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mattzerella-sticks · 3 years

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⭐2020 Fics in Review ⭐

Happy New Year’s Eve! 💫💫💫 2020 sure was a year... between everything that was happening on the macro (the pandemic, elections, etc.) and on the micro-level (shows delayed, some ending - disastrously, so much drama, etc.), the past 12 months felt like a blur. Especially since we’ve been inside and realized time is an illusion!

But, there were moments where I was able to ground myself in the present and not be swept away by the tide. Most of them were because of fanfiction. Whether writing or reading, fanworks became a soothing balm. And I’d be remiss (and breaking tradition) if I didn’t reflect on my past works of 2020!

I’ve written 43 fics across a wide array of fandoms - the most being Supernatural, with 9-1-1, DC Comics, Marvel, Boku No Hero Academia, Stargirl, Star Wars, Hollywood, and RWBY sprinkled in. I really branched out this year, and am looking forward to what I will write in 2021. Maybe new fandoms? Maybe an original work? Who’s to say!

Thank you to all those who’ve read my works, and am grateful for both your support and continued engagement - can’t wait to see you in 2021 with me 😁

Here are my works!

9-1-1 (TV Show)

Caught (Evan ‘Buck’ Buckely/Eddie Diaz, side Athena Grant/Bobby Nash, side Maddie Buckley/Howie ‘Chimney’ Han)

Photobooths are prime for catching special moments and making them last forever, even if they are less both and more open spaces with a backdrop. When Athena, Bobby, and Michael stumble upon one such moment between Buck and Eddie, what will they do?

And how will it affect Maddie and Chimney?

Lumped Together (Evan ‘Buck’ Buckely/Eddie Diaz, side Henrietta ‘Hen’ Wilson/Karen Wilson, side Maddie Buckley/Howie ‘Chimney’ Han)

As an apology for keeping her thoughts about medical school secret from her wife and partner, Hen takes them (and Maddie) out for lunch. With the promise that it would only be them. And for the most part it was. Until Buck and Eddie strode in with every intention of eating Takoyaki.

Just not with them.

Armed with new information, what's a girl to do? Hen spends the next day fighting back the natural instinct to tease her friends about the wonderful step they've taken together in their relationship. Can she make it home without saying anything? Or will she give in?

DCU

Lonely Together (Barry Allen/Bruce Wayne, past Barry Allen/Iris West, past Bruce Wayne/Selina Kyle)

Barry needs others, yet whether by his enemies or his own actions, he ends up alone. After Iris leaves him, Barry feels as if he drifts through life. Like lightning humming in the air without a rod to ground him.

Until he struck another lonely soul and entered a relationship he never thought possible. Now, months since he and Bruce began sleeping with each other, Barry feels settles. At peace in a way he hasn't felt in a long while. Since he and Iris started petering out.

But it's not love... is it?

Come Home (Jason Todd/Kyle Rayner)

Jason Todd gets a message from Bruce. He's surprised to see it. Then, he's surprised by the message itself. Hearing Bruce's final message stirs something inside of him, urging him towards a place he's avoided ever since his and Bruce's falling out. So he gathers his things, and then... waits.

He can't leave yet. Jason doesn't know why. Bruce gave him a mission, just like old times. Except it's not, because he... Jason can't move. Can't even stand.

That's how Kyle finds him.

Restless (Barry Allen/Bruce Wayne)

Returning home from a mission in outer space, the team picks up a distress signal off-course. They rush off to help, landing on a strange alient planet teeming with life. Especially within the plant kingdom.

While guarding the Javelin, Bruce and Barry encounter one such member while engaging in some familiar fight-flirting. Will its effects spell trouble for the League, or help these two relax their guards long enough to explore new possibilities?

(Hint: It's a little bit of both)

Marvel

Hot Seat (Peter Parker/Johnny Storm)

Spiderman likes Johnny. Like likes him. And he thought Johnny felt the same. He wasn't wrong, but Johnny like liked someone else, too. Someone he actually wanted to pursue, over Spiderman.

Unfortunately that someone is Peter Parker.

However, after a terrible misunderstanding, Johny isn't too keen on seeing either Peter or Spiderman; the longer this confusion left unresolved, the more Johnny's hurt would fester. Can Peter find a way to make Johnny listen?

Hollywood

Merrily We Roll Along (Archie Coleman/Rock Hudson)

With their careers still on the rise and no peak in sight, sometimes Archie's and Roy's lives get a little too busy. Understandably so. Archie's in the midst of writing his next screenplay while the latest opens across America. Roy spend more time on set than at home working on his latest project. When their schedules allow it, all they want is to be together.

Can they enjoy a simple morning together, or will the clouds of Hollywood cast a heavy shadow over their sunny day?

RWBY

Lucky You, Huh? (Qrow Branwen/Clover Ebi)

After all that happened, it's time for the dust to settle. Choices were made. Now, the consequences for certain actions need to be carried out.

Even though he fought alongside her to save Mantle, Robyn Hill couldn't help save Clover from the whims of the Council. Without a job or home, Clover needs to find a way to carry on.

If anyone understands what that feels like, it's Qrow. Never being one who can communicate his feelings well, would he be the best to comfort the other man. When he's the only one who can, what does that mean for Clover?

Star Wars

Fourth (Poe Dameron/Finn)

What's a man and his co-general to do when they're on a mission together on a planet known for frequent sandstorms?

Flirt? That is a possibility. And definitely the one they take.

Stargirl

I’m Here (Courtney Whitmore/Yolanda Montez, past Yolanda Montez/Henry King, Jr.)

Coda to 1x10 "Brainwave Jr."

Losing Henry was sad, but it's not the first person Courtney knew whose future was snatched by the Injustice Society of America. That doesn't make his death any less tragic. It does remind Courtney how screwed up and dangerous her life was. At least she was able to wake up the next day and keep moving. And so was Beth, and Rick. But Yolanda...

Where was Yolanda? Courtney needs to know.

Crusher (Lawrence Crock/Paula Crock, Pat Dugan/Barbara Whitmore, Lawrence Crock/Pat Dugan)

When Lawrence met Pat, he saw another body that could benefit from some exercise at his gym. The more they interacted, became friends, he saw that body doing other things in other places. And his wife is totally supportive of this. While in the midst of an afterhours training session, Lawrence drags his feet on telling his friend a few important things. Egged on by Paula, will he say what's on his mind? How will Pat react?

And does Pat have a secret or two of his own?

Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia

Little Secrets Everywhere (Bakugou Katsuki/Kirishima Eijiro)

Mina thought letting Bakugo read whatever was in her folder wouldn't be too bad. Maybe he would snipe at her for her less than perfect English translation and sentence structure, slap her on the head with the balled up assignment. What she wasn't expecting was for him to charge with hellish fury towards her in the common room with all their friends to see.

One careless mistake leads to many things coming to light. Everyone walking away with something new to think about.

Boku No Fundanshi (Bakugou Katsuki/Kirishima Eijiro)

Bakugo Katsuki is a top student at the premier hero academy in the world. Bakugo Katsuki is a boy with the ability to use his sweat as a weapon, each droplet containing enough nitroglycerin to obliterate a phone book. Bakugo Katsuki enjoys reading manga where boys fall in love with one another. Two out of the three are commonly accepted facts. The final one is a heavily guarded secret that Bakugo protects with his life. At least until his vigilance lapses, and he loses a doujinshi.

Will he be able to recover what he lost before anyone realizes it's his? Or, by the end of this, will he have found something he didn't know he was missing?

Portmanteau (Bakugou Katsuki/Kirishima Eijiro)

Portmanteau (port·man·teau) n. a word blending the sounds and combining the meanings of two others

Like Bakugo's chosen hero name. But was that his first choice? Kirishima doesn't think so, after finding a damning piece of evidence hidden within his notes. Except it's not what he thinks, at all...

Supernatural

Real (Dean Winchester/Castiel, background Eileen Leahy/Sam Winchester)

Coda to 15x09 "The Trap"

Morning after, and Sam spies a little something blossoming in the kitchen. Something that stokes the fires of his curiosity. When the scene ends, he walks in with an intent to investigate. Learn about the strange magic that happened before his eyes. How quickly Dean and Cas's relationship repaired. And what brilliant new shape it took on after Purgatory.

Will Sam be satisfied with the answer?

Half-Priced Chocolates (Dean Winchester/Castiel, background Eileen Leahy/Sam Winchester)

The day after Valentine's Day is great for many things. Basking in the glow of a night well spent, sharing the joy of love with your family, and eating chocolate priced considerably lower than it was the day before.

Except Sam can't enjoy any of that, because Dean won't let him. Because Dean woke up in a sour mood and has picked up the banners of war against romantic love.

Albeit, the three aforementioned things might make his conflict the shortest in history.

Spill (Dean Winchester/Castiel)

Dean always thought it would take more to force him into retirement. Yet here he is, locked in the Bunker until the world figures out a cure for a deadly virus. It could be worse - at least they have a home. He cannot imagine how worse it would be if this happened years earlier, where he and Sam were trapped in a tiny motel room together. Here they have options, and miles of outdoor space they can stroll through if their options become stale.

And they were beginning to. Dean could only do so much indoors. Dean knew he needed to shake things up, but couldn't begin thinking how. Luckily Castiel has an idea, and gives him a new way of looking at their kitchen.

Supernatural Crack🩹tober

Following the Supernatural Cracktober prompt list, one day at a time.

Prompts will be listed in the notes and the chapter title.

Enjoy!

Bullets Over the Bayou (Dean Winchester/Castiel)

Everyone wants Castiel Novak to quit the force, including Castiel. But he stays on despite the toxic work environment he’s surrounded by. Still believing he can do some good despite the many lines of red tape impeding him. Luckily, a pair of scissors by the name of Dean Winchester drops into his hands, and he finally feels like he can do some good.

Dean Winchester thought he would be in New Orleans for a day or two. Identify the body of his deadbeat father and then move on. No one knows he’s here. His mother and brother are blissfully unaware of the danger his father roped him into. With a parting gift of a journal, delivered to him the same day he received word about his father, Dean has become the target of a group of people who want him dead. The same people who killed his father.

Racing against the clock, can Dean and Castiel figure out what is so important about John Winchester’s journal that someone would kill for it?

Kick Ball Change (Dean Winchester/Castiel, background Eileen Leahy/Sam Winchester)

Coda to 15x10 "The Heroes' Journey"

Dean has the Bunker to himself at a time after he and Sam regain their supernatural abilities. With nothing needing his attention, he decides taking time for himself wouldn't hurt. But the usual fare leaves him bored and tired.

So he tries something new. Something he wanted to try, but wasn't sure he would be good at. Dean starts off strong, but doing it on your own can only be so fun. Get you so far. Luckily a partner happens by and truly allows Dean to enjoy a part of himself he knew was there, but didn't want to share.

Tempered Desires (Dean Winchester/Castiel, background Charlie Bradbury/OC, background Sam Winchester/Jessica Moore, background Sam Winchester/Ruby, background Sam Winchester/Mick Davies, past Dean Winchester/Arthur Ketch)

Dating, sex, and finding love were the farthest things on the minds of both Dean and Castiel. There were more important things to worry about - namely the pandemic that swept across the globe and changed everything. Navigating this new environment was hard enough without adding romance.

But fate never intervenes when you expect. From first meetings to first dates, we'll see how Dean and Castiel's relationship blossoms despite the circumstances.

Sunrise (Dean Winchester/Castiel, background Eileen Leahy/Sam Winchester)

Dean and Sam were free. Finally, unequivocally, free.

But this wasn't the happy ending Dean had expected. Maybe in the past, having Sam in the passenger seat tearing across an open stretch of highway as the sunsets, it'd be what he wanted. But that was years ago. He's not that man anymore. Dean's tired of sunsets, of saying goodbye. He yearns for a different ending. One that's less of an ending, and more of a beginning. A sunrise instead of a sunset.

Sam has his. Dean lost his. Despite this setback, he won't stop. He'll live in memory of his sunrise.

Except, what can he do when he feels those rays on his face again?

Coda to 15x19

Fixing It (Dean Winchester/Castiel, background Eileen Leahy/Sam Winchester)

Dean Winchester walked a long & difficult road. House burning down when he was 4, constantly being on the move until his father lost a fight with demons at the age of 25. Reunited with his mother only to lose her again. Have a son only to lose him, too. Of all the shadows that have crossed his path, he thought one of the main sources of light was his husband Castiel.

But he had to ruin that, too.

Can he ever have that shine again? Or are there things that are too good for him to hold? Will they mend what was broken?

Heart in My Hand (Dean Winchester/Castiel, background Eileen Leahy/Sam Winchester)

He was right there.

Cas was telling Dean everything he ever wanted to hear since meeting the angel of the Lord... only each and every word of his confession stabbed at Dean's heart. Because once he finished, there's no more time for them. For him. For any chance of happiness - all that taken away by the Empty. And now he has to carry on.

He tries. Stands, gets in his car and drives where Sam tells him. When he meets with the others, though...

Coda to 15x18 "Despair"

A Dumb Idea (Dean Winchester/Castiel)

They celebrated Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving, birthdays, even the Fourth of July. What about the other holidays? What about Valentine's Day?

Mrs. Butters actually had a plan for that, but she left before it could come to fruition. Sam, however, stumbles on Dean and a leftover piece from said plan. Something Dean would rather Sam not see. When he does get a peek as to what it is, well... Dean and Sam have a lot to talk about.

Coda to 15x14 "The Last Holiday"

What the Water Gave Him (Dean Winchester/Castiel)

It was over. Chuck lost, Sam and Dean can live their lives how they want them. But their victory wasn't without losses. The biggest upset nearly taking Dean out of the game, happening so close to the final battle. Now he's on the other side, alive against all odds, but Sam knows he isn't happy. Not truly happy since the Empty stole his best friend.

But there's a chance they can save him. A slim chance. A risk that Dean's willing to take despite every logical nerve in Sam's body screaming at him to look for better options. That threading a needle this small is too dangerous. That they don't have to take on another big bad, not anymore. That they don't have to risk their lives anymore. Dean is far past the point of listening. Dead set on this mission, Sam can only watch.

And pray his brother proves him wrong.

(Now with art from gabester-sketch)

Acutely (Dean Winchester/Castiel)

Jack said he's sorry, after getting his soul back.

Jack said he's sorry, and he's looking at Dean. They're all looking at Dean.

Jack said he's sorry, and Dean can't take it. It's too much. Like a frog thrown into a boiling pot he hops out, jumping out from the room towards safety. Doing his best not to succumb to the pain.

He can't hide forever, let the wounds fester. It's too much to deal with on his own, though. Can someone help him through it?

Leeches (Dean Winchester/Castiel)

Sharing a Netflix makes sense, in hindsight. Dean gets it. But that doesn't mean he appreciates seeing a bunch of profiles after his that weren't there last he checked.

He's gonna get to the bottom of this - of when this happened, why, and how they were able to guess his password.

Revival (Dean Winchester/Castiel, Eileen Leahy/Sam Winchester)

Sam and Dean stand there on the bridge, the camera panning out on them as they are finally reunited in Heaven.

But then Sam wakes up.

(Coda/Fix-It Fic to 15x20 "Carry On")

Memento (Dean Winchester/Castiel)

Why did Castiel have a photo of himself in a cowboy hat? Where did he get it? Who took it, and more importantly who gave it to him?

Coda to 15x15 "Gimme Shelter"

The End (We Deserve) (Dean Winchester/Castiel)

Dean Winchester dies in Sam's arms.

And then he doesn't.

(How that scene originally looked...)

Constants

Meeting with alternate versions of themselves makes Sam and Dean think about what the landscape of the former multiverse might have looked like - or, really, "If there can be multiple Deans and multiple Sams, can there be other versions of things they know. Like... Baby?"

Dean says no. There's only one Baby. She's got four wheels, black paint, and has been his from the beginning. Sam thinks otherwise.

Let's explore what the possibilities of Deans, Sams, and Babys in different universes might look like.

Enjoy the Present (Dean Winchester/Castiel)

Sam had a birthday, Jack had a birthday...

It would only be fitting for Dean to have one, too. It's expected, really. Yet the one Sam and Jack throw him still catches him by surprise. Maybe because he actually agreed with Butters, about having outgrowned birthdays. Or because his thoughts were pulled elsewhere because of some disappointing news.

If it's the latter, than a birthday will definitely take his mind off of that. Especially when it comes time for his present.

Coda to 15x14 'The Last Holiday'

Swallow It Whole (Dean Winchester/Castiel)

"The older you get... the less lies make everything better"

But when you've told as many lies as Dean has, it's hard to tell what's true and what's not. How can he remove all the rotten parts of himself without bringing everything down? Which lies have ingrained themselves so firmly, that removing them would change everything about who he was?

And, scariest of them all, who would he be without those lies?

Coda to 15x16 "Drag Me (Away From You)"

Desperation, Baby! (Dean Winchester/Castiel)

Death took her sweet time parsing through Chuck's book, meaning Lucifer spent longer than he'd like surrounded by his former vessel, his brother, his son, and a man whose obvious longing made him want to vomit. Instead of returning with his prize, Chuck welcoming him back, he must waste his valuable time playing 'nice; with those he can't stand.

Not that it matters. They don't trust him, each member of this ragtag group of survivors watching Lucifer in shifts. Never leaving him alone.

It's Dean's turn now, and he's driving Lucifer up a wall by doing nothing at all save for broadcasting a never-ending supply of feeling. Can he cut the signal without showing his hand, or put Dean's heart to good use?

Coda to 15x19 "Inherit the Earth"

A Healing Touch/New Experiences (Dean Winchester/Castiel, Adam/Serafina)

Maybe if Cas hadn't abandoned him, he wouldn't have agreed to Adam's offer. But with free will finally theirs, Cas made his choice, and Dean his. Now he has to live with the consequences - even if they are awkward. He won't die from it, certainly.

It's only a massage.

But what Dean doesn't know, is that it's more than a massage. It's healing.

It Feels Real Good (Claire Novak/Kaia Nieves, background Dean Winchester/Castiel)

Jody sent her to Yosemite, and she brings her back. For what reason, Claire doesn't know. But it had better be important, otherwise Claire gave the Dark Figure that stole her happiness another chance at escape. Will Jody's house hold a reason important enough for Claire to let go of the heavy burdens she's been carrying since hopping through a rift into another universe?

Coda to 15x12 "Galaxy Brain"

Through the Door (Dean Winchester/Castiel)

Cas tells Sam that Chuck and Amara are here. But how does he know? Sure, he could've felt them land through his grace. But all that time Sam was gone? There was enough there that he could've investigated. They'd need to know where they were anyway, when the time came.

But Cas should've known better. Now wasn't the best moment for a little family reunion, especially when there's so much bad blood it can drown them all. Yet he came, and finally got the audience he always seeked with his father.

Coda to 15x17 "Unity"

Four of Swords (Dean Winchester/Castiel, background Eileen Leahy/Sam Winchester)

The Four of Swords, in the present position, means you don't want to interact with the rest of the world. Because of stress, you need to spend some time with yourself - unhealthy always being 'on'. That the healthiest thing to do is to escape.

Dean might crave escape, but it's not something he thinks he can have. Something he deserves, even. After his and Sam's most recent hunt, this cancerous feeling has grown heavy and weighs him down. He cannot escape on his own, as best he tries.

Luckily a guardian 'former angel' angel swoops in at his lowest. Helps pick up the pieces as best he can and lovingly put them back together. But he can only do so much. The rest is up to Dean.

Can Dean take those final steps, say those final words, and finally free himself?

i’d like to teach the world to sing (Dean Winchester/Castiel, Castiel/Others, WIP, 10 out of 15 chapters posted so far)

Mar del Vista, California - 1972

The groovy counterculture that dominated conversation in the past few years still clings to the landscape, floating around like smoke off a burning joint. Changed by the fires of war, Manson, and life into something new. Less trusting, optimistic, and innocent.

Cas is just one of many disillusioned hippies, saddled with a general distrust even before the movement self-imploded. Wary of about everything. Perfect for his line of work, where what's on the surface might not match the truth underneath. It's not an easy life, but he's comfortable with how it goes. Coasting until he hears a case he has no business accepting. For one, it's about a missing teen. And another, it's personal.

Except Jack's disappearance, like every other case he's worked, isn't so cut and dry. Like a rock skipping across a then-placid lake, the ripples stretch far and wide. Those waves slamming at Cas; of cops, federal agents, hippie cultists, and a certain green-eyed detective who's a little too interested in Cas's investigation.

Will Cas find Jack? Or will he drown in the tides.

Checkmate (Dean Winchester/Castiel)

Billie saves Jack from suffering a fatal end from her plan, and knowing Jack was safe gave Cas space to focus on his own troubles. Nearly losing his son again... revelations from Chuck... choices Dean made, were set on, until Sam broke through at the last minute - too close - they all were...

It was too much. Cas needed to digest these roiling experiences away from faces it hurt to look at. Except he stumbles exactly where Chuck wants him. After countless times praying for guidance, Chuck finally decides now is perfect for a long-awaited heart-to-heart.

Coda to 15x17 "Unity"

Slide (Dean Winchester/Castiel, Eileen Leahy/Sam Winchester)

This isn't his day. It's Sam's and Eileen's. But while out on the dance floor, Dean realizes something that forces him to act. Act boldly.

It's not his day, but he cannot push back what's been there all along, dam bursting with no hope or need of rebuilding itself. He has to say something to Cas.

Why? Because it's Electric... boogie woogie woogie

(Inspired by the Suptober Day 9 prompt - Electric)

Unwrap Me (Dean Winchester/Castiel)

Dean never thought he would make it this far. Nor would he have as many wonderful things that he has now. A home, friends, family, and most importantly love. With a former angel.

Given how normal his life is now, Dean decides he wants to go all out celebrating Christmas. Parties, feasts, and the perfect presents. He wants to get Cas something that will translate everything that resides in his heart. Dean believes he has the right gift, but decides against leading with it. Instead surprising Cas with it after showing him his Christmas best.

Although, during his entire time planning Cas's present, he never wondered what Cas got him...

Disappointment is temporary, but creativity is eternal 🥂 to more fanworks in 2021!!!

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drsilverfish · 4 years

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The Triffid of Hope and the Stop-Watch of Despair - 15x09 The Trap

Hey everone,

I’m just catching up British time, as usual, and getting down my initial thoughts before I jump in and see what you’ve all been up to.

The much-anticipated Purgatory prayer episode - here we go!

First off - Chuck is a lying liar who lies, and also, how bad was his vamp Winchester bros script?! We know it’s a script, because he asks Sam - “So, what d’ya think?” writer-style, after AU!Bobby executes Vamp!Sam. I thought Bobo did great work here, distinguishing (for us) between his own writing and Chuck’s sucky (ha ha) vamp-Chesters ending. And oh boy, does Bobo torch the “Butch and Sundance going out together in blaze of glory” SPN scenario, because it’s one of Chuck’s shitty versions. I think we can rest assured we’re not gonna get that!

“All good things must come to an end,” Chuck says, holding up a scalpel in the Lucky (pink) Elephant (in the room, ahem Destiel) Casino. Bobo’s meta way of telling us that yes, of course, there is pain to be endured (by us) along the way, before our heroes get their freedom. Pain, because Supernatural, our favourite show, is ending.

I loved the double-structure of the episode, which balanced Sam and Eileen’s story with Dean and Cas’ story - past, present and future folded into one another; see-sawing between the twin axes of hope and despair.

The Triffid of Hope:

Isn’t this shot (and its symbolism) great? Dean is framed between the Purgatory-Triffid and the awesome three-eyed skull of a dead Leviathan (the “third eye”, in Indian spiritual traditions, symbolising higher self-knowledge).

Leviathan dude: “There’s a blossom, that grows out of the soil when we die.”

Ah-ha - I knew all the death symbolism in Michael’s God-locking spell had to mean something. It just didn’t happen the way I thought it would (Cas dying in Purgatory).

Instead, the Leviathan blossom is a monster-corpse feeding flower - it grows from death. And so it is a perfect metaphor for hope, linked to all the old vegetation Gods (like Osiris, like the myth of Persephone) as well as to those heroic underworld journeys, of Gilgamesh and Orpheus and Inanna which @prairiedust and I were talking about previously in relation to Purgatory 2.0. Because, from death, springs new life (just as Spring follows Winter) and from an underworld journey comes deeper self-knowledge and psychic growth (a la Jung).

On a meta level, this is Bobo’s message to us too - yes the show has to “die”, but who knows what new and wondrous things will be born from its “corpse”.

Dean was previously the one, of the two Winchester brothers, who’d lost hope as result of the “Welcome to the End” revelations about Chuck’s active machinations in their lives. Dean was the one who couldn’t figure out what was real especially his relationship with Cas:

Dean: “I can’t figure out what’s God and what’s real, and it’s driving me crazy” (15x06 Golden Time).

He was the one who’d said (as emphasised in this week’s re-cap): “It’s God, Sam... How the Hell are we supposed to fight God?” (15x05 Proverbs 17:3).

But, in Purgatory 2.0, Dean got his hope back.

Why?

We already know why, from watching Dean pivot from suicidal in 13x05 Advanced Thanatology, to happy cowboy cosplay in 13x06 Tombstone, as soon as he got Cas back from death. Cas is intimately tied to Dean’s sense of faith and hope.

And in Purgatory 2.0, Dean finally finds (some of) his words and gets his relationship with Cas back on track, and in so doing, he recovers that faith and hope.

Hence that shot of him lying between death (the Leviathan skull) and the Triffid of Hope. Because Dean’s underworld journey to Purgatory 2.0 brings clarity to hs heart, just as it did last time. In Purgatory 1.0, “It felt pure”; in Purgatory 1.0, Dean’s mission was, “Where’s the angel?” In Purgatory 1.0, Dean let himself love Cas again (as I’ve said before) without guilt, despite the things Godstiel/ Levi!Cas had done, to Sam, and to the world.

In Purgatory 2.0, Dean (just like Sam, in the parallel story) is on the clock. Time is ticking - the rift Michael opened is finite:

And so, in losing Cas for several frantic hours as the clock runs out, Dean finds clarity, just as he did before, and he prays (on his knees no less):

Dean: “Cas, whereever you are, it’s not too late. I should have stopped you. You’re my best friend, but I just let you go...”

And Dean cries as he prays, and there is absolutely no doubt, in those tears, and in that apology, that he loves Cas (although the text continues to embrace ambiguity as to the nature of that love).

Imagine - Dean must also be reliving the last time they were in Purgatory together, when Cas actively chose to stay behind, which broke Dean’s heart so much he re-wrote his own memory. In the land of monsters once more, Dean is, finally, terrified it’s all going to happen again (because he pushed Cas away this time).

As a romantic love-story, of course, it’s still subtext. The glass-closet still structures the narrative. We still get the plausible deniability “bromance” of; “Cas, you’re my best friend.”

And you know, it’s totally OK to feel disappointed, heart-sore, stricken or enraged about that. Nothing throws the heteronormativity of our world more into relief than watching Sam have a beautiful and tender kiss with Eileen (and I totally buy and love their relationship) when their love-story has had a tenth of the back-story and build-up that exists between Dean and Cas, whilst Dean and Cas get a hug (albeit a clearly very emotional one):

I think “queerbaiting” is, partly, a receiver-effect. Meaning, it’s partly subjective. So, some people may feel “queer-baited” by the show and others may not. It’s certainly perfectly legitimate to feel the pain of the closet, of almost-but-not-quite representation (and many queer fans have left the show over the years for that reason). The definition of “queerbaiting” however, is complex (and needs its own post).

For myself, I absolutely do feel the pain of the closet, but I don’t feel a sense of “bad faith” from the writers’ room (and I used to). I certainly trust in Bobo, whose first episode was that paean to break-up angst, 9x06 Heaven Can’t Wait, to be telling Dean and Cas’ love-story as truly, madly and deeply as he can, within the constraints imposed by TPTB (the fact that also happens to suit TPTB is another level we won’t get into here).

Because isn’t this the face of a man who had something else to say, when Cas cut him off with, “You don’t have to say it - I heard your prayer” ????

The Stop-Watch of Despair:

Chucks’ mission in 15x09 is to crush Sam’s hope, even as Dean is re-gaining his own hope in Purgatory.

Chuck does that in two ways. First, he makes Sam and Eileen doubt how much of their love story is real, as he tells them he nudged Eileen’s resurrection along and then used her (unwittingly) to spy on the Bunker.

When Eileen leaves Sam, at the end of the episode, she says: “After what happened, I don’t know what’s real anymore..”

Obviously, that is paralleled to Dean’s previous doubt about his relationship with Cas, which Cas answered expllicity in 15x02 Raising Hell (although Dean couldn’t take it in at the time):

Dean: “Nothing about our lives is real. Everything that we've lost, everything that we are is because of Chuck. So maybe you can stick your head back in the sand, maybe you can pretend that we actually had a choice. I can't.”

Castiel: “Dean. You asked, "What about all of this is real?" We are.”

Sam plays Cas’ part (but it’s his own part too - I don’t want to reduce Sam and Eileen to mere parallels for Dean and Cas - their story is their own) when he kisses Eileen and says, “I know that was real,” (so, he’s able to hold onto a little hope, after all - go Sam!):

Second, Chuck makes Sam doubt the possibility of a happy ending, for the Winchesters, for the people they love, and, importantly, for the world. If they succeed in locking Chuck away, Chuck claims, Sam and Dean will die as vampires, and monsters will overrun the earth:

We can see here, that Metatron was right, in 11x20 Don’t Call Me Shurley, when he said to Chuck, of humanity: “They are your greatest creation because they're better than you are.”

Because Chuck manages to get to Sam, psychologically, only because Sam cares, with all his heart, about the fate of the world and all the people in it.

This is where the time-construction of the episode gets clever. Because, the future-Dean, who Sam sees, has lost hope again. And why? This is the face of a man who has locked Mark-of-Cain crazed Castiel in a Ma’lak box (and don’t forget S14 established the Ma’lak box as a closet metaphor):

And oh damn, we see Cas take on the Mark as part of the God-trapping spell in the “Trifffid of Hope” portion of the story. Does he still have it now, even though Chuck destroyed the spell?

Chuck shows Sam an (apparent) future in which the brother who raised him, has abandoned all hope, which is the true definition of Hell (”Abandon all hope, ye who enter here” - Dante’s Inferno) and that is the other psychological lever Chuck uses to get Sam to despair. His faith in Eileen is shaken, and his faith in Dean is shaken.

Chuck clearly admires Sam. He almost treats him as a worthy antagonist. He refers to him as “Promethean” and “heroic”, and, in a sense, perhaps he genuinely means it. But, of course, it’s also part of his ploy to destroy Sam’s hope. Prometheus, after all, got his liver eaten out by eagles on the regular, sent by the chief God of Olympus himself, Zeus (aka Chuck) for his pains.

Chuck (to Sam): “You still think you’re the hero of this story. You still think you can win.”

And Chuck succeeds (temporarily) in destroying Sam’s hope, by making him doubt the reality of his love with Eileen, and by making him doubt that his big brother will have the hope necessary to “Carry on my wayward sons,” in the future (all the more believable because Sam has, in fact, seen Dean lose hope before when he’s lost Cas).

But what changes, monumentally, at the end of the episode, is that Dean doesn’t blame Sam. He just says, “That’s good enough for me,” about Sam’s assertion he believed in the Chuck-in-the-Cage future Chuck showed him, and, “We’ll find another way.”

Dean brought the Leviathan blossom of hope back from Purgatory, and with it, deeper self-knowledge about how he has taken his feelings of helplessness out, as anger, against the people he loves best (Sam and Cas). This time, he doesn’t do that. For Team Free Will, once all together again, The Triffid of Hope wins out over The Stopwatch of Doom.

Just as it’s right, on a psychological level, that locking Chuck in a cage isn’t a viable solution - because external cages are metaphors for the prisons of the mind. Team Free Will’s heroic and metaphysical journey through the realms of the God-machine is also a journey towards emotional wholeness, and freedom from the psychological prisons of their past.

And so, to conclude, this episode (my favourite of Bobo’s since his first) is filled with love.... and love.

The Winchester brothers’ love for one another, we see, undoubtedly, in Sam’s narrative. But that’s also interesting, because again, Chuck misses Cas out of the story - and so ends up with a bros-only Butch and Sundance ending. And Bobo emphasises Chuck’s version is stuck in “toxic co-dependency” - because it’s the two of them, as Vampchesters, as monsters, going out together against the world - specifically against even their own friends, Bobby and Jodie. Now there’s a potent metaphor. By contrast, a healthy Sam and Dean relationship allows the loving presence of others.

And there we have it - the.. and love (precisely, the loving presence of others) in the love between Sam and Eileen (whose faith in that love, Chuck has deliberately shaken, for now) paralleled to the love between Dean and Cas (whose faith has been restored in Purgatory, for now).

Bobo clearly shows us that hope is the key to defeating Chuck, because it is only when Sam loses hope that Chuck is free of the God-wound.

And love is hope, because to love is to be hopeful - to be hopeful that you will be loved back, that love will endure, that a future with your loved ones is possible and so, worth fighting for.

Supernatural has always, always (as we all well know) been about the “power of love” (despite Dean’s doubt in 5x18 Point of No Return).

In the end both the Triffid of Hope and the Stop-Watch of God-Time will converge, ending God-Time and granting true freedom for Chuck’s “characters”.

#Supernatural #15x09 #The Trap #SPN meta #Meta #Chuck Shurley #The Monster at the End of This Book #Sam x Eileen #Destiel #Still subtext #But subtext IS part of narrative #The great queerbaiting debate

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evolutionsvoid · 4 years

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When we finally slew that great leviathan, we thought that day was one to be celebrated. Such a moment would go down in history, and people would be telling the tale to their children and grandchildren for years to come. It took only a month or two before we realized that such a time would be seen as a regret rather than a victory. The failed demolition of the corpse and the resulting worm swarm should have been our first clue, but we were still blinded by our successes. Surely that was an inconvenience and not an omen of things to come, right? When Bitoso reared its many heads and began to terrorize our cities, we finally had to accept reality. The great titan that we defeated was not just a colossal beast, it was an entire ecosystem. A creature of that impossible size would be the perfect home for many critters and parasites, with plenty of resources to be had both inside and out. When we killed the leviathan, we destroyed the food and shelter for countless of organisms, and they were forced to relocate. Since its massive corpse was laying on top of a city, the fleeing denizens found refuge in our own homes, and then the problems started. Bitoso was the first one to reveal itself to the world, and we had hoped it was the only survive of that exodus. Sadly, this was not the case. Not long after Bitoso burst from the sewers and slithered through the streets, another terror was found. A trail of sinkholes and collapsing tunnels led investigators into the wilds, and then straight into the heart of another unfortunate metropolis. When an entire city block sank into the earth, we knew that normalcy would never return to this world. The giant beast that caused such destruction has only been fully seen a handful of times, as it spends most of its life underground. Regardless, it has earned itself the name: Infradestructor. The title certainly isn't as clever and sophisticated as Bitoso's, but it certainly fits the beast. A creature that size with the ability to burrow through practically anything is an absolute nightmare to building foundations and infrastructure. The many tunnels it carves out are prone to collapsing, causing everything sitting up top to come crumbling down. If the Infradestructor kept to the wilds, than perhaps its wouldn't be so bad. Unfortunately, it has quite a liking to human towns and cities. Scientists believe this may have to do with the creature's origins, as they claim this horrid monster was a type of parasitic skin mite. It would have been living in the hide of the leviathan, carving through the epidermis and feeding on the flesh around it. Any witness to the battle can tell you that the titan was in no way thin skinned, it took bunker busters to even break through its armored hide. Thus it can be reasoned that the mite was familiar with a rather hardened and tough stratum, so perhaps it finds our tons of concrete, gravel and asphalt a fitting substitute. Maybe it thinks our cities are just another titan to carve through and feed on, despite the fact it is much bigger than it originally was. Just like Bitoso, it is believed that its escape from the corpse landed it in a nutrient rich slurry of blood, flesh and sewage, causing it to grow astronomically. Who knows, maybe the leviathan's blood is a freaking mutagen... Regardless of how it reached such size, all that matters now is finding a way to destroy the Infradestructor before it topples any more cities. It possesses three pairs of limbs that are coated in powerful claws and spikes, which allow it to shred through any substance. Its whole body is covered in these spines, helping it carve its way through the earth as it digs. To aid in its efforts, its arms and body secrete a powerful digestive enzyme that turns rock and steel into goop. People have seen this powerful fluid in action, mainly when the mite surfaces and engages attackers. As it flails and fights, gobs of the stuff go flying and splatter across buildings and streets. There are plenty of videos out there showing this enzyme eating through solid concrete within seconds, and no one dares mention the footage of when this stuff lands on a person. With its claws and acid, it tears through the earth with ease as it searches for food. It isn't fully confirmed what the Infradestructor eats, but it is believed it is a combination of melted concrete and sewage. It tends to target areas that are dense with sewage lines and waste. Quite a few nearby landfills have suddenly vanished into the earth, possibly serving as a feast for this insatiable monstrosity. Due to its love for cities and towns, it is believed that some material we use for construction is another favorite of the creature. Concrete and cement is the current guess, as it goes after larger buildings as well as bridges. That sadly does not mean that smaller structures and places are safe, as the mite often burrows through them to get to the juicy parts, which means that your house or business is going to get eaten by the resulting sinkhole.

Efforts to kill the Infradestructor have ended in failure, with the best plans only wounding or scaring the beast. Since it spends so long underground, it is hard to target it for an aerial assault. Planes, helicopters and tanks are pretty much useless until it emerges, and getting it to the surface is incredibly difficult. Bunker busters and buried charges have been used to try and kill it, but the ground absorbs too much of the impact and the mite moves ridiculously fast. Even when it is hit, it is very hardy and prefers to hide underground to nurse its wounds. By adding more detonations, it is possible to drive it to the surface, but that can also scare the mite and cause it to panic. While this may be good against other combatants, it isn't when this beast is hiding beneath populated areas. When it gets scared, it tries to throw off its attackers by fleeing in a rather erratic way. It pretty much burrows wildly through the earth, going every which way to try to confuse its opponents. This has the unfortunate effect of undermining the entire area and causing widespread collapses. One operation accidentally caused this frenzy and wound up burying three different towns as the mite went crazy. Even when they flush it to the surface, it isn't an easy beast to take down. The many spines seem indestructible and its flesh is quick to heal. Its claws tear through any armor or vehicle nearby, making a land assault suicidal. Attacking from the air isn't safe either, as the mite has learned an obnoxious tactic. Using its claws, it rips into the ground, scoops up the debris and then launches it into the air. With all limbs flailing and throwing, the creature is capable of spraying plumes of dirt and rock everywhere, clogging the airspace. A stone the size of a fist doesn't seem like much, but it is a huge problem to a copter or jet. Then factor in a couple thousand of them as they are launched into the sky, only to come raining back down. At this point, it is best to keep your distance and attack from super long range. However, if pressure is not kept on the Infradestructor, then it will burrow back into the ground and escape. Nothing angers the military more than sacrificing countless of lives, resources and weapons just to have the target grow bored and leave. With all this devastation and destruction, the new plan is to nuke the creature when it emerges. Hopefully the strength of an atomic bomb can finish it off once and for all, but that can only happen if it is on the surface. Unfortunately, the Infradestructor is learning and adapting, and it is getting harder and harder to drive it upward. It knows our tactics and it is growing bolder. Scaring it from its burrow may no longer be an option. The other issue people bring up is what will happen to the creature or corpse once we irradiate it? If we fail to kill it with this one strike, will it only grow stronger? And what if it does die? We have killed a titan like this before, and see what misery came from that. Who knows what is dwelling inside these beasts, ready to escape and continue its legacy of terror? ---------------------------------------------------- Kaijune is winding down, but we aren't done yet! Giant parasites! Bitoso has company!

#mite #scabies #monster #creature #kaiju #kaijune #kaijune2020 #art #drawing

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poppibranchlover · 4 years

Text

Nine Lives, One Fight - Part 15

The story: Deep in the forest of Troll Town, there lies a mysterious tiny purple mushroom that has a secret magical ability. King Peppy calls this mushroom forbidden for all Trolls to go near it. One day, while Branch is out in the woods doing his survival research studying, he encounters it and, not knowing it is a regular mushroom, decides to harvest it and bring it home. But in the next morning, its magic effects transform him into a small blue cat! After being sent to the animal pound, his girlfriend, Poppy, finds him and decides to adopt him, although not recognizing it is Branch. Desperate to finish his research project due for a special event invented by Poppy, Branch is forced to learn how to behave like a pet cat and must figure out what caused him to become one.

You already seen what had happened in Part 14. Now get ready for Part 15!:

By the time Poppy and Branch got into the queen’s pod, it was already nighttime. They cleaned themselves up and then get ready for bed.

Not wanting to feel left out and having completed his main objective, Branch wanted to sleep beside Poppy rather than sleeping in isolation on the shelf near the window. She saw him on his bed feeling proud of himself and gently petted his head.

“Goodnight, Mr. Tickle,” said Poppy. “You’re the best little kitten I’ve ever adopted!”

After kissing Branch’s forehead, she immediately went to sleep. Branch scooted closer to her and snuggled beside her, smiling and somehow enjoying his life as a cat.

Halfway during his slumber, Branch started to wake up. He cautiously scanned the room and stared at Poppy, who was still sleeping. He knows he couldn’t waste any hour right now and he needs his Show-and-Tell project to be finished before morning.

Branch stared at Poppy’s clock, trying to figure out what time it is now. Okay, I don’t have much time left, he thought to himself. I have to get to work before sunrise!

Then he jumped out of the bed and sprinted to the dining table, where a giant red cloth is covering something underneath it.

Branch carefully pulled out the cloth, revealing his construction equipment he had gathered from his bunker earlier this afternoon.

Satisfied at his choice of duty, Branch crept under the table to admire his tools he needs to make his project. He was so eager to win the contest tomorrow that he wanted to get started right away.

“All right!” he said triumphantly, cracking his knuckles and pulling out a neat-detailed blueprint. “In these clear well-written equational documents, I’m gonna know how to construct some stuff!”

Wiggles peeked from behind Branch’s trusty toolbox, holding up an eaten carrot. “How are you gonna do that?” he asked. “You’re just an ordinary tiny kitten!”

Branch couldn’t believe Wiggles was asking some questions on how a cat can build inventions. He sighed with exasperation and told him “It’s going to be fine, Wiggles. I can really build a great invention of mine that easily. I have four arms, just like Cooper!” He held up a paw, showing five of his pads sticking under it.

Wiggles chomped on his carrot. “But each time you pick up a tool with your teeth, you’re gonna lose some momentum!” he warned.

Branch eventually saw what the tiny rabbit was doing just now. He pointed at the carrot and demanded “What are you even eating?”

Wiggles stopped nibbling and examined his meal for a moment. It took him some time to remember where did he get it. “I think I just found it in a giant bowl of ‘white flowers’ on your owner’s pantry,” he answered meekly, trying not to be ashamed.

Branch was stunned. He can’t believe that that little bunny was stealing something from Poppy! “No, Wiggles. Those are cauliflowers,” he protested. “And you know where cauliflowers come from?”

“A flower garden?” asked Wiggles absentmindedly.

“Vegetables!” Branch corrected him firmly. “Cauliflowers are vegetables like that carrot you stole!”

“Okay, so what’s the difference between flowers or ‘cotton flowers’?” Wiggles wondered. “I didn’t even think-”

Branch tilted his head down to the floor and groaned with frustration. This rabbit is very dumb and doesn’t seem to know the world of Trolls very well. “Can’t you just get it right, little bunny?!” he insisted. “Don’t you remember the rule of staying here?”

“I did!” Wiggles said with a reassuring nod. “You said I follow exactly what you said!”

“Then why should I bring you here for a reason?” Branch asked, folding his tail between his back legs.

“Then what about your plan for that “so-called” Show-and-Tell party?” Wiggles snapped back. Branch just stepped back quietly. “You’re gonna waste some time when you keep talking to me and comment about my Thanksgiving dinner!” Then he paused for a second, seething. Branch was too startled to reply. The little bunny stared at his half-eaten carrot and shook his head with a sigh. “I shouldn’t be stealing that from Queen Poppy. I’m very sorry.”

“Uh, that’s alright,” Branch told him, trying not to offend him even more. “She didn’t even eat any carrot like that, and I think you can deserve it.”

Wiggles was grateful for his words. He stared at Branch’s blueprint, and then at the night sky through a window. “It seems like time is flying so fast,” he said.

Branch immediately knew what Wiggles was trying to tell him. He looked at the same window and realized what that meant. It is getting closer to the next morning. “I think you’re right, man,” he said. “I don’t have much time left before sunrise! I gotta get started!”

Wiggles was shocked. “Yes, but how are you gonna build a good structure like a—?”

But the plan is already happening very quick. Branch whipped out his tools and his wooden planks from his toolbox and got ready to work.

Surprised that he was carrying a large saw despite his small cat size, Wiggles’ jaw dropped. “Oh….uh, well….that is fine,” he muttered nervously.

In a flash, Branch was already hammering and sawing some wood. He spent a few minutes of using his constructing tools and adjusting to his cat form at the same time. He exhausted himself from carrying his heavy tools for a little while and drank some cups of milk to energize himself...if it’s for the best that he needed some coffee.

Later, Branch put on his hard builder’s hat and began painting the wood. Holding a paintbrush in his mouth, he carefully painted the plank with a neat dark brown color. From a corner during his work, Wiggles nibbled his carrot along the way.

Branch hammered, painted and drank tons of glasses of milk. He stayed up all night at work long putting the finishing touches to his latest invention. Despite being a cat, he can still think like a Troll. No longer bothered by the sheer excited swaying of his tail, he put on a welding mask and held up a blowtorch in his paw.

When he was sure to have almost finished, Branch lifted up his welding mask to admire his work. He smiled with satisfaction, feeling like he was ready for Poppy’s newest party tomorrow.

I can totally win this! he thought. Those Trolls out there will think I will be the best hero when they see what I make! Hopefully I’ll earn a medal and be on first place!

“Tomorrow is another day,” Branch told himself.

The next day, Poppy’s Show-and-Tell Festival has already begun. Trolls everywhere gathered around the giant mushroom stage, where Poppy is addressing everyone else who were invited for the party. DJ Suki, the village’s resident disk jockey, played some thumping music that got everyone grooving, dancing and celebrating the occasion.

The Show-and-Tell festival was jam-packed with fun activities. Some Trolls who signed up to show their projects on stage proudly present them to Poppy, who is observing every single one of them. The party was a great success. The Trolls finished it off with a banquet filled with cupcakes, berries, flavored punch and cookies and a special oversized scrapbook they made together to remember the occasion.

Poppy proudly went up on stage, holding a pink glittery microphone in one hand. She held up her arms wide and greeted her fellow crowd of excited Trolls. “Hello, Troll Village!” she proclaimed. “Ready to set your brains aflame?! Then I hope you are all as excited as I am! Welcome to my party of Show-and-Tell, where you’ll be able to show your opinions and tell us about them in order to get promoted as future leaders of the kingdom!”

“YAAAAAAAAAY!!!” all the Trolls cheered. “Hurray for Show-and-Tell Day!”

“And just you wait, there are some of the best contestants that will bring us a load of Troll-riffic inventions that they come up with!” Poppy added. “Sit back and relax as they will come up on stage to present their creativity to the rest of the world!”

Then Poppy jumped out of the stage to check on her best friends, who have their brilliant Show-and-Tell inventions ready to be submitted.

“Okay, guys,” she reminded them proudly. “I hope you’re ready. Got your thingamabobs needed for this special day?”

The rest of the Trolls agreed with her reassuring words.

Deep down, Biggie was feeling scared. “I’m so nervous I felt so many Mr. Dinkleses in my stomach,” he said, his voice quaking with fear.

Guy Diamond put his arm to the big Troll’s shoulder to comfort him. “It’s alright, big fella,” he told him in his shimmery voice. “Y’all won’t be so jealous ‘cause my masterpiece will be a great hiiiiit!” He nodded to his shining glitter globe that was required to present to the rest of the crowd.

Cooper kicked his colorful ball with his front legs enthusiastically. “I’m SOOOO excited to show my favorite ball to everyone!” he exclaimed with utter excitement. “I’ll make a great king!”

Smidge was not sure of this idea. Not all Trolls wanted to be declared as winners because Poppy needs to select one Troll with the best invention. “I think you’ll be the king someday,” she said.

“Oh, come on, Smidge!” said Cooper. “I wonder what an actual king can do?”

“You’ll have to wait, Cooper,” Poppy told him. “When a Troll has the best project ever built, they would soon earn a medal.” Humming to herself, she went off to find Satin and Chenille, whose presentation about shampoo and hair conditioner were coming to fruition.

When Poppy saw them, she greeted them happily “Hey, girls! You’re gonna be fine! Just present your projects and I’ll qualify each of them as top prize!”

“Yes, Queen Poppy,” Satin answered politely. “We’ll do our best. No arguing!”

“Sis, keep it together! We use the shampoo first!” Chenille protested.

Meanwhile, Branch was watching the festivities coming on. He knew the big celebration had begun. A tiny, secret part of him was to be still in Poppy’s contestant list despite still stuck in cat form. He jumped off the big mushroom that he, Poppy and the twins were standing on and ran over to his brand new creation, covered with a red tarp.

Wiggles hopped closer to him, admiring his fantastic work. “Ooooh, now I wonder what you come up for this party?” he asked happily. “How well you are doing?”

“I’ll do great progress!” Branch said enthusiastically. “Besides, I worked so hard on this baby.”

He pulled off the red tarp. Underneath it was a wooden machine that looked like an old-fashioned coffee grinder.

Branch introduced his latest invention. “Behold...my homemade Berry-Presser!”

Wiggles was impressed. “Whoa, dude! It looks totally awesome!” he cooed. “But...what does it really do?”

Branch had spent lots of time all night inventing this mechanical grinder. He enthusiastically bounded back and forth in front of his invention and pulled out another basket of berries he had harvested yesterday as he explained the purpose of how it works. If Branch could get the rest of the Trolls to agree to this brilliant idea, it would ensure that he is able to be declared first prize.

“Based on my precise calculation, I built this thing to ensure proper nutrition for the Trolls,” Branch explained. “It’s very simple. Harvest a berry or more, compress them inside and turn them into healthy drinks; the perfect combination of integrity and a touch of love!”

“Cool! What a great combo!” Wiggles cheered, hopping up and down. “Everyone will love your berry-making gizmo when they see it in action!”

“Yep!” said Branch. “When I come out on stage, Poppy is going to qualify me as a new leader. Isn’t it great? It’s like I’m going to rule with her!”

Wiggles gave a serious look on his face that said “Are you kidding me?”

“Time for me to hit the spotlight!” Branch said proudly. He started to leave with his Berry-Presser, but Wiggles grabbed his tail and pulled him back. Branch yelped in pain upon having his tail bitten by the rabbit’s teeth. “Ouch! What is your problem?” he asked.

“Before you go, one BIG problem…you’re just a cat, not a Troll,” Wiggles reminded him. “The entire village won’t notice or accept you and your project! You know what I mean? Animals don’t get qualified by Trolls!”

Branch chuckled and pressed down Wiggles’ forehead with his paw, forming a frown on the bunny’s face. “Awww, Wigs. Don’t be so pessimistic,” he told him, smiling proudly. “You'll give yourself worry lines with all that nagging. They’ll know I made this little toy and Poppy will definitely promote me for sure!”

But Wiggles was getting worried that Branch’s plan is going to fail. He knew if he showed up on stage, Poppy and the Trolls will never understand him when he was about to present his invention. He tried to stop him before he can move on. “I’m being serious here! I told you Queen Poppy never recognizes you as a small animal!”

It was too late. Branch pushed his Berry-Presser and made his way to the backstage with the rest of Poppy’s friends.

“Ugh, he’s gonna take low price,” Wiggles said sarcastically, exasperated as he watched Branch go into the party anyway.

A few minutes later, the Show-and-Tell presentation has finally begun. Poppy introduced Biggie and Mr. Dinkles on stage. “Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Biggie and Mr. Dinkles’ performance of the world’s most powerful “Mew” of the universe!”

The crowd cheered as Biggie and his pet worm arrived on the stage. Mr. Dinkles was sitting on a chair, ready to play a piano. Biggie acted like a conductor and he waved his baton to cue his worm to start singing. While pressing the piano keys, Mr. Dinkles sang in a big, operatic voice as the rest of the Trolls watched the performance in awe.

“Now that’s what I call the world’s most powerful ‘Mew!’“ Biggie clarified, admiring at his beloved pet’s extraordinary talent.

When the performance finished, the Trolls cheered and Mr. Dinkles took a bow before hopping into Biggie’s arms. The big blue Troll hugged his worm tightly and bowed before the crowd as well before he left the stage.

Next, Guy Diamond appeared on stage with a poof of glitter showering all over the audience. Poppy made his introduction. “Brace yourself for the world’s most glittery Troll in the whole wide world! Guy Diamond!”

When Guy landed gracefully on stage, he pulled out his glitter globe and shook it. Glitter showered around the plastic unicorn inside. “This wonderfully-glittertastic snowglobe SHIIIIIINES like a DIAMOND!!!” Guy explained with his iconic shimmering tone. “With this, you can SHIIIIIINE your whole world with LOTS OF GLIIIIIIITER!!!”

The entire crowd cooed, impressed at the glitter Troll’s brilliant work. “Ooooooooooh!!!”

“I wish I can keep that! It’s got a tiny unicorn in it!” a Troll child said excitedly, pointing at the glitter globe.

“That’s some good stuff, Guy!” Poppy said as the glittery Troll left the stage, carrying his globe. “Next up, we have Cooper and his fantastic rainbow bouncy ball!”

Cooper waddled his way to the stage, with his ball balancing on his head. “Hey, guys!” he said enthusiastically. “Let me show you my favorite super duper bouncy-douncy ball! Look what it can do!”

Then he started doing some tricks while playing with his soccer ball. Almost as fast as Cooper moved his four legs each time while getting the ball to balance on his back, all of the Trolls were amazed.

After ending his trick with a big finale, Cooper bowed at the cheering audience and gracefully danced away from the stage.

“This is gonna be a cinch. Two sisters, one mind,” Poppy announced on stage. “Put your hair together for the fashion sisters and their hair gel experiment!”

Satin and Chenille appeared on the stage, pulling out their whiteboard depicting the shampoo and hair conditioner pictures. They held up two bottles of hair lotion as they challenged the Trolls to a quiz about where the shampoo originated in and how different is the hair conditioner, just like how they challenged Poppy to the same quiz yesterday.

“I know these answers,” Poppy whispered to Biggie, watching from the backstage.

Finally, the fashion twins come to the conclusion of their explanation. “In direct conclusion, we know that both shampoo and conditioner...” Satin began.

“...count like good HAIR GEL!!!” the girls said the last sentence in unison.

The Trolls roared with thousands of applause, and the twins bowed. “Thank you for seeing our presentation!” Chenille squealed. “Have a hair-tastic day!”

Later, during Smidge’s turn on presenting her Muscle Spirit treadmill on the stage, Branch curled up in a corner, watching the other contestants perform. Soon it will be his turn to be on stage, he will present his berry grinder invention to everyone, and finally he’ll be awarded first place. He can feel his destiny coming towards him.

Branch looked at his invention and then at the stage, feeling quite ready to embrace his inner Troll. “Oh yeah,” he said with determination. “I’m ready to rule the world with you, Poppy.”

After Smidge completed her presentation, Poppy announced to her people “And for our very last contestant of the season, you may know him as the former village grump...let’s hear it for BRANCH!!!”

“Oh, that’s me!” Almost immediately, Branch can hear the loud cheering. He couldn’t believe it. All of the Trolls were now cheering for him, and now it is the time for him to show his face to everyone. He smiled with confidence as he pushed the berry grinder to the stage.

“Come on up there, Branch!” Poppy said, just as Branch and his berry grinder finally showed up on the stage. Once he stopped pushing his invention, he greeted the audience. “Meow!”

Instead of cheering for Branch, the crowd gasped. Even Poppy gasped as well. “Mr. Tickle, what are you doing here?” she asked, staring at Branch.

Everyone stared at the blue-haired cat in confusion. Then they all started talking at once.

“Wait a minute. It’s just a cat,” a glitter Troll said, scratching his head.

“Who’d put a cat on stage?” a Troll asked, looking genuinely confused.

“Where is Branch? He’s supposed to be here!”

“Yeah, where is he?”

“Where is the last Troll?”

“We need him!”

“Branch! Branch!”

Branch looked at the confused crowd. Is it working? he thought. Am I getting through them? Am I gonna win first place? He hadn’t much luck getting their attention lately. But his face fell when he realized what is going on. “What’s happening?” he asked himself. “I thought they all liked my invention!”

Poppy tried to shoo him away from the stage. “Get back in the backstage. You’re not supposed to be here,” she told the cat. “I need Branch to show up and present his project.”

“Meeeow! Meow! Meow!” Branch insisted, attempting to tell her that he is here to show his berry grinder to the crowd. “Meeeeeoooowww!!”

But it didn’t seem to work. This made Poppy think Branch is absent. She looked around while he tried getting her attention. “Where’s Branch?” she asked. “I swore that he should’ve arrived on time! Branch!” Then she fled off the stage and ran to search for him. Branch helplessly watched her leave.

Behind Poppy, her friends watched her running away from the party. Biggie asked her “Poppy, what’s wrong?”

“We’re calling this party a hiatus!” she announced before disappearing into the distance. “There’s been a serious mistake here!”

“What mistake?” Guy asked, not until the rest of the Snack Pack saw Branch on stage, meowing for Poppy to come back.

“Awwwww!” Cooper cooed. “Cute kitty!”

Branch felt hurt and defeated. Why didn’t Poppy recognize him, and what is wrong with being a cat? He glanced at the audience, who were still murmuring questions about him.

“What should we do about this cat?” a Troll demanded.

“I wish Queen Poppy would cancel him off from the list in the first place!”

“I can’t believe she halted the party with a hiatus because of his absence!”

Branch watched in horror as the Trolls continued ranting about the disaster. He couldn’t watch this anymore, so he sprinted after Poppy.

“Poppy, come back!” he yelled, jumping off the stage and making a run for it to follow her, leaving the Trolls surprised at his departure.

From backstage, Wiggles watched him go after Poppy, finally knowing that Branch’s attempt to show his project had failed.

To Be Continued...

Stay tuned for Part 16!

#dreamworks trolls #poppy and branch #poppy #branch #cat #cat branch #branch the cat #cat branch story #nine lives one fight #fanfiction #wiggles #wiggles the rabbit #biggie #mr dinkles #cooper #smidge #satin and chenille #guy diamond

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mostlysignssomeportents · 5 years

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Collective Action: an interview with Cory Doctorow, author of ‘Radicalized’

A few weeks ago, we reviewed Radicalized, a fantastic collection of four stories from author Cory Doctorow about the extreme measures that people (or a certain Kryptonian) will take to push back against extreme forms of oppression or circumstance.

Recently, I had the chance to speak with Mr. Doctorow about what inspired these tales as well as what some of the real world parallels they were inspired from.

There will also be spoilers for the various stories in Radicalized (especially Model Minority), so make sure you’ve already them first…which you really should have already.

AiPT!: Every story in Radicalized is great, but Model Minority really stood out to me, mostly because it was one of the best and most uniquely structured Superman stories I’ve ever read. What was your approach going into it to make Model Minority different than what has come before it?

Cory Doctorow: Humans have always been portrayed as his Achilles heel, but I think there’s an even deeper [issue] for Superman that goes back to his origins as a character. He was created by Jewish men in Brooklyn who were horrified about the rise of Nazism across the Atlantic. They wanted to build an immortal and unstoppable hero who could conceivably punch Nazis until they…well, stopped being Nazis!

But the actual answer to Nazis in Europe — although there were many brave individuals — was in no way an individual action. In fact, the answer was the largest collective action in the history of the world.

For reason both noble and base, I think we like to frame big fights as a struggle between individuals. The heroic individual who was at the right place at the right time and makes the sacrifice that makes things happen. Humanitarian movements definitely cultivate this.

Rosa Parks gets a lot of press as a solitary hero for her bus protest during the Civil Rights movement. But she was actually a community organizer who—along with her colleagues—planned out a strategy to get her arrested so that a case would be keyed up with a certain set of legal consequences that would be easier to argue in court and play into existing precedencies. If Rosa Parks had merely been a lone individual who was brave enough to refuse to give up her seat, she likely would have died in jail. It’s because she was part of a huge collective that she was able to have such a huge impact.

That’s what Model Minority really tries to dig into—the limits of individual action and the importance of collective action. Our perception of the individual as the driving force for change (rather than the collective) is something that still has a paralyzing effect on society’s willingness to confront its own issues. Look at climate change. It’s not happening because you didn’t recycle enough. But chances are (if you live in a city) that your biggest contribution to climate change is probably your commute. But you can’t dig a subway— Elon Musk can’t do that. And if even you could, you couldn’t rezone all the buildings for it to work. It would have to be a collective action.

AiPT!: Aside from Model Minority, the rest of the stories in Radicalized had a very near-future, Black Mirror-esque feel. Do you see the technology and events that took place as things we will see in the next few years?

Doctorow: I’m not a believer in the ability of science fiction to predict the future because I’m not a believer in predictable futures. That’s one of the big differences between an activist and a futurist. Activists believe that the future changes based on what we do. If the future were predictable, there’d be no reason to bring forth an event to create change.

The model of these stories is to show that the future can be great if we just don’t f*ck it up. The thing that drives a story like Unauthorized Bread is not merely that it shows how technological oppression takes place. It also shows how technical liberation takes place. People put a lot of emphasis on what technology does, but often overlook who it does those things for and who it does those things to. Often times that’s way more important.

Masque of Red Death was inspired in part by Doug Rushkoff’s story where he spoke to a bunch of hedge fund managers about their doomsday bunkers. They were trying to figure out how to make their bunkers sustainable after the apocalypse, but what worried them in particular was that their guards would kill them and take their food. One of the solutions they came up with were biometric food lockers that would only open for them. Once again, the issue isn’t what the technology does, but who has their finger on the button controlling it.

Going back to Model Minority, we have these predictive policing tools like the one Bruce sold to the NYPD. In reality, those tools are super racist. Patrick Ball, who runs the Human Rights Data Analysis Group, took PredPol (which is a major predictive policing tool) and gave it 2016 policing data from Oakland. He then asked it to provide where it predicted the most drug crime would be in 2017. He was then able to compare its predictions to the NIH survey about drug usage.

Predpol predicted that all of the drug crime was going to take place in black neighborhoods, which follows the police pattern that created its training data. If you’re only asking black people to turn out their pockets to look for drugs, then you all the drugs you find are going to be in black people’s pockets. According to the NIH data, however, illegal drug usage was pretty much even across the entire area among all demographics.

Now think about this: Instead of unfairly targeting a group of people, you could potentially use the exact same technology and data provided by PredPol (compared with the NIH data) to determine if policing patterns are racially biased. It’s all about whose finger is on the button.

AiPT!: Do you see the crisis on America’s southern border as a potential breaking point for people to become radicalized on both sides of the issue?

Doctorow: As a Canadian, I am somewhat baffled by both the American relationship to guns and the American relationship to healthcare. Every country has blind spots—when I lived in England, I couldn’t believe a country that managed to conquer the world still hadn’t figured out plumbing.

But America’s blind spots are pretty weird. The fact that they can’t do something every other country in the world has figured out is pretty baffling. It also spawns another weird question: Why is it that frustrated white dudes routinely shoot up mosques or kill their ex-wives, but don’t murder the healthcare executives who doom the people they love most in the world to die a slow, painful death? The pat answer would be that those executives are protected by a large amount of wealth and power. It’s much easier to punch down than punch up.

The other thing that Radicalized tries to do is to rebut our dominant model of radicalization, which is the contagion model. The idea with that model is there are a lot of people out there with very bad and dangerous ideas. If you get exposed to those ideas, then you will have the ideas too and go do bad and dangerous things.

But there’s not a lot of evidence to support that. Boston University did a study on the history of suicide bombers in the occupied territory in the West Bank. What they found was the biggest predictor of whether someone became radicalized was not ideology or a commitment to violence—it was if they were already suicidally depressed.

That trauma model—where people who are traumatized become much more susceptible/vulnerable to people with bad ideas—is a much truer account of what goes on in radicalization. It suggests that what we really need to be doing is reducing the amount of trauma as opposed to the exposure of people to bad ideas.

AiPT!: Where do you see that model at work in the current global landscape?

Doctorow: I feel like the people who are fighting it are being affected by racism that has been compounded by trauma. We’ve had 40 years of tightening belts and shifts in wealth from the middle to the wealthy. This has produced a large group of people who are traumatized and ready to be radicalized by difficult circumstances.

This about it this way: You think you have a secure chair at the table. Then someone announces “Actually, it’s not your chair. It’s musical chairs and at the end of the every turn, we’re going to decide whether or not you get one. Oh, and by the way, we’re going to let a bunch of people who have never had a chair compete for the chairs, as well…and we’re going to take away chairs at a faster than any in point in human history.”

When you consider that framework, it’s not a surprise that people can become racist, xenophobic a------s. It doesn’t exonerate or excuse them, obviously, but it does help explain it.

The arguments anti-vaxxers make today aren’t any better or more informed than they used to be. It was a stupid argument then and it’s a stupid argument now. Same with flat eartherism. What changes are the material circumstances of the people who believe the arguments. When you look at the rise of authoritarian movements throughout history, they almost always follow some sort of collective trauma.

Another source of trauma for people is that despite the wealth of information at our fingertips, there is a collective inability to trust it. There so many different sources of information that it becomes impossible to adjudicate them all, which forces you to defer to whomever is deemed the expert…or whoever shouts their information the loudest. That’s part of the reason you can have the FDA saying for 15 years that opioids were safe. Even the government can’t be trusted as a source. This leads to people often times finding someone who “feels” like someone they can trust whether they are credible or not—and you just believe whatever they tell you.

AiPT!: Moving onto something a little more light-hearted: Is Superman (or any other character in the DC Universe) someone you’d like to revisit in the future?

Doctorow: Honestly, I didn’t really always want to write Superman. In this instance, Superman was simply the right metaphor for the bigger question about individual and collective action and being an ally.

Speaking as someone whose father was a Jewish immigrant refugee to Canada, it was odd to see how he was initially treated as a racialized minority, but later “became” white. It showed me how whiteness is socially constructed—and how the last people on the whiteness boat are usually the first ones to get kicked off. In Charlotte, we had people chanting “Jews will not replace us,” but there are still conservative Jews (including within my own family) who treat white supremacy as a small price to pay as support for Israel and other portions of the GOP agenda.

One thing I wanted to draw attention to in Model Minority is that Superman’s whiteness (and humanity) is assigned to him as a courtesy. It is entirely contingent on his support of the establishment, who can withdraw it at a moment’s notice. It also shows the difficulty of allyship. No matter what you go through to help others, your struggle will pale in comparison to the ones without your privilege who you’re trying to help. Just like when Superman was asked “Where were you for the last 100 years,” you might have to confront the fact that you were previously a part of the problem.

That’s not to say we need to play oppression Olympics with everyone to compete for who has struggled the most in society. But I do think we need to acknowledge that the daily experience of different people in different experiences is something that we can’t fully comprehend.

AiPT!: This probably won’t be possible with Model Minority due to all the licensing red tape you’d have to jump through, but are there plans to make any of the other stories in Radicalized into other media properties?

Doctorow: Unauthorized Bread is currently in development as a television project. That’s all I can say for now

www.adventuresinpoortaste.com/2019/08/13/collective-action-an-interview-with-cory-doctorow-author-of-radicalized/

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bluephoenixdruidicprincess · 5 years

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SPN 14x15 Peace of Mind -- Review (Spoilers)

Well, it looks like I can cross something off of my Season 14 Wishlist. We got ourselves a Cas POV episode. Granted, it wasn't quite how I envisioned the episode being but beggars can't be choosers and this episode was certainly enjoyable and charming and overall, I’m happy with it. Of course, I'll be getting into spoilers here so here's your spoiler warning. Don't read this until you've seen the episode.

First of all, I love that Sam and Cas finally get some time together. Sastiel is finally gettin' some love. It's something I've wanted since the cliffhanger we were left with at the end of season 13. More Sam and Cas time. I've always loved the Sam and Cas dynamic. Misha and Jared have a really fun sort of chemistry about them so whenever we get scenes of them together, it's like I'm on happy pills. The unending support and faith they give each other is wonderful and I love it. And it especially shined through in this episode. Like, holy crap was it wonderful. The level of support and understanding Cas gave Sam in this episode was so great, like I'm having trouble articulating it, I loved it so much. This is something that really only Cas could've helped Sam with. If Dean was here instead of Cas, while I'm sure Dean would've eventually been able to get Sam to break through, it wouldn't have been through any effect of actually being able to help Sam in the long run. Dean could've gotten Sam to break through but he wouldn't have been able to give Sam what Cas gave Sam. Understanding and through that understanding, the strength to keep fighting on and not give up. Cas understands what it's like to lose what Sam lost. Cas understands what that failure feels like and he understands the guilt that comes with it.

But something I really particularly enjoyed in this episode was Cas's sense of self within the family unit. I fee like Cas is finally starting to get to the point where he is more assured of his place in the world and this episode really hammers that in. Cas really took charge here. He noticed where different family members would've been better suited for. He noticed that he's not able to help Jack but Dean might be able to based on the sort of role model relationship Dean and Jack have and he also understood Sam and what Sam needed so he delegated all of this accordingly. And he does this because he finally feels like he has a place in this world. He has this self-assurance of "this is where I belong, this is my family and this is how I can help them". In previous seasons, this is something that would never have happened with Cas. Cas has always felt like he was out of place, so unsure of his position in the world and lacked the confidence to truly act as if he belonged there. He's always been a support function of just standing on the sideline waiting to be needed but now he knows and understands his position and worth and finally has a sense of belonging and feels like he has a voice in this family and isn't just an interloper. I'm so happy for him. And of course, I was loving seeing bad-ass Cas again. It's so wonderful to see Cas not get subdued within the first couple of punches. The show has been quite lazy these past few seasons in its Cas fight choreography. I'm certainly not one of those who's all "Cas is a wimp now". I've always believed that while Cas was put in a warrior angel class, I do feel he was mis-classed and should've been placed in more of a healer-type class and that mis-classing can play into his feelings of displacement. But it's still always a joy to see the warrior in Cas come out.

A primary theme going on in this episode and really just in general, the entire season is happiness. We have our Motw basically enforcing his happiness onto others without regard to their own personal feelings on the matter and we also saw much of the same thing with Jack in his treatment of poor Felix the Snake. Jack keeps on trying to inflict what he feels is happiness on this snake without any regard to what the snake wants or how its feeling. I really feel for this snake. This snake has gone through a whole lot of stress in a very short time period. Snakes when introduced to a new environment do need time to acclimate and that can account for its desire to not want to eat. Its previous owner died and then it was taken by three people who have no idea how to take care of a snake and travelled into a very different climate and put into a tubaware container that certainly doesn't look very homey for a snake. And let's not also forget that this snake was in the bunker when all that Michael shit went down. Animals are very attuned to possible threats around them and snakes particularly have an affinity for sensing danger through vibrations. It's just a head canon but I'd be willing to bet that snake was feeling a lot of vibrations through all that magic Michael was using to murder the hunters. Just in the space of a couple of days, it witnessed the death of its owner and brutal mass murder. Poor Felix. But anyway, I digress. Jack ultimately trying to inflict happiness on this snake comes to the conclusion that death is what's going to make this snake happy when really, the snake is just a little stressed and probably in about a week of stable care, it would've been fine. But Jack killing the snake out of a belief to make it happy is actually really interesting when you think about that Jack died earlier this season and the Winchesters brought him back, enforcing their own brand of happiness onto him with very little regard to his feelings on the matter. This episode actually paints a really interesting picture on happiness and the difficulties freewill and happiness play against each other. And particularly how individuals through their own desire for happiness and freewill, we can lose both based on the actions of others that we can’t control.

And beyond all of the fun meta themes going around in this episode, this episode was so fun and so wacky. Jared and Misha are such funny people in real life and with the nature of their characters, we rarely get to see that aspect of them come out. So seeing them get to engage in some of the more wacky parts of the show is always a real treat and they play off of each other so well. Please, more of this in Season 15, writers.

I enjoyed this episode quite a bit. Is it an episode that I can call "good" and that it was the best episode of the season as so many of the folks in the fandom seem to be accolading it as? It looks like I'm going to be the odd one out here and say, "no, I can't call it that". Just generally and structurally speaking, this episode was perfectly fine but it doesn't break into my Tier Level A for Awesome. This episode was still facing a lot of the issues I've been noticing all this season with just having a really clunky structure to it. It's certainly not a bad episode, I enjoy it quite a bit but its enjoyment comes from individual moments as opposed to an overall end product. I'd give this episode a solid B. It's plenty fun and I did enjoy it but there was room for improvement within the structure of it.

As always, I’m tagging my friends @metafest in case they want to weigh in on anything.

#spn 14x15 #spn spoilers

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art-of-a-diffrent-color · 5 years

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Pink Castles and Lord of the Rings: A Look at the Color of Fantasy Castles From a an Archaeological Perspective

(alternatively titled I Though Way Too Much About This and I Need Sleep)

Because exterior castle walls faces the elements of all seasons they had to be weatherproofed with some regularity. Traditionally this would have been done with a lime-based sort of paint which worked well to protect the stone of the building. It also had the fun side effect of being a salmon pink color as seen in the photo of the 17th century Craigievar Castle in Scotland, which underwent restoration in 2007.

As it was not uncommon for castles to be built on high points in the local geography both to bee seen and to have good visibility of the land around them, the pink color had the added benefit of making the castle easier to see. The lime base also allows the castle to breathe more then the modern concrete that many restoration projects use.

Now what does this mean for Tolkiens iconic landscape, gleaming White castles and massive stone wall fortresses?

Anyone who has read The Lord of the Rings trilogy knows that Tolkien was heavily inspired by his native landscape: Ring Forts, Barrows, Passage Tombs, Castles and Bogs all show up in the novels. And anyone who has ever lived in England, Scotland and Ireland can tell you that these features positively litter the landscape. One of the favorite games of my Archaeological Group (which is studying a Castile in Co. Roscommon Ireland) is "Mound or Monument?". Pre Norman invasion, most buildings would have been made from wood and earth, the exception being passage tombs where the dead would have been burried. But even after the Norman's came, purely stone buildings were rare and the construction was both time consuming and costly. Which makes Tolkiens stone castles and fortresses both impressive and a little impractical. I will give Tolkien the credit of simply having his castles such as Minas Tirith being built from the mountain itself instead of having stone brought to the site. One could imagine that Gondor would have exported the scrap stone to build places such as Ithilian and perhaps have sold it to other places as a form of trade. Which is one possible explanation as to how the White Tower was built and funded.

There is a question of the geology of the region. When I mentioned to a friend that I was writing this post, they expressed the idea that perhaps Minas Tirith was carved from marble and that this was possible due to it's close proximity to a volcano. Marble is formed when limestone is exposed to tremendous heat and pressure and it's color is determined by the amount of certain impurities in the mix. Now looking at the geology just a little further away from Gondor at Helm's Deep, we know that there are great Caverns in the mountain. These would either be calcium or limestone based. While it is not nessicary for a mountain to have a consistent geological makeup, it does tend to happen. While I do not know the odds of an entire mountain having consistently colored marble through its entire structure, I do know that the impuritys in the rock would vary which means that there would be portions of the mountain that might be naturally pink or dark grey. As Minas Tirith is called "The White Tower" I therefor find it unlikely that the entire mountain was mad of marble. But then again, this is a fantasy building and the rules of the real world no not need to apply.

But I find it much more likely that Gondor has a limestone base and that the architects of Minas Tirith did the same thing that the Romans did and simply lined the outside of the building with Marble. So it is conceivable that Minas Tirith would be white, and not subject to the pink lime wash that medieval castles used. The marble would need to be protected somehow or constantly maintained as it is not immune to the effects of weather. What color this would have turned the tower, I cannot say. Now this all assumes that there is a little bit of hand waving in regards to geology going on.

This is not to say that Tolkien purposely threw out historical findings. Archaeologists have only recently made this discovery through a combination of chemical analysis and trial and error. I believe that Tolkien did what many great authors have done: write what they want and pull insperation from what they know. He probably was inspired by the great stone building that he could see around him. The painted record of medieval castles show grey stone, and not the pink lime wash. Why? Because many of these castles had been left unattended and without maintenance for hundreds of years. In fact it was quite fashionable for a time to have a delapidated castle on ones property , and many of the stone building were neglected on purpose. None of the pink facade would have been left for painters to capture.

Helm's Deep however would not have been so lucky as to escape being a pink fortress. While not the main living place for the people of Rohan, (meduseld and it's surrounding building being a wonderful example of an absolutely MASSIVE Ring Fort) it is an important location to the kingdom. And a leaky fortresses that is crumbling does not match the description of the stronghold. Because the lime wash would do more then keep weather out, it would also keep water and ice from coming into the mortar of the walls and cracking it apart. Cracked walls are easier to destroy, and we know that Helm's Deep is said to be nigh impenetrable. Well what if, because it is not the primary place of habitation, it has fallen into a bit of neglect? It is true that Helms Deep would be a last resort location, a place where people would evacuate to when they have no other options, basically and emergency bunker by today's standards. Such bunkers are maintained, as they serve little purpose if they are damaged.

So I put forth to you: a Pink Helm's Deep.

(I am in no way an expert, I am still a student, and everything I have written above is speculation with a bit of science thrown in at best. This has been fuled by sleep deprivation and way too many energy drinks and in no way should reflect the archaeology community as a whole)

#lotr #lord of the rings #helms Deep #minas tirith #rohan #gondor #i need sleep #i though about this way too much #helms deep would have been pinkish #send help #after writing this i doubt rohan would anwnser my call for aid

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wits-writing · 5 years

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DC’s Nuclear Winter Special (Comic Book Review)

There are plenty of reasons to not feel like getting into the holiday spirit, many of them valid and more apparent in the world at large this year in particular. So in the spirit of a time where it can feel like the world is ending, I’m going to recommend DC Comics’ 80-page holiday anthology special for this year, the Nuclear Winter Special. Featuring ten different stories focusing on some of the DC Universe’s greatest heroes from across time dealing with struggles in varied post-apocalyptic environments and connected to the holiday season in some way.

The ten stories and creators are the following:

Rip Hunter (writer: Mark Russell, art: Mike Norton, colors: Hi-Fi, letters: Daron Bennett)

Batman 666 (writers: Collin Kelly & Jackson Lanzing, pencils: Giuseppe Camuncoli, inks: Cam Smith, colors: Romulo Fajardo Jr., letters: Clayton Cowles)

Superman One Million (writer: Steve Orlando, pencils: Brad Walker, inks: Drew Hennesy, colors: Nathan Fairbairn, letters: Clayton Cowles)

The Flash (writer: Jeff Loveness, art: Christian Duce, colors: Luis Guerrero, letters: Tom Napolitano)

Supergirl (writer: Tom Taylor, breakdowns: Tom Derenick, art/colors: Yasmine Putri, letters: Deron Bennett)

Aquaman (writer: Mairghread Scot, art: Dexter Soy, colors: Veronica Gandini, letters: Steve Wands)

Firestorm (writer: Paul Dini, art: Jerry Ordway, colors: Dave McCaig, letters: Dave Sharpe)

Kamandi (writer/pencils: Phil Hester, inks: Ande Parks, colors: Trish Mulvihill, letters: Steve Wands)

Catwoman (writer: Cecil Castelucci, art: Amancay Nahuelpan, colors: Brian Buccellato, letters: Josh Reed)

Green Arrow (writer: Dave Wielgosz, art: Scott Kolins, colors: John Kalisz, letters: Alex Antone)

[Full Review Under the Cut]

I’ll mostly be going out of order for how I discuss the stories in this anthology special. However, the first two in the book are worth grouping together for discussion, the Batman 666 and Superman One Million stories. Both expansions on characters from alternate futures presented during Grant Morrison’s runs on Batman and JLA, respectively.

The story of Damian Wayne as the future Batman wandering the frozen wasteland while pondering if his dedication to his father’s ideals still means anything in the remains of the world, when he’s one of the people who ruined it. Multiple stories in this special play on the idea that time stopped really meaning anything in the post-apocalyptic landscapes the characters are left in, so they’re made to focus more on the essence of what the holidays represent. Kelly, Lanzing, Camuncoli and Smith bring in the idea of family togetherness by introducing Damian’s grandfather, Ra’s Al Ghul, into the story with the way the fight between the Bat and the Demon resolves coming down to the end of the world helping Damian put where his values are in perspective.

Superman One Million’s story focuses on togetherness as well, but from another perspective and adding in the idea of the importance of memory. While Kal Kent, the Superman of the 853rd century, is highlighted in the table of contents for this issue, his segment of this issue absolutely belongs more to J’onn J’onzz, the Martian Manhunter. If this issue indicates Orlando’s approach to writing J’onn, then his upcoming miniseries focusing on the character is going to be something special. How canon anything in this special is meant to be taken loosely at best, but I like what this short story adds to J’onn’s character history when Kal Kent goes back in time to stop a time travelling villain from destroying the Superman Dynasty before it starts. The sequence where Kal gives J’onn back the memories of their past encounter the were removed for the sake of preventing paradoxes among the most heartwarming moments in a book full of them.

On the topic of stories that add interesting new details to the featured character’s background, the Kamandi story by Phil Hester does this by way of tribute to the character’s creator, Jack Kirby. It takes the already heightened world that Kamandi inhabits and places this adventure within a framework that calls back to the stories of both Hanukkah and the Nativity. The Hanukkah elements are mostly in play as something Kamandi recalls from his time growing up in a bunker with his grandfather telling him stories. As far as I know, this is the first story in the character’s history to feature the idea that Kamandi is of Jewish decent. In addition to that neat detail, there are ways that this story feels more complete than a couple of the others within this issue as it manages to set up all its necessary elements quickly and executes paying them off in a satisfactory manner within the limited page count.

Another story that makes effective use of its short page count is the Firestorm story, “Last Christmas.” The brief tale of Ronnie Raymond and Professor Stein having a final confrontation with the android Nuclear Family as they face their last Christmas ends up weirdly poignant and heartwarming. Dini and Ordway work together to balance the tragedy of the supervillain family with them still being a genuine threat. That tragedy also reflects on the kindness of Ronnie and Stein as they figure out how to save the day while letting the Nuclear Family’s final Christmas be a merry one in the end.

Two more stories that contain some interesting parallel structures are the Catwoman and Supergirl stories. Each one puts the focus heroine in a parental role and shows how that keeps them inspired to action, even in the face of a world that’s falling apart. Catwoman’s story starts with Selina in a position where she mainly seems to be using her role as guardian to the daughter of her longtime friend, Holly Robinson, as a reason to remain self-interested in the dystopian Gotham. In a time when people are forced to stretch whatever resources they manage to get their hands on for as long as possible, Selina debates her charge about whether they should try to help others when their own supplies keep running low. Eventually, Selina gives into her better nature and it inspired to play the role of Santa Claus by way of Robin Hood.

Writer Tom Taylor went to Twitter to ask people not to read the table of contents of this anthology, so they wouldn’t spoil his Supergirl story for themselves with its title. Since this easily makes the strongest contender for best story in the book, I’ll oblige by not giving away the ending either. The older Kara Zor El in this story looking after her adopted daughter in the “Not Distant Enough Future” journeying across the blighted Earth to find some place she can charge up her powers again is a compelling start to the story. The ending of the story builds up to Kara reflecting on a simple idea. In the face of the end, she has a choice to either perpetuate the cycles started by those who came before her or do something better. If you know anything about the Super-family, what her final choice ends up being won’t come as a surprise.

While I don’t think any of the stories in this special are bad, there were three I felt fell short of the standards of most of this issue. The Flash and Aquaman stories, while playing on the same themes of hope in the face of a hopeless existence that permeate the rest of this issue, are the ones that stretch the holiday connection the most. Though both still serve as pretty good highlights for their focus heroes. The choice of focus hero was my main issue with the Green Arrow story. I’ve never particularly liked or disliked Oliver Queen as a character, but this story seems to require some type of investment in him to get something out of him being grumpy at a future Justice League’s Christmas party. Though the actual weakest part of the book is the framing device with Rip Hunter, which doesn’t seem to serve much purpose related to the other stories beyond being a framing device.

DC’s Nuclear Winter Special showcases the present creators pulling some great material for the featured heroes within the setup of the titular motif. There are certainly people reading this who will get more out of the stories I was dismissive towards and the average quality of the ones I’ve highlighted is strong enough to give this 80-page special a strong recommendation as a way to get into the holiday spirit with some exemplary superhero storytelling.

If you like what you’ve read here, please consider throwing some support my way at either Patreon or Ko-Fi at the extension “/witswriting”

#DC Nuclear Winter Special #Wit's Writing #Comic Book Review #Christmas #Christmas comics #comic books #comics

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ptitdrogo · 5 years

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In the mind of a “Top Tier” Protoss player

Hey guys, PtitDrogo here, after reading a really amazing post tournament write up by one of my favorite Magic player ( https://twitter.com/lsv/status/1105124626429079552 , seriously, if you’re even slighty into magic go read this) I felt like it would be kind of cool to write down how the past month went for me in term of strategy preparation for the last few tournaments I played, mainly focusing on wesg and WCS ro8.

You win some you lose some

To set the tone, before wesg I was of two minds about my play, I managed to qualify for the ro8 of WCS after beating Mana and Namshar, but I got seriously owned by Bly and Nerchio at IEM, not taking a single map and going home with 0 dollars.

It’s still honestly a little bit confusing to me, the same confidence in my ability to play a defensive style against mana completely failed against bly, and my faith in my timings that worked great against namshar just got dismantled by nerchio. I could go on longer about this but sometimes you just don’t play well, and I’ve learned that dwelling on it is the worst thing you can do.

All eyes on Spaghetti boy

Looking at the groups of WESG, a top 1 finish in my group would give me a good shot of having a “beatable” opponent in the bracket, and winning that match would mean winning 5k, so it was my objective coming into the event.

The man to beat being obviously reynor, who previously kind of walked on me in the last group stage of wcs, I had a couple of ideas in mind and also discovered some new cool stuff beforehand.

I now knew that he actually really liked hydralisk midgame, and I actually really liked it, what was once the bane of my existense is now a pretty manageable opening in my opinion since the hydralisk got quite a bit weaker, you really don’t have to play scared and can even pressure yourself.

I was practicing some kind of 3 base high eco Chargelot archon pressure and having so-so success with it, I kind of wasn’t sure if I wanted to go for it, but without a better idea that’s what I was gonna go for.

“Wow, he actually does open hydralisk every game”.

There’s a bit of a difference between telling yourself something and seeing it for yourself. After watching Probe vs Reynor It really hit my that reynor was playing hydralisks not only on big maps but on everymap, add to that a tendency to add some zerglings to deny the third, and 15 minutes before the start of my match I’m changing strategy without practicing it.

EDIT: Watching the vod of the Bo3, I actually was completely wrong, lol, I looked at the game at the only time he made some hydralisks, to secure a game already won by a roach nydus, and the other game was just a ling queen nydus, I guess I saw what I wanted to see !

“The Yoloswag build”

It’s honestly such a terrible build, it’s not a particulary strong push, and it relies on your opponent not going roachs and REALLY thinking you’re going for a macro while also being a little bit of a bad player for not using your prism.

This is just an 8 gate that wants to cancel its third base in the first place to being able to afford 8 gateways production in the first place, the idea is you poke with 2 archon, run away from the queen, cancel your third because of the nasty zerglings, and while you pretend to being completely owned you warp more archons and zealot in a corner and you go kill the guy, a classic really, and I knew it would be very effective againt lings into hydras, sometimes last minute change of plans do work, color me surprised.

“Oh no you canceled my third dang it”

“Nothing going on over here”

“The 420 Blazing it DT drop”

This one has kind of a funny backstory to it, I was practicing with a zerg for IEM, and he really wanted me to play DT drop because he thought his opponent would do it for sure.

“Alright, but I really think it’s shit” is what I said.

2 hours later and a LOT of wins later, I had to concede that it was pretty good, to quote my practice partner “your Dts being 7 seconds faster is actually a pretty big problem”.

Sometimes you’re very wrong about what is good. Here’s the thing tho, I didn’t have time to check a vod to do the build, so I went by memory, old memories of 2017 in fact, and the way I remembered it you would have to cut a lot of workers and do a lot of little adjustements to get a very fast DT drop going even if it meant sacrificing some economy.

Turn out not a lot of protosses were doing it. The end result was 4 Dts being warped at 4:23, and most games they would just kill the third hatch. So I was feeling pretty confident it would work.

In my game against reynor I warped my Dts at 4:21.

They killed the third hatch.

I was honestly so confused as to why or how I managed to have a better timing than in the game I was practicing against the ia, but hey I’m not complaining.

Later Reynor told me he didn’t know Dts could come this fast, and the 4:20 DT drop kind of became a meme among players for the rest of the tournament, I haven’t warped exactly 4 Dts at 4:20 yet, but hey maybe next wcs I’ll do it without meaning to !

So I ended up with a very pretty to look at 10-0 score, wasn’t easy of course, Iasonu and Probe were two players I was also scared of but I thought that playing standard was my best bet and indeed it was, also almost lost a game to PsiArc where I was very behind in economy but managed to attack right before his bunker finished, sometime lucky.

There is no way the Germans can cross the Maginot Line

My opponent for the ro16 was Lambo, not a bad draw but not the best, I was confident I could win tho, and the new variation I was trying out in practice were going great, I had a great plan for the best of 5 and a build for every single maps.

All of that preparation came crashing down with a pretty swift 3-0 LOL.

Game 1 was death by 12 pool, Cuz here’s the thing, to get a 4:20 DT drop, you can’t probe scout, little guy needs to work overtime ! I actually was mainly hoping he wouldn’t have the balls to 12 pool game 1 and I was going to scout after core anyway, whats the worse that could happen?

Game 2 was a very good game until it all came crashing down, I actually very like this double stalker opening poke, I was practicing against a zerg and made 2 stalkers by mistake on this map, and the overlord that usually always manage to run away died this time, and the very confusing double stalker oracle move out forced quite a lot of lings. So I decided to run with it in the tournament

When I was trying to explain it to the other protoss as a “great opening that looks very confusing to the zerg but doesn’t actually do anything” they were unconvinced; Haters; when it becomes the norm in 2020 don’t forget about me.

In the actual game the 2 stalkers squad worked great, I actually even killed an overlord at his base ahahah. I was in a VERY strong position in the midgame, and thought there was no way I could lose.

Well, nydus happened, no warpin available, no recall, an awkward attempt at a basetrade and a very long death animation trying to rebuild my templar tech to spend my gas bank later, It’s 2-0.

“Money in the bank pimping ain’t easy”

Game 3 was just a standart 2 base nydus that if I was a few second faster to recall my oracle or if I wasn’t supply blocked on 53/54 to then warp one more stalker I would have won, oh well, sometime it’s just not going your way.

“The correct play here is to go alt tab and go complain on Bnet forums”

It was obviously very annoying to lose one step short of making 5k, but there was a silver lining to losing to hard and so quickly to cheese.

All of my preparation could still be used for WCS.

An FFA would pretty much have been the same right ?

The big Round robin was here, and good god is it spooky. All of the players there are good and even if 6 players out 8 makes it it is very very scary.

My goal coming into the group was to barely make it, “maybe 2 wins is enough to squeeze in” is what I thought.

The first thing that is interesting to note is that I got pretty lucky in the order of my matchs, my 4 first matchs were all PvZ, then on day 2 I got the two PvP and the PvT.

That made practice fairly easy and nobody was able to prepare for me for day 2 as I didn’t have any of the same match-ups.

“You lose some…

Against Serral, I had a pretty good first game to be honest, even tho I didn’t do flashy damage with the DT drop I still kept the pressure with the archons and was in what I thought a pretty good situation with the army I wanted.

Here’s the thing tho, Serral is annoying, like VERY annoying with his mutalisks, so before moving out for a strong attack I overmade defensive structures by quite a bit (3 canons in natural mineral line lololol) because I felt like I could afford it. So when I pushed, as you might expect it, broodlords were already out, and even if it might not be a well known fact in the community yet, Lategame PvZ is pretty unwinnable, at least against serral, gg.

Game 2 was just an embarrassing game of me messing up my build order and losing my prism to 6 queens to then die to mutalisks and roachs. Not the most interesting of games and the kind of showing you really don’t wanna produce but it sadly happens too many times.

“Queens defend everything reeeeeee”

Against Reynor I’m actually blaming the first game loss directly onto serral. I actually very efficiently dealt with the mutalisks while teching to storm extremely fast (more on that later) and was in a very decent position. But I subconsciously felt like I needed to attack much faster than I actually had to because of the previous game (Check the Hive Drogo !! Scouting is allowed reeee) And just made the game extremely easy to play for reynor with a reckless attack.

The second game was just a meme, another case of 12 pool, but this time even tho I scout it very late I pull all of my probes and take a very efficient fight against the zerglings, and at this exact moment I am in a very good position.

The correct play was to make a stargate in the wall and just move out with the adept and leave the zealot home.

I didn’t finish the wall and moved out with 2 units, Reynor did a runby with some more lings and I had to go home.

I then proceed to not finish the wall and moved out with 3 units, Reynor did a runby with some more lings and I had to go home.

I then proceed to move out with 2 adepts leaving 2 at home, Reynor did a runby with some more lings and I had to recall home

I then proceed to try to finish the wall but Reynor did a runby with a LOT of zerglings and I had to gg back to the lobby.

This is the kind of game where you just feel very stupid, I like to call these games failing an IQ test, because thats what they truly are.

… You win some”

This is where I finally get the talk strategy, because there’s kind of of prerequisite to win games to be able to brag about how great of a strategical mastermind you are.

“The triple triple”

After all the hype about the 420 DT drop, the first thing I obviously was looking for was a build that would look like a DT drop, but was actually a complete blind counter to the usual DT drop response from most zergs.

Thus came to life the triple triple, 3 gate, 3 oracles, warp twice (not 3 times rip symmetry ) and then you just go for it. The gas timing is very similar, only one adept and stalker are produced by the gateway, you have a proxy pylon from your main that can directly warp low ground so that the overlord at the natural cant see it, and the one adept boy can walk around to deny lonely lings from getting vision. All of that for an explosive cocktail that will kill a zerg making roachs expecting Dts, not having enough spores or queens to handle the triple triple squad.

Also, I’ve come to realize in practice that it’s not even that bad of a build in the first place even if scouted really early for some reason.

“Sometimes it kills 10+ workers”

“Sometimes a lot more”

This amazing innovation of the PvZ metagame that I’m sure will be a staple in the metagame (it won’t) allowed me to take a map off Lambo and Elazer, for the other map I had to resort to the amazing build that comes next.

“This is totally an archon drop I swear you better make roachs”

I really don’t know how to call this, You just go for the normal archon drop build except you mine more mineral and make an early forge, then take a third slightly faster than an archon drop timing and just make 4 templars super early so they can bank energy so you can do a +2 push with 8 storms extremely fast. While you’re doing the build you run around with your first few units to deny vision so the zerg gets scared and think he might have missed the prism.

Oh, and you also make a LOT of probes, I’m talking non stop, enough probes to fully saturate the third when its done.

“But Drogo, wouldn’t it be strictly better to just go storm drop? Zerg would actually see a prism and be scared and you would also do economic damage even if they make roachs !!”

And to that I say, I like to keep it simple ok, maybe next year when I actually get good at the game.

Anyway, This build actually gives you a pretty powerful set-up in the midgame, I used it to kill the Hydra bane of Lambo and succesfully defend the nydus onslaught of Elazer (I didn’t strictly do this against elazer actually, I was pretty scared of a spooky all-in), which is usually not possible unless you were a greedy boy in the early game. So all of that gave me 2 points on the board.

“4 templars just chilling at home, Safe working conditions are too rare in the Starcraft universe”

When the Zerg is away the Toss will play.

For the second day I had 2 PvP, a PvT, and a lot of times on my end to prepare. So I did, I watched a ton of rail footage, and observed that he wasn’t afraid to play his ladder builds in tournament, so I was feeling fairly confident I could just win by having stronger build orders.

Little did I know this would be the hardest series of the tournament by far.

The first game felt like a walk in the park at first, you’re going 3 phoenix against fast expand forge first? There is no way in hell I am losing this. I played it a little bit safer than I could have but I was very confident in my ability to hold his 2 base push.

Turn out, I was wrong, very wrong, Rail just made a bigger army and kept warping in, and eventually our armies got to a size where his two untouched immortal he had over me actually packed quite the punch and our upgrades were equal. So even with a third nexus mining for a while, I’m losing the game.

The second game I was sure of what he was going to do, some adepts with an expand and robo follow up, so my plan was pretty much to play with a lot of gates units and go Stargate to have good control of the game, simple plan, but effective.

The issue is, I forgot to prevent him from pylon blocking my wall, then I didn’t realise he let his pylon finish, I built my Stargate in vision of his pylon …

So yea I canceled that real fast and improvised a blink opening, a build I haven’t practiced in a really really long time, without any possibility of scouting, turned out I didn’t need to, since verdi went for his robo opening into constant presure with adepts sentry immortals, with me sitting and pure useless stalkers, down 1-0 and 30 supply, disruptor knocking at my front door, I didn’t like my odds one bit.

Oh well, sometime lucky.

I’m sure the third game will be much smoother.

Oh no (not pictured here, 3 sentries also died)

This has to be a record for the most amounts of units lost to the 2 initial adepts in a professional game

There’s almost something peaceful about being so far behind, you can just try out wacky stuff and see if it works.

Which is somehow did, after two pretty successful adept and a basetrade clearly going in my favor, I brought back an impossible game and was very happy with myself.

If you’re wondering how on earth I managed to get surprised by 2 adepts, all I can say is that I was way too confident in my preparation, as I was so sure that he was going for his safe expand double probe scout strat, I didn’t have adepts on my mind until the last 3 seconds.

Overall I would say that my preparation for this serie was very bad, even tho I spent the most time on it, even if you can tell yourself beforehand to not mindgame yourself by thinking too hard, it can still very much happen.

So after that emotional roller coaster of a series, it was time to play a PvT against big Gabe, and I had quite the revolutionary strat prepared.

“The triple triple… Again...”

Sometime you watch one series that makes you fall in love with a strat, for me it was Zest vs Innovation where Zest defended a marine drop with 2 oracle and a phoenix, warped more adepts across the map and immediately killed Innovation, I thought to myself “I can do that” as it didn’t look too hard.

I hate Stargate openings in PvT, I truly hate them, I’m always in a good position with them but I always lose anyway, but on the other hand, I’ve loved shading adepts and oracle at random times since LOTV beta, so I thought it was worth to give it a shot, especially because I thought Gabe wouldn’t expect me to play stargate.

Worked just as planned, a refreshing turn of events after the last series.

The second game (what game on kairos ? never happened Protoss doesn’t lose PvT remember) is what I like to call “New Year Zero, the movie”. I really think this map is incredibly protoss favored, it’s really not on everymap that starting 2 forges because you’re supply blocked and can’t start your first colossus ends up being a the best decision you could have made.

After killing the Raven and a decent chunk of bio in the middle of the map, I thought I had a real timing there, I had 5 seconds of hesitation after seeing so many liberators, but after sending an hallucination and seeing that Heromarine was Still 1/1, I decided to A move into him anyway, it was either gonna be a genius, killer instinct like move, or another brick to the monument that is the ThrowGo Legacy, a win win really.

“Sir, this is Hallucinated phoenix speaking, Terran is 1:1 you’re clear to go”

“Roger that”

It went great and the twitch chat of that game had a very reasonable discussion about game design talking about how great it was that protoss could attack into this many liberators.

I don’t have much to say about the last Serie vs Showtime really, I was already qualified so all the presure was off and I felt great, and I don’t think I could talk at length about great of a strategical mastermind I am for faking going phoenix and actually going Dark templars !

He didn’t exactly do what I expected to him to do so this was pretty much freestyle that worked in my favor and not anything prepared.

“Artosis favorite unit showing us what peak starcraft is all about”

The second game was a cheese that I had seen before, Double proxy gate zealot with canon rush, I was fairly confident that it was overall pretty bad, and this game didn’t change my mind.

“The best unit against canons is actually the probe”

Amazing Gaming

So overall it’s a 5-2 Score !! This wasn’t what I expected at all and I was obviously thrilled, too bad I failed so many IQ tests otherwise the first place would have been easily in my grasp.

I have a lot of cool new strats with weird names prepared for LA, I hope I’ll win so I get to brag once again about how smart I am ! (not really).

Hope you guys enjoyed this blog, and I would like to dedicate this victory to this chinese Stuff bear, he kept his promise and without him I would never have survived those nyduses.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BvPWIAvhKSl/

For more Yee https://twitter.com/PtitDrogo

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oosteven-universe · 3 years

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Vinyl #03

Vinyl #03 Image Comics 2021 Written by Doug Wagner Illustrated by Daneil Hillyard Coloured by Dave Stewart Lettered by Ed Dukeshire As Walter continues to go even deeper into the sunflower death cult's underground gore bunker, his serial killer friends decide to split up to sew their unique brands of chaos. New wickedly disturbing monsters are revealed on both sides. Who wins when the criminally insane take on pure evil? The more we see of this series the more disturbed it gets but also the more completely and utterly fabulous it gets as well. I shouldn’t be this enthused about a book featuring serial killers but by god what these boys are doing with this not only brings a genuine smile to my face but in the end it's just a feel good kind of story. After reading this through the first time I was able to go back and read it again and pick up the signs that I missed, or were right under my nose. That Doug is able to do that is amazing to me because it is something that more likely than not anyone should be able to spot and wonder about. But you get so caught up in the fabulousness of this book that sometimes you don’t see the forest for the trees. Everything about the way that this is being told is phenomenal. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is exquisitely rendered. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter continues to flesh them out as people magnificently. I could talk for days on end about the characterisation here and not once get bored it’s just that singularly incredible. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story, the revelations and twists along the way we’re made to feel like a part of this story. How this is being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen is magnificent to see. How all this adds such great depth, dimension and complexity to the story is so exciting to see. How everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is impeccably achieved. The interiors here are amazing to see. Sure it has this very comic book style oriented artwork but it works for this series and it works extremely well. The house could use more detailed backgrounds but we’ll let it slide. The work we do see enhances and expands the moments beautifully and how they work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is phenomenal to see. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a masterful eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work show a sensational eye for how colour works and how to maximise their effects. The creativity and imagination that we see throughout is stunning and it just amps up the whole crazy factor way past ten on the dial. I love how we see Vic throughout all this as well. She went from reluctant prisoner to caring about Walter in the span of three issues and I think as she begins to learn more about him, his predicament and that he genuinely considers Dennis his best friend, honestly it’s heartwarming. There is so much going on here with Walter and his little family which now includes Vic and by extension Dennis that is completely unexpected and the impact that it has on the reader is a shock to the system. With some of today's most inspired writing & characterisation wrapped up in these stunningly brilliant interiors this is going to change how you see the world around you.

#Comic Books #Comics Reviews #Image Comics

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rutabagaemp · 3 years

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The Galactic Writers’ Guild (Unfinished) - 2018

The galaxy is a strange place, full of strange people. Did you know that there was a man from Earth who dated at least one of every known sapient species, whose funeral was so widely attended that three ceasefires had to be negotiated just so that his lovers could mourn him without bloodshed? Or that, from 2340 to 2344, the president of the United American Nations was a self-aware bacteria named Eunice? Have you heard of tales of Planet X, where a secret cabal of monks is rumoured to keep their star burning through telekinesis? All of these legends and myths are told throughout the known galaxy, igniting the imaginations of trillions of receptive lifeforms across millions of star systems. The folks who share these stories come from all walks of life, from every corner of the galaxy. Some are writers, some are poets, some are simply storytellers, all bonded by the unifying goal of telling tales to as many people as possible. And every so often they all descend on a dingy bar in the ass-end of nowhere to tell stories to each other.

The Crashdown Bar, located on the damp, rocky surface of the asteroid (16069) Wang, was old, and dingy, and smelled of mildew. Next to no one visited it, because next to one visited the detestable little asteroid that it was built on. To call (16069) Wang a rotting, mold-encrusted pile of excrement wouldn’t be too far off the mark, but it hardly does the environment justice. The scant few locals refer to the asteroid by many names, none of them particularly nice. The prevailing one, Lil Wang, is a fairly harsh jab at an inanimate assembly of space dust and rocky materials, but if it brings comfort to those poor souls on the asteroid’s surface, no one’s going to stop them. Underneath an environmental dome that seems to constantly need maintenance and repairs, there’s a small collection of structures, built by and initially inhabited by settlers seeking to colonize the nearby planet of Tau Ceti e. There are several houses, a workshop, a small science centre and the Crashdown itself, all surrounded by abandoned, ruined and forgotten buildings. Lil Wang never boasted an impressive number of occupants, but its population fell drastically after Tau Ceti e, now officially known as Petram to the galaxy at large, and Big Wang to the inhabitants of Lil Wang, was fully colonized. This is because Lil Wang sucks, and no one wants to live there. You don’t move to Lil Wang, you end up at Lil Wang. Every month or so a small transport brings a meagre collection of ex-convicts, transients and other lost souls to the colony. They move into one of the abandoned, crumbling buildings, try to make the most of their fresh start, and usually end up dead within a year or two, either from alcoholism, industrial incidents or suicide. Lil Wang, despite its comedic name and designation, is sadly a very bleak place.

Fortunately, the Crashdown was there to try and lift the spirits of the locals. A handful of patrons would call the Crashdown a “quaint spot for a quick drink”, only to close friends and family, since describing it like that to any of the locals would earn a swift rebuttal and weird looks for several weeks after. Everyone who lived on Lil Wang agreed that the Crashdown was a shithole, but it was the only shithole for miles that actually sold a decent drink. You see, Big Wang was a resort planet, occupied by wealthy tourists and upper class citizens. Ships from Lil Wang and other nearby offworld colonies were typically turned away, leading to limited options for alcohol consumption. The Crashdown, as run-down and awful as it was, boasted a frankly miraculous variety of drinks, all for relatively affordable prices. As such, the bar saw a large clientele, with both locals and offworld visitors passing through its airtight doors.

This success was largely a result of the owner himself, Ernie. Bartending was easy for him, since his species, the Bexa, were natural bartenders. A goat-like species from a planet that no longer exists, the skills of drink mixing and bartending were once taught in Bexan schools, when such schools still existed. This was due to the fact that the Bexa can produce alcohol from their horns, with older and larger-horned Bexa functioning as their own micro-breweries. Once in a generation, a Bexa was born with four horns. This four-horned Bexa, known as the Qufu’, was regarded as highly lucky, and typically became the leader of the species, once they were old enough. The great irony of the Bexa is that they can’t feel the effects of alcohol themselves, due to their body’s extremely high tolerance. Alcohol was instead used for medical and cleaning purposes, and the homeworld of the Bexa was said to be the cleanest of all sentient life. Unfortunately, a short time before humanity first encountered them, the Bexa homeworld was destroyed by forces unknown and the species was scattered across the known galaxy. But that’s enough of the Bexa. Back to the Crashdown.

A long time ago, long enough that no one could remember the exact date, Ernie had purchased a bunker in the side of a hill, a short distance away from the main residential area on Lil Wang. Over the following five years, he had worked with outdated resources, equipment and technology to turn the bunker into what would become the Crashdown Bar. A flickering red and yellow neon sign, depicting a stylized transport pod crashed into the ground, was the only indication that there was a structure inside the hill, aside from the worn-out steel door set into the hillside. After descending a staircase, visitors were greeted by another door, this one made of higher quality wood. “Crashdown Bar” was engraved below a carving of the same crashed ship on the sign outside. Past these doors, patrons found themselves in a decently sized room. Iron mined from the asteroid had been used to coat the walls, and polished stone was used on the floor. In recent times, these coatings had worn down, and in the case of the walls, had begun to rust. The room had been well-lit, once upon a time, but now many of the ceiling’s lights had broken, leaving parts of the room darker than others. If not for the tables and chairs, as well as the bar itself, to the right of the door, it would be easy to mistake the interior of the establishment for that of a warehouse, and a dingy one, at that. The seating and tables weren’t of high quality either; they had matched when Ernie first opened the place, but after a couple decades they were a mix-and-match of various styles, materials, and levels of disrepair. One table next to the entrance was infamous for being made out of the side door of a cargo vessel that was supposed to bring a shipment of tables, but which brought children’s activity tables instead.

The room was more or less just a large rectangle. The bar was backed against a wall that split the room down the middle, separating it into two sides. It was designed to have two bartenders working at once, with dusty shelves of drinks and mixes on both sides, but as time progressed and the population declined, Ernie usually just manned the bar himself. A double-barrel shotgun, with the word “Chekhov” engraved into the stock, was mounted above the side of the bar facing the entrance, though to the locals’ knowledge, it had never been used. There were two old-style television sets mounted on the walls on either side of the bar. One displayed news, the other showed galactic sports. Next to the entrance was a corkboard with a number of notes affixed to it, some more outdated than others. A motley smattering of scavenged posters and art filled out the rest of the walls, strategically placed to minimize the feeling of stepping into an abandoned industrial facility. Along the back wall, a set of stairs led to a second floor, which was apparently where Ernie lived and kept his office. No one went up there except for him, so no one was really sure what it looked like. Guesses ranged from traditional study and bedroom all the way to perverse sex dungeon, though no one was quite sure of the specifics of Bexan mating, and no one wanted to ask the elderly man for information about it.

[There was sure to be a big turnout, since this is the second meeting after the GLA]

That’s enough tangents for now. Surely you came here to meet the authors, yeah? Tonight, it’s about five o’clock, at the end of a work week, so it’ll be a bit more crowded in here than usual. Let’s see…Ernie’s at the bar, as always, and there’s a small handful of regulars slouched over the stools in front of him. One lone Human, looking as if he was dragged through hell and back again, is watching the perky news anchor with disinterest. The only noise, aside from the soft industrial ambience, is the gentle tune that’s playing from a radio Ernie keeps behind the bar. The doors swing open, and it looks like this month, the first two members through the door are the Human writing duo, Mabel Merryweather and Alice Oakley. In case you haven’t heard of them, they’ve co-written dozens of highly-acclaimed novels, many of them set in quaint villages around the galaxy. On this particular evening, they’re dressed in pastel frock coats, one pink and one white, paired with tall, formal boots. Alice has her hair in a bun, while Mabel wears hers loose. Their engagement rings gleam from their intertwined fingers, and they exchange pleasant greetings with Ernie as they pass him. They move to the back corner of the left side of the bar and sit across from each other in their usual spot, the faded blue leather booth that’s seen dozens of club meetings through the years. After settling in, they continue their conversation.

“I’m just not sure Luytea is the best setting for this story.” Alice folds her hands in her lap and thinks for a moment. “I was thinking that a fishing village would be better for it.”

“Babe, Luytea has fishing villages.” Mabel’s voice, sweet and southern English, has a tinge of bemusement. “Fishing is one of their main businesses.”

“It’s just…not exactly what I was hoping for.” Alice absentmindedly rubs her hands together. “It feels too alien.”

“Too alien? Alice, you love Luytea more than anywhere else in the galaxy. What do you mean, too alien?”

Mabel gives Alice a concerned look. She hadn’t been sure why Alice had been so fascinated with Luytea until she went there herself. It wasn’t that the planet was beautiful. In fact, the planet was classified as having relatively subpar aesthetics, due to the naturally occurring sugar dunes that covered almost everything on the planet in a thin layer of gritty material. Alice seemed to love the planet because it reminded her of her childhood home in north England. The weather, the foliage, even the architecture in the main city was nostalgic for her, and it just kept her coming back again and again. Early on, Mabel had a feeling that Alice would want to get married there given how enamoured she was with the planet. Fortunately, the two had agreed that would get married on Mabel’s parents’ farm in rural London.

Now, though, Alice just sighs and rubs the back of her head. “I don’t know, it’s…it just doesn’t feel right, you know? Last time, Oxford Falls just felt right, from the moment we stepped off the train.” Her eyes light up. “Those beautiful, ancient houses surrounded on all sides by wild grass, glowing rose gold in the setting sun.” She seems wistful and lost in thought, but quickly snaps back to reality. “It was the perfect place for our book.”

Their last book was Annie, a novel about a time-travelling American pioneer girl who had wound up in present-day Oxford Falls, located on Akea in the Proxima Centauri system. Critics and audiences had both loved it, and Mabel had chosen the stage of the 131st Galactic Literary Awards to propose to Alice. That was already a month ago, and they still haven’t come up with a solid concept for their next book. Mabel can tell that something’s bothering Alice, but she still hasn’t said anything to her. She reaches out and takes Alice’s hand, but before she can say anything Ernie arrives with their drinks. His eyes glitter behind his wire-frame glasses as he sets down a pint of old fashioned ale for Mabel and a Luytean Shirley Temple; that is to say, a standard Shirley Temple but with Luytean sugar brine instead of ginger ale, for Alice, before bowing slightly and backing away from the table. Alice immediately takes a deep swig of her drink, and Mabel can tell the moment has passed.

The fact that Alice isn’t more excited about going to Luytea is enough to concern Mabel further, but she doesn’t want to press the issue yet. She trusts that Alice will tell her in due time, if she’s comfortable enough to, and now certainly wouldn’t be the best time. As close as they had grown to the other members of the club, and even some of the local population, she still didn’t really want to have this conversation in such a public venue. A few more patrons had filed in since she and Alice had arrived, and the gentle buzz of conversation grows in the background. She sighs, takes a swig of her ale and begins talking to Alice about other possible towns.

Old Castor? Too gloomy.

Xoke? Too far away.

New Old Newford? Too cold.

After several minutes of this back and forth, Mabel gives up, and the two drink in silence for a while. Alice, seated facing towards the TV, watches passively as the anchor explains a recent galaxy-wide shortage of raw wood. Mabel finishes her first pint just before she hears the door open. She turns around to see a very tall man entering the bar. He’s dressed in all black; a trench coat with a hood and bandana, gloves and thick boots, seemingly to disguise his appearance. His gait is lumbering as he makes his way over to the table, and as he draws closer it becomes obvious that he has some kind of tail following him.

“Oh, hello Ver! You’re early too, I see.” Mabel calls out to him as soon as he draws closer. The man nods and makes his way around the table to sit at the booth. He pulls down his hood and the bandana to reveal a reptilian face, similar to that of a crocodile on Earth, but with a shorter snout and blueish-grey scales. One of his eyes is a piercing green with a slit pupil, the other is milky and grey. A scar runs down the right side of his face, starting at the tip of his eye and running down to his mouth. As he sits down, his tail slaps against the table leg and the couple’s drinks shake. Ver gives a toothy, sheepish smile.

“Sorry about that. I always forget how small this place is.” His voice is deep and has a hint of a strange accent to it. If Mabel had to describe it, she’d probably say it was very similar to a traditional German accent from Earth. In fact, Ver is a member of the Dirik, a reptilian species from Planet Kanan in the TRAPPIST system, known for their militaristic nature and intense breeding sessions. The fact that they so closely resemble Earth reptiles was a sore spot for several years after first contact.

Ah, but that’s another tangent. If Mabel cares about Ver hitting the table with his tail, she doesn’t show it; waving her hand and saying “Don’t worry about it.” She finishes her drink and sets the empty tankard back on the table. “Congrats on the win at the GLA, by the way. I’d toast you, but…” She tilts her head towards the mug.

“Allow me.” Ernie’s soft voice appears behind her as if out of nowhere, and she turns to see that the bartender has reappeared with a tray of drinks. The empty tankard is whisked away and is replaced with a full one, while Ver receives several elongated flasks of traditional Dirikan mead, specially designed to accommodate his snout. The two thank the bartender. Ernie just winks and returns to the bar.

“Bless that man.” Says Mabel, before she raises her mug.

“To you, Ver, for being the best poet in the galaxy.”

Ver hesitates. “And to you two, for enriching the lives of readers across the galaxy.”

The three of them clink their glasses together and drink deeply. Alice has almost finished her drink but makes no move to get it replaced. She looks a bit queasy. Mabel and Ver both down their drinks in one go. At some point in the past, when they were both relatively new to the club, Ver had challenged Mabel to a drinking contest. The two were fairly evenly-matched, and in the end the winner was unclear, as the only person who remembers that night is Ernie, and he refuses to reveal the result. Whatever happened in the end, they had collectively consumed more alcohol than everyone else in the club combined. This has led to numerous jabs at their expense in the years since.

“So Ver, did you have any trouble getting here?” Mabel’s words are clear, if a bit slower than they had been a few minutes ago. “I heard you’ve found yourself in another war.”

Ver snorts, or at least, makes a sound that Mabel assumes is a snort. She doesn’t know if the Dirik can snort, or even laugh, for that matter. Maybe that’s why they’re always at war with someone.

“Yeah. Our wise and powerful leader decided to pick a fight with the Vichniel and now our fleets are at each other’s throats.” He looks more annoyed than anything else. “Time to wait six months for him to back down and sign another crippling peace treaty with another hostile alien empire.”

“Huh.” Mabel doesn’t really know how to react. After all, the Sol Empire doesn’t really get into too many wars. “You seem pretty wound up about this.”

“Obviously. If this keeps up, the Dirik Empire won’t exist within a couple years.”

Alice seems to be struggling just as much as Mabel. “Hmm. Just how strong are the Vichniel, anyway?”

“Strong enough that we shouldn’t be messing with them.” Ver slammed back another drink. “But of course, if you’re the great leader of the Dirik Empire, you can’t let one solitary Vichniel carrier cross through your space without launching an assault on it.” He gives an exasperated sigh and looks at the two women sitting with him. “Sorry, I must be boring you with politics. I get easily distracted when my Emperor is making stupid decisions. How are you two doing lately?”

“Oh, not too shabby. Alice and I were trying to think of a good setting for our next book.”

“Mhm.” Alice nods. “We thought a fishing village would be a good location for it, but we couldn’t settle on the right one.”

Ver thinks for a moment. “Isn’t New Old Newford a decent fishing town?”

“No, we decided it was too cold.” Mabel receives another drink from Ernie, who smiles at her and walks away.

“Hmm. I’m afraid I can’t think of any other fishing villages offhand.” Ver downs another drink. “I’d recommend Nerva on Plazos, but I think the Vichniel just vaporized it earlier this week.”

“Holy shit!” Mabel leans in closer. “How many were lost?”

“We don’t know. The Dirik media’s not saying anything. Too busy covering the Emperor’s decisions and not the war itself.” He sighs. “I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Plazos was a newer colony, so there couldn’t have been more than a million casualties.”

“A million casualties? Are you referring to the Gamrada?” A voice unfamiliar to any at the table rings out from a figure standing behind the group. To call the voice icy would be to do it a great disservice. This voice is devoid of warmth, a deeply chilling and disturbing sound that seems to drop the temperature of the room by several degrees. The three writers turn, with varying degrees of dread, to see who had made the awful sound.

The stranger is quite tall, standing almost as high as the main entrance door itself. The alien has a humanoid form and features, if slightly elongated in places. Its skin is silvery, metallic and perfectly smooth, glittering gently as the alien moves closer to the table. All four of its eyes are piercing red, and none of the authors notice them blink. A shimmering, dark blue poncho is draped around its shoulders. Tight-fitting pants, of a similar material, and a black leather belt are the only other clothes to speak of. It extends a four-fingered hand to scratch one of its pointed ears, and even this small movement causes the alien to sparkle in the cheap pub lighting. It then seems to strike a casual pose, gripping its belt with one hand, its poncho with the other, and tilting its head down, as if it’s an extra in an old Western. The three writers are momentarily flabbergasted.

Finally, Ver manages to sputter out a question. “G-Gamrada? What are you talking about?”

“Haven’t you heard?” The alien stops their power pose and crosses their arms, staring at Ver with all four of its eyes. “The Nebuloids launched some colony ships through a system near Meudron space. The Meudrons took offense and destroyed one of the ships, the Gamrada.” The alien pauses for a second, then points towards the TV on the wall with one of its arms. “The news is just starting to report on it now. They’re estimating that there were around one million Nebuloid casualties.”

Mabel swivels around in her seat and, sure enough, a breaking news report has replaced the galactic poker championships. NEBULOID SETTLERS MASSACRED BY MEUDRONS: MILLIONS DEAD reads the headline. A calm-looking Human is speaking, while images of starship wreckage are shown in the background. The volume isn’t loud enough for anyone at the table to make out what she’s saying.

“Hey Ernie!” Ver calls across the room. Ernie looks up from his chat with a bar regular, sees Ver’s gesture towards the TV, and wordlessly presses a button on a nearby remote. The news anchor’s voice gradually fades in.

“…act of aggression is unknown, as the Meudrons have maintained peaceful relations with the Nebuloids for several years now.” With the volume increased, several other patrons notice the news. There are sporadic gasps of shock from some of the tables.

“The Nebuloid Collective has released a ship’s manifest, revealing the ship’s complement to be around one point two million settlers, including children and spawnlings.” A group of Dirik in the far corner of the bar give a bored glance at the TV and continue drinking. A couple of Meudrons, gelatinous aliens with robotic legs, get up and leave the tavern, looking extremely uncomfortable, or at least, as uncomfortable as a shapeless gelatinous blob mounted on mechanical legs can look.

“No survivors have been confirmed yet. The Nebuloid Collective is treating this as an act of war and is mobilizing their troops. Calls for de-escalation by intergalactic observers have gone unheeded.” Mabel looks back to her companions. Alice looks unnerved, and Mabel takes her hand for support, knowing that the expression on her own face can’t be too different. Ver looks uncomfortable, but doesn’t say anything. The alien standing near them stares at the TV for a moment, its eyes continuously unblinking. Then, it offers a hand to Ver.

“How rude of me not to introduce myself. I am Xiven. This is my first time attending this club.”

Ver hesitantly shook the alien’s hand. It was cold, like grasping a metal rod, yet surprisingly soft at the same time. Mabel let go of Alice’s hand and followed suit.

“Hey, welcome. Always good to see new faces around here. Pull up a chair and relax for a while. We’re a bit early.” She looks towards the bar, where Ernie is watching the news with a look of sadness in his eyes. “You may want to tell Ernie what you want to drink. We have a tab that we pay off at the end of the night. Galactic marks are the standard currency but I think he’ll accept others…”

The alien opens its mouth and laughs, or at least, Mabel thinks it was a laugh. It sounds like a combination of leaves rustling and chains rattling. Mabel’s arms break out in goosebumps. It sounds more like a machine than an actual flesh and blood being.

“I think I’ll pass, thanks.” Now that the alien is sitting next to her, she can see that the alien possesses very sharp, very metal teeth. “I cannot process fluids. My species subsides off of a special gel indigenous to our homeworld.”

“Do you eat food? You look like you have the teeth for it.”

Another laugh. “Of course! We Caxxom enjoy a hearty diet of silicon-rich rocks and minerals.”

“Oh, are you silicon-based then?” Alice leans into the conversation. “I think you’re the first silicon based lifeform we’ve met. Where are you from, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Nah, I don’t mind. We’re from the - what did Humans name it? The Kepler-443 system, I believe.”

“Ah, so you’re way out there.” Alice vaguely recalls that Kepler-443 is at least a couple thousand light years from Earth. “I don’t recall any empires out that far…”

“Well, we’re fairly new. We only encountered other sentient life forms around ten of your years ago. We’re just stepping out onto the galactic stage.”

“That’s not too long.” Mabel knows a fair bit more about galactic history than Alice does, having completed her degree in the subject. “Our first contact was a little over a hundred a fifty years ago, so we’re pretty recent too, I guess.”

“Yes, but once you Humans starting exploring, everyone came to know each other.” Ver has just finished another drink and he was starting to feel the effects. If you’ve never seen a drunk crocodile before, you’re very fortunate; if you’ve never seen a drunk Dirik before, you’re missing out on a good time. “I don’t think your species has met another sentient race which you didn’t immediately want to bang.”

Alice sputters indignantly, but Mabel smirks. “Yeah? As if there aren’t entire subspecies of Dirik caused by you guys sticking your dicks in everything.”

Now Ver is sputtering. “That’s…whatever! It’s irrelevant!” He takes another swig and looks to Xiven. “I don’t know if you’ve heard this story before…”

“I know a couple stories…” Xiven starts to speak, but Ver continues anyway.

“Very first human on Kanan? Diplomatic ambassador. One of very few aliens to set foot on our planet. First thing they do? Wind up in bed with one of our diplomats.” Ver points to Mabel. “Humans? Absolutely determined to fuck everything and anyone possible. It’s how they know so many other species, how they spread so fast.” He turns to Xiven. “You want to get in contact with any unknown races? Tell your government to talk to Humans.”

Whether it was a joke or not, Xiven seems to take it seriously. “Thanks. I’ll tell my superiors about this.” Xiven’s eyes fixate on Ver. “You never introduced yourself.”

“Ah, my name is Ver.”

“Nice name. You’re a…Dirik, I’d wager.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Right on.” Xiven leans back. “How intriguing. You’re the first…Dirik?” Xiven fumbles with the pronunciation again, but Ver nods and Xiven continues. “The first Dirik that we have encountered.”

“For a new alien race, you seem to have a pretty good grasp of our languages.”

“Are we the first humans you’ve met?” Alice interjects. Xiven shakes their head.

“No, we know about you. A small amount of you wind up in our space from time to time, either by accident or for exploration. I believe the first time we encountered your kind was…five of your years ago. A small vessel with a skeleton crew. After we repaired their ship, they told us where your empire was, and they mentioned the club that gathers in this tavern.”

Alice frowns. Not too many people were aware about their gatherings here. The club isn’t exactly a secret, but it’s not common knowledge either. A glance at Mabel tells Alice that she was thinking the same thing. “Who was the captain of the ship?”

“He called himself Malcolm.”

“Oh! Malcolm Kayode?” Mabel snaps her fingers in realization. “Black, tall, buff dude, eye patch over the right eye?”

“That sounds about right, although he didn’t have an…eye patch at the time of our encounter. Both of his eyes were unobstructed.”

“Huh.” Mabel strokes her chin. “He had that eyepatch when I first met him, two years ago. I know he didn’t have it seven years ago, when he and Ver first met…”

“Still had both his eyes at that point, and I still had both of mine.” Ver’s blind eye seems to flash in the low light of the room.

“What exactly happened to your eye, if you don’t mind me asking?” Xiven turns their four, perfectly functional eyes towards Ver.

Ver waves a hand dismissively and leaned back. “That’s a story for another time.”

Mabel continues. “Now we know that he still didn’t have it when Xiven met him five years ago. That leaves a three year period for him to have been grievously wounded.”

“I’m pretty sure someone else had mentioned meeting him without the eyepatch, but I’m not sure who that was.” Alice thinks for a moment. “It could have been Velvet, or even Razza…”

Ver clears his throat. “I’m sure our new friend finds this all very interesting-“

“Oh yeah, definitely.” Xiven cuts in without a hint of sarcasm. Ver’s good eye twitches and he continues.

“But,” he emphasizes the word, glaring at the metallic alien, who doesn’t seem to notice, “we were in the middle of learning more about Xiven’s planet.”

Mabel waves her hand. “Of course. Where were we?”

“I think we were learning about the former interactions between the Caxxom and Humanity.”

“Sounds about right.” Xiven crosses their arms and leans back in their chair. “I was a member of the scientific team that communicated with Malcolm, the one who found his ship in the first place. Your friend’s vessel was quite badly damaged.” They turn their attention to Mabel. “He didn’t answer my questions, so I’ll ask you instead. What exactly does Malcolm do?”

Mabel shrugs. So does Alice. Xiven turns to Ver, and gets a similar response.

“We have no idea.” Mabel drains what’s left in her mug. “All we know is that he has enough free time to write those mystery novels he does.”

“Yes, he did offer me one of those…mystery novels upon his departure. It became quite a sensation on our homeworld. There aren’t that many Caxxom fiction writers, so that book was really something.”

“Not many fiction writers?” Alice addresses Xiven. “What sort of writing do you do, exactly?”

Xiven gives another one of their metallic laughs. “Mostly scientific reports. Mineralogical reports are of particular interest. Don’t give me that look,” they say, noticing the looks of perplexion on their companion’s faces, “aren’t you the species who came up with the adage ‘truth is stranger than fiction?’”

“So you’re a scientific writer then?”

“Yeah, that’s where my training is.” Their four eyes dart around the table. “Is there something wrong with that?”

“No, no, of course not, it’s just…” Alice sputters out a protest, but Ver cuts in.

“We don’t really get a lot of scientific writers here. The people here typically write fictional stories.”

“Oh? What do you write then?”

“I’m a poet.” He leans back in his chair and grins. “I try to draw attention to the atrocities of my government through my works.”

[...]

#creative writing #sci fi writing #sci fi #spec fi writing #spec fi #alien creative writing #writing #unfinished

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megacircuit9universe · 4 years

Text

The Commonwealth Party

SUN FEB 16 2020

Tonight I’m gonna run a thought experiment of sorts, and look at just what the political landscape would be in the aftermath of the scenario where Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders, beats Trumpian Republican Trump on November 3rd 2020... step by step.

1) Trump would contest the results: The margin of victory for Bernie determines how effective this would be.

a) If it’s a razor thin lead in one county in one state, like in 2000, then Trump takes it to the Supreme Court and wins. End of story.

b) If Bernie only wins the electoral vote, but Trump wins the popular vote, Trump will scream that the election was rigged and refuse to step down... leading to a very tense, months long situation, that could get ugly.

c) If Bernie wins a decisive victory, but Trump still didn’t do too bad... he’ll still scream that the election was rigged and refuse to step down, but government and military support will immediately go to the President Elect, and it will be Trump and his goons in a bunker under the White House, against a Navy Seal team sent in to eject them.

d) If Bernie wins by a landslide... Trump will still scream bloody murder, but grudgingly leave the White House of his own free will... but refuse to attend the inaguration in protest.

e) No point talking about, “a,” because if it’s true, then the rest of this is moot. Option, “b,” is not happening, as Democrats never win by Electoral technical. Option, “c,” however, is good enough to get Trump out, meaning that we don’t have to bother discussing, “d.” Thus, in our first step, President Elect Sanders does indeed take office, and that’s all we care about.

2) Trump 2024: Grover Cleaveland already set the precedent for serving two nonconsecutive terms as President, so Trump will immediately vow to run again in 2024 and take back what was so unfairly taken from him.

His campaign rallies will continue every couple weeks like normal, and he’ll almost certainly begin appearing regularly on Fox, and other right wing shows and casts... and this will go on for many years.

a) He’ll remain the head of the Republican party, so the continued rallies and freedom to rant on right wing shows will solidify the Republican brand as being synonymous with Trump, and extreme right wing ideas such as white nationalism, climate denial... who knows... Flat Earther’s eventually? Sure!

b) This permanent rebranding of the Republican party, will force a similar rebranding of the Democratic party under Bernie, as the party of progressives and democratic socialists.

c) This dynamic will force right leaning Democrats, and left leaning Republicans to seek common ground, as centrists.

d) They will form a third party.

3) The Commonwealth Party: The Commonwealth Party, consisting of hardcore centrists, with great appeal to protestants, upper middle class boomer types, and the idle rich, will be way more powerful than any other third party since the Republican party itself was formed in 1854... this time, because they’ll have a ton of money behind them.

4) The 2024 Race: As incumbent, Bernie Sanders will run as the Democrat. The Republican Party will nominate Trump, to have a re-match. The Commonwealth Party, however, will run some high profile candidate of their own who is actually popular, as well as many down ballot challengers from Congress down to dog catcher.

a) Both the Commonwealth and the Republican parties will be running anti-Bernie campaigns... attacking him as a dangerous socialist... thereby splitting the anti-Bernie vote... and Sanders will be reelected.

b) The Commonwealth candidate, however will do better than Trump, and many of their down ballot candidates will win... in conservative states and districts, against Republicans... picking up House and Senate seats... maybe a governorship or two.

5) Beyond 2024: Within a decade, the Commonwealth Party will be the conservative counterpart to the Democratic Party, and both will at least agree on basic human rights... that xenophobia and sexism are bad... the rule of law means something... we need to support our allies... climate change must be dealt with immediately, and we must lead the world on it... lot’s of good, common ground.

Meanwhile, the Republican party... running under the steam of name recognition alone... scooping up everybody from the Libertarians to the Neo Nazis... will stick around for an annoyingly long number of decades, always being the party of total reactionary jerks, forever looking to debate you, only to freestyle a line of unrelated political buzz words, while working hard to make it sound like there was an intelligent sentence... because they know what intelligent sentences sound like... and they’re sure they can recreate that sound accurately.

6) RIP GOP: By the end of the 21st Century, the Republican Party will have gone the way of the Masons before them... not that the Masons were a political party, or that I’m trying to link the Masons to the GOP, I’m not.

My metaphor, here, the old Masonic Temples that, today, are still all over the place, in every little town across the nation... but every last one of them is an abandoned white elephant.

They built them huge, heavy, and strong... but impossible to re-purpose. They built them to look impressive on the street... which got them all declared landmarks, which meant they could not even be updated with air conditioning, or made handicapped accessible... another big reason they’re now abandoned.

But, in their architectural vision, they accidentally made them impossible for firefighters to save... because of so few windows... and the internal wood/steel structure, so easily compromised by fire.

All of these Masonic Temples are destroying themselves, despite the fact we’ve been trying to save them... because they were that poorly designed.

The party that Trump has already made of the GOP, will follow in the footsteps of the mighty Masons... once a very powerful fraternity, with a hold on every town in America... rich and bold enough to build grand temples to themselves in every one.

Yet they vanished into history... just a few super old farts with fez hats, speeding around in little four wheelers as part of the 4th of July parade. And nobody... not one spectator on the street... knows what the fuck these crazy old fuckers are trying to say... or do? What is this? Where did this come from?

The Republicans will be the same... old men in racist hats doing whatever the fuck crazy shit they can to get your attention... for it’s own sake.

I know I skipped over Medicare for all, and how that rolls out... and wins big because of coinciding with the cure for cancer just having been discovered, and being available to everybody for free... as a shot, like a flu shot!

And I skipped over how just by repairing normal alliances and relations with the rest of the world, getting back in to the Paris accord, and taking weather disasters seriously, and being proactive about global warming... his approval ratings will be through the roof.

And... I skipped over how legalizing weed by executive order on day one, and fighting to eliminate student debt, will solidify the 18 to 48 voter base as forever active Democrats.

Maybe another time.

But for this entry... it’s time for bed.

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geneshaven · 7 years

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Family Outing

PART 5

Felicity was sitting at the computer console with Dinah. On the screen in front of her was a map; lines like musical notes were glaring out into the Bunker. The lines were old tunnels beneath Star City, an abandoned subway system that played a big part in the Undertaking; now some five years ago. Felicity sat remembering the earthquake Merlyn unleashed on the city. Somehow, it seemed tame when compared to all the death and devastation the city has endured and survived since then. In a way, it was a tribute to perseverance and determination. Felicity sometimes wondered how her life would have evolved without Oliver coming into it and showing herself to herself.

“Oliver,” she spoke into their private coms. “Lyla’s trace signal is showing the brass whistle is about two hundred feet ahead of you. It’s not moving. I’m guessing that’s where they are.”

“John and I are almost there,” Oliver replied. “By the way, thanks for this plan. I’m going to write it down in the books as The Twofold Plan. You’re remarkable, Felicity.”

“Yeah, so you said before. Just don’t rush in there and save the day all by yourself. Let the rest of us do our part too.”

“Felicity, c’mon. You know…and so do I, that I’m nothing without you guys having my back. You be careful too.”

“Oliver, the signal is moving. It’s coming toward you.”

Over her com, the sound of gunfire erupted, sending a jolt of fear through Felicity.

The T-Sphere hovered three feet off the ground; its sensor software was activated. Inside the abandoned warehouse at the southern tip of the Glades, Curtis was able to see inside the structure via his remote pad. The infrared images showed him and Rene how many Helix targets were waiting for them. Twenty. Curtis could also detect Argus’s stolen laser technology; its signal was gathered at all the entrances of the building. With the codes Lyla provided, Curtis hacked into the activation nodes and disarmed the weapon.

“Okay,” he nodded to Rene. “I just slew the dragon and gave us access to the castle.”

“Curtis,” Rene looked at him with impatience. “Will you stop with all the fairy tale stuff. I’m still not okay with being out of the rescue of Zoe. Oliver and Felicity’s plan is solid, but I should be under the city with my daughter.”

“Rene, Oliver and John are not going to let anything happen. They’ve been at this for a long time. Zoe and the others are going to be okay. Remember what our last lesson in vigilanteing was--- trust. This is a team we’re on. If you can’t trust that, you wouldn’t be here.”

“Great,” Rene mumbled. “I’m being schooled by Mr. Terrific. Hoss, just make sure James doesn’t find a way around your tech stuff and turn us into sliced meat.”

Curtis shook his head. “Not happening.” He activated his com. “Felicity, we’re ready. I just hope one of these blips is James.”

“Yeah, he’s there. Most of their complex is underground...I guess it’s there version of the Bunker.” Felicity answered. “Argus has had eyes on him since we left our family outing up in the mountains. As long as he retains the laser and the still undiscovered tracking software Lyla had installed…he’s not going anywhere we can’t find him.”

“Why do I feel like I’m getting ready to run into a burning building,” Curtis pondered out loud to himself. “Okay Felicity, whenever you’re ready.”

“Stand by, Curtis. Oliver and John are already engaged with Talia’s goons. As soon as the kids are safe, I’ll give you the green light to move. Don’t jump the gun on this…”

Curtis knew that last statement was mostly for Rene, but Curtis nodded in response. He started to activate another T-Sphere and waited for his cue to go and be a hero.

Felicity watched all the teams’ signals moving across her screen like video game characters. She could never play real video games, mostly because when she did, the algorithms programmed into the games gave her the advantage to foresee what it was going to do before the action unfolded. It was sort of like chaos theory---it was the unpredictability of outcomes. It was how her life had gone over the past half-decade.

So when Black Siren’s voice spoke out from behind Felicity and Dinah, Felicity already knew what was going to happen.

“Well, isn’t this cute.” The scorn and anger that filled BS’s voice was like a cold draft reaching out to freeze her victims in terror. “It’s time to die,” she announced.

Dinah spun around and opened her mouth; canary song flowed out in shimmering waves, throwing tempests at BS.

Black Siren opened her mouth at the same time, expecting to counteract Dinah’s song. But nothing came out except a strangled shout. Her eyes suddenly filled with panic and BS took a couple steps backwards, as if she could dodge Dinah’s sonic waves.

Then Black Siren was flying backwards in an uncontrolled flight, smashing up against the far north wall of the Bunker. The impact on the wall crumpled her body to the floor, where she lay motionless.

Then Lyla stepped out of the back entrance to the Bunker and went up to the fallen evil villain. “I really love Curtis,” she exclaimed, looking down at the unconscious Black Siren. In her hands, Lyla held onto Curtis’s sonic dampener like clutching onto victory. “I really need him to work for Argus’s tech department.”

Dinah and Felicity came over to help Lyla gloat. “Yeah,” Dinah agreed. “I’m always going to win as long as that man keeps bringing me his toys.” She tugged on the little focusing device around her neck. It has helped her to control her song, taking away the threat of collateral damage and making her more effective when she sang.

Felicity smiled at her two friends. “Well, at least there’s one less villain we have to fret about.” She raised her hands and Dinah and Lyla gave each other high fives. “But, Talia is still out there. She’s gone underground again, you know, her League training and all. We still have to help Curtis and Rene.” She shook her head. “Man, I’m kind of getting tired of all these villains filling up all my free time. I’m still pissed we had to leave our camping trip. Oliver really wanted to catch some fish.”

Then, Felicity turned back around and returned to her computer. There were still more bad guys out there keeping the three women from breaking out the champagne in celebration.

“Felicity,” Oliver spoke in her ear. “John and I are secure. The kids are safe.”

A great big sigh of relief settled Felicity into her chair. “Oliver, thank god. Black Siren is out of the picture as well. Is William…were they hurt?”

“No honey, all three of them are alive. A little shook up, but okay. In fact, I think they are a little excited by the excitement.”

“So, do I send Curtis and Rene in now?”

“Yeah, copy that. Once John and I lead the kids out of these damn tunnels, contact Quintin and have him call in the SCPD for pick up. We’re going to be enroute to the warehouse. I want to be there in case James finds another way to escape.”

Felicity reached out and gently brushed her fingers over Oliver’s illuminated signal on her screen. It was moving towards the rendezvous with Lance and his cops. “Oliver, I know I’ve told you this before, but please be careful with James. You’re right to not trust him. The man is a genius and dangerous. If he can, he will try to take you guys out without hesitation. We’ve been lucky so far that he hasn’t found Lyla’s secret software we’re using to track him.”

“Felicity, I trust you having my back. I will risk any danger as long as it’s you guiding me. Let Curtis and Rene know we’re coming to them.”

Felicity opened another com line to Wild Dog and Mr. Terrific. “Okay Curtis,” she said. “The Green Arrow has given the go. He’s coming to you. You guys be careful.”

“Finally,” Rene’s voice answered. “Hey Blondie, tell Oliver me and Curtis will have this bastard in custody before he gets here.”

“Rene, Zoe is safe. Stay focused. James isn’t someone you can take for granted. He’s not going to surrender just because you’re wearing a hockey mask.”

“Okay, we’re going in…” Curtis spoke. “Stand by…”

As Felicity watched their signals move on her screen, a sudden alarm rang out into the Bunker. She threw her gaze to the screen monitoring the laser software and saw that it was blinking red.

James had found the secret tracking software and had turned it off. The laser grids were active again. Curtis and Rene were seconds away from walking right into it…”

@louiseblue1 @hope-for-olicity @it-was-a-red-heeler @memcjo @dmichellewrites @almondblossomme @lovelycssefan @olicityloveolicity @scu11y22 @casydee @melolicity

#team arrow

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bluephoenixdruidicprincess · 5 years

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SPN 14x13, Lebanon (Yes, That One) -- Thoughts (Spoilers)

It's finally here, guys. The big 300. I've now seen 300 episodes of Supernatural. Phew...what a crazy ride its been. But let's dive into this, shall we.

I'm going to be a little different with this one. This is going to follow a little more of a recap structure. It's the big 300, so of course I had to change it up a little. As I recap this episode, I'll be inserting thoughts I have here and there. I will be recapping from memory so things might get a little out of order. It should go without saying but there will be spoilers. And keep in mind, this is just how I feel and how I interpret things. You may have a completely different interpretation and that's perfectly valid. These are just MY thoughts.

We open up with Sam and Dean in the midst of a hunt. A hunter friend of theirs died and Sam and Dean are trying to recover what was stolen from their friend as well as avenge him. They corner the murderer and in a really cringey fight scene, the murderer meets his maker. Typically, SPN fight scenes are, while not fantastically well put together, but at least put our heroes in a competent light. Honestly, I don't think I've seen such stilted choreography since season 13 in the vamp cave. But anyway, the murderer uses dragon's breath (which is essentially a flamethrower) to escape from Brothers Winchester and it sends them flying in different directions but apparently dragon's breath isn't that hot. Just a small little thing, but if you're standing that close to the fire, you should've had some burn marks, I'm just saying, at the very least, soot on your face. But whatever. Dean gets thrown across the room, Sam ends up on the floor with our villain monologuing to him and I'm uncomfortable with just how incompetent Sam appeared to be in this scene. The villain is monologuing and Sam is just sitting there and doing nothing. What happened to Sam's gun? Why didn't Sam sweep the leg or go for a gut punch? So many things he could've done to get the upper hand in the situation especially since the villain only had a sword. While swords can be very deadly, they're also easier to dodge as opposed to bullets or throwing daggers. But Sam just sits there in fear for a good 5 seconds (and 5 seconds is an eternity both on screen and in a fight) and Dean then shoots the guy and talks about the villain monologuing problem. I'm not mad that Dean got the kill or anything. I don't believe in "staning" culture but if you could at least have made Sam appear competent, that would be nice.

But with the murderer dead, Sam and Dean find out he has a lot of magical junk so they decide to take it back to the bunker. In the files, they find a magical pearl which apparently will grant your greatest desire. Obviously, the boys think, "this is great. Our greatest desire is to evict the douche currently residing in our nagen." But before this greatest wish can be made, we have to make a little side trip because one of the teenagers in Lebanon (the town where the bunker exists) stole the impala. Sam's all, "that kid is in danger, we gotta find her, there's dangerous shit in that car" -- and much to my annoyance, Dean is all, "how dare she take Baby, she better not hurt Baby". *Takes a deep breath* This is an aspect of Dean's character I find super irritating. This weird romance he has with the damn car. How he places the car above things that, realistically, are a little more important. Maybe he should be less concerned about Max scratching the car and more concerned about the fact you have a teenage girl you don't know (or barely know at the very most) in a car with deadly objects and deadly weapons. I get it, this is supposed to be a funny quirk of his and at one point it was but now it's been so overdone that it's more irritating than it is endearing. I really hope the show goes into Dean's character development, and approaches the car as a mirror of how Dean feels about his father and his childhood and as he grows to accept his father more, he'll eventually realize that just like he doesn't need his father, he doesn't need the impala. I'm sure I said something absolutely sacrilegious in the fandom but I'm not going to apologize for it. This whole obsession with the impala is immature and creepy and it makes me worry for Dean's mental health.

So they find the girl but not before the girl's actions releases a serial killer clown ghost (because in an episode dealing with past fears and insecurities, of course it's a clown). They kill the ghost but three of the teenagers see and therefore they get the "talk." And these three also appear to be seen as mirrors for Sam, Dean, and Cas. They weren't very subtle about it, let me tell you.

So after leaving the kids to process the information that the sounds you hear in your closet may actually not be in your head, Brothers Winchester arrive back at the bunker and try out this magical pearl. But behold! It would seem evicting au!Michael is not Dean's greatest desire because Father Winchester is yanked from the past (sometime before the pilot) and dropped into their time. And, I'm not going to say this a lot about this episode, but I like the cinematography used here. It was an excellent usage of the color red symbolizing Brothers Winchester's own repression and isolation they experienced from their father as well as John's revenge focused aggression, blindly lashing out at anything that moves even if it's his own children. And the scene was also shot in a very choppy way meant to be seen as a little confusing...also symbolizing the thoughts of confusion the boys harbor towards their father and much like the confusion John no doubt feels with the turn his life has taken.

Everyone eventually realizes what's up and they fill John in on what's been happening for the past 14 years. And it's a very nice, very touching reunion and then Momma Winchester shows up. John and Mary have a wonderful reunion kiss, its so beautiful. I completely understand how Dean got swept into the moment here. Witnessing something he probably only barely remembers from his childhood, thinking he'll never see it again, and there it is. And just like that it takes him back to a time when life was seemingly perfect. When he had hope, when he had dreams. His parents were alive, they loved each other, they loved him, he had an adorable baby brother. It gave him something he never thought he'd have again. And just the kiss in general, you know. Just so reminiscent of past lovers who never thought they would see each other again suddenly seeing each other and everything they used to feel all coming up at once. It was wonderful. Think Celine Dion, Its All Coming Back to Me Now and I think you'll have the tone of this moment nailed down.

But Sam and Dean leave these two to have their moment and Sam tells Dean there's going to be repercussions for this. Time travel is a funky thing. But they decide to have one family dinner and think about the consequences after that. Dean asks Mary for the ingredients to make her Winchester Surprise and John and Sam have a really touching moment. John feels the need to apologize to Sam about everything that happened between them. And Sam tells him it doesn't matter. Their fight happened a long time ago, he's put it in the past and moved on. Sam also tells his father that the biggest regret he has is never having the chance to say good-bye. Their last conversation being an argument and then Sam finding John dead on the hospital floor. This scene got me so choked up like you don't even know. I've been through this. Lost someone while we were on shaky terms, I never got the chance to say good-bye, so many things were left unsaid and I would kill for an opportunity Sam has here where I can finally tell that person it's okay and rectify the bad blood that occurred between us. And Sam acknowledges it as well. This opportunity he has right here and now is all he's ever wanted.

Sam and Dean go off to buy these ingredients but this is when they start noticing the time travel problems. The future is starting to change, but it's more of a ripple effect right now. They haven't changed yet, but time around them has and eventually the ripple is going to smother out and their new future will take hold. Sam calls it a time paradox. And because of the paradox, we're treated to season 4 Zachariah and Castiel. But in regards to Castiel here, it's important to note that he's more pre-season 4. He hasn't delved into hell yet to get Dean out so he doesn't really have any of those rebellious feelings yet. And no, I'm not going to quote THE Destiel line. In all honesty, I've come to hate the line. It's been over-used so much that it's basically lost all meaning to me. Fandom and canon just keep on poking at it, now it's just something I roll my eyes at whenever I hear it. I am sad that we got season 4 Zachariah. When they were saying we were going to get a different Zachariah, I was so hoping for a role reversal kind of situation but apparently the "different Zachariah" is meant to be interpreted as "different from season 13 au!Zachariah" who actually isn't all that different. PR is not show running, people. Take a grain of salt with everything they say. But the Wing Team is on a quest to find out who meddled with time. Even going so far as to threaten to murder a diner full of people. Thankfully, Sam and Dean stop that from commencing but are in a real shock that with this time paradox, it now means Cas is no longer the Cas they all know and love. That if John stays here, they're going to lose their best friend (in Sam's case) and potential lover (in Dean's case). But the scene plays out how you would expect it to. Zach is his usual douchey self and is giving Sam cancer just like he used to (good times, let me tell ya) but Sam remembers he has an angel blade on him and kills Zach. Nowhere near as badass as it was in season 5, but still cathartic. And next we get to see a re-creation of the tomb scene from season 8 with Dean and Cas in a match of fisticuffs. But this Cas has never met Dean so Dean really has no chance of reaching Cas. But Sam in some quick thinking rembers the sigil that will cast angels out and uses it. The boys make a break for the bunker and everyone gets filled in.

Sam and Dean realize that in order for everything to go back they way it was, they have to smash the pearl. Everything will be forgotten but everything will also revert back to the way it once was. Sam wishes there was a way John could remember everything but Dean tells him he prefers that John doesn't. John going back with knowledge of the future could change who they are and Dean doesn't want that change. He wants to be exactly who he is right here and right now which is just so much progress. John tells them to do it because if the timeline changes, Mary's resurrection could never have happened and she'll eventually disappear. Even though he's going back to a time where he will die, trading himself for Mary is more than worth it. He'd rather have Mary exist in the world and himself die as opposed to living the rest of his days without her. And maybe it's because I have so much Kingsom Hearts nonsense floating through my brain, even if he doesn't remember, this will have left a mark on his heart. It'll leave him feeling something even if he doesn't understand why he feels that way. Everyone has the family dinner they always wanted, John also apologizes to Dean for everything, he tells both of his sons just how proud he is of them, he and Mary have another moment and the pearl is broken. Father Winchester disappears and everyone is crying. Our most beloved Cas returns and remarks on why everyone is acting so weird and Dean tells him they have a story to tell him. I kind of wish we got to see them tell Cas but I understand why we don't. Story-Telling 101. Don't repeat information the audience already knows, instead, insinuate the character is being filled in off-screen. John wakes up in his time in the impala and remarks on the good dream he had and drives off to his dark future. And the episode ends.

So what did I think of this episode? Honestly, I'm of two minds on it. Narratively and character-wise, this was a really good episode. But structurally and production-wise, not so much.

It had a really good narrative, the acting was fantastic, but on a cinematic level, My Chuck, was this episode dull to look at. The directing was just extremely stilted, apart from John's entrance, I don't think there was a single scene I thought was visually appealing. The musical score was very bland. It makes me really sad that there was so much hype for this episode but so little effort put into the production of it. Of the milestone episodes, 200 is probably my favorite.

I also say this episode kind of faltered on a structural basis, as well. While I appreciate the use of the Lebanon characters, I feel like they were largely unnecessary for the actual plot. And when they were first pitching this episode to us last year, I was imagining the Lebanon townsfolk being more of a primary aspect of the episode. While I enjoyed the themes and the mirrors with the Lebanon element, I feel like this would've been a better structured episode without them and given the episode more time with the family reunion and the Wing Team.

But I do love the narrative themes in this episode. Choosing between your past family and your future family. Putting your past behind you and acknowledging yourself as an individual. I've seen a few posts lamenting about how they dislike that Dean didn't yell at John or anything along those lines and honestly, I feel like that's the point. Dean has grown past that. He's acknowledged that as part of his past and has moved on from it. We all have trauma we associate with our parents. And while yelling at our parents might make us feel better, will it really heal us? Will it give us what we really need? And that's the whole thing with Dean, isn't it? Want vs Need. Dean's greatest desire was never to face John again and tell him how much he hates him -- no, Dean's greatest desire was to face his father again and not see himself in his father. To realize he's become his own person that isn't his father and that he likes that person and he doesn't want that to change. That's what Dean wanted. That was the self-acceptance Dean needed and I'm really excited to see where this all heads for Dean as a character. Now that he's accepted himself, is he going to allow himself to be happy now?

Essentially, this episode was a beautiful episode about family, about the progression of family, about finding acceptance and forgiveness and being able to put it behind you and look towards the future and I thought that was extremely beautiful and well done. I'd give this episode a B+. Sadly, I do knock it down because of the production value.

#spn 14x13 spoilers #spn 14.13 spoilers #spn episode 300 spoilers #spn ep 300 spoilers

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trentteti · 4 years

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Predictions for the November 2019 LSAT

The November LSAT is just around the corner — once this weekend bends back around into another week, it’ll officially be test day. And that, of course means that our in-house prognosticator (i.e., me) must emerge from his dark and dank LSAT bunker, dust off a discount-bin, ersatz crystal ball, and make some predictions about what will be on the November exam.

Now, my spotty track record at predicting what exactly will be on these exams certainly isn’t strong evidence that I have any special powers of prediction with this exam. But none of you can definitively disprove that I have special powers of prediction, either. So I think it’s safe to assume that me and my crystal ball have at least some predictive power, and that you can trust that what I say about the November LSAT, and basically anything else, is probably true.

I even bought a deck of LSAT tarot cards on eBay to help reinforce this predictive power. After the first shuffle I pulled the Hierophant, the Lichen, the Iguanodon, and the Unrepresentative Survey — but I have no earthly idea what any of those mean. But anyway, gather round my it-would-be-technically-incorrect-to-call-it-a-crystal-ball, November test takers. Let’s talk about what’s likely to appear on this test.

Logical Reasoning

The first thing this nerd sees when he looks into a “crystal” ball are stats and spreadsheets and charts. Based on these visions, here’s how I think the Logical Reasoning questions will be distributed on the November exam, compared to the average frequency of those questions types on the published tests that have appeared since June 2017.

If you don’t feel like doing the math, I’m predicting there will be 51 questions overall. I think Strengthen questions will be the most common, but I’m making a fairly conservative guess there — Strengthen questions are the most common question type on most recent exams. I’ll go out on a slight limb and say that five of those nine Strengthen questions will be of the Strengthen principle variety. You know, the one’s that say, “Which one of the following principles, if true, most help to justify the above reasoning?” Or, “The reasoning above most closely conforms to which one of the following principles?” They say “following principles” in the prompt, basically. These have been a staple of recent exams, showing up five times on September 2019, three times on June 2019 and November 2018, four times on September 2018, and five times on June 2018. I hope I’m right on this prediction; Strengthen Principle questions are among the more anticipatable questions on the LSAT. Just anticipate a principle that says, more or less, “If we have the premise of the argument in this question, then we can reach the conclusion of the argument” and watch the points steadily accrue.

I also have an itch that there’s going to be a lot of conditional reasoning on this exam — at least one Must Be True question that involves making some sort of transitive deduction, at least one diagrammable Parallel and Parallel Flaw question, a couple diagrammable Sufficient questions, and maybe even a Flaw question in which the argument confuses a necessary for a sufficient question. My guess is that there may be as many as twelve questions that conditional reasoning in some way. So it wouldn’t hurt to brush up on the words and phrases that denote conditional statements, and get some practice with commonly diagrammable questions, like Must Be True, Parallel, and Sufficient questions.

You don’t exactly have to be clairvoyant to accurately predict that the logical fallacies will be super important on the two Logical Reasoning sections. Over half of the questions on this exam are easier with the mastery of the common fallacies. I think they’re going to keep it fairly classic with the fallacies on this exam — a lot of causation fallacies, exclusivity fallacies, and equivocation fallacies. To spot those, just check the conclusions of the argument. If that conclusion uses causal language, the argument is probably inferring causation from correlation. If the language is super strong (pay special attention to words like “only,” “entirely,” “solely,” “purely,” and “no”), the argument is probably committing the exclusivity fallacy and overlooking some important options, factors, or considerations. And if the argument introduces something new in the conclusion, the argument is probably guilty of equivocation — the act of assuming that something in the premises is the same as that new thing in the conclusion.

I also think one of the rarer fallacies will appear on this test. Perhaps an instance of circular reasoning? After the circle-game-that-wasn’t-really-a-circle-game on the September test sent everyone into a tizzy, maybe the test writers want to see if any allusion to a circle will freak people out? I also have a feeling that there’s going to be a tricky question with an argument that sounds like it’s committing the ad hominem fallacy, but doesn’t actually commit that fallacy (question 22 in section 3 of the June 2018 exam provides an example of this). If I’m wrong about this one, don’t get too mad at me though. Your issue is with my claim, and I am merely the source of that claim, and not the claim itself.

Is it going to be a difficult or easy set of Logical Reasoning sections? That’s tough to say, because there’s rarely any consensus on whether an LR section is tough or easy or in between. LR sections are roughly the same in their distribution of easy, medium, and tough questions. People tend to have different subjective experiences with the same section based on what kinds of questions and concepts appear most frequently. I might feel great on conditional statements but shaky on necessary assumptions. You might feel the opposite. Therefore, a section that had a ton of questions that featured conditional reasoning, but few Necessary questions, might feel easier for me than you.

Logic Games

After the Logic Games section in the September 2019 exam annoyed everyone, I think the Logic Games section is going to be much, much more straightforward. That’s not to say you should slack off on games in this last week; on the contrary, the ability to quickly do games is largely based on muscle-memory, and you don’t want your brain-muscles to atrophy in this last week. But, I don’t foresee any games as angst-producing as that flower game from September.

Instead, I think there’s going to be a super basic ordering game to kick things off. I think game two will be a little bit more difficult — I’m envisioning an unstable grouping game with three groups of indeterminate size. I think game three will be the most difficult of the bunch — I think there’s going to be a super complicated tiered ordering game. Probably one of those games where you have to keep track of the order of two separate variable sets. And I’m seeing game four as yet another underbooked stable grouping game, which appear to have a permanent seat at the Logic Games table on recent exams.

Above all else, I feel confident that making scenarios on these games will be an extremely helpful tool to utilize. Maybe you won’t need to make scenarios on the hypothetically super basic ordering game, but I’m quite confident that at least three of the games on this exam will be made much, much easier with a solid set of scenarios. I’m willing to say this because of the thirty-two games since the June 2017 exam, I think only the first game (another basic ordering game) on the June 2018 exam was easier without scenarios than with them.

Reading Comprehension

This is the part of the predictions post I’ve been dreading; please don’t take your disappointment out on me or this discount-bin cystal ball. I’m picturing a brutally tough Reading Comprehension section. Most recent exams have featured a pretty tough Reading Comp section. In the last few years of published tests, only September 2019 stands out as having a relatively mild RC section. So … prepare for the worst on this section.

That said, the topics have standardized over the last few years. Since June 2018, pretty much every Reading Comp section has had featured passages about some historical group (usually — and apparently because whoever compiles this section is a historiographic hipster — some obscure, overlooked ancient civilization), a passage about the arts (usually — and apparently because whoever compiles this section is an older snob who looks down upon the philistines taking this test — a somewhat confusing passage about the high arts), a passage about science (usually — and apparently because whoever compiles this section does not respect your B.A. — a complex discussion of biology or the environment or astrophysics), and a passage about the law (usually — and apparently because whoever compiles this section resents you from not already completing law school — a passage that makes at least occasional use of legal jargon). Given that, I’m going to predict that you’ll get a passage about an overlooked historical group, a passage about the high arts, a passage about biology or the environment or astrophysics, and a passage about a specific legal field. I’m not sure what you might do with this information, but there you go.

That said, you don’t need to fret about Reading Comp, even if it is difficult or about obscure topics. Remember to focus on the structure of the arguments being made, and jot down the function of each paragraph on your scratch paper. Remember to underline the words that express the author’s opinion. Remember to highlight important details likely to appear in the questions, like cause and effect relationships, examples, questions and their answers, and categorical items that are listed out. If you nail these things, it really doesn’t matter what the passages are about — you’re going to have a good shot at the questions.

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Finally, let me take off my prognosticator hat for just a moment, and remind you not to take these predictions too seriously. I pay very close attention to this test, but my track record of predictions is … OK at best. Elsewhere, I’m catastrophically wrong about all sorts of things (until I was corrected, I literally thought “cuffing season” referred to those cuffed fisherman beanies people wear in the winter).

Plus, and most importantly, the LSAT always tests the same general concepts and question types. Envision all the concepts as a big sphere of knowledge. Some tests might feature certain concepts within that sphere more prominently and others less. This test might pull out more conditional reasoning and difficult Reading Comprehension passages from that sphere — perhaps making it a bit more ovoid in shape — but the test is pulling from the same sphere of concepts. As long as you feel comfortable with all the concepts within that sphere, there will be no surprises on this test, whatever shape it takes.

While we have no control over what’s on the LSAT, you can control how prepared you are for the LSAT. Whether it be in an in-person class, live online class, private tutoring, or even an on-demand online course, prepping for the LSAT is a given for any exam date. Not sure where to start? Schedule a free consult with our Academic Managers to help walk you through your options!

Predictions for the November 2019 LSAT was originally published on Blueprint LSAT Blog

#LSAT #November LSAT #predictions #trent teti #lsat

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