#one time i posted a reference of something of the past in the newer group and even though they didn't understand

[dungeonsdragonstdelinquents]

the Mike/Lucas/ Dustin DnD fight and what it means for s5.

happy stranger things day everybody! i’m just gonna get straight into this.

I read a post by @showmethesneer (link here) which is an analysis about how Lucas and Jason act as each other’s foils. I recommend reading so what I’m about to say next makes sense !!! also that post is so freaking good and is full of a ton of great points. We need more lucas analysis!

So I wanted to add my two cents in, and if anyone else has anything to add feel free to do so! These are just some of the thoughts that came to mind for me after that analysis! So let’s dig in, folks.

Again, if you haven’t read the post I linked, please go and read it. I’ll give a brief summary: Lucas and Jason are foils, this mainly stemming in their lack/ability for communication with their romantic interests and their ability to make a safe space to be heard. OP’s analysis goes deeper than that, but this is just the main aspect that I wanted to discuss. 

First off: what the hell is this?

(first picture: Andy – established friend/teammate of Jason Carver who is Lucas’ foil)

(Second picture: Dustin Henderson – established friend of Lucas who is Jason’s foil)

Like. it’s fricken weird how they have the same hair and a trucker hat. Andy is just Dustin but if he was jacked. And an asshole.

I’d been thinking since my first watch of s4 that it was strange how similar their appearances were–what was the point? There had to be something deeper. After reading showmethesneer’s analysis, I realized what the connection really was. The Tigers (referring to the basketball team) parallel the Party. Let me explain.

Obviously, we have Dustin and Andy. There’s no denying their resemblance. Andy is one of the only two characters that we see being in constant talks with Jason who is the leader of the group. The other character being Patrick, who is cursed. 

In past viewings of season 4 I didn’t pay close attention to Andy’s input to Jason, so after this post (and when I have time) I will go back and review his scenes and add my conclusions and observations into this post. I will make sure to add an edit mark to indicate what my newer findings are.

Another thing to note that was slightly suspicious, but not relating solely to Andy was that Eddie made a comment to Steve asking whether Dustin was “cursed” when they were at Skull Rock. Could this be an indicator of Dustin being Vecna’d next season, just like Patrick was? 

Mike.

Look. This guy is a mess. First and foremost, I’d like to take this motif of communication once more, and relate it between Lucas/Jason and Mike/Max/Andy. But first, we need to touch upon Lucas.

In s4 when we see Dustin/Mike/Lucas’ argument over the basketball game and the DnD campaign, there are some clear miscommunications here. Dustin and Mike don’t understand what Lucas is going through because they don’t go through the same micro/macro aggressions that Lucas has had to go through all of his life (racism). Lucas and Mike don’t understand the micro/macro aggressions that Dustin has faced all of his life because of his Cleidocranial Dysplasia (ableism). Lucas and Dustin don’t understand the micro/macro aggressions that Mike has gone through in his life (homophobia). There is no doubt that they support each other–but they don’t understand each other’s struggles and thus think the others have made the ‘choice’ of being a freak. So there is a miscommunication here, Lucas is calling to be heard but neither Dustin or Mike understand what he is trying to say. It’s important to remember that Lucas is attempting to make a dialogue here, to try and talk it out, but neither Mike nor Dustin are truly picking up on it.

Lucas, unlike Jason, tries to make this dialogue with others aside from just Dustin and Mike. He attempts to talk to Max even after their breakup, and he establishes himself as someone who truly cares for her and wants to be there for her. Max still avoids telling him what is going on with her for months. 

We see this contrast of Lucas and Jason, with Jason being in such deep denial about Chrissy going to Eddie for help that he almost kills Lucas because he believes he is lying, and doesn’t even consider Lucas is telling the truth. As * writes, Lucas is BEGGING for Jason to listen, but he just won’t. 

One thing to remember here is that during this fight, Lucas realizes that normal is ‘just a raging psychopath’. Lucas is now standing on the side of the ‘Freaks’, while Jason stands on the side of the ‘Normals’.

Now, to move onto Mike. Like I said earlier, mans is a MESS. It’s hinted that he is struggling with his mental health, yet he communicates this to no one. It struck a chord with me that just as Patrick–who is cursed–tried to communicate in some way that something bad was happening to Jason, but he was shut down by the group. Mike is similarly shut down by his parents. Mike’s mother makes an attempt to get him to open up about his feelings, but the second that he does try to do so, she shuts him down. Jason, in an attempt to bring his group together and rally ideas, tells the group to speak their minds. The second Patrick attempts this, he is shut down by the group. 

Relating to this, Mike parallels Jason. It’s important to remember, Lucas is Jason’s foil--Mike could stand as Jason’s parallel. These are two different things.

Mike and Jason both had a monologue that was 1) disgustingly cheesy 2) meant to save Hawkins (Jason–save the championship game and hype up the pep rally, Mike–to literally save Hawkins from destruction and help El.) 3) is dedicated to their girlfriends who don’t feel like they can communicate/share their feelings with them. El is lying to Mike in her letters about her happiness and the bullying. Chrissy isn’t telling Jason about her mental health struggles. 

Some smaller connections would be that both Jason and Mike stand as the designated leader of their group. I’m sure there are several other connections to be made upon rewatch, and when I do as much I will edit them in.

What could this mean for the plot of season 5?

Mike’s Death.

There’s already like a million death tags for Mike that I will not be getting into here, but it’s established that he has a heavy load of foreshadowing for his death/fake death/being taken hostage. One thing to add with his connection to Jason is that, well. Jason dies. Cut in half. Burnt to a crisp. 

Lucas and Mike fight.

Because of the writing of Stranger Things as a 5-act story, the seasons parallel. We have seen this with Season 4 and Season 2, and the Duffers themselves have confirmed that there will be parallels and heavy references to Season 1 in Season 5. What was a big part of Season 1? Oh yeah, Lucas and Mike fighting. This is further brought as a valid prediction for Season 5 as the Lucas/Dustin/Mike Dnd vs. Basketball fight was never resolved. It makes sense that Mike’s struggle with forced conformity (this will tie in with Eddie’s death. Why else would the Duffer’s save Mike’s reaction to Eddie’s death, if not for Season 5 to show his internal struggles?) and switching into the need for ‘normalcy’ (which is what Jason stood for) vs. Lucas realizing he doesn't need to appeal to ‘normalcy’ could add further tension for the two in season 5. This would parallel both their fight in season1 as well as Jason and Lucas’ fight in season 5. This adds to the Mike death tags for s5. 

Question: one thing sort of related? To all of this is that if Mike “dies” in ep 1 as many have concluded, when will this confrontation with Lucas occur? Lucas is at the hospital at the end of S4, and Mike is on the hill. What will happen in the first episode?

if anyone has any thoughts please share!

#byler #stranger things #stranger things theory #stranger things season 5 #mike wheeler #will byers #stranger things parallels #stranger things foils

[adz]

Knowing Where to Look for Choice Memes

When you have been looking for a place to find some funny pictures of funny people, what are the best places to find good internet memes? Today I am going to share with you some of the best places to find them. These places will help you get to the content that you need. When you take the time to browse through these sites you will be able to find the internet memes that you need.

Reddit is a great place to find memes. It has become very popular over the past few years. Reddit allows you to search for any topics that you want. They also allow you to create an account, and this is where you can upload your own pictures and put them on their site.

Finding things on Reddit is easy. You will just have to type in a question about a particular topic. The top three results will usually have your question listed on the top. This is a great way to see what people are asking.

The next thing you want to do is find people who are creating funny pictures. There are subreddits on Reddit that are devoted to these people. Many times you will find a community that has just started and is trying to find a name for itself. These communities have people come together to build a community that works. Some of the best places to find these communities are related to the subject at hand.

This can be for people who have created a meme for their city or country. This is a great way to find places to find quality images that other people like to share. There are also communities of people who are sharing funny jokes. This is a good place to find the funny pictures that people are sharing.

Once you find these communities, you can start creating some like minded people. There are communities of groups that go around and find photos. It is the most fun part because you get to choose which one you will get to view.

Twitter is a great place to find these kinds of pictures. It is also a place to build relationships with your friends. You can post your own funny pictures from the funniest people in your area. This is also a great place to get to see what others are doing.

One last thing to consider is that you make sure you do not post illegal content in your posts. As a community, the purpose of the internet is to connect people. If you post anything that violates their terms of service, you could lose your account.

One thing that you will need to know when it comes to what are the best places to find good internet memes. If it is illegal then you cannot post it. This is true even if it is humorous.

Meme people share all kinds of information. Some of the most popular places to find funny pictures of funny people are related to the subject. If you are going to post something that is of interest to others they will likely see it.

What are the best places to find good internet memes? This is where I think it is great to spend your time. If you have time to browse these places you will be sure to find the memes that you need.

More Information on your Meme Journey

The best places to find memes are very simple. When we go on the Internet, we will mostly come across memes that we like. If you visit a social networking site, you will most likely find memes posted by your friends, family and acquaintances. This is also true for blogs.

By using a search engine, you can also get to know people’s favorite memes by clicking on the text or tags of the meme. You can also have a look at the back links of the person posting the meme. These are known as “snippets” and you can always get their links, which you can use as a reference.

If you don’t want to use the search engines, you can browse through forums and social networking sites. You can also subscribe to popular forums and blogs and check out their topics. There are plenty of forums and blogs where you can read about memes.

Bookstores can also be an interesting place to find some good memes. Bookstores sell a lot of valuable stuff and they also sell some of the newer releases, so if you can find a book with some great memes in it, you can definitely find them there. In addition, the bookstores will give you a chance to meet the author of the book and get to know more about his/her life and his/her work.

Of course, you can also find memes related to movies, and you can even go to movie theaters and watch some movies. But, by doing this, you can never find all the memes related to a movie. So, you should always take some time to visit other places and forums in order to find out more about memes. You will be surprised that there are quite a number of memes related to movies, but as you go along, you will find more.

Finally, some of the popular ones that are frequently discussed in forums are the popular ones. You can get to know how the people around you got to know these memes and what kinds of memes are in demand and where they get to be viewed. If you can’t find any such information in forums, you can try browsing some message boards and blogs.

And lastly, you can also find some other websites that offer many options to find memes. For example, you can find a list of related memes on a certain topic, and you can also use the search engines to find the best ones. But, you should always remember that these websites are for entertainment purposes only and don’t have anything to do with professional social networking.

[apocalypticgargoyle]

𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝘽𝙍𝙄𝘾𝙆 | 𝙠𝙖𝙧𝙡 𝙟𝙖𝙘𝙤𝙗𝙨 (18+)

edit by 🐓 anon. im still screaming over this.

∘ request: [insert the 14 asking for more Sapnap humor in a pt. 1.5 of Meet the Jacobses]

∘ pairings: edgy!Karl Jacobs x fm!reader

∘ warnings: smut (18+), nsfw, language, drinking, mentions of Todd the frat boy, lots of dialogue, biting, asphyxiation

∘ links: 𐐪 ao3 𐑂 𐐪 previous part 𐑂 𐐪 submit an edgy!karl edit 𐑂

∘ a/n: this one goes out to the babes in the gc. ily.

i stole the Brick idea from the Jesse McCartney movie, Keith. I'm sorry. [tw for that link - sad & jesse mccartney not talking about beautiful souls]

also thank you everyone for your support on this series. when my friends and I conjured this up, I never thought I would be at the point where I get to share peoples art/paylists/etc. I'm so thankful for all of you.

okay I'll stop crying. happy reading and have a great week! :)

The sun beat down against your skin, your mind drifting to whether or not you should apply more sunscreen. Karl jumped into the light blue water in front of you, the water splashing out to almost completely soak you. You frowned at him as he came up for air, blowing you a kiss mockingly.

Sapnap’s cousins started tackling Karl, the chorus of laughter echoing around the pool. You stretched your legs out beneath the table, leaning into the shade of the umbrella as you watched them roughhouse.

Sapnap came out from the pool house, opening a beer bottle for you before taking the seat beside you. He sighed, buttoning the top of his shirt as he watched the boys. “Did you have a good time at the party yesterday? I dipped after an hour,” he asked, pushing his sunglasses to rest on top of his head.

You shrugged slightly, taking a sip of your drink. You couldn’t wait to tell your roommate how lavishly you’d been living. The fact that you were lounging by a heated pool, drinking beer from Copenhagen with the sons of millionaires was nearly mind-boggling to you.

You wet your lips, squinting your eyes as you looked at him. “I honestly have no idea. I was kind of just there as a Karl accessory,” you joked, making him chuckle softly.

“Yeah, I get that,” he flipped off one of the cousins as they threatened to throw water at him. “It’s always the Karl show around here,” he added. You raised your eyebrows at him and he backtracked. “I didn’t mean that in a bad way. He’s a good guy; everyone’s just obsessed with him.”

You nodded slightly. “Yeah, he’s definitely the star baby,” you joked, making him laugh. “I need to ask you…” You bit your lip voice trailing off as you searched for the night words.

He sent you a closed-mouth smile. “About my mom and Karl?” He asked, biting back a blithe expression. It shocked you how calm he was about the situation.

You chuckled nervously. “I swear I won’t bring it up again, I’m just,” you cut yourself off, unable to describe the question marks pulsing through your thoughts.

He snorted, taking a sip of his drink. “I know right,” he reassured. “When I found out, I almost broke Karl’s nose,” he chided. “Not that I was like… angry it was my mom but out of how weird it was.”

“Yeah it is really fucking weird,” you agreed, laughing slightly.

He gestured as if to thank you for understanding. “I mean, Karl’s a great guy. He was my best friend for a long time but…” He made a face suggesting his discomfort and you snicked. “That’s my mom, man.” You giggled wholeheartedly at this, making him laugh too.

“What are you guys talking about?” Karl asked, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, dripping wet from his pool time adventures.

“Speak of the Devil and he shall appear,” you joked, making Sapnap wink at you. “Tacitus’ Annals,” you answered, making Sapnap nod at you.

He chewed on his lip, with a calm expression as he supported your lie. “I was telling your girlfriend how much I enjoyed his love of Nero,” he continued, you bit back a smile.

Karl ruffled his hair out in a towel. “Come on now,” he grumbled, calling the two of you on your bullshit.

Sapnap squinted as he looked up at him. “Karl supremacy. As always,” he answered with a touch of quiet sarcasm, making Karl roll his eyes playfully as he took to the other seat beside you.

Karl ran his fingers into his hair. “You wanna get matching tattoos together, Sapnap?” He quipped; Sapnap sending him a smug expression.

“Why? What were you thinking?” He asked, knowing he was walking into whatever Karl was setting up.

Karl pulled the leg of his swim trunks off his leg a bit, furrowing his brows. “I wanna get your mom’s name on the top of my thigh,” he teased, biting his lip. You rolled your eyes playfully.

Sapnap let out a sarcastic laugh. “Oh my God, that’s so funny. I totally didn’t see that coming.”

Karl took a sip of your beer and you spoke up. “I think you’d look good with a tattoo, Sapnap. All jokes aside, you’ve got a great body,” you mused, sending him a wink. Sapnap bit back a smile looking at Karl, who you could already tell was glaring back at him. “Side note, I was meaning to ask you. There’s a guy that’s in Karl’s frat,” you paused, trying to remember what Karl had said Todd’s real name was when you were pinning his auction number on him.

Sapnap raised his eyebrows. “Oh, Mark?”

You pointed at him. “Yes, the fake Romney.”

Sapnap snorted. “He did that on campus too?” Karl nodded, a look of disappointment spreading across their faces.

“Speaking of Todd Mark, the king of the Brick” Karl kicked his feet beneath your chair before continuing, “I heard there’s a bonfire tonight,” he probed, making Sapnap slowly shake his head in disapproval.

You raised an eyebrow at the two. “What’s the Brick?”

Sapnap seemed to have already made up his mind on the situation. “A fucking cesspool,” Sapnap grumbled, sipping from his bottle as Karl tsked. Sapnap tilted his head. “You really wanna take her to the Brick? People get together and smoke crack over there. The fact that,” he paused to furrow his brows at you slightly, “Todd Mark? is the benefactor should say something,” he stated, lips curling into an uneasy expression.

You peered over your shoulder at Karl as if to ask if he were crazy. Karl swatted off your gesture. “They don’t smoke crack this time of year. All the locals are back visiting for break.”

Sapnap shook his head again in unease. You chewed your lip, leaning back in your chair. “I don’t know… Sapnap, do you wanna have a movie night instead?” You joked, making Karl sigh behind you.

Sapnap mimicked your mock severity. “Yeah, a stay in and cuddle?”

“Of course,” you repeated.

Karl wheezed. “No, we’re going.”

Without missing a beat, Sapnap chimed back. “Maybe you can take my mom instead?” Karl’s expression flattened at his words and you nodded, high fiving Sapnap in mock victory.

Despite Sapnap’s hesitation, you all went to what they referred to as The Brick. In reality, it was a spot on the edge of a lake. They only called it the Brick because of Todd’s dad, a racecar driver who claimed the post back when he was in high school and later bought it. A large bonfire burned in the center of the space, various people around your age and a bit younger were either dancing to the music coming from one of the souped-up sports cars or shotgunning beers. You pushed away the thought of your stingy fire marshall back home who―more than once―had reported you and your family for “overactive cookouts.”

“Overactive,” meaning your dad and Clay were failing at not catching hotdogs on fire when the two would get lost in a chat about a mutual videogame when the families would cross the fence line in the summer.

As soon as you had stepped foot on the gravel, Karl was welcomed back like some kind of celebrity, so you stayed close to Sapnap. He would lean towards your height, pointing people out that Karl had mentioned in the past or those worth noting. You nodded along, soaking in what he had to tell you and laughing at his jokes.

A random guy strolled past the two of you, making Sapnap purse his lips. “Hey, Sapnap. How’s your mom?” One of the countless jokes thrown at him since you’d arrived.

He tilted his head with a mock look of questioning. “Didn’t your parents just get divorced, Jeff?” He deflected. Jeff’s face dropped slightly as he moved on. You always found yourself struggling not to laugh at how well Sapnap was at counteracting the jabs at his mom and Karl. Most of you felt guilty for how long he had dealt with it.

Karl watched you carefully as you sat down beside Sapnap on one of the vast benches; hands shoved in his pockets as the group around him caught up. You were glad to have someone around like Sapnap, despite the fact that you often went to parties. In the past, it was more of a bi-annual thing, but since being with Karl, you found yourself shoulder to shoulder with nameless people in a line doing shots every other Thursday.

You laughed as Sapnap joked about avoiding the drinks at the Brick because of the mites in the water and the STDs in the beer. “So, I never asked how you met Karl?” He queried, sticking his hands into the pocket of his Baja hoodie.

You smiled slightly. “Uh…” Shameless thoughts of you on your knees in a random building when you barely knew his name paced through your head like a quickfire of serotonin. “We had a lecture together and he liked my handwriting.” Sapnap smirked, chuckling slightly at your words.

Karl’s eyes were trained on the two of you, demeanor shifting each time one of you leaned towards the other to hear over the music or the two of you bumping each other’s arms to grab your attention. You knew he wasn’t jealous, but his look of curiosity was almost hilarious to you. Sapnap stuck by your side while Karl introduced you to his friends. He was basically your encyclopedia on the newer people as Karl would go off on a tangent with them.

The fact that Karl was so close to all of them and was so popular made your heart swell with pride. You were used to Karl’s deadpanned glares at most of his frat brothers and his snide comments, but now he was welcomed back like he was some kind of hero returning from the war.

After saying goodbye to Sapnap for the day, you threaded your fingers with Karl’s, enjoying the time where it was just the two of you. He brought the back of your hand to his lips, smoothing a kiss against your skin. “So… Sapnap’s mom…” you began, making him chew the inside of his cheek. “Where… did it happen?”

He looked down at you with a perked eyebrow before raising his sights forward, pulling you off the street where the two of you were walking. You followed him as the pair of you snuck through between the houses and across the backyards until the two of you were at Sapnap’s house again. Through the front windows, you could see him talking to his sibling in the kitchen.

Karl grabbed your hand, leading you along the side of the estate and toward the pool house. You wanted to groan at the thought before he pulled you through the door with him. “Are you serious?” You hissed, looking around at the dark place. Karl fought not to smirk as he peered out through one of the windows, watching the lights in Sapnap’s house turn out.

The moonlight streamed through one of the slender windows, illuminating his face and washing his features clean. Your gaze trailed along his arms; his tattoos peeking out from beneath his hoodie as he reached up to lock the door.

He turned back to face you, walking closer to you. “Did you have fun today?” He asked, plopping down on one of the couches and pulling you into his lap. He moved your arms to rest around his neck, pressing his lips to your skin. “I feel like I didn’t see you at all. Sapnap’s a bogart,” he muttered jokingly, settling his hands on your hips.

You scoffed before leaning toward him, pressing your lips against his. “Make it up to me,” you murmured, raking your fingers into his hair. “I think I selfishly need you to ruin me here; you know. Like a cleansing of you and Ms. Scarlet,” you chided.

He bit his lip, eyes pulsing with lust as he fought not to grin. You pressed your lips against his, turning to lay back on the couch and yank him on top of you. He chuckled into your kiss, as your hands moved to curl into his hair. His lust was a taste you could get drunk off if given the chance as his hands traveled the length of your body, moaning as you ground your hips against his, gripping into his clothes.

He leaned off of you momentarily to pull his shirt over his head as you slipped out of yours, you wrapped a leg around him, pushing him onto the couch instead and pinning him between your thighs as you straddled him, running your hands up his tattooed chest and connecting your lips again.

One of his large hands covered your breast as you began to grind your hips against his. His teeth grazed against your skin as he caressed your body while you moved against him, trying to create as much friction as you could against his jeans. He ran his fingers along the hem of your underwear, his lips curling into a smirk as he moved slightly to get a better look. "These are nice. Did you plan this?" He leered, snapping the elastic against your hip playfully. You rolled your eyes, pulling his chin towards you and pressing your lips against his. Every movement of his body seemed to lick at the fire deep within you.

You smirked breathlessly as his lips settled against your collarbones. “These are my church clothes. I had no other motive,” you jousted. His hand reached up to rest against your collarbone, his fingers lightly curling around your neck.

“Of course, how could I not realize,” he jabbed, pressing his lips and tongue against your neck. You moaned, tugging at his zipper before wrapping your hand around his cock, pumping him into harder arousal. He groaned against your neck, bucking into your hand lightly. His head tilted back against the couch beneath you, cheeks flushed at the attention. His teeth nipped at your skin as you ground yourself against his thigh, basking in his noises of pleasure.

His cock pulsed in your hand, making him grab your wrist and pull you beneath him. He gripped one of your legs, resting it in the crook of his elbow as he pushed himself into you, connecting your lips to swallow your moans. The feeling of him inside of you sent a wave of pleasure through your body. His voice was low in your ear, murmuring your name as if it were a curse. You moaned as he took one of your hands, lacing your fingers together beside your head as he kissed you again, tongue slipping into your mouth.

His thrusts became more rhythmless, his hold on you driving him deeper as the pool house filled with the noises of your whimpering moans. Karl’s breath was warm on your neck as he took advantage of your submissive state. He moved his hand from around your leg, wrapping his fingers around your neck again. Your body shivered, waiting for the pressure of his hand as his hips rocked against yours.

He chuckled darkly, teeth grazing against your shoulder before his lips hovered beside your ear. “Beg for it,” he commented, voice strained as he thrusted into you.

You swallowed, fingers digging into his back. “Choke me,” you groaned, “please.” His hand tightened around your neck, breath hitching in your throat as his thrusts became rougher. He bit back a smug grin at the way you reacted to his antics, relishing in your body beginning for more.

He relaxed his hand, pressing his lips to yours as you struggled to inhale. Heat ran through your body as your leg curled around his waist, nails raking down his back.

You leaned away from his lips, voice coming out unevenly as you moaned his name. His movements became sloppier as you groaned in bliss, tugging the flesh of his bottom lip between your teeth. You tipped your head back slightly as you reached your climax, riding out your pleasure and sending him over the edge as he pulled you closer to him, his hands digging into your hips as he encouraged you to continue grinding against him. You exhaled deeply, pressing your lips against his neck and his cheek before kissing him breathlessly as your movements slowed.

You pulled on your shirt, Karl’s hands moving to rest on your hips as he pressed a kiss to your neck. “Should we leave a note for Ms. Scarlet?” You joked, making him chuckle as his arms wrapped further around your waist, cheek pressing against your shoulder.

“Who?” He teased.

Tag List: (to be added, follow this link :))

@mrwinemaker @madsbbg @idiotinnit @westyywifee @kiritokunuwu @theholycakehole @itgetsatadhazy @himbobimboeater @karlkitten @pluto-dizzz @twist3dtinkerbell @more-like-reyna @teenage0jealousy @deepestofwaters @honk-izzie-was-taken @froggyy06 @ghoulandghost @instabull @glowstick-cafe @marshmallow-babe @drunkpumpkincake @anoaeunoia @little-gremlin-in-the-walls

#💳💥 anon #edgy!karl #edgy!karl jacobs #karl jacobs x reader #karl jacobs fanfic #karl jacobs imagine #karl jacobs smut #karl jacobs fanart #karl jacobs x you #karl jacobs x y/n #mcyt x you #mcyt fanfiction #mcyt imagine #mcyt smut #mcyt karl jacobs x reader

[spaceorphan18]

I read with interest your view and that of @hopefulobjectmiracle about tumblr Klaine fandom. Is there more shipping these days than 2010-15? I ask because there seems to be a smaller group that only ship Kurt with Blaine but there seems to be a huge rise in Kurtbastian and Hevans shippers. Likewise, there’s many more pezberry or faberry shippers. And a lot more of those shippers trying to discredit Blaine or Brittany as OTP for Kurt and Santana. There seems to be new younger people joining Tumblr declaring a love for all things Klaine, and then a week later shipping Kurt with everybody else!! Has there been a change since the show aired?

Hi Nonny! :)

Hmmm.... There's not really a clear answer to this because the way shipping evolved is different than people just finding things now.

There are kind of two different things going on here -- Kurt related shipping and non-Kurt (blaine/klaine) shipping. I can't tell you much about non related Kurt things -- however, I will say that Faberry was HUGE when the show was on. It's a subsection of the fandom I never interacted with but it was around in season 1, and loud enough that the show makes nod to it from season 2 forward. Brittana was always around, too, and the reason Brittana became a thing on the show was, partly, due to fans crying out that they should be a couple -- and more than the throwaway joke the writers made in the first season.

I don't know what happened to those ships over time, or how the evolved since the show ended -- I'm sorry :/

But now, I will tell you the epic history of Kurt shipping. (Again. i should really dig out my old notes on this, lol)

Here we go long post...

I found it! I'm going to quote myself so I don't have to write it out again, lol. This was originally from an ask about the BBO (Better Boyfriend Olympics), but it'll work here, too.

Okay, so let’s go back to 2010 when there wasn’t a Klaine fandom, there was a Kurt fandom.  A lot of the BBO stemmed out of the Kurt’s Boyfriend Shipping wars of 2010.

Back then, there was just a Kurt fandom, and a lot of opinions about who he should date.  Believe it or not, Kurt was shipped a lot with the other guys on the show, there was a healthy dose of Kurt/Finn, but Kurt/Puck was huge, and there was a smattering of Kurt/Mike (I never really did see much Kurt/Artie now that I think of it, which is kind of funny in retrospect, but I’m sure it’s out there.)  Anyway - when the show announced Kurt was getting a boyfriend – well, things began to get heated up.

Three big ships emerged

Kurt/Sam - because the rumor was that Sam was originally supposed to be Kurt’s bf (probably not, but that rumor was big at the time).  Btw, they were the canoe ship (I have no idea why) and was also known as Kum (rolls-eyes).  This ship’s fanbase was so huge and lasted so long, that the show felt the need to address it head on in Season Two’s Rumours (not a joke).

Kurt/Karofsky - Also known as Kurtofsky, they were also called themselves the Pirate ship (god, Idk why, shipping wars are weird, yo).  These people were also really passionate, mostly about Dave, but liked the whole idea that Kurt would save Dave and they would have this weird - enemies to loves love affair or something.  I don’t know, I could never get past the squicky assault aspect, but whatever.

Kurt/Blaine - which. at the time, was… the biggest possibility? It’s funny cause the other two ships were just as big as the Klaine ship, and really the fighting became over who was going to be the best option for Kurt.

And that’s the thing.  Fans of Kurt were so passionate about who was best for Kurt, because everyone had seen him go through hell and back on the show, so his boyfriend needed to be perfect for him.  And you know who was perfect (at first) – Blaine.  More on that in a second…

However, Blaine brought his own bit of baggage – namely fans of Darren Criss (and/or Starkid fans).  Unlike Chord Overstreet or Max Adler, people knew who Darren was before he was on Glee.  So his own fandom joined in on the Klaine of it all.  At first it was all fine – as the shipping wars continued, it was less about Kurt vs Blaine and more about Klaine vs the other shippers.  Well, that was going to change….

Original Song happened and Kurt and Blaine got together ending the question of who would ultimately be Kurt’s boyfriend.  And things were nice and cozy headed into season 3.  You’d think the Kurt/Sam and Kurt/Karofsky ships would die out, but not really, they stuck around for a long time, and kinda morphed into something else.

See, The First Time happened.  And for the first time Blaine wasn’t the perfect prince that he was in season 2 – he had more of a developed personality, and more flaws.  And… some people didn’t like it.  (Also added to the mix was Sebastian – and the Seblaine and Kurtbastian ships were born, but those kinda go off on their own thing and I’m not really going to bring them up much here.)  Anyway, what really got fandom split was Dance With Somebody.

You had two sides of an argument, people who saw Kurt’s POV and people who saw Blaine’s POV – and guess what happened.  The two sides began to fight with each other over who was “right” in the argument.  (My god…) And thus started what fandom started referring to as The Better Boyfriend Olympics.

See - for reasons I don’t fully understand - instead of seeing that each of the boys have a fault and each were wrong in the episode, each side wanted to say that their side, and their POV was the correct way – that one boyfriend was more oppressed and the other was not as good a partner.

On the Kurt side, though, you had a lot of the old Kurt fans and ships who didn’t like Blaine (and/or didn’t want Blaine as his partner) so they vehemently decided that unless Blaine was the perfect boyfriend again, he didn’t deserve to be with Kurt.  Meanwhile, you had the Blaine fans, many of them Darren fans who wanted Blaine to have more depth to him than just being Kurt’s boyfriend, and not being Kurt fans first (or originally) they were going to push back at the Kurt fans who were lashing out at Blaine.

Compounding this was the fact that during season 3, there were so many cast members and characters that unless you were Finchel, you were begging for scraps and your featured episode to come along.  Meanwhile - Kurt got a ton of screen time, but didn’t sing much, while Blaine sang a lot more, but didn’t get much story.  The Kurt fans resented that Blaine was always singing.  The Blaine fans were annoyed that the Kurt fans resented it, and tried to remind the Kurt fans that Blaine barely got any development.

Either way, a war had begun.  And then The Break Up happened.

Now Kurt fans had a specific reason to point at – Blaine being a terrible boyfriend.  He cheated.  He’s terrible.  The end.

The fandom was not firmly split into sides - you were either a Kurt fan - a lot of them who HATED Blaine - partly because he was getting more attention at the time, partly cause he did sing more, partly because they were made up of Kurt ships that didn’t work out, and partly cause they saw so much of themselves in Kurt that they projected onto him their own feelings, and loving Blaine was not a part of that projection.  Or you were a Blaine fan - who spent a lot of time defending Blaine to the point of exhaustion, and became so resentful of Kurt that they wished Blaine could be with anyone else because Kurt (fans) didn’t understand Blaine and should just stop trying.

Weren’t there any Klainers you ask? Ha, well…. Klainers, people actually liked Kurt AND Blaine were stereotyped into two categories.  Category A) the really really loud fanbase (usually on Twitter) that harassed the creators, RM, Chris, Darren, various crew about Klaine every second that they got – to the point that it started to feel embarrassing (that’s probably my own projection).   Category B) People who thought (think) that Chris and Darren were (are) in a secret relationship.  (Spoiler alert they aren’t, never have been, and never will be.)  The two of these categories overlapped A LOT, and many of the fans of one boy or the other just disassociated completely.

You could still be a fan of the Klaine relationship, but you had a preference to which boy you were actually a fan of – you couldn’t like both, or else you were a Klainer, and that was not cool.  (I spent a long time NOT identifying as anything, and trying to make sure everything I did and said was equal – a) cause I was new to fandom and b) cause I hated that either one or the other of these characters were villainized so frequently.)

Anyway - Season 4 continued.  Adam showed up, and Kurt fans got all excited, but the problem was that a lot of them saw him as the perfect boyfriend again – not a real character but a prop that could make Kurt look good and be everything for Kurt.  Look, I liked Adam, I did, but he was underdeveloped, and this weird idea that your boyfriend needs to be perfect in order to be a functioning relationship is just unrealistic.  I digress.  Meanwhile, we didn’t get a lot of Kurt POV, which didn’t help things, and meant even more projection over his character.

Meanwhile, the Blaine fans had formed their own community, which became viciously defensive of him.  I think the whole fandom was toxic during this time for a lot of reasons, and I really wanted to quit it.  Many people did – the show wasn’t being fun anymore.

Season 5 came along, the boys got back together, tempers simmered, but the whole idea of the Better Boyfriend Olympics came back every time a conflict happened.  Arguments about who was the better boyfriend ensued, gatekeeping as to why their pick was best and why your opinion sucked still ran through the fandom.  Not helping was the fact that Cory had died, and the creators, actors, and crew – as well as media – was tired of Glee.

The one nice thing, though was that a lot of the old crowd had moved on by then, and there was an influx of newer people coming in during season 5 (and season 6) – they weren’t here for the season 3 droughts and season 4 wars, and brought in a newer and fresher perspective.

But still - we had the end of season 5 and the summer of spoilers and season 6 to get through.  At this point, the Kurt and Blaine camps had moved to their parts of the internet and really not speaking much to each other if they could help it.  When an argument happened on the show, the same kind of Better Boyfriend Olympics came up again – one boyfriend was worse than the other, and unless they changed xyz they were not good enough for the other.  But at this point, it was incredibly tiring.  I know that I was just ready for the show to be done with.

I should say, as an aside, not helping things were the rise of some rather vocal BNF-ish fans, who dug their heels in about their own opinions.  The refusal to even acknowledge that one side or the other might be right, or have valid points was not helping anything.  A lot of people on both sides refused to even listen to the points on the other side – and instead of being frustrated at the show, the creators, or whatever, they took it against each other, which wasn’t fun to watch either.

Season 6 happened - Blainofsky happened, and that killed enthusiasm for the season on both sides, most people just kind of wanted it to be over.  And then the ending came quickly, and I think a lot of people who were just plain unhappy about everything left for good.

The Better Boyfriend Olympics, or this weird competition that always pitted the boys and their fandoms against each other in the name of one being better than the other, leveled off after this.  I won’t give myself /that/ much credit - but one reason I created @todaydreambelievers was to give fans of both Kurt and Blaine a safe place where we could enjoy and discuss both boys without the BBO rearing its head.  And you know what – it did mend a few hearts.

For the most part, it’s been pretty quiet since.  Fandom is quieter, but I think the people who have come into it after the show has ended are a lot less judgmental and argumentative.  (I suppose it helps if you know how the story is going to end.)  And the cool thing, for me, is finding a group of people who enjoy Kurt and Blaine equally (or respectfully) – and reclaiming the name Klainer as a good thing.

I’ll end by saying this – it’s been relatively peaceful, even with the influx of new people throughout the years, but I have been seeing shades of BBO pop up again.  Look, you don’t have to like Klaine to be a fan of one or the other of them.  But there are a lot of terrible things going on in the world, a lot of things to be angry and get indignant about.  How a fictional couple was written ten years ago is not one of them.  Be respectful of people, and know that maybe the side you understand better isn’t the only side worth listening to.  ;)

////////////////////

So, I suppose that's part 1 of this full picture. Onto Part 2.

Here's the thing -- I've stayed, mostly, in my little tumblr buble over the past five years -- blissfully unaware that I suppose things were going on around me. Except... they really weren't. Until the pandemic happened, and Glee went to Netflix internationally, and a whole bunch of young kids grew up and started watching the show.

By the time I ended TDB in 2019, there weren't many of us left. I knew there was our small, dedicated group of fans. The tinhatters (the group who thought Chris and Darren were in some kind of relationship. spoiler alert -- they're not). And I know the Kurtbastian fans have been kicking around for a while. But no one was around in huge numbers.

And then boom - pandemic, and I'm shocked (not in a bad way) that this show has already seen a resurgence. The weirdest part, for me, is the fact that not only is history repeating itself -- seriously, people are bringing up old conflicts that have been dead for ages, and old shipping wars I never thought I'd see again -- but I think this new group's relationship with the show is much different.

I think that Kurt is a character whom a lot of people can still identify with. And because he's on his own in the first season, it's still easy to project yourself onto him. And then shipping goes from there. Blaine went from being the exciting option, omg are they really gonna do Klaine?? to -- hey Klaine is the boring canon choice, we can choose who we want for Kurt.

Layer over that years of Blaine hate still circling the interwebs. The echo chamber that Twitter and Tiktok create. And the fact that neither Chris or Darren seem to have the army of fans they once did (well -- Darren does, but they don't really watch Glee anymore). And you get this varied landscape of shipping.

No, some days it doesn't feel that different from the BBO days. The fact that I still get asks about Blaine and TFT car scene or Tested makes me feel like I'm back in 2013. Other times I'm perplexed by resurgences -- such as Kurtbasitan and Kurt/Sam. (Please don't bring back Kurtofsky guys)

But there's a saying -- Same Shit, Different Day.

I think there is an entirely different group of people than the original people watching, and their reasoning for shipping whatever is much different. But they've certainly come to a lot of the same conclusions that brought about the shipping wars in the early days.

At the end of the day - I think Kurt will always been a fandom mattress. But ship what you like and be nice to everyone else. There's enough hate in the world -- no need to dump on people's escapism.

#that's how s.o. sees it #klaine history #klaine #and fandom #did I answer the question? #idk

[bluegarners]

So this is kind of like a part 2 to this post I made earlier. This is just a quick overview of Talons, not super duper detailed

Talons

What is a Talon?

So this question can get a little weird when trying to determine what context it’s in, but basically, they are highly trained/super-human/mutant assassins that work for the Court of Owls. “Work for” is a general statement, as most were originally kidnapped children inducted into the Court that were then raised to be loyal and carry out the Court’s wishes, so enslaved assassins is a better term for description. When referring to a singular assassin, you can say “A Talon” or “The Talon”, or just call them by their actual name if provided. But, when referring to the league/group of them all, it’s typically just “Talons” or “The Talons”

Going back to the whole kidnapped and enslaved as a child part, Talons are typically given an electrum infusion that gives them superhuman abilities, such as super-human strength, immortal like healing abilities and endurance. DC never specifically says who they are trained by, but it can be assumed that the Court hires or teaches the Talons themselves, and then past Talons can teach later/newer Talons. Their specific abilites that don't fall under the electrum infusion powers are unique to the Talon in question themselves, as some, like Calvin Rose, were known for their ability to escape virtually any trap or enclosure they were palced in.

How is a Talon made?

Talons are given a serum infused with the mystical element electrum (which is a chemical compound that can reanimate dead tissue and heal living tissue over and over again; it is fueled by body heat), granting them superhuman endurance, strength and speed. Their abilities, however, begin to fade if they’re cut off from their regular electrum infusions, which means the Court must be strategic in their usage, as the element is rare and expensive.

Something you may not know is that many of the Talons, unfortunately, are provided by Haly’s Circus. In the New 52, Haly’s is revealed to be an operation run by the Court of Owls and its purpose was to raise or find youth to be an assassin for the Court. Some of the Talons that resulted from Haly’s Circus include: Mary Turner, William Cobb, and Calvin Rose. It’s been speculated that the death of Dick Grayson’s parents was orchestrated by the Court so they could easily take the child without anyone really noticing. Had it not been for Bruce Wayne taking in Dick, Dick would have most likely become a Talon and followed in his great-grandfather's footsteps.

What is a Talon like?

Talon’s are almost immune to pain, have super healing, endurance, strength, and speed and can be preserved to be resurrected from death. They are excellent marksmen that work with blades, but the ability can be applied to other objects. Their only known weaknesses are cold temperatures (slowing the regeneration process) or severe death, meaning total decapitation with the head being removed away from the body, or injuries severe enough for healing to be impossible. In order to take the main position of Talon, the chosen Talon must best the previous in a battle. The former Head Talon will then be killed (if they weren’t already), and will either be preserved for later usage or disposed of. They are essentially immortal assassins, relentless with pursuing their targets/given missions. The former main and defeated Talon must fight in order to keep their mantle after being deemed unfit by the Court.

Because of the electrum infusion and insane healing abilities, Talons can recover and continue fighting even after being dealt a deadly blow. This also comes as a double edged sword as they can be kept alive for hundreds of years and continue working for as long as the Court needs them to. What makes them lethal isn’t their fighting capability (which is still extremely deadly) but the fact that they can continue fighting without the hindrance of pain or an injury to stop them.

Misconceptions about Talons

Often in fanon or fanfiction, Talons are depicted as these robotic like beings that have no real thoughts or emotions. However, this is untrue. They are capable of personal thought and feeling, but have unwavering loyalty to the Court, putting their mission first and having unquestionable faith in their Court. This loyalty comes from being raised and reared by the Court, as many of them are kidnapped from a young age and raised to serve the Court. This lifestyle is all they know, and outside of missions, they have not been exposed to anything else their entire lives. 

Additionally, not all Talons have been men. Mary Turner was a Talon, her first appearance being in Batgirl #9 2012 and was offered a position with the Birds of Prey after escaping the Court during a mission/transportation gone wrong.

Who has been a Talon?

One of the more famous and most used Talons is William Cobb, AKA the great-grandfather of Dick Grayson. As of right now, William Cobb is considered the Head Talon, or The Talon when Talons are thought of. However, William Cobb was not supposed to be the Head Talon initially. It was another man named Alton Carver, who was one of the best Talons, but the Court of Owls felt that Carver had become sloppy in his kills and missions and threatened to replace him with his successor (which would mean death for Carver). During this time period, it is revealed that Dick Grayson is to be Carver’s successor; at this moment, Dick is still a child performing with Haly’s Circus. Seeing Dick’s olympic level abilities at such a young age without the help of any enhancements (like electrum) first hand, Carver realizes that Dick would eventually outmatch him. Carver weighs the thought of killing Dick then and there, but debates too long on the subject and is spotted and pursued by Batman (nothing really results in this chase however, and Carver gets away). The Court, seeing how Carver had disobeyed their orders, retires him and only re-awakens him for the attack on Gotham City. This is when William Cobb takes over as the prime Talon.

Here is a quick timeline of all the Talons that we know of:

1600s: Uriah Bone, the oldest surviving Talon of the Court of Owls

1666: Ephriam Newhouse

1840s: Henry Ballard

1850s: Alexander Staunton

1940s: Mary Turner, joined Bird of Prey

1950s: Alton Carver

1980s: Xiao Loong

1990s: William Cobb, great-grandfather of Dick Grayson and considered to be the most formidable Talon the Court of Owls has ever produced

Current Talon: Calvin Rose, the only Talon ever to escape from the Court maze

There are many other facts/specific features that I've left out for the sake of keeping this post to the point, so feel free to add what you know. Maybe later, I'll make another post about backgrounds/history of a few of the Talons

Something I find cool about Dick Grayson’s lineage is that “Grayson” isn’t actually his last name. The name is a play on words for “The gray son of Gotham”, referring to the gray area that divides the rich and the poor. Cobb was scorned by his lover's father for being poor, and after willingly joining the Court of Owls, William stole his first born son and brought him to Haly’s Circus to be raised and hopefully become a Talon. This son was the father of John Grayson, Dick Grayson’s father. This is why you’ll see Dick Grayson be referred to as “The Gray Son of Gotham”, as Cobb had originally hoped his son, and now great-grandson, would be the one to blur the lines between the class divides. 

#Dick Grayson #Nightwing #Gray Son of Gotham #Batman #DC #Batman:Hush #Tales from the Dark Multiverse #Talon #Court of Owls #William Cobb #Calvin Rose #Haly's Circus #i think dick's talon suit is so cool #it just pleases this little itch in my brain #can you guys imagine calling him Dick Cobb?????? #Richard John Cobb??? #ew

[jcmorrigan]

blakeworther- I personally I love your hc’s so much- any au’s or anything ya got for them? I really wanna know more about what goes on.

This was once again a BAD QUESTION TO ASK

Aside from the Skyward Sword AU, which I never went back to again, there’s only one AU that I like for Blakeworther, which is the AU that I like for everything ever. I’m not even sure I consider it a true AU, even though it absolutely is. So, okay, I have this thing called the WHAM ARMY, which is a massive crossover group of my favorite villains (led by the eight who make up the acronym but this ain’t about them). Obviously, because Victor, Vincent, and Albert are all pretty firmly villains (even if they lean “those weird morally bereft people we end up being friends with somehow”), I want them to join the WHAM ARMY. So my thoughts for them here are pretty much how they’d react in a multicrossover setting, which of my other villain loves they’d get along with, and what the intro arc is for them. Keep in mind I haven’t gotten here in the fanfic yet, so some of this could change in practice, but here are my plans right now.

Cringe ahead.

-They aren’t the originals. I want to make something that doesn’t trip over canon’s current trajectory, even though I don’t know exactly where canon is going, so what happens is that Vexen (Kingdom Hearts) is going to rebuild the three of them as replicas, since he can easily find memory cores for Victor and Vincent in Myers’ storage rooms and there’s just going to be an Albert core there for no reason.

-Vexen then pulls some Chain of Memories magic and restricts the memories they have access to. They will only remember things we have literally seen in VTSOM/TWDAK, and then I can have him release more of their memory banks to them as we get more chapters. (Even if they all three get redemption arcs, my replica versions can stay little shits!)

-He DOES NOT tell them that they’re not the originals! For all they know, they fell asleep at the last day they remember and woke up here. But they figure it out on their own despite his best efforts. They still want to get their memories back anyway so they know what the people they were replicated from were like and have a framework to build their personalities from.

-Yes, of course they’re cyborgs! Cyborg replicas. Since they’re operating by KH rules, they prooooobably don’t need to eat human meat? But also I like when villains do fucked-up things and I have jokes about the others packaging “cyborg chow” to embarrass them so maybe they still do engage in a little cannibalism, as a treat

-Each was engineered with a different specialty. Vincent’s is raw physical strength; he can walk into a gunfight without even needing a weapon and still have a chance of winning. Victor’s arms have been upgraded to hold a variety of cannons; he’s the team sniper. Albert is the team “mage”; he can conjure Dream Eaters. In this AU, TWDAK Dream Eaters and KH Dream Eaters are basically the same thing. Albert has mastered a strange art of being able to draw Dream Pieces out of the Realm of Sleep and implant them in physical forms of creatures in the waking world, creating his army. They look like they do because he hates the pastel aesthetic of KH Dream Eaters and redesigned his personal ones to look more fitting with his aesthetic. He’s also a speedster.

-The intro mission involves Vexen attempting to track down a newly-rebuilt Xion (this AU is divergent from KHIII) in Radiant Garden so he can bring her back under his control with some brainwashing. I’m also bringing in the Tsviets as past experiments of Vexen’s, so he’s basically pitting his newer models of experiment against his old ones.

-The party he already has built by this point is going to be Demyx, Simon Laurent (Infinity Train), Tsumugi Shirogane (DanganRonpa), skekSil (The Dark Crystal), and a couple other people I haven’t hinted at instory yet and don’t quite want to spoil. But Simon, Tsumugi, and skekSil will all also be Vexen’s creations - Simon and skekSil are replicas and Tsumugi is an android.

-Vincent, Victor, and Albert wake up for the first time, and while Vincent and Victor remember each other as friends, they’re just like “And why is our nemesis from RMU also here?”

-Albert probably fights with Vincent for dominance of the trio and I’m not sure which one of them is the trio leader at this point.

-I moved Nine Bean Hill from World of Final Fantasy to Radiant Garden because Radiant Garden needs a coffee shop and first of all, thanks to Hunger Games Simulator fuckery, my friends and I have an in-joke about Vincent Edgeworth having an eternal grudge against Dunkacino, so I’m going to use the coffee shop to reference this somehow without having to put actual Corporate Brainwashed Al Pacino in this ‘verse

-But also I like to think Lann and Reynn play a lot of bubblegum pop, so catch Victor and Albert dancing to the PA like idiots and then getting Demyx, skekSil, and Simon in on it while Vincent and Vexen are like “Oh God why are these our friends”

-(There are reasons this particular Demyx goes by a different name instory and it’s weirding me out to type “Demyx” for this post)

-Without spoiling too much of the arc, there IS a part where Blakeworther beats up the Tsviets, there IS a part where they battle the Anima summon from FFX and win, and there IS a part where despite all of this, Xion kicks their asses across the city

-They go through this mission seeing each other as partners and friends (though Vincent and Albert are reluctant to use the “friend” word at first), but after they all get back to base, they’re just...suddenly overwhelmed with the fact that they’re strangers in a strange land missing half their memories.

-They room together, and they end up crawling into the same bed for solidarity reasons. This is actually where I first envisioned the “rough day” sleeping position - Vincent and Victor are chest-to-chest, then Albert just snuggles in behind Victor and the other two are like “Okay, we’re gonna just let this happen” and Vincent and Albert touch at one tangent point where their arms cross.

-The days might get a little rougher after they realize they aren’t even the originals.

-Eventually they assimilate into the chaos house with no problem.

-Vincent tends to hang out with the party poopers of the house. Especially Mozenrath (Aladdin: The Animated Series). (P.S. If there are any VTSOM fans out there who also know the 90s Aladdin TV series...I CAN’T be the only one who noticed the surface similarities here, right?)

-Victor Blake and Roman Torchwick (RWBY). Oh, God, this is the hell duo. They’re party animals who love to dance and drink and dance drunk. It was not a good idea to let these two redheads meet.

-Albert and Neopolitan (RWBY)! They both love stabbing people and Victorian button boots! I actually kinda have this idea that they would pick up more fucked-up serial killer types to hang out with them - Mad Madam Mim (The Sword in the Stone) is their patron despite being a much tamer example, but Albert also decides he really likes Scaramouche (Samurai Jack), Junko Enoshima (DanganRonpa), and Jerome Valeska (Gotham).

-For a real deep cut, Albert also opens up a joint Dream Therapy office with Dr. Cheshire Broach (Crypt TV). It’s either called “Krueger & Broach” or “Broach & Krueger” depending on how long it takes either to notice that the other moved his name to the front of the sign again. You should ABSOLUTELY not trust either of these men to give you legitimate therapy (though if you’re good friends with them, they can and will use their dreamon powers to help you best your nightmares in a bloody fashion).

-Actually this ‘verse is the entire reason I thought of them doing drag karaoke to “United We Stand” by Amberian Dawn because the WHAM ARMY is all about karaoke, drag, and any combination of the two

-I haven’t decided yet if their romance will be a slow burn or a faster affair. I’m expecting them to tell me as I write out the fic. But I think in a lot of respects, it’s going to be more of a friends-to-lovers story than their original forms had. The three of them are forced to become an elite cyborg warrior unit created by the same mad scientist, they had a big bonding mission together where they became ride or die (whether or not they want to admit it), and eventually...we can start revealing that they’re CATCHING FEELINGS.

-The WHAM ARMY has many, many power couples and ships of various numbers of people but Blakeworther ends up becoming yet another POWER THROUPLE around base, and it’s understood that messing with one of them will earn the wrath of the other two

-They go on to assist in many, many missions with the purpose of taking over various worlds and kingdoms and just fucking them up

-Vincent Edgeworth will kill the TBTC equivalent of Dunkacino

You have to understand that TBTC is my hyperfixation to end all hyperfixations. Every piece of fiction I touch ends up related to it in some way. At some point the majority of how I interact with Blakeworther is going to be through this AU. I’m just a sucker for crossovers and villains having a place to be bros and party.

#vincent edgeworth #victor blake #albert krueger #blakeworther #friendly reminder that i do also take headcanon requests about the wham army! #just saying! #ASK ME ABOUT MY CROSSOVER UNIVERSE!

[neojeno]

I really wouldn't mind you aiding me with some tutorials love

giffing tutorial/resources

hi anon! sorry it took me so long to answer. i figured this might be helpful for others out there who have asked me similar questions, so i’ve compiled a pretty comprehensive list of tutorials/resources. idk about others but when i was new to giffing, it took me a lot of painful effort to go around and look for resources, so i’m putting it all here to make it a little easier!

i download videos using 4k video downloader. it will download very good quality 1080p videos in .mp4 format. if you’re downloading a 4k video, make sure to change the setting option to .mkv so that you get 4k and not 1080p—for obvious reasons since you want the highest quality.

i rely on kpopexciting to get .ts files — which are basically raw, very high quality video files for live performances. they are much less grainy than .mp4 versions of live performances—which are the ones you’ll see uploaded to youtube. i’ve found that 4k videos (in .mkv) are just as good quality as .ts, but obviously you will rarely see live performances in 4k, so get .ts when you can!! you can also try to find .ts files on twitter, but you may have to do a lot of digging. i wish i could recommend you twitter accounts, but the ones i used to go to have been very inactive/taken down all their drives :( but this website is really nice and updated frequently so i would recommend it!

vapoursynth links + download. the reason you would use vapoursynth is to resize your gif, while maintaining the optimal quality of the gif. if you gif without vapoursynth (.ie only using photoshop), it will still be fine, but the image quality may be grainier. also, you will definitely need vapoursynth to gif .ts files —more will be explained in the tutorial i’ve linked below. i would recommend that you have a high processing/lots of ram/newer desktop or laptop to use vapoursynth so that 1, your computer isn’t fried and 2, your vapoursynth process will go a lot faster. i am using a 2017 macbook pro for all my work, and it runs pretty well, but my laptop still gets pretty hot so just make sure you’re not running a million things in the background while using adobe products and vapoursynth lol. i used a pretty old and beat up 2011 model macbook air back then, and i will say that yes vapoursynth worked and ran on it, but it took much longer, and basically fried the laptop’s battery (aka i had to get the battery changed twice and the laptop would die randomly) but issok it was a school borrowed laptop so i didn’t feel too bad lol. im just saying this as a precaution, to preserve the health of your electronic devices!! but don’t be afraid to use vapoursynth! you should still try it at least once.

thank you to @realstraykids for this super detailed, really nice tutorial! it includes how and where to download videos, how to gif using vapoursynth, using photoshop, comparisons, coloring, and pretty much all you need to know. 10/10 would recommend

thank you to @dreamcolouring for this lifesaver!!! the best and easiest way to blur out unwanted captions/objects in your gifs. i recommend doing this step after converting your frames to video timeline and before you do sharpening and coloring. another tip i’ll add is to feather the selection you’ve made right before you click on “add vector mask” —this will make sense once you’ve read through the tutorial. feathering it will make the blurred spot less noticeable and more subtle.

i use this generator to create gradient colored captions! copy and paste your text, then select the colors you want. generate the code, and copy it. change the settings of the text editor on your post to HTML. paste the code, preview, and voila! add elements <blockquote>,<b>,<i>, etc as needed. see more on colored captions in this tutorial by @kylos​ --i believe op mentioned a different and better color generator but for some reason it won’t work for me :( hopefully it works for u! basically same idea as the previous generator i mentioned.

my own mini tutorial/workflow process of making gifs. this includes working with a .ts file, vapoursynth, photoshop, coloring, watermarking, etc. and a few of my own tips below:

if you are working with an .mp4, you do not have to make any changes to the preprocessor/denoise filters/sharpening in the resizing part of vapoursynth—it doesn’t make that big of a difference if you do. but if you are working with a .ts file, definitely do make those changes,, that’s the whole reason you have vapoursynth. with an .mp4, i like to use vapoursynth to just resize, but i don’t add any additional settings. i use smart sharpen in photoshop to sharpen it, which is pretty good on it’s own (at least in photoshop 2020!).

my rule of thumb is to do add .02 seconds when i am setting frame delay. so if when you first import the frames, they are at 0.04 seconds, i usually change them to 0.06. of course, this is my personal taste—you can make all your gifs faster or slower depending on how you want em to look.

if you are on a mac, you can screen record by pressing Command+Shift+5 (it’s a shortcut to quicktime screen recording). I only screen record for things like the beyond live concert or other live streamed events. the image quality of the screen recording, in my experience, is actually pretty good. when you gif the screen recording however, you may notice that it adds extra frames that you don’t need. by that i mean duplicate frames. you could keep the duplicate frames but that just means the size of your gif is going to be much bigger (keep in mind the limit is 8mb). in order to remove those duplicates, my only solution has been to remove them manually (by holding Command while selecting), or when you are importing the video to frames, select the option to “limit to every 2 frames”—but this method will be less precise and still not as good as manually removing frames. if you remove the duplicate frames, this means you will need to set the frame delay even slower, to make up for lost frames. in my experience, fps(frames per second) and frame delay work in conjunction. so for example, if i delete every other frame because they are duplicates,  but the starting frame delay is 0.02, i am now going to change it to something like 0.05 (so i added 0.03 seconds rather than my usual 0.02). if the duration length and the image dimensions of the gif are short/small, feel free to keep the duplicate frames in—i only delete duplicate frames in order to keep my gif under the 8mb limit. then, if you keep the duplicate frames in, continue with your standard frame delay preferences.  now that i’m writing this im realizing this might not make a lot of sense lol.. but don’t worry about it for now and if you run into trouble w screen recorded gifs then you can come back to this for reference. again, this is only my experience recording on a mac—it may be a lot different if you use a screen recording program or are on a pc.

i don’t really use .psd templates because i like to give every gif/gifset it’s own unique coloring—so i remake the coloring every time, but if you get into a rhythm it’s pretty easy. there are a lot of nice coloring tutorials out there, too! my personal coloring adjustments in order: levels, exposure, color balance, selective color (if needed), vibrance, photo filter (if needed), color lookup (i use 2strip most often and i put it on ‘color’ blending mode). don’t forget to adjust the opacities and fills of the ‘color lookup’ adjustment layer in case it’s too strong. go back to correct each adjustment layer as needed. then, when you’re done and satisfied, group all those layers, copy the group (you can do an easy command+c), and paste it onto the next gif you’re working on for easy workflow.

if for some reason you can’t see the frames when you import your layers/video, it’s likely because your ‘timeline’ window isn’t showing up. just go to the window menu on photoshop, go to the bottom and you’ll see ‘timeline.’ make sure it has a check next to it.

i recommend watermarking your gifs because a lot of people like to repost tings these days 😠 - so make sure u got your brand on it! i keep my watermark saved to my ‘libraries’ in photoshop so it’s ready when i need it. i use the blending mode ‘overlay’ and adjust the opacity, but if you don’t want to do that you can also add a stroke/shadow to your watermark/do all sorts.

tag #nctinc for your nct creations and #jenonet for your jeno creations!!

here’s my own mini tutorial (well not much of a tutorial ig more like a work process vid?): took about ten minutes including the time to search and download the video (but i didn’t record that part i trust yall know how to do that), vapoursynth, and exporting. i hope this helps somewhat! feel free to ask more questions whenever :)

keep in mind that giffing takes a lot of patience, energy, and experience—so don’t worry if it takes you a bit to figure things out or if your gifs don’t turn out the way you want them to the first time around. we all start at the same place and all run into problems. i know giffing can sound intimidating and seem like a lot of work, but i promise, once you get into a routine, giffing is going to happen in minutes—and you’ll get beautiful gifs. have fun! 😊

#anon #answered #tut #tuts #giffing tutorial #should i make a tut/resources post on gfx? not rly sure if gfx can be taught.. it's like a lottt about personal style imo lol #hope this helps! #not just for anon but for anyone

[felassan]

Hii MJ. I was wondering what you think of the possibilities of Zevran being in DA4? Ik bioware has brought back a character from the dead (Leliana), so Idk if I’m delusional for ignoring that zev can die. But considering he (used to?) be associated with the crows and they seem to be a big part of the next game, do you think it might be possible that he could have a conditional advisor like role? Or since he isn’t a crow, he definitely won’t be?

Hi Nonnie! Some thoughts on this. This became long so it’s under a cut. TN spoilers under cut.

Initially on seeing the BtS vid I wondered if one of the Crow figures could be Zevran (gut response). I don’t think it is anymore. That figure’s outfit resembles Zevran’s “Black Shadow” attire from WoT, but lots of characters in the concept art are wearing various types of Crow uniform: the other character in that picture is also wearing Crow clothes, and so are figures here, here (Matt Rhodes’ Art Station upload of this one says that “Crow” is the title of that piece) and here. Assassin-y figures are also present in the lineup shot. I think what it means given the ‘concept art is mood-setting’ stuff is that the Crows as a faction will have a significant role to play in the upcoming game. This makes sense given the prominence of Crows in TN - no less than 3 stories, one of which introduces in-depth a new significant-feeling Crow character (Lucanis, who is currently active in Tevinter, who pinged ‘companion flags’ to me [this is subjective tho], and whose short story ends with in unresolved “unfinished business” Tevinter-heavy hook) and one of which expands at length on known Crow lore as well as being like “here’s what’s been happening with Crow leadership and here’s some setup for what’s going on with the Crows soon due to the Antaam invasion”. 

They did bring back Leliana if she was killed in DAO (demon pope!). I might be misremembering, but I seem to remember some tweets or other dev comment somewhere where they said that they’d try to avoid bringing back player-killed characters like this in the future (could def be remembering this wrong though). I also think I remember PW saying that when writing Trespasser, the Bull dying if you sided with the Qun in his DAI mission thing was something they struggled with a lot over whether to have happen or not - because having that happen would mean that in those universes, Bull is dead-dead and that could potentially have knock-on impacts if the writers ever wanted to use him again in the future. There are other cases where dead characters resurface, like Anders in DA2 (but his potential death in the expansion was an epilogue slide, and the epilogues are framed more as rumors and many chunks of them have been retconned in subsequent games) or in the extended media (e.g. Wynne popping up in Asunder if she died in DAO, but we know that the stories in the books and novels aren’t canon-canon, that being a limitation of the media-type where it’s not like you can enter or make choices, but that they are events that fit in BW’s ‘default’ canon, and that the events described therein unfolded in a different way in different universes like in ones where Alistair isn’t King).  

The explanation for Leliana’s survival was a highly specific, rare set of circumstances - the devout Andrastian woman who died in a magic mountain full of lyrium which does kooky things, who believes maybe the Maker brought her back. How many lyrium ghost spirit-imitations of dead chars are walking around Thedas, or should be implied to be? The writers can always handwave, retcon, or explain around anything that they choose to, and if they want to bring him back in all universes they will, but I lean towards preferring “player-killed characters stay dead” because of choice and consequence and enjoying that choices have weight and impact. I also think “surprise, they lived” can become overdone as a gimmick if writers aren’t careful (generally speaking, not a DA-specific comment). For me - what would be the explanation for his survival? He can also die at more than one point in DAO. I know he’s beloved and can also be still alive, but possible deaths aside, when it comes to characters returning in this franchise, especially former companions, I also always lean towards “less old, more new” and towards “a few cameos only, not lots, and such cameos should be plot-relevant, not random”. There are a couple reasons for that which I won’t really get into here as that’s a separate topic, but it’s partially due to feelings like - Thedas is a big big place with heaps of people in it, I prefer it when the world doesn’t feel small, DA is the story of the setting rather than any one PC or group, I’d rather meet and encounter mostly-new people, etc. 

Aside from that stuff, aside from Antiva, he hasn’t been positioned recently as being in the north or having ongoing plot-stuff there (this isn’t a requirement for him to come back, and it happening for a character doesn’t mean they’re a shoe-in, but compare that with Fenris in Blue Wraith, who is now in Tevinter and working with Inquisition agents). He’s appeared in 2 games already and been referenced in all 4. I really enjoy what I’ll call his ‘romanced epilogue’ as an ending to his story too - unlike the other 3 DAO LIs, he accompanied his love on their quest to the west in search of a cure for the Calling. I love that, it’s so faithful and romantic. He’s still at their side and they’re still together after all this time. He journeyed far into the dangerous unknown with them looking for a needle in a haystack so that his partner doesn’t have to die a horrible early death, as faithful in his actions as his sentiments that he’d storm the Black City at the Hero’s side if he had to implied. The last time we heard from the Hero and romanced Zevran, they were together, and they were well. Y’know? I also tend to assume, due to Lelimancing Wardens returning in the Trespasser epilogues, that all Heroes who survived DAO return from their quest. I don’t want that to be jeopardized, and those references are enough for me.

And as much as I love Zevran (and I really do), I don’t personally feel a need for him to return either, neither in terms of his arc, ‘exploredness’ as a character, or in the overarching plot. As you say, in some universes he’s not a Crow anymore. There was a cool post I saw on this recently which I’m struggling to find the link to, but the jist of it was that the Crows are a pretty shit organization in terms of their ‘recruitment’ and training practises, how they operate and everything. They abused him during his life and he has now freed himself through his experiences during the Fifth Blight with the Warden, and in this new life he’s been on a years-long endeavor to kill Crows. For Zevran’s future, I think I’d like it if it didn’t always have to involve Crow involvement or a Crow focus? Like, that he’s more than a Crow, than a former Crow, than a Crow-hunter/opposer. Separate to that, there are also other, active Antivan Crows operating in the north that we’ve not yet spent time with in a game or ever gotten to know as a PC. It’s a big if, but if a character like Lucanis or Teia etc is prominent in the game, as a companion or advisor or contact etc, it might be a bit redundant to have another. This example is flipped around, but like, we had Cullen as an advisor, and he was “the templar/former templar guy”. We didn’t then also have a templar companion. So if we had Lucanis or whoever as a companion, I’m not sure that we’d then have a Crow/former Crow in an advisor-type role too?

It’s not delusional to want to see a fav or loved character again though. :) I’m not one of the people that wants to see my favs in every new entry, I’m largely happy for them to be let be off-screen, see a reference to them here and there (like the War Table, an allusion to or a dialogue line about them), but I understand the wish and get the feeling behind it. And it’s especially not delusional given the context which is that the writers have brought back player-killed characters before!

I doubt they’d have an advisor or advisor-like person be conditional (imagine playing DAI without Leliana and Cullen if they died or had unretconned bad endings prior to the game, it wouldn’t work without Padok Wiks-style stand-ins or a lot of logistical work on the devs’ part to structure the writing around their absences in those instances). A conditional cameo of some description though I could see (something comparable to his DA2 cameo or Nate’s conditional appearance in DA2 for example). Can’t say how likely this is though, especially given that Crow business-stuff could be repped by other newer chars. Maybe if there’s an option to dismantle, sabotage or oppose the Crows he could crop up. I’d imagine any appearance in relation to the Crows would be anti-Crow or “informer on the Crows due to past experience”, not pro-Crow or “the Crow perspective guy”, in universes where he didn’t go back to them anyway. And I’m not saying Zevran was a Talon or that he’s still a Crow or that it’s him, but just while I’m on this subject it brought a semi-related thought to mind, which is that post-TN and the surviving Talons having contacting the heirs to the other houses’ Talon roles, I do wonder who the new head of House Arainai is. 

(I include the info on the ‘where I lean’ stuff because I’m sure it colors or biases my responses sometimes).

#dragon age 4 #the dread wolf rises #dragon age #bioware #mj replies #anonymous #video games #tevinter nights spoilers #tevinter nights spoiler #tevinter nights #spoilers #spoiler #fenris #the Fenaissance #mass effect #abuse mention #cw abuse #abuse cw #abuse for ts

[btackt]

omgg haha that's wild that somebody's uncle spotted them!! the whole thing gives me vibes of ofd castaway when they had to work some in the cabbage field lol. I watched a little bit this morning but am going to finish it tonight, from what I've seen on here its just going to get funnier and funnier 😂😂 I agree, they'll deff be in each others lives long past being idols I'm sure! they've all talked about how close they are and have become over the years (1/4)

I think even when they inevitably do enlist we'll get plenty from members! I kind of doubt with thirteen members they'll all go at once BUT who knows! I try not to think too much about that, can be a little bit of a sad thought but it's also still years away. I think they're deff popular enough to also continue as idols post enlistment if they choose to do so! it seems that's the route a lot of the big big groups go with (2/4) hmmm yeah they might be the first to do that! I cant say at least in my spheres of the kpop world that I've heard of non fans being really interested in idol groups variety shows. not even (and this isn't a swing at them, just saying) heard of like bts being the biggest group rn that people outside fandom go out of their way to watch whats it called? bts run? I haven't been into them for years now so I forget what its called. I like that a lot of the times with gose it (3/4) doesnt have a ton to do with their music its more just them as people having fun. I think that deff makes it super accessible to non kpop fans. not everyone likes kpop and that's fine, but lbh we all like a good show to watch. excited to hear your thoughts on the rice paddy ep!! I can't wait to see how it ends later!! (4/4, these keep getting longer and longer lol) -💎

Yes! honestly I can't imagine what but I know jun/the8/joshua are going to be up to some fantastic stuff while everyone else is away. I feel like if they do it in either two batches or even just one it would be best. I'm on the newer side to kpop so I don't really know all the bands that have enlisted and stuff but I got to know Shinee just this year post-enlistment and I realized how historic of a group they are, how there was no way they wouldn't still be popular post enlistment (and they have one more serving right now). And gather new fans like me even AFTER a big break. I hope Seventeen becomes that kind of historic (???: Let's go down in history) so that there's no question they survive enlistment. I know some other groups have gone and done it in rotation and so on, but idk if anyone has survived the lull with flying colors like Shinee did. I hope Seventeen is the next one to do it as well as Shinee.

My sister has been into kpop much longer than me and she used to really like BTS, and she said she used to love looking forward to BTS Run, but it all went downhill eventually. I think Seventeen really was lucky to meet people like 현석이 형 and 은송 누나 (like anybody who looks at 96's zodiac sign and decides they're going to make a whole challenge out of turning them into mice, those are people I can trust) and likewise the production team is lucky to meet a group like Seventeen who are down to do anything and are committed to the comedy. I guess that's one of the big reasons I am a pledis-supporter carat, just looking back at how much budget Pledis poured into hiring the production team for a literal variety show that doesn't have anything to do with the music (barely), like you said, and then it paying off within half a year, that's a company I can get behind.

Oh boy GoSe was so fun today. The opening was killer with them all just flopping into the field. And the highlights for me were definitely The8 and Jun being sleeper comedians like always and Woozi being especially cute and sensitive that day haha. There are some times when he's just chillin and happy (like Don't Lie 2) and sometimes he's like 에이! and starts fighting in his high-toned voice lol. It's so funny like all of vocal team sings in high voices but most of them have normal speaking voices except for Woozi, he actually has a high tone in his voice. 관장님! 감사합니다! also while it seems like GoSe production team cannot be beaten in terms of old variety show references, they constantly fail to identify old (not even that old) music references that SVT makes. They thought (and my baby kpop fan self thought) that the song Jun sang was something he made up but carats pointed out on twitter that it's a tvxq song...

#caratanon2021 #I apologize to all of you just passing by on the timeline for my long posts

[adamrevi3ws]

Zack Snyder’s Justice League (The Snyder Cut)

The so-called “Snyder Cut” of Justice League (2017) is finally out, and I have seen it!

For those of you that haven’t been constantly harangued by its online presence, Justice League had a very messy behind-the-scenes, hindered by a lot of studio meddling and the fact that its original director, Zack Snyder, left mid-production due to studio conflicts and a massive family tragedy. Snyder was replaced by the now-infamous Joss Whedon, who conducted several reshoots and was later accused of workplace misconduct and harassment, especially from the actor who played Cyborg, Ray Fisher. Many have attributed the problems with the theatrical cut to its behind the scenes chaos, and this theory, combined with the fact that other movies by Snyder have been vastly improved by their director’s cuts (see: Batman v Superman), has caused outcry from a very small but loud group of fans, demanding Snyder’s version of the movie. This basically started right after the movie itself came out, and confused many due to the……mixed… opinions on Snyder’s directing, but somehow WB caved in and gave Snyder an absurd amount of money to finish post-production and film a new scene or two, finally releasing a full four-hour director’s cut on HBO MAX this past Thursday.

Although I had some intense skepticism, I think the hype was overall worth it. Yes, I’m biased because I initially liked the movie in its crappier form, and also generally liked Snyder’s first DC movie, Man of Steel, but trust me on this one. The directing is overall a massive improvement, and unlike the original, it doesn’t look so damn ugly. The CGI is actually finished, and it has this rough and detailed quality that reminds me of the visuals from Man of Steel. Another improvement from the theatrical version is the humor, which feels much drier and thinly spread out (and less sexist), therefore giving its funny moments a lot more value. I think one of the BIGGEST improvements of the film is its character work, delivering much better pathos and characterization. While it’s no Logan, the Snyder Cut delivers some level of heart and soul to an otherwise soulless genre. I think the biggest example of this is with Cyborg, where in the original film he was in maybe two scenes, but in the Snyder Cut, he has a very fleshed out and detailed character arc. It’s very easy to understand why Ray Fisher hates Whedon and WB so much. Even without god knows how much of a toxic environment he had to deal with, literally most of the scenes he got to actually act got cut out of the original movie. This and his extended edition for Batman v Superman are only further proof that Snyder excels when he’s able to add in all the scenes and details otherwise removed by the studio, allowing his movies to be so much more coherent, compelling, and fleshed out. With this extra space, he even gets to go all out with this Chekov’s gun mentality, in which many major details and minor plot points brought up, in the beginning, are often referenced or in some way resolved in the end. Even though I nearly forgot about half of these, it’s a very rewarding experience for attentive viewers. Speaking of attention to detail, Snyder’s greater room to breathe allows him to have the film organically connect to and reference other DC movies, cementing its role in the universe and smoothing out any plotholes of the original. He even adds in a couple of extra DC characters and references to the universe, so you got to admit, this man loves comics, even if you don’t think it’s for the right reasons. This love is exactly why the Snyder cut excels, finally allowing the director to bring his grandiose and mythological vision of the DC universe to the small (but intended for big) screen. Oh, and the scenes with Darkseid are pretty cool.

Despite these clear improvements, the movie itself is still pretty flawed and makes a lot of clear sacrifices for its improvements. The first one I’d like to point out is its lack of filter. It doesn’t really justify its four-hour runtime, and while a lot of the newer scenes are necessary, a good amount feels like they go on for a bit too long and could be trimmed down a bit. The first half of the film is the biggest culprit in this, taking a bit too much time for setup and having a lot of scenes that felt like they didn’t even need to be in a specific order. While the film benefits a lot from adding, idk, nearly every scene they filmed, that doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be any discretion whatsoever when it comes to editing down its content. The movie really should have been three or three and a half hours instead of a full four, because it was very easy for me to space out in this. I definitely recommend watching it more like a show than a movie, since it’s conveniently divided into “chapters” anyways. Much of my other gripes are pretty standard aspects of Snyder’s work in the DC universe and others, such as the fact that it sacrifices the color of the original for something more detailed yet… monotone (it’s almost all in this sleek, charcoal shade), the fact that Superman is a bit more of an asshole than he should, and weird soundtrack choices. Finally, the ending is a bit strange and also kind of drags, where it would be much more fitting for its final scenes to be separated into a post-credits sequence, but alas, I don’t know if that works as well in streaming.

Even though it’s definitely still a flawed product, I have reached the conclusion that the Snyder Cut was very much worth making, and definitely worth watching, if you can stomach a four-hour superhero movie. I give it a 7.9/10.

[silyabeeodess]

Hey, Fusion Fellas: As heartbroken as many of us still are over the DMCA shutdown, it’s nice to see so many fans of the game continue to carry on in whatever way they can.  I’ve kept up with whatever news appears as much as I can, seeing the news spread and more people come together to find ways to enjoy something that was such a big part of their childhoods.  There’s some stuff I’d like to say, regarding my personal thoughts and what I plan to do since I know some of you follow me for my fanwork of the game.  The first half is largely negative so, if you like, you can skip over that: I’ll have things written in bold to mark where this starts and breaks off.  

I’m still angry at CN.  I know about the guy spreading lies to the network and I understand that they have to protect their IP.  That’s not what I have a problem with.  What I have a problem with is a multi-million dollar company targeting a harmless, fan project over a piece of their IP that they themselves have confessed they aren’t planning on doing anything with--effectively keeping it vaulted where no one is allowed to touch it: Targeting a group of devoted fans who’ve shown more love and care for this franchise and the fanbase (along with the shows its attached to) than their own hired creatives have.  Beyond a matter of law, this is a matter of respect--and CN has lost all of mine. 

Take a game like Undertale and its creator, Toby Fox.  You have a small team making a game that boomed in popularity, similar to FusionFall back in its hay-day.  The difference is people can still buy UT and the game continues through the AU that is Deltarune while there’s no possible way for fans of FusionFall to ever experience it without a server.  So how do these two separate creators--Toby Fox and CN--react to their fans?  Toby Fox says, “Hey fans!  Go make your fanart!  Make your fan games, so long as you don’t try to make money off of it.  You can even make your more mature content, just please tag it separately from the game’s official title.”  Here, you have someone at greater risk of financial loss; understanding that what the fans create, they create out of love; giving as much allowance as he can to the people that enjoy what he started.  Cartoon Network?  “Yes, we know you love this game and although we’re never going to touch it again, you can’t either. How about you watch our awful reboots instead?  We know you didn’t want them and that you don’t like them, so we’ll be sure to call you names and spit on you if you have anything negative to say about us.  Because we don’t actually care about you.” This is a company that doesn’t think of its fans beyond the dollar signs they see attached to them. The fact that they’ve apparently only addressed one person over the course of weeks despite the countless emails and messages sent to them regarding FusionFall is also terrible--like they’re waiting for people to give up so the whole issue can be swept under the rug, like they think we’ll simply forget.

That post I made before about this?  I still mean it.  Cartoon Network doesn’t respect us, so why would I want to support them? Moneygrubbing, Hollywood empire Disney has shown a better attitude toward people than CN has as of late--and I can’t stand a large bulk of what Disney’s done over the past several years!  Everyone can make their own choice regarding the company--I’m not calling for a boycott--but I’ve stopped watching their shows and I’ve cancelled my plans for purchases I was going to make for their newer merchandise.  Even if I could make a few exceptions for them, their behavior overall is too horrible for me to want to give them so much as a dime of ad revenue from watching a video.

Because of this, I’ll be perfectly honest, I don’t even feel like making fanart anymore or writing the headcanon posts I’ve been covering.  I’ve enjoyed them, but they have been always solely for fun and it’s hard to want to make anything when all that’s happened is on the forefront of my mind.  Part of what makes it so hard on a personal level is that I loved what Cartoon Network used to be--and admittedly does still exist in small fragments of their content now. The creatives that wanted to push the envelope for animation and storytelling: Not the trash banking on old shows and jokes that were dated the moment they uttered them in hopes of getting a cheap laugh because there’s nothing better on TV.  (Not even realizing how doomed for failure they are as things move toward streaming because then people can shift through the garbage that much easier.)  When I was a kid, I watched the PPG on a regular basis and Numbuh 5 from KND was the person I wanted to be.  In middle school, I planned my afternoon schedule around episodes of Total Drama Island and bounced on a trampoline while singing Are You CN This? like it was the top single of the year.  In high school, our theatre members’ turns backstage were shared watching Steven Universe.  Now, I feel nothing but bitterness and disappointment, like someone who’s lost a friend that changed for the worst.

So, how will this effect what I post?  I did have a bunch of stuff planned, but I keep going back and forth on what I want to do.  It’s hard to truly enjoy making stuff, as mentioned before, but at the same time I’ve never been one to drop anything easily (even if it takes me years to actually get something done, as some of you who follow me for other things already know.)  

Some of you may have noticed that I didn’t post a fic for last month’s prompt and haven’t posted any new prompts for this month.  I did start writing my story for April, but ended up leaving it hanging when everything hit. I don’t know about finishing it, and since I’ve been the only person working with the prompts from what I’ve seen, it seems pretty pointless.  Since I kinda began an arc with a few of them, I might try to at least wrap that up, but I just don’t know.

For the comic, since I already have some work done on what would’ve been the first chapter, I might go ahead and finish that.  (Just know that it’s several pages long, meaning it’ll still take some time to finish... and that you’ll need to be braced for wave of posts when its done.  It’s got about eleven pages now: I would have more done, but since I backtracked on the script to cover the tutorial rather than jump straight into a totally original plot as first intended, some of that stuff had to be put aside.)  Keep in mind thought that it really might be just that chapter.  Without the drive and with being so backed up on other projects--and since we don’t have the game to rely on for references as easily anymore--I just don’t know how long I could keep working on it.

With the headcanons, I could still do a fair amount of research to get those done, but it’s just not the same.  If I made more, the masterpost would still be updated; however, tags on the posts themselves would be limited to FusionFall rather than include the cartoons.  I don’t care about traffic: I don’t want any confusion from anyone thinking I’m supporting CN’s current work.  (Petty? Most likely, but at least there’s no question where I stand.)

Even if I don’t post as much FusionFall stuff, people are still free to send me asks about the game. So long as the asks follows the terms I’ve set up for my blog, it’s perfectly fine.  I’ll try to answer them as usual.  

Overall, at least for now, expect these posts to wane: Not dropped entirely, but definitely less frequent.  I’ve said it multiple times already: I just don’t know.  I’m upset that the game’s gone.  I’m upset at those involved for its shutdown.  I’m upset at those who don’t care about the fans and those who act like the fans are wrong for caring.  I’m upset at those in the community going at each other’s throats when people are trying to salvage the fanbase as much as they can.  The whole thing is just plain sad and I don’t feel like there’s much I can do except sit at my desk, pick up my pen, and push myself to do what I’ve always done: Focus on my work. 

#silya speaks #fusionfall

[roswelldetails]

RNM 2x08 - Say It Ain't So

EPISODE SUMMARY:

JAMIE CLAYTON GUEST STARS — Despite promising Liz (Jeanine Mason) that he’ll take things easy with his new heart, Max (Nathan Dean) sets out to find Cameron after learning that she’s gone missing. Michael (Michael Vlamis) grows concerned about Maria (Heather Hemmens) after a surprising discovery about her family history leaves her vulnerable. Elsewhere, ready to move on, Alex (Tyler Blackburn) goes on a date with Forrest (guest star Christian Antidormi), and Rosa (Amber Midthunder) makes a decision about her future. Rachel Raimist directed the episode written by Eva McKenna & Christopher Hollier (#208). Original airdate 5/4/2020. 

DETAILS:

Rosa's secret identity:

"...Cousin Rosalinda from Arizona. My mom married a minor league baseball player, but when he got relocated to a team in Florida…"

"Okay, you know what, let's just go with, they're dead."

This is a Twilight reference.

Rosa about the Mean Girl's art in the cave:

"That reminds me of Stephen Powers before he sold out."

Stephen Powers is a former street artist who went commercial. Some examples of his older work here:

Other examples of his newer, more commercial work here:

By the way, speaking of the cave:

And this is some fabulous visual storytelling right here:

Max is working at the Wild Pony. Temporarily, of course.

"Turns out debt collectors don't care if you've been half dead in a glowing pod for a few months."

So much for the headcanon that Max "I've been driving the same car since high school and am a homeowner before 30" Evans is good with his money. 😆 Debt collectors don't show up that fast… not that I know from experience or anything.  😳 *backs slowly away*

Iris refers to the cave as the go to hang spot for all the artsy weirdos. So it isn't like it was specifically Rosa's cave/hidden spot.

It's the first time we've seen this particular cave other than in 2008 flashbacks.

Iris Sanchez & Rosa Ortecho. Flower, Mexican family name. 😭 The hint is there!

Also 👀 from:

The iris earned its name from the ancient Greek Goddess Iris, a messenger to the gods who was thought to use the rainbow as a bridge between heaven and earth...these flowers were named to honor the Rainbow Goddess and bring favor upon the earth.

Mimi made Maria take back the necklace.

"She said that it was too late for her and that I needed it more."

Michael has seen the necklace before, but he didn't know what the flower was when he fixed the clasp and returned it to her in 1x10.  It was 1x11 when they learned of the existence of the anti alien pollen. Michael reminds us:

"I know this flower.  Its pollen has a paralytic effect on alien abilities."

Once Maria takes it off, she can name every card Michael pulls from the deck.

Maria lists off a bunch of necklace facts from past episodes that fandom has previously noted...

Her powers were heightened when Michael had the necklace in 1x10. 

She wasn't wearing it when Noah invaded her at the gala.

And she wasn't wearing it at Woman As Warrior in 2x02 when she sensed that Isobel was pregnant.

"Kyle said you aren't an alien."

Fact. Kyle did say that.  It doesn't mean that it's a fact that Maria doesn't have alien DNA in her though.

Kyle determined that her blood doesn't carry the alien protein that's in the Pod Squad and Rosa. He is making an assumption that the protein is tied to being an alien.

He said he ran other tests, but the results would take longer to come in. 

Also, just a personal theory, what else do Rosa and the Pod Squad (and Noah) all have in common? They all spent significant time marinating in a pod full of goo. Rosa (10 years), Pod Squad (at least 50 years), Noah (60 years). Kyle has not studied any samples of alien biology from an alien who didn't spend time in pod goo. It's possible the protein is related to the pod goo, moreso than the alien biology. Again, just speculation on my part.

Maria confirms that her mom started getting sick when she was 18, just after she passed the necklace on to Maria.

"If this prevents you from having more episodes, it probably stops the neurodegeneration process too. It's not kryptonite, Maria. This is preventative medicine. Keep it on."

In 2x06 it was established that in addition to Sanders' place being a junkyard and a mechanic/auto shop, they also do tow truck service.  Now that comes into play again as Michael was hired to bring Cam's car back to Roswell for the investigation into her disappearance.  He brought it to the junk yard first though to give Max and Liz an hour to check the car for clues before the sheriff's department comes to collect it.

Max is smart too, in his own way. He quickly identified that "Agent Powell" was driving a rental car and that her gun wasn't government issue. 

However, it's only when he sees her tattoo (which Cam told him about in 1x07) that he confirms that she's actually Charlie Cameron!

(10 points to fandom!)

Max & Liz's conversation with Charlie is mostly just reminding us what we know about Charlie and Jenna's relationship. 

Liz indicates that Jenna had been looking for Charlie for months.  Charlie responds that she didn't want to be found (both things we learned in 2x04 through Cam's discussion with Jesse Manes.

Max indicates that Jenna thought that Charlie hated her, a call back to us first learning about Charlie and the matching tattoos in 1x07.

"I worked on a controversial project a while back. A lot of dangerous people want to know what I know."

(Again, stuff we learned in 2x04).

They learn through Cam's text history that she was looking for Jesse Manes (which we already knew, because...2x04).

"I'm just a guy standing in front of a tourist trap asking a history buff to shoot him with high velocity paint."

Tongue-in-cheek reference to the movie Notting Hill.

"So, you're cool playing war? Doesn't bring anything up?"

"Oh, yeah, my PTSD triggers are a little more complicated. Suffice to say, this war zone is the only place that my family actually got along when I was a kid."

"Yeah, some of my old platoon buddies actually play in leagues."

"I didn't know that you served."

"Yeah I wouldn't go bragging about it to a guy with a Purple Heart. I might have googled you."

New information… both that Forrest served, that he looked into Alex (which could be innocent OR sketchy…).

And of course this is the first open discussion about Alex's PTSD issues.

Cowboys versus aliens paintball… Alex is the cowboy, so Forrest must be the alien.

The call that interrupted Forrest's attempt to kiss Alex was from the hospital. Hence why Alex goes there to see Jesse.

"Look, if I had a little lucky charm that could stop people like Noah from messing with me, I would have that surgically implanted into my décolletage."

Have to admit, I wasn't sure what décolletage meant, so in case anyone else isn't familiar: 

"These abilities are a part of me. I'm not gonna just throw away the chance to learn about who I am. That make sense to you?"

"Yeah, actually, it does."

"You've gotten stronger this year, right?  Can you teach me to train? Learn how to control it all?"

"Look, it took a lot of practice before I could do anything without puking and guzzling acetone to kill the pain.  And you can't practice, because according to Kyle, every time you do it eats your brain."

"Look, I'll stop before it goes that far, okay? I know the signs. Besides, if you help me, maybe I can help you. There must be something that you want to know about your future."

"What about my past?"

Max meeting with Jesse at the Crashdown. This is super interesting because it's the first time Max has sat down, face to face, with a hostile human who knows he's an alien. 

"My uncle used to bring me here. That was back when it catered to a more civil clientele. People who actually respected the history of this town."

This is likely foreshadowing what's to come next week, based on the promo pics released.

Again, similar to the scene with Charlie at the junkyard, much of this exchange between Max and Jesse is just reminding us of stuff we learned in 1x04.

"The last time I saw her she came to me with questions about her sister.  And I told her that the people most interested in Charlie's device were a black ops group based out of Los Alamos. They're called Deep Sky. This is their logo. Paramilitary. And I told Jenna that what she was getting into was gonna be dangerous. But apparently she didn't listen.

Note: in case any of you are unaware, in Los Alamos there's a US DOE lab that has a long, sketchy history of weapons development.  Makes perfect since that it's where a paramilitary organization interested in Charlie's research would be based there.

The Deep Sky Logo

I compared this to a number of screenshots of alien symbols (like the ones we saw in Jim Valenti's letters in 1x12) and there were no matches.

However, fandom has already noted that the logo matches Trevor's ring in 2x06 (see that episode's details post for the photo).

"Charlie Cameron's mind is a unique specimen. Kind of like you. And there's always someone in the shadows waiting to crack those open."

"What did you do to Jenna?"

"I told her the truth. Which is more than you ever did. You're kind of a wolf in sheep's clothing, aren't you?"

"And what are you? Do you feel like a hero? All those people you tortured, all those people you killed. Turns out none of them were an enemy.  They were refugees. So you're not just a murderer, you're a failure."

"Yeah, I know. I am. But I tell you, something shifted in my brain when I had the stroke.  All the hate's gone out of me. All the fight. Caulfield is over and my son Flint has been reassigned. Look at me. I can barely walk."

Liz and Charlie in the car:

"Waitressing's really got to blow when you've grown a fully functioning heart muscle in a lab.  Or are you not the same Elizabeth Ortecho who co-authored a 2013 paper on cellular reprogramming? Some people build model trains; I do my homework.  Your boyfriend seems more like the train type."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"We've discovered new worlds and changed the course of mankind from a microscope. Should I go Netflix and chill with my boyfriend or stay in the lab, architecting the future?"

"No offense, but if it's true that you've been in prison and in hiding, it does not seem like you've seen much of the inside of a lab either."

"I went too far.  I thought I was building something with real value. The thing is, anything that has the potential to create real change, it scares people. And anything that scares people is inherently dangerous no matter what your intention is."

"You could start over. Get a new identity, work at a research university."

"I've done extraordinary things. Everything ordinary is ruined now."

More exposition that we already know as Max catches Charlie and Liz up on what he learns from Jesse.

"He said Cam is headed to Los Alamos to investigate a group called Deep Sky. Does that mean anything to you?"

"No. Let me reach out to some of my military contacts, do some recon. Give me a day, we'll go from there."

Liz and Michael, in the lab, on The Science:

"I'm looking for the sample of yellow pollen."

"The stuff I swept off the floor after throwing it at Noah? I don't know. I didn't see it while we were packing up."

"Well it was here a few months back.  Did I miss an experiment where it grew legs and a fondness for the outdoors?"

"Could have been accidentally thrown away. Sample was too oxidized to be of much use, and I've been trying to get my hands on fresh flowers, but it's impossible. I think they might be extinct. Why are you freaking out?"

"Because I have a math problem. There's only one flower in Maria's necklace, but there are two DeLuca women and apparently the flower is the key to preventing their illness. This is everything from the Caulfield drives and the experiments done on Maria's grandmother. A lot of it was lost in a lab fire in the '80s, but…"

"I'll take a look."

(Aside… 👀 Lab fire in the '80s. I have a feeling that's more foreshadowing.)

"I just want you to see if anything done could be undone. I don't want you to, like, Dr. Frankenstein it. The experiments were very bad."

"My days as an alien scientist are officially over."

"Why don't I believe you?"

"'Cause it's hard not to think about the far-reaching implications of this kind of research. You don't get sick on this planet. If I could figure out why, I could eradicate all illness."

"But you can't. Because that would expose us."

"Which I would obviously never do. It's over."

Arturo's text to Liz:

Have you seen our little mouse?

"Rosalinda" is late for her first shift.

Isobel and Maria go to Michael's trailer and Isobel shows Maria the newspaper clip of Michael's mom to try to trigger a vision.

"It's not working. And I don't feel great going through this stuff without Michael knowing."

"Why not? One day this palace might all be yours."

"It's not working.  I have a business to run, and you need to go Instagram something."

"Says the social media revitalizer. Listen, word to the wise, every time Max saw Liz in a skirt and tried not to pop a bulb, he wound up setting off a fire alarm. Everytime I push myself too hard, I miss time, or wind up accidentally realizing that my mom still thinks about her ex-boyfriend Rocco, like, in vivid detail."

"Okay, where are you going with this?"

"Effort doesn't equal control. So if you want to do this you're gonna have to embrace your inner ice queen and let it go."

"I'm not great at letting things go."

"Yeah, I know.  That's hard…"

Maria's vision:

Triggered by a t-shirt hanging in the trailer.

Louise is hanging laundry

Walt runs up to her and gives her a little windmill with her name on it. (Initially I thought her name was pressed or punched into the metal, but on second viewing, it looks like it might be puff paint or something similar.)

Walt runs off to find Nora and Louise goes back to hanging laundry.

After the vision Maria's nose starts bleeding.

Max goes after Charlie to stop her from turning herself in.

I wonder if his tire screeching action guy driving is supposed to be emphasizing to the audience that he's not being as cautious as he should be? 

Deep Sky said that if Charlie "...wasn't at Sutter's grain depot by 11pm, that they would torture (Cam) to death."

Charlie heard on the call:

A train rolling by

A demonic laugh

And somehow that's enough for Max to magically know exactly where Cam is.

Alex and Jesse at the hospital:

"Hey, they said that you mixed whiskey with your medications.  That's not like you."

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"I don't know. I mean, you're my father. I can't seem to shake you."

"Yeah. I failed."

"Yes. But in what way specifically?"

"Uncle Tripp. I let him down. I never could figure out what he needed of me. And tonight I went to the bunker.  And I keep trying to crack the code."

"Liz said that you spoke to Max Evans. She said that you were half decent to him. Is that what this is about?"

"One of them killed Tripp, you know."

"An alien? Yeah. Then he hunted them. He dragged them to a torture chamber. I'm not surprised one of them…" 

Jesse slams his cane.

"He was the best man I ever knew.

Jesse tries to stand and falls into Alex, then continues to walk away.

The location that Deep Sky is holding Cam looks like a rodeo or horse arena or racetrack with a big grandstand.

There are nearby train tracks, and a warehouse where a mechanic repairs old carnival rides.

As Max and Charlie are scoping out the area you can hear both sounds softly in the background.

The sniper was watching and shooting at them from the grandstand.

Charlie is shot in the leg.

"Let me go get her."

"No. Deep Sky wants me alive. Your brain is worth considerably less to them which means it'll be splattered all over the dirt."

(Oh the irony...confirming that Charlie doesn't know that Max is an alien.)

"If anything goes wrong, call Liz. No doctors."

Max does shoot the sniper!

And then uses his powers to knock out the power (and instantly feeling it in his heart when he starts to use his powers!!!!!!) which, as @angsty-aliens very eloquently pointed out, is absurd because there was a big red lever that would have done the same thing. *facepalm*

Cam on her kidnapping:

"The last thing I remember is this weird sound. It made the hairs on my arm stand up. And this bright light, and the pain in the back of my neck like you wouldn't believe."

Cam's burn is fractals.  Like Liz's burn from Max's powers in 1x03. Top is Liz's fresh burn in 1x03, bottom is Cam's not-so-fresh burn in 2x08. Keep in mind, we don't know how long Cam was missing for.

Rosa and Iris at the "art show".

"So you said you're from Roswell?"

"Oh, I was from Roswell.  I got out and went to art school as soon as I graduated. I work for an artist now. I help her run her gallery. Yeah, I used to want to be a painter, but then I realized I loved curating art way more than I ever loved making it."

👀 I wonder what this says about Rosa's internal motivation. If Iris is the life she wishes that she had, does she not want to be a painter? Or is that her internal insecurity rearing its head.  Like, she can't even dream about that possibility because it's what she really wants above all else.  Which is why Iris then motivates her to paint and prove to her inner self that she is an artist? 

Speaking of which, here's Rosa's painting from the episode. Mucho gracias to @rosaortecho for giffing it for me since it wasn't cap-able in a single shot.

Iris's assessment of Rosa's art:

"This piece is you outrunning your demons. This is amazing. That's what you have to do.  You have to capture them and rattle the cage.  This is art. This is what you're meant to do, Rosa!"

Rosa's hallucination starts to fall apart as they dance.  She starts coughing and having trouble breathing.

"Your star sign's just out of whack."

Play on lyrics from God of Wine by Third Eye Blind, which was heavily referenced in 1x02. 

The direct quote is "your star sign's out of whack" and the next lyric is "a fraudulent zodiac"

Which, of course, is what Rosa had written on her hand before she died in 2008 and is a reference to Ophiuchus, which was Noah's zodiac obsession.

And then Liz finds her overdosing in the cave. 

The coughing in Rosa's hallucination was from smoke inhalation.  Because while passed out she started a fire with her powers.

Feels like a good time to point out that it's the same cave that she died in back in 2008, and she would have died there again if Liz hadn't found her. 😭

At the hospital Rosa tells Liz that she wants to go to rehab, but she knows she can't since she can't control her powers. 

Liz gives her Maria's necklace to borrow since it will suppress her powers and allow her to go to rehab.

Alex and Forrest at the Wild Pony:

"I still have my dad's voice in my head telling me that being seen with a man in public is an embarrassment. To my name and my uniform."

"Well, there's nothing like a dad voice to mess up a perfectly good date."

"It's also just that...I mean, Roswell's so conservative. This bar is filled with cowboys. If you want to go someplace private…"

"Look, I like you. But I don't want to climb into somebody else's closet."

"I cannot tell you how badly I want to be done with this frickin' closet."

"But you're not. And that's okay. Really. Listen, if that voice in your head ever shuts up, give me a call. Because between you and me, making out with a hot guy in public is only made hotter when it pisses off all the bigots and homophobes."

Charlie took off and left a note for Jenna. According to Jenna it says she's gonna disappear again and not to look for her.

Arturo is taking Rosa to a rehab center that Kyle set her up with "a few hours away".

Max tells Liz "let's go home." So… did she move in with him??

Liz says no though.  She says she has to open the diner and cry alone.  But instead she goes to the secret lab.  

Both Max and Liz were evading the truth a little bit here.  Liz didn't tell Max that she wanted to go to the secret lab.  Max didn't tell Liz that his heart did wonk out after using his powers and he did overdo it going after Cam. Bad Echo!!

Liz goes back to packing the secret lab up initially, but then her eyes fall into the Caulfield folders, and she stops. 

She unpacks her stolen equipment (genetic sequencer?), puts on her lab coat, and sits down to start reading the file.

Isobel brings Michael beer as a peace offering, since she's coming to admit that she helped Maria trigger a vision.  She thinks Michael will be mad, but he isn't because he and Maria already worked it out.

So Isobel tells him about the vision and seeing Louise, and specifically about Walt giving Louise the windmill. 

Michael immediately reacts, goes to a shelf, and grabs a similar windmill.

Turns out Walt is Sanders.  He pulls up in his car and Michael immediately confronts Sanders.

"It was you. You're Walt. You're the little boy in the photo.  You knew my mother."

And Sanders nods.

10 more points to fandom.

Max goes to Charlie's hotel to confront her about turning herself in to Deep Sky.

The windmill in both scenes. Until I put this together I didn't think they were the same one (because Louise's name isn't on Michael's. But other details (like the word weight on one of the legs) are the same.

"You think Deep Sky needs to have Jenna by the throat to kill her? Okay, the only way that I can protect her is from the inside."

Then the "abduction scene" happens.

It mirrors what happened to Jenna in 2x04, only to Max and Charlie.

MUSIC:

1.  Hole "Celebrity Skin"

2.  Lukas Nelson & Promise Of The Real "Die Alone"

3.  Shelly Fairchild "Worry No More"

4.  Marc Danzeisen "Some Things Last Forever"

5.  Joey Sykes "Sign Of The Times"

6.  I AM ORFA "Like That Look"

7.  Danny Ayer "Set Us Free"

8.  Hamish Anderson "Trouble"

9.  OMC "How Bizarre"

10.  Muscadine Bloodline "Movin' On"

11.  Little May "Hide"

#roswell new mexico #details #rnm season 2 #episode details #long post #rnm 208 #say it ain't so

[tarry-a-lot]

French Musical Recommendations?/review (Part 3)

This is a mix between recommendations and shows I don’t like and shows I just know exist but don't know a lot about. Even if I’m not too much a fan of some of the show I would still check these shows out for the fun of it, maybe its not my cup of tea but it is for someone else. Again my French is lacking so if the lyrics aren’t great I wouldn’t really know unless I sat down and read them which I didn’t do.

Robin des Bois (2013): 

what to say about this show... I’ll start with the summary: Robin Hood and Marianne break up pre-show and have their own groups going on. Marianne also has a son with robin but robin has no idea about him. Sheriff of Nottingham starts attacking so Marianne asks robin for help. Also the sheriff figures out about robin’s son and so he imprisons the kid and surprise! there a romance between Nottingham’s daughter and Robin Hood’s son. 

Yep, haven’t seen the show, really don’t mind the plot sounds interesting enough. I’ve only listened to the soundtrack once and all I got to say is that it’s not great. The cast is lovely and look really sweet and friendly with each other, but all the songs really just sound like basic pop. To be clear without understanding the lyrics and just listening to it with not visuals, I found the soundtrack quite boring, so maybe I’m just missing something. My favourite songs are “Le flèche et la cible,” (the piano makes it sound like an anime opening or something, liked the drums too, and the vocals are nice) and “On est là” (it’s a really weird one, I couldn’t put my finger on it but after playing it for someone I got the decisive answer of it is very 80′s, the instrumentals really threw me off but hey it’s catchy). Also some songs had a bass line that also threw me off, just wasn’t expecting it. like the one in “la Providence,” maybe it’s just me. And one last thing about the songs, what the hell is ”Notting hill Nottingham” like that title is also the chorus and I’m just?? maybe if I understood the rest of the lyrics it would make sense? aside from the debatable chorus line, the drums are a blast in this song. Clips and music videos available on YouTube along with a behind the scenes two part video on the official musical’s channel.

Non-Music: well the costumes are ok, don’t love them but don’t hate them either, though friar tuck’s is debatable, from the bits I’ve seen most of the background is done with a screen which is fine, it’s more of a concert style show anyway, I’m a big fan of the ladder trees though, the dancing and acrobatics is probably the highlight of the show (again only saw bits but it looks good)

Dracula l'amour plus fort que la mort (2012): This is different from the Frank Wildhorn Dracula musical, Dracula: A chamber Musical and the Swedish Dracula musical. Unsurprisingly this musical is based on Stoker Dracula telling which I never read so I don’t know how much it follows that text. It was also inspired by the 1992 Coppola film (which again I have never watched). I won’t be too helpful about plot summary but it follows the general novel plot with Jonathan Harker engaged with Mina Murray goes off to Dracula’s castle for work. Things happen, the issue with Lucy occurs then Mina is targeted by Dracula and Harker with the Dr. Seward and Helsing go to kill Dracula to save Mina. There also seems to be a subplot where Mina was Dracula’s lover in a past life, which is shown through dance sequences throughout the show.Music wise it’s mainly rock pop which is up my alley. Personally, just based on music and not lyrics I like “Encore”, “Elles”, “ Le Ciel et l'Enfer” “ La Dernière danse” and maybe “L'Amour et son Contraire”.  The full show is available on YouTube.

Non-music: This show goes hard on edgy imagery. I personally quite liked the general over the top modernish gothic vibe. The dancers are great and quite liked some of the limited palette scene. The opening shadow puppet scene was cool. The only part I really had issue with is maybe the CGI 3d video scene. It was cool at times but the CGI is not great which is not their fault, but kind of distracted me. Also if you watch it there is this scene where Harker is laying in a large Pieta statue (minus the Jesus) and it’s just great. Like edgy church imagery with vampires? sign me up. There’s also this Vampire dream sequence in a bed because of course every vampire musical needs one (Tanz der Vampire if you know what I mean). Harker is in bed and vampire women come out from the bed (the bed itself is a hollow prop where dancers are hiding within and pop out from the holes hidden by the puffy bedding), the bed itself could have been more decorative with posts (like tanz) but still a really cool scene, Almost forgot, Mina and Dracula are played by dancers so they don’t really sing, especially Dracula he does not speak at all. Costumes are fun to look at, some are the best but I appreciated the general look of the show so I’m not that bothered. I strangely grew to like the spiney Dracula costumes, I think the fact he didn’t talk and just danced helped me like the costume more.

Overall, fun show so if pop rock is your vibe this show you should check it out.

Cindy Cendrillion (2002): This show is not good, but I had a blast laughing about it as I watched it so I recommend it. Let me clarify, my dislike is not due to the cast, in general I thought singing and dancing and all that were really good, what gets me is how dated it is now (it is really early 2000’s vibes and some of the plot is debatable). Show is available split into two acts on YouTube.

So the plot is pretty much a retelling of the Cinderella story in a modern early 2000′s setting. Cindy (Cinderella) is the daughter of an recently disappeared Irish pilot. and she lives with her step mother and sisters who are mean to her. She has a passion for dancing the jig, I’m assuming they are referencing Irish step to a certain degree. She goes out in night to dance but her step-mother threatens to kick her out if she doesn’t come home before midnight. A super star named Ricky (Prince Charming) has a Birthday ball and sees Cindy and falls in love. Also Ricky had a model Fiancée Judy who he breaks it off with to pursue Cindy. Spoilers now... Ricky writes a song where one can dance “the jig” to so they hold a competition to find a dancer for it, guess who wins? Cindy.. they fall in love... but Judy realises it’s all over for her and Ricky ands faxes him so mean message then commits suicide by overdosing on drugs. Cindy gets scared and leaves Ricky to Ireland. Ricky tracks her down and they fly away in a spaceship?! honestly this plot is just sure something.

Okay.... um if you read the spoiler section of the summary you’ll know how wild this show is. For those who haven’t warning there is an suicide by overdosing on drugs in the show. Music wise it’s alright, I watched the show but all the songs are quite forgettable because I was so distracted by the plot. Again the vocals are nice so perhaps I just need to listen to audio only, though I’m unsure about some of the lyrics. 

Non-Music: I have so much to rant about this show. First off it’s just weird that her Irish pilot dad keeps appearing in like spiritual form. Also Cindy is not spectacular at dancing, which is hilarious during the jig dancing competition you have actual dancer ensemble members doing cool moves and in general good dancing but at the end Cindy comes stepping around and twirling a bit, the same choreography she does every time she danced the jug in the show and then wins the competition. Honestly, they should of just done full Irish step dancing and had the actress trained in it or to be more practical had a double for Cindy that was obscured to trick the audience into thinking this double was Cindy. The actress was lovely and maybe she can dance but “the jig” choreography was so pathetic compared to the ensemble’s part, even the ensemble part was weird.. maybe I just don’t understand what “jig” dancing is. Also the ending was so random to me, maybe it’s because of my lacking French, I get there were references to space throughout the show but WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ENDING. Well stage wise it was interesting at parts. I like the large center column piece that had platforms on it that moved around the pillar. Cindy’s love song to Ricky with her in front of a large Ricky Magazine and two screens showing zoom ups on Ricky was weird. Finally, costumes, really dated and tacky but I think they were quite fun. The only complaint I really have is Ricky, he wears this half tank top half leather jacket look, and it’s really a single tiddy out look.

Starmania (1979): Let me start by saying I DON’T hate this show I just know little about it. I’ve watched bits a few years ago and only really recall one song. It’s one of THE French musicals, I mean I wouldn’t know for certain but you’ll see it’s quite popular and covered by newer musicals cast member (like Mozart L’Opera Rock). The photo is from a more recent production which is different from the original costumes. As a show it’s set in a futuristic society so there is some surreal techno outfits and set pieces, which are actually quite cool. It’s pretty much about a gang called the Black Stars who are trying to rebel against a billionaire turned politician Zéro Janvier. There is romance plots, the wiki has more info on that. In general, the singing is great and from the parts I’ve seen it looks interesting despite the show aesthetic being really not my thing. Full versions of the show are available on YouTube, the production done in English is also posted on YouTube. I would say if you are trying to get into French Musicals this is a good one to listen to as well as it’s kind of a classic but I hesitate as the visuals look a bit weird due to the futuristic element (kind of remind me if starlight Express when it comes to costume) but if this isn’t you cup of tea there are plenty of other shows as well.

Résiste (2015): It’s a French Jukebox Musical. It’s one of those one artist jukebox musicals, so all the songs were originally sung by France Gall and written by Michel Berger. It’s about five friends (I think they’re friends), two of whom are sisters. The sisters work with their dad at the family bar/night club. The plot revolves around something tragic happening and the five friends trying to deal and grow from it? (probably something to do with the night club)I haven't seen it so I have no idea what the tragic event is. I didn’t know any of the songs before this musical but it’s quite catchy and fun. Clips of the show and songs are available on YouTube.

#French musicals #résiste #starmania #robin des bois #cindy #cendrillion #dracula l'amour plus fort que la mort #dracula #france gall #michel berger #theatre #rambling #musicals

[juliabohemian]

Nostalgia Bias

I recently came across a meme on Facebook, posted by a friend. The meme consisted of a reactionary joke about how Millennials don't know how to drive stick shifts or read in cursive, and that if we want to keep them quarantined, we should put them in cars with manual transmissions and give them the directions in cursive.

Ordinarily, I would keep scrolling past something as inane as this. Actually, that's not true. Ordinarily, there wouldn't be anyone on my friend's list, on any social media platform, who would post reactionary humor. I was truly surprised to see it at all, especially coming from this person, who has always seemed reasonably intelligent.

The first thing wrong with that joke is that it suggests that the generation struggling the most with staying quarantined are the Millennials. Which we know is not true. It is the Baby Boomers. Though Gen-X appears to be adapting best to the whole mess. Go team.

The second thing wrong with that joke is that we still teach children to write in cursive, in elementary school, as of 2020. The third thing wrong with that joke is that there are plenty of Millennials who know how to drive a stick shift.

One could just as easily say the best way to keep Boomers quarantined would be to lock them inside and hook up everything in their homes to smart devices. Ha ha. Isn’t that hilarious? Because old people can’t use technology, right. Yeah, except for all the ones who do. Betty White and Patrick Stewart, for instance.

I couldn't help myself, of course. I had to make a comment. Why? Because I genuinely thought that the person who posted the meme would realize that it was bullshit and be willing to acknowledge that. Needless to say, that's not how it went. I got the answer that I have gotten so many times in the past "yeah, I mean, that's TRUE I guess...but that doesn’t matter because it was rude of you to point it out.”

Was it, though? Ruder than the joke itself? Is politeness to a single individual more important than the feelings of an entire generation of people being maligned by a bad joke? I believe it was Dr. House who posed the question:

"What would you prefer, a doctor who holds your hand while you die or one who ignores you while you get better? I suppose it would particularly suck to have a doctor who ignores you while you die."

Now, I would like to point out that, as someone on the autism spectrum, I don’t socialize in the traditional sense. I relate to people by exchanging information. For me, that takes the place of socializing. That's probably why I am an educator. I like to teach people things. When I see something that I know is absolute bullshit, and I think there's a chance that it can turn into a valuable teaching moment, I cannot resist. Because it isn't just the person who posted it that is going to see my comment, but many other people as well.

Social media is wrought with misinformation. It’s pretty hard to avoid it. I cringe whenever I hear people using words like autistic or schizophrenic to describe the behavior of an ordinary, neurotypical person. Those are conditions for which there are specific diagnostic criteria. The same goes for diabetes, which you definitely cannot get from eating a bag of candy. 

So, what is it that makes people behave this way? Why would perfectly NICE, well meaning people willfully and knowingly spread misinformation? The simple answer is, they don't know it's misinformation. Which is the result of something called bias. 

Bias affects our critical thinking skills. It allows us to hold views that are completely incorrect and even harmful to others. And as we share misinformation that is based upon our bias, even via a format as harmless as a meme, it spreads. And it affects other people's views and behavior. 

The primary source of reactionary humor, such as that which I referenced above, is something called nostalgia bias.

Nostalgia is basically the belief that things from a previous era are superior to their modern counterparts, without the benefit of any objective analysis. Why are they better? Because they're old, obviously. No further analysis is required.

There are two types of nostalgia, historical and personal. The simplest way to differentiate between the two would be to consider historical nostalgia to be the product of anything that happens outside of yourself and to the larger group, such as your community, state or country. Personal nostalgia refers to that which affects you personally, your immediate family, your extended family unit, your school or workplace.

Psychologists have found that personal nostalgia (as opposed to historical nostalgia) can be a stabilizing force that anchors people emotionally and helps them to overcome trauma and loss. But on the flip side, historical nostalgia is likely to prevent people from being open to change by making them dependent on the memories of an idealized past.

I can't even count the number of times I have found myself on YouTube, watching a music video for a song that is (at least) 20 years old or more, and I made the mistake of scrolling down to read the comments. Because, inevitably, there will always be someone in there saying something to the effect of "they don't make music like THIS anymore" and/or "the music they make these days is crap!" And I roll my eyes because such a declaration is purely nostalgic and pretty much the antithesis of critical thinking. 

I am 42 years old. I remember hearing people say that “new music sucks” in 1984. Which is a relatively long time ago for me. But comparatively speaking, a mere hiccup for mankind. I suspect that people have been making such sweeping statements since long before I came into existence. They were bullshit then and they’re bullshit now.

There has always been bad music. Always. Just as there has always been good music. But what does it mean for music to be good or bad? Well, unless you’ve been academically trained in music theory or have acquired decades of performance experience, not a whole lot. For the average person it means that you either like it or you don’t. If you like it, it’s good. If you don’t, it’s bad. Really it’s only a valid measurement for the individual in question. Even if you manage to find 500 people who agree with your opinion, it's still not an objective measurement. Because art cannot be objectively measured.

It's important to consider the fact that genuinely bad music rarely survives to be appreciated by future generations. Meaning that the music that does survive represents the most popular, most commercially successful, most critically acclaimed work of that era. There's a reason why you aren't hearing Milli Vanilli on the oldie's station. Although, I suspect that is more likely related to the whole lip syncing scandal, but I digress.

It's also important to consider why people like or dislike things. Is it actually because they’re good or bad? Unfortunately, no. It's entirely a matter of personal taste. There are things that I like that I know are probably bad. Low budget, found footage horror films, for instance. No award winners among them. Some of them are comprised of video taken with a cell phone. But I love them all the same.

Like all art, music is very personal. We can hear a song and are immediately transported back to a specific time or place. For many of us, music is an escape from reality, or a window to another world. Thus, music is very much connected to our memory of events and the feelings that we attach to those memories. This is what contributes to our skewed perception that something is better because it is old. In actuality, it is better for us, personally, because it represents memories and feelings that we enjoyed or that we still enjoy. As more and more time passes, those memories become increasingly idealized in our minds. So much so that nothing new could possibly compare.

The arts are important to society. It is not logical to suggest that newer generations are producing inferior art, simply because their art does not appeal to older people. New art doesn’t need to appeal to older people, because it’s not really FOR them. They aren’t the intended audience. It’s not a reflection of their generation's interests, values or struggles. 

For some older people, new art is a reminder of mortality. It is a reminder that they are aging, or that they are no longer as relevant to society as they once were. And they deal with the discomfort of that by rejecting or invalidating new things. Which is a miserable way to live.

So, think critically, my friends. Even when you’re assessing something as harmless as a meme. Look for bias and when you see it, don’t be afraid to call it out. And as you get older, try to stay as open minded as possible. Or else, someday, someone might lock you inside a car with a manual transmission and give you an instruction manual written only in cursive.

#nostalgia #nostalgia bias #reactionary bias #rosy retrospection #cognitive bias #willful ignorance #self deception #juliabohemian #I hate everyone #yeah I have autism #juliabohemian rant #juliabohemianrant