#also considering that cr was the first of these shows that i watched i really barely keep up with it these days...

[placeofwonder]

*this* close to making a fandom sideblog for all the silly little dnd shows that are providing 90% of my serotonin

edit: people are interacting with this post but not with the sideblog I did actually make, which is @hellooo-one-and-all so. hi come join me there, nerds

#i've never really had a fandom sideblog before #but the amount of time i spend thinking about these shows at the moment suggests i maybe should #lest i subject the lovely people who follow me on this blog to a flood of incomprehensible posts about people just sitting around a table #dimension 20 #naddpod #critical role #my brain has decided that the umbrella term for these should be the emily axford cinematic universe #also considering that cr was the first of these shows that i watched i really barely keep up with it these days... #but i am dming call of the netherdeep so i still spend a fair amount of time thinking about exandria #anyway yeah i guess once i come up with a good url we're doing this. why not #mine #personal

[utilitycaster]

If you've read that recent article on polygon about Candela Obscura - "Critical Role’s Candela Obscura fails to differentiate itself enough from its inspiration" (6 November 2023) - I don't know much about the other systems and have trouble being objective about things I love, I was wondering what your opinion is

Hi anon!

I have! I will also admit I don't know Blades in the Dark terribly well, or rather, I have roughly the same BitD knowledge as I have Candela knowledge: I've watched (or in this case, listened) to a actual play show run in it (TAZ Steeplechase) and I've looked at the SRD. The Candela full rulebook doesn't come out for a week, so I really can't judge it for myself. So this isn't going to be objective either, but hopefully it will point out what I think the flaws in this article are regardless of the merits or failures of Candela Obscura as a game.

I think my overall issue is what I said about Polygon on the whole earlier this week: it really feels like their metric is first, is this innovative; and second, "does this reinforce my pre-existing political values in a way that allows me to feel warm and fuzzy and virtuous because I played a fun game/watched a fun show and lets me continue to ignore that I haven't actually engaged in any of that tiresome and inconvenient meaningful anticapitalist action."

I also, for what it's worth, think that this mentality very explicitly conflicts with what Critical Role is doing. I think a lot of people interpret the whole "a group of friends playing games" image as encouraging parasocial behavior (which, frankly, is weird in that while the CR fandom has had a parasociality problem, it's no different than any large fandom - Laurisha shippers or the Twinnies & Husbands crowd are literally just the Actual Play Fandom equivalent of Gaylors and Larries; also like, the pitch for WBN earlier this year was basically "hey, we're four friends playing games" and no one has blinked at that, nor should they have) when I think it's intended to mean "we are friends having fun making and playing the games we want to play; it's great if you'll join us but we're doing what we want." Given that Polygon has shown something of a bias towards those shows that give them early access, I do think it might be that they're just cranky they're not being given any special treatment or catering by an actual play show they've been shitting on for years, and this is simply a vicious cycle.

All that aside, more importantly in this case, I think the article shows a notable lack of Ebert's law: "A movie is not about what it is about. It is about how it is about it." Samantha Nelson, the author of this article, appears to be both incapable of evaluating Candela Obscura outside the context of Blades in the Dark - which is frankly, in my again admittedly limited opinion, vastly overstated as an influence (the Forged in the Dark engine is certainly a strong influence, but that's purely mechanical and also it's still only an influence - more on this later) - and also seems to want Candela Obscura's rulebook to flesh out Newfaire and Oldfaire in the same way that Blades in the Dark fleshes out Duskvol.

The thing is, those wide-open spaces and the vagueness of OldFaire? That's deliberate. The Looper interview with Spenser Starke and Rowan Hall as well as the Tabletop News interview both make this clear. The aim of Candela Obscura is to be very easy to pick up, to not have a bunch of intimidating lore that players and GMs need to know before they jump in (and I say this as someone who, when invited to her first D&D game, was the person who read the PHB and sent the other new players a brief summary of each race and class; I love intimidating lore), and to accommodate a wide range of styles. They considered making Oldfaire much more detailed in the book and then decided not to so that GMs felt more free with the world. Again, my knowledge of Blades in the Dark is heavily skewed by an actual play of it that's explicitly not in Duskvol (which I think is a very interesting commentary, namely, maybe Nelson just really fucking loves Duskvol but no one else gives a shit). I genuinely think they are, as more and more Polygon TTRPG/Actual Play coverage seems to be, barely paying attention to what's in front of them and just deciding based on who put it out.

As I said in my earlier posts I do think Candela distinguishes itself from BitD in a number of ways mechanically. The gilded dice mechanic is obviously one of the biggest ones. The lack of flashbacks - a pretty core element of Blades in the Dark - is another. The fact that scars change your stats rather than dealing a permanent penalty (as Trauma does in BitD) is seen as a flaw, as is the lack of lair-building, but I think these things work in tandem. Blades in the Dark is very much about growing territory and becoming a more and more powerful crime syndicate; while four traumas will take you out of the game the same way scars will, there's a lot more opportunities to heal and I believe you have much more room to take stress. Candela Obscura, as another interview I read states (ScreenRant), is a gothic/eldritch horror game about normal people in unfathomable circumstances. You don't really get much better! You adapt, but progress against these monsters is always a long shot. Candela as an organization has been operating for millennia, and the war seems to be one of attrition, and the mechanics, from what I know from the show, reflect that.

The bit about the criminal crew and the lair is honestly kind of funny to me, because in the TAZ Steeplechase wrap-up I listened to last week the McElroys noted that the lair element of BitD was actually really hard to incorporate and they largely ignored it. Obviously that's not true for everyone, but famously D&D in the earlier editions guided high level play towards running one's own dungeon, and there is a reason that hasn't survived to the newer editions, namely, that shift from being a crew out there doing wild and exciting heists and adventures to painting the walls of your clubhouse and hiring guards is not actually fun for a lot of people.

So in summary: I really don't think the author of this article paid a single scrap of attention to the motivations behind design choices, is mad the horror game doesn't give them a kiss on the cheek and tell them they're So Good at Leftism (the comment about not understanding that the restrictions on scarlet aren't tied to anti-immigrant sentiment is particularly egregious), and generally is like "why is this game that shares some similarities but ultimately rather different goals than Blades in the Dark not literally Blades in the Dark but with slightly more aggressive ghosts."

#answered #Anonymous #candela tag #m's ongoing one-sided vendetta against polygon's coverage #man i have another rant in me i was going to write before i got this very good question; i'm going to go to the gym and see that fixes it #long post

[gordonzola-ramen]

My mutual @alectricblue tagged me in this game tag! I normally dont do these, but I thought it'd be nice to get to know me more (and also meet y'all if you wish to participate)!

It will be long though. Sorry

1. Were you named after anyone?

Was originally gonna be named Andrea after a ballerina my grandma liked! Sadly no one remembered her well, not even grandma, so I don't know much about her.

My deadname was simply just chosen bc it was easy to pronounce, as well as my chosen name Diego (it's what I would've been called had I been male), although when I chose it for myself I liked the JoJo character Diego Brando so there was some correlation there.

Funnily enough, people think I'm nicknamed Lio after the Promare character, but I hadn't met them yet.

2. When was the last time you cried?

Yesterday. At 11pm. Watching OR3O's One Piece song. It was nostalgic ok

3. Do you have kids?

Nope. There's an absurd amount of reasons I don't want them, although not a single one is because I dislike them. I've had to babysit many kids and they've all been very sweet.

4. What sports do you play/have you played?

Oof, my recent sports is taking my dog for a walk. But I used to like volleyball and kickball! And reluctantly played soccer and did swimming! Sports give me a lot of anxiety and i'm not sure why.

5. Do you use sarcasm?

I do a lot of teasing and lighthearted banter that can sometimes be considered sarcasm?

6. What's the first thing you notice about people?

Their eyes! Or anything outstanding like cool hairstyles or visible tattoos.

With online people, I mostly recognize them by pfp or a vague mental pronunciation of their username.

7. What's your eye color?

Dark brown?? Or black??

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

Honestly, whatever makes me think more. Unhappy endings tend to do that more though, so I guess scary movies! But of course it depends on the mood, sometimes I just want a nice story to cheer me up.

9. Any talents?

I've been told I am talented at the piano! And music in general, although most of my skills feel less like talent and more like just studying the thing.

10. Where were you born?

So I was born in the US, in Florida, but my entire family is from Costa Rica and I just happened to be born while my parents were studying abroad. I don't remember much from the US though, I came back to CR with my grandma in my first months because she was less busy than my parents, and then they came to live here again. So in my eyes I've been a true Costa Rican since always hehe

11. What are your hobbies?

Playing the piano! Also drawing sometimes (I like to color more than draw, but unless I get my hands on a coloring book I can't do that unless I draw), playing videogames (mostly RPGs and visual novels), and doomscrolling.

12. Do you have any pets?

YESSSS my beloved dog Mia!!!!!!!!!!! I love her so much, she escaped her abusive home and we found her while walking around a plaza, said hi, and she followed us home. She's been with us for 8 years now and I adore her. Reference below because how can I not show her off:

13. How tall are you?

Excellent question. I forgot but I'm average if that helps!

14. Favorite subject in school?

It changed over the years, in senior year it was English because we had my favorite teacher! I knew him for years because he has a literature club I partook in, so I was very happy to have classes with him. Plus, we saw the Oresteia, which goes tremendously hard especially when your teacher geeks out about all the symbolisms.

Apart from that, computer class! We barely ever had it, and almost had it cut out entirely in senior year, but the few times we did I really enjoyed programming and practicing typing! And when we didn't do anything we could play so.

15. Dream job?

I want to make my own videogame! So I'd say a game developer, although being a part of any videogame, especially RPGs, would be a dream come true.

Well thank you for reading, I hope that was some insight, it was very fun to reply!

Tagging section (no pressure to do it at all, you can also do it if you're not tagged who cares)

@skyllion-uwu @thefrogswhospoke @gorgeousuare @chronologicalimplosion @fishy-lilic @smoothedsmoothie @mx-mind @montied @aspirationatwork @jhofoyitchg @derkhue @mellomaia @federalfazbear @mcfinnigan @mutantsgurls @foxounderscorecube @sweetnessfollowsmp3 @mildredtefoneck @oh-my-stars1969 @unfullbucket @fluffnfuzzxoxo @electriceel69 @scottigyn @stressedsilverware @sapphicrobotenjoer @antjellies @milk1non-tolarantes @ovalbrain @chocokhaos @markdiegamer @astralix13 @atheist-xmas @blktomekurata @monstar-dreams @glass-duke @c--eam @laooneart

#ask game #tag game #gordonzola's corner #image described in alt

[essektheylyss]

CR is WILD for ships like, I feel like all the characters have such unique and interesting dynamics that you can nearly ship each one with any other one and come up with a valid argument. It's the only piece of media that I can't devote myself to a single relationship because they're all so interesting in their own ways

I have two kind of parallel thoughts on relationships in CR because on one hand, you're so right that all of the characters play off each other in SUCH fun ways, and all of them are a little different!

But then at the same time, having primarily watched campaign 2, pretty much all of the ships that turned out canon by the end were deeply ingrained into their character arcs, and I eat that up so much; I think a lot of pushback against romance in media stems from the fact that often romance feels very tacked on, and that's never the case in this show! Which is STELLAR. But it does mean that I end up with preferences, but usually only in hindsight (or well down the line).

This campaign, though, hasn't had that set up nearly so clearly, whereas you can see how beauyasha and fjorester at the very least were set up from episode one, and then even when you consider shadowgast, although that was never a guarantee, there's a lot to establish why they gravitated towards each other (pun intended lol). (I'm not mentioning the Brenattos because they were married prior to the campaign and also because Veth was blatantly obscuring her interests through the first 40 episodes, whereas Caleb lays out his own interests a lot earlier on.) And I'm really excited about how Laudna and Ashton are engaging now! There's been some indications of it, but primarily on 4sd out of character, and the canon conversation was SO juicy, oh my god.

But honestly, this is why it's so fun thinking about how all of them interact with each other on multiple levels of relationships—and why I've in the past been :/ about collapsing relationships in this show in particular into 'ships'. I was actually already thinking about this this week lol—I... may have considered sourcing and writing a whole essay about how ubiquitous a term 'ship' is in fandom culture, and how it suffers deeply for the fact that it is a very broad brush used to paint any character interaction and dynamic without accounting for the very messy relationships that people can have. The CR cast does SUCH a good job creating very realistic, complex character relationship dynamics, and it often feels like a term that is too overburdened to engage with canon well.

#SORRY THIS TURNED INTO A SMALL ESSAY you caught me on a day in which I already had thoughts lmao #but YEAH I have so many thoughts lol #critical role #cr spoilers #cr meta #ig lmao

[bookqueenrules]

6 Reasons Why TOWL Episode 6 Will Reveal Beth Is Alive!

6. The double “eyes”  Rick and Michonne knocked out at the same time in Episode 4. These symbolize that we will see at least two Sirius characters. Father Gabriel being the one-eyed minister was the first.  Beth will be the second.

5. It’s time. According to Carol’s mustang license plate in the post credits scene of DD season 1, it’s 5x02! Gabriel coincidentally(or not) first showed up in 5x02 of TWD. At the end of 5x02, Daryl and Carol leave to find Beth. At the end of the NEXT episode, 5x03, Daryl and Noah arrive back at the church where, even though we don’t see it until later in the season due to the “flashback” episodes, they let everyone know that Beth is alive. 

So, even if the audience doesn't actually see her, I believe we will see evidence that she is alive. Now we find out that both Seth Gilliam and Emily Kinney will be at a convention in Paris this weekend.  This much coincidence can’t be a coincidence!

4. It’s resurrection Sunday! Really, how could Gimple resist? Not to mention it’s in the title.  Beth literally is the ONE who lived.

3. Gimple wrote episode 6 “The Last Time” according to reports. The more I have considered this, the more I think Gimple will want to be in control of her return episode. He has been setting this up for over a decade, he will want to micromanage this reveal. Even if it ends up happening in DD, I imagine he will control it, but it makes sense to me that he would want to do it in this spin-off because it is the one attracting more returning Walking Dead fans meaning those who fell away and stopped watching in later seasons.

2.  The toothpaste reference and the jumping out bed were direct call backs to when TF first met “Jesus”. The episode where they “meet Jesus” is  titled "The Next World". Gimple said in an interview that Episode 6 will change the TWDU forever.  I believe the echelon briefing will be what propels the TWDU into “The Next World”.

 So, episode 6 is the start of the next world or the next incarnation of TWDU. Beth is a Christ figure here, so they are foreshadowing the resurrection or "reincarnation" of Beth in these callbacks. 

1. Inverted twins in TWOL: 

Rick/Pearl- Both characters are tough.  They are the “A”s Oakfor wanted to use to change the CRM from within.  They entered the CRM together. They trained together. They were told about Oakfor’s plan together.  They are “twin As”.  However, Pearl gave up returning to the one she loved and has become a true believer in the CRM cause.  Rick has and will continue to give up the CRM’s cause to be with the ones he loves. He has chosen the opposite path.

Gabriel/Michonne-  Both of them lost their loves at the same time. 

Gabriel, in the flashback scene, tells Jadis he had been using the Ham radio to try to find her.  Michonne went looking for Rick.  Both tried to convince their partner to come home and abandon the CRM mission.  Both fought to bring their partner back emotionally. Michonne was able to do that.  Gabriel was not. 

Jadis/Beth-I believe this will be easier to pin down once we get Beth’s story, but I think Beth will have been brought into the CR because she was, or they thought she would be, able to provide them with something. Much like Jadis did with providing people.  They were both artists.  Both had lost their “family” when their community was overrun bad an evil man. Jadis lost her "family" at the dump and Beth lost her family at the prison. Jadis stopped being an artist and tried to turn off her humanity to “save humanity” as she put it.  Jadis also says that she couldn’t lose another community like she did at the dumpster.  She wanted to stop “losing” people.  This reminded me of Beth and Daryl’s conversation about losing people in 4x01 and how they felt after losing the prison.  As the inverse, Beth will choose her loved ones over the safety of the CR. She will not have lost her humanity.

One thing that has been noted about the inverted twins in TWD is that they, at some point, will appear together in the same space as a contrast. Obviously, Rick and Pearl have been seen together throughout the series. Gabriel and Michonne have been seen together throughout the series including the scene from 5x03 literally right before Daryl and Noah burst through the woods knowing Beth is alive!  So, at first, I was disturbed about Jadis/Beth not following the pattern, but they DO!

Here in this flashback scene at the “market” Jadis is on one side at the 500 fries, symbolizing the CRM’s 500 plan while the Beth look-alike is on the OPPOSITE side of the market buying farm goods from a place called “Seeds”. 

So, I stand by my earlier call.  I am 80% sure the audience will know that Beth is or was alive after Coda on Sunday! I will be up at 3:00 am watching to see it!

How?  My guess would be in a Coda after the episode.  The newspaper symbolism featured prominently in the opening montage has not been fulfilled. Maybe we see Beth in another part of the CR reading a news story in the paper about what happened at the Cascade base. 

Regardless, even if she doesn’t show up at all in episode 6, all the signs are there.  This is the year of her return! 

#team delusional #bethyl #beth greene lives #beth is coming #beth is alive #beth greene #twd daryl and beth #team defiance

[rosemarydisaster]

Hi Hello, I know I haven't talked a lot about CR lately (my brain won't let me watch it for some reason) but I'm back to talk about The Legend of Vox Machina, particularly: Grog.

Spoilers for The Legend of Vox Machina episode 9 below. There will be spoilers for the stream too, but I will also mark down where those start.

I love love love all the changes. Not only do I think they're a great way to adapt the absolute beast of content that CR is. Some are good sacrifices, there's shit gotta leave out, no matter how entertaining. I think they've pick very well what to leave completely out. Also, they're really smart in the way they've fused different adventures so they can have a two for one (like adding stuff from the rakshasa fight to the dungeon crawl at the Matron's temple so they can have that Kashaw-Kiki interactions). And of course there's the switching the order so it's more streamlined thing too, like Pyra. But what I thought was the best decision was the party splitting on the past three episodes.

Sure, you should never split the party and I hope they don't abuse that solution or that at least they play with the different combinations because it can be a detriment to the group dynamic. But this time?? They nailed it.

The fey wild group was perfect, you have all the development you need for the ships and also Vax and Percy get to patch things up a little and the twins are together for the family reunion. you have all the people important for a Vex Arc on one side.

On the other hand, you have Grog go through his arc with the two people most important to him. I love the Vax-Grog Dynamic, but like in the OG fight against the Earth breaker, his first choice will always be Pike and his second Scanlan. Also, you get some cute gnome flirting and a bit more development for Scanlan since Pike is the one that challenges more his flirty nature. Vex and Percy are permanently done with him, but they treat it like something that's just intrinsic to Scanlan. You can't change the weather, you simply complain about it. Pike on the other hand is the one that gets frustrated at the fact that Scanlan is unable to have a proper heart to heart or to be sentimental without defusing the tension. And Grog bringing out Scanlan's more caring nature is a nice touch. So it is the perfect team for Scanlan progress too.

But going back to what I actually wanted to talk about (because my Scanlan Meta will come too, but most likely next week) Grog. I love what they did with Craven Edge, I love how the show allows them to have this more "feelings based" resolution to Craven Edge's exhaustion. Because in game greater restoration or a night's sleep heal literally anything unless the DM specifically requests it.

What this does is it gives them the chance to introduce the whole "where does your strength come from?" Question in a place where the stakes are super high and it's thematically appropriate. That whole speech about how Grog considers strength helping those who can't help themselves...chills.

Now spoilers for the stream

I think it also Segways brilliantly into the whole "My strength are my friends" by maybe combining it with the whole "Vox Machina...Fuck shit up". If that happens, I'm gonna cry so hard I will dehydrate. I love the fact that they are giving so much attention to Grog, his growth his emotions because they're often brushed off. Travis wasn't still super comfortable roleplaying emotional scenes in campaign one and Tal, Liam and Marisha had a lot os experience and really angsty characters. Also Laura and Sam are just that powerful, you can't expect most people's experience first character to be that emotionally vulnerable (specially while streaming).

Ashley was also more nervous with the streaming and stuff, so Pike and Grog while not underdeveloped at all, usually didn't have the emotional spotlight on them the way we're seeing in the show. I think giving Grog the physical vulnerability and stripping most of his companions away is a great way to allow that depth to shine. When you don't have four extra characters each making questions and each proposing solutions, the spotlight shines directly on Grog and I love it.

I've always treasured those rare moments were Grog gets to open up and show his heart. I really love that trope of big dumb character also has emotional complexity, so I really enjoyed the last episode and I can't wait for the next one.

#critical role #critical role meta #the legend of vox machina spoilers #the legend of vox machina #tlovm spoilers #tlovm #grog strongjaw #scanlan shorthalt #pike trickfoot #cr

[cloudmancy]

I’ve honestly been thinking about how to reconcile actually seeing problems with CR content policy and all that stuff with those people being close friends and collaborators with people from D20.

( Especially that I do consider myself the CR fan, I like watch the streams which feels a bit hypocrytical but I giess I could have worse hyperfixations lol; to clarify I am also a D20 fan and been before even I have started watching CR)

Obviously I am of the opinion that glamourizing and putting creators and artists of any content we like is dangerous (and seeing them as our allies or friends in some capacity) - and we as fans don’t really know those people and shouldn’t base our moral judgement as ours.

But like I still wonder, how do people like Brennan think of CR and their policy, especially considering Brennan frequently praised Matt not just as a creator but as a person

I am curious on your thoughts, not trying to start any discourse here, just thinking

great questions! I want to start off by saying that I really don't care to speculate what brennan's opinion on the policies are: firstly because I don't parasocialize people like that, and secondly because he would not be in charge of any content policies for dimension 20 even if he felt some sort of way about it. I think if you want to reconcile liking CR while having issues its content policy, we need to look at what the issues are first.

as much as I've dunked on CR's content policy, it is nothing unusual for shows to want to protect their own IP. the terms of copyright in there are pretty standard for any form of media (even if I think it's pretty ironic that critical role is itself derivative of another franchise). the only reason dimension 20 doesn't have anything similar is because they're not at the point where it's profitable for people to sell knockoff merch or make knockoff mobile games using their characters yet. I think you need to prepare yourself for dimension 20 eventually reaching that level of success too.

dimension 20 from the start has and always WILL market itself much more as a product than critical role. it explicitly is one of the few things that kept dropout going through the bankruptcy of collegehumor as a parent company, it treats its audience like paying customers and respects audience feedback accordingly, and that's fine! I like that about it! it means that we get sensitivity consultants and production value, because we are customers paying for a product and there are now standards on how that product is delivered.

so yes, I do think dimension 20 will, at some point, implement their own content policy. they already have copyright over their works and properties, even if it's not stated anywhere on site. I have asked about the validity of fanworks before, and gotten this as a response:

For copyright protection reasons we are obligated to protect our IP in instances where we see it being monetized / exploited (the legal meaning) by non-official sources, and sanctioning monetized fanworks in an official sense could create a situation where our copyright becomes compromised on a legal level (without that sanctioning being a long legalese-ful document filled with caveats).

so we're at the same place that critical role fans were five years ago - it's not technically sanctioned, but dimension 20 has been turning a blind eye and even supporting some of the charity endeavours that involve the use of their IP. what remains to be seen is what happens when D20 eventually does put a content policy of their own in place, and which types of fan content will be restricted.

my issue with critical role's content policy is and always will be how they choose to reinforce it, and the way CR itself still markets itself as a small game between friends and refuses to acknowledge how corporate it has become. they may not be explicitly allowed in their policy, but imo they should only come into play when there's actual scammers using copyrighted logos or copyrighted images to sell products.

a content policy for CR was inevitable. there will be one in the future for dimension 20 too. but there is no reason that CR should have been striking down charity projects and fanzine productions, from members of their own community and official artists no less. I can only hope dimension 20 will not go down the same route in the future.

#asks #anon #long post #hope this helps! I tried to give as thorough of a response irt how I actually feel about cr and d20 as possible #dimension 20 #and also do not ever treat any of the people in ttrpg spheres as “good guys” or “bad guys”... they are honestly all just people #and will disappoint you if you start ascribing moral values to their actions because they are people. working in an industry

[zelda-cooper]

Thoughts, Headcanons and Comments on Liquidator (My AU).

This here is more of a commentary blog and maybe a rant, it can also be considered as a headcanon blog and also for Liquidator fans like me. Maybe I'll make the others Fearsome Five/Four, but I'll see about it... For those who want to, they can read it as they wish, but I'm already advancing that it's LONG and will have some low-level words (I'll censor it, but it's still worth it).

I was watching Avatar these days while I was doing some drawings and I ended up realizing something that could kind of be used for Liquidator from Darkwing Duck... I thought something like this: "Calm down there, the water dog there is pure water... He was basically going to M@SS@CR@TE DWD with his powers alone! HOW THE F*CK DID THEY NOT EXPLORE MORE OF HIS POWERS?!?! LOOK AT THESE WATER BENDERS!!! WOULD KILL THE DARKWING DUCK EASY!!!"

It was just like that... Only mentally...

But my point is... I understand very well that the series is a comedy, it shouldn't have that much budget for the series (correct me if I'm wrong) and it would probably take forever to animate moving water. But, man... LIQUIDATOR HAD ONLY ONE EPISODE OF HIS OWN AND THE OTHERWISE WAS ONLY WITH THE FEARSOME FIVE!!! SOME OF THE FANS DON'T EVEN PUT HIM ON DARKWING DUCK VILLAIN LISTS!!!! WHAT IT IS?!?! AHHHHHH-

*takes a deep breath*.... Sorry, my Liquidator fan side got pissed off. But I think you get my point. I don't know if ALL Dator fans will agree, but it's kind of my thought. Let's face it, Liquidator is already strong considering the dog IS PURE WATER, which makes it intangible. In fact, I suspect that even then, you can attack him. The Sandman, one of Spider-Man's villains, is sand, but he can be attacked and have his limbs like arms and hands shredded with specific attacks.

(I didn't find a Gif showing this, so settle for that one. It could even be good to be this scene after Liquidator fell into the water tank...)

And we've ALREADY seen him manipulating water and CHANGING its states. He heated the water to the boiling point, it evaporated and he was good and he TURNED THE FUCKING SAINT CANARIAN OCEAN INTO A YELLOW BORBERCHUDY STUFF!!! (I guess it was some kind of resin or rubber, but I interpret it to be some kind of resin anyway)

But I think the writers forgot about his skills... I think it was to reduce the water dog's power, the villain was a bit stolen. But here are some thoughts of mine... I think it, itself, doesn't exactly control just water. This is MY headcanon, so you may disagree, but Dator controls her liquid and CHEMICAL components more. Let's face it, NOBODY knows what he put in the water tanks, but it was probably random chemicals so basically he's melting in that scene (and in the end he went swimming there to see if it worked... Because of Darkwing Duck... ). Let's face it, if he created resin in an OCEAN, he can make other compositions like acid or even glue. I'm not good at chemistry, but I don't find it difficult... To be honest, if Dator was stolen like that... I'd love to see it!

But obviously... Let's have LIMITS!!! And the first is... He's water, people... One of the points I liked most about his solo episode is the way he was defeated, which is coherent. Use cement powder! That basically left him a statue... He came back, but still (What I didn't think was cool was that they turned him into Jell-O in Justice Ducks, that was pathetic, it's diminishing the character's morals, in terms of comedy, it's got some laughs, but... no). There is another point that is also... He still feels tired, that is, if he uses too much he faints. He doesn't necessarily have to sleep (yes, he sleeps in my AU...), but a five minute break or an hour maybe. And the last one, this one is more specific, would be high sound frequencies. For those who are fans of DC, take the Black Canary, for fans of Ben 10, several of his aliens with sound powers. And that really loud sound frequency. This makes his form fall apart.

So the main weaknesses, um... Cement just in case the situation gets tough, if he uses his powers too much he gets tired and any weapon or high frequency sound powers dismantles his form.

I have more to say about my headcanons than my water dog, but I'll stop here so I don't have to make such a big bible. But, for those who like my drawings, here's one of my Sona with Liquidator. That's it... BYE!!!

(I don't think he likes me...)

(Inspired by this here!)

#liquidator #bud flud #darkwing duck #darkwing duck au #ducktales #darkwing duck purple union #waterbending #nega liquidator #fearsome five #fearsome four

[cringefaecompilation]

so i just say your post asking about anyone who liked bh but hates the mn and. yes. i am one of those people. i started watching cr around episode 31 of vox machina, started with episode 1 of mn, and didn't make it past episode 5 on the first watch through. i didn't like any of the characters except yasha but having an ashley character be your favorite character is ROUGH - and seeing that pike was my favorite from vox machina (quickly followed by grog and scanlan), i learned the lesson pretty early on.

but yeah. i dislike the mn. i won't watch anything that doesn't have caduceus in it because he was the only saving grace for me and the only reason i actually started watching again. assholes just aren't interesting to me. i didn't care for them. now that i've watched some past episodes i dislike them less, but i don't find any of them really all that interesting. and when caduceus is the only reason you watch... well. it's not really a good time.

i didn't care about any of the npcs the group connected with except allura but, like, come ON. it's ALLURA VYSOREN. I didn't care about essek (still don't), pumat was good but not gilmore-esque, yussa... honestly he was the funniest npc just on accident cause he kept getting trapped in places he was sticking his nose in.

basically the characters just weren't the kind of characters i was ever interested in watching, the story line only garnered my attention very, very late, and, tbh, the fandom was (is) so fucking rancid that it just made me hate it more.

the moment exu came out i was so excited because i hoped fearne and orym would be in c3 and have loved them ever since. i would even say that like all the characters in bh and am invested in all their stories. chet can... sometimes get too much for me but that's mostly because i'm already overstimulated and has nothing to do with the actual character. even with ashton who is 100% california punk (your roots are showing, taliesin) and clashes against the punk lifestyle i've always lived only makes me respect them because, yeah. they're a punk. i'm a punk. fuck them; i'll love them forever.

huh, neat! i've never heard of someone getting into c1 midway and than into c2, usually it's the other way around. that's cool.

honestly i hadn't even considered that people may be COMPLETELY put off by the mn being assholes at the beginning, but then again i was also super taken aback when taliesin said that the nein were "almost all villains" but looking back on where they all began and their backstories, i can see it more.

i will agree with you that early c2 can be a little obnoxious to get through and while i was able to enjoy them (both the characters and the storyline) it's completely understandable why someone would get frustrated with them and stop watching. fandom toxicity and overall arc fatigue seem to be the most agreed on answers to why c3 fans if any don't like c2.

also the whole "caduceus is the only reason i liked c2" seems to be a sentiment for people that have become wholly disillusioned with critical role as a series, so it's nice to see someone still enjoying the series with that viewpoint.

for the last paragraph, i completely agree! though i really REALLY wanted dariax and opal to come along with them, we can see why (ep 64) it wouldn't have been viable.

i'm just shocked that everyone had pretty much the exact same answer, i swear i would have gotten at least one person that disliked it for a bizarrely specific reason.

#🍃 #critical role #critrole

[gemsofthegalaxy]

i don't actually watch critical role in the first place but im really really torn on how i think things are gonna shake out

on the one hand, two weeks ago Wizards' themselves claimed that they'd already struck deals with the "less than 20 creators making over $750,000 on dnd related products" and, according to my partner, CR is already pretty in bed with wizards considering how much sponsorship money they must get from dnd beyond

however. idk. i could see matt mercer releasing his own game system that's legally distinct enough from dnd if he wanted to. lol. and i think quite a lot of fans really are fans of them rather than the game dnd (though, i guess they do have a lot of rules lawyers in the crowd and if they did switch to a Matt-created system i'm not sure how those fans who are really invested in dnd rules would react i guess)

and i really, really don't know how things are gonna work out for D20, not to mention "Capitalism is the real villain" Brennan Lee Mulligan, because i know Dropout is already not the most profitable company in the world right now..... and not all their revenue comes from their dnd-related property but a good deal of it does.

however.

i've been wondering this whole time, when it comes to "live play" content, if they'd be able to change monster and spell names and then have it be fair use...?

Because, y'know, it's not like they're sitting there explaining the rules each session and they could reduce the amount they talk about the rules if they really had to. They already create their own campaign settings. I know youtubers talk a lot about the nebulous "you can show 10% of a media when discussing, commentating, or otherwise transforming it", and Wizards cannot copyright game mechanics like rolling dice or "checks", so even if they had to swap words out just to obscure and keep it under the 10% threshold, would they maybe be fine?

I've seen a lot of people talk about this, but "Fair use" doesn't get mentioned nearly as much as the OGL and occasionally Wizards' Fan-content policy (which is horseshit, look it up)

I'm both disheartened and frustrated but also just like, straight up curious as to what's going to happen because it seems very up in the air to me rn

#dnd #onednd #opendnd #critical role #dimension 20

[burr-ell]

Honestly, imodna would be a good ship if the shippers/stans weren’t so damn insufferable. I also hate how they act like they are already canon and you can’t ship Imogen or Laudna with anyone else in the group. People got so mad when the conversation in the dust storm happened with Ashton and Laudna because people thought they were flirting. Or when on the first episode of 4 sided dive Marisha asked Robbie if Dorian’s crush was on Imogen, people got so mad at that! I also hate that they call them lesbians when THEY HAVE BOTH EXPRESSED HAVING FEELINGS FOR BOYS! Why can’t they be bi? Or Pan? I also hate how people read into Laura’s micro expressions/ movements, like last episode with the whole leaning shit “oh what was that lean Laura?!! Imogen wanted to kiss Laudna because look at Laura’s lean!” I dread the day that Imogen or Laudna fall in love with someone that’s not each other(especially if that person is a man.) because Marisha and Laura will harassed and hated because they didn’t give the people what they wanted.

oof. that's some frustration you really needed to vent, nonnie, and honestly i get it. full disclosure—my mutuals who are into imo/dna are all lovely, and none of them engage in this behavior. if imo/dna becomes canon, i'll be happy for (and potentially even happy with) fans like that. but enough shippers are doing things like this that it's becoming more and more of a source of frustration and friction as the campaign goes on.

i think a lot of fandom—in general, not just cr—still doesn't want to acknowledge that at the end of the day, they are looking at things like shippers, with a particular kind of confirmation bias. it doesn't make them necessarily wrong or right, but as easy as it can be to get swept up in it, i think it's important to take a step back every once in awhile and re-evaluate.

now admittedly, generally speaking, it takes a lot for me to get really invested in a ship; i usually only have one or two per fandom, even fandoms with tons of characters. i'm generally pretty passive about most ships if it's not the otp; like, vax/leth and pike/lan, for example, didn't need to be romantic endgame for me to enjoy CR1 (and honestly might have been more interesting to me if they hadn't), but perc/ahlia absolutely made the show for me and i honestly think them being together actively strengthens the narrative as a whole.

i say all that to say that for the most part, i very much consider myself to be along for the ride with respect to most relationships in most fandoms. if such-and-such pairing happens, great; if they don't, okay. and with CR in particular, it's such a long-form medium that i know going in that any romance is going to take a while, and most of them probably won't just reach out and grab me.

and as such, it absolutely baffles me to have seen shippers insisting, from the moment the characters first appeared in episode 1, that not only are imogen and laudna canon endgame, they're basically already together and just haven't admitted it yet. i feel this way about dor/ym and callow/moore as well—i saw a post making the rounds that claimed that all three of those ships are "not canon YET but let's be real" and like...why would you set yourself up for disappointment like that? because yeah! all three of those ships could be endgame! but they could also not be endgame. we're less than 40 episodes into a campaign that'll probably run well into the 100s.

i also fully agree with you re: the microexpressions and the cherrypicking, and i feel like a microcosm of this issue can be found in a conversation imogen has with orym early on—shippers latched onto the fact that imogen compares laudna's thoughts to music, something that finally brought her peace after the chaos of the world around her, and completely ignored the part immediately after where imogen says that the rest of the party also feels like that to her. i didn't even know that imogen said that about the whole party until i watched the episode, and to me it's an example of how shippers tend to warp canon interactions to suit a particular narrative in such a way that they become almost entirely divorced from their context.

and from the outside looking in, what confuses me about this sort of thing is like...didn't y'all already go through this? because if my understanding is correct, c2 ship discourse was full to the brim with beau/jes and wido/jest fans dissecting "laura's microexpressions" to prove that jester was for sure in love with our fave, really you guys we swear...and then not only was that not true, but jester also didn't even know about beau or caleb's feelings to acknowledge them at all, and from the actual words that came out of laura's mouth in various OOC moments like on TM, laura just...really really wanted to romance her husband's character in her dnd game and like, that's it. there was never going to be another romantic option for jester as long as fjord was on the table, and that was something that shippers always should have been taking into account.

laudna and imogen are canonically deeply important to each other. they love and appreciate each other very much. that love and appreciation could turn into a lovely romance with a great dynamic, and i certainly don't blame people for being invested in it. but it also could not be romantic endgame, and they remain friends or even get with other people. and as you said, fandom can and will turn nasty about their ships being sunk; we've already seen it happen. there's a certain smug, entitled undercurrent from that particular corner that i have very little patience with, and while i think there's something to be said for deciding to enjoy things in spite of the fandom and just be a cranky old curmudgeon shooing the wank out with a broom, i also understand the response of just "...aight, imma head out".

#the 'laura's microexpressions' thing is also why i really don't care for glasses!imogen #it's obviously not a bad thing in a vacuum but there's a tendency toward overriding specifically laura's choices and saying 'i know better' #such that even something as innocuous as glasses can be representative of a larger more frustrating problem #honestly i wonder if laura will even DO a romance this time around after two campaigns of her characters being reduced to: #a) the men in her life and then b) who she'll end up with #bc imogen has some strong vibes of like. arent u tired of being nice? don't u just wanna lose it? #like imogen reminds me very strongly of vex but specifically of the ways in which vex couldn't be unpleasant or unappealing #(mostly because vex puts up fronts to mask her flaws specifically from the party) #(while imogen is more trying to hide her actual powers and what they can do) #and i think some of that naturally comes from being a woman in geek culture on the internet as well as a woman in voice acting #but i feel like it might also come from her characters being constantly put under a microscope #and constantly told what they should and shouldn't do #and the second they make choices that make another better-liked character upset they're terrible people #like she's obviously a grown adult 40 year old woman but the constant scrutiny of your dnd choices has gotta wear on you a little bit #and yeah i didn't touch on this in the ask but. it has been 0 days since fandom did a bi-erasure #(the thing about having only 1 or 2 ships per fandom reminded me that out of all the dc comics ships i literally only care about dickkory) #(clois also has rights on account of dc can snort my taint and let two adults be happily married) #(i've had convos with friends who ship bbrae who are like 'but why would dickkory shippers dislike bbrae? they dont threaten you') #(idk man some of em just don't dig the vibe!) #cr discourse #cr wank #critical role #asks

[iriswestscloset]

We start in the very first episode, the pilot.

Look 1:

Our first glimpse of our leading lady is when she’s watching the particle accelerator be turned on. Though it’s nothing especially exciting, I love this look. All of it feels like it couldn’t be worn separately- which is very, very Iris. Yes, she can be impulsive and emotional, but at the same time, she doesn’t make a move without considering everything, and such details are woven into her outfits.

I love her moto jacket!! I REALLY wish she got to repeat it in the show. Wornontv informs me that it’s the Montesson Jacket in Navy Marine/Everest by Wilfred.  It’s gorgeous on her. The dark purple and red combo looks great. 

In future, the purple and red would reflect Barry and Iris as a superhero power couple so while I’m sure it was unintentional, A+ for unintentional foreshadowing with Iris’ outfit. Also the fact that it goes so well with Barry’s outfit? Soulmates.  

Candice said that Iris rarely wears flat shoes and this is reflective in the Pilot where she starts off by running in heeled ankle boots.

Not pictured, but she also has cute little red bracelets and studded earrings which look great, not overpowering her look but adding to it. And this is the first time she wears rings! Rings are Iris’ go to accessory throughout the series so it’s neat to see where it all started! Unfortunately, I can’t find where to find them. 

Also love the bag with her psych dissertation in it. For as much as Iris ribs Barry about his nerdiness, she is SUCH a nerd. Yes, Iris, the particle accelerator unveiling is the best place to work on your dissertation and not something you could go back to when you get home! 

God bless.

Look 2:

Not much of a look- it was very briefly shown but it looks like casual wear. Which is very exciting- we don’t get to often see her casual garb this season! Looks like a pink top, green or black jacket and grey pants. A chaotic colour combination that is more chaotic than others, but still looks good on her. 

This is probably due to the fact that this is one of the most chaotic moments of her life so far- her best friend just got struck by lightning.

Look 3:

Not many pics since this is one of her most recurring outfits, so you’ll def see it again! It is the Wilfred Free LISIÈRE DRESS in CRS Dye/Mykonos BL. I think it’s one of her simplest looks of the season. 

She’s grieving Barry, but she has to get to work, smile and be friendly and that is reflected in her costuming. I love that her necklace is off centre- her head doesn’t seem to be tilted and the shot is straight. Off centre necklaces are Iris’ thing in early s1 and honestly, I wish they would make a comeback. 

Look 4:

In her next Jitters scene, she wears an army green jacket, a red floral dress (Talula: Lipinski Dress), burgundy tights and of course, heeled ankle boots. There was…a lot in this outfit lmao. I love the jacket- the gold accents, the scalloped back, the collar. 

It’s a very cute dress too! And I love the way scoop necks look on her. The daisy necklace is adorable and matches the dress. Still, very cute and very fitting for the outfit. I love the silhouette of her outfit, too.

Look 5

This look is cute and I’m so surprised it only has .4 seconds of screentime considering it was the main promotional look.

Regardless, it’s a short reddish purple dress which is a really unusual shade for her in that she doesn’t get to wear it that frequently. Which is a shame, she looks great in it. She also has a bracelet which looks gold and red in the photoshoots. I’m unsure if she wears it in the show, given the short amount of time she’s in it. 

And another off center necklace! Another circular necklace though this one has points. I originally thought it was a locket but no. just a circle.

DELETED LOOKS

DELETED LOOK 1 

A baby Iris flashback! This look reappears in 3x21…appears? It’s a pink and white dressing gown with flowers on it and white pyjamas with details on it. 

It’s really cute but I can’t get over how close the West family home set looks to Barry’s lab set. Also Barry’s  perspective with Iris glowing golden is very, very cute.

DEETED LOOK 2

This doesn’t seem to have Iris vibes to it which might be why this is only in a “blink and you miss it” scene in the trailer. She rarely wears polo collars, and she very rarely wears burgundy and black.  That being said, she looks cute. 

Look count: 6 (5 shown; .5 for the two deleted)

Favourite look: probably the first outfit

Boot count: 2.5! Depending on whether the pic of Candice in the blue dress is 100% accurate to her pilot look)

Continuity: N. A. 

Thank you for reading!

#the flash fashion #the flash #Iris west Allen #iris west #iriswestedit #my meta #Iris’ outfits

[llycaons]

I maintain that wwx’s longing for LP doesn’t rely on jc nearly as much fans seem to think it does. a lot of his grief postres is of course wrapped up in nostalgia and homesickness and regrets for LP as a whole, but jyl is dead and he will never have that sibling dynamic again because jyl was required to sustain the jc and wwx relationship...and that’s tragic, that is, but the way things fell apart and the way jc and wwx’s relationship fractured before her death makes it so clear how fundamentally different their paths were always going to be, and it’s not a step forward or a ‘happy ending’ to have him return to someone with whom he’s had such a longterm and severe falling-out with. honestly jyl MADE that place his home. it was her compassion, and her love, and her generosity, her encouragement, her understanding that allowed wwx and jc to even have a relationship in the first place. and they did become close obviously but they could barely communicate with each other without her, of course the relationship didn’t survive her death

wwx clearly bitterly regrets what happened with jc and is upset that jc hates him (or so he thinks) but he also doesn’t particularly seem to miss jc in BM  the way he misses jyl or lwj which is interesting to me bc I don’t think wwx even likes him on a personal level which is another layer on complication here. there’s a lot of textual support for him loving jc and being protective of him but not really respecting jc as a leader, with a lot of subtext about him being very homesick and still caring a lot about him...which don’t contradict! they can both be true! but I still think that acting like a longterm survivor of unbelievable trauma can only truly be happy in a home he saw his entire family slaughtered in, at the side of a man who’s repeatedly assaulted him, encouraged him to kill himself, and triggered him intentionally, goes past stupid and into actively harmful, considering wwx’s lifetime of sacrifice and his willingness to be mistreated for other people’s sakes, especially the jiang’s. and it wouldn’t make him happy! it wouldn’t!

stating that LP his only ‘true’ home is...a reading that I can see people taking for sure, esp since in the drama he never really settled in CR. but stating that jc is the family he would be happiest with is so blatantly untrue like it ignores literally over half the story, essentially the entire ‘present-day’ arc and the many other people who wwx became family with, including jin ling, who is literally the last link he has to jyl and someone he clearly cares a lot about.

like. jc is the one sibling left but that doesn’t mean he’s okay to go back to, and it doesn’t mean that wwx would even be happy going back to him after developing such strong relationships with people who don’t routinely mistreat and abuse him, people he’s genuinely liked and been interested in since he was a teenager, people who he’s been through hell with and who shares his beliefs and principles. and we’ve obviously seen that wwx isn’t safe with jc, that jc isn’t in control of his anger, that he hurts wwx to personally gratify himself, that he triggers him with his phobia for no other reason than he thinks wwx deserves it. I feel like that should be clear to anyone with critical thinking skills even if they are jc fans?

I swear hardcore jc fans will just ignore the epic romance that’s literally the other most important wwx dynamic just because they don’t like it or whatever but like, not to criticize how people watch a show for fun but you cannot do a reading on wwx’s home or family or relationships supported by the text if you discount the significance of lwj to wwx or how their relationship is so utterly and intentionally different than jc’s. sometimes feels like these fans are taking the most bad-faith, shallow, face-value interpretation of  ‘oh wwx finds lwj boring and is stifled by CR’ and not bother to interrogate why maybe wwx is happy around lwj anyway and respects him and is excited to see him and brings him to important places like the shrine

I know none of this is saying anything new and I do like jc as a character, I just wish his fans would maybe use their heads and think through a complicated situation with respect to wwx further than ‘he misses this place so he will obviously be happy there with this person’ and then proceed to ignore 75% of the rest of the show that contradicts that or offers more nuance

#I saw a post and I got so annoyed sorry #disclaimer I was influenced by the novel in coming to this conclusion because I think it’s a lot less clear in the drama #but I do still think it's true in the drama #cql txp

[personinthepalace]

What do you think about some of my favorite (non-finale) episodes:

training day

disorder in the court

o vs the ballcano

flawed squad

cherry on top inator

odd in 60 seconds

16 and a half blocks

box trot

why did the chicken cross the dimension

Here we go! Please keep in mind that these are just my opinions :)

Training Day: slight confession, I didn't care much about this episode when I first watched it when it first aired haha. But my opinion on it definitely changed upon multiple rewatches. This episode changed the game! We finally understand Olive's PTSD and got an amazing introduction to OS best villain, Odd Todd! This episode had a big change in tone compared to the previous episodes, indicating that this show is more than just a fun kid's show- it can get serious and explore complex topics. So while it might not be one of my top favorite episodes, I think it is a GREAT episode that is very well written and acted and is a must watch for everyone!

Disorder In the Court: once again, another must watch episode since it is important to the story arc of season 1! One of the reasons I really love this episode is the focus on Olive's and Otto's partnership. Their friendship and trust is tested, but they come out strong in the end. Otto says one of my favorite quotes in the show, "Olive we're not just partners; we're friends. Nothing will ever change that." My favorite OS episodes are the ones that focus on the partners (in fact, my top favorite S1 episode is one that just focus on them during their plot). Also we get the return of Odd Todd which is always fun. And this is a court room episode, and they way they went about it is so fun. Between the two court room episodes in this show, this one was definitely the better one. Overall, I really enjoy this episode and can consider it as a favorite (I seriously need to make a list of my favorite S1 episodes someday haha)

O vs the Ballcano: I actually don't remember much about this episode, but Headquarters being flooded with the balls from the ballpit was such a fun thing to see! It must have been a fun day on set haha. Two things I really remember from this episode are Olaf losing his potato and O'Donahue shouting "Noooooo" during a flashback. I remember enjoying this episode though I don't know if I can count it as a top favorite

Flawed Squad: slight confession, when I first watched it, I thought it was one of the weaker episodes of the first batch that came out of season 2. But once again, upon rewatches, I find it much more enjoyable than I initally thought! I honestly didn't figure out the pattern at first, so that was fun to see Olympia and Ocean figure out. We got an Ocean and Olympia team up which was fun, and Owen being a cook was a nice touch! And if I remember correctly, this was the episode where Oona was trying to teach them to use the stairs, and then Olympia taught Ocean - I just find that hilarious haha. I guess the things I didn't care much about in this episode was the creature itself and the fake Big O/real Big O stuff. But overall while it isn't one of my top favorites, it is definitely an enjoyable episode with lots of gems I didn't notice at first

Edit 07/12/2022: okay I somehow convinced myself that the plot of Creature Whisperer was the plot of Flawed Squad??? Oops 😅 Anyway my thoughts on the actual episode: the first of the villain break-ins!! Anytime there’s a villain ensemble it is so much fun to watch and this was no exception. I found the ending a bit anti-climatic but then again these villains aren’t the brightest haha. Overall an enjoyable and very good episode that I liked but wouldn’t consider as one of my top faves simply bc there are so many great episodes in this season haha

Cherry-on-top-inator: now this is definitely one of my all time favorite episodes in S2! And maybe one of my top faves of the whole show haha. We get unhinged Oona who is completely fed up with her co-workers and just wants to destroy the gadget but they keep on interrupting. Crazy Oona is my favorite haha. All of the different forms of storytelling were so much fun!! My favorite is definitely the musical number with Olympia and Otis- it is also one of my favorite songs of the show (Odd Squad release the season 2 soundtrack PLEASE). But I love all the others as well especially Ohlm's film noir haha. Whenever it pops up on the PBS Kids player, you can bet I am going to watch it haha. So yeah one of my all time favorite episodes, and one I try to get everyone to watch haha

Odd in 60 Seconds: okay so I will confess that I am not a big fan of the Mobile Unit episodes. As a result, I haven't really rewatch these episodes and thus don't remember much about them. So this will affect my opinion of the upcoming episodes that you've mentioned. That being said, this episode is actually one of the ones that I remember really liking in Season 3. Now I don't actually remember much about this episode but the concept of villains coming in and trying to prove that they broke into the vault(?) was a lot of fun. I remember thinking that this was the best episode of s3 so I guess I'll stick with that haha

16 And A Half Blocks: I honestly don't remember anything about this episode. And even after reading the synopsis, I still don't remember much about it- Evil Sculptor coming to them for help sounds familiar but I still don't remember what happened. It is part 1 of the finale, and I remember thinking that the finale was okay overall? Like not the best (s1 still holds that title haha) but it was fine? But still I don't remember anything. So I honestly can't say what I think about this episode until I rewatch it haha

Box Trot: once again had to look up the synoposis bc I don't remember anything. I did find Seren's reaction video to it, and I fastforwarded through it just to get the gist of it. It seems like it's an episode with a villain ensemble which is always fun (honestly I think those are the better Mobile Unit episodes- when the episode focuses on a group of villains haha). Ahh and this also has orange Shapeshifter? Once again, vague memories haha. So once again, I can't really say what my opinion is of it, but since it has a villain ensemble I'm gonna say that I think it's one of the enjoyable Mobile Unit episodes?

Why Did The Chicken Cross The Dimension: okay so this came out as part of the batch of last OS episodes on the PBS Kids player last week. I initially watched it back in January (thanks VPN), but I was trying to rewatch these episodes since they are the final ones. I've watched the first two(?) episodes, and they are definitely a lot more fun than I initially remembered haha. But I still haven't rewatched this episode. From what I do remember though, the lesson was topography and it was kinda boring for me? But it also had the return of Logan so that was fun. Once again, I need to rewatch this episode to give an honest opinion bc I really don't remember much about it

And wow this turned out a lot longer than I expected haha. Hope that you enjoy my ramblings! And once again, these are just my opinions and a rewatch is definitely necessary for me to give an honest opinion haha. Thanks for the ask, and I would love to know why you love these episodes!! And feel free to ask my opinion on other episodes :)

Ask me anything about Odd Squad!

#odd squad episodes #basically this is me realizing that I need to do a rewatch soon haha #odd squad pbs kids #odd squad #long post #my thoughts on odd squad episodes #training day #disorder in the court #o vs the ballcano #flawed squad #cherry on top inator #odd in 60 seconds #16 and a half blocks #box trot #why did the chicken cross the dimension #answering asks in the palace #answering odd squad asks bc it is the finale #anon ask

[captainsspnanon]

C2E60 - A Turtle By Any Other Name - rewatch

It’s odd.  I hated the HP trackers in CR, but I love the HP trackers in D20.  *shrugs*

Did I just watch the episode with the origin of “Hoot Growl” in D20? (or at least the episode where it comes up the most?)  Yes.  Am I jumping back into CR for now?  Also yes.

(I used to watch things that weren’t dnd, you know.  Like, tv shows and shit. *sighs wistfully*  ...then again, I’m very much a creature of habit.  Fell in love with Leverage?  Let’s watch Hustle, and White Collar, and Person of Interest...and not finish any of them.   EVENTUALLY.)

……...is this the episode which starts Fjord’s fear of turtles?  OH YES

Or, I suppose, Fjord’s fear of any creature Polymorphed into a small should be harmless thing that still decides to attack him.  *cough purple worm bunny cough*

Damn, looks like top table’s going to be a bit fuzzy again.  Hopefully it’ll get back to clear soon.  (from later on, it looks better now?  Can’t tell if the switched that cam with the standing Matt cam?  I give up XD)

Fun fact!  By watching C2 before C1, I had NO CLUE that Travis and Ashley are as close as they are, especially since Yasha and Fjord don’t interact too much until later on in the campaign.  So moments like now, when Yasha uses Healing Hands on Fjord, and even moments of Travis getting excited when she rages, I never got the unspoken background like I do now.  Very similar to not having the experience of having the twins first before Caleb and Jester, or Vaxleth before Beau and Caleb. Watching it know with the knowledge of all the relationships beforehand, I won’t say it impacts my watching greatly – because these are all professional actors and the PC relationships are so distinct, but it instead triggers small flashes of tie ins.  Was the Healing Hands a ‘Buddy!’ moment from C1?  Are Fjord and Beau so close because there was a layer of Keyleth and Grog that they didn’t get the chance to explore (I’m still fascinated by the fact that Marisha was considering a level of barbarian for Keyleth)?  It’s a unique undercurrent, because it’s not subtext in the campaign, it’s not anything layered in there from the cast.  It’s a fans-eye-view perspective of the dynamics.

*just heart-eyes Caleb’s description for Flaming Sphere*  I’m currently playing a Circle of Stars druid, and I’m flavoring a lot of my spells to be star-related, and I’m taking SO MUCH influence from how Liam played Caleb.  Throwing in a ton of flavor, but just over the span of a few seconds so that the rest of the table doesn’t feel like they’re sitting through a spiel.  (my Thorn Whip is a thin rope of inky darkness studded with pinpricks of starlight that pierce the target with flares of white.  Still piercing damage, still a cantrip, but flavored for funs.  No material components though, got my star map focus as a long dangling multi-disc earring)

First Making My Way!!!  Though in this case (and for a bit yet), they sing more of the song before they start shortening it up.  Two running jokes in quick succession for episodes!

Caleb killing the goblin and Matt tearing up the NPC sheet while the cast cracks up is the BEST.

lol Laura doughnut craving and then basically everyone jumping in quietly with an order

POLY MORPH POLY MORPH POLY MORPH

Huh, I forgot that the fear effect may be why Fjord is so frighted of it.  I’ll have to see if he makes his save or not.  REGARDLESS, I love that it becomes a running joke even without the fear effect.

Ah the Giant Tortoise vs having to use stats so Giant Snapping Turtle which suddenly is much more violent

Nothing as beautiful a representation of the top table by having Marisha hold the box of doughnuts and Travis and Liam LUNGE to hide the logo at the exact same time.  OH THE CHAOS.

LIGHTING GLOVES!!!! I don’t have much to say because just extended combat which is...yanno, just combat, but there’s still a lot of fun moments happening.

Huh.  Being more familiar with the rules of dnd now, it is interesting to see Matt make some weird calls that really make no sense.  Fjord can’t take the dodge action because he’s up against the wall?  I get that it’s a very funny moment and they’re all cracking jokes, but I can’t really see a mechanical reason that he wouldn’t be allowed to take the dodge, especially because he’s actively not doing anything else.  Doesn’t ruin my enjoyment!  But I’m definitely seeing things that I super didn’t notice the first time around because I didn’t know enough.

IT’S A REGULAR FUCKING TURTLE I love every aspect of this with my whole heart

holy crap I forgot that Matt really doesn’t let them rest!  This’ll be the third initiative of the day.  I know there’s a lot of debate in the dnd community about the 6-8 encounters per day and possible misunderstandings thereof, so I know that this is actually fairly reasonable, but also OOF.  They don’t even get a short rest in between any of these.  Then again, I’m also very low level right now in my game, so I wonder how something like this would play out for me when I’m at the equivalent level.  I’m not used to have lots of spell slots yet, I’m not even sure how many I would HAVE. Sadly, won’t be able to share anytime soon, I don’t expect to be around this level for half a year at least.  (infrequent games, sadly)

I love that Beau’s turn this combat is just to explain her notes to Caleb.  We’re getting into bookish!Beau territory, which I fucking love.  Still a good 21 episodes from where she gets her headband of intellect though.

LOL Now that I know who set the rift making machine, I am completely thrown by the fact that they suspected Dairon.  It makes complete sense!  I’m sure I agreed when I first saw it!  But now it’s just so unthinkable to me.

Alright, time to watch the last hour of this before I watch the two part finale of Fantasy High.  (still not fully vibing with this one personally, but I want to watch all of them in order, and they have a second run for it, plus I think The Seven is also set in the same world?  So watching them all.  Very much looking forwards to the second campaign for Unsleeping City, and I have a feeling I’ll probably end up loving Crown of Candy considering all the shit I hear about it?)

I feel so bad for Soorna, she feels so responsible for not being able to save her people.  :(  Visions have never been easy to interpret!  You did the best you can!

Beau and Caleb are knowledge buddies it makes me so happy you have no idea

YASHA DREAM YASHA DREAM YASHA DREAM

OH MY GOD we have our introduction to Obann in the dream AND IT NEVER CLICKED FOR ME UNTIL NOW by the time we meet Obann I’ve completely forgotten the dream BUT HE’S RIGHT THERE AND FULLY DESCRIBED

I do admit, there’s a part of me that really wishes that more of Yasha’s backstory got discussed.  She’s been designed to be super metal and badass, with the RP that then turns her to softness and gentleness.  Hell, she has the name Orphanmaker!  But we don’t really get to see in campaign too much that actually ends up backing that up.  The Obann arc and her tearing through the Cobalt Soul is pretty much the extent of it, with then the tiny tiny bit of her meeting her tribe in the very last episode (which I don’t even remember if I figured out that they were implying she killed the previous Skyspear with maybe more members of her tribe, or if I read a comment that said that).  I don’t know.  There are several good moments of RP for it, her guilt, some conversations with Caleb (well, one.  I NEEDED MORE OF THIS), her deliberate loss of the fight, I don’t want to lessen those moments, but I do wish we’d gotten more.  First watch through, I only really started to get Yasha once she was back full time (though got a bit more of her during this stay).  With this second pass through, I’ve got her from the start, but I still wish I knew more.  I do know that her comic just got released, but I have mixed feelings about the comics anyway.  I only read Caleb’s, but I saw enough of Jester’s to see just how many things in it contradicted things that were stated multiple times in campaign, so I don’t quite consider them full canon?  ...i think I’ve just gone in circles and not actually said anything this entire paragraph.

Mmmph…. I don’t get why Cad and Jester are awake.  Honestly wish this moment could have just been a Yasha and Nott moment.  I get that Cad has very high passive perception, but still.  I don’t know.  It leads to the great moment of Yasha in the storm trying confront her god, which is fantastic, but I still feel like it was a bit of inserting yourself into someone else’s moment.  Then again, they’re all so close at the table, AND they know that Ashley can get overwhelmed when the spotlight is on her (especially when she’s been away for so long!!).  ….once again, going in circles, not saying anything. Good thing the episode is almost over.

I feel a tiny bit bad for Matt.  Over the course of his campaigns, he has his gods do things in mysterious or interpretive ways, and the players are all like ‘spell it out for me plz I didn’t get it’ and then Matt has to have the gods come out and speak much more clearly than planned.  I think the most he really got to enjoy with his vagueness was with the Wildmother for Caduceus.  Poor Matt trying to Raven Queen for Vax and Liam just being ‘wut? explain plz, i am confuzed’.  I’m sure this is a pain most DMs end up feeling.  I still dread when my DM is going to put down a puzzle for us to solve and we’re probably gonna stare at it for hours not being sure what to do

“where do you find your strength” it makes sense that the Stormlord would still ask that of his followers, but it feels almost like someone asking you a riddle that you’ve already read the solution to online.  Not quite as earned.  I don’t know if Yasha WOULD feel like she gets her strength from her friends at this point.  (again, due to Ashley not being there so still restricted RP moments)

Ashley’s face when Yasha starts getting her feathers back.  I think she’s on the next Talks, and she mentions how she never thought it could happen.  They dissipate again by the end of the episode, but I suspect only a nat20 could have broken the shackles at this point.  Which I agree with, both in the moment and with hindsight.  Yasha needed more time to process, to accept, to struggle, and to heal.  Having the chains break now?  It just doesn’t feel right.

@suicidallyreckless

#critical role #the mighty nein #cr c2 rewatch

[inkofamethyst]

October 19, 2022

[May 5, 2019]

hey let’s play a fun game: you dare me to go to sleep and i do it in under five minutes

[today]

That was from an old old old draft but I think it’s relevant.  Also what was I so tired for in May of my senior year?  The show was done, no marching band.. maybe it was those four APs I took?  I think AP tests happen around the first week of May?

UMM.  Paradise Killer??  The premise of that game is actually insane.  Like, insane in a way that I can’t even consider how someone would come up with it.  I do kinda wanna play it now though.  And by “play it” I of course mean “watch a lets-play” naturally.

A fairly famous comedian came to campus for a show a few days ago and he was not funny lol (and based on what I knew about him, I (and my parents) figured it was going to go that way).  Like, the warmup acts had me in tears with laughter, and I sat through his whole set waiting for him to actually, you know, not rattle off jokes I’ve heard before???  Half of the jokes were unoriginal lines I’ve seen online elsewhere, and none of them made me laugh so hard my sides hurt.  I smiled, I chuckled, I left feeling disappointed.  I’ve gotten better comedy from college students, from middle school honors students who didn’t want to do classwork.  They were all like, two sentence buildup followed by a punchline and then a non-sequitur to another joke with the same structure on a totally different topic.  Good comedy has a flow to it, it’s in conversation with itself... This guy just stood there awkwardly at points and openly admitted that he was thinking of what to say next.  Granted, I am not a comedian.  Comedy was always difficult for me to really grasp in theatre, I couldn’t do it.  But this man gets paid to be funny.  So.

Speaking of non-sequiturs, I saw a tiktok about how some girl was reading her journal from senior year and she was so filled with despair during college app season that she expressed that the process needed to be outlawed and you know what??  I’m with her on that one.  Barring the end of 2020/beginning of 2021 which was a nationally traumatic event compounded on top of some personal stuff, the college app season was probably the lowest I’ve ever been from a mental health standpoint over an extended period of time.  I’m talking months of bleakness.  Something has to change, but I sure don’t know what.

Nowadays I’m not feeling that same kind of despair, I’m just tired.

I did receive another soft rejection today (they weren’t taking another student) which I much prefer to paying an application fee and working on a personal statement and then receiving a rejection that I could not have done anything better to change.  Also I wasn’t very heavily invested in the guy anyway, so I’m guuci.  The other dude I could be interested in at that department looks too close to death tbh.

Also it’s actually really hard to try to “fill up” my schedule with classes in case I can’t TA.  Like I’ll need two more “real classes” when I register in two weeks but I simply do not have the desire to ~think~.  Maybe I’ll see if I can take a real bioanth class through the consortium.  But then I’ll still need another option.  Obviously I’m hoping my Master Plan works out, but I want a solid backup plan just in case, you know?

Last thing, I’m currently in the middle of CR C3E36 and I think it could be the best Critical Role episode I’ve seen yet out of all the campaigns.  I’ve been so smiley, so giggly, so positively joyful this whole episode, I just feel fantastic.  I’m having literally so much fun with this.  And I mean, there have, of course, been great episodes in the past, but this is sort of like a major crossover event, like Avengers: Infinity War, just an overwhelming feeling of :D and I haven’t even finished the episode yet.

Today I’m thankful that I went to the anthropology meet and greet today!!  Partly because there was food there and while I do have stuff prepared in the fridge, I also love getting free food, especially when it’s not pizza lol (not that pizza is bad, just that so many events serve pizza because it’s simple).  Partly because I got to connect with some of the people in my classes and they’re really cool!  Partly because I got to connect with a professor for whom I would like to TA next semester, and I should be able to get a good section for that (aka not the 8 am ones).  I’m also thankful for my mom, like so so so thankful and I hate the fact that I can be so neurotic but UGH I’m just so thankful that she cares for me enough to not turn me away or shut down my feelings.  I’m also thankful that my ecoanth prof and my archaeology prof canceled class tomorrow (two class day!!)!  I’m thankful that my presentation in archaeology went well (I think I might’ve almost convinced my prof that I didn’t do the readings the night before (but also he’s not the type of guy to care even if I did)).  Last but not least, I’m thankful to finally have finished twisting my hair.  As cute as the headscarf looked, it was getting a little old.  I just wish sometimes that my hair didn’t shrink up so much, but ultimately I don’t mind because a) I have hair and b) I can do a lot with it and c) it’s relatively healthy.  Lots of things to be thankful for today.