jinx was the one who did that and they swore to not bring it up to AJ. Jinx and I rekindled our relationship which I LOVE. I hope they trust me again and we can work together moving forward. I did agree with taking out Colin, which I kinda am being honest about. Colin and I seem to be moving in different directions and they've been going behind my back to leak the oldies chat to Hairie. I don't know if I'm done with Colin, but I think I'd be ok if they left since I have a lot of other strong allies backing me too. Amy is a little sneak, but I hope I can still trust her. She's kind of been my goat since the beginning so I need her lol. And Jinx wants to trust Amy, but hasn't felt close with her at all. We need to rekindle that because it's important for my future. So I am prioritizing talking to Amy and Jinx this round. Amy has helped plant seeds against Clefford which actually works for me since I am targeting Clefford. Trinica and I also wanna target Colin and AJ eventually. Jinx wants to start an alliance with Trinica, Hairie, and I which I love.

I am once again probably going to be taking a backseat this round to avoid the mastermind label, but I have put in the WORK for a Clefford target so I hope that comes to fruition.

AJ

I am fairly confident that I know who all voted for me. I’ve guessed their voting messages too. Colin was crumble, crumble. Raffy was the other crumble message I’m pretty sure. Zo was the twin one. And Amy was the longer, kind of catty gonna need more from you if you really don’t want to go home message. Which like, the way that message, no matter who gave it, has rubbed me the wrong way is insane. I was being friendly and trying to toe the line of talking game while not forcing game into a conversation, but also if you want to have an effort made, make one yourself too. This isn’t a one way street.

It’s like they’re blaming me for being on the chopping block. Like ok but who is making the effort to initiate ANY conversation? Me. Who attempted a bit of game talk? Me. Who was the one trying to keep the conversations alive? Me. Today it’s been the same too. Whichever of them wrote that, Zo or Amy I’m assuming, both have dodged my attempts at talking game today. So like? Idk maybe I’m just too much about all of this.

Anyway tribal is tonight. I’m not entirely sure what’s happening. According to Hairie and Clefford this morning, Clefford’s name is the one out there. According to other people I’ve talked to, they've heard “no names” and “it’s been super quiet.” Clefford is suggesting Raffy’s name, and Hairie and Arvin also seem to be on board. I said fuck it and told Hairie about the extra vote, but honestly I think the best thing going forward for me is going to be keeping shit to myself. I’ve got to start playing a more selfish game but it’s so difficult for me.

Also Hairie and everyone else seem to be in so many alliance chats and I’m in like, three. One is a GC for the tribe NS stuffs. One is a GC created for Trinica, Hairie and I, and then only today was Timezone Hell revived. So I’m not feeling so hot in my gameplay right now. I need to evaluate what to do. So I guess this confessional will just be a list of things I know(™).

Alliances I know of: Brandi, Trinica, Hairie || Clefford, Trinica, Hairie || Raffy, Trinica, Hairie || Timezone Hell (Me, Arvin, Cleff, Hairie) || Do Not SS (New School Chat) || Me, Trinica, Hairie

Which worries me because I am in one (1) alliance that’s not a larger group, and that’s with Trinica and Hairie. At this point I honestly trust neither of them. I’m harboring a hunch that Trinica has an idol, I’m getting she’s got an idol vibes. I learned she didn’t mind if I went home last round, which like, I’m a little annoyed with. Maybe it’s BS but like. Her vibes were definitely off last tribal. She didn’t want to vote for Colin, and didn’t care about if Maddison used an idol or not. And allegedly she knew the whole time that my name was seriously out there and like, didn’t tell me. Am I a bit hurt? Honestly yeah a little bit.

Idk we’ll see what happens later today. Maybe I go home. Who knows.

Clefford

Good day! I'm just here giving you updates.

So, it was a successful tribal council to our side. The OG Sin Sazonar voted together to get out Maddison, except Arvin who voted for Jinx. That pretty much the sign that we only worked as an OG for that round. I'm so open to work with others, that's why I'm putting a lot of effort to get on Amy, Raffy, and Jinx's good side. I also got to talk with Colin, him proposing that we should work together. Hairie and I also had a deep-game talk where I kinda told him that I'm willing to go to the end with him even though he's a threat to my game. Amy on the other hand asked me who are the people to be included in our group and I mentioned Adeline (I don't know but I trust her solely because we worked together back on Raccoon City) and Arvin (an instant connection because we're both Filipino) who keeps sending me coins.

I used all of my coins to buy advantages.

Commemorative Snowglobe: 20MIC

This snowglobe depicting the Antigua Resort will always help you remember your time in the game, which means it will aid you later on. This represents a Legacy Advantage, an advantage which will stay secret until the final 4. If you are voted out, you give it to someone else.

Colorful Guadalupe Candle: 15MIC

Lighting this candle will aid you in your trials during this game by canceling out any negative energy…or votes. Congratulations, you have found a hidden immunity idol! This can be played through the Final 5. For more information, please consult the rules.

Also, I'm just laying low and hopefully people will not see me.

Amy

three things 1) I swear my schedule is somehow opposite of every single person somehow 2) I have given up idol hunting 🤣 3) I have been driving too much and honestly I knew I wasn't in danger so I didn't put much energy into the vote.

Anyway I want to turn it onto Clefford bc it's funny. And new school all claim they don't want to stick to tribe lines lol but I don't believe it. Also I may be enacting the gabler strategy.

I'm trying to get ppl to actually work w me lol bc genuinely I had to ask the Olds for a name to send before I lost service for this vote. I'd rather not do everything last minute. The new ppl only trinica even told me it'll be between Maddison and jinx lol. So far trinica Brandi hairie and clefford all said they want to work w me but I don't believe they will actually flip. Hence why I'm going to really make myself a nonthreat and a "tell me what to do" person. Really I'm raffy's goat though.

My goal for the challenge is 5 photos.

Colin

I finally got to call with Jinx and I think we’re on more or less the same page now??? I’m not even going to tell Trinica or Raffy about it bc I want it to be a genuine moment of connection just between us

I feel like this game is so…. Deep. Like so many powerful connections are being made. I’m so excited to see how this all plays out

Granted im not voted out tomorrow …. We’ll see. Idk who’s going yet. No one’s said anything yet. Immunity results were just posted

Trinica

FI FUCKING FWON FY'ALL!!!!!!!!!

Zo

Not me FULLY thinking i had that in the bag hdjsjdjsj I will say I’m really happy Trinica won though because I really like them as a person and we are vibing on a game level so this is a win for me in a way. Hoping we can switch up the tribal lines this time like people keep saying but we shall see!

Brandi

Im happy trinica got the immunity!! Feels good for it to be someone from my group.

Hairie

I am so fucking gutted with the results. Trinica knows what I had to go through and what happened with my photos … and this happened.

She really said she wasn’t doing it and … tbh I’m speechless. I don’t even know what to confess.

Trinica

Oh no Hairie's mad at me for winning this is DEVASTATING. Honestly??? Go ahead and fuckin cancel me my life is over bc sweet prince hairie is upset with me :( this will read as sarcasm but I'm so serious, someone shoot me

Amy

turns out being read busy makes playing this game super difficult. I'm shocked I didn't have the lowest score in the challenge.

Raffy

Tbh I don't even know what I wrote in my last confessional. Instead, I do plan on targeting Clefford. I have put in work with Hairie, Trinica, Brandi, Colin, Amy, and Jinx to land this target on him. Hopefully, it will come to fruition. Now Jinx is not only turning on Colin and Zo (which might be a good thing for me and if not good then just alright), but they are slowly turning on Amy for not being active enough. Listen, with Colin and Zo, I KNOW they are active and sneaky. With Amy? She's just a little inactive here and there. But I learned my lesson. I am not getting involved. If Jinx wants to target Amy, who would be 100% loyal to them no questions asked, then that's their business. I will have no hand in it. I have so much else to be worried about rn, like getting out Clefford. I also think Trinica is slowly turning on Adeline which would be good for my game cause I hear that Adeline is close with Clefford from Trinica, Hairie, and Amy. Rn, I think the next three to go that would be best for me is Clefford, Adeline, and AJ in that order. I will think about other things as they come up.

Brandi

Clefford messages me every single day saying that he heard his name and hes worried about being voted out but little does he know he really needs to worry this time.....

Raffy

Jinx hardcore distrusting Amy feels like a mistake. Like, tbh, Amy has never once said anything to me about targeting Jinx or feeling bad about Jinx. If anything, I've said that to Amy in the past. The thing is, which is what I genuinely believe, is that Amy and Jinx have incompatible schedules and just can't get around to talking to one another. But I'm not going to say that to Jinx because 1. I don't think they'd believe me since unless Amy does something to prove otherwise that is the mindset they are going for and 2. it really isn't my problem. All I need for right now is to keep my allies together. If they wanna cannabalize each other after we get to single digits, fine. But we all need to be on board to target Clefford, Adeline, and AJ. And what's frustrating about that is that I bet Jinx likes Adeline and AJ and I'm going to either a) have a hard time convincing them or b) just have to blindside them. I really just have no time to meddle in the relationships between people. I don't know how to do it well lol. All I have to try to do is steer them into the direction that I want which is Clefford.

Amy

I love spreading info and being placed into new alliances 🤠 thanks clefford

AJ

Jesus. No idea who to trust or where alliances are at this point. Seems like Hairie was maybe lying. Again, I don’t trust Trinica or Hairie at this point. Kind of just want to throw my lot in with Adeline at this point. Maybe that’s the best course of action for me.

Amy

I don't believe this candle story 🤣 Apparently it was there yesterday and instead of saying 0 remaining it's just magically gone but I saw the list. Before and it wasn't there ...

But I am entertained thanks Clefford!

Clefford: Update me on who you guys will vote.

Me: who's you guys? Clefford: because I will vote with you Me: Clefford I thought we were working together 🤣

Clefford: Yes, we will work now for real.

Me: It wasn't real before 😭

--

clefford is trying to idol raffy out with a disappearing candle

--

no but genuinely I'm so lost I will not be surprised if it's me today lol

Hairie

OPERATION GET CLEFFORD THE F*** OUT

Messy. Chaotic. Not sorry if you're going to be reading this at the end Clefford but you do you.

I have defended you and protected you on several occasions and rounds we went to tribal. You threw me under the bus. "You can't Sarah Lacina, Sarah Lacina"

Plan is to vote Clefford. Other's plans well read their confessional lmao because it's either Arvin or AJ I think. This vote split is wary but I'm at that stage of I don't care.

Episode title suggestions:

Holy Forking Shirtballs! - The Good Place ( The F is for the challenge) "You can't Sarah Lacina, Sarah Lacina" If I'm the rat, you're a weasel. Welcome to Zootopia.

Colin

new school is so fucking messy. the children are IMPLODING. it's great for us honestly.

no one was saying SHIT to me last night but suddenly trinica started calling people out in the tribe chat this morning. apparently clefford is deluding himself and saying trinica has been saying she wants to vote him and adeline. but thats just a straight up lie.

found out he has an idol ??????????????? i guess the plan is to split between arvin and clefford

i've been calling a lot with aj trying to smooth things over after i voted her last round

jinx and i wanna do a fake fight where we pretend to fight over clefford

????????????????????????/

this is a mess.

Trinica

Today was my day off work. I'm also immune. [backstreet boys voice] TELL ME WHYYYYY THIS CAST CAN'T CHILL TF OUT FOR TWO SECONDS

Aight so this morning I wake up to Clefford saying he needed to talk to me and Adeline saying they heard I was gathering votes for a Clefford/Adeline split. Clefford then puts me and Adeline in a chat to clear things up and says Hairie told him I was saying their names and saying they're a duo etc etc etc. So I go in the tribe chat to talk shit and Hairie acts like he has no idea what I'm talking about. So I get on a call with Hairie ready to rip him to SHREDS but he says he didn't do that. Do I believe Hairie? Eh, barely. He's got loose lips. But this is EXACTLY the kind of nonsense Clefford would pull, so I decide to stick with Hairie.

We were talking for like 3 hours with Raffy trying to do some math to figure out how to finagle this vote because, oh yeah, Clefford has an idol. And then Hairie suddenly wants to leave the game and I was like ??? but it turns out he also leaked my idol to Clefford. Also Clefford made Hairie realize that I had a legacy advantage, which yeah, my b, I didn't tell him about. So sue me! Can you blame me for wanting to keep one (1) secret in a cast that leaks as much as this one!!!

So anyway a lotta bullshit happened in-between, AJ told Hairie I "instructed" her not to tell anyone about the extra vote, which I was ONLY KEEPING SECRET FOR AJ lmaoooo as a show of faith of working together. So as soon as I heard that I was like, fuck it, AJ can go. AJ, if you're reading this later, you did this to yourself. Like come on!!! Did I take all of AJ's coins to get her the extra vote pretending like I didn't have enough money? YES but I honestly was just gonna take like 10 coins and she offered all of them. Which I think is a fair trade considering I literally gave her an advantage. I shoulda fuckin kept it for myself but I'm not that evil. If AJ is throwing me under the bus with Hairie, she's throwing me under the bus with others. And if you throw me under the bus, you gotta go.

So anyway now the plan is for me to idol Arvin LMAO which will put an even bigger target on my back but I'm ready to live my OTT dreams baby. I've never played as a meat shield before, maybe I can do it this game. Realistically I'm gone in 1-2 rounds but I've had a blast <3

Raffy

Arvin

I really hope I'm not going to be voted out tonight, I trust the people I am working with. I hope this risk will pay off.

Raffy

So Trinica told me the whole plan about voting AJ before tribal. So I knew all of that was going to happen. Feels good.

Trinica

me crying every time I vote AJ out? it's more likely than you think

#episodes #Youtube

[forbiddennhoney]

LMAO yknow processing the abuse you went through as a child is already weird, but then add grieving a parent who most definitely caused harm to you but also died when you were 20 in an extremely traumatic way when you were just barely starting to repair your relationship into the mix and its even fuckin weirder.

example: my sister sent me a screenshot of a facebook memory of my mom being like “i love my kids and this gift they made me for mothers day earlier this year” and, for context, the gift is a jar of hand written notes on why we loved her. my sister made us all do it and her and my brother came up with reasons pretty fast. i think i put maybe 3 notes in there (and i actually still have one of them!) and the notes i wrote all seem normal on the surface but i remember struggling REALLY hard to come up with those 3 reasons i loved her and the one i actually still have is “i love you because you almost died so i could live”. except i remember actually Not loving her for that. I actually hated htat she did that because i guarantee my birth was traumatic but i was put into this position by everyone who heard the story of i Had to be good and do every last thing she said or i was terrible and ungrateful ebcause she almost died. and i remember feeling so red, so hot, so angry that i was being forced to write this for a mother’s day gift that i initially wrote a long note saying how i didnt love her and i didnt love that story and i wish she wouldve aborted me like the doctors told her to - and of course i do love her and i acknowledge now the “i dont love you” was a product of feeling coerced and triggered. but in that moment i Didnt love her - or myself for that matter. but anyways, i then ripped off a piece of the paper from that stickynote that i wrote those horrible sentences on and then wrote that shitty one liner. i felt nauseous doing it too. and when she inevitably opened mine i knew - because we got into an argument again over me not doing what she wanted me to with my life (which i actually still was! i was going to the college she begged me to go to instead of my dream one, i was living on campus but still went home almost daily bc she guilted me into it regularly, i was majoring in the major she wanted me to even tho i wanted to change my major to a similar but less flashy one - i wasnt even out yet)

idk its just so weird seeing my sister almost crying over that because i see that jar and those notes and i feel rage and discomfort. its a weird reminder we are grieving in such different ways bc yes, we were both mistreated by our dad growing up. but she had our mom close to her. even if it was unhealthy at times she could confide in her and trusted her. i didnt really. my grief related to my mom not only encompasses the fact that like she’s dead but is also grief over the relationship we may have had because i never Got a normal relationship with her. its grief over the fact that she got sick and died right after we started finally trying to repair our relationship. its grief because when she got sick everyone got loving messages and was told she was proud of them and i was told to watch my back and was warned i was likely going to be homeless bc my father had been wanting to kick me out since i was 14. its grief in that i didnt really have family the way the rest of them did and still do.

#personal #trauma processing

[ntamain]

Is my (24F) neighbour (27F) into me or is she just being friendly? How do I know if she's gay?

another gay gem from the r/relationship reddit

Update:

Image ID under the cut, please let me know if I did it wrong!

[Image ID: four screenshots of a post from the relationship subreddit by tumblr user nta-main. The title reads “Is my (24F) neighbour (27F) into me or is she just being friendly? How do I know if she’s gay?”

The text reads “Update post is now locked, I cant believe so many people were interested in us!! Thank you again for your support, comments and messages.

Hi all, I can't believe I'm asking for advice from a bunch of strangers on the internet but I don't really have anyone I can talk to about this. Sorry for the incoming essay but I guess I need to give history. I bought my first house in September last year, It was an odd time but everything just fell into place. It's quite a small village and everyone is really friendly so I got to know my neighbours soon after moving in - yes, socially distanced. Then I met my over-the-road neighbour, let's call her Elle. I can't describe it but it's the first time I've ever met someone and been lost for words and my heart was racing and just thought "omg", y'know?? So after I blushed my way through a welcome to the village type convo we only saw each other for a wave and hello for a few days.

To help kinda settle in I had my dog (Bea) with me for the first few weeks. During this time there was a massive increase in dog thefts in a nearby town, not just from gardens but literally wrestled away from people. If I'd have been working (furloughed off and on since March) then I would've taken Bea back to mum's but since I was home with her all day she stayed. So the local police advised to not walk dogs alone but we go out twice a day, a 10k run in the morning and a few miles walk in the evening. So obvs this scares me, but at the same time she is honestly a pain in the arse and gets upset if she doesn't go for a run and needs to be tired out so I'm kind of stuck at this point. Then along comes Elle. She knocked on the door and offered to come with us as she'd seen Bea and me in the evenings and everything kind of spiralled from there. I told her about my morning runs but she didn't really bite so I thought nothing of it. Then a few days later I bumped into her on a run, so she started joining us on those too.

A few months later and we are spending more and more time together everyday. It has now progressed to a run early morning, afternoon coffee, dinner most evenings and then the evening walk. It just seemed to happen without me really noticing. I didn't read into things that much as I don't want to get my hopes up and ruin anything until another neighbour commented about how much time we spend together and how "it's nice to see you young gals getting on" and winked. She actually winked at me. I asked her what she meant but she just laughed and said "you know what I mean". So now I'm looking back on things and wondering if she could like me too?

Here's some reasons why she might like me:

I went running along the same route at the same time for nearly 2 weeks before I happened to run into her a few days after I told her this?

I make her a coffee every afternoon (Elle is WFH) and take it over in her fave mug. She says I make good coffee but I'm pretty sure I saw a fancy coffee machine the first time I went round (it's not there now?).

Elle carried on running and walking with me even after Bea went home. I told her she was going back to mum's and she said well "I'll have to make another excuse to join you" and then we just carried on everyday.

She has tried really hard to bond with Bea. Bea is a very anxious dog and is scared of everyone except me and mum. Elle bought special treats to give her everyday and has been so amazing with her and never tried to force anything. When I asked her she said "it's important to me that she likes me and is comfortable". Bea actually fell asleep between us on the sofa yesterday and It just makes my heart skip a beat guys.

She invited me to the zoom quiz she does with her friends every fortnight or so and they were all like "oh so this is who we've heard so much about "

We realised we had become each other's support bubble. Elle asked if I was meeting anyone else and I said no, she said she was glad she had me all to herself (!!)

We gave each other quite personal xmas presents. Like, it actually made me tear up it meant so much to me. And she bought stuff for Bea!!

Reasons why she might not like me:

All the reasons above, but that she's just doing them because she's a fucking great person and we're friends?

It might sound dumb but idk I need your help guys. She is the just the most incredible person I have ever met and I really really like her but if she isn't gay or doesn't feel the same I don't want to lose her friendship as she has become such a huge part of my life. I genuinely have no experience with these kind of things as I went to quite a strict all girls school, so it's not as if there were any relationships around me as a teen and then I went to a very small uni (8 of us on my course). I guess another reason is that I've struggled with anxiety and depression for the past 10 years, as well as my weight and working on my self confidence, but I can say that right now I am the happiest and healthiest (both mentally and physically) I have ever been. I've only just really become comfortable with the fact that I'm gay and I have never really told anyone in real life, but I don't think people would be too surprised lol. I don't have any close friends as no one stuck around when I was really struggling with my MH a few years ago so I can't discuss this with anyone irl.

So I need your advice : how do I find out if she is gay? And no, I don't have the confidence to just ask!! What if she says no and I ruin everything? She has never mentioned anything about past relationships and I'm pretty tactless so not sure how I could naturally slip it into the convo. Like, "hey tell me have you ever had a girlfriend? Do you want one now?" Lol. And how can I make a move without really making a move so I don't ruin things??

tl;dr : Don't know whether my neighbour is gay and into me or is just really friendly. How can I make a move without ruining our friendship?

Edit: Ok guys, thank you so so much for all your support and encouragement. You've all given me a lot to think about. I think I'm going to casually slip some gay stuff into conversation and see how she reacts. Then bring up the neighbours comment like some of you suggested, seeing as tho the neighbour was heavily implying that we're gay. I'll do it tonight otherwise I'll talk myself out of it again. I will post an update to let you know what happens (eek). If you never hear from me again assume it went badly and I am consoling myself with cake and watching brokeback mountain in floods of tears.

Hi reddit, yes it's me the useless lesbian. First off I want to thank you all for your support, encouragement and advice - and the undeserved awards! I never expected this many of you to take the time to comment and that so many of you were rooting for us.

So I had the plan to drop these gay hints into convo like you guys suggested but honestly it all went out the window. Elle was kinda stressed friday after a shitty work zoom and just needed to vent so it wasnt the right time to start anything. Though I guess I must have been a bit off thanks to spending all day overthinking things on here, as Elle turned up Saturday morning rambling about stressing me out and apologised (!!) for ruining dinner. Obvs I said "what are you talking about you can talk to me about anything", and she said "anything?" and I said "anything" back. And guys the tension was unreal, staring at each other and hoping our lesbian mind reading powers would kick in.

Then there was some loud noise like a car backfiring or something and the moment went. So I went to make coffee and then Elle asked me why I was a bit quiet the night before and I said something about overthinking stuff and she said "what stuff" and idk you guys I wasnt prepared to be put on the spot my casual gay pop culture references were useless in this moment. My mind just went completely blank and I forgot every single thing you guys suggested and my heart was pounding and I just blurted out you know I like you, right?.

...And then she kissed me. Kissed me. We straight up just snogged in the kitchen and it was fucking great. So...you were right. You were all fucking right. She's gay, she likes me and has been trying to drop hints for nearly 5 months. sigh

We were both just too scared to make a move or ruin anything. Turns out she's been burned by straight girls in the past, so she's pretty wary and was hoping I'd straight up say I'm a lesbian so she'd know for sure - maybe the I'm a lesbian wall hanging would've been a good idea after all? Her friends have been helping her drop hints, she showed me the group chat and guys their suggestions ranged from flirting more to just turning up in a trenchcoat and nothing else lol. Also, the winking neighbour has been making comments to her as well, so shout out to her for trying to make this happen too.

So no cake and cry watching brokeback mountain, just 5 months of dating to catch up on. As for worrying about how our current schedule could be more date like during lockdown, you were right it's kinda irrelevant when you've essentially been dating the whole time. Though we never made it to our morning run yesterday, in fact we didn't leave the house at all, ha.

Thank you guys for giving me hope, even if all your suggestions completely disappeared in the moment. Maybe I'll show her the post later and ask if any of the suggestions would have worked.

tl;dr: she's gay, into me and I'm an idiot”

End image ID]

#this is for sure already on tumble #but it's so cute #I had to #mine #r/relationships #tw// ed #edit: I'll add a transcript in a minute just gotta figure out how to make it accessible

[stilesxeveryone]

The Rewatch, pt2

Feel free to message me about any of my dot points! Ultimately this is just for me, so I can remember all my thoughts the next time I do a season or episode specific fics, but I greatly encourage discussion!! None of my friends watch teen wolf so I can’t discuss things with them :(

Season 1, episode 7

Stiles: I’m not scared of you!

Peter: and I took that personally

To be honest I don’t think I’d ever take a werewolf fight to my high school, like everything is gonna be locked and oh god there are so many stairs and nowhere to hide

I will still never understand why Scott threw Derek under the bus in this episode? Like I feel like saying Derek is the murderer that’s behind everything just raises way more questions than answers and would cause more problems than solutions

Stiles punching Jackson? Valid and wonderful

Okay I’m gonna be honest here, there was a big old chunk of this episode that was just dramatic tension and no dialogue so I did not follow a single part of that because I’m also drawing dinosaurs at the moment

Also I find it interesting that Peter (the big bad alpha) seems to want Scott to kill his friends and join him as pack member. Why does he decide that one pack member is better than turning the others and forcing them to join as well? Maybe he believes it will create stronger loyalty, but in my opinion I feel like numbers are more important at this point in time

Season 1, episode 8

Oh no I hate this episode

Scott and Lydia kissing is actually one of the worst things I’ve ever seen (and why I hate this episode), and wow asshole move from both of them

Watching this episode makes me feel less bad about the fic I half-finished where Scott major attacks Stiles on a full moon because uhhh, it’s kinda accurate to the asshole ways of early Scott

Werewolf - now with added visual hallucinations? (Also I still hate their beta shift faces so much, especially Derek’s)

Okay but yes to a canon divergence AU where Chris and Kate Argent think that Stiles is the second beta werewolf instead of Jackson

Season 1, episode 9

I really wish they put in like any effort at all to make the photos that Scott sends to Allison actual photos? Instead of just screenshots from previous episodes? Like where are my cute couples selfies or sneaky candid photos during study dates and shit

Jackson dos a really good job at being absolutely creepy, like I hate it but also good shit

Stiles, at literally every interaction with Derek, saying he’s not afraid of him and being confident and then immediately being frightened by him (and the same happening with Peter in the high school) is character consistency and I appreciate that

I wish people wrote more Stiles and Danny friendships tbh (as well as relationships to be fair), I just really enjoy all their scenes together

“You must be Stiles” yes bitch!!! I always find it funny how fucking soft Peter says that line, like his voice is so gentle even though he’s meant to be the big bad wolf and all that

I’ve been meaning to say this since episode one but I love the music they use, as in the actual songs and such, but I literally hate the instrumental stuff they use. Very rarely does it build tension the right way and it almost never sounds nice

Season 1, episode 10

I still continue to not at all understand why Peter needs Scott

“You’re way too pretty to be out here all by yourself”

Okay but Allison/Lydia power couple (Lydia looks so good with red lipstick)

The whole scene of Stiles’ father being drunk and saying “I miss talking to you, and I miss your mum” is so soft and sad and personal and I love it

Oh my god I totally forgot about the part where Peter takes Scott’s mum on a date, that’s so weird

Also “you have incredible skin” is so serial killer-y, I can’t believe Melissa let him get away with that

Jackson really needs to listen to his gut more, like stop trusting the scary wolf men and go do some homework (also wow Derek really ripped into him about the fact that no one cares about him)

Season 1, episode 11

My god, Derek deserves to kill Kate. She’s so gross and he deserves a little revenge

Allison getting Lydia to go with Stiles to the dance! I forgot about that! As always, give me Allison/Stiles sibling/best friend relationship or give me death! Also Stiles/Lydia friendship is very good as well

Did Peter just say that Allison should go for a lighter dress? While she’s holding a black and white dress? Sir this makes no sense (also Allison looks great in dark outfits)

Also there’s no way teachers don’t immediately notice Jackson giving alcohol to some of the other kids, they’d be watching the drinks like hawks dude

Jackson goes through so much this season (and the next), it makes me feel so sorry for him

The CGI for Peter’s fangs extending is honestly so gross and I hate it

“Because you’re the clever one, aren’t you” if only more people understood this

Season 1, episode 12

Peter making a period joke is so,, absolutely unnecessary and weird and I hate it

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Allison’s mum is a snake and I hate her

Also Allison basically has to decide on whether her boyfriend is a monster or if her aunt (and family in general) are monsters and that is a tough decision, especially with how manipulative Kate is. I don’t remember what exactly she does in season 2 but idk how much I can blame her for it

Parking garage scene!! My favourite to read canon divergent scenes about

In defense of Scott, some of my passwords do in fact involve the name of my significant other, but in argument against Scott, I’m a little more creative than just his first name

I wish this show gave me the classic wolf howls instead of the weird, low, grumbly sound that makes no sense to me

I tried writing a parking garage AU once and it went horribly, but I think I’ll be coming back to it soon! Having some very fun ideas right now

Stiles and Chris scene! God bless Stiles just straight up not taking any of his shit and putting him in his place about the Hale fire

Also I don’t think it gets mentioned enough that Jackson witnesses this entire scene of Stiles standing up against the big bad hunter

I honestly really like that the code is “we hunt those who hunt us”, I think it’s valid and it’s more about self defense, even if Kate and the others don’t treat it like that

They really set Peter on fire again, huh, definitely not adding to his trauma and major pain or anything

Overall I do enjoy this season, I mean there’s a reason I continued watching it and am back here again for another rewatch. I think there are definitely some issues with the writing, of character morals and motivations not always aligning with their actions and that kind of thing. I really hope that as the show continues I see improvement in Tyler Posey’s acting, because until now I’ve never really paid too much attention to him honestly (which is a concern since he’s the main character).

I do really wish that they didn’t set Peter on fire, and I find it interesting that Stiles and Jackson were more involved with Peter’s death than Scott was. Although if Scott (or anyone other than Derek) killed Peter we would have avoided like all of season 2, but I do enjoy season 2.

I really enjoy seeing the characters interacting with each other honestly, especially Stiles interacting with any of the “bad guys” and the bad guys (Chris, Derek, Peter) and I really wish we got to see him talk with Kate, honestly.

#teen wolf #please message me #i miss teen wolf and the fandom #alex rewatches teen wolf #the rewatch

[bellatrixobsessed1]

Some of my favorite Azula pictures and why I like them (part 1 of ?);

First and foremost these are in no particular order. Tbh I’m just looking for an excuse to talk about Azula, but not in the form of memes or fics. 

1. I’ve just always just loved the mirror scene as a whole. I like this picture because you can see all of the care that the animators put in here. Like all of the background details just really help build the scene. I also kind of wonder if this is part of her bedroom, the spa room, or a bathroom. It doesn’t really look like a bathroom, but if it is that’s one hella fancy bathroom. I also like how they detail her robes; all of the folds and wrinkles and how it kind of just flows with her movements. It’s just good animation. Also she’s doing that thing with her face where it is nice to look at. 

2. I’ve just always been a fan of this scene. Tbh I think that this is probably the scene where she is at her pretties in the entire show. Superficial things aside, I like this picture because it just exudes sass! Like this is peak Azula princess mode. She’s where she belongs, standing in the middle of a ring of blue fire that is also her throne. 

Plus it really kinda highlights how long her hair is. Idk what kind of magic her servants use to get it all into that little top knot, but whatever it is, Azula herself doesn’t even posses that power, apparently.

3. I know that I mentioned the pic above being peak Azula. But, like, this is peak Azula. She’s just really in her element here and she is playing Long-Feng (as the good memes put it) like the cheap kazoo he is. This picture radiates a powerful HBIC energy and I live for that shit.

4. This one I like because there is just so much emotion in it. The way they have her gripping the comb, the grit of her teeth, just her overall expression. This one screenshot alone conveys more emotion than she’s ever really displayed before it. I also appreciate the manner in which they animated her hair and tears.

5. This pic is absolutely feral and I love it. There’s this deadly but unhinged sort of confidence here. Frankly, I think that this is the most confident that she looked during that Agni Kai and it is ironic because it comes just before her downfall. I think that it’s also interesting because her stance seems much more tense than her usual ones. It also seems to be...I don’t want to say sloppy...but it is less refined than what she usually does in fights. 

6. *Insert another spiel about great background detail. But tbh 

7. I like this one because it’s just such a mundane moment. It’s one of those times where we get to see Azula and TyLee just chillin’ and doin’ normal people stuff. 

The background is lovely and well drawn too; I love the sunset and the overall details of the house in the backdrop and the water. The foods on the table and the plants are nice.

And Azula just looks adorable. Like look at that face. It’s precious.

8. There’s just something I really love about this particular expression. @dragomer​ put is best in saying that it conveys this lethargic sort of deadliness. Like she’s tired as hell but can still kill a man. 

9. Azula in pajamas is my aesthetic. First of all, that bed can fit about twelve Azula’s and an Appa. Those golden accents are worth more than my entire house, probably lol. Her bed just looks so cozy. And so do her pajamas. It’s just always neat to see what characters wear to bed; for one thing it’s another thing that shows what they’re like as people and for seconds, it’s another thing that kinda adds humanization. You get to see what the characters do when they aren’t doing character/plot-driven things.

Another aspect of this image that I love is that this is just pure sibling energy. Like she was probably hella comfortable and then Zuko waltzes in like, “hEY i HaVE a tHINg TO aSK!” And you can just see the complete dissatisfaction on her face, because she just wants to catch some z’s. 

Also Azula looks precious with a ponytail. 10/10

10. This is another one of those things where her expression just says a lot. Azula has always been a confident and kind of smug person. This face just oozes that. Again, she looks totally feral and its wonderful. 

11. A very rear empathetic Azula. If I remember this particular part of the scene well it is either while Zuko is relaying his story or just after his large burst of fire died down. People really like to argue that Azula’s a sociopath who can’t feel sympathy but I think that there’s enough canon evidence to say that this isn’t true (and this moment is one of them). She’s just really good at hiding things like sympathy/isn’t great at conveying it. But in this cap you can see that she does seem to have a genuine care for Zuko’s issues. People like to argue that she does nice things to make herself look good in front of people; but there’s no one hear to really impress, she already has the companionship of those with her. This is Azula expressing a little hit of compassion. I feel like it conveys a bit of vulnerability too; just the way she has her legs drawn together and her arms folded. Her posture is a lot softer here. 

12. This is another softer moment. Here you get to see a very different side of Azula. She seems much more relaxed and happy, however short-lived. Like, pretty much all of her smiles in the show are more of smirks. This is a very genuine smile with no viciousness behind it. Her posture is much more lax, in this scene she is just a teenage girl. It’s such a rare moment for her. I wish we got to see more of light and happy Azula. 

13. A very adorable baby who is having trouble expressing her problems. I think that her eyes say a lot in this picture. I think that they express a little bit of hurt and a touch of reluctance. I think that is another gentler moment for her. 

14. Kay so she is definitely judging them lol. I think that this is a more minor moment where you get to see Azula’s poor socialization coming through. Like she’s scanning her surroundings like a fukkin’ war ground. I guess that for her it kind of is, but a very different kind lol.

15.  😂 😂 😂

16. And finally, I like this one because, like many Beach screencaps, you see a softer Azula. Her face portrays at least a little confidence but her stance and posture are more timid. The way that she grips the cup, at least to me, indicates a bit of nervousness. But she’s still Azula so she’s just gonna walk right up and interrupt that conversation. 

#Avatar The Last Airbender #Azula

[kim-the-king]

alright yeah I need to go cry a bit

also I’m well aware anyone who sees this and has any bit of confidence in their ability to comfort me will try to tell me I’m wrong but thing is I do not remotely feel like I deserve comfort and I will feel guilty if you do so like fuck

anyway yeah I’ve been pretty shitty since a certain event in early October which I won’t go into detail about to respect the privacy of other people involved but basically I lost the best friend I ever had and I will never know if they killed themself as they feared they would if we lost contact.

so that messed me up a lot and then I was basically stuck in the front for a whole month and Heart just left me and I’m in no way suited for being Maws 24/7 so that just messed me up even more cuz I can’t fucking do anything right and I’m so tired of existing all the damn time idk how the fuck singlets do this

and then a few days ago, in the middle of the very stressful process of sorting through my entire life’s hoard in a limited time while neglecting my friends and a guy I promised to go out with bc a) stressful and I gotta focus on hoard and b) I’M NOT HEART I’M AN INTROVERT I’M NOT SUITED TO MAINTAIN HIS DAMN FRIENDSHIPS, I got in a fight with one of Heart’s more distant friends over politics (screenshots were posted on main which I kinda regret but not the point) and I COMPLETELY lost my cool in front of a lot of Heart’s friends and one of his closest friends seemed really disappointed in me

and then THE NEXT DAY I’M FINALLY RELIEVED OF THE FRONT ONLY TO FIND OUT WE HAVE A NEW FUCKING ALTER FROM A STUPID ARGUMENT I ALREADY FELT BAD ABOUT BEING UPSET OVER AND THEN SHE THREATENS TO HURT MY FRIENDS FOR FUN

so in short I’m going through some shit

and I really just feel like pure shit and a huge burden I’m worthless I don’t justify the space I occupy in my friends’ lives I fucking ruined and for all I know killed the one person I felt truly connected to and everyone else I’m just leeching off emotionally, make them make excuses for me when I’m too tired to make them myself nothing is ever my fault I’m never in the wrong because I always have a fucking excuse to be pitied

I know Heart has brought some joy to these people but I think they’d all be better off if we’d stayed away

I don’t deserve these people’s forgiveness

#we got no tags for this ya boi just dead inside

[lizzybeth1986]

Quick Thoughts on TRH Book 1 Chapter 5

• Now that we are five chapters into this story, now seems like a good time to get the masterlist of this series out! 😁 Which I will be doing shortly after this QT is up. If you've missed the other chapters, you'll be more easily able to find them all there! I'll also be reblogging my TRR series masterlist sometime this week, since my TRR Book 1 Chapter 5 chapter is close to getting finished as well.

• I'm hoping to get this one out early, it's an extremely light chapter for the most part. It's practically filler, filled with little vignettes between the characters here and there and mostly diamond scenes. The heavy stuff inevitably seems to be left for the actual Walker Ranch (sigh).

• Here are the tags to block if you don't want my QTs to clog up your dash: #long post, #trh quick thoughts, #trh qts, #trh qt reblogs. For now a friend of mine is helping get the read-mores on the main posts, until Tumblr actually does something to make them work on a phone again.

• TW: Brief mentions of the Dr Ramirez scene in Hana's playthrough, and infertility.

• Screenshot Credits:

Hana - @pixieferry

Maxwell - Abhirio's YouTube channel

Drake - @thefirstcourtesan

Liam - Well, me

• Besides being mostly filler stuff, this chapter had a lot of diamond scenes. Two outfit changes (one OOTD and one lingerie for the LI), a group scene and the book's first character scene (Liam).

• A few people I know have been asking me about the differences between "character scenes" and "LI scenes" (and indeed a lot of people were confused by my use of these terms in my Book 3 QTs). So once I get to my general thoughts section, I'll elaborate on those.

• Title: The Open Road

Alternative Title: Enjoy The Fillers, Dear Fans, Coz You Got A Walker-Storm Comin'!

• We're now on our way to the States, barely days after we got back to our own estate. The Council is looking after stuff in exactly the way they have since we left for our honeymoon, except that now it's lost all its core group members besides Olivia. Her, Hana and Kiara must probably share whatever few brain cells exist in that Council between each other.

• If you've unlocked the "casual clothing" scenes for the LIs in Book 2 (Liam's t-shirt, Hana's crop top, Drake's Henley and Maxwell's muscle shirt and Bubbles necklace), that's what they'll be wearing on their journey this chapter.

• Maxwell is now the self-appointed Royal Entertainment Committee.

• Bertrand WOULD be freaking out about spoons.

• Our OOTD today is an off-shoulder crop top with floral designs, and ripped shorts - paired with a blue and pink statement necklace and a few bracelets. Esther DuPont and literally every other MC is more confident about pulling this outfit off than I will ever be.

• Maxwell suggests the outfit in the Liam, Drake and Hana playthroughs, and Hana suggests it in Maxwell's.

• First Stop: Our old workplace in NY! Our manager is no longer around (probably got fired lol) but Daniel is! Or as I still like to call him, Not-Henney 😂

• Hana is so cutely excited about visiting the place where it all begin, a place she must have till now only heard about in the other LIs' stories. Sigh. Wish we'd brought her here earlier.

• Not-Henney has issues with how little attention Maxwell gave to the MC's origins. @callmetippytumbles points out that there's not much you can expect from an author who put his face on the cover of a book about you. Cmon, Not-Henney.

• Told you "Things are Great" would become a meme.

• He now asks what the experience of being an actual Queen/Duchess is like. You can go for the funny route (glam parties that'll make Beyonce jealous. Oh idk, does Beyonce like an overabundance of apples?), the realistic route (speaking about everyone's expectations weighing on you), and the romantic route, which brings out some cute responses in both Not-Henney and the LIs, ranging from delight to awkwardness.

• Oh snap. The paps are here.

• We make a run for it (in two options, with Daniel's help), and keep driving. Somewhere in the middle of the conversation, the MC mentions a motorcycle when speaking about Drake, which makes me wonder in we will end up having a motorcycle scene in Texas itself. I mean, the writers did mention being excited about a scene featuring one in their livestream.

• Maxwell picks the next stop, and it's that engagement barn we built for Liam, apparently. Or the house of Robert, Steve Tennyson's (PM) dad. Where he has found the "biggest ball of string". Only Joy and Hope, my corgis, seem even remotely happy about this.

•

...Okay Maxwell.

Hana needs to roast people more. Roast EVERYONE in that friend group and EVERYONE in that court!

• Fun Fact: This chapter was released on the 50th anniversary of the historic 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing 😁

• As proven from this scene, the few brain cells this group collectively has, all belong to Hana.

• It's now time to check out what the group brought as provisions:

MC: Nothing, she's only here to ask what everyone else brought

Drake: Jerky

Maxwell: Tequila (!!)

Liam: IDK Esther I thought a four-course meal would just fall upon our laps from the heavens

Hana: ME! Bring cookies that I've NOT warmed by the fires wrought from the bowels of the deepest hells??? BLASPHEMY.

As always Hana saves everyone's ass this fine day. I actually quite like this bit with Hana, because it veers a tiny bit more towards "perfectionist" than just simply "perfect". Hana would be the kind of person to worry excessively over being a good hostess, since that's something she's been learning since she was a little girl (remember the tea scene in the flashback).

• We now stop by at Washington DC - Hana's suggestion - because she wanted to look at the cherry blossoms. I was quite chuffed about this when I found out coz I always used to have her down as more of a "plum blossom" girl, and this is pretty close 😁

• That little bit in DC where speaks of the area as "a marvel of both nature and civic engineering" is a nice touch, since Liam has always been associated with monuments and national legends.

• THE PAPS?? AGAIN????

• ...If my spouse and I have to spend ALL our time answering questions about babymaking, where are we going to find the time to babymake, mediapeople? Ever thought of that? Huh? Huh??

• This option is hands down the best fucking option in this chapter lol:

YOU'RE ALL SUCH DORKS ISTG

• We're now in a small town where Liam wants to mingle and be one with the locals. He's not been very successful in doing this in Cordonia (where people can literally look at his face and figure out who he is), but because it's the US and not many people might recognize him here, his chances of not being caught are better.

• This is the first character scene in the new series. It's pretty alright, not a lot of insights or anything, just a simple scene where Liam gets to not worry about acting like a royal, occasionally acknowledge his privilege, be charmingly naive, order milkshakes, and listen to the MC's insights on how she will bring up her/their kid. He does mention it opens some new perspectives on understanding his people, but I'm not sure we'll get to see much of what learnings he will put into action because, yknow, Cordonian commoners are practically invisible.

• This scene is also proof that you can take Liam out of the court but you can't take the court out of Liam.

• It begins with what the MC calls "a sidewalk hello", where she can either guide or massively troll him. The first two options are awkward as hell (I did like the bowing one though lolol coz she tells him he's probably made someone's day with his "courtly manners"), and the third is for Liam to simply ignore the other person and stare at his phone.

• Next scene involves getting Liam to buy groceries...coz he's never brought groceries. Why would he Esther he has a staff.

• They have a choice between fruit, nachos with everything on them (and they weren't kidding about "everything") and chocolates. I chose fruit.

• You also get some cute tidbits about Liam's life growing up in the palace. Here are the important ones:

- Constantine and Eleanor agreed they wanted Liam to be self-sufficient but "disagreed on how far to take that principle" (given what Liam says about her in one of the other options, I'm guessing Eleanor wanted to take it a lot more further).

- Liam can make spaghetti carbonara!!!

- Laundry: So there was this one time Leo and Liam played tag close to a champagne tower at an event, and it fell down. Eleanor insisted they "clean up the mess [they] made. A reasonable lesson in decorum and consequences". I kinda like this little crumb of info considering there is so little we know about her.

- Eating leftovers: Liam used to have sleepovers at Jackson and Bianca's quarters, and he tells us he was "proud to help Drake's mother microwave the leftovers" coz to his little mind he thought that was cooking 😁 I know, I know, I believed my mom when she put a tiny bit of coffee powder in my milk and told me it was actual coffee haha.

- Doesn't know how to do dishes. He knows soap and water is involved lol.

• The final part of the scene involves Liam treating himself at a diner with (what else!) a milkshake, while casually chatting with the MC about how she feels about the simplicity of her past life, and the way she plans to bring up her (or their) own child.

• Liam not immediately understanding that utensils are self-serve reminds me of Hana's confusion at the idea of a McDermots not having wait-staff.

• The MC has options for how to respond to Liam's question about bringing up a child - 1. I'd like my child to be practical and aware of their role, they don't need to learn how to fold a bed sheet or do dishes. 2. I want my child to have a bit of both worlds so that they're more flexible in their approach. 3. My child should be acutely aware of what the common person in Cordonia goes through if they're going to have to rule fairly over them. These three options in some way allow you to imagine what the MC would be like as a mother, and what upbringing this 'heir' might have.

•

I've never actually seen YOU make much of an effort to find out in Cordonia.

• There's also a tiny bit about Regina that follows this optional dialogue if you're married to him, which I really like: Liam states to Esther that those are "wise words from the wisest queen I know", following which she points out that he's lucky Regina hasn't heard it. Liam's response to that is: "after all this time, I think she'd agree with me". Regina's kinda grown on me over the series, and I do hope we see her again!

• Overall the scene's alright. It's there, it's cute, it's filler like the rest of the chapter. Only time will tell if it will actually result in anything in the future, which kind of leads me to wonder what Character Scenes are going to look like going forward (now that the LI scenes mostly perform the function for both characterization and romance). But the biggest takeaway right now for me is what Liam has to say about his parents, and optionally about his mother. I think that may point towards something later on.

• LMAO @ the random stranger in the diner optionally thinking Liam's brother might be Thor. Leo would be pleased 😂 Also a nice touch to see her recognize us again at the lingerie store if we buy both scenes!

• We now have a scene featuring the couples in their hotel bedroom, where the LI and MC have either had a bit of a wild night, or where the MC has just finished her at-home fertilization procedure (if the LI is Hana). There's a little chit-chat here and there about the moments they have now and about privacy, but it's different in the case of Hana.

• You finally get the chance to ask about how she feels, and this is the response:

• That's it then, I guess 😒 I'm honestly not surprised, given how much in a hurry they were to have Hana concentrate on the MC in the doctor's office itself. I'll expand more on this later.

LIAM. YOU FOOL. I'M WEARING IT RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU.

• Honestly I don't see the point in having the MC suggest the lingerie in Liam's playthrough (the others basically make the suggestion instead, and they say "well, you're wearing that", instead, implying that they're talking about what she has on already) if they're not going to code it properly.

• The actual lingerie scenes are pretty cute! And fun! And comes with cool dialogues options, and this:

• NOW I know why Hana's lingerie was head and shoulders above the rest. SHE WAS THE ONE WHO CHOSE IT.

• So here's a rundown of all four LI scenes:

- Liam: The clerk from the store (who was also the girl who noticed Liam in the Incognito Scene if you bought that) recognizes Liam and the MC, freaks out and closes the store so they can shop in full privacy. The rest of it is cute playful banter, like expressing surprise at this being Liam's first time at a lingerie store. She then chooses black silk boxers with a golden baroque design. LMAO trust the MC to get him a Versace. 😂

- Drake - Tells the MC he likes it when she takes the lead. The MC then gets to ask him whether he would be down to wearing handcuffs or pink feathers. To the second option, Drake claims that he would "wear a tutu and crown if you told me you had a thing for the sugar fairy". LMAO they really are desperate to show us how much they learned from the "pink cake" fiasco. Pity how they couldn't teach themselves to treat their one female LI with respect. Anyway, the MC chooses red silk boxers with polka dots (!!)

- Maxwell - This scene is a fever dream from start to finish. Maxwell is happy and excited and SUPER SUPER enthusiastic, asking the MC to drop a beat so he can break into a dance at the store. The MC chooses blue silk boxers with squid designs on them. EVEN MAXWELL CANNOT CONTAIN HIS SHOCK. (PS: This scene marks the third appearance of "release the kraken!" 😄).

- Hana - Hana has apparently seen shops like these from the outside but has never been to one (same sis same). She speaks of how she never had anyone to do it for, which is why she is so happy about it now coz she can do it for the MC. A sweet, simple conversation. The difference here is that Hana knows what she wants, and chooses the lingerie herself: a beautiful lace and fishnet number with garter belt and stockings. She looks amazing and part of that is because unlike her friends, she realizes that her wife has deplorable fashion sense.

• It's now the next day, and Drake tries really hard to hoodwink everyone into making his "next stop" the Walker ranch, but the Royal Entertainment Committee threatens him with an "intimidating interpretive dance performed by me" (is he going to jump out the car and sing Kiki Do You Love Me too?). It's enough to scare Drake into picking a nicer stop.

• It's now time to listen to some tunes!! Everyone squabbles a little over what music to choose and the MC gets to pick either of them:

- Hana's Choice: A piano concerto that Liam loves, makes Drake cry and Maxwell go all happy-sleepy.

- Liam's Choice: Chartbusters. "Top 40s". Drake is surprised coz the last time they drove together, Liam made him listen to 52 versions of a single Bach sonata, to which Liam cheekily responds that doing so made him figure out which one was Drake's favourite.

- Maxwell's Choice: Some song that Maxwell did a deejay mix to, and apparently Liam (and presumably Drake) lent backing vocals to. Going by Liam's advance apology it must be pretty fucking terrible.

- Drake's Choice: Classic rock tunes that he can do air-guitar to. Liam concedes it has rhythm, Drake responds that it has rhythm and attitude. He tries to do air guitar in the car but Hana, panicking, reminds him that he's the one driving.

- What Would Have Been Bertrand's Choice/We Shall Drive In Silence!: Apparently when the MC says this, Maxwell says that she channeled Bertrand so hard "he flashed before my eyes". The MC reasons that if no one wants to listen to anyone else's music they might as well be quiet. Maxwell tries to bring up other alternatives such as playing his kazoo-tar, at which point EVERYONE agrees that silence is golden.

• This bit is one of my favourites in the chapter. Probably the second after "say cheese" haha.

• It's Hana's turn to drive and Maxwell is helping her by asking she carve that path from her heart. Which she does, even though she has mentally memorized the next twelve steps she needs to take.

• Liam drives, explaining when the MC asks that Drake was his first driving instructor (Drake had his licence already and they may have used a royal golf course or two for practice runs).

• Maxwell finds a new waypoint: Thrilltown. His reasoning is quite poignant (everything is changing, the MC and LI - in some cases him - will be having a child soon and everyone will be busy in their respective roles, when will everyone be together like this again?). The rest of the group comfort and reassure him, stating that they will probably see more of each other now. In any case...perhaps to Maxwell this is like a last hurrah to the carefree life he used to have.

• We start with choosing rides. Maxwell and Drake choose The Accelerator, which Maxwell describes as "fast. furious. and it uses gravity at speeds that Thrilltown can't legally release to the public!". Hana and Liam choose the "gentler" option - the carousel - which has you ride unicorns, griffins, dragons and other fantastical beings.

• I'm surprised the writers don't have him react even a little to the carousel, considering one of his scariest experiences took place on one (Book 1 Chapter 16). Just show him say "yeah...I'll pass" or show some emotion or other. It's like that armoury scene in his playthrough of Book 3 Chapter 11 where Madeleine could mock Liam about his feelings for the MC and Maxwell is pretty much sitting there not reacting. It's so lazy. I can't.

• Carousel with Liam and Hana: I loved this one, very cute. The carousel has fantasy elements and mythical animals, things that both Liam and Hana love. The MC gets to sit on a phoenix (like her optional Valtoria sigil!), Liam on a dragon (like the royal family's old crest! Dom would be proud) and Hana on a unicorn (which suits her particular style of whimsy). It's cute and fun and sounds exactly like the kind of thing Liam and Hana would enjoy.

The Accelerator with Maxwell and Drake: They call it EXTREME, and it lives up to its name. Maxwell is ecstatic obviously because he's a thrill-seeker and a ride like this is completely in his wheelhouse. Drake gets caught red-handed handed actually enjoying the ride.

• We try out something called The Vortex of Terror, where Liam challenges his friends to not scream up until the end of the ride. Ironically he's the first one to cave 🤣🤣

• "I accept your terms, Liam...as long as you're prepared to lose". Badass enough to challenge the king of the country xD (considering the way that ride goes, I think she was right haha).

• I need more Competitive, Sarcastic Hana outside of cute group scenes.

• One of two people can win this challenge: either the MC or Hana. If the MC wins, she gets to hoist herself on the LI's shoulders towards the next ride. If Hana wins, she perches herself on top of Drake's because he's pretty damn tall.

• Our last ride is called "Lover's Leap" and it's pretty much the romantic portion of the group scene, really.

At the end of it, the LI brings you a green candy drink, and then lets you know how this trip to Thrilltown is representative of their journey together and the change the MC has brought to their lives.

• Both Hana and I have no freaking clue what Liam means when he says "I call shotgun" before they head out.

• Lol @ Cordonia having its own version of "Ninety Nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall". And of course it's going to feature Cordonian Rubies 🤣

• We now reach the ranch, where those of us who didn't marry Drake meet his mother Bianca for the very first time (in every other playthrough she is called "The Rider" and in Drake's her sprite is addressed by name).

• There ends the chapter, on a 'suspicious' note, the kind that seems to sound like things are suspicious but they're probably not. Bertrand's head must be exploding from the lack of spoons.

General Thoughts:

• It's a good thing this filler chapter exists, even if it's mostly inconsequential fluff, because at least that's one chapter less to deal with BertVannah and Drake and his family.

• It's also pretty expensive because the writers knew their crowd by now and know that that crowd is willing to spend.

• The scenes were in keeping with the mood of the chapter - light and fluffy, lots of friendship and some amount of romance. I ended up liking the free short scenes more than any of the diamond ones this chapter honestly.

• So...on the outset, it seems good that the MC is able to check on Hana, post the visit to Dr Ramirez. Hearing Hana's answer, however, brought back every issue I've ever had with the way they've written Hana.

I mean, sure, not everyone reacts the same way to such painful news. I understand that. But here the writers are basically using Hana to minimize what she's going through. They use her to dismiss her own pain with "oh that's okay, I'm just happy that at least you can carry that baby". All that proves is that the female LIs' experiences and pain mean nothing in front the MC's needs.

I've spoken before about the numerous times Hana's pain had been brushed aside or her space eaten into, to favour particular characters, and this just happens to be a repeat of the same formula. This is especially bad because it proves that the only reason they put Hana through this kind of hell in the first place is so that only the MC can carry the child. Her condition isn't allowed to be anything else other than a plot convenience: not an opportunity to open a conversation on this, nor to help develop her as a character. It's merely a narrative device meant to make coding easier. It's dismissive, lazy and reeks of a deplorable lack of care. And again I have to ask, why put her through this if you're so desperate to ignore it afterwards??

• The other big problem is that considering the gravity of that situation, why is checking on her an option rather than actual default dialogue?? If you choose the option to continue talking about playlists instead, the topic just never emerges again. Again I have to ask, what the hell kind of wife is the MC? I mean even before they got the news, the MC was pretty much doing nothing. She wasn't planning for Hana, she wasn't thinking much in terms of what to do for her, everything seems to just revolve around her even in a scenario where either one could have been a mother.

• The lingerie scene seems to me to have elements of a type of diamond scene in the flagship series - the ones where we could buy new casual clothing for our LIs in NY. The LI requires a new look, the MC suggests for a change and often picks out something that she thinks would work (some of her choices - like Liam's pants or Drake's sunglasses are...questionable 😅), and from then on this would be their option for ultra-casual occasions. The one casualwear scene that is different from all these is Maxwell's: he gets his sleeveless shirt and Bubbles necklace at a shop in Coney Island, during the group scene (I think part of this was that they were attempting a step-by-step LI-upgrade because they were a new couple at that point...which was why his first 30 diamond scene was during the Gala, after they'd been together for a little while. Still doesn't excuse all the ways they ignored his background and history though).

The main difference between the casualwear scenes and the lingerie ones is that the first dealt put the MC and LI in different situations and dealt with different issues (therefore was a scene of its own) and the second really just revolved around the lingerie. Perhaps the lingerie scene would be what you'd call an 'extended outfit option'? As opposed to something that's a scene all on its own?

• I was actually quite surprised we got a character scene in this series. Given how much they'd drastically cut down on them in favour of beefing up their LI scenes more, I was fully expecting not to see them. I do prefer them to the LI scenes sometimes, because my LI is not the only one I want to be keeping tabs on, and I do want to know what's happening in their lives.

• What is the difference between the two? I hear some of you ask. Well, good question because I'm about to launch into one of my long-winded explanations again.

• Diamond Scenes in TRR/H: I've been holding off on writing about these, since I believed that the series probably had done away with character scenes and preferred to use LI scenes for both romance and development. With this chapter, I now understand that's not the case.

• So...simply put, the difference between an Character Scene and an LI scene, is that the first focuses on the same character in all playthroughs (eg. no matter who you are romancing, if you buy these scenes it's Hana who will play Snow Angels with you, or Drake who will go fishing with you), and the second focuses on who you are engaged/married to (eg. If I'm romancing Hana, I will not be going to the movies with Liam. If I'm romancing Maxwell, I will not be having a cake testing session with Drake).

During Books 1 and 2, when the MC wasn't altogether exclusive with any LI as such, each character would have their own specific scene which expanded further on their characterization and gave the MC a chance to learn more about them. Most of the romance in these scenes were by choice, with the exception of a few lines here and there. The writers tried to continue this way of formatting diamond scenes even beyond Liam's proposal, but the amount of backlash from the portions of the scenes that involved the MC cheating on her confirmed LI...kind of made them backtrack on this plan quite a bit.

Book 3 switched the format up a little. It was similarish in a lot of ways to RoE, except that unlike that book (where the other two would disappear once you got engaged to one), we were also friends with the other LIs. Besides outfits and plot development scenes (such as the one in the Nevrakis replica armory with Olivia and Gladys) and group scenes, the book also offered two types of scenes for the reader to connect with the characters they liked:

1. LI Scenes: These scenes are meant for the LI the MC is marrying, and are coded differently based on that. This kind of scene was first used in the series in the first chapter of Book 3, where the MC and LI could comfort each other in the safe house. The initial chapters had a similar approach to the scenes as RoE Book 3 (where Mr Sloan, Leo and Dean all ended up sounding like each other), in that the dialogues sounded pretty cut-and-paste, with little to no actual variations beyond a few things (an example of this was how - in the Book 3 Chapter 6 Spa Scene in Applewood - all the LIs spoke of being "dumb in love" with the MC - which suited certain LIs, but sounded extremely jarring on others.

During Book 3, a high number of complaints about the series revolved around this copy-paste routine for the LIs, mostly because the characters were so different from each other, and wouldn't speak the same or even have the same experiences. Around Book 3 Chapter 8, major shifts began to happen in the way these scenes were written, starting with the Movie-going Scene in Castelserraillian. Post that chapter, and the hiatus, there was a significant decrease in the number of individual character scenes, and an increase in both number and quality of the LI scenes. It is very possible that they found juggling both stressful and dialed back on one to personalize the other further.

2. Character Development Scenes: These were scenes with the LI that you got regardless of whether you were marrying them or not. This scene would be viewed over all playthroughs, with differences based on whether you were marrying them or not. If you were not marrying them, these scenes would appear neutral and the romantic options would simply not be there, or be replaced by more neutral ones. Examples of such scenes include Drake's Cordonian Waltz Scene in Fydelia (Book 3 Chapter 3), Liam's Gastrodiplomacy Scene in Castelserraillian (Book 3 Chapter 7), Hana's Polo Scene in Portavira (Book 3 Chapter 5) and Maxwell's Armoury Scene in Lythikos (Book 3 Chapter 11).

The most important thing to remember is that these scenes are expected to be coded differently (according to your relationship with said LI), not only by adding romantic options for the MC to choose, but also in the actions of the characters by default. For instance, the Fydelia Cordonian Waltz scene in Drake's playthrough incorporates - by default - all the sensuality you should be finding in this waltz, while his friendly playthrough is merely the MC teaching him the basics so they have an edge over Neville. By default, if you buy the Gastrodiplomacy scene as Liam's fiancée, the chocolate souffle you sampled with him would feature at your wedding reception.

I say the scenes were expected to be coded differently, because very often they were not. In a lot of cases the only proof you'd have in those scenes that the LI and MC were even together were from the MC's actions. For instance, even though Hana was going to be a duchess on marriage to the MC, the same as Drake - only Drake got to speak in detail about it. This opportunity came for Hana very briefly only by Chapter 14, well past the midpoint of Book 3.

• So when Book 3 began the formula was mostly "leave the character scenes for developing the LI's issues or getting them to teach something, and concentrate on nothing else but the romance for your LI scenes". However this wasn't exactly workable given how different each LI was and therefore how odd some of their dialogue sounded. The dial back is understandable (though, as someone who has looked through various playthroughs in this book, I can tell you the imbalances found across character scenes were on a whole different level).

• Why I've elaborated on this is to give context to a question I now have about the narrative: what are the Character Scenes going to look like from here on out? Post the hiatus, they would vary - they could be mostly plot-driven, or fun and light but not much depth or variation, or fun and light, and also opening up diverging conversations based on your relationship. Now that they seemed to have locked down some format in this book at least, what's it going to sound like?

The Liam Character Scene today was fun, light, had default differences based on whether you were marrying him or not, but ultimately had very little to give to the story other than a few facts about Liam's home life and (in a way that expands on what we already know about her and her dynamic with Constantine) his mother. What exactly does he learn? What new insights is he getting as a King who self-admittedly exists and operates in a "statesman's bubble"?

It also remains to be seen whether buying this scene will have any effect of future events - like Liam's Applewood Tour Scene, where his retelling of King Fabian's story had an impact on our conversation with Kiara's mother Joelle. I'm probably going to keep track on how these character scenes are being written in this series, considering that we already have a pretty good idea of how their LI scenes are done.

• Twice I've seen Eleanor associated with pasta. In Book 1 Liam mentions simple tomato pasta as a childhood dish that reminded of his mother, and here shortly after he speaks about his parents he mentions knowing to cook spaghetti carbonara. IDK what that's supposed to mean but I'm bringing it up anyway. I'm mean, what if it's a part of Auvernese cuisine 😂

• I guess that's it for this week! Time for me to scram and finish my Book 1 Chapter 5 QT too before the next chapter drops!

#long post #the royal heir #anti the royal heir #trh quick thoughts #trh qts #infertility tw

[musashi]

why'd you stop talking to velv//etvi//olence

ooooh this is the kinda spicy invasive drunk ask i love lmao

the timeline is like....... god i need to really fucking remember, ok so

so i saw her in the pokeani tag and was like oh she seems chill, invited her to my rocket server, everything seemed mostly alright but she had this tendency to like, dominate conversation that i think i was sympathetic to because i also do that without trying. she cut me a lot of times (usually by interrupting me mid-sentence or just like. changing the topic when i was infodumping) which kinda sucked but i didn’t rly think much of it at the time

i think at one point i did get kinda upset w her a few times but i mostly kept it to myself, we talked it out once and she was pretty chill and i was like cool. that’s the only time i can ever really remember it like, even coming close to conflict.

but then she just kinda disappeared from my life. she left my server, stopped following me, stopped interacting with me. i have abandonment issues like woah but i tried to like. get over myself i guess? cause i rly liked being friends with her. but seeing her on my dash all the time (i was still following her cause... friend? idk) was starting to weigh on me. at some point she started interacting hardcore with another rocketblogger who was just really mean to me out of the blue 

(tothestarsabove/fairy-feather, who basically hardblocked me and when i asked why said it was because i was an elitist dsfgsdf.... when i asked them what they meant they basically cited how i don’t like genwunners. which, like, whatever i guess, if hating genwunners & gatekeepers makes me an elitist then cool, ill get that word tattooed, fuck you & ur celebrating of negativity)

and so i unfollowed her because shit just got too painful. around that time she went on a vagueblogging spree where she basically implied that i “drove her out of the pokeani fandom” and i vagueblogged right back because like... wtf dude. in the time since i’d stopped talking to her, i found out she made a NUMBER of my friends wildly uncomfortable--a lot of them felt talked over and made smaller whenever she’d get online, and several of them cited instances to me where she’d literally just backhandedly insult them and pretend it was friendly or constructive criticism. we started combing through reviews she’d left on our fics, and found that a lot of these reviews were just, like... her talking about herself, and her opinions, and then leaving some subtle sneering comment and saying NOTHING good about the artwork. the only person she didn’t do this to was me, the most outspoken and confident of all of us. it was... weirdly predatory. one of my friends in particular confided to me that whenever she would get online, they would leave the chat, cause her mere presence made them feel like utter shit.

a little while after i made my vagueblog abt rachel she was creeping on my blog like she does and she saw some art i drew of me & a friend (one of the aforementioned friends who was in the chat w/ us) and she literally SENT THAT FRIEND A MESSAGE UNSOLITICED, OUT OF NOWHERE, that just said ‘are you and madi dating?’

this made me livid, for a number of reasons, like

1. she insists on using the name madi. people in bad graces with me LOVE doing this. they KNOW that name is reserved for my close friends, they KNOW i do NOT allow people to use it unless they have earned it. they always go out of their way to disrespect me by using it. ALWAYS. it is such a subtle way to insult me.

2. the picture i drew with this friend was completely platonic. it was me and my closest canonmate, dressed in our kintype’s outfits. in the description, i talked about how happy i was to know this friend, to have met them again. it was like, romantic in a poetic sense, but it was nothing i would not say to any other close friend, regardless of gender. the words were just, like, sweet and purple? like most of my words are?

when u consider these facts, the statement ‘are you and madi dating?’ is incredibly fucking gross. what grounds does she have to fucking ask something like that 1. to someone she hasn;t SPOKEN to in months and 2. to someone minding their own business just trying to move on from the terrible fucking experience of knowing her? like, i’m gonna be fucking blunt: it was lesbophobic. it was MAJORLY lesbophobic. one of the most COMMON stereotypes about lesbians is that we prey on women. she saw a lesbian write a sweet message for a close female friend, and she could not POSSIBLY comprehend the idea of a lesbian NOT jumping said friends’ bones. her immediate assumption was that we HAD to be dating.

not to mention, she more or less circumvented the fact that i blocked her by sending this message to a former friend of hers who DIDN’T. and when said friend sent me a screenshot of this message, like “holy shit, can you believe she SAID this?” rightfully appalled, she tried to guilt trip this friend ( “how could you? why would you screencap that? i trusted you!” )

the more i’ve distanced myself from her the more i realize i agree with my friends. she was incredibly mean to me and she made me feel small and afraid to speak up. her defense for this is that i ‘constantly vagueblogged’ about her which is absolute bullshit. she even told me herself that she had anxiety and ‘automatically assumed every single subtweet’ was about her. to this day, she sticks to this story. that i vagueblogged about my friend, even though i’ve never ever since my YOUTH vented about a friend in a public place where they might see it, where it might hurt them. she didn’t even upset me enough when we were friends to warrant that, all the vagueblogging came long after she left my life.

anyways when i called her on this she had the audacity to say she wasn’t a raging lesbophobe. as if she has a right to speak over a lesbian on what is and isn’t dykephobia. she’s not a lesbian. she lost the argument before she opened her mouth.

anyways her fic fucking sucks and she writes the most ooc jessie i have ever SEEN and is probably fandomhopping as we speak but yeah girl is made of red flags and reeks of potential abuser and every time i think about her i really fucking feel like i dodged a bullet. stop reblogging her shit and supporting her. it was a mistake for me to be her friend and a mistake for me to keep her around for so long. i possess immeasurable guilt for exposing half of my closest, kindest friends to her knowing the damage she has done to some of them. i can never fuckin get that time back.

#n0 rebl0gs #wendy rants #Anonymous #wendy answers

[georg-prime]

Why do you think Allurance is gonna be end game? I'm just curious.

Though you would better ask an Allurance shipper, I’m sure they have all the screenshots and meta ^^” I suppose I may at least try to explain why I keep saying I’m 100% sure they’re endgame. And as usual, I’m sorry in advance for any mistakes as I’m not a native English speaker, and for this big mess of a post, if I try to make a better structured one I’d never finish it...

So, short answer is: tropes? When you get used to see movies/shows/cartoons and reading books, you can tell? Idk but it just seems very obvious to me. And I’m saying that when I’ve thought from day 1 that Allura deserved better, so I’m pretty sure I’m objective enough here, and well at least now I’m more okay with it because the development I knew they were going to give to Lance was actually - waaaay - better brought than most stories with the same kind of situation (awesome girl ending up with the straight big flirt ‘loser’ kinda situation). But I’m digressing.

So like, when this happen with a boy and a girl at the second of their meeting:

usually you can bet they’re endgame. It’s a common trope (literally called “Falling into his Arms” it was so ridiculously an obvious “hey look, these are the two straits you should be rooting for”, I rolled my eyes super hard at that, good thing Allura is not the passive kind of princess, her next reactions were fun).

I’m pretty sure you could check a lot of the common straight pairings love tropes for those two. The biggest one being The Lady and her Knight.

They are also colour coded in their paladin armour. Red and Blue are the rivals (no offence to KL shippers, even if in this case it was a mostly one-sided rivalery), but Blue and Pink, that's a hint especially in a cartoon, it's the most obvious you can come with for children because of our societies gender roles to tell them 'this is a boy this is a girl and they're gonna get married', I guess?

Lance’s character development began after he became Red’s pilot, but it was especially increasing in parallel to Allura and Lotor’s relationship: he is Allura’s love interest and his acting all jealous was something you found regularly in stories too, and then realizing in s6 that the reason she could never take him seriously was his own fault - as he wasn’t respectful to her, was even basically sexually harassing her - and from there on it was very obvious he is to become a more serious and responsible person, the kind of person she could be interested in ; it was all done on purpose presenting their relationship as a slow burn (there is a lot of slow burn pay off in this series imo, which what Josh Hamilton was talking about, and it’s not just about romantic relationships).

Also the fact that she didn’t seem to find it repulsive and ridiculous when the mice told her that he was in love with her, is a big good point for him: she would not have reacted with just a bit of surprise and a smile before, she got the time to become at least friend with him since they met, and she could see that he wasn’t just some rude idiot, that he was smarter than he seemed and that he had potential not just of greatness (which he already proved as a paladin) but also of nobility of heart, by sacrificing himself for her in 6x01 and by having his bayard turn into the same Altean sword King Alfor was using, very symbolic:

(also side note, Lance was the only one to get a glimps of ghost Alfor without counting Allura, when the ship and his IA got infected that time in s1).

His love and the importance he accords to his big family is something I can see playing a role in the development of their relationship too. Not only as making Allura feel welcome with them on Earth maybe, but also to show that he would make a good consort, one who would have the same sense of responsability and care toward a whole people, something the last Altean will need from Allura and anyone she would choose to share her life with. The ruler of a people (Allura) would need someone who seeks stability (Lance the family guy) rather than someone who wants adventures (or universe domination).

Which also brings the fact that the way Lotor treated Allura, then the way he treated the other Altean, was, is and will be opposed to how Lance is with her, classic love triangle (hey kinda like how they opposed Adam’s reaction to Shiro’s choice, to Keith’s unconditional love for him...).

And talking about Sheith, Allurance is also the only other relationship that has symbolic and or meaningful/deep moments at least once per season if not more (again, lots of tropes in those scenes).

I've seen people calling Lance "the rebound" which I find super weird, I personally see Lotor being the bad experience, but experience nonetheless, she’ll know better now than to give her heart to the first charming dude I suppose, and Lance the better choice now that he realized the difference between a crush and real love and that women deserve to be treated respectfully, and not just as sexy things, and that he could at least offer sincere and unconditional support if he really loves her.

I’m sure there are other things we could add, really there must be some good long meta out there, I’m just gonna finish here by saying that Voltron is indeed a cartoon about a group of hero forming a giant robot to defend the universe, but their relationships (all kind, friendship, family and romantic) all play a big role in their development - especially because they are young people. Which then plays a big role in their confidence about their abilities, their will to fight for what they believe in and what they want to protect, their bond with their lions and Voltron’s strength itself. It’s also a cartoon for teens rather than little children (like idk, Pokémon), so I do believe that at least one main pairing will be explicitely canon endgame, and the most logical would be the straight obvious one Allurance (and if they have the guts to defy the dudebro fanboys, at least subtily, Sheith). It would be appropriate to finish such a story with a hopeful joyous note, with super friendships between not just the paladins but also different species accross the universe, families reunited, and new families being formed.

#Allurance #Voltron #Sheith #vld allura #voltron legendary defender #vld meta #vld lance #my opinion #I hope that you'll see this anon and that it satisfy your curiosity? #and yes couldn't help adding some sheith heh #probably unpopular opinion about lance #ah also some #spoilers #about season 7 #ok hope I didn't do too many English mistakes #sorry about that but if I keep trying to correct myself I'll never post anything #also just passing by even tho I have tons of stuff I wanna post aaah #(and tumblr really is annoying with pics I can't post some stuff wtf) #long post

[robynthomsonnapierfilm]

'You Will Never Walk Alone' - documentary film

1. Planning/Filming

Jagoda had some film maker friends in Poland so we got them to record footage of the protests, people raying, the ant-abortion propaganda, and whatever else was happening at the time in Poland involving the new abortion laws.

Once we received this footage it felt like we were finally in a good place to start officially bouncing around ideas and thinking about the narrative we wanted. Through various meetings with Sana, she suggested the idea that Jagoda should play more of a prominent part in the documentary than we had originally intended - especially because it was her voice we would be seeing throughout. At first we were uncertain, as we feared having her seen throughout might take away from the topic and seem to centred around her, rather than the crisis as a whole. Nevertheless, we went on to film various bits and peaces involving Jagoda (i.e. her painting the symbols you see at the end of the doc, her around Edinburgh, etc.)

In the end, I am so glad we went for the decision to have her more present in the doc, as I feel it makes the voice over feel far more emotionally driven and heightens this feeling of helplessness due to seeing Jagoda in Edinburgh and far from the protests happening in Poland.

2. Editing Footage/Sound/Colour

Laura did such an amazing job of editing our documentary! She was so efficient with it and was great at taking in any notes and feedback given to her from both Sana/Leo, and Jagoda and I. I am so happy with our combination of archive footage and our own personal footage, as well as the screenshots of social media, as I feel this mix of various formats makes the documentary far more interesting and diverse, and gave it a nice balance.

Once we had picture lock, it was my turn to edit the sound. Unfortunately, we had quite a struggle with exporting the project from Laura's laptop to mine. Solving this problem shaved a number of days off of the amount of time we had left to edit sound and colour grade, which was disappointing as I felt I maybe didn't have enough time as I would have liked to experiment with different sounds. In the end though, I am very happy with what I managed to accomplish in the time I had considering I ran into issues with sounds randomly disappearing, on top of learning how to use the software for the first time! Throughout the sound editing process, I would send my drafts back and forth to Jagoda, Laura, and Leo, who would give me really helpful feedback. (couldn't have done it with ought you guys :) )

Once the sound was locked alongside the picture, it was sent off to Jagoda to colour grade.

3. The Crit

Jagoda, Laura and I couldn't have been more pleased with the feedback we received from Sana, Leo and the rest of the class during the crit. We went into it slightly nervous to hear what people had to say, but everyone was so enthusiastic and kind about our work!

Here are some examples of what was said:

"i dont even know what to say, i loved this film! my main critique is a small thing about the typing sounds behind the date 'october 22nd' they didnt sync and i think even if they had they wouldn't be necessary, i also wanted to share that i loved the shot at the end with the umberella and subtitle about 'a bloody revolution' and i want it on my wall"

"I was impressed at the balance between the informational parts and the personal parts. I loved the bit where all of the instragram posts popped up. It was powerful and informative."

"What an incredible film. All of these elements are so striking on their own but the relationship between all of them together is so, so so powerful. I cried throughout. The sense of urgency established by that switch from old-distant-archive to the social media notifications is brilliant. Jagoda's voiceover is so touching and her delivery of it, too. Something that stands out for me is the titles; I think the horror style of them is still great but the font just takes me out a bit. I also think the symbols don't need to be explained - I also think there's power in knowing and not being told. Like the ability to recognise these symbols is a testament to the experience? Idk, like "if you know you know"

"I am blown away. It was like watching something straight off of VICE !! I like decision to avoid music, I think it really grounded the film. The way Jagoda's voice over established the culture and the dramatic shift to talk of revolution at the end is incredibly powerful"

"This was a very powerful film. It really portrayed the female experience incredibly powerfully. I love the decision to have most of it be in polish and think it would have maybe be more impactful to have the entire film in polish? My only notes is i think the edit could be tightened up a bit to be more concise. I think the sound design could have been utilised more to really up the intensity of the riot and protests so we can hear the sound of everything we are seeing (sirens etc). I also though the credits could have been slowed down a bit and have the screen academy logo move at the same speed as the rest of the credits (although I think that wasn't you) Overalll it's fantacstic, moving, important and powerfull. Absolutely something to be proud of."

Along with all of these lovely positives, there was also some - I wouldn't say negatives? - constructive criticism! (that sounds less harsh) This includes:

The typing sounds I added over the words 'OCTOBER 22ND 2020' should be accurately synced with the speed at which the letters appear on screen.

People didn't seem to be keen on the font as they felt it was too 'horror-like' for our documentary. I personally both agree and disagree with this feedback. Part of me completely sees what they mean, as it may be a tad too 'in your face', which takes you out of the doc, since Jagoda's voice over is pretty soft and I didn't go too over the top with sound. on the other other hand, I like that it gives our doc that edge, since I feel as if the subject matter is pretty brutal and this scary font adds to that. Although it could be seen as a little out of touch so I am happy for us to change this.

The edit could be tightened up and made to be a tad more concise.

The sound design could be more intense - especially over the protest sounds as they were a bit lacking considering how busy and 'loud' the shots looked. When editing the sound, this did cross my mind, but I was scared to go too over the top with sound incase it was overbearing for Jagoda's voice over. However, now that I know people feel this way I will be more confident with the sound when going back into it in future.

The credits can be made longer so they move up screen slower, as now they are too quick for people to read them easily.

The voiceover's should be a bit louder.

Overall, I am super proud of what we managed to achieve when taking into consideration the time constraints, technical difficulties we faced, the fact we weren't in Poland to make a documentary ABOUT Poland, and of course... covid.

Thank you so much to Jagoda, Laura, Sana, Leo, and to the class for their kind words :)

[evenstevensranked]

#28: Season 2, Episode 16 - “Wombat Wuv”

Louis is infatuated with the new cheerleading coach, so he decides to become the school mascot in an extremely farfetched attempt to win her over. Meanwhile, Ren becomes a cheerleader and goes into pep overdrive.

We start this episode at cheerleading practice where we see that Ren is a cheerleader now...? Okay. The girls are getting ready to welcome Ms. Morgan, the new cheer coach. Louis and Twitty are nearby and play the most immature but hilarious prank on Ren. She goes to do a split and Louis sets off a fart noise. Okay.. As I typed that sentence, I was overcome with juvenile cringe. But the noise is so perfectly timed and Louis gets such a kick out of it that I can't even be mad.

Eventually, Ms. Morgan appears and Louis has an out of body experience. Literally. His soul leaves his body and does an interpretive dance for this woman. It's a very memorable moment. He's seriously in awe of her beauty. I love how Twitty wasn't even phased by her, though? Louis was all "DUDE WHO IS THAT?!??" And Twitty said "Eh, idk... some lady" omg.

Louis’ transparent soul leaving his body to express his feelings in the most random way possible. Only on this show, man. 

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that in addition to seeing that Ren is suddenly a cheerleader now.. we also see that she’s kinda terrible at it. So, how in the world did she make it onto the squad in the first place??? This is a question that always pops into my head every single time I watch this episode. Then, without fail, I always breathe a strange sigh of relief when the writers actually bother to explain the situation through dialogue between Louis and Twitty! Louis casually says that Ren needs the credit for her resumé to show she has school spirit or something... which actually makes sense. A lesser show would’ve made Ren be a cheerleader for this one episode with no explanation whatsoever. But, still. I find it hard to believe they'd just let her on the team for a reason like that. You have to at least be physically capable! Which Ren clearly is not:

If ya couldn’t tell, she’s the one in the middle causing the entire group to collapse. 

They fall on Kenny the mascot guy -- who you can see was totally out of the line of fire, but purposely threw himself on the ground because the plot demanded it. He quits on the spot and now our story truly begins. Louis gets the bright idea to swoop in and save the day by taking over the mascot gig. He immediately sees this as an opportunity to basically start dating Ms. Morgan. Lawd help me honeychild. YOU'RE 13, LOUIS. It’ll be difficult to have a relationship with Ms. Morgan when she’s busy spending time in prison. 

Louis goes to Ms. Morgan's office and she talks to him in such a sweet and sultry voice which is probably the worst thing she could do in this situation. Louis' heart is beating so loud, he's able to pass it off as some ruckus going on outside. Wow.

Later that day, Tawny sees him with the mascot suit and assumes he stole it for fun. I love how she says "You should’ve told me! I would've done it with you!" Look at these lil rebels over here! They're so cute. Tawny looks extra goth here too which is awesome, lol. Louis tells her that he's the new mascot. She’s so shocked she shoves him against the lockers, and Shia does the greatest scream here!!! You can see him laughing a bit. I love it. Unfortunately, part of Louis' ugly side comes out right around here. He starts totally blowing Tawny off now because there's a ~new woman~ in his life. He cancels plans with her because he has mascot practice and cryptically won't explain why he took the gig in the first place. "It's just something I had to do" - Wow, Louis. The Dramatics™.

I just had to include a screenshot of Tawny’s outfit. Black Doc Martens and some peasant flowy gothy dress. Yes. (This was a fast-motion bit, so this is the best cap I could get)  

Louis calls Twitty over for an emergency meeting after school. Idk why but I think it's hilarious how Twitty comes jogging into his room out of breath lol. "I ran all the way over here, what's the emergency?" Friendship goals honestly. Needless to say, Twitty is less than impressed when Louis confesses "I'm in love with Ms. Morgan." Twitty can see right through the infatuation and knows that Louis is living in lalaland. But according to Romance For Boneheads, (a total "For Dummies” knockoff) he has the classic symptoms of a man in love. 

It's pretty adorable to see Louis all worked up like this, but kinda sad at the same time because this is obviously not going to end well. Twitty suggests "Maybe you just ate some bad bean dip" which is so funny to me, like.... what.

Louis continues ranting about how perfect Ms. Morgan is and says "I think we'd be a fun couple" as he gazes out his window and we get the most ridiculous daydream ever I can't even deal with this. He and Ms. Morgan are returning from a vacation to the Bahamas. Louis randomly starts playing mini bongos (the same ones that are on his windowsill actually! I never noticed that before!) and Ms. Morgan dances around him. Eileen concurs “You two are a fun couple.” Gotta love how his parents approve even though Louis IS THIRTEEN YEARS OLD and Ms. Morgan is definitely at least 30 lol. EDIT: I just checked. The actress was 36 here! omg.

I love how they made sure Eileen and Steve look somewhere between happy and highly disturbed. Fun fact: This episode was actually directed by Donna Pescow! So... perhaps these facial expressions were her own idea lol. 

Louis starts drooling at the thought and we see THE RETURN OF THE ANNOYING CGI TONGUE FROM GET A JOB. 

Seriously. Who thought that was a good idea? It just looks awful and so out of place. Y'all know by now how I feel about this surreal stuff they randomly throw in. It just feels weird to me. Anyway, Louis reveals that his master plan is to go to mascot bootcamp and make Ms. Morgan fall in love with him. Easy peasy! Louis is one confident guy, sheesh! Twitty immediately asks "Wait. What about Tawny, dude?" Awwwww. Then we get one of the greatest moments ever. Louis tries to say he thoroughly explained everything to her and that she fully understands, but a flashback to that moment paints a very different picture:

“Thoroughly explained”? Yeah, not so much. Tawny is so confused, haha. (gif credit)

Cut to Wacky Walter’s Mascot Bootcamp! Where a bunch of mascots come together and learn techniques such as “the basic booty shake” and sizzling on the ground like a strip of bacon.

What school would have a cow for a mascot? 

Louis has basically found his calling at mascot bootcamp. Wacky Walter was seriously impressed so he decides to give Louis his old jetpack. Yeah, let's just give this 13 year old kid a dangerous, fire powered means of transportation. Good idea. Someone shut this guy down! Have I mentioned that Louis is 13 years old? 

After a successful day at bootcamp, Louis excitedly rushes into Ms. Morgan's office to tell her about the jetpack thing and how he plans to fly around at the pep rally later on... And one of the greatest moments of the entire series happens. THE MORGAN UNIBROW IS REVEALED!!! This is absolutely iconic. Nothing beats this series of Louis Stevens faces. My favorite quote has gotta be “OH YA SHAVE IT, DO YA?!” Here it is in all its glory: 

Since Louis was under the impression Ms. Morgan was a flawless goddess, he cannot handle this flaw of hers... like, at all. So he quits being the mascot and gives her some lame excuse. Eventually, the two of them have a little heart to heart and he confesses the real reason. It's a touching moment. It’s sorta cringy, but I can’t help but laugh when Louis admits: "I wanted to hang out with you. Well..... actually more than that" oh my god. Ms. Morgan tells him that he'll find someone who's just right for him. Louis says “I found her. But I think I messed that up too” in reference to Tawny. I’m dead. So sweet. Yay for Louis/Tawny development!!!

Louis then makes a poor attempt at making up with Tawny and she flat out calls him a jackass. Yes. A JACKASS. On Disney Channel. Holy crap, guys. Tawny is the freaking best honestly. She won’t put up with Louis’ bs for a second and it drives him insane. Dats love. It’s great.

Oh, god! I forgot about Ren's subplot! I’m the worst. Okay. Basically, the other cheerleaders think that Ren isn't perky enough. They encourage her to find her "perky place" and let's just say, Ren goes overboard. She starts cheering for everything. Algebra, the mail, and even her laundry. It's so bad that Steve has to do a mini-intervention. Dang. Once she’s aware of how stupid cheering seems, she starts to think that cheerleading is pointless. Ren shares her negative feelings with the squad before the pep rally and all of the cheerleaders get super depressed. Ren was literally telling the girls that their cheering does no good at all in the grand scheme of life and that they shouldn’t do it anymore. I never understood this, because when they go out to do their routine Ren is still putting in the effort to be extra peppy! It’s almost like she set them up so she’d be the only one who looks good. I never got that. Am I missing something? EXPLAIN!

The lack of spirit from the cheerleaders spreads a wave of depression across the entire gym. Oops. It's so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Ms. Morgan tries her best to rally up the crowd but is failing miserably. She gets one kid to do the wave with her... that’s about it.

Twitty tells Louis “Dude, your ex-girlfriend throws one lousy pep rally” which is pretty funny. Louis decides to save the day once again and puts Wacky Walter’s jetpack to use. He comes running out in costume ready to fly around. Ren screams “HEY, EVERYBODY! LOOK! IT’S THE WOMBAT!!” which sounds so ridiculous like the kind of melodramatic dialogue from movies in the 1930s and 40s -- where the actresses are ~so passionate~ they always sound one breath away from passing out. It makes me laugh.

Louis flies around to some royalty-free “Rocky” theme rip-off before he comes violently crashing down (and lands in a convenient pile of pompoms) because he’s 13 and shouldn’t be trusted with a jetpack -- especially indoors. 

Tawny takes care of him right away and she’s about to get the nurse when Louis stops her “Tawny, don’t leave. I have to tell you something. You have..... the two most beautiful eyebrows I’ve ever seen” - How precious is that?! Tawny’s brows would unfortunately not be on fleek by today’s standards though. You need to have freaking caterpillars on your face these days. Funny how styles change. BUT THAT’S BESIDE THE POINT. That eyebrow line was such a cute and clever thing to say!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The cheerleaders kick Ren off the squad, which is good news for Ren because she wanted to quit. As she walks away from them, the girls do this catchy cheer: “She’s going! Bye bye, farewell, adios, hey hey!” This always gets stuck in my head. 

That’s it! I like this episode a lot. Louis learns the age old lesson of “nobody’s perfect” -- a message Hannah Montana would later drill into our memories for all eternity. It’s really nice. There’s Louis/Tawny content here, so this episode is already winning. It’s just pretty iconic overall imo. Ren’s plot is pretty cute, too! I don’t even know what to say in this little summary paragraph because all of the episodes at this point in the list (#29 - #20) are all solid episodes leaning towards positive for me instead of neutral like most of the episodes in the #50s - #30s.

Thanks for reading!

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