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fictionfromgames · 3 years

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Insurrection (SWSE)

.“This is Seven-Aurek-Six to city patrols, we need backup at the Ekrine Zoo immediately!” Ayoma shouted into the comm link. Despite not having actually authority, they still gave the rangers a through-line to real law enforcement, along with an official call-sign. The convolutions of their employment were ultimately public sector.

“Seven-Aurek-Six, you are on official channels,” dispatch droned in reply.

“Affirmative, GUF sighted, armed and headed my way now, request backup!” she panicked.

She’d already called the zoo personnel, some of whom had armed themselves with the weapons intended for reek break outs. But not her human co-workers. The realization had made her nauseas. Two of them were rangers too.

“Ayoma, they’re calling back at my desk, civilian lines,” Tharun Ex, the Besalisk zoo director yelled over to her, “Did you already use the LE comm?” “Yes!” she replied in exasperation, “Please tell them it’s for real and I’m not just some idiot playing a joke in a crisis!”

“I have been!”

Ayoma didn’t know the words for the sizes of army detachments, but there were at least a hundred humans outside, half armored and some with gauche pre-packaged propagandist holobanners. Some had been firing wildly into the air already.

“Get everyone inside, active shooter drill-style, but like, this time, do fight back as they come in!” she called down to Tharun, “This is gonna be bad either way but we’re gonna lose harder if we meet them on this!”

She ran towards the employee entrance landing in case the imperialists had been looking for a convenient place to get in, hoping for law enforcement in a what-if-i-won-the-lottery kind of way, when she saw something impossible-- that tall woman from earlier in the day (Ayoma was working doubles because of all this nonsense), back watching the Toorgas, almost exactly where she met her.

“Ma’am?! Uh, *whatwasyourname,* Ilah?!” she called out to her, jogging up.

The Kaminoan woman turned and gave her that same smile, like starlight, the kind that made her stomach feel funny in ways that weren’t related to imminent insurrection, and she just waved.

“Ilah this is the absolute worst time to visit the zoo, we closed, the GUF is outside, uhhh,” Ayoma ran a hand through her own hair, working out the best place to just hide, “I think maybe if we got you to the sublevels, you’d be safe, I’m so sorry.”

“I am not worried, Ayoma,” she said just as warm and calm, sending a wash of relief over the Mirialan that Ayoma knew was out of place given the situation.

“But you need to be, that’s the problem,” Ayoma was so tempted to take Ilah’s three-fingered hands and pull her away from the loping toorgas, “There’s armed and marching GUF outside and they’re staring right at the z--”

An airspeeder crashed into the toorga exhibit, but given the space the animals needed, they managed not to hit anyone, toorgas included. Ayoma drew her blaster and set her stance to aim-- it was not as close as she was used to firing, but she was hesitant to get closer.

Three humans clambered out of the now-wrecked airspeeder, each with blasters of their own, and checked themselves while Ayoma fired.

It was not protocol. Blasters were for the dangerous animals, not people. And she hadn’t given them warning, but they had rifles and GUF armor. They weren’t here to see the baby reek.

Only one was even looking around, the other two were still checking the ship when she fired, but she got them square in the chest plate. He wasn’t down, but he looked hurt, and decidedly shocked. Thank you, she prayed silently. By the time the other two began returning fire, a peculiar thing happened.

Ilah pulled out a blue lightsaber and began parrying away their fire, even when it was aimed at Ayoma specifically.

“We should move in,” she said over the din, manipulating the laser sword with preternatural grace. Ayoma was beginning to swoon, literally.

“We should retreat!” Ayoma managed to answer, her head swimming. How was a Jedi here, in her zoo, saving her life? “There’s more at the entrance level who will get in!”

“All the more reason to take care of the situation here.”

The blaster fire swept around her as Ilah took off-- Ayoma thought the Jedi was flying, but didn’t think too long as she went for cover finally. She peeked up in order to get the shot, but one GUF goon was now without a rifle, and the others were trying to back away from a whole Jedi swinging at them. But there was something conspicuous in the way Ilah wasn’t murdering them. Now that they were distracted, Ayoma snuck around to get into a decent pistol range.

Over the hum of that legendary weapon, the ranger heard Ilah... talking them down? That can’t be right! Ayoma sat confused.

“Your enterprise is doomed to fail,” blaster fire, parry, repeat, ”Rather than be here, taking over the very obviously crucial target of a city zoo, you could be at home with your families,” rifle clatter, “There is a worthier cause in peace than profit,” now, just the sound of the saber.

“You’re right,” one of the humans said through a cheap helmet, “I don’t know why we’re here.”

“Miss Ayoma, is there an emergency exit nearby by which they might egress?” Ilah inquired in those same exact beach-shore tones, soft waves of sense and sensibility in every word.

“Yeah, I gotta unlock it,” Ayoma stood, “It uh... Was secured earlier, for, ya know...”

Ayoma waved her pistol around helplessly at the would-be soldiers. Ilah chuckled, causing Ayoma’s purple skin to deepen. She went over to the emergency lift for their level, manually unlocked it, and let the imperialists... just go. But the clicks of it relocking and a deep breath made her feel better.

“Ilah, why are you here?” she turned back to the seemingly ever peaceful woman.

“I had to.” she shrugged, then folded her arms.

“What does that mean?”

“I sensed something about you.”

“What does that mean?!”

“Come, I fear the next part will be far less pleasant,” Ilah began walking into the zoo while Ayoma stood agape. The ranger had almost forgotten her comm-link.

“Seven-Aurek-Six to zoo broadcast,” she said through a fog of shock, “Reinforcements are here.”

****************

Ilah Pei

A true once-in-an-era occurrence, this Kaminoan Jedi has taken up the path of a Consular, feeling as though the Jedi had many warriors and far fewer diplomats as in ages past. Removed from the center of galactic politics has relegated her to small, informal goodwill missions rather than proper politics. She has shown great aptitude as a peacemaker in more than one instance where even last measure violence would have created intractable situations for generations to come, such as the Arkanian Situation in 119 ABY. Ilah is one of the few extant Jedi who essentially grew up as one. As atypical as it is, she was foreseen by the Jedi who would become her own master, and was subsequently adopted when the question of what to do with a Force-sensitive Kaminoan came up.

She was given as much education on her own people as was feasibly obtained and could be taught by an offworlder. She is thus a bit more personable than your typical Kaminoan, rather less servile and instead driven to the cause of peace.

That did not stop her from mastering Ataru, but that’s another story.

Ilah Pei Kaminoan Jedi 7/ Jedi Knight 7

Str 10 Dex 15 Con 12 Int 14 Wis 16 Cha 18

Feats 1 Weapon Finesse 2b Rapid Strike 3 Force Training 4b Skill Focus UTF 6 Force Training 6b Assured attack 9 Follow Through 12 Force Training

Force Powers 12 Rebuke Hawkbat Swoop Saber Swarm Disarming Slash Sarlacc Sweep Surge Move Object Mind Trick x3 Farseeing Force Thrust

Force Techniques Force Point Recovery Improved Mind Trick Improved Move Light Object

Talents Block Deflect Adept Negotiator Force Persuasion Shii-Cho Ataru Vigilance Sheltering Stance

Skills Trained Use the Force +21 Jump +12 Knowledge: Life Sciences +14 Knowledge: Galactic Lore +14

Pontite Crystal in standard lightsaber

#Star Wars Saga Edition

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10oclockdot · 7 years

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10 More Times I Spun the Ol' Wheels of Thought

1. Gaming is puppetry.

2a. Donald Trump was the biggest liar in the room (Politifact confirmed, we recall), so he called Ted Cruz "Lyin' Ted" so that no one could call him Lyin' Trump. Donald Trump was the crookedest person in the room, so he called Hillary Clinton "Crooked Hillary" so that no one could call him Crooked Donnie. Has there always been this much projection in our politics? Has each side always impugned the other side with their own worst fault? Maybe all this time that Democrats have been telling white working-class Republican voters that they were voting against their interests, we were disavowing the fact that increasingly the Democratic party was also ignoring white working-class interests.

2b. Throughout the entire election cycle, popular wisdom held that Donald Trump's takeover of the Republican party signaled that the GOP was in ruinous disarray. This was the thing liberals got most wrong, because really, it was the Left that was in disarray. The Republican party successfully rebranded itself without losing very many of its constituents. Meanwhile, it was the Left that lost all its key elections. It was the Left that nominated a pro-war pro-Wall-Street neo-liberal. It was the Left that, over the course of a couple decades, completely abandoned its once-time blue-collar base. It was the Left that ended up alienating its rural voters by stereotyping them as backward, sexist, racist, homophobic gun nuts, rather than working collaboratively with them to get them on board with the intersectional causes of social justice. And it's the Left that doesn't really have a coherent agenda going forward to reclaim the voters it lost. After all, fighting poverty ought to be the central tentpole of any social justice agenda, and yet Democrats never seem to talk about white poverty. To be sure, rural America bears some of the responsibility to educate itself about structural prejudice and microaggressions and purge itself of xenophobia, Islamophobia, homophobia, racism, and such, BUT I think it's reasonable to say that the Left must stand in solidarity with rural America before we can expect rural America to stand in solidarity with other Leftist causes.

3. I used to think that I could measure the rectitude of a given ideological framework by examining its limits or margins. I believed that if there were sexist Christians (and there are, to be sure), that invalidated the whole of Christianity. I believed that, at its heart, there were no good Christians, because churches bred or maintained or at least turned a blind eye toward patriarchy. But now I'm beginning to think that no ideology, no matter how radical, centrist, or conservative, is very good at policing its own margins. It appears that there are plenty of terrible people under the big tent of the left. There are plenty of people who call themselves feminists who are nevertheless racist or pro-capitalist or cultural appropriators or trans-exclusionary or anti-science or anti-logic or what-have-you. Not to mention that human beings are, en masse, liars, hypocrites, manipulative, self-serving, and prone to mental laziness. How, then, do we honestly judge a social movement? By what statistical method can we control for the ignoble outliers in every movement, so that we hold ourselves to the same fair standards to which we hold others?

4. In the age of the internet, we model the distribution of knowledge in terms of the network or the viral outbreak. Through these models and metaphors, we track trends on twitter, shares of videos, and reblogs of posts. We can map the spread of an idea. What would happen if we applied this kind of model retroactively to earlier times in history? Could we map the network of papal proclaimation spreading from Rome to local Catholic parishes? What was the rate at which scientific discoveries traveled from the Arab world back to Europe in the middle ages? What was the "bandwidth" of the silk road? Did the know-how of the bronze age or the iron age spread quickly or slowly? What carried this knowledge and why?

5. As the resources on the planet dwindle, the markets for stamp collecting, wine collecting, art collecting, antique collecting, et al continue to prosper, and the value of the rarest and most prized objects within these markets continues to increase. Why so? I argue that it's because as there's less land and gold and other natural resources for each wealthy person to own, the market must imbue other objects with value. Consider the raw material value of the paper, glue, and ink in an album of very valuable stamps. It's minimal. But what majestic alchemy that market forces in the modern and post-modern era have imbued such worthless scraps with such enormous social value! Never has it been possible to own so much social value in so little matter.

6. Don't tell me that El Chapo's cartel functions like a corporation unless you're also willing to say that corporations function like El Chapo's cartel. Capitalism functions the same whether the market is legal or illegal.

7a. I would be much more interested in moral philosophy if its sole aim were to determine WHY we make the intuitive moral judgments that we make, rather than to propose some code of moral behavior. I'm not interested in any moral philosopher who comes up with a set of reasons for pulling or not pulling the lever in the trolley problem. I'm interested in whoever could tell me WHY I'm more likely to pull the lever than to push the large man. What calculations is my brain doing? What's it weighing? Where did this moral architecture come from? What was its adaptive advantage? What ancient ancestral dilemmas gave it its strongest leanings? If our brains' snap moral judgments don't have much to do with utilitarian mathematics, what DO they rely on? Are our intuitions outmoded for our present way of life? If so, which ones? Do some which don't comport perfectly with cold logic nevertheless retain an adaptive advantage?

7b. Because if we could figure this out, we'd be able to understand our politics VASTLY better than we do now. Some time ago, I wrote a post on the justice or injustice of the way Henrietta Lacks and her descendants were treated (here). I came to the conclusion that ultimately our moral judgments all come back to one thing: poverty is wrong. Full stop. I don't think that anyone feels, deep down, that poverty is a good thing. People might think it's natural or to be expected or necessary or deserved or whatever, but no one, deep down, considers it good. BUT, poverty is everywhere. SO: if poverty is wrong, BUT it's everywhere, the brain has to do some complex gymnastics to account for that. Perhaps the individual decides that poverty is usually the result of sin or some bad choice, and thus poverty is merited and deserved. Perhaps the individual decides that poverty is the result of greed, and thus that greed must be combatted so that resources may be distributed more equitably. Perhaps the individual decides that poverty is structurally necessary for the economy to function (since it provides an incentive to work?), and therefore any attempt to eliminate it would be disastrous. Maybe we say they're lazy. Maybe we say that they live in a "backwards" culture that doesn't know any better. Maybe we tell ourselves it doesn't matter because they live far away. Maybe we point out that even if we gave all of our income away, poverty would continue, so we're powerless to stop it. Maybe we blame poverty on a desert (they should move!). Maybe we blame the number of kids they have (too many mouths to feed!). And so on. By giving poverty a cover story (a myth), we give it a reason for being. And thus we make poverty reason-able to ourselves.

7c. I suggest that because our inborn aversion to poverty so powerfully and diametrically conflicts with the realities of poverty, that we have built up a whole superstructure of religions, philosophers, storytellers, and pundits and grown them over millennia to justify poverty to us. We do not spend so much time rationalizing or explaining away poverty because we believe, deep down, that poverty is acceptable. We do it because deep down we know that we know that we know for certain that poverty is terrible, and thus our justifications for it must be powerful and constantly repeated. "Everybody's giving a reason why all these people are in poverty, therefore poverty seems reasonable, therefore I guess it isn't that big of a moral ill." (By the way, what other areas of the status quo have we constructed vast industries to rationalize? Rather than spend the same energy to change them?)

7d. Perhaps, deep down, all of our complex moral judgments boil down to very basic innate brain chemistry. Poverty = bad, death = bad, hurt = bad. Stuff like that. But now, thrust into the emergent complexity of the world around us, grappling with our vast knowledge of this world, of having regular and precise news of stuff happening at every point on the planet (historically amazing and pretty new for our species), we have to come up with a constant stream of justifications and rationalizations to keep the bad-alarms from going off in our brains constantly, all the time. And because these ideological prostheses of justification are so numerous and so elaborate, we think that THOSE are moral philosophy. But I think moral philosophy should concern itself instead with the question of why do we feel the NEED to come up with these incredibly complex systems of "that's ok, that's not ok, that's sometimes ok but only if...".

8. The harder we are to impress, the easier we are to oppress.

9. Dear Trump cabinet: It's becoming clear that he chose nearly all of you to function as his useful idiots. He selected you precisely for your lack of education, your dearth of relevant qualifications, and your almost-certain incompetence to fix complex 21st-century problems. He chose you because he wants to be able to think he's the smartest guy in the room. And the 1% always profits when the government is weak and inattentive to the needs of the 99%. Trump isn't your teammate. He forces you to embarrass yourself to prove your loyalty to him, but he has no loyalty to you. He's setting you up for failure and he's ready to blame you for everything. He probably laughs at you behind his back. He hopes you'll never realize what contempt he has for you. But there's hope. Because one day you'll figure it out. And when you do, America's best scientific and political minds will be waiting, secretly, in the wings, to help you take him down.

10. Dear Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences: Just because Nixon won the presidency doesn't mean you have to give Best Picture to Oliver!.

#10 new

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re-definir-me · 5 years

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MAIO

LIVROS

Li só dois livros inteiros em Maio, e to na metade do terceiro, que pra ser sincera eu parei na metade do mês e não voltei a pegar ainda. Todos são da V.E. Schwab.

A Darker Shade of Magic - 7/10 - o livro me conquistou literalmente no primeiro parágrafo mas eu demorei me afeiçoar aos personagens. A história te suga pro universo dela e é rápida de ler, embora os nomes e a mitologia demorem entrar na cabeça.

A Gathering of Shadows - 8/10 - gostei muito mais que o primeiro e li de um dia para o outro, muita coisa acontece e a história se move mais rápido, é bem um gosto do que está por vir e serve mais para ligação do primeiro para o terceiro livro do que para mover a narrativa pra frente. Geralmente isso é ruim mas, nesse caso, funciona bem e mantém o interesse.

A Conjuring of Light - ?? - ainda to na metade do livro então não posso dizer com certeza, até agora o ritmo da narrativa sobe e desce, não é muito linear e embora eu já tenha lido bastante e tido meu coração quebrado uma ou duas vezes pelos acontecimentos do livro, não teve nada que me tenha feito dizer "wow, puta livro".

SÉRIES

Foi um mês fraco pra cultura pop no geral pra mim, porque não tive muito tempo nem muita energia, but..

Game of Thrones (oitava temporada) - 5/10 - esse 5 é só por causa do terceiro episódio, que foi bom, mas de resto eu to só feliz que a série acabou porque nos últimos anos tava indo de mal a pior.

The Society (primeira temporada) - 5/10 - eu gosto da temática da série, e acho que ela tem pontos positivos, mas também não é nada demais. Dá pra ver em um dia e se apegar a um personagem ou outro, mas não é daquelas que vai doer se cancelarem do nada.

The 100 (sexta temporada acompanhando) - 10/10 - a gente já sabe nesse ponto que the 100 nunca erra aos meus olhos, assisti os primeiros episódios e, embora tenha ficado um pouquiiiiiinho desencorajada com o primeiro, o segundo já voltou com tudo e não teve um episódio que esteve abaixo das minhas expectativas desde então.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine (final da sexta temporada) - 8/10 - não gostei tanto dessa temporada quanto das últimas e não sei se estive muito no clima pra esse tipo de comédia por esses tempos, ainda acho a série incrível tho.

Tuca e Bertie (primeiros episódios da primeira temporada) - 7/10 - o que me atraiu pra série foi que é do mesmo time que faz Bojack e eu sou apaixonada em Bojack. É engraçada e tem seu charme, funciona mais ou menos do mesmo jeito que Bojack de tratar assuntos complicados de maneira cômica, mas vai por um lado mais leve.

Lucifer (quarta temporada) - 8/10 - eu preferi muito mais agora que ta com a Netflix?????? primeiro que saíram os episódios todos de uma vez, dá pra maratonar ser perder o interesse, segundo que foram só 10 episódios e o que mais me incomodava em Lucifer era que as temporadas eram gigantes e por mais que eu gostasse, eles não tinham história pra encher tanto episódio, a série parecia que não ia pra frente, funcionou muito melhor agora e eu amei.

Run BTS (terceira temporada acompanhando e primeiros episódios da primeira) - 9/10 - por ser uma coisa mais game show e tals dá pra ver fora de ordem, então assisti primeiro os mais recentes da temporada que ta saindo esse ano, e depois fui voltar no começo. Tem horas que eu real rio alto e é muito raro isso acontecer, mas ainda sim tem um episódio ou outro que eu acho o tema chatinho, aí não dá pra dar nota máxima.

MUSICA

Hurts 2B Human - Pink - 8/10 - por mais que eu goste da pink, tem poucas musicas nesse album que me conquistaram até agora, mas pode ser daqueles que crescem em mim depois. As preferidas foram Circle Game (porque ˜˜emoções˜˜) e 90 Days (honestamente por causa da parte de Wrabel que honestamente que voz né).

Dress Up - The Regrettes - 7/10 - como uma música sozinha, eu gosto, mas espero que elas variem um pouco pro próximo album, porque por mais que eu seja apaixonada pelo estilo delas, tem dias que parece tudo igual.

Father of the Bride - Vampire Weekend - 9/10 - eu amei amei amei o album, eles cresceram tanto nesse hiatus e mesmo assim mantiveram a essência e tem umas letras que puta merda né. As preferidas são Rich Man (tenta ouvir essa música enquanto cozinha, uma delícia), Sunflower (porque eu sou básica assim) e Jerusalem, New York, Berlin (porque choros).

Dear. - Cavetown - 9/10 - sim, só o EP porque eu comecei a conhecer cavetown agora e foi esse ep que ficou em replay no meu celular esses últimos tempos. Talk To Me não sai da minha cabeça mais.

Igor - Tyler the Creator - 5/10 - é, sou uma das pessoas que não gostou da mudança drástica. Nada nunca vai chegar a ser flower boy de novo e eu tenho que aceitar.

Map of the Soul: Persona - BTS - 10/10 - não é o melhor album de BTS mas eu ainda assim gosto de todas as musicas, não pulo nenhuma literalmente e isso é uma raridade tremenda pra mim. A preferida ta mudando desde que escutei a primeira vez, agora ta sendo Intro: Persona, mas até dois dias atrás era Dionysius, então assim, todas são minhas preferidas e é isso.

Pretty. Odd. - Panic! - 10/10 - sim, eu sei que esse é velho mas me peguei escutando no repeat esse mês, é meu segundo album preferido do Panic!. She Had The World ainda é uma das melhores musicas já feitas na história do mundo e eu descobri uma nova obsessão com I Have Friends in Holy Spaces que eu nunca previ.

Mono. - RM - 8/10 - eu não parei na musica de bts e obviamente fui ouvir o trabalho solo deles, por mais que eu goste muito das partes do Namjoon nas musicas da banda, eu não gostei taaaaanto dessa mixtape, acho um teco cringe ele cantando porque to acostumada com a voz dele de rapper já. Ainda sim, seoul (porque obvio), badbye (mood demais pra chuva) e forever rain (outro mood pros dias angsty) são do caralho.

AGUST D - AGUST D - 10/10 - eu amo amo amo amo amo amo o trabalho solo do Yoongi posso escutar toda hora o tempo todo e não canso, a preferida provavelmente é 140503 at Dawn mas tem mudado sempre.

<atrás/além> - O Terno - 8/10 - por mais que eu goste dO Terno, não foi meu album preferido, mas eu também disse isso do último e depois ele cresceu em mim, então não sei. A preferida por enquanto tem sido O Bilhete, mas gosto bastante de Pegando Leve também.

FILMES

Chega a ser vergonhoso o número de filmes que eu vi esse mês.

The Last Summer (2019), William Bindley - 4/10 - coming of age do Netflix com o KJ Apa como protagonista, não sei o que eu esperava disso.

Chuva é cantoria na aldeia dos mortos (2018), João Salaviza e Renée Nader Messora - 8/10 - vi no festival de Viana e adorei, tem uma sensibilidade tremenda, e tanto o começo como o fim me marcaram imenso visualmente falando.

See You Yesterday (2019), Stefan Bristol - 6,5/10 - eu esperava outra coisa e, mesmo que tenha entendido o final e o motivo de ser como é, não posso dizer que gostei.

Água Mole (2017), Laura Gonçalves e Xá Ramires - 8/10 - finalmente vi essa curta e sim, é tudo que ela merece ser. A parte da mãe falando pra onde os filhos foram, com a animação deles voando da saia dela, e ela apegada à aldeia, uh, right in the feels.

Ensaio (2018), Mariana Santana - 8/10 - mereceu levar o prêmio de primeiro lugar, era de longe o melhor.

Aladdin (2019), Guy Ritchie - 6/10 - foi bom porque eu vi no cinema, se tivesse visto em casa não tinha gostado, ta seguindo o modelo Disney desses últimos tempos, incrível visualmente mas nada demais no fim das contas. Por mais empoderadora que a musica da Jasmine tenha sido, ficou muito pop comparado a trilha sonora original e destoou, sei que foi feita pra ser comercial mas doeu na hora.

Quem me dera em vez de uma câmera ter uma mosca (2018), Cláudia Craveiro Santos - 7/10 - estupidamente poético e também mereceu o prêmio que ganhou.

O pretérito revelado (2019), Pedro Vaz - 6,5/10 - nope, o nosso era melhor e sim eu to amarga.

VIDA

- Gravei o Cartas Sem Remetente em Tomar durante a primeira semana de Maio. Muito a se falar, pouca paciência pra reviver.

- Fui para Lisboa uns dias encontrar o Vitor e passear um pouco, uma das melhores coisas do meu mês, de longe.

- Fui para Viana do Castelo com a Marisa e a Mary para o Encontro de Cinema de Viana, onde o Guardiã de Jasmim estava competindo. O primeiro dia foi uma delícia, o segundo nem tanto.

- Comecei a fazer a montagem do meu projeto final (e detestei grande parte dela).

- Fiquei obcecada da noite pro dia por BTS porque queria descobrir o nome de um deles e no fim de dois dias depois de cair nesse buraco até aprendendo coreano eu estava. No regrets, porque tem sido tudo que me faz feliz ultimamente.

- Aprendi o alfabeto coreano e comecei a aprender a falar e umas coisas básicas.

- Fui participar do Recidiva, projeto final da Mary e da Marisa.

#2019 #maio

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othersportsnews-blog · 7 years

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Ranking the best thing about every 2017 MLB All-Star - SweetSpot

New Post has been published on https://othersportsnews.com/ranking-the-best-thing-about-every-2017-mlb-all-star-sweetspot/

Ranking the best thing about every 2017 MLB All-Star - SweetSpot

Last year, I ranked all the All-Stars by how fun they are to watch and was immediately and deservedly destroyed by Phillies fans for the low ranking of Odubel Herrera. Hey, would you watch Phillies games if you didn’t have to?

This year, I was going to rank the players by ability, but that’s too similar to the MLBRank Top 100 we just did.

Instead, I’ve ranked them based on something akin to the “it” factor, based on my own complicated proprietary formula that I’m not going divulge. Suffice it to say, in some regards this is the “Star” part of “All-Star.” Each player description includes something that they’re the best at or what makes them so good.

All-Star ranks: 1-10 | 11-20 | 21-30 | 31-40 | 41-50 | 51-60 | 61-70

1. Bryce Harper, RF, Washington Nationals: He has to be No. 1, right? After all, he led all players in All-Star votes, he’s putting MVP-caliber numbers on a first-place team and he even praised his wife a few days ago for waiting out what he called a “lame rain delay” –- when it didn’t rain for two hours. But what’s he the best at? He doesn’t hit the most home runs. He doesn’t hit the ball the longest or the hardest. He isn’t the best defensive right fielder or the fastest guy. You know what he’s the best at? Hair. He has wonderful, charismatic hair — the kind of hair to dream about. It’s almost a shame he can’t play without a hat, just to see that hair.

2. Aaron Judge, RF, New York Yankees: The second-leading vote-getter and the best player in the American League in the first half, the rookie is a large human with the strength of a dozen men. You know what he’s best at? Hitting the ball hard. He has the highest average exit velocity in the majors, the four hardest-hit balls of the season and the longest home run.

3. Max Scherzer, RHP, Washington Nationals: He’s the best bad boy in the league. Clayton Kershaw seems like a nice guy out there, a laid-back dude from Texas who will crush your spirit with fastballs on the corner and unhittable breaking stuff. Indeed, Kershaw is like a businessman doing his job. But Scherzer, he’ll glare at opponents or the umpire and stomp around the mound and sometimes just challenge batters with a fastball down the middle, because, you know, he just wants to see if they can hit it or not. Ultimately, he’s the best at not allowing hits: His .163 average allowed is easily the lowest among starting pitchers.

4. Clayton Kershaw, LHP, Los Angeles Dodgers: I mean, he’s pretty good at doing his job. He has given up more home runs this season, but his ERA remains low because he has the highest strand rate among starting pitchers.

5. Cody Bellinger, OF/1B, Los Angeles Dodgers: The other rookie sensation has been one of the best at pulling the ball in the air, which explains all the home runs. He has hit 18 of his home runs to right field; only Mike Moustakas has hit more to the pull field.

6. Mike Trout, CF, Los Angeles Angels: He is injured, and he won’t play in the game, but Trout is simply the best at being the best. If Judge falters in the second half of the season and Trout comes back after the break and hits like he did before hurting his thumb (1.203 OPS), don’t be surprised if Trout ends up as part of the MVP conversation.

7. George Springer, RF, Houston Astros: Springer makes his first All-Star appearance after entering the final two days before the break on pace for 50 home runs, 112 RBIs and 138 runs. Considering he has done all that from the leadoff spot, he can become the best ever at producing power from the top of the lineup. The record for most home runs from the leadoff spot is 39 by Alfonso Soriano in 2006. The most RBIs: 100 by Darin Erstad in 2000.

8. Jose Altuve, 2B, Houston Astros: He’s the best at getting hits and is on his way to leading the American League for the fourth straight season, all while aiming for his third batting title.

9. Carlos Correa, SS, Houston Astros: You might have noticed the Astros are having a good season. After hitting .233 without much power in April, Correa has had an OPS well over 1.000 ever since. Don’t fall behind to him: In hitters’ counts, he’s absolutely deadly, ranking third in the majors with a 1.686 OPS.

10. Chris Sale, LHP, Boston Red Sox: Well, he’s the best at harnessing passive-aggressive attitudes toward throwback jerseys. And thanks to that deadly fastball/slider combo and the ability to command both pitches within the strike zone, he has the highest strikeout rate in the majors. He also leads the league with 12 double-digit strikeout games and has a chance at the record of 23 in one season, a total shared by Nolan Ryan and Randy Johnson (twice).

Mookie Betts adds one of the slickest gloves in baseball to a powerful bat. Winslow Townson/USA Today Sports

All-Star Ranks: 1-10 | 11-20 | 21-30 | 31-40 | 41-50 | 51-60 | 61-70

11. Mookie Betts, RF, Boston Red Sox: By the defensive metrics, he has been the most valuable defensive player in the majors, leading all players in both defensive runs saved and ultimate zone rating. Oh, he can hit a little too, and he is younger than Judge.

12. Nolan Arenado, 3B, Colorado Rockies: He hasn’t had an explosive season at the plate but also hasn’t had one of his patented hot streaks. Is anyone better at charging bunts or fielding those little tricklers? I mentioned this in a recent post: Arenado has a chance to become the best defender of all time. He’s that good. Old-timers will say nobody will ever be better at third base than Brooks Robinson; but a couple of years ago, Orioles announcer Jim Palmer, who would know of such things, said Manny Machado makes plays Robinson couldn’t. And Arenado is better than Machado, so …

13. Buster Posey, C, San Francisco Giants: Don’t blame him for the season the Giants are having. I know this: Posey might be sick of baseball players doing baseball-related things in commercials, but he’s good at doing baseball-related things on the field. Most notably, he has more walks than strikeouts, which makes me happy.

14. Kenley Jansen, RHP, Los Angeles Dodgers: He’s the best at this mind-boggling statistic: 56 strikeouts and two walks. Insane.

15. Paul Goldschmidt, 1B, Arizona Diamondbacks: I would say he’s getting so much attention for not getting attention that he’s no longer underrated, except he didn’t win the All-Star vote at first base. So he’s still the best at being underrated.

16. Giancarlo Stanton, RF, Miami Marlins: He still exudes the scent of superstar, even if he’s not quite at that level. He remains much-watch TV, because you never know when he might crack the longest home run ever hit. Also, Google “Giancarlo Stanton shirtless” and you’ll realize he’s the best at resembling a Greek god.

17. Joey Votto, 1B, Cincinnati Reds: He’s the best at the most important thing a hitter can do: getting on base. He leads all hitters in on-base percentage over the past three seasons. Of course, we know what makes him so good: He has the second-lowest chase rate in the majors. He also is taking advantage of the lively ball, leading the National League in slugging percentage while on pace for 47 home runs. And keep this in mind: He has had monster second halves over the past two seasons.

18. Francisco Lindor, SS, Cleveland Indians: He has had a weird season. He jumped out of the gate with a .309 average and seven home runs in April. But the bat has tailed off since, perhaps as he got too homer-happy. Still, nobody exceeds his joy and enthusiasm or his flair in the field. And he became one of the faces of the game in October.

19. Corey Seager, SS, Los Angeles Dodgers: He has been compared to Cal Ripken for his size and ability to play shortstop and, like Ripken, he’s not flashy. Bellinger’s hot start also has stolen some of his thunder, even though Seager is producing a .900 OPS. What makes Seager so good: Even though he rarely pulls the ball, he has the strength to power the ball out to center and left-center; nine of his 13 home runs have gone to center and two to left field.

20. Corey Kluber, RHP, Cleveland Indians: Since he started on Sunday, he won’t pitch in the All-Star Game, which means we won’t get to see the most unhittable curveball in the game. Batters are hitting .099 against it, with a 58.7 percent strikeout rate. As Mark Simon recently detailed, Kluber’s curveball is the best put-away pitch in the majors for starting pitchers.

You never know which of Yu Darvish’s many pitches is coming next. Stephen Brashear/Getty Images

All-Star ranks: 1-10 | 11-20 | 21-30 | 31-40 | 41-50 | 51-60 | 61-70

21. Yu Darvish, RHP, Texas Rangers: Like Kluber, he pitched on Sunday and is ineligible for the game. His best weapon these days is his slider, which he’s throwing a lot more than last season. He might have the deepest repertoire of pitches in the game (although I don’t know why he doesn’t ditch the cutter, which has never been his best pitch and off which batters are slugging .589 this season).

22. Daniel Murphy, 2B, Washington Nationals: He’s the best at showing us the importance of launch angle. A slightly-below-average starter for the Mets, he transformed his swing mid-career to become one of the best hitters in the game.

23. Justin Turner, 3B, Los Angeles Dodgers: Like Murphy, a mid-career swing change has turned him into an All-Star. He’s crushing left-handers this season to the tune of a .418/.505/.734 line with a home run every 13.2 at-bats, compared to one every 71 at-bats vs. righties.

24. Robinson Cano, 2B, Seattle Mariners: The future Hall of Famer toils in obscurity these days, but still puts up big numbers. You appreciate his greatness watching him on a regular basis. He can look terrible on one pitch, with a weak, half-hearted swing, and then crush the next pitch for a home run. It has long been said about him, but he’s the best at making the game look easy. It’s not easy.

25. Zack Greinke, RHP, Arizona Diamondbacks: He’s maybe the smartest pitcher in the game, not just with his ability to manipulate velocity –- taking a little off here, adding a little bit here -– but he’s also the master of getting batters to swing at pitches off the plate. Greinke has the third-best chase rate in the majors even though he doesn’t have a splitter or high-powered slider like Scherzer or Kluber that typically get batters to chase.

26. Yadier Molina, C, St. Louis Cardinals: He’s not much of a threat with the bat these days and even failed last season to win a Gold Glove for the first time since 2007, but his reputation for defensive excellence is cemented in history and will eventually be rewarded with a call from Cooperstown.

27. Gary Sanchez, C, New York Yankees: He was all the rage down the stretch last year after being called up in August. Although Judge has stolen all the attention in 2017, Sanchez quietly earned an All-Star berth. When he connects, the ball goes: He actually has the second-longest average home run distance behind only Kendrys Morales.

28. Dallas Keuchel, LHP, Houston Astros: He was having another Cy Young-caliber season before getting injured. Nobody pounds the bottom of the strike zone and gets ground balls like this guy, a refreshing change of pace in this era of pitchers trying to strike out everybody.

29. (Tie) Andrew Miller, LHP, Cleveland Indians; Craig Kimbrel, RHP, Boston Red Sox: Fastball, breaking ball, swing, miss, sit down.

30. Stephen Strasburg, RHP, Washington Nationals: He still throws hard and still has the great curveball, but his changeup has now become his dominant pitch. Batters hit .109 against it last year and are .101 against it this season, and it’s the reason he has been a little better against left-handed batters the past two seasons.

Charlie Blackmon’s facial hair is unmatched in the majors. Christian Petersen/Getty Images

All-Star Ranks: 1-10 | 11-20 | 21-30 | 31-40 | 41-50 | 51-60 | 61-70

31. Charlie Blackmon, CF, Colorado Rockies: I mean, it’s a stiff field, but nobody beats him for bushiest beard, in part because he also complements it with an impressive mullet — which he pronounces “mu-lay.” I am not making that up. As teammate Carlos Gonzalez said, “He’s weird.”

32. Jose Ramirez, 3B, Cleveland Indians: He’ll be moving up on this list if he keeps ripping the cover off the ball. Ramirez’s contact skills make him one of the best two-strike hitters in the league; only Harper and Judge have a better slugging percentage.

33. Nelson Cruz, DH, Seattle Mariners: Nobody has more home runs since 2014, and only Arenado and Edwin Encarnacion have more RBIs. Few are better at hunting out fastballs than Cruz, who is hitting .341 and slugging .627 against them in 2017.

34. Miguel Sano, 3B, Minnesota Twins: Few players have all-field power like Sano. He has pulled eight home runs, hit seven to center and five to the opposite field.

35. Robbie Ray, LHP, Arizona Diamondbacks: Too high? Hey, watch him pitch. He’s good. He’s also on my fantasy team, and it’s my list. Only James Paxton and Sale have a higher fastball velocity among left-handed starters.

36. Chris Archer, RHP, Tampa Bay Rays: Great personality, big-time fastball and that wipeout slider. And, please, stop with the trade rumors on this guy.

37. Ryan Zimmerman, 1B, Washington Nationals: Once a star, Zimmerman battled injuries and looked washed-up last season. Then again, maybe he just had a hot April. His OPS by month: 1.345, .905, .791, .583. He’s aggressive at the plate but has been one of the best in production on pitches out of the strike zone, hitting .311/.411/.547.

38. Salvador Perez, C, Kansas City Royals: He’s making his fifth consecutive All-Star appearance and having his best season at the plate, which is pretty amazing because the notoriously aggressive hitter is swinging at more pitchers than ever. In fact, at 47.4 percent, he has the highest chase rate on pitches outside the strike zone. That makes him the best at having a terrible approach and yet still being on pace to hit 34 home runs.

39. Carlos Martinez, RHP, St. Louis Cardinals: At times, he seems ready to make the leap and become a Cy Young contender, but his inconsistent changeup means left-handers can still do some serious damage against him. When he’s on, his mid-to-upper 90s fastball (he has third-best average fastball velocity among starters) and devastating slider are enough to dominate.

40. Marcell Ozuna, LF, Miami Marlins: The fans recognized his .316/.374/.566 first half by voting him in as a starter, which means he’ll start for the second straight All-Star Game (he started as an injury replacement last year). He’s at best feasting on fastballs, so don’t fall behind in the count. After a 1-0 count, he has the second-highest wOBA in the majors after Judge.

Dellin Betances’ size and stuff makes him extremely intimidating. Rich Schultz/Getty Images

All-Star ranks: 1-10 | 11-20 | 21-30 | 31-40 | 41-50 | 51-60 | 61-70

41. Dellin Betances, RHP, New York Yankees: He has to be the most intimidating pitcher in baseball, especially this season when he doesn’t always know where his upper-90s heater is headed. He’s averaging 16.8 K’s per nine innings (and 8.3 walks!), but his fastball/slider combo is almost unhittable: When batters do swing, they miss 45 percent of the time.

42. Lance McCullers Jr., RHP, Houston Astros: The son of the former big leaguer is a rising star thanks to one of the best curveballs in the business: a hard, sharp-breaking pitch that averages 86 mph and thus resembles a slider. He throws it 46 percent of the time, and with good reason: batters are hitting .204 against it, which is part of why he’s so effective against left-handed batters. It also has helped him to the highest ground ball rate among qualified starters.

43. Luis Severino, RHP, New York Yankees: Remember when everyone wanted to move him to the bullpen? This is why you give a pitcher every opportunity to prove himself as a starter. Severino pitches off his fastball — at 97.2 mph average velocity, it’s the fastest of any starting pitcher –- which sets up a wipeout slider that has held batters to a .205 average with 38.5 percent strikeout rate.

44. Michael Brantley, LF, Cleveland Indians: One of the best All-Star stories after missing almost all of 2016 with shoulder problems, including a second surgery in August that involved re-anchoring the muscle to the bone. The power numbers are a little thin, but he’s hitting .300 again because he’s one of the best contact guys around, ranking in the top 10 in lowest swing-and-miss rate.

45. Mike Moustakas, 3B, Kansas City Royals: So this is interesting. The year the Royals won the World Series, a big deal was made about Moustakas salvaging his career by finally learning to hit to the opposite field. Well, he’s back to pulling everything and has already hit a career-high 25 home runs, including 22 to right field, the most pulled home runs in the majors.

46. Michael Fulmer, RHP, Detroit Tigers: Isn’t it something that of all those Mets pitching prospects, the one they traded away ends up being the best? Fulmer is a bit of an oxymoron in today’s game, succeeding despite ranking 56th of 74 qualified starters in strikeout rate. He’s not a finesse guy, however, as his bread-and-butter pitch is a sinking fastball that averages 95.8 mph, making him one of the hardest-throwing starting pitchers.

47. Wade Davis, RHP, Chicago Cubs: Over the past four seasons, he’s 21-4 with a 1.27 ERA. What makes it so hard to score runs off him? He has allowed just four home runs in 212 innings in that span. Unlike most closers, he has three pitches: fastball, cutter and curveball, all with a strikeout rate of 30 percent or higher, so he’ll throw any of them at any time.

48. Justin Upton, LF, Detroit Tigers: He’s making his fourth All-Star appearance. Is that surprising? He still has that elite bat speed that allows him to go on some notorious hot streaks. Need an example? He had a good April and good June, sandwiched around a 40-strikeout May.

49. Jake Lamb, 3B, Arizona Diamondbacks: The players voted him in as the backup at third base over Kris Bryant, Anthony Rendon and Turner. What he does best is murder right-handed pitching, with a .317/.413/.601 slash line to go with 16 of his 20 home runs.

50. Michael Conforto, OF, New York Mets: For a young hitter, Conforto has a smart, advanced approach, with a high rate of pitches per plate appearance that allows him to get into hitters’ counts. And that’s when he rakes, with the seventh-highest OPS, including a .438 batting average and .969 slugging mark.

DJ LeMahieu’s willingness to spray the ball to all fields is why he is the defending National League batting champion. AP Photo/Darron Cummings

All-Star ranks: 1-10 | 11-20 | 21-30 | 31-40 | 41-50 | 51-60 | 61-70

51. DJ LeMahieu, 2B, Colorado Rockies: The 2016 NL batting champ is a throwback, a guy who sprays line drives around the field and doesn’t try to jack home runs every swing. Only Joe Mauer hits the ball to the opposite field more often.

52. Ervin Santana, RHP, Minnesota Twins: The 13-year veteran made his first All-Star team since 2008 thanks to three first-half shutouts and a 2.99 ERA. He leads all starting pitchers with seven scoreless starts thanks to a slider that he has kept down in the zone this season and that has limited batters to a .160 average.

53. Greg Holland, RHP, Colorado Rockies: He’s a big name from his days with the Royals, and he has bounced back from Tommy John surgery to post a 1.62 ERA and record 28 saves in 29 opportunities. Guess what? He’s a reliever with a fastball/slider combo. His velocity is down a couple ticks from his Royals days, but he always has been hard to hit as he pounds the bottom of the strike zone with his slider.

54. Ender Inciarte, CF, Atlanta Braves: One of the hidden gems in the game, stolen from the Diamondbacks in the Shelby Miller deal. He’s hitting .300, but his game is defense. He won a Gold Glove last season, and his metrics are once again excellent with plus-9 defensive runs saved. He has plus range and a plus throwing arm.

55. Starlin Castro, 2B, New York Yankees: Now this one surprises me. This is Castro’s fourth All-Star selection, a pretty remarkable achievement for a guy with 13.1 career WAR in eight seasons. He’s injured and won’t be able to play, but he’s hitting .300 for the first time since he was a 21-year-old with the Cubs in 2011. Castro has remained largely unchanged as a hitter, still expanding the zone too often, and his fly ball rate is right at his career average. As you might guess for a free swinger, he hits fastballs (.361) and struggles against wriggly stuff.

56. Zack Cozart, SS, Cincinnati Reds: While he made the All-Star team based on a strong first half at the plate and has shown the best plate discipline of his career, Cozart has always been a plus defensive shortstop. He lacks the flash of some others but has always been reliable with good hands, making him quick on the double play. He’s plus-58 defensive runs saved in his career and above average every season, including plus-4 in 2017.

57. Josh Harrison, 2B, Pittsburgh Pirates: Harrison makes his second All-Star appearance, and versatility has always been his biggest strength. This season he has started 46 games at second, 29 at third and six in left field. He also has added a new twist to boost his OBP: He leads the majors with 20 hit by pitches. He’s having one of the greatest hit-by-pitches seasons of all time!

58. Alex Wood, LHP, Los Angeles Dodgers: He’s 10-0 with a 1.67 ERA, with just two home runs allowed in 80&frac23; innings, and as you might guess from those numbers, he pounds the bottom of the zone. The one thing he has done this season, at the urging of the Dodgers analytics department, is throw his fastball less often. He threw it 66 percent of the time with the Braves in 2015, but that’s down to 52 percent. He’s throwing his changeup more often — 30 percent of the time against right-handed batters — and batters are hitting .127 against it.

59. Jason Vargas, LHP, Kansas City Royals: Baseball is weird. How does a guy with the slowest fastball velocity among non-knuckleballers lead the AL in ERA? A great changeup, of course. But this guy has been around forever, so what’s the deal in 2017? When Vargas returned from Tommy John surgery, his release point had dropped a couple inches, which added movement to his fastball and made his changeup one of the best in game, maybe the best. According to FanGraphs, his changeup has created the most run value of any in the game at plus-16.6 runs saved.

60. Jonathan Schoop, 2B, Baltimore Orioles: Schoop’s calling card has always been good power for a middle infielder, but he has been better able to tap into it — 18 home runs — because he’s showing more discipline. His chase rate has decreased from 42 percent the past two seasons to 31 percent. That’s still high, but it’s a huge improvement.

Corey Dickerson is the first Rays player to start an All-Star Game since 2010. Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire

All-Star ranks: 1-10 | 11-20 | 21-30 | 31-40 | 41-50 | 51-60 | 61-70

61. Corey Dickerson, DH, Tampa Bay Rays: Trivia! Dickerson becomes just the fourth Rays player to start an All-Star Game, joining David Price, Evan Longoria and Carl Crawford, who all did it in 2010. Dickerson loves to hack. I mean, this guy is like some explorer trying to find his way through the Amazon with a machete. He swings at everything, so it’s not a surprise that he’s hitting .420 with a .942 slugging percentage with no strikes.

62. Justin Smoak, 1B, Toronto Blue Jays: Is he the worst player ever to make an All-Star team? Not this year. He has been amazing and deserves it based on 2017 numbers. What I mean is a player who has had the worst career and then became an All-Star. He entered the season with 1.5 career WAR in seven years. Now he’s up to 3.9 career WAR. What’s he doing? I have no idea. One thing is he’s hitting well from the right side. He always has been better from the left side, but is hitting .389/.444/.653 against lefties. Like I said, baseball is weird.

63. Yonder Alonso, 1B, Oakland Athletics: Like Smoak, another longtime vet having a career season. Alonso changed his swing to add more lift, but he has been effective when attacking first pitches. In 33 plate appearances when putting the first pitch in play, he’s hitting .697 and slugging 1.212, the highest OPS in the majors.

64. Chris Devenski, RHP, Houston Astros: How good is his changeup? They call it the “circle of death.”

65. Roberto Osuna, RHP, Toronto Blue Jays: The 22-year-old’s amazing season has been lost in the dust of Jansen and Kimbrel, but he has posted 47 strikeouts with just three walks. He throws a 95 mph fastball as well as a cutter and slider and pounds the outside corner to righties and inside corner to lefties with all three pitches. Reminds me of a certain famous closer …

66. Avisail Garcia, RF, Chicago White Sox: Another surprising All-Star given his track record, Garcia is riding a career-best .371 BABIP to hit .310 at the break. There aren’t any big changes in his hitting profile other than he’s pulling the ball slightly more often and hitting a few more fly balls, but not enough to turn his production around this time. So, really, the thing he’s doing well so far is finding a lot of holes. For example, he has 14 infield hits compared to eight all last season.

67. Corey Knebel, RHP, Milwaukee Brewers: Hey, it’s a closer with an upper-90s fastball and slider! Or slider/cutter. Or curveball. Whatever you want to call his breaking ball, it’s one nasty pitch; batters are hitting .135 against it with a 53.8 percent strikeout rate. Hitters mostly try not to swing at it, which they do only 21 percent of the time. When they do swing, they miss 43 percent of the time. Good luck.

68. Brandon Kintzler, RHP, Minnesota Twins: Kintzler is an oddity for a closer with only 24 strikeouts in 39&frac13; innings, but it’s because of one pitch: a 93 mph sinker with movement that he throws 80 percent of the time. Because of that, he gets a lot of ground balls — 62 compared to 29 fly balls.

69. Pat Neshek, RHP, Philadelphia Phillies: That’s two-time All-Star Pat Neshek, coming soon to a contender near you! The sidearmer with the funky delivery has always been tough on righties — allowing just a .188 average in his career -– but this season he also is holding lefties to a .188 average.

70. Brad Hand, LHP, San Diego Padres: This isn’t an insult, because like Neshek, Hand will probably be traded and maybe help a team win a World Series. But he plays for the Padres, is not a closer and was dumped on waivers by the Marlins, so he’s not exactly a household name. He has, however, turned into a dominant reliever by going to that old reliever standard: fastball/slider, as he has junked the changeup and curveball he also used as a starter.

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wakabahiguchi · 7 years

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Continuing my Misfits freakout after having seen the best episode of the series Season 3 Episode 3, I just had some thoughts about television in general, mainly nostalgic feels and other nonsense about my emotional and obsessive love for tv

Cue nonsense below:

So the year I really got obsessed invested in television was around 2010/2011 when I was just turned 13 and being a weird antisocial kid in middle school. For some reason, watching Misfits this past month and experiencing All The Emotions™ really brought me back to when I first started loving television and that 2009-2013 era of television that I loved so much.

My first real show was Glee, which I started during the season 2B in 2010. At the time I was also watching Bones in 2010 (all out of order) and also started watching Pretty Little Liars in 2010. I really spiraled out of control when I started watching Elementary in 2011 (yup I started from THE BEGINNING), Modern Family in 2012, The Good Wife in 2012, Hawaii Five-O in 2012, Lost in the summer of 2012, Battlestar Galactica in 2013 (and probably some other show I’m forgetting?). Oh and let’s not forget all the Disney Channel shows I still watched lol. Don’t believe me? Go through my old posts. Actually please don’t.

But it still makes me feel nostalgic when I remember watching a lot of these shows during middle school/beginning of high school. It still boggles my mind that at that age, I was able to understand complex shows TGW elementary Lost BSG etc. Or maybe I didn’t understand them. But I sure went through The Emotions. It was probably because at that age, I was still “finding myself” or at that age where I was really anti-social and started thinking of Bigger Things in life or something. And so many of those shows (Elementary, BSG, and LOST in particular) were so character driven that I was immediately captivated by the stories they told. And BSG and LOST really drew me into the sci-fi/mythology genre that I’ve come to love so much in the shows I’m watching now like Westworld and Misfits. My particular love for BSG/LOST comes from that aspect of character driven storylines with elements of mystery and humanity I guess? It was the first time I was exposed to entertainment and storytelling that made me rethink the way humans and society worked, and I know that’s Going Deep but it’s really true. In addition, shows like The Good Wife (back in it’s better days) and Elementary really made me smarter in a way, because it pointed out things that I wouldn’t have noticed, and there are so many subtleties and nuances that made for thrilling television (Like the iconic Hitting the Fan?! The Season 1 finale of Elementary, which to this day I still remember as the BEST season finale of any show?)

This isn’t to knock on any of the shows I watch now. I still remember those iconic 7 days where I binged all 6 seasons of Scandal, completely enthralled with the political twists and turns. I still remember those first 9 episodes of HTGAWM (still my favorite episodes) where I was literally writing recaps on this blog and thinking about who killed Sam?!?! I remember falling in utter complete love for a character on Daredevil, Elektra, who I related to more than I even knew I could connect to a character. Being able to appreciate the nuances in her characterization and trying to fight a storyline pre-written for her, and fighting her inner demons and darkness all while putting on a front to appear confident and collected. I remember falling in love with Raven Reyes, a character who goes through too much shit on a trashy show but consistently fights for every breath she takes. I remember being shook by a cartoon show, Avatar the last airbender and legend of korra, and the fact that I literally loved every single character for being complex and wonderful to watch. I remember discovering The Flash and the iconic Iris West develop agency and become 1/2 in the most ICONIC ship to exist. FINALLY having an Asian American family to watch in Fresh off the Boat, and discovering the incredibly talented and outspoken Constance Wu. Exploring my love for sci-fi with the ever thought-provoking Black Mirror (before it got popular, mind you!) Delving into the world of Marvel with Luke Cage and the world of ancient mongolia with Marco Polo. And that’s not even half the shows I watched, or still watch today! Honestly, if anything, my love for television hit it’s peak once I entered high school and started discovering a plethora of wonderful stories to be invested into.

But at the core, (and evident by the previous paragraph), what really affected me the most in television were the characters and their stories. I was reflecting on how I don’t really ‘ship’ characters as much as I thought, because I mainly loved the character first, and then any relationship they had with others second (WA is the only exception at the moment I think). And that’s why my television phase in 2009-2013 means so much. Because those shows, and LOST/BSG in particular exposed me to what beautiful storytelling could be. And it made me feel The Feels towards characters and storylines for the first time. I still remember how I felt after LOST 1x06, when Jin is waiting the airport line before showing Sun the white flower. I was hit with The Emotions. And it only got worse as the show went on. BSG was the same, with the concept of humanity, survival, and cylons. (I’m kicking myself for writing such a passionate piece on BSG because I still haven’t finished the last season. But that’s another problem for another day).

So bringing this back to focus, what does this have to do with Misfits? Well, as stated earlier, Misfits was a show airing from 2009, so it fits within the timeline of my early phase of television, and to be honest, it feels like it too. Of course I felt The Emotions while watching shows 2013+, but for some reason, after finishing THE episode of Misfits (S3E3), I was hit with The Feels that I didn’t remember feeling since my early phase of television. And I’m not sure why? It’s a wacky, weird, dark, cheeky, extremely british sci-fi show that’s not necessarily as character driven as Lost, not nearly as mythological as BSG, much shorter than both shows, but for some reason it’s still making me feel The Emotions. The ending scene itself just destroyed me. It made me feel nostalgic. It reminded me of my summers binge-watching LOST and BSG, where I was constantly entertained by ideas that seemed larger than myself. And Misfits doesn’t necessarily ask those hard-hitting life questions like lost and bsg might, but it provided such a relatable feeling to it? Similar to how I could relate to the storytelling and characters in lost/bsg, I connected to the characters in misfits in some strange way. It’s hard to sell misfits in my opinion, because you never really get what it’s about until you actually start watching. To me, I connected with how each of the characters didn’t really fit in? They are all odd, realistically dealing with whatever goes their way. It’s not glorifying or heroic. In fact, it’s ridiculously messy. Sometimes it’s just one big wtf.

So I’m still trying to figure out why S3E3 hit me so hard. Maybe it’s because it was a huge combination of an overarching sci-fi plot (Superhoodie and the time traveling loophole), an emotional core (Salisha? <3), suspense and thrill in the plot (graphic designer guy who isn’t really a villain but just wants to be something MORE, at the end realizes what he wants to do), the combination of superhero and graphic novel/comic storylines that I’m also becoming more invested in, the emotional FEELINGS upon seeing the final drawings graphic designer guy pinned to the wall documenting the final events of Simon, ensuring that he keeps the superhoodie, ensuring that it all works out and realizing how he could help the narrative rather than hurting it. The sheer humanity of the episode (which sounds ridiculous if you’ve seen any of the other episodes) if probably what got to me. Similar to how San Junipero (and to a lesser extent Nosedive) hit with me for Black Mirror. This show has given me zany, weird, strange, etc. but it’s never given me pure emotion and genuine humanity before. Sometimes it’s so narcissistically cynical that you come across an episode like S3E3 that just punches you in the gut because you didn’t expect a show about telekinetic milk powers, the origins of harambe, or a self-proclaimed jesus to hit you all of a sudden with genuine hope and love (similar to how San junipero was so incredible compared to the lineup of gloomy Black Mirror episodes). Additionally, what made me love LOST/BSG was the incredible score and soundtracks that accompanied each emotional moment in the show, and Misfit’s soundtrack game was STRONG with S3E3, and I’m really starting to love the score so much that I’ll probably download it too. Not all episodes have sweeping orchestral themes, but this one did, and it definitely made me feel more feels. It’s not often that a television show relies on scores rather than soundtracks, so maybe that’s another reason why Misfits gave me nostalgic and emotional feels.

So after the episode ended, of course I was an emotional mess. But it was the kind of emotional mess I didn’t remember being in since watching LOST, BSG, S1 Elementary, or those older shows I watched when I was transitioning from middle school to high school, still trying to find my voice or who I wanted to be. I’m still puzzled to exactly why, but I enjoyed thinking back to the shows that really brought me into the world of television and how I still need to finish bsg. It makes me so thankful for these shows that I grew up with and are growing up with now, because those stories really helped to shape me into the person I am now. It’s probably why I’m so selective with tv shows now, because I’ve seen so many great things and have felt The Feels from so many impactful shows that at this point, I have standards lol. (one of them being well written WOC but that’s besides the point).

Anyways, I told myself I’d stop watching misfits after S3 since that’s when all the originals leave (and truly, I loved all the original ASBO 5 characters, and Rudy is kind of growing on me even though I find him kind of pointless and annoying most of the time), but if the show continues thrilling me and producing quality episodes like this one, I might give S4 and S5 a chance. Hell, I’ll probably still watch it because one of the new characters is kind of cute. But basically the whole point of this post was to express all my nostalgia and how my television habits have evolved over the years. And it took the best episode of Misfits to trigger these feelings. But it’s crazy to see how far I’ve come in my television. To see how some shows have fallen off my radar after previously loving them (TGW, Bones) and how some shows are STILL going strong (Elementary!!!). And of course all these new shows I now have to deal with. But Misfits really gave me the ultimate TBT, and the whole vibe really reminds me of the shows I cherished back in 2009-2013. It was a good feeling, and it was nice to go back and document what really made start investing in television and how I’ve evolved in that sense.

Beyond that, I’ll look forward to all my shows I’m watching now, and of course, the rest of Misfits (which sadly will never upstage the glorious S3E3).

#wow this turned into some kind of word vomit documenting my entire television watching history #why did i even write this #apparently i have lots of thoughts today #my thoughts #tv show #misfits #personal

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