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oathofoaksart · 3 years

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YOUNG JUSTICE/DC OC: MUNCH “YELLOW JACKET” MARTINEZ

bio under the cut!

BASICS

Name: Taylor Martinez

A.K.A: Yellow Jacket; Munch, Munchie, Jacket, YJ

Age: 16 [S2], 18 [S3]

Gender: Transgender Male

Orientation: Homoromantic Homosexual

Race: Metahuman

Ethnicity: Afro-Latinx, Black-Colombian

Location: Dakota City, Michigan

Hometown: Dakota City, Michigan

Skin: Dark Tan, warm undertones

Hair: Black

Eyes: Dark brown; glow fully yellow while actively using metagene

Height: 5’10

Build: Lean with sinewy muscles

Distinctions: Has a large collection of hoodies and jackets, specifically of shonen anime merch.

RELATIONS

Parents: Gloria Martinez and Jamal Winston, Danielle Seymore [step-mother]

Siblings: Tori Winston [younger half-sister]

Friends: Virgil “Static” Hawkins, Jacklyn “Ferro” Ericson @generalfandomsofthefreak, Raquel “Rocket” Irving, Eduardo “El Dorado” Dorado Jr., Jaime “Blue Beetle III” Reyes, Karen “Bumblebee” Beecher, Malcolm “Guardian III” Duncan, Asami “Sam” Koizumi, Tye Longshadow, Roy “Arsenal” Harper, Tatsuo “Irezumi” Sumioka [@Triskata], Bart “Kid Flash II” Allen, Gi “Riot/Geode” Flores [OC], Shizuka “Oni” Amachi [OC], Tim “Robin III” Drake, Forager “Fred Bugg”, Violet “Halo” Harper, Brion “Geoforce” Markov

Partner/s: Richie “Gear” Foley [ev.]

Misc.: Augustus “Icon” Freeman, Jefferson “Black Lightning” Pierce, Ivan “Ebon” Evans, See-More, the HIVE 5, the Meta-Breed gang, the Blood Syndicate

Affiliations: The Team, Taos Metateen Youth Center, The Titans [ev.], S.T.A.R Labs [formally]

PERSONALITY

Personality Type: ESTP-A [Assertive Entrepreneur]

Temperament: Choleric-Sanguine

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Passionate | Social | Upfront | Risk-prone | Defiant

Smart-mouthed, openly opinionated, and with an apparent lack of volume, Munch quickly cements himself as the class clown in any group. He enjoys living in the moment, a truly free spirit with an infectious energy. He is the textbook extrovert, finding himself to be bored out of his mind if not sharing with others, leading him to have quite the large group of friends and acquaintances. He’s notorious for poking fun at anything and anyone, but has no problem sincerely apologizing once he realizes he might have taken something too far.

As a hero, Munch takes after his namesake, the Yellow Jacket wasp. Quick, nimble, and particularly aggressive, Jacket revels in the comic book hero lifestyle of kicking butts and taking names. His energy blasts aren’t his only weapons, he has as much fun slinging insults and burns as he does physically taking someone down. He certainly enjoys the attention of being a hero in a celebrity sense, but Jacket sees his role as a chance to inspire others to fight the good fight in any capacity.

Hot-blooded as he is, Munch struggles with controlling his emotions. He can be easily frustrated, especially when things aren’t as straight-foward as he is, and blisteringly fierce when angered. It takes an ungodly amount of coaxing to get him to let go of past grudges due to his tendency of being bullheaded.

ABILITIES AND WEAKNESSES

Metahuman Biology: Metahumans by standard are more durable than humans. While not by much, Jacket exhibits increased strength, speed, reflexes and resilience.

Plasma Manipulation: Jacket’s metagene allows him to create, shape, and otherwise manipulate plasma matter

Plasma “Stingers”: By shooting short blasts of plasma energy, Yellow Jacket creates his signature “stingers,” the potency of said stingers can vary from shocks to explosions.

Variants include plasma beams and large spheres, but they currently require more concentration and stamina to use

He can also use his stingers to push him off surfaces as a kind of super-jump and can sustain limited flight mobility

Plasma Shields: Jacket can create small shields, enough to deflect low to medium powered attacks. Large shields require significant effort to shape and contain, once he’s made one, he’s stuck sustaining it.

Inventory

Flight Belt: Jacket can fly thanks to the inertia belt made by his mentor Icon, based off Rocket’s Inertia belt. Since it was not made of the same material as the original belt, it allows only for flight and a decent powered body aura.

Goggles: Jacket’s goggles feature different kinds of vision including: Telescopic, Microscopic, Infrared, and X-Ray

Weaknesses and Limitations

Energy Stamina: Jacket stands the risk of overexerting himself if he pushes his plasma control too far. The reason why he tends to stick with short blasts is because they take much less energy to conjure. Attacks such as beams, energy spheres, and large defensive shields can potentially wear him down to unconsciousness if the strain is too much.

High Metabolism: Similar to that of a speedster; Jacket’s plasma energy tears through his calorie reservoir. He needs a rather high end amount of food to sustain himself properly or else his energy suffers.

HISTORY

16-year-old Jamal Winston and Gloria Martinez figured trying to force their relationship made having to take care of their newborn far more painful than it had to be and called it quits. They continued co-parenting with both opting to drop-out of high school, Gloria a fulltime mother and Jamal picking up a fulltime job. Eventually the two managed to assuage any resentment towards each other and made steps toward genuine friendship, both turning out to be equally dedicated and loving parents.

Taylor, named Clara at the time, enjoyed school. Not so much the actual studying as the playtime and socializing, but he was a bright student. In middle school he discovered a love for track and kept at it when he entered high school. Taylor was doing well, but struggled with his self-esteem in connection with fitting in with girls. He’d always been masculine and known a tomboy for nearly all of his childhood. His parents never had a problem with that, but he was picked at by other family members. It wasn’t until high school where Taylor discovered himself as trans, which both gave him answers he’d been looking for and terrified him as he had no idea how to go about this with his family.

The topic of LGBTQ+ matters rarely passed through his household with his mother or with his father and step-mother. None of them openly expressed homo or transphobia, but Taylor had met enough extended family anti-LGBTQ+ and that stopped him from broaching the subject. Still he began looking into subtle ways to get a "head-start" on transitioning, including buying a binder and teaching himself natural voice changes.

But Taylor was publicly outed during a family get-together, when a few of his younger cousins rifled through his belongings and brought with them the attention of Taylor’s uncle. When the situation turned into an all out yelling match and nearly physical, Taylor ran off. It would be the last anyone would see him for the months to come.

While wandering around Dakota City, Taylor was abducted by the Reach and experimented on, the stress and torture he endured all the while activated his dormant metagene. He was eventually rescued by a team of young heroes while deep in the Western Pacific Reach mobile base, recognizing a past classmate, Virgil Hawkins. The two stuck close out of familiarity as they were eventually shifted over to S.T.A.R. Labs in Taos.

They spent a month or so under the eye of Dr. David Wilcox, building resentment over being treated as lab rats alongside Tye Longshadow, Eduardo Dorado Jr., Asami Koizumi, and Nathaniel Tyron. It was during this time that Taylor’s commonly used nickname of ‘Munch’ came about because of his extreme appetite due to his metagene and at that point Taylor hadn’t chosen his name yet. The group, sans Nathaniel, then came to agree their stay at S.T.A.R was over and escaped.

Their party was joined in by Jacklyn Ericson, unknown to them a hero known as Ferro and Team member, and were soon approached by Lex Luthor who offered them security in exchange for favors against the Reach. Little under two weeks later, the gang were fighting their way through the heart of the Warworld to rescue the captured heroes caught in stasis. Munch was on board with Nightwing’s invitation onto the Team, he’d always looked up to the Justice League and heroics called to him, but left with the others at seeing Arsenal’s dismissal despite him leading the rescue.

Munch wouldn’t involve himself with heroes until their group until the League reached out to Jacklyn; they needed as many hands on deck. The Reach had activated field disruptors around the world which would eventually tear Earth to shreds if not shut down; Munch was paired off with Rocket to shut down the disruptor in Chile. Munch couldn’t hide his joy at being paired with Rocket, he’d been a fan of hers ever since she started off in Dakota City as Icon’s protégé. The two got on well and Rocket extended another invitation onto the Team stating their hometown could do with another hero, this time Munch accepted.

He would take on the mantle Yellow Jacket and when Rocket’s former mentor Icon returned to Earth, was taken under his wing as a mentee. He and Virgil, who had also accepted the invitation onto the Team as Static, became the new generation of heroes in Dakota City.

Just in time too, as from the shadows rise a threat spreading across the city’s metayouth, the Metabreed.

NOTES

Munch does eventually make it back to his parents, who have been been running themselves ragged organizing search parties for him.

Because of his color scheme and insect motif, Jacket tends to be confused as Bumblebee’s protégé instead of Icon’s. Not that it’s cause for insult, but Karen and Munch note they wouldn’t make good partners.

Munch comes to find out of another super in the family, although not of the heroic kind. His step-cousin is member of the H.I.V.E 5, See-More.

He enjoys various shonen anime, occasionally reading the manga if he likes the anime enough, his favorite being the Dragon Ball franchise. He makes a nod towards this during the escape at S.T.A.R when Virgil asked him if he could blast open the door. When Munch’s first few blasts don’t cut it, he tries a larger beam in the only way he knows how, via Kamehameha.

Yellow Jacket has become very active on social media and has a notable following, much to Icon’s annoyance.

Munch has recently taken up being a peer counselor at S.T.A.R Taos alongside Ed Jr.

#young justice oc #Young Justice OCs #dc oc #gar's oc #gar's art #oathofoaks #he STING #meet the ocs #munch martinez

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kickasskody · 3 years

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DAKOTA ‘ kody ’ PIERCE, a character study. “just because i cannot see it, doesn’t mean i cannot believe it.” -- jack skellington

Character’s full name: dakota pierce Reason for name and/or meaning of name: kody’s parents met and fell in love in north dakota, and decided to name their son after the great state 💖 Character’s nickname: kody Reason for nickname: in middle school, kody didn’t think the name dakota was cool. but the name kody, the most generic white boy name ever , was definitely cool Birth date: december 13th, 2002. baby sagittarius

Physical appearance Faceclaim: austin abrams Gender: cis male Height: 5″8 #shortking Build: scrawny boy body. looks like he couldn’t lift more than 30 pounds... PSYCH!!! he’s a vampire so he can actually lift several hundred pounds 🤪🤪🤪 Eye color: blue with little dark green specks Glasses or contacts?: not with that snazzy 4k vampire sight !! Distinguishing marks/scars: funny little frecklescape on his back that looks like this emoji 😦 Hair color: dirty blonde Type of hair: type 1, aka straight hair Hairstyle: gets up out of bed, looks in mirror. maybe tussles it a little bit. thats it Physical disabilities: none Mental disabilities: adhd Clothing style: sweaters sweaters sweaters. striped sweaters ( because the best time to wear one is all the time ), disney sweaters, sweaters with dogs on them. white collared shirts to go underneath most of them. denim jackets, a couple of them tattering with holes in the elbows. black skinny jeans -- like he owns four pairs of the same black skinny jeans. someone tell him that skinny jeans aren’t in style anymore. uses the same jansport backpack he’s had since the eighth grade with a sewn in epcot center patch on the front pocket. dirty checkered vans. falling apart high-top converse. it’s not that he’s poor and can’t afford new things, he just prefers all his old stuff. Make up: has never worn any but wouldn’t be opposed to trying some !!

Personality Good personality traits: good at secret keeping, friendly and uplifting, loyal, thoughtful, great memory, cautious, playful. chaotic good energy 🥰 Bad personality traits: gullible, slightly obnoxious, constantly confused, easily distracted Mood character is most often in: cheery, happy as f, practically bouncing off the walls Sense of humor: goddamn hilarious!!! at least he thinks so lol Articulation: loud and occasionally stuttery. repeating himself pretty often. the type to get lost in the middle of conversation and have to take a second to mentally loop back and remember what exactly they were talking about. uses the word ‘ like ‘ way too much. talks with his hands a whole lot. constantly talking like he’s a kooky disney character on a mission. Character’s greatest joy in life: riding a mf’in roller coaster Character’s greatest fear: disneyworld getting blown up / physically hurting someone Character is most at ease when: he’s curled up with his friends watching a disney movie Most ill at ease when: he’s laying in bed at night, pretending he’s sleeping since he can’t Enraged when: thinking about how there are vampires in bridgemead -- that they could turn other people, kill other people, or worse... harm his friends. Depressed or sad when: drinking from a blood bag. watching disney pixar’s coco. thinkin’ about a disneyworld churro and how he’ll never be able to enjoy the taste of one again. Priorities: at the moment? trying not to hurt anybody. Life philosophy: “Keep Moving Forward!” -- walt disney said that Greatest strength: his optimism / ability to take something sad or bad and turn it around! Greatest vulnerability or weakness: giving just about anyone the benefit of the doubt.

Goals Drives and motivations: getting enough money to be able to travel the world and visit every disney park on the planet. Immediate goals: graduating high school / helping the scooby gang solve mysteries Long term goals: roller coaster designer / engineer. create a haunted house / rollercoaster hybrid ride

Childhood Hometown: orlando, florida Type of childhood: the kind where he’s an only child, where his middle class parents live to please and spoil him, take him to whatever amusement park he wanted to go to and buy him all the best merch. the smile on his face was worth more than anything they ever could’ve purchased for themselves. kody probably would’ve had siblings, but his parents had complications getting pregnant again, and thus they lived to make sure he had the best life possible. Pets: a cat named toulouse ( shoutout aristocats ), but he passed when kody was fifteen Most important childhood memory: waiting in line for five hours to ride harry potter and the forbidden journey at universal studios orlando. blew his little kid mind. Dream job: imagineer!! Religion: non-practicing christians. church on easter and christmas ONLY!

Present Current location: bridgemead, massachusetts Currently living with: his parents 💖 Pets: none Religion: agnostic Sexuality: currently questioning his sexuality. growing up he always felt attracted to both boys and girls, but has never been able to articulate it. he’s only ever expressed interest in women, but he has a fat crush on chris evans as captin america Politics: would be socialist if he cared enough to think about politics Occupation/education: bridgemead high school super senior Mode of transportation: his parents dark blue prius!! but only thursday - sunday

Family Parent one: marcus pierce -- drug store manager Relationship with them: kody and his dad are best buds! if it weren’t for his fathers love for rollercoasters, kody doesn’t know what his life would be like today. they used to play rollercoaster tycoon growing up and kody still cherishes those memories today. Parent two: tina pierce -- bridgemead city manager Relationship with them: kody and his mother have a very loving relationship. however, kody’s adoration for his mother dwindled when it was her job that forced them to move to bridgemead. he thinks of it as her fault that he doesn’t get to go to disneyworld anymore, and there’s a bitter part of him that thinks that if she hadn’t made them leave, he never would’ve become a vampire. he knows its wrong to attribute her to his curse, but sometimes when he’s really sad he cant help it. Siblings: none Other important family members: his widowed aunt shirley who lives twenty minutes from disneyworld and occasionally would join them on their weekend visits to the parks. he misses her greatly 😩😩

Favorites Color: that bright electric blue color on the cinderella castle at disneyworld Music: electronic Food: a disneyworld churro. Film: the incredibles / scooby doo 2002 Drink: pink lemonadde mixed with sprite Form of entertainment: disney+ subscription. if that’s all he had, he’d be content. Most prized possession: a magic kingdom two day passport ticket from the 1980′s

Habits Hobbies: playing rollercoaster tycoon / designing rollercoasters on his computer. obsessively watching ghost club paranormal on youtube. bothering aj with the latest thing on his mind that she definitely doesn’t need to know about Plays a musical instrument?: nope. wishes he could though! Plays a sport?: nope, but would be great at track now that he’s a vampire! How he would spend a rainy day: playing kingdom hearts II in his pajamas. Spending habits: great at hoarding all of his allowance! since he’s not spending it on food, he’s an excellent saver. pre-vampirism kody was not as cautious with his spending. Smoking/drinking/drugs?: no way 🙅🏼 has yet to even try alcohol Extremely skilled at: cheering up his friends! finding the good in others and convincing them to see it too 🤗 Extremely unskilled at: stopping himself from crying when he’s sad / when he’s in the middle of crying. putting together pieces of their investigations. sure, he can find things -- but what the hell is he supposed to do with them once he’s got it?!?! Nervous tics: anxious picking at his cuticles. messing with his hair. aggressive foot tapping. scrolling through his phone without actually looking at anything. Usual body posture: that boy has been working on rollercoaster code on his computer for YEARS. his body posture is absolutely RUINED! Mannerisms: constantly talking with his hands. bouncin’ around like tigger when something exciting happens. abbreviating things that don’t need to be abbreviated. the loudest in the room at all times.

Traits Optimist or pessimist? Introvert or extrovert? Daredevil or cautious? Logical or emotional? Leader or follower? Disorderly and messy or methodical and neat? Prefers working or relaxing? Confident or unsure of himself/herself? Animal lover? HELL YEAH.

Self-perception How do they feels about themselves?: before the year 2020, kody actually quite liked himself! he realized that he was goofy and sometimes not everyones cup of tea, but for the most part, he knew he was a good guy who was a little obnoxious! now, he has mixed feelings about himself. vampirism has elevated a lot of his emotions and more often than not now, he dislikes himself for what he’s become, or what he could become if things turn bloody. One word the character would use to describe themselves: spunky What does the character consider their best trait?: his compassion What does the character consider their worst trait?: his gullibility What does the character consider their best physical characteristic?: his fluffy hair !! What does the character consider their worst physical characteristic?: that he’s a short king. stream short kings anthem by tiny meat gang How does the character think others perceive them?: he’s pretty sure most people think that he’s wildly annoying, but that doesn’t stop him from being fully himself most of the time! What would the character most like to change about himself/herself: his vampirism!! get this shit out of him just make him a normal aging boy again!!

Relationships with others Opinion of other people in general: kody is a big ole’ ball of love, and thus so, he tries to share that with everyone. strangers are treated with compassion, acquaintances are treated as old friends, and friends are treated like family. unless kody already knows someone to be a bad person, or is wary of them, he’s genuinely one of the nicest people one could ever meet. Opinion of the Scooby Gang: talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique, completely not ever been done before, unafraid to reference or not reference, put it in a blender, shit on it, vomit on it, eat it, give birth to it. Does the character hide their true opinions and emotions from others?: it depends on the topic, but for the most part, yes. when it comes to most scooby gang related endeavors, kody will share his thoughts -- if it’s something related to movies or tv, he’ll be talking your ear off for hours. if it’s something that could result in it hurting someone else, he’ll be quiet, and if his vampirism was ever to come into question, he’d be absolutely be suppressing it. Most important person in character’s life: oh god, not to pick scooby gang favorites, but probably aj. she’s the closest thing he has to a sister, and he doesn’t know what he would do without their banter, and her support. Best friend/s: aj darke, dylan frye, & arabella byrne Dating experience: absolutely none. kissed 2 girls in the span of 2 years over 3 years ago. Romancing: kody wouldn’t know the first thing about trying to get someone to date him. all he knows is the stuff he’s seen on tv, watched in movies, or experienced around him ( such as his parents successful marriage, or his friends dating people ), but if it were to come down to him, he’d be extremely awkward. picture tom holland’s spiderman trying to talk to zendaya’s mj in far from home -- because that’s extremely accurate. kody isn’t trying to date anyone right now for a couple of reasons: one being that he’s too nervous, and not exactly looking for love, but if it were to happen... he wouldn’t run from it necessarily. but two being that his vampirism creates a bit of a problem for him, and he’s not sure if he should subject anyone to the curse he’s stuck with.

Extra Physicality: if necessary, could probably lift a car and throw it down the street. as of right now, doesn’t know how strong he really is / is more concerned about hurting his friends with this supposed strength than he is finding out how many hundreds of pounds he could lift. kody in a fight? probably losing within the first five seconds, unless bloods drawn and the instinct to pounce takes over. Species: vampire How do they feel about it?: hates it. would do anything to reverse it. wishes he had just stayed a little longer at karma cafe that night. or had never gone at all. How do they look in their supernatural form?: pretty much the same, however when he’s hungry and near blood, his eyes go all dark and bloodshot, and the veins around his eyes start to pulse ( basically just like vampire diaries ), but kody is unaware of this since he’s never seen it happen to himself or another vampire

#bridgemeadtask01 #shoutout aaustinabrams for this gif #idk how to credit gif makers listen thats my credit right there

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halfgclden · 3 years

Audio

EPISODE 32: A MAJOR OCCURANCE

The sound of spooky intro music plays and fades out. As the microphone clicks on, faint sounds of water and traffic can be heard in the background.

JADE: Hello cryptwizzlers, cryptrackers, but never cryptormentors because we’re all friends here. Welcome to a very special episode of Cryptwins in which we are not actually researching a cryptid. But! Before you shut this off and call us hacks, we are instead researching the recent disappearance of social media fitness guru; Edison Major.

More spooky music plays. There is also the sound of fingers tapping a rhythm. It's typical Joel, unable to contain his energy as he taps the dashboard in time with their intro music.

JOEL: Weeeeeeeell...Maybe we are hacks. —a pause as he laughs— Nah, just kidding. This is the real deal. I'm not sure you're ready for this. This is some spooky, and excuse my French, spooky shit. Tell us more about this Major disappearance? —another laugh— Get it?

JADE: [A short laugh-sigh is let out at Joel’s joke.] Okay, before we begin, two things. One, get ready for the barrage of major and minor jokes, courtesy of Joel here.

JOEL: Got a whole list, be ready! He lets Jade finish, but listeners can still hear the tapping sound while she speaks.

JADE: Secondly, we’re still on the road here, so if the audio is bad or choppy... deal with it? —another small laugh— Anyyyyway. Spooky is right. This all began in September of last year, when @majored posted a picture of himself in a dark basement wearing a weird costume and then immediately went off the grid. And, you know, I’m all for a social media cleanse, people do it all the time. Buuut, what really brought this to our attention was a month later, on Halloween Eve of all nights, when a video popped up of him getting his ass kicked by someone in a Kakashi Hatake costume.

JOEL: Now, I know y'all are asking yourselves "Isn't he a fitness guru? Why was some weeb kickin' his ass?" And to that I say hey! Some weebs are strong, some are Super Saiyan, and others are Kakashi Hatake, the most talented ninja in Konohagukure.

JADE: lets out a laughing wheeze.

JOEL: We don't endorse fighting here. But I digress —a laugh— back on topic. So this guy just up and disappears out of nowhere? And there's not a peep of him until we see Kakashi givin’ him the business. What does this all mean?

JADE: Okay, so, let’s get the full story. @majored goes off the grid, comes back to get his ass kicked by a Naruto character, disappears again, comes back to spit on someone and call them a see you next Tuesday, and then disappears again. And he hasn’t come back online. So what’s up with that? Well... we did a little digging.

Another spooky noise plays over the sound of Jade organizing a stack of papers.

JOEL: Daaaaaaang. I’d say those are some fightin' words, especially from someone who keeps pulling a vanishing act, don’t ya think?

JADE: They really are! I mean, he is from New Zealand, but even so, I think you don’t use that word unless you want to attract some attention. -She clicks her tongue as she gets back on topic- The video was originally posted the night before Halloween of last year, by @ime.are on Twitter. Obviously they got a lot of hate and questions after posting this, but all of them were left unanswered. The only person in the video that was tagged was Major, but upon further examination, this Ime seems to follow and have pictures with someone who happened to be dressed as Kakashi that same night, which has led many to speculate that these ninjas are the same person.

JOEL: So we all know Halloween's a spooooky season. Perfect for parties and all that jazz. But all those costumes make it a perfect time for disguises. Was that even the real Major? Was the person who spit the real Major? Who is this Ime and how do they fit into the story? And who— a pause for dramatic effect and muffled laughter as he tries to stay serious— is this mystery ninja? Tell us more!

JADE: Alright, alright. So this mystery ninja goes by Abel, or @_kllledbycain on the Gram. At first glance, they look pretty much like every other TikTok e-boy; black and white photos, pet snake, the insinuation that they’re dead, whole nine yards.

JOEL: snorts when Jade announces their handle, and again at her eboy comment, wheezing. It's true, it's true!

JADE: And this stuff is so common right now, so nothing really raises any eyebrows, right? Right? Well, tell me, why would a Tik Tok goth go around beating the crap out of a random influencer? Stay tuned for the theory. First, we’re gonna take a step back and look at the whole situation, because, of course, it doesn’t end there.

JOEL: Ohhhh snap! I'm on the edge of my seat, and I bet our listeners are too.

JADE: [clears her throat] So if we go back to the original poster of the video, @ime.are, and we take a look at their Insta, who is on it but... @devinitely? Okay, so @devinitely is in the same place as @majored, clearly, and, for anyone that doesn’t know, she’s been doing a bunch of collabs with @loganvance. This places not one, not two, but three influencers all together in this place where weebs are running around assaulting people.

JOEL: Okay. Okay, I need to know! Where are they? What's bringing all these influencers together? Are @devinitely and @loganvance part of something much more sinister than it seems? [He makes a funny face at Jade and wiggles his fingers, before dropping his voice to a stage-whisper.] Is it some kind of twisted influencer cult?

JADE: Shhhh, Joel, spoilers.

JOEL: [He laughs.] Sorry, sorry!

JADE: [muffled laughter over the sound of more papers rustling.] So, any skeptics out there might say, oh, well, this Ime Are is just a lucky person who happens to be in the presence of more than one social media personality. However, Devin follows the weeb that may or may not have kicked Major's ass. And, according to a cast photo of Rocky Horror, on her boyfriend's Instagram, both the weeb in question and the hot man that tore the two apart were part of the cast. This would be a great time to mention that a link to the video is in the description, as are all the pictures from social media that I'm referencing.

JOEL: [to Jade but loud enough for the mic to pick it up at regular volume] Oh snap, you got everything together in a link? Like, I could click the link to check it out right now? — A pause as he does just that.— Woah, cryptwizzlers, she's not kidding. Click the link in bio, you won't be disappointed. Okay, Jade...hear me out. Given that it was Halloween, the night of nights. Do you think that...maybe it was all an elaborate event? Was it staged? Is any of this real?

JADE: Oh, my dear brother, always the skeptic. Don’t you think that it’s a bit much for him to stop posting entirely in order to get publicity? And we mustn’t forget the spitting on someone in South Dakota, that’s not exactly his brand. Unless he’s trying out something like Taylor Swift and Reputation but... I digress. No, I don’t think any of this is staged, and I’ll tell you why. Let’s go back to the weird cow print basement post. You know who also happened to post something about some cowboy party? Oh, um, Devin’s boyfriend? A picture of him, Devin, and Logan? Which... puts them and Major in the same place on the night that he disappeared.

JOEL: Not a skeptic! Just trying to get all these questions answered. —A laugh— You're right, that's 180 from the online presence he used to have. All theories aside, —a pause— I'd love to go to a cowboy party. Get me a glow-in-the-dark cowboy hat. You know they make 'em. —He laughs again, mouthing 'what?' to Jade.—

JADE: Oh, def. We're getting matching hats. Check out our merch in a few weeks —she laughs— Glow in the dark mothman themed cowboy hats, talk about a niche.

JOEL: Snap, we have to do that now, 'cause I want one real bad. But okay, back on track. This cowboy party. The origin of this theory, yeah? Oh snap...what were those three doing in the same place as Major? And all in cow print too? That's....majorly suspicious! [He trails off into laughter, his voice doing that wheezy thing when someone's trying to finish their sentence before cracking up. Recovering, he adds the following.] Wait, wait, wait. What about—

JADE: Yes, yes, yes. —she cuts Joel off as though he's finished his sentence, chuckling at his joke— Patience, my dear twin, we will get there. —the smile is evident in her voice—

JOEL: I feel like somehow, I ended up as your Padawan for this episode. — he laughs—

JADE: You heard it here, I'm absolutely schooling Joel this episode. — she laughs— First, we're going to backtrack all the way to the original poster again. You know we snooped their whole page, and they're pretty regularly posting pictures with this person, @rengaaay, who isn't an influencer but she makes some of those sick ass roller skating videos... this isn't sus, just cool, link in the description. —a slight pause as she tries to get back to her train of thought— Anyway, what is sus is that she tags two people in her photos all the time... But no joke guys check out their Insta profiles they look different in like every other picture. Which, uh, could just be editing but also could be something.... more sinister? Hold onto that thought.

JOEL: That's such a good handle, dang! Better than @lumberjoel, honestly. I have to say I'm jelly. We should get branded rollerskates, maybe @rengaaay can advertise for us if we ship them. JK...unless? —more laughter as he waits for Jade to get back on the train and pulls up the profiles in question to take a look for himself— Huh...is it editing? Are they masters of disguise? Makeup professionals? —He starts to say something else but is pretty sure he's figured out where Jade's going with this.— What could be more sinister than human chameleons?

JADE: [The sound of papers shuffling can be heard] Oh, yeah, so, it's weird but I think every time the siblings are in a pic together they look more like each other? I dunno if this really makes sense but seriously dudes check the post with this episode because it has a bunch of photos side by side and... yeah. You pull a photo of them by themself and it's like okay, I know what this dude looks like and then you put them side by side and... I dunno, makeup? Contacts? Cloning, mayhaps? And, just so that I'm not just holding on to one thing too much... check their post from August 12th, linked below. Their brother... doesn't have a shadow. Why would you edit that out of a photo? No way are they going that hard to be memelords.

JOEL: Okay, let me look at this. Wha— That's weird as hell. How much hair dye do these two use? Hm. Could be clones? —snaps his fingers—Definitely clones. —he snorts loudly, laughing before clearing his throat— Ahem, uh. No shadow? That's dedication! I dunno, maybe it's some new challenge for the 'gram. Oh...but wait. I found a video. Look, Jade. No shadow. In a video. What the—

JADE: A video, guys. —A moment of muffled laughter before her mic cuts out, but the sound of it clicking on again is followed almost immediately— This is a big family, guys, and a big weird one because their other brother @sleepyfinch... Okay, wait, he himself is pretty normal, super cute, shout out, but guys, ghouls, you know who he has tagged in a recent post? Yet another influencer. Except this one is from Italy? @gaborealis; essentially, he’s a medium, so if you didn’t believe that the supernatural were at play beforehand... buckle up.

JOEL: Wait, wait, I'm still on the video thing. Who has time to edit a video? —his voice cracks when he says video and he covers his laughter as he focuses—

JADE: [wheezing] Shut up —there is no malice in her voice, and she’s laughing too.—

JOEL: So weird, I love it. Oh snap— the @gaborealis? It's time to get ghosty! —echoes "ghosty" and hums the Cha Cha Slide tune for a couple seconds— Okay, so wait. Does this mean everyone's favorite medium is also in the same place as...three? Three other influencers and this weird family of....maybe shapeshifters? No? Too crazy a theory?

JADE: You know what they say, cryptoddlers; no theory is too crazy. Everything Einstein came up with? Theory.

JOEL: Bringing Einstein into it, huh?

JADE: Oh you know it. —a snort— Anyway, according to Devin’s boyfriend’s Instagram, it doesn’t end there. @spencerkeahi, a youtuber and disability rights advocate who comes from Hawaii is also there with that gaggle. Shout out to @elidrising for tagging people and location. So what are these influencers from all corners of the globe gathering together for? Well, let’s take a look at the original poster again. You go on their Twitter, and a few months back it’s all just videos of people... fighting? In some sort of underground place. Mayhaps... the same creepy basement that Major posted his last photo? —a small gasp, as though she’s surprised by this— No, that must be a coincidence... or is it?

Another spooky sound plays

JOEL: @elidrising is the man, dang! Are you tellin' me there's a...—he lowers his voice to a whisper— secret influencers-only Fight Club? I wouldn't put it past @devinitely TBH. Honestly, I'd join one...even though I guess I've broken the first rule but talking about it, huh? Actually— Jay, do you think we'd even be allowed to join? Are podcasters influencers? Poll in my story right now, let us know what y'all think.

JADE: Right now? Joel, this isn’t going up for another week, at least. —She’s obviously trying to sound less amused than she’s coming off— Once we get the blue check we’re influencers, so we’ve got a few million followers to go, I think.

JOEL: Yeah, right now! They'll hear that when the episode goes up and respond in real ti— Oh, no. You're right. Oops. No poll in my story, y'all. False alarm. Blue check, huh? You heard it here, cryptwizzlers, we're gonna get that blue check. Tell your friends, tell your family. Heck, tell that cute barista at your coffee shop to listen to our podcast! We might just do a giveaway when we get that lil' blue swoosh.

JADE: [clears her throat.] You know what’s a great way to get us that blue check, though?

A different, light sort of spooky music begins playing in the background, meaning that it’s time for the ad break

JOEL: Take it away!

JADE: Checking out a little app called Creature Comforts. Alright guys, not that this show isn’t one hundred percent real as it is, but for real, I love this app. A dating sim that features everyone’s favorite... for lack of a better term, monsters. Did you watch the Shape of Water and go, “Damn, I’d tap that”? Do you want to snuggle with a Sasquatch? Do you just wish you could find yourself a GF with more eyes? Well, have we got the app for you. Creature Comforts lets you do all this and more. A choose-your-own-adventure game where you can smooch beasts, marry Mothman, and ignore the outside world. It’s seriously all I want. And, if you enter the code cryptwins— that’s the name of the podcast you’re listening to, no capital letters, when you download the app, then it’s only 99 cents to play without ads. Which, trust me ghouls, is worth it. I don’t want anything interrupting my cut scene with the most stunning eyes in West Virginia.

JOEL: Don't forget that scuba diving date with Nessie! Or, or...that half-day hike with Bigfoot. —he's laughing again smh— There's a reason Jade does the ad reads and not me. But, I can tell you that Mothman is sure to sweep you off your feet. And it's not just because he can fly.

JADE: It’s the —a pause for finger snapping— alliteration for me. But that’s Creature Comforts, exactly how you think you’d spell it, don’t ask us ‘cause we’re dyslexic, and cryptwins, like the name of this podcast. Tweet us @cryptwins to let us know how far along you are, who you’re pursuing, and what mysteries you unlock about their backstories. Now... I think it’s time for a timeline, just to get us sorted out, what do you think, Joel?

JOEL: Personally, I'm still tryin' to land a date with the Creature from the Black Lagoon. I guess we'll see what happens. Aw heck yeah! Give us a timeline, give us the dirt. — a laugh — Give the people what they want!

JADE: Okay — the shuffling of paper is heard once more — We start in September: @majored goes off the grid after posting a creepy picture of himself in a weird outfit in a spooky basement. This is around the same time that the Scarlet Surfer was in NYC for fashion week, which @majored accompanied him to, meaning that it isn’t entirely out of the question for him to still be in New York. Also on social media at this time is @devinitely and @loganvance also both is cowboy outfits, though the creepy basement is absent from both of them.

JOEL: I guess September isn't too early for weird Halloween stuff to start? What with the spooky basement and everything. Right? And everyone loves a cowboy moment— or have cowboys become the new clown? I heard there was a clown renaissance and people like them now? I don't really know where we stand on the whole clown— what?

JADE: I see our next hot debate. Cowboys: Hot or not? Personally, I liked cow print, but I can see cowboys going out soon. Once they reach killer clown status is when it’ll be ideal for me.

JOEL: Personally, I vote hot. And uhhh, not to kinkshame you Jay, but killer clowns are a no from me.

JADE: [tsks] Kinkshamed, by my own brother no less.

JOEL: [a loud laugh] You know I'm just kidding. No kinkshaking, ya heard? I'd literally let the Jersey Devil step on me so. To each their own.

JADE: [snorting] Um, gross.

JADE: Now to October: There is a production of Rocky Horror, a cast photo is uploaded to @elidrising, the account of @devinitely’s boyfriend. This places not only @devinitely and @loganvance in Montauk, but it also places @crispyboiz and @_kllledbycain in Montauk too. These are two of the people that are suspected to belong in the video by @ime.are, in which (suspected) @_kllledbycain, dressed as Kakashi Hatake attacked @majored, only to be torn apart by good citizen @crispyboiz. This video is the first that we’ve seen of @majored since his last post, and he offers nothing in response to it.

JOEL: Okay. Okay. Now, you know I love a good shadow-cast of Rocky Horror. I've always wanted to play Frank. I would rock that part. Am I wrong? —he laughs— But okay, that's - count 'em - three influencers in one place? If @elidrising is there, we can assume @devinitely is too because she was in the same location as, uh, whatshername? Logan? And that's the same location as @ime.are. Who took the video of Kakashi kicking @majored's ass. @_kllledbycain— more like killedbyKakashi, eh? Seriously why are all these people together?

JOEL: [as an afterthought] It's gotta be a cult.

JADE: November to December: Nothing happens with @majored, @ime.are also offers nothing except for quote unquote “#teamkakashi”, which is funny because they never tagged Kakashi, but anyways. Upon deeper inspection, there are videos on their Twitter from last May, of people in a fighting ring. And then people fighting on a lake? But the fighting ring looks super dangerous and I dunno, like you said, cult-y? Fight-club-y? Call it what you will. In any case, we are led to believe that this fighting has been going on for some time in the background.

JOEL: Okay, come on. That’s definitely a cult. I’ve seen the movie, can confirm. — he groans— Literally what is an Italian astrologer doing there? Wait, wait, wait. Montauk? You said Montauk. Montauk, as in on Long Island. As in like —he drops his voice to a stage-whisper— the part of Long Island that peeps believe to be the site of a government cover-up involving kidnapping, mind control, and time travel? The part that inspired Stranger Things? That Montauk? Snap. I can’t believe I didn’t put two and two together sooner. Jade, Jade. What if this is, I don’t know, like, MKUltra 2.0?

JADE: Yes, yes that Montauk, I’m glad you picked up on that. Look, I’m not saying that it’s an influencer’s-only thing, but I am saying that some might be in the area, and maybe involved. At the same time throughout all of this, we have a culmination of more influencers seeming to know this network of people. @gaborealis, an Italian astrologer, is seen in pictures of @sleepyfinch, who was also in the production of Rocky Horror, and has pictures with @crispyboiz and, god, this name is a freaking nightmare, @_kllledbycain. Not to mention this guy has many pictures of weird… family members? Who sometimes look alike? Okay, but seriously, @kodakola and @sonofpeter, how is your hair not straw at this point? Is it wigs? I think my hair would simply fall out. And y’all using Insta filters or what, cause… I’m not gonna get into it, let’s keep going.

JOEL: Maybe they're makeup vloggers or something. Gotta change up the look for views, right? Don't forget to like, comment, subscribe and uhhhh, smash that follow button— or whatever YouTubers say. —he laughs— Okay but seriously, yeah. @sonofpeter, @kodakola, whatever you two are doing to your hair, let me know because I'm trying to bleach my hair and dye it bright purple without it falling out. And since we're doing it at our next stop, well, your advice will probably be too late. But still, what are your secrets? Is it...clones?

JADE: Joel! —she’s laughing again.— Timeline and then theories. —she clears her throat— After that long silence, a Tweet emerges. January 8th. "Can’t believe @majored SPAT on me and called me a C-Blank-Blank-T when he checked into @SDFamilyMotel last night”. This places Major across the country from where we believed him to be, but acting so strangely that one must wonder… was that really him? Or was it someone that just looked like him? Or was it a cry for help? Nothing’s been heard since from @majored, which I guess… leads us to our theories. —a pause— You were saying… clones, Joel?

JOEL: Sheeeeesh, this is not @majored's year. I gotta say, this sounds totally different from the vibe that this guy used to put out on his social media. Obviously Instagram is fake blah blah blah, you know the spiel, but like. Damn. He spit on them? —a pause as he considers what his sibling has said— You know....I think that's a really good point. Was that even the real him? Will the real Ed Major please stand up?

JADE: I know. It just seems out of character, and terrible for a reputation, but it also would make sense if... One, this is a fake @majored, meant to stir up controversy before he goes underground again. And with an action like spitting on someone and calling them a name like that? Who cares what the dude does after that? Unfollowed, cancelled, whatever. And why would this guy want to go underground, well, I'm glad you're so interested. Well, the official Cryptwins theory is that maybe... just maybe, the crazy, government cover-up Montauk that we all know and love isn't that far from truth. We see that they have means of covering up shadows —she lets out a laugh— and people whose faces just change? And who else is there, @spencerkeahi, someone who explains rehabilitation, maybe someone who has experience helping people get used to being a clone? @ime.are, a nurse who enjoys taking videos of people fighting? It all adds up, people!

JOEL: Yeah, seriously. With the real @majored MIA, there would be no one to combat the backlash from this supposed...clone? Imposter? And maybe that’s what they want. Looks like Montauk isn’t the ideal vacation spot anymore, huh? Even if their seaside cabins are super chill and homey. But I digress. Something sinister is going on. Something bigger than we can even imagine. A secret underground facility that’s...cloning influencers? Training them? Your guess is as good as mine. And that’s why we’re on this road trip, isn’t that right Jade? To get some answers?

JADE: Exactly. —it sounds as though she is holding back a laugh or a cough.— Cross country roadtrip in which we explore different topics like this one, and on the way, we'll document our progress and any spooky encounters. Check out our insta, @cryptwins to get all the updates, and consider hitting us up on Patreon if you want us to be able to afford the gas to get all the way to the east coast.

JOEL: I’ll be posting behind the scenes content in the “ROADTRIP” highlight on my Insta throughout the trip so be sure to check my stories. You might get lucky and find some special codes for Creature Comforts but, hey. You didn’t hear it from me. -he laughs and there’s the distinct sound of a bag of chips being opened- What Jade meant to say is gas and snack money. So yeah, go go go! Check out the Patreon! We might even do a giveaway at the end of our trip, get you guys some cool souvenirs we pick up on our travels. Not a bad idea, eh?

JADE: Joel, my ears are literally bleeding right now. Thanks. Anyway, our second theory will also be exclusive to our Patrons, so be sure to get the full video there. Cryptwins... out...

Her voice fades out and the music from the beginning fades in, takes over, and plays until the end of the track.

#c: jade #c: jadejoel #a major occurance

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tisthenightofthewitch · 4 years

Text

THE NEXT CHAPTER: TOBIAS FORGE AND THE FUTURE OF GHOST

Their Kerrang! Award-winning fourth album Prequelle took Ghost from cult concern to global superstars. But the arena-filling congregation of fans is growing restless for clues as to what’s next for Cardinal Copia, Papa Nihil and the ministry. Let Tobias Forge, then, take you behind the mask and into the making of – and future plans for – a band like no other…

The WaMu Theater, Thursday 19 September. Last night this venue – attached to the side of CenturyLink Field, the home of the Seattle Seahawks NFL team – played host to the ‘Groover from Vancouver’ himself, Bryan Adams. Tomorrow it’s the turn of the Pacific Northwest city’s beloved sons, grunge legends Alice In Chains, for their last show in support of their sixth album, Rainier Fog. Tonight, though, Seattle gets the latest ritual on Ghost’s extensive Ultimate Tour Named Death.

Despite this morbid moniker, the scene inside the building is one of lively activity, with techs rushing around to finish the show’s elaborate staging. The house lights illuminate the stained glass window backdrop, while the seating, flat on the floor and sweeping upwards towards the back, furthers the illusion we’re in a vast church. Just then, Tobias Forge, the man whose job it is to address tonight’s 5,000-strong congregation appears. Kerrang! doesn’t notice him at first given the ninja-like silence of his approach, but there’s an intensity to his presence in these make-or-break moments of preparation.

“I’m interested in tour production, so I get to know a lot of these things,” he offers matter-of-factly. “I’m sure I only get to know about 40 per cent of it, but I notice if things aren’t in place.”

As a nine-year-old child, Tobias used to watch the documentary 25x5: The Continuing Adventures Of The Rolling Stones on repeat. The film charts the rock legends’ genesis in 1962 and their steep, heady ascent to becoming the biggest band in the world, circa their 1989 album Steel Wheels. Tobias considers their subsequent Bridges To Babylon Tour (1997-1998), which made more than $274 million and became the second-highest grosser of all time, to be the greatest ever piece of rock staging, and he was evidently taking notes even then. As a result of the level of professionalism he aspires to, you get the distinct impression he’s not a man who suffers fools gladly in this setting – an idea he doesn’t go to great pains to dispel.

“I want to know who’s in the shit today,” he explains. “Who has been put in the situation where his or her job is compromised, because I don’t want to start yelling if it’s a case of, ‘Oh my truck didn’t arrive in time today,’ because then I’ll know what the problem is. If you want to be a good boss, it’s very important you keep things on your radar.

“I’ve definitely got into trouble over the years by being too nice to people and giving them too much slack,” he continues, surveying the operation. “When you do that it’s like with dogs: if you don’t tell them what the rules are, they start making up their own. That sounds horrible, but there are 40 people on this tour, so there has to be a line and a curriculum. I’m adamant about getting my vision through, especially now we’re in this transitional phase between theatres and arenas.”

This increase in scale reflects the continued upswing in Ghost’s popularity, which has seen them go from misunderstood cult band to metal superstar status in the space of less than a decade. Despite this success, Tobias clearly isn’t taking anything for granted. Ghost haven’t played Seattle for three years, but this time around they’re doing two shows in Washington State, the other being the one they played at the Toyota Center in Kennewick two days ago, which has a capacity of 6,000 – almost eight per cent of the city’s 80,000 population.

Tobias may or may not be referring to that show when he discusses his unbridled joy at recently playing in an unnamed city that doesn’t get a lot of large-scale entertainment coming through town, save for appearances from KISS, singer-songwriter Pat Benatar and a touring production of the musical Wicked in recent years.

“None of us had ever heard of this place, and I’m pretty good at geography,” he explains. “But I loved being the singular moment somewhere, instead of the seventh show they’d had there on that particular week.”

And while Tobias describes the resulting night as “phenomenal”, earlier in the day there was an “unforeseen curveball” when the company who were meant to be selling merch at the show pulled out at the last minute, citing Ghost’s satanic image for their decision. This was, of course, a throwback to earlier shows, such as one in the Texan city of Odessa in 2018, when a minister attempted to dissuade people from attending because of the band’s threat to the morals of good God-fearing people. Unsurprisingly, this outburst resulted in an increase in ticket sales.

Despite this more recent – and, these days, more unusual – blip, Tobias’ desire to cover as much ground as possible on tour this time around is inspired by his heroes in Iron Maiden and Metallica, who have long provided him with the blueprints for achieving and navigating monumental success. In this case, the lesson he’s putting into practice is that every location Ghost visit, without exception, should be treated the same.

“The most important thing to me on this tour is that we bring the same production to everyone,” he says. “They all get the full-fucking-monty, whether they’re in Sioux Falls [South Dakota] or New York.”

The walls backstage at the WaMu Theater are lined with Seahawks jerseys, personalised with the names of acts that have performed here, including The 1975, Bastille and Nas, and the rockier contingent featuring twenty one pilots, Halestorm and Dropkick Murphys. Various rooms lead off from these labyrinthine corridors, providing sizeable production offices for the band’s tour management and crew, all of who wear dapper black shirts, trousers and braces affixed with silver broaches of Ghost’s upside down cross insignia. They affectionately address Cardinal Copia as ‘Cardi C’ when he appears later for a fan meet-and-greet. Here, too, are the dressing rooms for the headliners and the opening act for this tour, San Antonio rockers Nothing More.

On all of the doors is a distinct A4 page, the day sheet for this show, which not only details what’s happening, where and when, but also includes a different tongue-in-cheek quote for the occasion. Today, for example, in recognition of the touring party travelling overnight to Vancouver for tomorrow’s show at the city’s Pacific Coliseum, we get this gem courtesy of Britney Spears: ‘The cool thing about being famous is travelling. I have always wanted to travel across seas, like to Canada and stuff.’

Tobias, of course, has actually travelled over oceans to be here. Nowadays he lives in Stockholm, the capital of his native Sweden, with his wife and their 11-year-old twins, but he was born in Linköping, the country’s seventh largest city, where the steeple of its 13th century cathedral dominated the skyline. That’s not what the young Tobias was fixating on, though. Instead, aged five, when he already knew he wanted to transform into another person, he’d stand outside his childhood home and gaze down the street. The sun always seemed to be hovering between the buildings at the end, like a fixed but intangible hand beckoning him to get on a plane and go somewhere else and be someone else.

“The days and options seemed limitless,” he recalls today. “For some reason I always thought of the world as being there for the taking, even though I didn’t have any access to that world.”

In spite of this, he felt a deep affinity with his heroes, like the Rolling Stones and Queen, who also came from places you didn’t automatically associate with being breeding grounds for rock gods.

“I felt similar to them, even if they grew up in Dartford [Rolling Stones] or an island off the coast of Africa [Zanzibar, the birthplace of Freddie Mercury]. I, too, felt out of touch with my surroundings, and knew I had a higher calling.”

Twenty-three years later, in 2009, Tobias realised he hadn’t made much headway in heeding this call. He’d been in bands from a young age, from death metallers Repugnant to alt-rockers Magna Carta Cartel. The latter featured Martin Persner and Simon Söderberg, who’d later appear as Nameless Ghouls in the first incarnation of Ghost. Söderberg, along with some other ex-ghouls, is now embroiled in an on-going lawsuit with Tobias over what they suggest are the rightful shares of profits they’re owed from their time in the band. Tobias doesn’t volunteer any information on this topic today, which is perhaps understandable given the considerable column inches already dedicated to it.

Regardless, none of those early bands provided Tobias with the success he needed to, say, quit the day job. He had then been working in a call centre, aiding people having trouble with their mobile phones. Despite spending his childhood endlessly sketching elaborate stage designs and lighting rigs, he still has little interest in technology, particularly mobile phones. Back in 2009 his personal life was happy and satisfying, having welcomed children with his then-girlfriend – now wife – though this potent reminder of the finite time we have drew his attention to the area of his life he recognised as falling short.

“I had an epiphany,” he explains, raising his hands as if sizing up an imaginary canvas. “I found myself very far from the path, so decided in the limited time I have to invest everything in the one thing out of all my [professional] options I believed most in, which was Ghost. I understood wholeheartedly what it was, the music and the image, and felt I could do it without my vanity coming in, because I didn’t like how I looked in pictures or the sound of my own voice. But this would be fiction, so that was fucking cool. So I took all of my eggs and put them in one basket and was back on track. For the first time in my fucking life I was really focused.”

For evidence of the dividends this paid, you need only look at the fact that just a year later, with the release of their 2010 debut album Opus Eponymous, Ghost exploded on to the scene, taking the first step to becoming metal’s hottest new hope.

Further proof of this focus comes today from interviewing Tobias somewhere there’s a screen showing news channel CNN. We’re in the band’s pre-show warm-up space, which is decked out with guitars, keyboards and an electric drum kit he removes the stool from to sit in the centre of the room. He admits if he were in a hotel room now, he could easily watch CNN for 24 hours straight. He doesn’t so much as turn his head to look at it now, though, giving his full attention to the interview at hand.

Even at 38, an age he says his kids consider “as old as shit”, he remains remarkably boyish looking. His dark and piercing eyes, however, belong to an older soul – and it may be Kerrang!’s imagination – but they appear to moisten at several points during this hour-long chat, particularly when connecting the dots between his past ambition and what he’s achieved today.

“I’m trying to recreate a lot of things that aren’t necessarily real,” he says mysteriously. “In my head they’re real, and I’ve been given this fantastic carte blanche where I don’t have to sit in a fucking call centre anymore and am applauded for getting to be someone else. It’s perfect for someone like me who has a fundamental problem with functioning normally in society. If it wasn’t for the fact I was doing this, I would be completely useless.”

When Ghost signed with their American record label, their mythology wasn’t the deep well of fascination it is today. In fact, there was nothing to it at all. They had a unique aesthetic and a sound that didn’t necessarily go with that look, something that would wrong-foot new listeners in the early days, but Tobias didn’t have an answer to why Ghost were the way they were.

“They said the music was great but asked, ‘What’s the story? What’s the biography?’” recalls Tobias. “I said there was no biography because there was no story to tell. I wanted people to throw themselves into the vision and make up their own. But in the end I had to come up with one, which is second nature to me now. Even [Norwegian black metallers] Mayhem had a story. In the early ‘90s, before the internet, there was something that compelled us to want to find out more and listen to their music.”

This mythology Tobias has developed over the years was furthered with the release of Ghost’s fourth album, last year’s GRAMMY-nominated Prequelle, which introduced Tobias’ latest incarnation, Cardinal Copia, a character fans have come to love if the number of $40 plush toys sold at the merch desk tonight is any indication. More recently, a web series on YouTube has added to the intrigue, with the latest episode harking back to 1969, when a young Cardinal Nihil was fronting Ghost at the launch of their EP, Seven Inches Of Satanic Panic. That just so happens to be the band’s latest release in 2019, which will also be available as part of Prequelle Exalted, a limited collector’s edition of the album. Meanwhile, The Ultimate Tour Named Death has introduced the EP’s two new songs, Mary On A Cross and Kiss The Go-Goat, to its set list.

While Ghost’s music has always tipped its papal tiara to the ‘60s, particularly its psychedelic leanings, the latter song in particular sees them take this interest a step further. How much can we glean from them, then, with regards to where Ghost goes next? Not too much, as it turns out, according to Tobias, who suggests, as with the YouTube series, it’s a way to deepen the story of Ghost spanning from the ’40s to the present day, without necessarily providing clues to the sound of album number five.

“It’s just there for shits and giggles,” he laughs, before revealing that Kiss The Go-Goat, a song that’s been knocking around for some time, actually had the working title ‘The Throwback Single’. “I grew up listening to ‘60s music like the Rolling Stones and The Doors, as well as metal. People shouldn’t read too much into this direction, though. The next album is going to be something completely different from that.”

Can Tobias perhaps give two words to describe where, musically or thematically, album number five is heading?

“I’d choose the words ‘fifth’ and ‘album’,” he replies with a wry smile, before justifying what seems like a diversionary tactic. “I look at many fifth albums as a guide as to the urgency for what that record will need to be, with [Iron Maiden’s] Powerslave being a great example. By the fifth album you’re at a point in your career where you have this momentum built up, and you have the expectancy of people depending on you, so you have to put something special in those many spotlights. You need to step up and make a record that’s worth it and justifies all of these things.”

Who, then, can we expect to see fronting these rituals in future?

“I just know that person will have the name Papa Emeritus IV. It will be the fourth Papa Emeritus. But who that is, we don’t know yet.”

We’re not sure we believe him, so push for more. Might we see Cardinal Copia graduating to Papa status? The latest episode of the web series seems to indicate the ‘Sister Imperator’ character and Papa Nihil conceived a child. Wouldn’t that make him part of the papal bloodline?

“I think that what you will get over the next year are a lot of answers to a lot of questions,” offers Tobias, keeping things vague.

Like the question of whether Sister is pregnant? (In the latest ‘chapter’ of the web series, Sister attacks a woman at a Ghost show for smoking next to her).

“We don’t know that yet. It would blow my mind if she was now,” he says, clearly referring to the elderly Sister in the present day. This suggests she could well be with child back in 1969, though.

Has Tobias sketched what this new Papa will look like?

“Have you ever seen The Big Lebowski?” he asks by way of an answer, referencing the scene in the Coen brothers’ classic where Jeff Bridges’ character, The Dude, spots someone drawing on a notepad. When the man leaves the room with the piece of paper, The Dude rushes to scribble on to the page below to reveal the outline of what’s been drawn, only to discover it’s a doodle of a cock and balls. “It’s something along those lines.”

Sensing Tobias is in full evasion mode by this point, we change tack. Perhaps understanding his ambitions, and whether there’s a summit to them, can shed some light on the future – especially as he seems more focused on what Ghost’s next album will do rather than what it will sound like.

“I wouldn’t necessarily compare [my ambitions] to what the Rolling Stones have done, because that was a completely different time under completely different circumstances. For the last 40 years they have sold tickets because of nostalgic reasons, and maybe 40 years in the future there would be a nostalgia element for Ghost, but I can’t count on that.”

“I regard Metallica as colleagues and friends now, but they’re still Metallica,” he says of the thrash legends Ghost supported on their European stadium tour this summer. “I am an ambassador and they are presidents. But when I look to Metallica for influence, I’m looking at what they did in 1988. We’re on our fourth album, as they were on the Damaged Justice Tour, so the next stop is the Black Album.”

Spotting Kerrang!’s obvious joy at this admission, Tobias is quick to clarify exactly what he means by this.

“You have to make a responsible record,” he adds emphatically. “That doesn’t mean to expect riffs. It’s two different things – what the record sounds like and knowing to put yourself in the right spot at the right time. When I had nothing, and lived in a small apartment that cost very little because the ceiling leaked, the dream was to be able to live off making music. When I had kids that became even more important. Now it’s about something else. I’m responsible for showing my wife and my kids that all these years of waiting for me have been worth it. And that goes beyond money, because at the end of the day that’s just seasoning. One day my kids will be grown-up and I have to be able to show them that all this time playing rock shows had a real purpose.”

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Tobias loves touring.

“I’m like a sailor,” he says. “I just love being on the ocean. I’ve not always been on tour, but I’ve always been a transient person. And the road to achieving all this is endless, just like the road I looked down when I was five seemed to me at the time.”

Kerrang

#Tobias Forge #Tobias Interview #The Band Ghost #Ghost Band #Cardinal Copia

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estboss4life · 5 years

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Bianca Belair rise to the title and her eventual feud with Io fantasy booking

Bianca Belair has been a rising shining star in NXT for the past year. Her athleticism, her confidence, charisma, and her character. A black female who knows her worth and refuse to apologize that she didn’t come for the independent scene. She’s the roughest, toughest, baddest, strongest... You get it. She’s the EST of NXT.Speaking of indies, she has been running through these “indie girls” that NXT put in front of her. Deonna, Candice Larae, Dakota Kai, and Mia Yim. The best women on the indies that Bianca beat. Therefore, this proves Bianca is the best (in kayfabe). She has yet to receive a title shot despite being undefeated (9-0) or be on a Takeover.

NXT Takeover is tonight. Shayna Bazler NXT Women’s Champion vs the Pirate Princess Kairi Sane in 2 out of 3 falls. Shayna won back the NXT title at Evolution after Marina and Jessamyn interfered and Kairi passed out to the rear naked choke. Shayna would come out with her posse while Kairi will come out her own. Shayna would score the first fall when she catches Kairi doing the elbows drop into the rear neck choke for tap out (after the 4HW interferes). Kairi would score the second fall when either Marina or Jessamyn would try to distract Kairi. Shayna would try to hit Kairi from behind while Kairi is arguing with the 4HW. However, Kairi would move out the way and Shayna would blast her fellow 4HW on accident. Shayna would be shock and Kairi would capitalize with a roll up. 1-1. Kairi would hit Shayna with everything she got and even hook in the anchor. The 4HW would try to interfere again once again and try to get in the ring. But then you see two females attack them. Dakota Kai and Io Shirai. Io and Kairi know each other for their Stardom days and Dakota has previous beef with Shayna. As they attack Marina and Jessamyn, Kairi let go of the Anchor and climbed out the top rope. She prepares her elbow and sinks down. She hits Shayna and goes for the pin. 1-2-3. Kairi Sane is the new NXT women’s champion. Kairi has defeated Shayna and regained her treasure. Her, Io, And Dakota are celebrating as Shayna, Marina and Jessamyn climbed up the ramp. As this all goes down, Bianca, watching the match backstage, stand with her arms folded. She didn’t care who wins tonight because she’s getting the next shot.

The upcoming NXT episode, Regal announce that Shayna wants her title shot tonight and we will ban anyone from ringside. This will be the main event. Bianca goes to NXT William Regal and says:” Mr. Regal, I’m getting sick and tired seeing the same girls getting title shots. I have been UN DE FEAT TED. I have beaten these indie girls you put in front of me. What more do I have to do? Do I have to keep beating more indie girls and this whole division? I’m the best! Not Shayna “my best friend is Ronda” Bazler. Not “wannabe pirate princess” Kairi Sane. ME. ME. The EST of NXT. GIVE ME A TITLE SHOT.”

Regal would respond with:” Okay. Bianca. You will get your title shot soon. But seeing you frustrated right now, maybe you can take that frustration and put it in the ring against your opponent...(hand gesture for her opponent to come out).. Lacey Lane. Bianca, this is Lacey Lane. She was in the Mae Youn-“

“I don’t give a whatever who she is or what she was in. She’s another indie girl right? You making my job here so much easier. You’ll end up with your indie friends are and I WILL GET WHAT I DESERVE”- Bianca then blow a kiss to her. Regal and Lacey shakes their heads in disappointment.

Next, Lacey Lane vs Bianca Belair. Bianca tries to put Lacey away early but Lacey is fast. Lacey tries go for the bicycle knee strike but Bianca counters into a forearm. Bianca would then hit the standing moonsault. Bianca would hit a sitdown spinebuster but Lacey would barely kick out. Bianca would sell them amazingly with her facial expressions. Bianca would then grab Lacey’s face, get right up in it, and tell Lacey: “YOU GONNA LEARN TO RESPECT ME! STAY DOWN! YOU GONNA WISH YOU STAYED ON THE INDIES!” Lacey would then would try to take Bianca down with many kicks including a Capoeira Kick. She would go for the pin but Bianca would kick out. Lacey grabs Bianca to try to go for the crucifix bomb. Bianca gets away and as Lacey approaches her she hits Lacey with the hair whip. She repeated hit Lacey as Lacey wince in pain. She goes to the corner, she shouts “GIMME MY TITLE SHOT”. She spears Lacey and goes for the pin. 1, 2,3. Bianca Belair wins. 10-0. Lacey is now another indie girl that Bianca Belair. But that wasn’t enough, she wants to send a statement to the roster, NXT officials and everyone around the world. She grabs Lacey and starts with a military press towards the top rope into the argentine facebuster (KOD). She would then send Lacey into the turnbuckle. As Lacey lays down, Bianca gets on the top rope and hit the 450. As refs and medical staff tend to Lacey, Bianca shouts “ None of them are on my level. I’m the best. How many more of these indie bitches do I have to beat.”

As Bianca heads to the back, she bumps into someone. “Move out my way!” As she leaves, the person was Io Shirai.

Mia Yim vs Deonna. This would be a fun match to establish both of them. Friendly competition. Technical on Deonna side and Mia’s fastpace style. Deonna won when Mia tried to go for Soul Food when Deonna counters to her Figuawa armbar.

The main event, Kairi Sane (c) vs Shayna Bazler. No groups. No disqualification. No countout. Shayna was more vicious in this match and wanted Kairi to suffer so bad that Kairi wouldn’t want to continue the match. However, after a grueling match, Kairi Sane retains via the Anchor. Kairi beat Shayna to retain her NXT Women’s Championship. Kairi clutches her arm (that Shayna worked over throughout the match). As Kairi thanked the fans and head up the ramp, Bianca decks her behind the head. She stomps on the arm then starts whipping her. Kairi yells in pain. She drags Kairi to the on floor in front of the commentary team. Bianca then, yells at the men to:” MOVE! SEND THIS STATEMENT TO MISTER REGAL” and goes on the commentary table. After she knocks off everything on the table like cameras, she gets into position and hits the 450 on the NXT women’s champion Kairi Sane. She gets up and smile that Kairi is in pain. The show closes with Bianca blowing a kiss to Kairi while raising the title.

Next week, NXT commentary recaps what happened last week. They said what Bainca did should have serious consequences. She caused a lot of hell for the NXT women’s division. Lacey Lane suffered a shoulder injury and concussion meanwhile Kairi Sane luckily suffered bruised ribs. As Bianca as training at the Performance Center, William Regal approaches her.:”What the hell was last week? You injured two of the brightest stars...”. “BRIGHTEST?I 👏🏾THE👏🏾BRIGHTEST👏🏾. What I did last week was sending a message to EVERYONE who thinks I shouldn’t be here or champion because I didn’t come from Stardom or the indies! Keep playing with me, Regal. I will destroy this women’s division. You won’t have to give me a title shot. I will take it. I have to work twice as hard to get half of these bitches get. You did this, Regal. You did this.”

Regal just looked at her and said two words.” You’re suspended”. Bianca looked pissed off and said “You’re only making it worse. Keep playing, Regal.”

During Bianca’s thirty day suspension, William Regal wanted one of the best women’s matches in NXT with the signing of Io Shirai. Kairi Sane has healed up and ready to defend her treasure. She still wants revenge on Bianca and even told Regal to unsuspend her. Regal said he made the right decision and another decision he has made is at NXT Takeover Phoenix, Kairi Sane vs Io Sharai for the NXT women’s championship. Two Japanese prospects who can put on a competitive match for women’s wrestling. Io with her moonsault and Kairi with her flying elbow. Kairi and Io shake hands and gets ready for Takeover. Also during this time, Mia Yim vs Deonna side-feud would be established. It’ll be a respect but prove who’s the best of the two. They trade singles wins back and forth. They both hope to get a title opportunity for the NXT women’s championship. Takeover comes around and the women’s match starts the show, Kairi and Io shake hands as a sign of respect. Both are at a stalemate because they have so much history and studied each other. We get to the finish of this match. “Women’s Wrestling” chants and so much praise. As Io is about to go for the moonsault, you see the return of the hairwhipping loudmouth black bitch in Bianca Belair (in street clothes). She is pissed and sick of tired. She climbs on the apron and forearm Io towards the ground. The ref rings the bell and deems it as disqualification. Bianca gets into the ring and starts beating down Kairi. She grabs a chair and hitting Kairi’s bruised ribs again. “IM. TAKING. THAT. TITLE.”, each word syncing with each blow to the back of Kairi. Kairi tries to fight back but Bianca then stomps on Kairi. Io gets in the ring and takes down Bianca. Punches, kicks, and props Bianca up for the moonsault but as Io goes down, Bianca gets up and hits Io with her hairwhip. She hits her and Kairi with her hairwhip wanting to damage them both. She lays Kairi and Io on top of each other and goes on the top rope. She hits a 450 on both of them. She soaks in all the boos as she poses with the NXT women’s title. She ruined one of the best women’s matches in WWE history. This wasn’t the indie darlings moment. This wasn’t women’s wrestling moment. This was her moment. She deserves it. She earned it. “ I AM THE BEST. SUSPEND ME AGAIN. I WILL HURT ALL OF THEM UNTIL YOU GIVE ME THE TITLE.”, she says. She took one last forearm to Io and KODed Kairi. She then walks to the outside of the arena and takes off.

Following NXT, Bianca arrives at the Performance Center early (wearing her own custom merch she created). During her time off, she’s been training faster and harder than ever. She’s been practicing everything to perfect herself. She wants to outwork everyone in the NXT- make or female. She leaves just in time for everyone to come in. She heads to Full Sail to her locker room where everyone stares at her. “Anyone has anything to say? Y’all can whisper but y’all don’t have the balls to step to me. Now move out my way.”, Bianca says. She heads to Regals office.

“ Bianca..”

“What you gonna do? Suspend me? Fire me? You wont take a shot with me. I’m the rising star everyone wants to see. Black girls look up to me. I can represent the NXT women’s division. I don’t even have my own fucking merch yet. I had to create my own and sell it on my website. I sent a statement to everyone and anyone. I am Bianca Belair. So... what?”

“Bianca, I was pissed off that you ruined a great women’s match. However, I understand your frustrated that you haven’t had your time to shine. So I’ll give you a match tonight. If you can beat your opponent, you will get a title shot at Takeover Mania.”, Regal said.

“Okay. Who’s my opponent? Another indie girl?”

“Get to the ring and you’re find out.”

“When I beat her I will get what I deserve. WHEN I BEAT THESE INDIE CHICKS I WILL GET WHAT I DESERVE. THESE CHICKS WILL LEARN TODAY.”

Bianca is in the ring with new gear. She rolls her eyes as fans chant “Indie is BETTER”. She hears Nikki Cross music. You can see Bainca mouth out “I thought I was done with this chick.” Nikki gets in the ring and immediately attacks Bianca. The bell rings and Bianca backs off Nikki. She gets out the ring and Nikki starts chasing her. She runs into she gets back in the ring. As soon as Nikki gets back in, Bianca forearms her. She goes for the pin and Nikki kicks out at two. She does her standing moonsault and then does her kissing ass type. She puts Nikki in a headlock. She does this for two minutes until the crowd wakes Nikki up for the comeback spot. Nikki takes Bianca down and then does something that someone shouldn’t do. She touches Bianca’s hair and tries to pull it. Bianca gets enrage, hits Nikki Cross again and then ties Nikki’s hand into the bottom of her hair. She then slowly sends Nikki into the corner, pull her with her hair and forearms her again. “DONT YOU DARE TOUCH MY HAIR”. She sends her to the corner again and gets in Nikki’s face. “DONT YOU DARE. IM THE BEST. IM THE EST. “ Nikki slaps her, gets her hand out the hair, then goes crazy. Bianca tries to avoid Nikki’s craziness but it was too much to handle. Nikki eventually has Bianca in her DDT finisher. She hits it and she goes for the pin. 1-2- and Bianca kicks out. Bianca rolls out the ring and Nikki goes to get her back in. Bianca blinds Nikki and sends her into the steps. She throws her back in the ring and hits the KOD. She decides that’s not enough and hits the KOD again. She hits the KOD again. 1-2-3. Bianca has earned a title shot. She’s 11-0. She’s celebrating as refs and medical staff checks on Nikki Cross. Nikki Cross nose is bleeding and she possibly has a concussion. Bianca smirks, moves them out the way, and starts railing on Nikki. This doesn’t last long because Io and Kairi head down the ring. Bianca hightails it and heads up the ramp. Io and Kairi challenge her to get in the ring. Bianca taunts and say “You’re both mine”. William Regal comes out and says” Bianca Belair, you been costing major problems in the NXT women’s division. But, you’re also been impressive and destroying your competition. I’ve been watching you shine tonight and you finally earned a title shot. You will have to prepare for the biggest challenge for your life because you will be facing TWO OPPONENTS that want their revenge. Io Shiria and the NXT women’s champion Kairi Sane. This match will take place at NXT Takeover New York. Ladies, good luck” Bianca smirks and stares at Io and Kairi.

The following NXT, William approaches Bianca while she’s done answering fans Q&A. He informs her:” Bianca you now have your Takeover match and title shot. I hope all the problems you cost was worth it because if you lose.... Anyways, you’re right about selling merch. I just saw your Q&A and many of your fans want Bianca Belair merch. They want that shirt you wore last week. They even wanted the necklaces and EST stickers. I want to you send the shirts to WWE shop and we will work on the necklaces and stickers. I want to start this as soon as possible. Also, you will have a tag team match with a partner of your choosing versus your opponents-Io and Kairi. It’ll be a test to see how can you handle them before your takeover match. Now seeing as you need a partner but you caused so many females to be concussed, injured, or they can’t stand your attitude, this would be a tough task for you. Good luck.”

Main event: Io and Kairi are seen in the ring making funny faces and chatting. They’re waiting for Bianca and her “partner”. Bianca music hits and she comes out with a mic. “Oh it’s the Japanese girls that theses no- life marks love. (mockingly yawn). The wannabe pirate princess and the moonsault chick. Io, you’re too busy pleasing theses fans with moonsaults that you can’t win. You was on the biggest stage of you career at Evolution and you didn’t win the MYC. I studied you while I was in the crowd and watched you fail. You’re all hype. A flash in the pan. Meanwhile I been dominating and destroying every female NXT in front of me. So you can go back to Stardom, sweetie. And then we got NXT’s pirate princess- Kairi Sane. You have something I want. You’re in-sane if you think you’re gonna keep that “treasure” forever. You might have beaten me before but I’m more dangerous. I will beat you too at Takeover New York. But tonight, I needed to find a partner and while I have been a bitch to everyone (smirks because she doesn’t regret it), I found someone that can’t stand you too as much as me.” Out comes NXT bougee chick, Aliyah. She has been under appreciated and undervalue and she’s sick of tired of girls like Shayna, Io and Kairi get spotlight over her. The bell ring and Bianca and Aliyah isolates Kairi from Io early on. They take turns tagging each other out after one move to Kairi keeping her in the corner. They attack Kairi’s ribs as much as possible. Bianca has the headlock on Kairi while smirking at Io. She gets aggressive with it and wants to hear Kairi scream. Aliyah runs to Io on the apron and knock her down. Bianca picks up Kairi and hit the forearm. 1-2, Kairi kicks out. Bianca picks up her up but Kairi hits Bianca hard with a brutal strike. They both collapsed and head to their corners. They both get the hot tags and Io goes crazy on Aliyah. Io’s fastpace is too much for Aliyah and she wants out the match. Io toys with Aliyah and tells her to go to her corner. Aliyah goes to tag Bianca. Bianca looked at this and was disgusted:” She can’t do one thing. I might as well did this myself. However this is a tag team match and I won’t eat the pin. Therefore my undefeated streak will still be alive.,” she thought. As Aliyah reaches her hand out, Bianca jumps down off the apron. “ I don’t need this. I have a Takeover match. I have a title match to prepare for. You got this, Aliyah. I “believe” in you.”, Bianca says. As she heads up the ramp, Kairi gets on the steel steps, forearms Bianca in the face, and they brawl up the ramp. They head to the back meanwhile Io hits the moonsault on Aliyah. 1-2-3 Io and Kairi win the match. Io looks for Kairi and she knows something is wrong. Meanwhile Kairi and Bianca are battling towards the NXT women’s lockerroom. Kairi slams Bianca head on the table and screams. Bianca slaps Kairi and grabs her hair. She hits Kairi with her hairwhip multiple times. She then put Kairi on the lockerroom door. She backs up and spears Kairi threw the door. All the girls in the lockerroom look shock and awe. Bianca has gotten so out of control that they wished they had Shayna back. This is Bianca before she wins the title. How will she be after she wins the title. Bianca gets up, looks at Kairi, then look at the other NXT girls. “I DID THAT! WHAT YALL GONNA DO? YALL WONT STEP TO ME! IM THE BEST!”,she says. Deonna rolls her eyes, Mia just glares as her, Lacey Lane, MJ Jenkins just walk out, and Dakota looks concerned for Kairi. Bianca smirks and watches as Kairi sits up hold her bruise ribs. She kicks Kairi down one last time and says “I’m gonna send you back to Stardom.” She then grabs her stuff and heads out. Io comes in shortly after, shocked to what happened at Kairi and says she’s gonna get her revenge on Bianca.

During the next few weeks till Takeover, Bianca is preparing her most intense training for the biggest match of her career. Her latest results deadlifts 450 lbs, finishes the 10-yard reverse ground start sprint in 2.25 seconds, the overhead medicine ball toss with 40 feet, 2 inches. She wants to outdo herself. Anytime she has low results, she push herself harder. It finally hit her while training that she’s competing on Mania weekend. She always dreamed on competing on Mania. While last year she had a OMG moment and showed the world what she had in, she was on the preshow. She knew she deserve better than the preshow. She’s more than that. Meanwhile, her custom merch (in above photos) she created has sold out instantly. She has to make more merch each day due to how marketable it is. She was making the company money. Also, her fanbase was growing rapidly. Of course you have those wrestling fans who don’t get what EST but ignorance is bliss. This week was also special due to tomorrow. Next week is Bianca’s birthday (April 9th). She can’t wait to celebrate but first Bianca has business to take care of. Bianca then heads to the arena where she is set for an interview with Cathy Kelly. She approaches Cathy, scoffs at her, then said “Did you see what I did last week? Or this past few weeks? Or what I been doing on WWE Shop? Have y’all been taking notice? I am taking over. This won’t be NXT. I will be EST as in I run this show. I am Bianca Belair and I am undefeated. Now ask me a stupid question. “

Cathy:” How do you feel that -“

Bianca:”I DONT CARE what you want to know. You will see this SAT-“ She couldn’t finish her sentence because Io and Kairi attacks her from behind. They brawled until Bianca shoves Io into Kairi. “I save y’all the beating this Saturday. I’m done.”

Takeover Mania has come around. Everything was worth Bianca getting here. It was the biggest match of her life and its time to shut her critics up. Time to finally prove she belongs here. Time to prove she’s not all hype and she is the best this company has seen. She has her family coming out to see her. She heads to the ring in new gold and white gear. Gold and white symbolizing her shining bright as a star.Its also a tribute to her husband for supporting so much throughout her career. She demanded Regal for a big entrance so she got pyro and Wrestle Flow to rap her theme song. After she gets in the ring, she enjoy the sound of the Takeover fans. Huge EST chants and some boos. Out comes Io and Bianca rolls her eyes at the sight of her. Io has something to prove to tonight. She has spectacular matches but she didn’t win the MYC. Out comes the dark horse and NXT women’s champion, Kairi Sane. She has her ribs taped but she plays to defend her title and beat that arrogant entitled girl for disrespecting everyone. The match starts and Bianca immediately gets out the ring. She does jumping jacks and pull ups. Io and Kairi stares at her telling her to get in the ring. “Y’all can fight. Yall go.”, Bianca says. She wants them to weaken each other so she can capitalize. Io shrugs and they tie up. As Io and Kairi wrestle, Bianca studies them both. She couldn’t find a weakness with Io while watching her Stardom tapes. She was fastpace, strikes hard, she wrestles any style due to her opponents. She is a superb striker, can perform incredible jaw dropping aerial manoeuvres, and is a swift & gifted technical wrestler. She has to outsmart Io in some form. She shakes out of her thought and see the crowd praising in aw over Io and Kairi. Io has Kairi ready for the 619. As Io comes to the ring, Bianca gets in and forearms her almost out the ring. Bianca soaks in the boos and powerslam Kairi down. She then does the squatting suplex, the running split-legged body slamm, and the standing moonsault to Kairi. What wowed the crowd even more was her hitting the standing shooting star press. Her husband -Montez- encouraged her to use it for tonight. She then puts Kairi in a ground swinging full Nelson and gets aggressive with it. Bianca smirks as she knows she got this in the bag. Kairi screams in pain but the crowd tries to rally behind the crowd. Kairi reverses and gets goes crazy. She hits the hard hitting strikes. She hits the axe kick and Tokyo slam. She sends Bianca in the corner and hits the Sliding D to her. Kairi tries to get Bianca up but Bianca slides out the ring. She tries to run away but Io is right behind her. “Look we can talk this out, guys., right”. Kairi was ready to strike. She punches but Bianca ducks. Kairi decks Io and Bianca smirks. She swings Kairi to the steps and puts her in the ring. She climbs on the top turnbuckle and hits the 450 splash. 1-2-3. Bianca Belair has become NXT women’s champion. “I FUCKING DID IT”, she says. She looks at the NXT women’s title. Everything lead to this. All the hard work, training, and strategy. Now that she has the NXT women’s title, she’s never relinquishing it. It’s hers. She snatched it out the refs hands and holds in it Kairi’s face. She enjoys the fans reaction and soaks it all in. She then blows a kiss to the crowd, smirks at her family, then heads to the back as she says” I never needed you at all.” 12-0

NXT opens up with all the NXT women surrounding the ring and HHH in the ring. He has the NXT women’s Championship on a podium. “There has been a rising star in the NXT for a little while now. We first saw her at the MYC as a breakout star. Her athletic background showed for the two matches she had and the crazy thing is is that she just started wrestling. She signed to WWE in 2016 as Bianca Blair. Track star. CrossFit. Scholar. And now you new NXT Women’s Champion. The fastest. The roughest. The baddest. All she asked for was one shot and her delivering was a understatement. After all she is UN DE FEAT TED. So let’s bring out the lady.” Hairwhip crackles and Bianca’s music plays. Bianca (with her hair down) and fancy clothes skips to the ring. Deonna rolls her eyes, Io stares at her, Mia plays on her phone, and even Dakota mocks Bianca. Kairi still there... motionless. They couldn’t stand her attitude and the fact she’s NXT Champion is even worse. Her ego gonna get bigger. Bianca climbs in the ring, hugs HHH, smiles so hard and says: “None of you believed in me but I did. None of you wanted me to succeed. Seeing a successful black woman win makes y’all scared and insecured. Especially one that knows her worth. I knew mine so I didn’t back down because y’all cheer for these “indie” girls. I fought harder. I trained harder. I told all of you “I’m better than y’all”. I beat every girl this company put in front of me so far. Me. Nikki Cross. Dakota Kai. Deonna. Lacey Lane. Candice Larea. Kairi Sane. and even Io Shirai. There’s more but I can’t remember all the mediocre names who aren’t ME. I beat all the “best women’s wrestlers y’all claim”. Therefore, that makes me the BEST. ME. IM THE BEST and I will be the best NXT women’s champion of all time.” She drops the mic and stares at the NXT women’s division. She goes to Kairi direction and says “GO BACK TO STARDOM. That’s the only way you can succeed.” Kairi tries to get in the ring but Deonna, Mia, and Dakota holds her back. Kairi is angrily screaming and the girls are taking her to the back. Bianca is laughing up a storm until someone gets in the ring right behind her. She turns around to a smiling Io. “You. Still. Didn’t. Beat.... ME”. Bianca just scoffs and walks out the ring.

Regal put in place Kairi a leave of absense to rest for her rematch so she’s ready. In the meantime, he scheduled two women matches. These matches consist of opponents Bianca beaten recently. Whoever wins these matches will face off next week to see who is Bianca’s contender. These the first match, it’ll be Deonna vs Mia Yim. The second match is Dakota Kai vs Lacey Lane vs Io Shirai (she still haven’t pinned Io). First match ends with Mia hitting Soul Food from the top rope. Mia is celebrating but Bianca comes out and just raises her title.

Next week, camera men and medical staff run to the scene. They rush to see Io clutching her leg. She says her leg is in serious pain. She said she was attacked by someone. Who was it? Was it Bianca? Was it one of her opponents: Dakota or Lacey Lane? William said he will investigate but to protect Io, he will have to take her out the match. He announced that Dakota Kai vs Lacey Lane will be the main event. As this is happening, you see Bianca in the background smirking.

Mia Yim vs Lacey Evans. Yim defeated Evans with Soul Food. She’s still going for that title and Bianca.

Main Event: Bianca comes out and sits on commentary. She’s raising up a storm, giving commentary so much attitude, and boasting herself. Dakota vs Lacey Lane. Dakota kicks and Lacey’s fastpace. Bianca doesn’t like the attention on her so she tries to cause a scene. Dakota and Lacey ignore it tho and the finish is: Lacey trying to hit the crucifix bomb, Dakota counters, runs into the ropes and hits the Kai-ropractor. 1-2-3. Dakota Kai has won. Dakota and Bianca has previous history. Bianca smirks. Then Mia comes out, looks at Bianca, blows a kiss to her, and heads to the ring. Her and Dakota have a staredown then they shake hands. Bianca gets in the ring and says “IM THE EST. WHO ARE YOU? I BEATEN BOTH OF YOU.” Bianca fucked up because next thing she knows she’s being attacked by both Dakota and Mia. Mia hits Soul Food then Dakota hits Kai-ropractor. They high fived as Bianca just stares angrily at them.

Next week (Late April time):

Deonna vs Mercedes Martinez. Hard hitting technical match. Mercedes Martinez wins and she’s gunning for the NXT title.

Bianca is furious. She was embarrass last week. She has to get revenge in some form. This is short because William Regal approaches her about where was she the time Io was attacked. She says she was with the Street Profits in the hallway. She saw the commotion and saw Io laying. William said he will investigate and she better hope “she’s not lying”.

Main event time: Mia vs Dakota Kai. So many kicks in this match. Dakota wins when with three kicks in the corner and a Kai-ropractor. Dakota has unleashed this new side of her. She has been tired of being treated like a child and bullied. She will kick another head off who tries her this time. She wins the match and Bianca just stands on the ramp. She claps slowly and whispers “Un de feat ted”. Bianca vs Dakota Kai is set and the match will happen two weeks.

Next week: William is still investigating. Bianca’s alibi checked out. She was cleared (for now). In the meantime, Bianca wanted a match. While she wasn’t in the ring after her Takeover match, she was training in the Performance Center. So Bianca wanted to do a open challenge for anyone. She wanted to give someone the spotlight of embarrassment. “WHO WANTS TO FACE ME? WHO WANTS TO GET THE BEATING IF THEIR LIFE? I NEED A WARMUP”. Out comes Mercedes Martinez. Bianca is a little shook but tries to shake it off. Athleticism and the toughest match of Bianca’s match. So many rear falls and Bianca can’t believe Mercedes is actually giving her a tough fight. Mercedes is dominating her more than Bianca. However the finish has Bianca rakes Mercedes in the eyes and rolls her up for the pin. Bianca wins, goes celebrate like she just won the title again and skips up the ramp. “IM UNDEFEATED “ she says as Mercedes is pissed. Then you see Dakota behind her and she blast Bianca. They brawl down the ramp and she sends Bianca in the ring. Mercedes hits the FisherMan Buster on Bianca then nods to Dakota.13-0

Next week:

William is still conducting his investigation and reviewing the tapes. The person had all black and covered their face. He puts Lacey Lane vs Deonna vs Lacey Evans. Deonna taps out Lacey Evans

Main event time. Bianca was frustrated. She can’t let what happened last week happen tonight. If she cheats again that means the division is seeing her sweat them. She must keep it together. She’s been training all week upping her game. Dakota been going at a crazier style as of late. This is her opportunity and she will kick Bianca’s head off. The match goes underway and Dakota goes off early. Multiple kicks to Bianca’s face. She goes for a fourth kick but Bianca forearms her. Bianca dominates for the latter half. Dakota kept fighting. She hit Kai- ropractor, goes for the pin, 1-2-2.99. Bianca barely kicks out. Dakota thought she had it. Dakota goes for Kai-ropractor again but Bianca grabs her and military presses her against the turnbuckle. Then as Dakota walks backwards due to selling, Bianca grabs her and hits KOD. She knows that’s not enough. She grabs Dakota again, hits KOD, goes for the pin.1.2.3. Bianca retained the NXT Women’s Champion. She smirks and stomps on Dakota. She leaves and Dakota gets an ovation from the crowd. She whispers: “Thank You”. 14-0

(May time). Kairi Sane is back and all healed up. She wants her title. She wants her revenge and she wants to destroy Bianca Belair. She seen Bianca reck havoc on the NXT division while she’s been gone and she’s sick of it. William Regal makes it official that at NXT Takeover Chicago, Bianca will defend her championship against Kairi Sane. Kairi Sane requested a stipulation: No disqualification. No countout. Falls Count Anywhere.

The next week of NXT, Kairi would have her return match on NXT against Vanessa Bourne. Vanessa just posing before the match, laughing at Kairi and when the bell rings... Kairi snapped to say the least. She pumbles Bourne to a wreck. She went off with strikes, kicks, and three diving elbows to Vanessa. This wasn’t the pirate princess NXT fell in love with. This was a vicious Kairi. The match was thrown out and officials came down to to fight Kairi off Vanessa. Meanwhile, Bianca (relaxing at a pool) appears on the titantron. “And they call me ridiculous. At least I own up to myself 24/7. Kairi you act innocent but deep down you and I know you have nothing about being a true champion. You get everything handed to you because of your stardom days while I have to work twice as hard and finally get what I deserve. You wanna act tough? Well at Takeover you better be tough because what I’m gonna do to you is will be considered ... an ASSWHOOPING. Now carry on.” Kairi just grabbed a mic and shouted in Japanese that she’s gonna kick Bianca’s ass then leaves.

William Regal put in place that Bianca and Kairi would not touch each other time Takeover. They have a contract signing in Regals office. “This is the MYC rematch from two years ago. Both of you have grown from that match but this match has more stakes involve. An undefeated streak, pride, a championship and respect..”Bianca interrupts,” Respect? Respect? No one respected me when I got here. The fans didn’t. You didn’t. She definitely didn’t. You got critics saying I’m not Takeover or championship worthy. But you know what? I don’t need their respect because I got THIS (referring to the NXT women’s title) and no one and NOTHING (looking at Kairi) is taking this from me. I’m suppose to take a pirate princess seriously? One minute she wants to be a pirate and the next she wants to be champion. Give me a break. At Takeover, I will break you and leave you a mess till the point that you wish you wasn’t a wrestler and you rather actually BE a pirate.” Bianca signs the contract and Kairi just glares at her, grabs a mic and says “I beat you once. Undefeated doesn’t matter. I will beat you again and again and again.” Kairi signs and they just glared at each other until Bianca just blows as kiss to her.

Takeover time. Bianca vs Kairi for the NXT women’s title. No disqualification. No countout. This match is more intense then their MYC match. Bianca controls early but Kairi loses it. Strikes and kicks.They battled on the outside. Bianca takes a chair and hits Kairi in the ribs. She place a chair on Kairi’s chair and hits the 450. She puts the chair on the side and goes for the pin. Kairi kicks out. Kairi reaches for a kendo stick and hits Bianca many times. Kairi is going ruthless. She wants Bianca to pay to costing her happiness. She hit her and Bianca runs in the ring. Just as Kairi gets in the ring, Bianca forearms her. She gets the steel steps from outside, and hits KOD with Kairi hitting the steps. 1-2-3. Bianca Belair retains the NXT women’s title. Kairi gave her a fight of her life and that was the most intense match. Bianca grabs her title and is about to leave. She turns about and beats up Kairi. This is until a returning Io makes the save. She beats down Bianca but Bianca gets out the ring. She then gets on he mic and reveal it was Bianca that attacked her. She says Bianca is scared of being second best and that’s why she attacked Io. Bianca just used her husband to cover her. She says that at spoke to Regal and at Takeover Toronto in a I Quit Match (in the main event), she will face Bianca for the NXT champion and prove who’s really the best. Bianca has a temper tantrum as Io helps up Kairi. 15-0

Bianca And Io train so much for this match. They studied so much of their opponents. This match was build as EST vs the Greatest Female wrestler ever. I Quit Match. Bianca plans to prove she’s the greatest female of all time. Bianca even did open challenges for the NXT women’s championship with Mia, Deonna, and Mercedes challenging her. Each match getting more intense for Bianca. She defeated all of them but was those matches enough for her to beat Io. 19-0

NXT Takeover Toronto. Io Shirai vs Bianca Belair as the main event. I Quit Match. , Kairi, Mark Henry, Sasha, Bayley, and Ember are in the crowd. Bianca tries to attack Io’s leg but Io is too fast for Bianca. Bianca gets an upper hand and forearms her. She taunts and bows to the crowd. Throughout the match, the ref ask do they want to quit. They refused. 619s. Forearms. Military press. A preview of their match The finish of the match comes when Bianca wants to outdo Io. She wants to hit a moonsault. She goes on the top turnbuckle. She goes flying but Io moves. Bianca crashes. Io takes Bianca’s hair and uses her hair against her to hook Bianca in a crossface. Bianca frighten tries to go to the ropes. The camera briefly pans to Sasha Banks. She However, Io moves to the middle of the ropes. Bianca tries to get out of it but Io was making it worse for her by pulling the braid harder. Bianca finally says “I QUIT! I QUIT!” and she is DE FEAT ED. She taps out. Io submitted her. Io Shirai is the new NXT women’s champion. The entire NXT women’s division comes out and roots for Io. Io just can’t stop smiling. Bianca gets up and just feels disappointed. She let herself down. That’s until Sasha Banks pulls her up and hugs her:” You did amazing. Don’t let this loss hurt you. Learn from it. You’re still the EST because you main evented a Takeover. Just wait till you’re main evented a Ppv. And maybe one day we can face off”. Bianca smirks and just said “ I never needed you at all”.

And that’s my booking. Bianca Belair becomes a star. I’ll start on my Sasha vs Bianca feud soon.

#wwe #wwe bianca belair #wwe io shirai

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thecollegefootballguy · 5 years

Text

My Trip to the 2019 College Football Championship Game!

The 2018 season had its ups and downs but after all of that excitement it became clear that two teams were the obvious choices to play for the National Championship. Alabama and Clemson went a perfect 12-0 in the regular season and won their respective conference championships. They then plowed through their semifinal opponents with ease, setting up a title game that would be completely undisputed, featuring the only two choices to be called the best team in the nation for the 2018 season.

Maybe the matchup was boring, after all there are 130 teams in the highest division of football and for the fourth straight year the winner of national title was going to be either the Alabama Crimson Tide or the Clemson Tigers. Boring yes, but they’re in the game because they’re the most deserving. Plain and simple.

It did seem like people were getting a bit fatigued for this fourth go-around. After all, ticket prices started to fall once Notre Dame and Oklahoma got knocked out of the running. Though I’m sure a lot of it also had to do with fans of these Southeast universities checking the cost of travelling to the Bay Area on short notice after the match was set and thinking twice. Their loss was my gain.

I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. I moved to San Diego to attend SDSU and spent a good 5 years in sunny SD before moving back up to the Bay around this time last year. It was quite a fun coincidence then that the College Football National Championship Game would come to Levi’s Stadium the year that I made my return. My dad--who introduced me to college football and sports in general--and I had been planning on going until the cold reality of paying $1500 per ticket hit us in the face. It was a nice thought, but ultimately too hard to swallow. Then, in late December, the prices started to fall. I wish I could say we waited until they bottomed out around $150, but we were too excited to have that kind of patience.

Just to be cautious, we took public transit to the game. We knew that it would be a hassle to drive to the stadium, it turns into a zoo when we went to 49er games. Plus you never know what kind of state you’re in after being around football for most of a day. We took the Caltrain, the SF to SJ commute, down from our station and my dad began chatting up a nice couple from Huntsville, Alabama in the seats across from us. Their son was in the band and they were nervous about the game. My dad told them not to worry, he was fully confident in a Tide victory. They asked me and I said I wasn’t that certain.

We changed over to the VTA, the local light rail, along with the Bama couple. My dad gave a guided tour of the Silicon Valley offices that we passed to the couple, who snapped pictures at the nondescript, box shaped buildings where Google, Amazon, Yahoo, and Youtube make their magic happen. At the Great America stop we bade them goodbye and good luck, and sauntered over to the pregame tailgate. It was around noon and the game wasn’t going to start until the evening.

We slipped through the still rather small-ish crowds, past the ESPN booth and its caravan of buses, and made our first trip to the beer and merch stands. I had to pause and admire one of the food areas: there was brisket and pulled pork for the Southerners who made the trek but also crab fries for the locals. We wandered around as the crimson and orange fans kept filtering in. Every once in a while we’d encounter the odd unaffiliated passerby, most of them wearing PAC-12 shirts and occasionally the out of place Silicon Valley techie taking in the scene. I got a few compliments on my SDSU sweatshirt. One kind old Alabama fan stopped me and asked if I went to South Dakota State, he had kids and grandkids who went to the USD. I had to let him down gently.

We got our pulled pork and crab fries, whose preparation likely pleased few of the fans in attendance, and went down to a tented area with tables to eat. I spotted perhaps the only open table in the tent the same time as a Clemson fan and we agreed to share. He was a nice guy and was at the game with his parents and uncle. We chatted for a while about various sports history moments that a Clemson man could share with a Bay Area family. Dwight Clark was mentioned more than once (later that night we passed by his statue on the way out). His group came over after a while, having spent time in the now considerable lines forming around the food and drink. After a nice half hour or so of conversation we went our separate ways, but not before my dad and I were gifted the famed $2 bills, with a perfect orange paw print stamped in each one.

We spent the next few hours hanging out, waiting for the game to start. We bought merch, bought drinks, and watched the predominantly orange crowd start to buzz with a nervous energy. Alabama fans were concentrated on the other side of the stadium. I checked twitter and felt tried not to feel angry that my favorite accounts were making fun of the projected low attendance. It seemed like every Greenville, Mobile, and San Rafael resident who made the trip was having a good time. Then again, the game hadn’t started yet.

I’ve written nine paragraphs and the game hasn’t begun so let’s fast forward a bit. My dad and I were comfortable in our fancy indoor digs but we just had to be outside for kickoff. We walked the long way around the stadium and up and up and up to out seats. We were one row below the highest in the house, and smack dab in Tuscaloosa West. The anthem and flyover went off without a hitch, and suddenly we had a football game on our hands. Oh yeah, and the stands were full after all of that fuss made by the press.

Clemson’s first drive isn’t worth mentioning but Alabama’s certainly was. On the Crimson Tide’s third offensive play of the game Tua Tagovailoa, undefeated in his college career, gave up a shocking pick six to put the Tigers up 7-0. No matter, on the third offensive play of the second drive, Tagovailoa threw a bomb to Jerry Jeudy to even things up. Then on four plays the Tigers scored. And Bama marched right back down the field.

We watched the first four drives of the game, which was turning into a very unexpected score-fest, high up in our seats before we began to make our way to warmth of the United Club.

[Redacted because we snuck in to a better part of the stadium and I can’t say how]

It’s a good thing the first quarter turned out to be so long, we didn’t actually miss a whole lot. The game was developing in a strange manner. By the time we got indoors and got some food Clemson had grown their lead to 28-16 midway through the second quarter. My dad noted that the Tigers hadn’t actually stopped Alabama on any drive. The Tide had scored two touchdowns, kicked a field goal, and Tua had thrown two very ill-advised passes that were intercepted. It definitely felt like a near-even game, with Bama slightly outplaying the Tigers but nothing to show for it.

In the last minutes of the first half Clemson finally got a stop and not for the last time either.

Halftime was spent indoors away from the marching bands. The only college football tradition I’ve never enjoyed went totally ignored on my end. A million dollar band can’t buy my attention, my apologies to that nice couple from Huntsville.

The third quarter was surreal. Suddenly Alabama couldn’t score to save their lives. The Tide spent minutes and minutes grinding out drives that went nowhere against a defense that had solved them. The fake field goal was just the beginning. Bama couldn’t convert on 4th down in three straight attempts. Meanwhile Clemson made every possible (and perhaps impossible) play conceivable to score. The scoreboard crept up from 31-16 to 38-16 to 44-16 before the third quarter was even up.

Back in the United Club, we were again sitting in a predominantly orange part of the stadium and the atmosphere was charged. When the Tigers began to pull away the feeling was a nervous excitement, then giddiness. By the fourth quarter it was absolute delirium. It wasn’t just obvious that Clemson was going to win, it was obvious that they were about to absolutely embarrass the alleged best team in football. The Alabama machine, the dynasty of the 2010′s, was being completely humiliated on the biggest stage in the sport.

This wasn’t some flukey upset like the A&M, Ole Miss, and, yes, the earlier Clemson title in years past. This was a mauling. Nick Saban’s Alabama hadn’t lost like this EVER. This was Saban’s best offense on what looked like his best team and they were getting lapped by the understudy. Dabo Swinney, a former backup wide receiver for the Tide, had built--essentially from scratch--a program that could BTFO of Alabama on a good day. And it was a pretty good day for those Tigers.

And we still had the fourth quarter. It passed pretty quickly. Alabama was still futilely grinding out long drives that went nowhere, but now Clemson joined in bleeding the clock dry. They could've hung 50 on Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide if they’d wanted to, but against the wishes of the more vindictive (and scorned) fanbases, the Tigers pulled the plug. The last few minutes were a bit of an anticlimax, the game had been won, some time just had to be spent to make it official.

The confetti cannons sprayed out the orange and the Clemson band played, though I never got a handle on what the cheer was. If it was fun for an outside observer it must have been exultant for the tens of thousands of Tiger fans who made the trip, and the thousands more who were watching on tv.

I’ll cut my travelogue short here. I stayed for another hour enjoying myself before my dad and I slowly made our way home. The denouement felt good but is hard to verbalize.

What I would like to say is a great, big thank you to all of the Alabama and Clemson fans who traveled so far to see their teams play. I had a great time and both fan bases were perfectly charming the whole way through. I’ll forgive the one bit of bad behavior I saw when a despondent Tide fan in a sea of orange had words with a guy in an OU sweatshirt who was hollering his way. I doubt I could’ve composed myself any better. If looks could kill.

I couldn’t fit this in anywhere else but before I go I must comment on the weather. It rained buckets the days before the game and hasn’t let up since. I’m sure it dampened the plans of most of the tourists who came out in droves, many of whom had never seen the Golden State before. But, just like the Rose Bowl, whenever there’s a special game to be played, clear skies of sunny California suddenly appear. There’s some kind of magic attached to it, I’m certain.

It was a strange feeling watching that game. For once in my life I was watching sports without a vested emotional interest. It was a very liberating feeling going in without a nauseous nervousness or the thought of “what if?” permeating the game.

Thank you all for reading if you made it this far. This was a pretty singular moment in my life as a college football fan so I wanted to cover it properly and give all of my thoughts. I hope you don’t mind the extra details, I’m sure you were watching it yourselves so you didn’t need the straight retelling anyway.

I should also probably thank my dad for getting me into football, paying for my college, and buying the tickets.

-thecfbguy

#College Football Playoff #2019 Championship Game #College Football Playoff National Championship Game #Clemson Tigers #Alabama Crimson Tide

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