#but overall it’s still a mess

[tj-crochets]

So I did not have a specific quilt in mind to work on next, but I rearranged some fabric to store the faux furs actually next to each other instead of in like three separate places, and in doing so I found my box of scraps from the rainbow triangle quilt!

20 half square triangles, one square, and a bunch of leftover fabric, so I think I’ll do some ironing, cut out some more HSTs, and see how big a quilt I can make with the scraps. It won’t be twin sized, but I’ll be able to make at least a baby quilt and probably a throw sized quilt, I think?

#quilting wip #rainbow triangle quilt take two #the ongoing scrap management effort #idk if y’all are interested in seeing my fabric/craft supply storage setup? #it is currently constantly in flux #because we moved to the new house a bit at a time #and would unpack boxes take them back to the old house and repack them #which meant things got kinda frantically unpacked at random #and just put on shelves wherever they fit #my minky fabric is pretty much sorted #my faux fur fabrics are…getting there #but overall it’s still a mess #as I keep working at it I’ll come up with a system that works for me though #it’s already way better than it was #and once I get my yarn shelves up so I can get the yarn out of my closet #and use my closet for like actual longer term storage stuff #it’ll be a lot better!

[nipuni]

I FINALLY GOT MY INVISALIGN REMOVED 🙌 I've had it for almost two years aaaaa I have straight teeth at last!! I'm so happy they really did wonders for my occlusion, it changed my whole lower face it's wild!!

#personal #I had really crooked teeth and my occlusion was completely off and to one side and my palate was too narrow it was a mess I had little hope #but these things did more for me in less than two years than 6 years of braces as a child #I still have a lot of asymmetry and weird jaw structure since I grew up wrong but overall it looks so much better aaahhh 😭

[bixels]

What did/do you like about Pharah?

Uh, gameplay-wise, I really love characters in shooters who rely on three-dimensional movement techs. Chaining together hover and jump to stay in the air for as long as possible and keep momentum is so satisfying, and picking enemies off from the sky made me feel like a bird of prey. I was a good Pharah main.

Story-wise, there unfortunately isn't much to canonically go off because Pharah is so underutilized and neglected. Her personality's pretty boilerplate "heroic hero" (she's literally inspired by Captain America).

But it's the crumbs/bits and pieces that I really latched onto. Pharah's a confirmed lesbian; her short story with Baptiste implies she harbors a crush on Mercy (fucking thank you.). She's biracial Egyptian/First Nations. She has major mommy issues, having grown up both admiring and resenting Ana. She's the bridge between Old Overwatch, inspired by the idealized heroes who surrounded her childhood, and New Overwatch. She's one of the only inter-generational characters in the cast; someone whose experiences span the gap, which is why I seriously believe Pharah would make a great main character.

There isn't much to go off of, though; she's a very uncomplicated character (she's a soldier for a private military corporation, lol.). But that just means she's a blank slate character, so I've seen fanfic writers run wild and create some really interesting takes on her. My favorite interpretation of her's a dense, herbo gym-bro type (a lot of her liens are about work outs, exercising, and playing sports) who's easily excitable under her seemingly self-serious, armored visage. We see how she tends to gloat and hype herself up when she's on a streak too, so Pharah definitely has a competitive and boastful side under her more professional and militant performance.

Now Mercy? Mercy is a real complex character.

#i was a diehard pharmercy shipper back then btw #the inherent homoerotic experience of pharmercy gameplay. #the homoerotic experience of looking to the skies to fly to safety under the protection of your knight in shining armor #the homoerotic experience of feeling white hot murderous rage at an enemy trying to pick off your pocket mercy #i still kinda despise gency lmao. you cannot convince me mercy would be in love with genji. at all. #he'd make her feel so uncomfortable and guilty. in my head. the canon is obviously different #gency is sexless. absolutely zero bite or tension. #i could go on about mercy and how her character has so much missed potential #i'm no longer in my overwatch fandom phase but #i still think about that new flirty line they added in ow2 where mercy goes “ahh you're like my knight in shining armor!” #and pharah goes “that's what i'm goin for ;)” and i sigh dreamily #really happy that pharah outright says she's a lesbian too but it's hard to feel good about rep when you know blizzard uses it for pr #to be honest i'm willing to bet cash that blizzard's keeping pharmercy in their back pocket as ammo for the next controversy #last year we already saw logs about pharah fretting and taking care of mercy and the two talking about how good it is to see each other #tbh pharah has the same energy/demeanor as applejack. cheerful and competitive in a can of whoopass #but yeah overall pharah's a pretty shallow character. i have IDEAS on how i'd go about deepening her but. whatever #that's sorta what happens when you have to juggle a cast of 40 characters. a lot get left with the bare minimum #ok so i wrote this entire post up saying that pharah isn't in ow2's storymode when she is. she's in the story i just. forgot #because she doesn't do or contribute anything interesting #ok i'm stopping here. overwatch's story is such an interesting narrative mess i could go on for hours #i dunno how you come up with such incredible character designs and give them such an unincredible story #it's also so so so interesting seeing the conflicting takes on characters the writers have #mercy in gameplay and voicelines is peppy and cheerful and optimistic #but mercy in the storymode journal logs is tired. jaded. a total shut in who forgets to leave her room and social #and YES! THAT'S WHAT I WANT!!! THAT'S MERCY TO ME!!! THE DOCTOR WHO FORGETS TO TAKE CARE OF HERSELF #ask me #anon

[zellk]

Forgot to share here.... old doodles of when I finally came around to finding a design I like for Qalaari's mom !!

#it's so fucking funny to me that i inadvertently gave her a variant of the “mom about to die” haircut because... well... #surprise... she did die when Qalaa was young (12) :'^) #Qalaa (now between 20 and 22) still hasn't gotten over it #her mom had really weak health and really shouldn't have had a child but she made her choice #it turned out to be not the best one for her health LMAO #who wouldve thunk #but hey she wanted it and i'm pretty sure she doesn't regret it #but well... Qalaa does feel like she was a participant in her mom's death #(the other participant being her biological father who ran away before she was born and shattered aamira's heart) #ANYWAYS #i love qalaa's messed up familly #it's like a regular messed up story where actually no one (and everyone) is to blame (except Qalaa lmao she asked for NOTHING) #Aaamira gave so so much love to her child ;;;;;; this built the unbreakable core of Qalaa's kindness #aamira #aamira croquelune #aamira molandine #croquelune #still thinking about making that potentiel small DnD 'lore addon' of Qalaa's village that you can take and plug in your very own campaign #as long as you have 'far from civilization' woods or mountains you can put them in there #a village that welcomes the 'monsters' and the cast out #(like aamira) #look at me rambling in the tags lmao i just love qalaari (& her background) so much #last thing tho : you have to understand that Aamira is small and very slight and Qalaari was a HUGE baby and is a really big girl overall

[thelassoway]

Jason Sudeikis as Ted Lasso Season 3 » Casual Sweaters/Jumpers

#Ted Lasso #Jason Sudeikis #Theodore Lasso #*mine: gif #tedlassoedit #sweater/jumper game #ugh you idiot with that face #stop staring at me swan #here's a gifset for the sweater/jumper lovers out there and sorry this is a long post. I just couldn't make up my mind on some of these #I spent way too much time overanalyzing the casual sweaters/jumpers. I was trying to only show each one once but then just gave up #deep dived research on the Todd Snyder site that's the kind of overanalyzing that happened #there is a lot of lighting messing with colors and for sure there are some repeats in this but whatever #I had this idea way back when we saw the variety of color sweaters/jumpers for S3 #but after the end of S3 I lost a lot of feelings for this show #my motivation for giffing this show is not so strong anymore but there is a part of me that still wants to maybe try a layout set #I'm thinking of doing all 3 seasons and just an overall sweater/jumper encompassing gifset. both the work and casual together #kind of meh on how some of these turned out ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ #it might be the added switch to the new editor and that all of these have been turned into gifv nonsense #also couldn't get the caption font to do what I wanted in html or at least it looked alright in drafts but not in preview #PS: thank you talldecafcappuccino for reading/helping with my color debate/same vs not same sweater/jumper nonsense

[childrenofthesun77]

There is something about mahiru and touma hating each others guts while also being father and son that is extremely funny to me and I can't really explain why.

Like, re-reading the C3 arc with the knowledge that they are related and that touma knows that mahiru is his son makes me laugh at this moment

because touma is literally his dad, nobody knows that he's mahiru's dad and in perfect absent father fashion the spell turns him invisible.

#The c3 arc makes way more sense with the knowledge that touma is mahiru's father #Back when the arc was still unfinshed I was kind of confused that the writer spent so much time on him #Like okay he's interesting but how does this tie into the overall plot? #The arc was sooo long and for a long time it wasn't really clear to me what the point of it was #Yeah yeah touma is abusing tsurugi but he also rescued him blah blah what does this have to do with the protagonists?Or with stopping tsuba #But if the villain is the protagonists dad and through tsurugi we see how messed up mahiru's life could have gotten had touma raised him #Then it's a lot more understandable that the writer puts a lot of effort into developing that villain and his son/little brother #Servamp #mahiru shirota #taishi touma

[ffverr]

I loved this Summers sibs moment SO MUCH

#overall xof swords was incredible #and is still one of my favourite events ever #look at them!!! #i need them to have a cat and mouse adventure hinging on the idea that rachel is time line keep #and cable is time line mess up-er/ fixer #rachel summers #cable #askani #nathan summers #summers family #comics panels #xmen #x men comics #marvel

[worstloki]

saw someone on twitter say "one of the main characters in a loki show should have been thor odinson, not some random Sylvie or Mobius.

...... It's like a written law"

wdyt do you agree

I don't think it was necessary to make Thor a main character in a Loki show, the same way it WOULD be possible to throw together a Thor movie without having Loki be a main focus.

The issue comes in the quality of the narrative itself, and writing that if evidently without intention to care for (whichever) main character's importance will not work out. Neither the Loki series nor Thor 4 cared about the arc, motivations, history, or continuity of the titular characters beyond trying to make the media marketable.

Overall messaging can add a layer to the impact a story will have. Musical score can be a bonus way to control tone or tie a story together. Supporting cast can be vital to tell a good story. Prioritising their presence over anyone's (especially Loki's) characterisation is what the Loki series suffered from, not that other, original-adjacent characters were there.

#i'd say it was tell not show but frankly the plotline was so poorly done i don't think showing would have helped #it would have solidified the side characters better though #if they had put effort into characterising Loki right then poorly done side characters could've been a non-issue #messing up the main characters which are supposed to be part of a continuity is the number 1 issue #not managing the screen-time well was the number 2 issue #too much time wasted setting up characters that were going to monologue about their importance anyway?? #too much time spent trying to establish the TVA as something important and controlling but somehow good #so much could have been cut out of the show and still gotten all that across #the relationships people built did so in like 2 days in-universe iirc so i wouldn't call them solid #season 1 was a useless introductory setup for the multiverse that didn't have any impact because there were like 4 other setups #scrap the characterisation and call it a reboot and it still threw Loki out as a weak and completely conventional protagonist #that's not engaging when every other character is also boring overall #even if their concepts weren't boring the way it was done was #The Loki Show #i can't be bothered thinking about the show because there's just so much #where would one start #i don't care enough about it to hate the show but i did find the fight choreography lacking too #the camera angles and general videography wasn't good #i have the same complaints about the choreography with every other disney+ show they put out #not even bothered with the MCU frankly #i'm happy to pretend the movies stopped after phase 2

[the-jam-to-the-unicorn]

Zelenskyy awarded Zaluzhny and Budanov the title Hero of Ukraine

#what a nice moment #with everything that happened in the past its hard to say of its genuine or just show #maybe because Zaluzhny came to his senses and wants to protect ze #maybe as a gesture of good will after causing so much trouble chaos and drama #maybe to make the transition easier #maybe to minimise the outcry #or maybe Zaluzhny still is a good person and just a lot of things went wrong and made some bad decisions #the way he hugged ze was very nice no matter why #also the second hug and how he initiated both #kudos to him for that #also with how much force he hugged him almost lifting him from his feet #budanov was as hilarious as expected #you can see the joy about that honour in his eyes and his eyes only 😄 #makes we wonder if Budanov will also go in the near future #or if he just got the award because it was about time #overall a really really really nice moment that was necessary #and with the statements yesterday a good end to a really difficult and problematic situation #they both somehow found that one way out of this mess #if on purpose and willingly from both sites and on good terms or not we'll see in the future #Zaluzhny for sure collected some plus points with this end #for now #lets see what hes going to do now that hes out

[imwritesometimes]

😺🧁 Kitty Cupcakes 🧁😺

- Vanilla cupcakes with vanilla whipped cream frosting and kitty decor -

#erin bakes #it's my cat's birthday lmao so I decided to try my hand at whipped cream frosting for the first time ever #it came out really good! I made stabilized whipped cream frosting so I could pipe it onto the cupcakes clean #it wasn't hars at all but I did learn lol my hand mixer is *not* the tool to make the frosting. it is too powerful 😞 and it made a mess lol #BUT it still came out and was easy! #the double bag piping technique I picked up from utube was AMAZING I wish I had learned that way originally it saved me #so much fuss and stress and just. despair lmao. also new off set spatula set my beloved! #overall this was simple. I really just wanted to test out making the stabalized whipped cream frosting #and it's great! love it! reminds me of the frosting my dear dear friend who taught me so much abt baking used to make #they're very simple but I wanted them that way so Santino could eat some of the frosting 😄😄😄 #cupcakes #cake #baking

[artistic-cocoon]

She’s level 12 now, it’s time for an overdue update

#My art #DnD #Dungeons and Dragons #Drow #OCs #Rodika #I like to think my character design skills have gotten better since the first time I drew her #This outfit feels way more fun #I still probably need to mess with some of the colors but I'm overall pretty happy!

[altruistic-meme]

TSC update: I finished. i have never done so much annotating before and I'm shook to my core. I have so many thoughts about this book but between staying up last night till 2am and waking up at 9am to keep reading they are a disaster that cannot be jumbled into any sort of coherence. so. instead here is number of highlights/notes i made while reading. there is just so much!!! so much!!!!!!!

#these arent QUITE the correct numbers cus i realized id accidentally marked 2 blue not orange like i mesnt to lmao but it's fine #the overall number is still the same #tsc #the sunshine court #there arent spoilers just me being a mess so im not gonna tag that #shh ac #aftg

[todayisafridaynight]

Religiously i think about one of my twitter mutuals pointing out how aoki's design is subtly asymmetrical while ichiban is more symmetrical

when i think of it, masato's design is fairly symmetrical as well isnt it.....

#snap chats #please no one look at me i shouldve gotten my drink two hours ago #what does it mean ..... #i swear my mutual had like. galaxy brain when it came to aoki i swear to god in heaven no one got him like they did #they were also the one that did that glass analysis post i shared some months back #moving on tho... #i guess there is the stipulation that because masato's shirt buttons dont match his shirt like ichi's does the buttons at the top mess it u #but aside from that everything else is pretty even: he has a pair of bangs and while his shirt is patterned its not like. grossly so #the pattern doesnt go particularly one way or the other its obviously just a pattern and the colors arent offensively against each other #on the flipside aoki's hair is more obviously swept to one side and leaving the other side bare #not to mention his tie in general. the 'bulb' part and 'tongue' part even go against each other #as if a diagonal striped tie itself wouldnt be askew to his overall look #again these are very small things to notice but im glad theyre small- it makes sense for a politician's to be subtly incongruent #the glasses are super important to aoki's design too but that's covered int eh glass analysis and isnt about symmetry #idk ... maybe im just waffling on about nothing.. either way i love those posts by my mutual #OH i think of this because i am once again thinking of updating how i draw masato #cause i like the blazer and necklace i gave him BECAUSE of that asymmetry #but now i wonder if thatd go against his design ... so i have to ask 'what underlying message is there for masato to be symmetrical' #i guess- even if he is a creep and a weirdo- he's not. evil? idk ... he hasn't gone totally off the deep end compared to aoki #like compared to what he'd go on to do as aoki he's pretty normal as masato #he is just a guy. who DOES have ties to the yakuza but this aint about that LKCJALKREJVA #he doesnt even like them he just uses them for his convenience 😔 #idk. ill prob still draw masato the same tbh LMAO if anything ill just crop his blazer but keep it symmetrical #i guess i cant wonder this TOO much when i give him mismatching rings 💀💀 ill just have fun ig fjaelrvekljv #at the end of the day its never that serious ...... i just gotta draw what makes me chortle. esp for a chara three people care about VJLAEK #but i will wonder ..... <- it is not that deep #ima go bye

[thefirstknife]

New Season Pass Prices

I'm seeing a lot of misinfo going around about this. YOU DON'T HAVE TO PAY 20 FOR EVERY SEASON PASS GOING FORWARD. And please don't spend anything like that on a whim! I will include a full math breakdown of how much you need to spend depending on what you want to buy.

Please don't spread the misinfo online. Telling people that they need to cash out 20 for every new season pass is a lie. When this lie is corrected and a more reasonable explanation is given, people will feel like the actual pricing is more reasonable and will not be inclined to complain. We WANT people to complain. We want people to tell Bungie that we want to be able to purchase the exact amount of silver needed. If people stop complaining, this will never happen. But complaining with lies will not get us anywhere because they are lies. Our chances of making this happen are slim to begin with, we don't want to push people away from trying. We also don't want people to spend the wrong (extra) amount for no reason.

The math

The latest TWAB states the following:

Season Pass: 1,000 Silver -> 1,200 Silver Season Pass + 10 Ranks Bundle: 2,000 Silver -> 2,200 Silver

The current price of 1000 silver is $10/€10 (gonna be using $ only for simplicity, but it applies to euro as well. This is obviously different in different currencies but the rate should be comparatively the same). The current cost of a season pass is 1000 silver.

Going forward (starting with Season of the Deep), the cost of a season will be 1200 silver. This amounts to $12. The problem is that there is no 1200 silver bundle. Silver is available in the following bundles for these prices (same on all platforms):

500 silver = $4.99 1000 silver (+100) = $9.99 2000 silver (+300) = $19.99 3000 silver (+500) = $29.99 5000 silver (+1000) = $49.99

Please read under if you want a full breakdown of best combinations and how to pair these bundles for your needs without having to spend too much on something you don't need:

In order to buy a single season going forward, the minimum (and recommended) thing to buy would be to grab the 500 bundle and the 1000 bundle which amounts to $15. The 1000 silver bundle will also give you extra 100 silver so with this purchase of $15 you will have 1600 silver.

You will spend 1200 on one season which will leave you with 400 silver. If you do not spend any of this silver, this means that in order to buy more seasons, you only have to pay $10 for the 1100 pack. This means that if you buy Season of the Deep for $15, you will only have to spend $10 (same as you do now) for season 22. Thats $25 for two seasons, an increase of only $5 from how it is right now. Don't let people convince you that you have to give $40 for two seasons.

The full example for this specific scenario (buys Deep, wants to buy the next two seasons):

-Season of the Deep only = 15$ (500+1100 silver). You now have 1600 silver and the season costs 1200.

leftover silver = 400

-If you decide you want season 22, you will need = $10 (1100 silver). You now have 1500 silver and the season costs 1200.

leftover silver = 300

-If you decide you also want season 23 (final season this year), you will need = $10 (1100 silver). You now have 1400 silver and the season costs 1200.

leftover silver = 200

This means that you have spent $35 on three seasons, which until now would've cost you $30 (increase of $5). You also have a leftover of 200 for the future which means that the future season you want to purchase will also only cost you $10. So a single purchase of $15 will reduce the cost to $10 for four seasons with leftovers before you have to spend another $15.

Is it worth getting the more expensive bundles ($29.99 and $49.99)? Let's check!

First and foremost, the biggest pack ($49.99 for 5000 silver+1000 extra) is not worth it. This will be enough for 4 seasons and a significant amount of extra silver, but if you know you will play all 4 seasons, you might as well just get the deluxe version of the game which is cheaper in the long run and also includes the dungeon key right away.

What about the $29.99? We figured out that for the next three seasons you only have to spend $35. Can you buy three seasons with the pack for $29.99? Let's see. This pack will give you 3000 raw silver + 500 extra. Each season is 1200 which means that 3 seasons are 3600 which means you will not have enough for 3 seasons if you buy the $29.99 pack. You would have to add another pack of 500 which means you'd essentially have to spend the same amount of money ($35), but would have a leftover of 400 silver total, instead of only 200 at the end of the year. If you want more leftover silver for less money, this might be worth it for you.

This might be worth it also if you already have leftover silver right now. If you have 100 or more silver in your account right now, you can grab the $29.99 pack and be able to buy the next three seasons. This also only applies if you KNOW that will be buying 3 new seasons in the future.

What about the $19.99 pack? This pack will give you 2000 silver + 300 extra. Same as the pack before, this will leave you 100 silver short for two seasons (you will have 2300, but you need 2400). That means, again, you would have to add 500 for $5, making the cost of two seasons $25 and with a leftover of 300. This is the same leftover that you would have if you spend $15 for Deep and add $10 for season 22, meaning that this option is exactly the same. You can buy Deep for $15 and add $10 for the next one ( = $25) or you can grab the bundle for $20 and add $5 to get the same value for two seasons with the same amount of leftover silver. This is worth it if you know that you will buy at least 2 seasons in the future.

A lot of this depends on you never spending your leftover silver. If you spend it or if you buy more silver packs during the season, the count might get off. What you have to know, in case you're spending, is to always leave a minimum of 100 silver in your account. That means that you can grab the $10 pack which gives a total of 1100 silver. With your 100 leftover, that's 1200 for the season.

I want to make something clear: if Bungie makes a silver bundle of 1200 for $12, then three seasons will cost $36 instead of $35 they do currently. Making a season pass bundle will actually increase the cost by $1. However, it's important to account for the psychological impact of leftover silver; having leftover silver makes people bound to the game. They don't want to leave an account that has unspent money on it and that makes people more likely to not just want to keep investing, but also to spend that leftover. And since that leftover is not really enough to buy much of anything, that pushes people to buy more packs. This is why this is a predatory practice in the first place. It's the illusion of having more options and getting extra leftovers, but in reality that just makes people spend more.

Not only that, but this is also obviously confusing and requires you to plan ahead and weigh your options all the time. It would be much better if there was just a way to get the season directly for the exact amount it actually costs = $12. With these math shenanigans, you will always have to spend a minimum of $15 for a season, which is $3 extra that you shouldn't have to spend, even if it gives you extra silver.

However, you never have to spend $20 for a single season. You could, and you could end up with a lot of extra silver, but if you want to buy another season, you would have to add a minimum of $5 to be able to buy it. Technically you can absolutely spend $20 for a season and use all of the extra silver on cosmetics, but that is NOT required. It's up to your personal spending interests and capabilities.

If you only want Season of the Deep, grab the 500+1100 bundles ($15). If you decide you want the other two seasons, you will only have to add $10 for them.

If you're sure you want at least 2 seasons, grab the 500+2300 bundle ($25). If you decide you want more, you will also only have to add $10 to any subsequent purchase and you will have slightly more leftovers.

The ultimate goal is to ask Bungie to allow us to purchase seasons directly for the exact price. We want to complain (civilly, of course. Do not yell at employees, they don't like this either) to make Bungie create a bundle for seasons only or simply allow us to purchase a season with money directly. The increase is not as drastic as some people make it out to be, but that doesn't mean it's not bad. With the current silver system, it's absolutely bad and relies on people not looking into it and not doing the math because it's a lot to work out and think about. We should be able to purchase a season for the exact amount the season costs ($12) instead of having to wrestle with math charts.

Players would not be so angry about it if we were treated with respect and not preyed upon by these practices. For most, $12 is not too bad and we can all understand that costs of everything are shooting up. These $12 pay for 3 months of content, which means that the monthly subscription for Destiny is, essentially, $4. This is less than any other online game and even other media services. Even if you buy the whole expansion with all seasons for $100 per year, that amounts to $8,3 monthly subscription for Destiny, still among the cheapest online services. Obviously, it depends on the person whether or not this is worth it.

But we definitely do not enjoy this half-assed increase which advertises as being $12 but it doesn't allow you to only spend $12; you have to spend a minimum of $15 and then we are being baited with extra silver leftovers. This should absolutely be something we're mad about as it is. We don't have to lie about it being $20 or double the current price. The misinfo will just make people more complacent. When they realise that it's not actually $20, they will think of the real price as reasonable and will no longer be mad about it. Don't do some marketing CEO's work for them and don't make people think they have to spend more than they do.

No matter what, we as players deserve to be able to buy the season for its real price which is $12. We will currently have to spend a minimum of $15, which is not as bad as $20, but it's still a bad precedent to set, especially when you pair it with this amount of work to figure out which combination of bundles is best for you.

I want to make that clear. Just because it's not $20, doesn't mean it's good. The situation isn't ideal as it is and we as players should absoultely ask Bungie to not treat us this way. Maybe the silver bundle prices can't be changed right now due to various possible issues with how their contracts work, but this is something I want to see changed in the future.

#destiny 2 #bungie #season pass price drama #season pass #long post #i had to do math for this. MATH. #bungie should PAY ME for making me do math #but yeah. please don't spread the disaster scenarios because they're simply not correct #and when you correct it the real thing sounds reasonable in comparison #it WILL make people complacent with it #and we shouldn't be #also please if you can always think through your purchase and don't pay more than you have to #also i know the conversion to other currencies might be slightly different #but the overall rates should be the same so the amount to spend should correlate to other currencies #aka you will probably still be better of buying the 500+1100 packs no matter what currency you use #also if i messed up somewhere feel free to correct me. math vexes me

[cookinguptales]

And now here’s the hard one... *sighs* Nandor and Freddie.

Nandor’s always been a tough nut to crack, but even for him, 4.09 was a lot.

I think we can all agree that he has some reasons for going after Freddie that he does not care to examine (and likely never will) but... yeah, pinning those down is harder. I don’t believe he would have given Freddie a second thought if he had not currently been dating Guillermo, but beyond that...

I wanna start with that game of charades they were playing and the way that Nandor was using Guillermo’s watch to time the Freddies. Or rather... he used Guillermo’s wrist, which was wearing the watch. He could have removed the watch or used Guillermo’s phone or something, but he instead chose to take possession of Guillermo’s actual physical body during a game that involved reading each other’s body language. (And Guillermo, of course, was so distracted and so used to Nandor manhandling him that he didn’t really react much to this.)

The most obvious (and fun) reading of this was Nandor subconsciously staking a claim on Guillermo’s physical body. I think you actually see this several times throughout the episode, but it’s definitely at its most obvious here. Nandor was practically peeing on him with that casual use of Guillermo’s arm.

What I think is more interesting, though, was how little Nandor thought of what he was doing, and how little Guillermo reacted. It was almost as if he were looking at a watch on his own arm. And I think that’s really the key to understanding what was going on in this episode. Nandor, to some degree, has come to see Guillermo as an extension of himself. A part of him that is his to use and manipulate just like he might his own limbs. He really has come to see Guillermo as his literal right hand.

And then Guillermo shows up with this man whom Nandor has never met. The annoying British embodiment of the life that Guillermo still insists on having outside of Nandor’s purview. The life that Nandor has been shown to be getting more and more resentful of throughout the season.

He immediately tries to put himself between the two of them, both physically and through his words, and like... of course he misreads his jealousy as wanting Freddie. Of course he does.

But in other ways, it’s not really a misreading at all. Guillermo is a part of him that Nandor feels entitled to and Nandor is greedy for all the things in Guillermo’s life. He hates the lines that still divide the two of them. Nandor is frustrated that Guillermo won’t tell him about his family or the things that he does. Nandor tries to monopolize all of Guillermo’s time so he can sort of take that life from him. And then he takes Freddie, too.

I think the truth here is that Nandor wanted Freddie because Guillermo wanted Freddie. Some of it was a power thing, wanting to prove that he was “better” than Guillermo and could steal this person away from him, and some of it was that... well, Nandor values what Guillermo values. Guillermo likes this person, therefore he must be great, therefore Nandor wants him as well. It was literally the act of Guillermo loving him that made him valuable to Nandor. (And I noticed that as soon as Guillermo rejected Freddie 2, Nandor ditched him.) It was literally the act of Guillermo having him that made Nandor want to have him as well. And it was Guillermo loving something else at all that made Nandor want to steal him.

Nandor didn’t ask for the Djinn to give him a version of Freddie that wasn’t dating Guillermo because he needed to prove to himself that he could steal him. He needed to prove that in this, he and Guillermo were the same. Were equal. That he could make Freddie love him, too. He could make this man a part of his life, too. He could take away this embodiment of the life that Guillermo lived outside of him and make it his own.

I think that Guillermo realized this immediately, actually. I’m not sure if he picked up on the jealousy, exactly, but he definitely realized that Nandor was being invasive here. He wanted to force Guillermo to share all aspects of his life with him, including his new boyfriend. Nandor very literally was not allowing Guillermo to have “one thing of [his] own”.

Like... Guillermo did not come at this from the angle of “you wanted to hurt me” or “you wanted to steal someone’s boyfriend” or “you actually like Freddie”. He realized that this was about Nandor wanting to have everything that Guillermo has, every single part of his life, as a way of claiming him. Weirdly, Nandor dating Guillermo’s boyfriend was another way of him showing possession of Guillermo.

I think that Guillermo is consciously registering this as Nandor’s ego, as needing to be the center of attention at all times, and that’s probably true, too! But... yeah, Guillermo, Nandor is doing this because he wants to crawl inside your fucking skin.

What’s most fascinating to me, though, is that Guillermo and Nandor react to Freddie the same way. Like, Freddie is not a fucking catch. He’s narcissistic, he’s self-involved, and his niceness is not the same thing as kindness or genuine interest in others’ feelings. But that bland sort of niceness that he has about him is something that both Guillermo and Nandor latch onto because it’s something they’re so unused to receiving themselves. Sure, they both love each other and exchange kindnesses, but... It’s not the same as someone just straight-up telling you you’re a good boy, if you get me.

And Freddie, he doesn’t care. Those compliments mean nothing to him. But they mean everything to both Guillermo and Nandor. There’s an easiness to being with Freddie that doesn’t force either of them to confront their own issues. It’s not a thorny, obsessive love like what they share for each other. He’s pablum, but there’s a reason why pablum’s always been easy to digest.

So I think... the worst part, perhaps, of Nandor’s behavior in this episode is that, y’know, okay. He’s obsessive, he’s egocentric, he’s prone to a lil bit of pillaging, either of ancestral villages or his best friend’s boyfriend. But he’s also lonely. Like really, desperately lonely, and for something that he can’t quite seem to articulate. (It’s Guillermo, you fucking dumbass, it’s always been Guillermo.) 

And he keeps trying to fill that loneliness with increasingly fucked-up relationships (like genuinely, every single one gets worse) but it never works because he’s approaching it from the wrong angle and then... he sees Guillermo. And Guillermo seems so happy. And that hurts, but he can’t figure out why. All he knows is that he wants that. He wants to feel the way this relationship makes Guillermo feel. He wants to have that normal, easy, simple love. He wants someone to laugh with him and compliment him and bring him flowers.

And... he thinks that Freddie is the key. That Freddie is the part of this equation he’s been needing. That Freddie is some magical loneliness cure. And again, he gives up all the good things he has in the service of something he’s convinced will be better. (Nandor, as always, is the type to think the grass is greener on the other side without bothering to water his own lawn.) He gives up Marwa, and that’s easy for him. But he sacrifices his relationship with Guillermo, too, and he realizes immediately that’s not something he’s willing to trade.

I think the actual key point to Nandor’s actions in this episode is when he offers Freddie to Guillermo. It’s... a little unclear if he wanted Guillermo to have him or if he wanted to share him, but I think that’s what makes it really obvious here that this was never about Freddie. He doesn’t really seem to care about giving Freddie up here or how Freddie might care about the situation. He only cares about making Guillermo stop being so damn sad.

(And, moreover, he wants Guillermo to stop making him feel so guilty. “Stop saying things I have done!” indeed, Nandor.)

And in the end, he gives Freddie up so Guillermo will stop being upset with him. Not because he really has come to true realizations about Marwa or Freddie or why he’s doing any of this. But because Guillermo made him feel bad and he doesn’t want to feel bad and he doesn’t want to make Guillermo feel bad, either. He gave up his Freddie with the intention that Guillermo would keep his own Freddie and only one of them would have a Freddie. He was surrendering that part of Guillermo’s life back to him.

Of course, it didn’t turn out that way, but... Nandor was willing to sacrifice a little bit of his own possessiveness so Guillermo could actually be happy. He was willing to give up at least one of his dumbass happiness schemes, even though it kind of was making him happy, because his happiness was coming at the expense of Guillermo’s own. And when Guillermo was unhappy, so was he.

It’s... not exactly real emotional fluency, but it’s getting closer. It was an oddly kind thing for him to do, even if he still doesn’t fully understand his own motivations and in the end it just made things worse. It felt, at least to him, like he was doing something selfless. We know that it was largely for selfish reasons, but there was kernel of truth to that. Nandor was willing to give up some of his own happiness so Guillermo could be happy, too, and while that was partially because Nandor’s happiness is inextricably tied to Guillermo’s now, it’s also because he genuinely wanted to make him feel better.

I think to the very end he still didn’t understand how he fucked up or why, but he did get that he hurt Guillermo... and he didn’t like that. He fixed it poorly, but he did try to fix it. And even that much of an admission is more than we got when he destroyed Nadja’s village or let Guillermo go serve Celeste. Both of those times, he obviously kind of got that he fucked up but either never admitted it or did so only under duress. This time he made the direct choice to go back on a decision because it hurt someone he loved, and he did it without his hand being forced.

It’s... a step, I suppose. I don’t know if Guillermo will see it that way. But it’s a step.

(*kneads temples* someone save me from stupid fucking vampires.)

#wwdits #wwdits s4 spoilers #wwdits meta #nandermo #it's odd because #I have so many problems with the writing in this episode and I do at times feel like I'm trying to make sense of a mess #but I actually feel like Nandor was fairly on-brand #his head is fucking stupid here but it does kind of feel like a natural progression for him #it just feels like regression for us because we are normal and understand normal human boundaries #whereas Nandor clearly does not #but if you approach it FROM HIS VERY STUPID PERSPECTIVE #I think it lines up with his overall motivations and how they've changed #now the Marwa thing and the choice to even make this an episode at all #THAT I still have problems with #and honestly just so many plot devices and so much messy writing god 4.09 was diffciult #but.... Nandor does kind of make sense even as I want to shake him

[animaniacs16]

I personally am so happy that the episode was all a dream because I’m okay with there not being macdennis but if they had confirmed Dennis as a killer i would have been devastated. I do wish they’d explore more of his emotions tho- especially since Glenn has said he misses playing those colors. Like he’s got Big Feelings! This was more of his rage- but it’s a step up that he was able to curb that rage I guess?

Also people are saying it’s joever for macdennis but like… they didn’t fight or anything right? They’re still super close- and remember Frank vs Russia? That’s still a thing

Disclaimer I’ve just been seeing people’s post about it I haven’t watched this ep but I do wish it wasn’t the finale or they’d at least end it with a scene of the gang together

#also disclaimer I haven’t seen a full Iasip episode #thank GOD it was all in Dennis’ head like I know he’s a terrible person but having him be a serial killer is too far #and not the way his character’s been heading at all #it was just a coping technique for him #a messed up one but a coping technique nonetheless #also guys. macdennis could still happen it’s not like this episode disproved it at all #maybe s17 will be macdennis season but I hope it’s more of the gang as pals #anyway I heard the first half of this episode was funny and that Glenn shines so there’s that #but again missed opportunity for a real Dennis development episode #not even macdennis just exploring Dennis’s nuances and his place in the group #post ddl you know like he really belongs to the gang #and he’s trying to express himself better #(macden moment but no callback to do you want a tissue but whatever) #so yeah I’m more chill about it than I was but we were all so hyped for this Wo #they can’t all be bangers #but overall s16 seemed to be a marked improvement compared to the past few seasons so that’s good #according to the fandom on multiple sites #anyway This Is A Comedy #Iasip #dtamhd #dennis takes a mental health day #dennis reynolds #Iasip spoilers