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thisisnotthenerd · 7 months

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back at it again with more d20 stats

this time we're talking intrepid heroes seating arrangements. disclaimer: i'm not doing this for guests because all of these rely on consistency and patterns.

sequel seasons are counted separately, to make the total number of seasons seven.

table format:

i organized this by assigning numbers to the seats at the table, formatted like so:

L or R for left or right side of the table from the dm's perspective

number indicates distance from the dm. the higher the number the further you are towards the point of the triangle.

thus, the full seating chart is below:

most common player per seat:

L1: tie between emily axford and zac oyama: 2/7

L2: tie between emily axford and zac oyama: 2/7

L3: lou wilson: 3/7

R3: siobhan thompson: 3/7

R2: brian murphy: 3/7

R1: brian murphy: 3/7

you may ask, why doesn't ally have a most common seat? well my friend, they often occupy seats that murph does, and he sits in them more than they do.

player side preference:

this refers to the side of the table the players most often sit. this will also include distance from the dm.

murph leans hard right: 6/7 seasons on the right, close to the dm (3R1, 3R2, 1L2)

ally follows close behind with 5/7 seasons on the right, generally the 1 or 2 spot (2R1, 2R2, 1R3, 1L1, 1L2)

emily leans left: 5/7 seasons, generally in seat 1/2, much like ally. she's been moving steadily to the right with each new ih world (2L1, 2L2, 1L3, 1R2, 1R1)

zac also leans left: 5/7 seasons, but is closer to a middle split than emily (2L1, 2L2, 1L3, 1R3, 1R1)

siobhan started right and is moving left, but is often in the back: 4/7 left (3R3, 2L3, 1L2, 1L1)

lou has the same back lean that siobhan does, and same left: 4/7 (3L3, 2R3, 1R2, 1L1)

player combinations:

for the purposes of this, L3 & R3 are functionally both next to and across the table pairs. in some cases this will look a little weird. numbers may also be skewed by the number of times someone sits on an end seat (L1 & R1). this is the full list for everyone, so there are repeated numbers.

emily axford:

next to:

zac oyama (4/7)

brian murphy (3/7)

lou wilson (2/7)

siobhan thompson (1/7)

ally beardsley (1/7)

across the table:

brian murphy (4/7)

siobhan thompson (3/7)

zac oyama:

next to:

emily axford (4/7)

siobhan thompson (3/7)

lou wilson (2/7)

ally beardsley (1/7)

brian murphy (1/7)

across the table:

ally beardsley (6/7)

lou wilson (1/7)

siobhan thompson:

next to:

lou wilson (6/7)

zac oyama (3/7)

brian murphy (2/7)

emily axford (1/7)

ally beardsley (1/7)

across the table:

lou wilson (4/7)

emily axford (3/7)

lou wilson:

next to:

siobhan thompson (6/7)

zac oyama (2/7)

emily axford (2/7)

ally beardsley (2/7)

across the table:

siobhan thompson (4/7)

brian murphy (2/7)

zac oyama (1/7)

ally beardsley:

next to:

brian murphy (5/7)

lou wilson (2/7)

zac oyama (1/7)

emily axford (1/7)

siobhan thompson (1/7)

across the table:

zac oyama (6/7)

brian murphy (1/7)

brian murphy:

next to:

ally beardsley (5/7)

emily axford (3/7)

siobhan thompson (2/7)

zac oyama (1/7)

across the table:

emily axford (4/7)

lou wilson (2/7)

ally beardsley (1/7)

placement around the table offers an eye into player dynamics, mostly in terms of player synergy and dm-player communication.

being next to someone gives good opportunities for communication--the players can collaborate and discuss options in a way that they can't necessarily do with the people who sit further away. also very funny opportunities for space work and joint bits.

being directly across from someone lets you read their face easily and tends to have strong character interactions. also deep bit potential that someone next to you might not catch. some examples: 'i can see my dick!' from tuc, the hairy baby gag and every sofie-kug interaction, kingston and misty, barry and gunnie, fig and riz, margaret and skip, jet and ruby, saccharine and ruby, theo and amethar, liam and lapin, sidney and riva, pib and pinocchio, ylfa and rosamund.

this obviously isn't exclusive. a lot of the funniest moments come from interactions across the table that aren't in the pure combinations.

seat archetypes:

this is a little more opinion from me, but here's my general impression of the characters (not players) that end up in each seat. this obviously isn't a hard and fast rule, but more vague in their application.

L1: you're in for some nonsense buddy. lots of personal change, realizing who you are and what that means after one major change in your life. arcs vary in how prominent they are, but by god you're going to get some bits out of it. lots of mixed martial-magic.

fig faeth

ricky matsui

liam wilhelmina

gunnie miggles-rashbax

rosamund du prix

L2: reliable energy. their arc isn't always most prominent, but their development is strong and they're steady throughout. sometimes holding the key to saving the world in their hands. even split of martial and magic.

gorgug thistlespring

sofia lee

theobald gumbar

riva

mother goose

L3: lowkey chosen one energy. their arcs get very involved with the overall adventure arc. pointing in the direction of plot movement, but also learning to connect/reconnect and care for others after being isolated. heavier on the full casters

adaine abernant

kingston brown

jet rocks

saccharina frostwhip

norman "skipper" takamori/skip

pinocchio

R3: the journey involves their sense of self and their place in the world. wearing a lot of masks and hiding your struggles only for it to come out violently. even split of martial and magic, heavy on rogues, bards, & sorcerers.

fabian aramais seacaster

misty moore/rowan berry

iga lisowski

ruby rocks

margaret encino

puss in boots (pib)

R2: recognizing the harm and wrongs done in your past and seeking to correct them by becoming more than who you used to be. also just some nonsense. absurdity built into the character concept. even split of martial and magic, with several mixed martial mages as well.

kristen applebees

kugrash

cody walsh

amethar rocks

sundry sidney

gerard of greenleigh

R1: pointing in the direction of plot movement. taking the power that is given to you and learning duty and responsibility from it. moving past loss and engaging with the world in a new way. also a bunch of bits. a little heavier on the martial than the magic.

riz gukgak

pete conlan

lapin cadbury

cumulous rocks

barry syx

ylfa snorgelsson

and that's it for now on thisisnotthenerd's d20 stats. tune in for the next thing i hyperfixate on. this one got long.

#dimension 20 #dimension 20 meta #thisisnotthenerd's d20 stats #intrepid heroes #fantasy high #the unsleeping city #a crown of candy #a starstruck odyssey #neverafter #long post #dimension 20 statistics

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longwuzhere · 9 months

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Some cool Easter eggs I caught watching My Adventures with Superman that I want to show to people so they can be in on it with comic book readers: For the first episode's Easter eggs it's here

For the second episode's Easter eggs it's here

For the third episode's Easter eggs it's here

For the fourth episode's Easter eggs it's here

For the sixth episode's Easter eggs it's here

For the seventh episode's Easter eggs it's here and here

For the eighth episode's Easter eggs post it's here

For the ninth episode's Easter eggs post it's here

For the tenth episode's Easter eggs post it's here SPOILERS if you haven't seen this week's episode obviously

We start off the episode with this shot of Superman with the drawn on glasses. A good homage to what Lois did in the 1980 Superman II movie...

where she not only drew the glasses but also a full suit and hat on a picture of Superman.

Next we see Jimmy waking up and seeing someone debunking his conspiracy theories on Sub-Diego.

Sub Diego was an actual place in the DC universe before the New 52 reboot. In Aquaman #15 and #16 (2003) , shown here (W: Will Pfeifer, P: Patrick Gleason, I: Christian Alamy, C: Nathan Eyring, L: Jared K. Fletcher for issue 15, Nick Napolitano for issue 16). The underwater city is actually San Diego, but is buried underwater thanks to a tidal wave and makes its first appearance in Aquaman #15 (2003). There was a lot of casualties from this.

When we get to our title its "You Will Believe A Man Can Lie" a reference to the tagline for the 1978 Superman movie.

As seen here on the poster, it says "You'll believe a man can fly".

Next we see our villain, well one of the villains, for the episode, Heatwave.

In the comics Heatwave makes his first appearance in Flash 140 (1963) (cover art by Carmine Infantino, Murphy Anderson, and Ira Schnapp). Heatwave aka Mick Rory is a Flash rogue usually acting as a rival to Captain Cold aka Leonard Snart. In MAwS, their Heatwave shares the same last name and powers, but MAwS Heatwave is gender flipped. You might have seen Heatwave in the CW DC comics shows where he is played by Dominic Purcell in The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow.

Lois, later in the episode, name drops Heatwave's name. Gotta be honest when Heatwave showed up I was like is that Rampage? Cuz the MAwS design looks vaguely like Rampage.

If she does show up in MAwS, I'll talk more about her in another post, but for now, Rampage aka Karen Lou "Kitty" Faulkner, makes her first appearance in Superman #7 (1987) (full page here: W&P: John Byrne, I: Karl Kesel, C: Tom Ziuko, L: John Costanza).

Steve drags Jimmy to film his debunking Flamebird videos and references Starro who I talked about here.

Lois, later runs around with the Daily Planet police scanner trying to catch Superman and the dispatcher reports that a robbery is in progress at McGuinness Luxe Garage.

This is a nice reference to Ed McGuinness who was the artist for Superman, Action Comics, and Superman/Batman in the early 2000s. If you've seen Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, then you'll know the movie takes inspiration from his character designs in the first arc of the Superman/Batman comic series. The Superman/Batman #1 (2003) cover here is done by Ed McGuinness, Dexter Vines, and Dave Stewart. I like Ed McGuinness's pencils, very stylized.

Heatwave name drops Livewire and the Gazzo mod family. Both of whom I've talked about here and here respectively

Heatwave has been running away from Deathstroke here who has been taking our her crew. Notice that Slade Wilson doesn't have the half black half orange helmet yet that almost every Deathstroke depiction always has.

He, Amanda Waller, and the General who I totally think is General Sam Lane, Lois's dad, are fans of DBZ cuz of the scouters they're wearing.

Later in the scene we see the General again he's totally General Sam Lane. I'll talk more about him when we get a double confirmation through a name drop/reveal in a later post calling Amanda Waller, Mandy. What a fucking bold thing to say to Waller! Like damn! power move right there!

Superman and Deathstroke are fighting under a highway and we see the traffic is heading to Bludhaven!

Very good reference to my favorite character in all of pop culture, Dick Grayson aka Nightwing. Nightwing makes Bludhaven his city to protect. The city makes its first appearance in Nightwing #1 (1996) (the panel here - W: Chuck Dixon, P: Scott McDaniel, I: Karl Story, C: Roberta Tewes, L: John Costanza). Fun Bludhaven fact, its crime rate is WORST than Gotham! Also HIGHLY recommend reading the new Nightwing run cuz its fucking amazing! Won a few Eisner Awards (think the Oscars but for comic books) recently and I am not just saying that because I am a Dick Grayson fan.

Near the end of the episode, we see Lois willing to jump off a building to prove that Clark is Superman. A lot of discourse was happening online over this, but I do want to say this is pretty on brand for her to do.

In Superman II, Lois does something similar and Clark saves her. its just in MAwS, Clark flies to save her thus ruining the secret identity, while in Superman II, Clark does save her but he is still able to get away with it thanks to him playing it more subtly.

Don't know why people we're in such a fucking fit over something that Lois has done before.

In the after credits scene, Jimmy, who planned a sasquatch finding adventure with Lois and Clark, but they were dealing with their shit and Jimmy was by himself, decides to do the finding on his own and meets a giant gorilla. In the first episode Jimmy mentions an intelligent gorilla in France and my guess is this is Monsieur Mallah. You can read more about him here. If you made it this far down, I appreciate you taking the time to check this post out and if you want to see my other MAwS Easter Eggs posts - Episode 1 is here

Episode 2 is here

Episode 3 is here

Episode 4 is here

Episode 6 is here

Episode 7 is here and here

Episode 8 is here

Episode 9 is here

Episode 10 is here

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naddpod-encounter-tourney · 4 months

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Option 1:

Enemy: Heradecia and Cerenysus

Episode: C2 E41: Cerenysus

Time: 4:04-2:46:22

Finish: Fia (Cerenysus), Jabari (Heradecia)

Notes: 2 concurrent battles. 2 spellcasting enemies. 2 players juggling 2 PCs each. Surprise Lou and Hexbuds! Caldwell as Lake, Lou ass the spells. Emboldening bond and damage sponging. Living spells for Fia to fight. Jabari trapped in banishment with dry toads. Corbeau staying up and almost forgetting the death ward. Zirk's fucking crown removal and the deal he makes for his life. Hank breaking the curse. Tarragon's halfling abilities coming in clutch. Fia casts the first revivify in Eldermourne in centuries.

Propaganda: (anonymous) Fia won't fight Irina. The hexbloods are fighting their mom again. Lou Wilson voices the living spells. Caldwell gets to be the dog. Zirk fucking dies and then Fia tells hank to kill her girl(hood) friend it's all so crazy. It's 4 players and 6 PCs across 2 locations fighting 2 demigods and one demigod is kinda mind controlling the other. It's just a great final fight.

2 absolutely legendary encounters for the price of one. "Mr Henry, kill her" makes me weep every time. Also Lou Wilson as Bigby's Hand.

THE LOU REVEAL GETS ME EVERY SINGLE TIME. the back and forth. the emotional damage. everybody's playing multiple characters. Zirk is dying. "You took his death save?!" Caldwell 'playing' Lake the dog. Lou voicing the sentient spells and making wind noises. "What about the death ward?" truly the encounter of all time

Option 2:

Enemy: Thiala

Episodes: C1 E100: Heart of the World

Time: (ads) 58:56-2:41:30 (*used the ads version because it's two episodes on patreon so it wouldn't be a great timestamp)

Finish: Moonshine

Notes: Hardwon's insane first 2 rounds (almost 600 damage! and he does miss!! he does a total of 1,082 damage to Thiala in the entire fight and there are 2 rounds where he doesn't have a turn because he's unconscious!). Moonshine counterspells and then uses Chill Touch to make sure all of Hardwon's damage can stick. The flashback scenes that do psychic damage and enlighten the audience at the last minute on characters we hadn't seen a lot of. Bev goes Elder Champion and casts revivify as a bonus action. The terrain moves to in front of the Heart of the World where Melora and Telaine are holding the world together. Ulfgar and Alanis are used for their power by Thiala, and Galad is fucking back and Thiala's bestie. Erlin is freed by Handy Andy. "I'm gonna fucking eat her."

Propaganda: (anonymous) hardwon surefoot deals 582 points of damage against thiala in two rounds. that’s all

Murph's flashbacks to Elias Sr., Ol' Cobb, and the Legendary Heroes? Chef's kiss. Also riding into battle on flying elephants.

#naddpod #not another dnd podcast #bahumia #eldermourne #naddpod encounter tournament #finals

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utilitycaster · 10 months

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From all the TTRPG shows you've watched so far, do you have any favourite player character builds, or builds that you think were especially well suited to the campaign/setting that the character was in?

You'd have to narrow this down - there's a lot (I stopped keeping my massive spreadsheet of character races and classes in actual play updated bc it was getting ridiculous but it's at over 100) so I'm just going to call out a few players who consistently hit this mark in everything they do.

Surprising no one, Emily Axford. Truly one of the biggest reasons why I get annoyed at the "haha Emily will DESTROY this DM" is that Emily has an incredibly good eye towards party composition and collaboration with DMs while also pulling off some wild multiclasses. This serves her in NADDPod especially, since they're a small party and everyone needs to be versatile. I will say that while I love Callie's build and think it mechanically works very well and made sense for her background in Mothership, it feels like it needs more in-story explanation that we haven't quite gotten to, but I also trust that we will.

Surprising no one with taste, Travis Willingham. Even in cases where we know it was off-the-cuff (Grog) he did a lot of work establishing why Grog was the class he was and how he felt about it; and in cases where it was pre-planned, the amount of backstory and mechanics work he does before and during the story is admirable to the point of ridiculousness (updating Chet's backstory to accommodate what Matt said in a flashback sequence? bananas). His multiclass choices always fit both the base build and the story admirably, and always fit a niche within the party that is very much needed, and the choice to play someone like Cerrit in Calamity or Fjord in general would put him here on their strength alone.

Again surprising no one, Aabria Iyengar; DMs make the best players. Capable of some great optimization (Deanna, Laerryn, whatever the hell Antiope had going on) or just playing a character with a simple build but with a strong understanding of the setting (Myrtle the Bitch; Suvi). Really, Suvi alone puts her here in that Aabria maybe more than anyone (though she might be tied with Emily Axford) understands wizards and understands that your character is a part of the DM's worldbuilding and needs to reflect that, while also serving as your contribution to that world.

And finally, Lou Wilson. He often does fairly simple builds - Nydas and late-game Fabian are the only ones with significant multiclassing beyond barbarian/fighter level dips - but he always knows precisely what his character is here to do from the start and why, can adapt on a dime, and he has a fantastic eye for subclass choice.

Honorable mentions:

Zac Oyama tends not to go for incredibly complex mechanics, but he has a great understanding of building a character who fits into the world in a way that both reflects and expands upon it, and has a great sense of subtlety, restraint, negative space, and comedic timing. (I've been meaning to make a negative space/comedic timing post but honestly just watch Zac and Travis.)

Grouping Taliesin Jaffe and Siobhan Thompson together because they are both very strong mechanically and not afraid of a wild min-maxed triple multiclass on occasion, but more specifically because they've both made at least one character I really did not vibe with and also absolutely could not fault in any way other than "not my thing, personally." Related to that, both of them bring an "I'm a generous and skilled player and I don't really give a fuck what the audience thinks" vibe that I (the audience) respects the hell out of.

Jake Hurwitz is the rare player who 100% knows his wheelhouse and embraces it whole-heartedly, and he puts in the character and setting work to keep it interesting.

Justin McElroy is mechanically competent but nothing impressive, but he absolutely thinks about his characters and the setting and how they fit together in a deep and interesting way and which sets him apart in TAZ. Kind of with Jake in that he 100% writes what he knows; I think this kind of player is underrated and having played with some, they shouldn't be.

And on the rare chances Brennan Lee Mulligan gets to play, not only is he min-maxed to the hilt but he always is working with the DM in a truly admirable way, even as he builds a little guy who cannot roll below a 25 deception or who has somehow managed to get sneak attack twice per round or something wild like that.

#answered #Anonymous #long post #actual play

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pawthorn · 10 months

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Okay, so this has been in my brain for a while, but.

I love when Lou Wilson and Zac Oyama are in the same actual play show, because their characters so often explore characters in opposite directions.

(Character discussion for main-cast seasons of Dimension 20 and The Ravening War below.)

Lou Wilson often plays characters that are obviously heroically tragic in some way. This is especially apparent in his main-cast seasons of Dimension 20. Fabian Seacaster, son of a banished pirate who can never live up to his father’s ideals and will always be in his shadow. Kingston Brown, healer who has given up everything to protect his city. Amethar, last surviving sibling of his family, trapped in political games that are over his head. Gunnie, a brilliant kid with a dream that came crashing down immediately. Pinocchio, a puppet who can never be good enough to be a real boy.

With these characters, tragedy is obvious and visible from the start. But from there, Lou tends to explore the comedic side of tragic heroism. Almost every one of them has moments where their vision of themselves and the world just does not line up with reality, and comedy ensues. The clearest example is Fabian in Leviathan. Big and boisterous and past thought and reason, Fabian’s grand charge with the warlocks is horrifying, and it’s hilarious. You get the same energy in Gunnie at the casino and Pinnochio talking to Cinderella. Moments that are funny because of their inherent tragedy.

On the other hand, Zac Oyama’s characters are often steeped in inherent comedy. Gorgug, too big for his parents tiny gnome house. Ricky Matsui, Mr. March, whose dark secret is that he wasn’t always a firefighter (because he was a child once.) Lapin Cadbury, crotchety old bunny. Cumulous Rocks, cottoncandy-man of death. Norman Takamori, mean, put-upon, and incompetent space captain. Skip, a slug. Pib, an asshole cat.

Zac’s characters rarely hold the same gravitas as Lou’s at first glance. But the things that make them funny are often revealed to be truly tragic as the story progresses and their depths are explored. I think Ricky’s arc in TUC 2 is the most obvious example of this. What happens when your character is seen as a joke, but you removed the punchline? Ricky wasn’t always a firefighter, and now he isn’t. He isn’t the questing hero. He isn’t anybody. And we get this beautiful three-dimensional exploration of meaning in a character who perhaps seemed flat at first glance. And almost all of Zac’s characters are more than they seem. Lapin. Norman. Skip. Pib.

And once again, in The Ravening War, there’s a mirror in Lou and Zac’s arcs, with Deli starting out heroic, ambitious, filled with purpose, only to be played for a fool (the comic tragedy of his last interaction with Gemelli) and slip into obscurity. Colin, on the other hand, begins in obscurity, a seemingly funny cheese man messing up the clan’s introduction and eating charcuterie with Cleva. By the end, he has the strongest moral dedication of the group, getting the final blow on their enemy and dedicating himself to ridding the world of an evil organization for the rest of his life.

I’m just so happy that the two of them are in the main cast of Dimension 20, that we get to see them play across from each other so often. They’re two of my favorite players, and I can’t wait to see whatever is next for both of them.

#lou wilson #zac oyama #dimension 20 spoilers #the ravening war spoilers #dimension 20 #the ravening war #long post

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irl-magicalgirl · 1 year

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after a few weeks of procrastinating I started catching up on Neverafter again yesterday — and episode 9 just punched me in the gut in the first 20 minutes.

(this ended up being longer than intended so slapping a readmore here as to not clog folks' dashboards)

Pinocchio has always been one of my favorite characters since I i was little, and I never agreed with the way his story is so often interpreted as "he was a bad child and all lying is bad, so he deserves the punishments he gets". I just always felt it was such an oversimplified and dishonest story in that way.

So when Lou was explaining Pinocchio's inner thoughts, about how he wants to know why everything is so hard, why it had to be this hard, why nothing ever works out. Why other children get to lie and steal and cheat and still get to live good lives, but when he does it he gets hung, or burned, or his father is hurt or killed. Why when he fails he suffers the ultimate consequences that other children don't — it really hit me because that's exactly how I've always thought about Pinnochio.

and after about 40 minutes of letting that percolate and replay in my mind, I started to vividly remember being around 12 or 13, and working up the courage to ask my mother why she yells at me and punishes me the way she does, and asking to please not scream at me. I remember even saying that I knew none of my friends' parents treated them that way. And I was met with anger and more yelling, and being told I was lying and ungrateful and that every parent treats their child like this. And this was the first time I learned that trying to have any dialogue with my mother would only lead to more yelling and threats and pain, and that my best option was to shut up and never fight back. And I had to become exceptional at telling small and big lies all of the time, to protect myself and my siblings, and to keep my thoughts and feelings to myself.

I'm nearly 27 now, and just thinking about that confrontation still makes me cry and feel helpless, even though I am out of that house and independent. And I got to have such an extreme moment of self realization and understanding last night thanks to Lou Wilson (and Guillermo del Toro) providing such beautiful interpretations of Pinnochio as a character.

#personal #tagging as personal but i don't mind if people reblog or reply — i feel like there's probably a lot of people who can relate #neverafter #d20 neverafter #dimension 20 #lou wilson #Pinnochio

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mossyenigma · 2 months

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2, 9, 13, 18, 28, 30, 31, 35, 36, 38, 40, 48, 53, 54, 60, 68, 73, 78, 83, 84, 86, 89, 92, 94, 99

good luck soldier o7

describe your perfect first date. - I am the biggest fan of people who take me somewhere fun like a carnival or roller/ice skating. Like get my heart pumping lmao

who is your biggest inspiration? - Lindsey Sterling she's an amazing violinist

best compliment you've ever received? - Someone told me i gave off moon vibes whatever that means but i like the moon

what's your most controversial opinion? - shooter games are overrated

if you could travel back to any one point in time, where and why? - 2005 id give anything to be a kid again

what’s your type? - if were talking about in my mind, then its usually someone who is slightly possessive, confidant, usually dark hair and green or brown eyes, if were talking about how my relationships actually turn out irl its usually people way too good for me

does your favorite movie/game/book from when you were young still hold up in quality? - yes!!! i am obsessed with the 2005 Pride and Prejudice could probably recite it word for word

what would your warning label say if you had one? - feral

what's the most expensive thing you've ever spent money on? - probably my first car i spent like 3500 on it

what is your love language? - idk im always embarrassed by this. like idk if its acts of devotion or touching or when they act like mr darcy in pride and prejudice

if you could dye your hair any color, what would you pick? - im thinking of going a darker brown but id love to go pastel pink

you get to give a one-sentence note to yourself from a decade ago. what does it say? - Talk to people more youre going to be lonely.

favorite emoji? - 🥺

what's the boldest thing you've ever done? - sang karaoke in a bar

what's your go-to plan to destress? - i get high and play video games mostly

what's the most recent entry in your notes app?

what would you consider the most enjoyable accent to listen to? - i am a sucker for a britsh accent

favorite food? - okay hear me out but i grew up having liver with mash potatoes and green beans and its one of my favorite meals

favorite pick-up line, if you're into that sort of thing? - “Do you think there is a corner of this earth that you could travel to far away enough to free me from this torment? I am a gentleman. My father raised me to act with honor, but that honor is hanging by a thread that grows more precarious with every moment I spend in your presence. You are the bane of my existence and the object of all my desires. Night and day, I dream of you.” - quote this speech to me from bridgerton and ill marry you

favorite word? - worm

if you were given $1mil on the basis that you had to put towards something arbitrary and self-indulgent, what would you spend it on? - id probably fly myself to la and buy a house there. kinda a dream of mine

if you could keep any animal as a pet, what would you choose? - i want a capybara so badly

who's in your dream blunt rotation? - @vdelta, Pedro Pascal, Quackity, Sioban Thompson, Lou Wilson

If you could have any superpower besides the typical choices (flight, shapeshifting, elemental powers, etc.), what would you pick? - id love to have the power of dreams. whatever i dream at night becomes my reality the next day

is there anything you would consider yourself an expert at? The lore of Five nights at Freddies lamoo

#ask me anything #beaus brain

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kelmping · 6 months

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memory post incoming (last update: nov 7)

i don’t. remember much. pre-gowpenny. i only have a couple of memories, and they’re… weird.

i was born on december 13th, 2002. a friday. because fucking of course it was. my mom raised me on her own until i was about eight, at which point i started to tumble through the foster system. i don’t know what happened, but it was definitive that i would never and could never return to her care.

i know i was an undiagnosed autistic (which i. figured out later), along with some other stuff (anxiety, depression, adhd, ptsd, a separate complex ptsd diagnosis…) so i wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out i had memory problems. (the rest of my system does too, so.)

i know that i was kind of a loner, though. people tended not to like me, so i just stayed out of their way unless i needed something. sometimes that meant sitting alone to read at recess as a kid. sometimes it meant just staying low and quiet and hoping to whatever the hell is out there that nobody found me wherever i was sleeping on the streets.

suicide cw: i wasn’t. always. super crazy about being alive. i found out i couldn’t die the hard way. and even then, i tested it more than once.

i experienced psychotic symptoms, though not always with the same regularity. as i got a handle on my magic, they eased up, but i’d go through stretches that lasted for weeks without too much… intrusion? it was manageable. but then there would also be stretches of time where i didn’t trust myself with my wand and told my familiar to fuck off back to iowa. my friends were a really big help ;;;

jammer was my first best friend. k and sam started out as regular friends, but we all got closer as time went on. (i took after jammer a lot, heh. that’s social mimicry for you.)

he also had locs similar to lou wilson’s, with the bleached ends from mismag and the length from fantasy high.

k kept going by dream among the four of us, so i use their names (as well as she/they/he/xe pronouns) interchangeably.

i did have a silly crush on them. we dated, just like in canon. but i also dated jammer, and k also dated sam, who was… the label i would use now for the two of us would be an unspoken queerplatonic partnership.

i wasn’t really. as… giggly. as brennan played me being, when i first told philtrum i didn’t want to be magical. i was more, just. scared. apologetic. i was worried she’d toss me out on my ass with no help either way.

oh my god. you have no idea how stressful it was to listen to the first part of episode 4. i already knew i hadn’t given up my magic, but watching it play out was… whoof.

i think there were some minor differences between what happened in canon and my actual reactions. i don’t remember them very well, though.

i just. collapsed. after the whole thing with sam and the shadow. grabbed sam as tight as i could and broke down sobbing. and i was. really. really lucky to have such amazing friends.

the fuckingggg. stupid goddamn tournament arc. k is so fucking cool, and i was like. genuinely fucking scared i was gonna kill that guy from rosewood or rosewand or whatever the hell his school was called. that bravado was allllll me just channeling jammer as much as fucking possible. i was shaking as i got ready. probably still as the duel actually started.

the duel went differently than it did in canon. i guess the roll was low, or too high, or. something. i don’t know. but i didn’t just send that kid to hell, like, mentally. he was physically dead for between five and thirty seconds. time is. an enigma. and i just stood there shaking as he dropped.

as soon as i snapped out of it i rushed forward to… i don’t know, try to help somehow? but nurse stitchnit pushed me aside and resuscitated him. i almost sobbed when he started breathing again, even though he was coughing up blood.

the guilt of that ate away at me for a long time. it still does, sometimes. but he lived, and i’m very glad he did. and, frankly, glad he was able to tell me to fuck off afterwards. good for him. lord knows i deserved it.

needless to say, it was much less, uh. jubilant. i just wanted to sit down and be left alone, but i was lucky to have friends who understood that i both shouldn’t be completely alone and couldn’t talk about it.

jammer’s link with alexis had lingering effects that manifested both magically and as scars and chronic pain. most of the time he was alright, but overworking himself would wipe him out for weeks.

i love my friends. a lot. like, yeah, i was dating k and jammer, but. all three of them were my fucking family. sometimes we’d all end up sleeping on a couch in the common room, or in a single. twin. bed. with four teenagers in it. it was a mess, and physically uncomfortable at times, but i literally never felt emotionally safer than when we were all just hanging out and doing fuck all.

nurse stitchnit is like. almost a dad to me? like a surrogate, adoptive dad. he was always the adult that i trusted most. he offered to let me stay with him at the end of the school year, actually. i had plans, though.

the holiday special. um. the party? when i felt that darkness creeping up? instant panic attack. hence the, uh. freaking out. apologies for that.

pretty sure the icy water inside tad was, like. magical in the sense that it was cold enough to cause frostbite with too much contact, similarly to how human blood is hot inside the body. it “damaged” my hand like when i grabbed penfrew.

also. broken ribs. not fun. i was concussed too, and i just wanted my friends close, but it hurt to hold them too tightly.

i guess the “roll” of my timeline that dream did to heal me failed, because i remember that the recovery took a while and was pretty miserable. thankfully, i was also pretty out of it. and my friends and nurse stitchnit made sure i knew i wasn’t alone. they took good care of me.

i was asked at one point why i slept, like. curled up? i didn’t really realize i did it. something, something, autism, something, something, growing up really tall while trying to avoid being noticed Too Much. probably. i dunno.

at the end of the year, i went to stay with my friends for the three months of break. jammer, then k, then sam. i don’t remember a lot of specifics, but i know their families were at least nice.

i showed up in the background of some of sam’s streams by accident, while i was staying with her. i had a weird little mini-fanbase within her fans? it was. interesting. kinda flattering, kinda weird. that one comment section spell came in handy. (eventually i did a stream with her. it was a lot of fun, honestly.)

sam encouraged me to start my own channel, so i decided to document my experiences as a first-generation mage living with both psychological issues and genuine curses. it had a pretty wide range, from relaxed gaming streams and pictures of myself and my friends to dream’s multi-hour video essays about social issues that i’d helped write. (i eventually learned to separate that stuff out, though, considering i gained a sizable following despite still being fairly reserved.)

at some point, jammer effectively said this:

down the line, years post-gowpenny, we had a daughter named bailey. biologically she was sam and jammer’s, but all four of us were her parents. (sam was mom/mama, k was ren/renny, jammer was papa/pop, and i was dad.) we all loved her more than anything, and the day she was born was one of the best of my life.

at an indeterminate point post-gowpenny (after we’d all graduated), i lost my right leg from about the knee down. unfortunately for the others, i also Could Not stay still, and spent more time than i probably should have using them as makeshift supports. mostly jammer, since he was the closest to me in height, but sam and dream were just as willing to help me out. and i’m pretty sure stitchnit ended up needing to carry me a couple of times…

#evan speaking

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geekgemsspooksandtoons · 8 months

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So, I finally finished watching The Incredible Hulk Returns and The Trial of the Incredible Hulk...turns out there isn't two discs. But one disc featuring both movies...with no subtitles...which really sucks.

But in all seriousness, despite having these as a kid with...few memories. Yet seeing Trial recently but now fully as a film.

The Incredible Hulk Returns was a lot of fun. I paused the movie on the bar part (One of the best parts of the movie) so that I could eat dinner with my family and other stuff. Thor was honestly the best part and I'll be honest. I wished we had gotten that Thor tv show that could've happened. But it never did. Yet seriously, an entertaining film but I'm sorry to say this. I feel like Jack McGee was...rather useless. Despite that amazing part of Thor meeting him.

There's also the fact I swear, my memory on the house assault scene was that it was more violent. Yet seriously, Jack McGee entertains me but when I think back to him. Including wondering if he should've been in Trial. But that film does much better without him because he doesn't contribute much.

But let's get to The Trial of the Incredible Hulk. Which I'll admit, this one needs a different title. Yet I do wonder if the "Trial" title can work in a different way. Anyway, it's been 3 decades since the film aired. There's no need to change it.

I love this movie/film, I really do. Watching it fully on DVD is so much better. With more little characters moments and more information. The fact that Matt Murdock has been Daredevil for a decade genuinely surprised me. But I'm glad that was the case. Again, little moments like...for some reason Wilson Fisk putting his mouth over some antenna thing on a device. It's strange, but I love it.

And the fact that I teared up when the film ended. I mean, there were other reasons. Despite rewinding the movies a few times. But yeah, I feel this is the best of the two. This feels more focused or so among other things. And I wished this Daredevil had gotten a tv show. But that wouldn't happened until 2015. Which is fine, I've heard the new one is amazing, and I still haven't watched it.

Again, I enjoyed both. I'm glad I finally watched them with better quality and own them on DVD. Also, Bill Bixby is still great as David Banner. He still plays the role so well. And yeah, the whole...missing beard thing when the Hulk transforms...meh, I mean they could've given Lou Ferringo a beard when he was the Hulk. But I don't care, and I'll head canon it as some strange reason that the beard disappears and regrows.

#geekgem rambles

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staggeringsmite · 3 years

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going to talk about how incredible lou wilson is as an actor forever but the part I keep going back to in the last episode is the bit where jammer is apologizing after the iron spike incident because there's so much to unpack in just a few seconds! we've seen so much of whitney's personality as a team leader who's confident and encouraging and kind. he gets excited about the magical potential he has and in that eagerness and confidence accidentally gets the misfits into a dangerous situation, and those few seconds of stammering through the apology after getting detention are just incredible from all the little details going through his mind that lou represents. that sort of uncomfortable chuckle at the beginning and trying to be lighthearted but sincere. trying and not finding the words to get it into a basketball metaphor. flickering eyes contact to mostly talking with his eyes down. worriedly/exasperatedly putting the wand down. it's such an expressive moment that I didn't appreciate enough the first watch around.

#lou wilson does it again!!#you can just see how disappointed or frustrated he is about it and aabria did an incredible job as a dm holding him to a magical failure as #a really solid device showing how serious well meaning magical moshaps can get and the sheer power they're working with!! the whole scene i #so chef's kiss i love it #mismag #i also really want to see what lou's dm style is like some day!! idk if he's dmed anything on the internet but if so id love to see it

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lokiondisneyplus · 3 years

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Loki director Kate Herron’s heart was beating fast. She’d already had some surreal experiences during her short time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so a simple phone call shouldn’t make her nervous. But on the other end of the line was Owen Wilson, an actor and writer she admired and hoped would join her on a time-jumping journey through the MCU.

“It was the most detailed pitch I’ve ever done, to an actor, ever. I pretty much spoke through the entire first episode with him,” Herron recalls of wooing Wilson, who wasn’t too familiar with Marvel before being cast as Mobius, an agent for the mysterious Time Variance Authority central to the series.

Wilson instantly put Herron at ease with his laid-back charm as she walked the actor through 10 years of onscreen lore for Loki, the god of mischief played by Tom Hiddleston. She answered his questions about Avengers: Endgame, about time travel, about how this version of Loki was not the one fans knew from films like Thor: Ragnarok, but rather one plucked from an alternate timeline from 2012’s The Avengers.

It was all part of a whirlwind few years for Herron, who not that long ago was temping at a fire extinguisher company and struggling to land directing work even though she’d already helmed a BBC project with Idris Elba. Then Herron finally achieved breakthrough success directing episodes of the Netflix hit Sex Education and soon was hounding her agents for a Marvel meeting.

When Herron finally landed one, the Loki superfan cleared her schedule and spent two weeks putting together a 60-page document, even though her agents tempered her expectations by noting it was just a meet-and-greet.

“I knew I’d be up against some really big directors, and I knew I wouldn’t be the most experienced in the room, so I [said], ‘OK. I’ll just be the most passionate,'” recalls Herron.

Just a few days after officially landing the job, Herron found herself on a five-hour walk through New York with Hiddleston discussing Loki and flying to D23 in Anaheim to be greeted by thousands of screaming fans alongside Loki head writer Michael Waldron.

Herron is now working long days finishing up Loki in Marvel’s production hub in Atlanta, where the British filmmaker has largely lived since getting the job in 2019. Over Zoom from her freezing Atlanta apartment (she still hasn’t figured out the quirks of the air conditioner), Herron dives into Loki ahead of its June 9 debut on Disney+.

What was your process of sitting down with Marvel for this?

I was just so overexcited. [My agents] were like, “Look, it’s just a casual conversation, they just want to get a sense of you,” and basically I was like, “OK, I’m just going to pitch them.” Because I thought, they might not meet me again. So I got as much information as I could, and they sent me a little bit about the show. And I just prepared a massive pitch for it. I canceled everything for two weeks. I made a 60-page document full of references, story ideas, music. I knew I’d be up against some really big directors, and I knew I wouldn’t be the most experienced in the room, so I [said], “OK. I’ll just be the most passionate.”

Was that first meeting in Burbank?

That was in England, in southeast London on Zoom. I had a few stages where I did that. Then after a few interviews with Kevin Wright and Stephen Broussard, two of the Marvel executives who got me ready for the big match, I went in to pitch to Kevin Feige, Victoria [Alonso], Lou [Louis D’Esposito], the whole team there. That was very surreal because they flew me to Burbank and I pitched at Marvel Studios. I didn’t have the job, but I found out they were interested and then I remember Kevin Feige called me, and when he was in London, we had coffee. He was like, “Look, we want you to direct it.” Oh my God. They flew me to D23 and that was crazy because I think I found out I got the job 48 hours before, and then I was onstage. The Lady and the Tramp dogs were in front of me and Michael [Waldron] on the red carpet. “What is going on?” (Laughs.) I met Tom that week as well, so it was a bit of a whirlwind kind of thing.

📷Herron, Waldron and Feige at D23 in 2019.

Where did you first meet Tom?

I had a two-stop trip. I flew first to New York to meet Tom. He was in Betrayal at the time, on Broadway, so we basically went on this amazing walk around New York. I’d never met him before. We just spoke about Loki and what was really important to us about the character and where we thought it would be fun to take him, as well. It was this intense, five-hour conversation with him basically. I met him and then flew straight from meeting him to D23. So it was a lot. (Laughs.)

When did you finally get the scripts? How did that change your thoughts on what you want to do?

They sent me the outline, so I knew the overall story. I also was pitching stuff. “Oh, we could do this with this character.” The pilot was really well written by Michael and I really liked what they were doing with the character and the story. Then it was building upon that and throwing in ideas for where he could go later in the show. It reminded me a bit of improv where you’re always building, always trying to push the story to the best place. So we were always adapting and shifting the story. Our lockdown, during COVID, was a chance for us to go back in. I was cutting what we’d done, so I was like, “OK, this is tonally what is really working for the story.” Then we went back into what we hadn’t filmed and started adapting that stuff to fit more where we were heading.

The Marvel movies have a writer on set to help tweak things. Was that the case with Loki?

Michael [Waldron] was with us at the start, and then he went on to Doctor Strange [in the Multiverse of Madness]. We had a really wonderful writer called Eric Martin from our writers room, and he was our production writer on set. It was between me, him and my creative producer Kevin Wright. We would kind of brainstorm and adapt. I’ve always loved talking to the cast. We had such a smart cast. Owen is a writer as well. If you have that amazing resource, why not talk to them? We were always adapting. Obviously paying respect to the story we wanted to tell from the start, but always trying to make it better.

📷Herron on the set of ‘Loki’ with Hiddleston and Wilson.

Kevin Feige has said Owen Wilson, like his character, is nonplussed by the MCU. Since Owen isn’t necessarily dazzled by Marvel, does that make him all the more perfect for this role?

He is playing a Loki expert, so at the beginning of production, Tom and I were talking. He devised this thing called Loki School. He did a big lecture to the cast and crew. I love the character. This is a decade of fans loving this character and where that character has been. It was talking everyone through that, but through Tom and his own experiences. Stunts that Tom liked or costumes. He ended up doing that same Loki school for Owen. Owen absolutely loved it. Owen has such a writer’s brain. I remember I had to pitch him down the phone. My heart rate [was up].

Was this the pitch to get him to get Owen on board?

Yeah. I love his work. “Oh my God, I’m going to talk to Owen Wilson.” He’s so laid back and nice, it immediately puts you at ease. It was the most detailed pitch I’ve ever done, to an actor, ever. I think I pretty much spoke through the entire first episode with him. You can tell he’s a writer, just by the way he attacks story. His questions about the world and the structure and the arc of the character. It was really fun to work with him.

Was it the most detailed pitch you’ve ever done because you really wanted Owen, or because you knew you needed to woo him a bit to get him to sign on?

It was the questions he asked, and the way he attacked story, in that sense. And also probably because he was newer to the Marvel world, he was like, “OK, how does this work?” I also pitched him Loki’s arc over the past 10 years, where that character has gone, but also explaining our Loki and what happened in Endgame and time travel. There’s a lot to unpack in that conversation.

Sometimes Marvel will give writers or directors a supercut of all the scenes of a specific character. Did you get one of those?

They didn’t actually give me a supercut, but I’m a big Loki nerd. I think his is one of the best [arcs] in the MCU. I really wanted to make sure we were paying respect to that. At the same time, something Tom spoke about a lot was you have to go back for a reason. Let’s be united on what that reason is and feel that it’s worth it.

The reason can’t be, “Well that’s what happened in Endgame,” so the question becomes, “What is the point of revisiting him at this era of his life?”

Yeah. He’s only had — I don’t want to get this wrong — I think 112 minutes of screen time in total if you cut all his scenes together. And he steals the show. We have six hours to really delve into this character and talk about him and go on this completely new story with him. For me, it was making sure that [we’re] paying respect to what has come before — I know as a fan if there is a character I really loved and I found out they are making a show about him, I obviously would be so excited and so happy. I felt lucky to have the responsibility, and I took it very seriously.

Those who have worked with Kevin Feige say he’s someone who can stress test an idea and push things in new directions. What have you found working with him?

Something I always found was we would sometimes pitch something, and it would be at a good place, but he’d always be like, “OK, that’s great, but push it further.” Sometimes I’d pitch stuff and be like, “This is too weird,” and he’d say, “No, go weirder.” He wants to tell the best story and I found it really helpful having his eye across everything and the fact that he does challenge everything. Tom as well, on set. He brings this amazing energy and this great A-game that causes everyone to rise to the occasion.

How do you know when you’ve got the perfect Hiddleston take? Is he asking you for one more, are you pushing him to do one more take?

By the end, it was almost telepathic. We would kind of know. We would look at each other. “We could go again,” or, “We’ve got it.” It’s different with every actor. There are some actors who will come in firing and they just want to go for it. But they don’t want to do a million takes. There are other actors I work with who are very meticulous and they want quite a few to warm up and get into it. It’s actor-dependent. The way me and Tom are similar is we are both very perfectionist. We are both very studious. (Laughs.) We definitely connected in that sense. He’s a very generous actor. I remember one day, we had quite a few of our actors coming in as day players. It was really important for him to be there for them, to read lines offscreen. He would have to be 50 places at once, because he is the lead actor. The most amazing thing about him was his generosity. Not just to the other actors, but also to the crew, to be filming in a time like COVID.

When you make an Avengers movie, you get a big board with every character that’s available, and whether the actor’s deals will allow them to appear or if that would need to be renegotiated. Loki is smaller, but was there any equivalent for you? Was everything on the table? Was only some stuff on the table? I imagine if Chris Hemsworth has his own new Thor movie coming up, he’s not going to be on the table, necessarily.

I felt like everything was on the table if it meant it was good for story, and Marvel would be like, “We’ll work it out.” Me and the writers, we never felt restrained in that sense. Honestly, it always comes back to story.

What is your relationship with your editor as you finish this up?

We have three editors, Paul Zucker, Emma McCleave and Calum Ross. My relationship with all three of them is very different. Emma and me are very close because she was also in Atlanta away from home. I got to know her very well. I love working with the editors because it’s a fresh pair of eyes. You get so deep into something when you are filming, it’s almost like writing it again when you are in the edit. Stuff does change. Even some episodes, we’ve reordered the structure. Or we moved scenes from one episode to another episode. I’ve always loved the editing process. The best thing is someone honest who can be like, “Hey, this doesn’t quite make sense to me,” or, “This isn’t working.”

What are you going to do on premiere day? Will you be on the internet at all to see the reaction?

I’m actually working. I’m still finishing the show. My last day is the day the second episode airs. I’m going to be working that day. Sadly, I’ll probably check in on the internet a little bit, but I’ll probably go to bed when I finish because I think I’ll do a 12- or 13-hour day or something. I can’t remember. I’m really excited for people to see it and just to bring it out in the world, really.

Everyone wants to know about spoilers, but what’s something you wish you were asked about more when it comes to Loki?

Kevin Feige said, “We make movies. We want to run it like a movie.” So unlike a lot of television shows that are showrunner-led, this was run like a six-hour film. As a director, you don’t often get to do that in a television-structure show. I really enjoyed it, having a hand in story and just how collaborative it was. Also, just beyond that, directing the equivalent of a six-hour Marvel movie was incredible for me. That’s something I found interesting about it. Making something the Marvel way.

In terms of the themes, I love gray areas. The show is really about what makes someone truly good or what makes someone truly bad, and are we either of those things? Loki is in that gray area. It’s exciting to be able to tell a story like that. As a director and a writer, you don’t necessarily understand why you are making these stories. Something I keep getting drawn back into is identity. Sex Education, we spoke a lot about identity and feeling like an outsider but actually finding your people. I feel the same with Loki. It’s a show about identity and self-acceptance and for me, that’s also what drew me in.

Gray is a good way to describe Loki. Your version of Loki just tried to take over the Earth not long ago.

Exactly. This isn’t the Loki we’ve seen. How do we take a character that people love, but from a lot earlier, and send him on a different path? That for me was interesting, getting to unpack that. Alongside that, getting to set up a whole new corner of the MCU with TVA. That to me was so exciting.

What about the Teletubbies? You referenced that recently and it made quite a splash. Are you going to leave people in suspense on that?

I referenced the Teletubbies once and people were like, “What, Teletubbies? What does this mean?” Maybe I should leave people in the air with it. One thing I would say is the show for me, stylistically — I wanted it to be a love letter to sci-fi because I love sci-fi. Brazil, Metropolis, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Alien. If people love sci-fi, they will definitely see the little nods we’ve got across the show. People will know what it was a reference for when they see the show. It was a visual reference to something in the show.

Interview has been edited for length and clarity. Loki debuts on Disney+ on June 9.

#Kate Herron #Loki #interview #loki series

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