#Chess progress tracking

[chesstrainer24]

Chess has always been a game of intellect, strategy, and foresight. In the digital age, mastering chess has become more accessible than ever. A Personalized Approach to Improvement is essential for any player aiming to elevate their skills and compete at higher levels. With the advent of chess training programs and interactive chess tutorials, players can now receive tailored guidance and instruction from the comfort of their homes.

Do Read: https://chesstrainer.com/online-chess-training-a-personalized-approach-to-improvement/

[xxplastic-cubexx]

they gotta let me out this classroom i have old man yaoi to draw

[itsnesss]

𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐩𝟐𝟎 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝟏𝟎 | oliver bearman × fem!reader

summary | you watch nervously as ollie starts the race in p20. with every lap, he climbs the ranks, overtaking one driver after another. the crowd roars as he reaches p10, defying all odds

warnings | gf!reader, fluff, romantic, kisses, competition stress

word count | 1.1 k

🖇️ more ob87 🖇️ f1 masterlist

The first lap is always the hardest. The deafening roar of the engines, the heat from the asphalt, and the feeling that every turn could be the last. All of this surrounds you as you watch the start of the race from the grandstands. No matter how many times you've seen it, it's just as exciting. But today, the nerves are different. Today, everything is focused on Ollie.

The green light flashes, and the engines roar as the cars speed off. At the start, Ollie is in P20. The position isn't ideal, and you know he has a long road ahead to get where everyone wants him to be. But it's not the first time he's been in this situation. The difference is that today, something feels different.

You watch him in his car, focused, eyes on the road ahead with a determination that makes you feel that, in some way, he is destined to exceed expectations. His team's car isn't one of the fastest, but Ollie has something the other drivers don't have: his ability to read the track, his patience, and, above all, his ability to stay calm even when everything seems to be against him.

The race clock ticks on, and you wonder how long it will take until you see him take the first turn. The team has hope in him, but to be realistic, the odds aren't in his favor. However, you've always believed Ollie can surprise, that he has something the others don't expect.

In the early laps, he makes his way through the traffic. Every overtaking is a victory. P20 to P18. P18 to P16. Despite the small advances, there's still a long way to go, but something in his driving makes you feel that he has it all under control. He doesn't let the desperation of overtaking quickly drive him, but instead, he goes at his own pace, taking advantage of every opportunity without forcing things.

The radio crackles again, and his engineer's voice rings in your ears.

Engineer: “Ollie, P16, there’s still a long way to go. Stay calm, don’t rush it.”

Ollie nods, his focus unwavering. You know that even though you can't see it, in his mind, he’s analyzing every turn, every overtaking, every change in strategy. There’s something almost magnetic about the way he moves on the track, like time bends around him.

As the laps progress, the group of drivers in the middle of the pack becomes denser. This is where Ollie begins to show his true talent. On a brutal braking maneuver on turn 3, he overtakes two drivers who didn't expect his move. The crowd erupts in applause. The other teams didn't see it coming. Ollie's ability to read the track and anticipate the moves of others puts him in a privileged position.

Engineer: "P12! You’re doing it, Ollie! The top 10 is within reach.”

You, from the stands, feel your whole body tremble. Not only because of the impressive maneuver but because you know him so well. You know this isn’t just luck, that the position he's in now isn’t an accident. Ollie is playing with the others, like a chess player anticipating every move before it happens.

The circuit is a maze of speed, and even though there are other drivers fighting for positions, you can't help but notice how Ollie seems to be in a league of his own. Each overtaking is more calculated than the last. On turn 5, you see a driver blocking the path, but Ollie, with the skill of a professional, takes advantage of the space to overtake without putting his own car at risk. He reaches P11.

Engineer: “P11, Ollie! The top 10 is within reach. Keep the focus.”

The tension rises, and the atmosphere around you becomes almost unbearable. Every time Ollie overtakes another driver, he seems to be closer to achieving what seemed impossible at the start of the race. P20, a disadvantaged position that seemed to dictate the rhythm of his day, now feels like a distant memory, and he’s proving that nothing is impossible.

On the final lap, the weather changes. Some drivers begin to make mistakes under the pressure. One of them slides on a turn, and Ollie seizes the space to overtake them effortlessly. P10 is his. The top 10, the position he had been aiming for all race long, is now a reality.

The checkered flag waves. The crowd erupts in cheers. You've seen it, you've felt it. Ollie, who started so far back, has done what few thought was possible. The car crosses the finish line in P10, and you, among the crowd, feel like you're floating. You’ve lived every second, every lap, every overtaking. You knew he could do it, but seeing him pull it off is an indescribable feeling.

When you finally see him, Ollie is out of the car, sweaty, with a satisfied smile on his face. He quickly walks toward where you are, his breath heavy but his expression relaxed.

“I did it. I made it. P10. Incredible, right?”

You can’t help but smile, his grin is contagious. You see him as a champion, just as you’ve always seen him: unstoppable, determined, but above all, with a heart full of passion for what he does. Sweat drips from his face, but the light in his eyes is what stands out the most. He comes even closer, and you can't resist the urge to hug him, to wrap your arms around him as you sink into the feeling of having lived that moment as intensely as he did.

“I knew it. I knew you’d do it. I always knew you had what it takes to be there.”

You hug him tightly, and for a moment, the whole world seems to stop. The roar of the crowd fades as he, with one hand on your back, holds you and looks you directly in the eyes. There's something in his gaze, something deep, that makes you feel like nothing else matters except this moment.

“Thanks for being there. I wouldn't have made it without you.”

His voice is low, almost a whisper, but clear enough for you to hear. Before you can respond, he pulls you by the waist, and without warning, his lips meet yours in a kiss that’s gentle yet filled with emotion. It’s a kiss of celebration, but also of complicity, of everything you’ve shared together up to this moment.

When you break apart, he looks at you with a mischievous smile, his eyes shining brighter than ever.

“This is just the beginning, you know?”

You, blushing, can’t help but smile too. You feel like everything that has led you here, everything you’ve experienced with Ollie, has been a journey that’s only just beginning.

And in that moment, with the sound of the engines fading and the crowd beginning to disperse, you realize that this isn’t the end of anything. It’s just a new beginning, one that you and Ollie will share.

[sadgayeddie]

I close my eyes and all I see is you, buddie, 3,5k words, mature

“Dad. Has anyone ever told you that you’re gay? I think you might be gay.” Chris finally asks the question we have all wanted to ask Eddie Diaz for years.

“Dad. Has anyone ever told you that you’re gay? I think you might be gay.”

“I’m sorry?”

“I’m just saying, Dad. It would kinda… track. You know. With your history and everything.”

“Chris, what are you talking about? I’m not gay.”

“Dad.”

“Why would you even think that? I mean, not that there would be anything wrong with that, obviously, I know a lot of gay people and I love them and you know I would still love you if–”

“Dad! I know that, but I’m not gay. You are.”

Eddie pulls the car over. They’re on their way home from the El Paso Museum of Archaeology. After Chris moved in with Eddie and quit playing chess, they’ve been using the newly opened time slot to try to mend their relationship again by trying different things together. Slowly but surely they’ve opened up to each other and Eddie feels like they’re almost back to where they were before everything went down.

They’ve been talking about Shannon. About Kim. You made a mistake, Dad. And I just needed some space. About how Helena and Ramon kept Eddie in the dark and how they had been doing the same to Chris, thinking they were doing what was best for them both. They had been wrong. What was best for Eddie and Chris was for them to just… talk it out. It might not have worked right after it happened, but if Eddie had been brave enough he would have made it happen sooner than this. But he hadn’t been brave enough.

You don’t need to protect me, Dad. But it was hard. Protecting Chris was engraved in Eddie’s whole being. He had sworn from the day Chris was born that he was going to protect him from everything bad this cruel world had to offer, but he had failed, over and over and over again. Leaving him with Shannon. Twice. Having her leave him with Eddie. Leaving for LA with no plan for Chris. The tsunami. Chris running away. Kim. Not stopping Chris from leaving. Not going after Chris when he left. Waiting for Chris to say he wanted to come home. Waiting too long to go back to El Paso. He had failed countless times. The car comes to a stop.

Eddie sighs. “Care to share why you’ve come to this conclusion?”

“I think you’re gay,” Chris says, smiling with his whole face. “And in love with Buck. You’re always talking to him.”

Eddie’s heart skips a beat. Buck? That is, in fact, hilarious, he thinks. He is totally laughing out loud right now, slapping-his-knee-laughing-out-loud. Hollering. Except he’s not. He just sits there, hands still on the wheel, staring at Chris with his eyebrows up to his hairline.

“Dad, come on. It would make a lot of sense.”

“Chris. You know I’m straight. I loved your mom.”

“See? Loved mom. That’s past tense.”

“I will always love your mom.”

“Did you love Ana?”

He hadn’t loved Ana. That’s the reason it didn’t work out. He had wanted to love Ana so badly. She was the picture perfect person for him, and for Chris. Everything he wanted. Or, everything he thought he wanted in a partner. “No, I didn’t.” He owes Chris to be honest with what he does know, after all their progress.

“And Marisol?”

“I– no. No.”

“And Buck?”

His heart skips a beat again. Of course he loves Buck. But not like that .

“Chris. I love Buck, but he and I are just best friends, you know that. Just because he came out as bi doesn’t mean I am too.”

“I know that, dad. I said that you’re gay .”

He groans. “Please stop. We need to get home, it’s getting late.”

“Come on, Dad.”

Eddie signals and pulls out in traffic again. “I’m not gay. Okay? I’ve never even thought about it, anyway.”

Chris huffs. “Well, maybe that’s the point I’m trying to make.”

Eddie just shakes his head and doesn’t say anything. He’s not gay.

-

He’s… maybe a little gay, actually, when he thinks about it.

Eddie went to bed early. Chris was in his room on his computer anyway and was done hanging out with him for the day, and Eddie had no interest in rotting in front of the TV as he had done other nights. And Buck was on shift so he couldn’t talk to him either, not that he wanted to tell Buck about this anyway. He shifts in bed and tries to find a comfortable position, but everything feels uncomfortable. He tries for another ten minutes, maybe, before he gives in and grabs his phone from the bedside table.

“how do you know if you’re gay”

You feel sexually aroused when you see attractive people of the same gender as you. You've had crushes on people of the same gender as you in the past. Your past opposite-sex relationships have felt "off," uncomfortable, or not romantic or sexual. You have sexual fantasies about people of the same gender as you.

Eddie reads that third sentence again. Your past opposite-sex relationships have felt “off”, uncomfortable. Oh. He clicks in on the wikiHow article and scrolls down a little.

4. Reflect on your past relationships and how they made you feel. You can be gay even if you’ve had straight relationships in the past. Okay. Right. He continues reading. Think about who you dated in the past and how comfortable you felt in the relationship. Shannon. He loved her. Ana. She was nice. Marisol. Well. Ask yourself if you felt attracted to this person and what type of attraction you felt. This can help you figure out if you might be queer.

Eddie had been attracted to them. They’d had sex, and it had felt good. Maybe they’d never… done anything more than the normal stuff. He liked going down on them, them going down on him. He liked the way their soft skin felt under his fingers, and how nice it felt to be inside them. But anything else hadn’t really been interesting to him. With Shannon, they were still teens, and after she got pregnant, they tried to sometimes but it had felt wrong. And after Chris was born… he left. And then she left. And came back. And they used sex instead of talking. And with Ana... they didn’t sleep together until a while into their relationship, mostly because of Chris. But Marisol was a different thing. They had so much sex, all the time. But that stopped when he found out about the nun thing. But that was just the Catholic guilt, right? He scrolls down again until he finds something else that sounds interesting.

wikiHow Quiz: Am I Gay? Well. It won’t hurt. First question. Have you ever had feelings for a same-gender close friend?

These answers are… interesting. I think so. That’s why I’m taking this quiz. Well, he had never thought about it before. Wait, what’s the difference between a friendship and a crush? Shannon was his best friend when they got together. She made him feel warm and safe, and she made him laugh. She never made him nervous. Ana and Marisol had made him feel nervous. He had a panic attack at the thought of Ana being Chris’ mom. Marisol made him panic too, eventually. Oh. Don’t think so, but we’re so close people joke that we’re dating. Buck is his best friend. He makes him feel warm and safe. He makes Eddie laugh. Nope. We’re just friends.

He exits the browser and opens up the photos app and scrolls that instead. He doesn’t take that many photos, really, but the ones he has are of Chris, him and Chris, Chris and Buck. Him, Chris and Buck. Buck alone. Eddie takes a deep breath and sighs, long and loudly. Buck.

He rubs his eyes and chuckles, and opens up a picture he took of Buck a while back, standing in Eddie’s kitchen, apron on, holding out a dish looking so proud that Eddie just had to take a picture. Looked like one of those people who pose with a fish. But it’s Buck in an apron and Eddie is… so in love. He doesn’t need the quiz anymore.

He looks at the time and he really did go to bed early, it’s not even nine in LA. He calls Buck.

Buck answers quickly, and he sounds a bit worried. “Hey, Eddie, is everything alright? Is Chris okay?” Oh, right, Buck is on shift. He forgot.

“Everything’s fine! I just… um. How’s it going? You at work?” Eddie swears he needs to stop acting on impulse again.

“We just got back from a call, some kid got stuck in a swing. Got him out, safe and sound!” Buck’s voice is calm again and it makes Eddie’s whole body feel warm, knowing he will always want to know if Chris is okay first. Eddie loves him.

“That’s nice to hear. Kids, man.” Kids, man?

“So, what did you and Chris do tonight?”

“We uh– we went to a museum we haven’t been to before. It was fun. Nothing happened, really.” A lot of things had happened, actually.

“Eddie, are you sure you’re alright?”

“Yeah. I’m fine. I just wanted to… say hi.” He hesitates for a second and his voice goes a little quieter. “I miss you.”

Buck’s voice is soft when he replies. “I miss you too.” And then the alarm goes off. “I need to go. I’ll call you tomorrow, okay? Bye, bye, bye!” And he hangs up.

Eddie groans. How could he not know ?

Okay. So, he knows he’s in love with Buck. Chris was right about that. But the gay thing? Is he attracted to Buck? Is he attracted to men ? He had been honest with Chris that he had never thought about it. His mind had never even gone there. But Buck’s hadn’t either. He opens up his browser again, but this time he clicks incognito mode and grabs his AirPods. He only puts in one so he can still hear Chris if he needs something but he won’t risk him hearing what Eddie was about to do.

He’s familiar with the ordeal if he is in a rush to get off and his mind is tired. It isn’t often he does this, usually he does it in the shower. No clean up necessary, as a stress relief after work. When he does do this however, he searches for those real-life couple videos. He likes it when it feels like they actually enjoy it and there’s no exaggerating. This time, however, he adds “gay” to his search. His pulse goes up and he already feels his boxers tightening. Oh, that’s… interesting.

He clicks on a video with a good enough title and a thumbnail that doesn’t look too vulgar. He takes a deep breath and presses play. The two men in the video are on a bed, dressed in t-shirts and sweats, just kissing softly. One of them is stroking the other one’s face with his thumb and the other one’s hand is rubbing his side, fingers slowly exposing skin and Eddie shivers . He’s already hard. This does it for him? When he’s been watching porn before, he usually has to get to the actually fucking parts before he’s even there. He palms himself for relief.

The men in the video start grinding against each other and he can see their hard cocks through their sweats. The one who was rubbing his side slides his whole hand under the shirt and pulls it up, making them break the kiss to remove it. Sitting up, he can clearly see their tented sweats. Eddie groans as quietly as he can, looking over at the door to see that it’s really closed before he starts rubbing at his cock through his boxers.

He continues watching as they undress each other just to their boxers and the one on top has kissed his way down his body to mouth at the wet spot that’s clearly showing. Eddie’s sure his looks the same. He closes his eyes and thinks about Buck doing that to him. His lips would be swollen after all the kissing, his eyes would be big, the arousal making the blue almost disappear. He imagines Buck’s big, calloused hands, fingernails bitten down to the skin, stroking his hard cock through his boxers and he has to put his phone down to the side and put his fist against his mouth to stop the sound coming out from him. The audio keeps playing in his AirPod, but it’s enough. He finally slips his hand inside and wraps it around himself. He thinks about Buck, his hard cock rubbing against his own, their precome mixing, Eddie’s big hands wrapping around them both.

Oh. He’s definitely attracted to Buck. He’s just never… thought about it. And now when he is , he can’t stop. He’s thinking about his eyes, his lips, his birthmark that gets redder when he’s working out. How it would be intensely red during sex. Eddie’s stroking himself fast, imagining how Buck’s body would move against his, how good it would feel to kiss him, to touch him, to be inside him. Eddie comes. Hot and sudden and so intensely fast, just at the thought of fucking Buck. Oh, he’s down bad. The video is still playing in his ear and he’s pretty sure it hasn’t even been five minutes.

So. He’s definitely not straight. Maybe even gay, actually. And he’s in love with Buck. He should get Chris a present.

-

Buck calls him the next day when he gets off shift. Eddie’s dropped Chris off at school and he’s getting himself ready for another day of Uber driving. The only good thing about that is that he can choose his own hours, and right now he can be at home, trying to figure out what to say to Buck. It’s a FaceTime call. Eddie answers. Buck looks so soft.

“Hi.”

“Hey, Eddie. You good?”

He can be brave. This time, he can be brave enough.

“Chris thinks I’m gay. And in love with you.”

He thanks his impulses this time.

“W-what?”

“And he’s right. I am.”

“Eddie, what?”

Eddie takes a breath and he feels his cheeks burn, looking anywhere but directly at Buck.

“Chris asked me if anyone’s ever told me I’m gay. Which no one has, obviously. Never even occurred to me to think that I could be.”

“Eddie–“

“And you know I loved Shannon. She was my best friend.”

“Eddie–“

“And Ana, you know that story. And Marisol–“

“Eddie!”

He looks at Buck again.

“I-I think I’m in love with you too?”

Oh.

“I mean. I couldn’t– I wasn’t– you’re straight. Or was. Maddie told me it wouldn’t be so crazy.”

“You’ve talked to Maddie? About that?”

“Eddie. I-I couldn’t sleep in your house for days after I moved out of the loft. And then I couldn’t shut up about you to Ravi at work and then he brought me Tommy at the bar and w-we hooked up and he left after he accused you of being his competition! The whole time!”

Eddie’s heart beats fast. “You brought… Tommy to the house?”

“That’s not the point, Eddie. He implied I had feelings for you and I said, no, of course I don’t have feelings for you because you’re straight. But–”

“Was that your reason?”

“Uh–”

Eddie starts laughing. Wholeheartedly laughing. For real, this time. “Wait, when does Maddie come in in all of this?”

“I kinda ran to her place after Tommy left and told her what had happened. And I told her I was not in love with you. Because you’re straight.” He pauses. “But you’re not.”

“I’m not.” He feels so high that he doesn’t even try to stop himself from saying it. “I got off thinking about you last night.”

Buck goes bright red. “Oh?”

“I– It was like a light switch, Buck. I had no idea. I’ve never let myself think about it.”

There’s a spark in Buck’s eyes now. The same spark he had seen when he had flipped the iPad in Eddie’s kitchen. “What did you think about, Eddie?”

“Oh. I, um, I watched some porn.” He coughs. “Gay porn. And all I could think about was you. Doing those things. To me.” His face is still burning.

“And you liked it? Thinking about me?”

“You could say that. I don’t even think they were fully undressed by the time I came.” Eddie shifts in his seat, the picture of last night fully in his mind right now. “I only kinda half-listened to it. Was imagining you.”

Buck moans a little. “Oh, and uh, what did I do? In your mind?”

“We were in bed. You on top of me. Kissing my neck… touching me.” Eddie is straining against his jeans, desperate to touch himself. Buck looks like he is in a similar situation, his face flushed and, yeah, his birthmark does in fact, get redder during arousal. “I could fit my hands around us both.” He finally gives in and zips down his jeans, freeing himself and puts his hand around his swollen cock again. The relief is instant and he moans very loudly. “And then I lost it when I imagined fucking you.”

Buck groans at that. “ God , Eddie, I want you to fuck me.”

“I don’t want to think about God right now, Buck. Not in the same sentence as fucking you.”

Buck snorts. “Sorry. Forgot you have that Catholic guilt thing going on.”

That gets another genuine laugh out of Eddie. “I love you, Buck. No Catholic guilt about that. It’s in fact the most not guilty I’ve ever felt about anything.” And he means it.

He gets a soft look up at him. “I– I love you too, Eddie. I think I didn’t let myself think about it because I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to stop, if I did.”

“Do you want to come and visit us soon?”

“What I would like to do, right now, is to come , Eddie. We can talk about visiting after. Please .”

Eddie scoffs. “Yeah. Okay. I’m right there with you.” He points his camera down at his cock. “See?” The precome is literally dripping.

Buck lets out a sound he’s never heard him make before and does the same. “I wish I could touch you. I want to suck you off. I need to suck you off.”

“Keep talking, Buckley,” he says, and the look he gets as a response is everything. His mind goes back to the night when Buck told him he was going to sublet his house and giving up a part of his life for him. Eddie loves him so much, and he wonders for how long he actually has. Probably always.

Buck is stroking himself fast now, panting into the microphone. The camerawork is under all criticism but Eddie doesn’t care. He knows he doesn’t need much now, either. Seeing Buck like this is enough. “I am going to suck you off until you see stars and then I want you to fuck me. I want you to fuck me so deep that you will never want to do anything else ever again.”

Eddie groans loudly as he comes all over his hand. Buck seems to follow right after, phone tossed to the side as the wet sounds stop. A moment later, he’s back on the screen, face flushed and his bottom lip caught on his teeth. They’re just looking at each other now, and they both chuckle. “That was… nice.” Eddie says. “Can’t wait for us to do it for real.” Buck somehow nods and shakes his head at the same time.

“Yeah. I have some PTO saved.” Buck says. “I think Bobby will gladly approve it, after these weeks. He too got an earful of your name the first shift after you left, not just Ravi. But he also kept calling for you instead of him. Poor guy, really, big shoes to fill. I should apologize.” Buck looks like he really feels bad about it.

“If we play our cards right, maybe he doesn’t need to fill them. Maybe he could join us instead.” Eddie smiles fondly as he says the next thing. “I have a feeling Chris would love it if you were to help me ask him if he wants to come home to LA after all of this.”

“Yeah?” Buck’s eyes literally sparkle.

“And I kind of want to keep this a secret until we pick you up from the airport, making a big scene of you arriving, just kissing you like we’re long lost lovers. Or something like that.”

Buck’s face scrunches a little in concern. “Are you sure you want to lie to him again?”

“I think this is the only thing he would find hilarious if we kept from him. As long as you visit, like, as soon as you can because I’m not sure I will be able to keep it a secret for too long. He will notice something is up. Oh, and you need to help me find something nice for him. I need to thank him.”

“For what? Making you gay?”

“For being the best kid in the world.”

[thewintersoldierdisaster]

How are Squeeks and Mat doing? Is Mat getting stir crazy from being out so long? 😂

oh my little babies!!! they’re spending QUITE a bit of time together because of mat’s injury and while it’s nice, mat is definitely going nuts

(also ignore that there’s so many timeline issues because like technically, they should have an almost one year old talia, but i just make shit up at this point bc i don’t wanna write mat’s injury into the talia fics 🥲)

ANYWAY!! mat’s doing his rehab, being cranky while he does it because he hates missing so much time and not being able to help the team

squeaks is constantly cheering him on, bringing him to PT and encouraging his progress

with the team in san jose for the trade deadline, he’s extra miserable, keeping track of the news on twitter and giving squeaks updates on all the trades

he hates that brock is traded to colorado and he couldn’t say good bye, hates that he played his last game with brock and didn’t even realize it

after that bomb, he’s definitely a little upset and squeaks cuddles with him on the couch until he’s feeling better

they’re taking a lot of walks and doing little road trips to different towns to just get out of the house and see something else

squeaks made him binge watch running point on netflix and he won’t admit that he enjoyed it (also wouldn’t admit that he loved nobody wants this, but copped to liking abbott elementary)

they do a lot of reading on the couch, different books obviously, but under a shared blanket. mat tries to teach squeaks how to play chess, but she stinks and may complains that he misses the guys

when the team is home, they get dinner with the martins and hang out with the girls, or they go over and hang out at the horvats’

squeaks is definitely keeping mat occupied with blowjobs and lazy, teasing handjobs. once she gets the okay, she’ll straddle him and ride him until he’s making unintelligible noises and coming inside of her until he’s dry. she’ll sit on his cock and keep him warm for as long as he wants, which usually ends with mat giving his knee a workout from (carefully) fucking up into her

they’re planning their summer trip to see his parents and then to visit liana before doing a euro tour with her.

overall, they’re just being really domestic and adorable and keeping mat’s mind off his injury/rehab and his focus on getting back on the ice 🥹

[kylieswift31]

Hey Stephen

The ‘Hey Stephen’ interview is gaining traction again now because it was a pre-sent Easter egg designed to be understood at a later date. And the key to understanding it now is to view the interview through the lens of the Truman show…

Just after Truman’s escape ‘fails’, the director grows complacent as we begin to view Truman’s life through his point of view and this begins with interviews and clips of the fans watching along at home. This is designed to be a show of support on first watch, but the deeper you get into the themes of the movie the more you understand how many seem to be stuck in the shallow end of interpretation.

All of the positive endorsement of Truman’s popularity and the success of the show is a setup to highlight the director’s ‘good’ intentions by painting Sylvia’s character in a bad light. She’s the one that got (taken) away in Truman’s love triangle and is now seen as the face of the ‘free Truman’ movement. In his eyes she’s the anti hero and the reason why Truman began trying to escape after she left.

Everyone else watching from home had adopted a similar point of view to the director because they were viewing Truman’s life through his point of view. Understanding the director’s role in scripting the narrative slowly increased the support for the side that could see the cracks forming in the facade.

This is where ‘the tortoise and the hare’ reflects the moral of the story being told in the Truman show. The director is betting on the hare based on his view of Truman™ and Sylvia is betting on the tortoise because she can see the hidden side of Truman underneath the facade of Truman™.

The director was so sure he’d won the race after Truman’s ‘failed’ escape that he didn’t realise it was a purposeful ‘loss’ in a game of checkers. The director saw each round as a win without realising progress was being made until Truman had crossed the finish line.

This is why the movie ending with Truman stepping through the door is so powerful. It’s Truman revealing that they had been playing chess all along. Stepping through the door was Truman saying checkmate without giving the director a second thought.

Just like the tortoise’s slow progress towards the finish line, the never ending references to the Truman show stem from Taylor reenacting Truman’s strategy of slowly turning up the heat. Doing all of this as a one woman band allows each small step forwards (or breadcrumb left behind) to go unnoticed, as the connections between each clue are undetectable at first glance.

In the ‘Hey Stephen’ interview Taylor repeats “shockingly specific” details about Stephen’s personal life because she sees how some of her own fans are bordering on a stalker level of obsession while refusing to put the same level of investigation into her lyrics. For example we’ve seen the tracking of her private plane flights, knowing the names of her bodyguards and tracking her fertility cycle in the hopes she’s getting married and having children with Travis any day now.

I go back and forth on who I think the director in Taylor’s story could be, but I’m beginning to see that it’s this specific subset of the swiftie fanbase that might fulfil this role. It’s the ones that continue to overstep as they demand to see a palatable version of Taylor™ who will be the ones hanging on to the facade right up to the very end. And it’s their predictability that’s allowed Taylor to plan out future references like this so far in advance.

The Stephen Colbert poster is a classic example of how Taylor has created a cycle of leaving a trail of Easter eggs, red herrings and breadcrumbs along the way. It’s saying look over here at the pizza, but whatever you do don’t look over here to see the golden egg being pointed to with the other hand. Seeing the one piece of evidence on its own and not considering the bigger story it connects to is how the hare lost the race he didn’t realise was progressing towards the finish line when he wasn’t paying attention.

Highlighting the use of homonyms (and homographs, homophones etc) by referencing names such as Stephen and Lucy feels like a nod towards the meaning of Truman’s name. Truman is pretending to be the ‘True Man’ in the form of Truman™ because this is who the director wants him to be. In the same way Taylor is pretending to be Taylor™. This is essentially a combination of the ‘good girl’ persona and the pop star persona. Combining all of this with the manuscript also meaning ‘the man you script’ and you create the foundation for the ongoing performance art.

The golden egg is likely a reference to the Aesop fable ‘the goose and the golden egg’. It’s about a countryman who got rich from selling the golden eggs the goose had laid. Over time he became impatient and greedy waiting for the goose to lay one egg a day. He came up with the idea to kill the goose and cut it open. As he did so he discovered that there were no more eggs to be found and that it was the process the goose went through laying one a day that created the golden egg.

Another example of this story is seen in the Willy Wonka stories. In this case it’s used as a test to sift out the bad eggs from the good ones. In the end the moral of the story is “those who have plenty want more and so lose all they have”. This is what lead Truman to reach a breaking point and it’s what we’re seeing play out with Taylor’s story too. “All the pieces of me shattered as the crowd was chanting “more!”” And ‘the goose and the golden egg’ is listed as number 87 in the Perry index of Aesop fables. 🫠

On that note… the only orange colour on the poster is the TnT, a common nickname for Taylor and Travis. What if karma orange is actually a reference to something they were working on together? Stephen Colbert emphasised the music played to transition into the interview as a ‘liaison’, this word is usually used to describe someone acting as a bridge between two people. And Travis is the key to highlighting the contrast between Taylor and Taylor™.

The performance of Taylor™ as the ‘good girl’ and Truman™ as the ‘true man’ is designed to break down the facade so that we can see who they really are underneath. “You never had a camera inside my head”. If we’re not willing to look past the facade of Taylor™ we won’t see what inside her heart.

We’ve all reached the point where we agree that Taylor is queer in some form after viewing her story through a queer lens. I know many are frustrated that the story isn’t over yet, but we have to remember that we’ve already crossed the finish line. Taylor is now repeating the race to help explain her story to a larger audience in a way that they can understand it. All that’s left now is to filter out the good eggs so that we can leave the bad eggs behind.

“When you watch a film or you read a book and there’s a character that you identify with, you most of the time identify with them because they’re targeting something in you that feels like you’ve been there. That’s why we relate to characters.” -Taylor Swift

This applies to swifties too ❤️💛

A tortured poet,

Kylie x

[aliusfrater]

which extracurriculars did sam take in high school

hi nick well in canon he did football (soccer), theatre (tech stuff + that unspecified role in 'our town'), mathletics, and curated his own activities (his self-made summer reading list) so i like to think:

he did other kid-typical stuff for tryhard students like a spelling bee or maybe even joined a few quiz teams but despite having the potential and skill he never ended up competing beyond the county the school was in 'cause he'd end up leaving before it could ever progress to that point

he was casually into chess throughout his whole childhood and it eventually became a thing he and jess would play when spending time together in their apartment

he really poured himself into a sport from time to time because 1) he thought an activity like that would be something that could make john more inclined towards him and his interests and 2) regardless, john counted it as exercise so he'd be able to spend less time at 'home' because of practice and he'd get out of hunter training. i think he mostly stuck to football but some other sports i think are sort of samish are track and field (long distance, specifically), tennis, and badminton

related to the last one but i want this to have its own bullet point <3 i have a headcanon that once, in the middle of a growth spurt, sam was at a particular school for longer than usual because it was the end of the year and dean wasn't in school anymore. dean had a girlfriend who was a senior on the cheer team and she was pretty cool with sam. not close friends, but if sam was making dinner and she was home with dean, he'd make three servings, that kind of thing. anyway one of the guys on the cheer team hurt himself in another sport, and they needed someone his height to fill in for the last couple weeks of practice and performances since the guy who couldn't be there was a senior and they'd shift stuff around next year anyway. sam heard her ranting about how stressful it was to dean and he rationalised that even though he'd never done that stuff before nor was he super interested, he wasn't in any other extracurriculars at this particular school and he liked her company + was sure dean would appreciate it. he was a little younger than everyone else on the team but he remembers the experience as being very welcoming and working very well for talking about teamwork on his university applications

he'd sometimes charge his schoolmates money to do their essays because it was a guaranteed job no matter which town john dragged them to

(i think i've posted about this before but) i looove to think he was a weird 90s computer kid. i love to think he did something adjacent to robotics

when he wasn't in school, he'd just hangout at libraries until he made friends with the librarians whom he'd talk about whatever book he'd chosen to read. sometimes they gave him fake homework for the books, which he enjoyed

he liked to join history clubs because beyond preferring the humanities, they always got into local museums for free during club trips which worked well for john's 'budget'

[lettersnlines]

"Your Move"

Artemis Fowl x Reader | rivals to lovers | ~1.3k words | 

The table was silent.

Not just the table, but the whole clubroom. Dozens of games in progress, murmured calculations and fidgeting fingers—but no one spoke at the centre table. All eyes were on it. On you.

You sat straight-backed in your crisp school blazer, the deep navy fabric pulled tight over your shoulders, school tie knotted just so. Your skirt just above the knee, white socks folded neatly, polished black shoes tapping lightly against the linoleum floor.

Artemis Fowl II sat across from you, his own blazer immaculate, Saint Bartleby’s school crest shining subtly on the breast pocket. His tie was perfectly aligned, though the faint crease at his temple betrayed his concentration.

You looked like you were about to win.

And, of course, you were.

He wasn’t bad, of course. He was second in the class rankings. A genius, some said. Intimidating. Cold. Maybe even a little unhinged. But none of that mattered across sixty-four squares.

Because you were the first.

“Knight to d5,” you said coolly, flicking the piece into place with two fingers.

He didn’t flinch, but you saw the flicker in his eyes. Something shifting. Like a wire snapping tight.

Artemis Fowl, the young prodigy, had just realised he was losing.

And it was eating him alive.

He moved his queen. Pointless. Desperate.

You leaned forward slightly, resting your chin on your palm. “Are you stalling?”

He didn’t look up. “Merely delaying the inevitable.”

“Awfully poetic for someone down three pieces.”

That earned you the tiniest twitch of his lips.

Around the room, the other members tried to pretend they weren’t eavesdropping. You didn’t blame them. Chess club had been dull lately. No one had ever seen him rattled.

But this was different. He wasn't used to playing against real opponents.

You weren’t just good. You were unassuming. Consistent. Terrifying in how quickly you saw through him.

And, unbeknownst to most, you were also R. Schröde—the youngest woman to quietly win an international title under a pseudonym so cleverly constructed that only someone as insufferably brainy as Artemis could catch it. Of course, he had.

You were quite proud of the pseudonym you created, R. being Rosalind, the woman who basically co-founded the structure of DNA and Schröde being short for Schrödinger. 

Artemis hadn't said a word about it. But you saw it in the way he studied your opening. The way he tracked every single gambit like it was personal.

You mastered chess ages ago. Manipulating people, too. Artemis Fowl refused to fit in either category.

“Check,” you said softly.

His brows twitched. Just a fraction. But you felt the triumph settle in your chest.

He was recalculating.

And failing.

His fingers hovered over a rook, then dropped.

You leaned in a little. “Didn’t expect to lose today, did you?”

He finally looked up.

Those calculating clear blue eyes landed on yours, and you could’ve sworn—for a moment—he forgot where he was.

“No,” he said quietly. “But I should’ve.”

The room stilled.

You raised a brow. “That’s new.”

“You always play like you’ve already won.” He tilted his head slightly. “And I never quite account for it.” 

Your heart stuttered.

But your tone? As cutting as his ego deserves. “Maybe because I usually do win.”

He let out a low exhale—half a sigh, half a laugh as he moved his king out of check.

And then you moved your queen.

“Checkmate.”

The room broke into quiet murmurs.

A few people clapped, awkward and polite. The club president raised an eyebrow, clearly stunned. Artemis just sat there, staring at the board like it had personally betrayed him.

“I suppose,” he said after a long beat, “this is what defeat feels like.”

You leaned back in your chair, smug. “Sweet, isn’t it?”

He smiled faintly. “Like lemon and arsenic.”

You started gathering your pieces, brushing a hand across the board. But before you could leave, he spoke again—low, almost too casual.

“You know,” Artemis said, “I never come to club on Thursdays.”

You glanced at him.

“I noticed,” you said. “Why today?”

His gaze met yours.

“Because you were scheduled to play.”

Oh.

You blinked.

For someone who played life like a calculated risk, that sounded…reckless.

“I’m flattered,” you said slowly, suspicious.

“You shouldn’t be.”

“Why not?”

He tilted his head again, this time studying you like you were the puzzle. “Because the last time I willingly walked into defeat… I was trying to stop a goblin uprising.”

You couldn’t help it. You laughed. 

It was a soft sound—uncharacteristic, maybe. But genuine.

“Sure you did.”

Artemis blinked. Like maybe he hadn’t expected that.

Like maybe, somewhere in that ridiculously intelligent collapsing mind of his, he didn’t mind hearing it again.

“Well,” you said, standing. “Thanks for the match, Fowl.”

He nodded once, sharply. Almost military.

But as you turned to go, his voice caught you.

“Y/n.”

You stopped.

“I know it’s you,” he said softly.

You looked back. “What?”

“R. Schröde,” he said. “It’s you. The username. The titles. The blitz timings.”

You smiled.

Of course he knew.

“I didn’t say anything,” he continued, “because I thought maybe... you'd want to see if you could beat me without anyone knowing. If it was real.”

Your lips parted. “And?”

He shrugged, faintly. “You did.”

For the first time that day, you didn’t have a smart reply.

You just met his eyes, something shuddering in your chest.

“Alright,” you said quietly. “Until next time.”

He nodded again.

You turned to leave.

But you could feel his gaze follow you all the way out of the room—like a bishop watching from across the board, never in the right square. 

[reallifetangent]

DAREDEVIL S3 AND DAREDEVIL BORN AGAIN S1 EP1&2 RELATED COMMENT

And ofc with spoilers from both seasons. I recently watched S3 before watching Born Again so the comparisons are still fresh in my brain

What the actual fuck.

- Last time we saw our trio, they were so happy about having Nelson Murdock and Page. I thought they would open it with them working on a case, show the dynamic of them working in their new life, in their new chapter.

Just to kill Foggy like he deserved it.

And throw Karen to the other side of the country and never mention her again (I think I've heard her coming in future episodes but it won't be the same without Foggy and her making sure for now she doesn't want to be related to Matt)

- They ended the season showing us how Dex was getting that surgery to get him back on track and alive, and damn he was looking like the next whole season would be about him being THE Bullseye.

Just to again, yet him from a roof, a trial and send him away in the name of justice.

And my worst problem with DDBA:

- Season 3 ended with Agent Nadeem revealing how Fisk played the FBI, how everyone fell for his manipulation, confessing being part of it, giving names, informations, everything. And whatever position each citizen had, they would've seen how this man, known manipulator, got sent to prison, then sent to a luxurious penthouse which ended up with almost if not all of his belongings, got back to his partner, even got married to her, and still pulling strings. Like he didn't commit any crime, any murder, like Hell's Kitchen didn't know that Wilson Fisk was THE man controlling and knowing every little gang and playing it like his little chess game.

Matt also made sure to corner him threatening Vanessa and keeping them apart if he ever dared to cross any line.

Only for Born Again to have Fisk back in town like nothing, everybody forgot how this man played the FBI. How he manipulated the town. How he controlled everyone. He can even run as Mayor, no problem. The guy that has killed so many people with his bare hands, sent to kill many more, blackmailed, used, etc, and everybody knew about it, even the FBI should've intervened when he just gave a thought to run for Mayor. And nobody cared. Sure, let's have this kind of person as the leader of our city! (Waitaminute this sounds very familiar 🍩 🎺)

So far the only thing that made sense to me was Vanessa running his businesses, while he was away, recovering, her being THE Woman in charge, and suddenly Fisk's apparition takes away her credit of her progress because he will always have the higher hand, even if he would trade the whole universe for his wife, everyone respects more Fisk than respect Vanessa.

When she got reunited with Wilson in S3, she said even with him around, she was feeling lonely, and only when he accepted her as part of his world, she started feeling herself and accompanied. With all happening with Fisk being a more known figure when it came to crime, I see why he would always be the face, always busy, always under attack, and her being by his side, working with her ways, yet him being away for days recovering or laying low, would get her back to her loneliness state. That's the only thing that makes sense to me in this whole season, and why they should go to Couples Therapy.

The writing and pacing feels rushed, like they have to already set characters that won't be important, characters that need to be now and here, some kind of Show and Throw Away or Dive Deep in the ones they will focus, set the situations now, instead of cooking them slow and good, like the whole thing with Dex getting corrupted slowly, or finding out Fisk managed to get himself out of prison by using Nadeem's situations and vulnerability, how Matt lost himself and ended up getting back on his feet thanks to his mother and friends. I feel like they're rushing everything to get somewhere.

Idk, I wanna give it some time but I still can't wrap my head around what happened to Foggy, Karen, Dex and the whole "Fisk is considered Good Again" thing

[wistfulnightingale]

The Chess Moves Theory Set (New Ideas About the Final 15)

*An 8-Part set of Interconnected MetaTheories that support each other and might start to answer some interesting questions.

Did you have any nagging thoughts about things that didn't make sense from the last 2 episodes of Good Omens S2? Out-of-character moments, or odd changes in mood, or just little things someone said that stood out, but you weren't sure Why?

Me too.

For me, it was Especially because I became convinced that Aziraphale and Crowley committed to each other as loving partners on that bus ride home from the almost-Apocalypse, and that we were seeing An Old Married Couple as S2 opened. They were sweet, but stable, with set looks and comfortable touch and familiar quarrels, and now a sudden dramatic crisis had strolled up to their doorstep in all his naked glory...

So, for many months I was poring over YouTube videos, rewatching full episodes -- with headphones, or not, with captions, without sound, with sound but not watching the visuals.... Bonkers, right? But, as the Cheshire Cat said, "We're all mad here." And Alice later told the Hatter, "...I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are!"

I saw so many wonderful questions about S2 being asked by my fellow madly devoted Ineffables fans. It occurred to me that maybe we needed to ask all the questions at the same time, in order to come closer to the answers we were looking for, instead of looking at one question as the key. Similar to chess, where no singular move can win the match without the other moves and counter-moves.

I came up with 8 Mini-Theories I christened The Chess Moves Theory Set that all impact and support each other. Some may seem too wild or weird for the ineffable path you follow, some you might love, some may (I hope) turn out to be on the right track, and some may prove to be altogether wrong. But I did my best, and I do believe all of them are supported as theories by what I discovered and what I describe in each meta-theory analysis. I hope they are also consistent with the vision Terry Pratchett had for the final story. Even if I was mistaken, at least it gives us something fun to talk about until then!

Tumblr doesn't make it easy to prep and link 8 theory posts and a Master Post -- I tried (oh so hard!) to put cross-links in each one for you, and it just couldn't happen at posting time. Annnd, I'd also foolishly put my works-in-progress from "draft" into "private" 5 days ago! This makes it even tougher for you to get to them. So here's a nice shiny new post with all 8 Mini-Theories plus the Master Post that explains how Chess and Magic connect to all this:

The 8 Chess Moves Theory Set:

1 - The Metatron Misdirection

2 - The Metatron's Second Coming

3 - Ineffables in Check

4 - A Hefty Jigger of Death

5 - Nothing Lasts Forever

6 - The Circle Kiss Theory

7 - The Nightingale DID Sing

8 - Aziraphale's Jubilant Smile

Also: The Chess Moves Theory Set, Why Chess & Magic?

(If anyone has trouble with any links in any of the blogs, please let me know asap, and I'll try to fix it! I had some issues when I tried to cross-link everything!)

I also linked them in my pinned post on my blog page, "I Believe In Nightingales" at @wistfulnightingale.

I hope you enjoy them, if you decide to check them out! I'd love to have you along on this crazy ride until we get to the final chapter for our Beloved Ineffable Husbands!

[chesstrainer24]

Chess has always been a game of intellect, strategy, and foresight. In the digital age, mastering chess has become more accessible than ever. A Personalized Approach to Improvement is essential for any player aiming to elevate their skills and compete at higher levels. With the advent of chess training programs and interactive chess tutorials, players can now receive tailored guidance and instruction from the comfort of their homes.

The Importance of a Personalized Approach

In the realm of chess, a one-size-fits-all approach rarely yields the best results. A Personalized Approach to Improvement focuses on the unique strengths and weaknesses of each player, ensuring that training is both effective and engaging.

Benefits of Personalized Chess Training

Customized Chess Training: Tailors lessons to address specific areas of improvement.

Chess Skill Enhancement: Focuses on developing individual strengths and addressing weaknesses.

Remote Chess Instruction: Offers flexibility and convenience for busy schedules.

Tailored Chess Guidance: Provides personalized feedback and strategies.

Chess Training Programs

Chess training programs are designed to cater to players of all levels, from beginners to advanced competitors. These programs typically include a mix of theory, practice, and analysis, ensuring a comprehensive approach to learning.

Interactive Chess Tutorials

Interactive chess tutorials are a key component of modern chess training. These tutorials use engaging, hands-on methods to teach important concepts and tactics.

Virtual Chess Classes

Virtual chess classes provide an opportunity to learn in a group setting, benefiting from the collective knowledge and experience of peers. These classes often include live instruction, Q&A sessions, and practice games.

Customized Chess Training

The core of A Personalized Approach to Improvement is customized chess training. This approach involves creating a tailored training plan that addresses the specific needs of the player.

Chess Skill Enhancement

To enhance your chess skills, it is crucial to engage in targeted practice and study. Chess Trainer offers various tools and resources to help players improve, including:

Chess Improvement Strategies: Proven methods to advance your game.

Chess Tactics Training: Exercises designed to develop tactical prowess.

Advanced Chess Techniques: In-depth study of complex strategies and endgames.

Continue Reading: https://chesstrainer.com/online-chess-training-a-personalized-approach-to-improvement/

[demifiendrsa]

Ace Attorney Investigations Collection - Reveal Trailer

Ace Attorney Investigations Collection will launch for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC (Steam, Microsoft Store) on September 6, 2024 worldwide for $39.99.

Key visuals

Screenshots

Overview

About

Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth and Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor’s Gambit finally come together for a highly anticipated collection! Both titles were originally released on the Nintendo DS, and Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor’s Gambit was previously only available in Japan. Now, both Ace Attorney spin-off titles will be remastered, localized, and available worldwide with the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection.

In Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth, players embark on a legal journey as the esteemed prosecutor and navigate through a collection of puzzling crime scenes and challenging witnesses. In the series’ second installment, Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor’s Gambit, players prepare for bigger challenges and confront new nemeses as Edgeworth fights to keep his job. In this newly available title, players will learn to interrogate witnesses, find incriminating evidence, and use the power of logic to solve mysteries.

Key Features

Experience Ace Attorney Like Never Before – Unlike the mainline Ace Attorney games, these titles focus more on point-and-click puzzle and adventure gameplay, offering a fresh perspective within the Ace Attorney universe. Players will explore crime scenes, interact with diverse environments, and solve puzzles to uncover the truth, providing a more hands-on investigative experience.

Crime Scenes and Witness Confrontations Optimized for Newer Consoles – Ace Attorney Investigations Collection will be available on modern platforms including Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows, and Steam for the first time ever. The highly anticipated release also features improved resolution with more fluid character animations, as well as richer expressions for both classic and new sprites—all created by the Investigations series’ original character designer. Players will have the ability to change between classic sprites and the new character sprites. Each game will also have text and voice-overs available in English, Japanese, French, German, Korean, and Traditional and Simplified Chinese (Mandarin).

Newly Added Features for a More In-Depth Gameplay Experience – The collection allows new and veteran players to experience both titles in an exciting and more in-depth way. With the History functionality, players can review any dialogue they may have missed and can freely choose which game, chapter, or section they want to start from or revisit. With the Story Mode feature, players can immerse themselves in the twisting tales of each case with a story and puzzles that progress automatically. Mind Chess is another new feature players can explore from Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor’s Gambit, where they engage in mental battles to pull important information from witnesses.

A Collection of Special Items for Passionate Prosecutors – Players can delve deeper into the world of Ace Attorney Investigations with the Gallery, which features a catalog of illustrations, sketches, character animations, promotional art, and accolades, as well as all 106 in-game background music tracks, 23 orchestral tracks, one completely new song, and five arranged tracks from the original Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth.

**Arranged Tracks from Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth include:

“[AAI Collection] Confrontation – Allegro 2009”

“[AAI Collection] Confrontation – Presto 2009”

“[AAI Collection] Miles Edgeworth – Objection! 2009”

“[AAI Collection] Pursuit – Chase Down the Truth”

“[AAI Collection] Pursuit – Chase Down the Truth (No Intro)”

[alicent-vi-britannia]

Like Knightmare, Like Pilot

Hey, Larry! Did you notice that the design and armament of Knightmares reflect the personality and attack style of their pilot? Don't believe me? I'll prove it to you. But I'm going to focus on the unchangeable features that were installed in the first version, since Knightmares are updated as the series progresses and, if I stop to analyze the new implements, I'll never finish. Besides, it won't be necessary.

Let's start with the Gawain (the same one that Shinkiro is based on, which is the Knightmare that Lelouch operates in R2). The Gawain has a tracking system called Druid since it was created specifically for the purpose of investigating the structure and function of Thought Elevators. However, after the Black Knights took possession of it, that system was used to track the possible movements of enemy units, which makes this Knightmare a perfect unit to command others. These characteristics are perfectly compatible with Lelouch's leading and strategic nature. Lelouch is the commander of his military unit. He is the brain that designs all the plans and strategies because he can predict the enemy's and prepare an effective counterattack.

At the same time, Gawain is the first Knightmare to have a pair of hadron cannons installed on each shoulder, allowing it to emit continuous streams of destructive energy at prodigious ranges. Therefore, it is a Knightmare that can execute long-range attacks. This type of armament makes it the perfect Knightmare for Lelouch. He needs to fully and thoroughly visualize the entire battle and anticipate his opponents' attacks in order to design effective strategies to neutralize them. He can know and measure the effects that his Knightmare's long-range attacks will have. He is a long-term strategist.

The Hadron Cannons give Gawain great destructive power and, due to their blooming effect, Gawain fires in an erratic manner. This is matched by the chaos and devastation that Lelouch causes. The boy is so immersed in his revenge that, at first, he doesn't see what and who he is taking out. As you may recall, Gawain also has two seats and is usually controlled by two people: C.C. and Lelouch. She is in charge of navigation, while Lelouch has access to the weaponry because, as Schneizel said about chess, Lelouch "is an offensive style player" (he wasn't going to act any differently on the battlefield).

Gawain doesn't have an ejector seat, unlike other Knightmares, since it is an unfinished prototype. I interpret it as Lelouch's willingness to die for his goals and what he believes in. "Only those who are willing to die should have the power to kill." That's his credo.

Despite its incredible capabilities, Gawain is a rather slow battle unit and can be easily outmatched by other small, fast Knightmares (like Cornelia's Knightmare, which isn't as technologically advanced a prototype as Kallen's and Suzaku's, but is fast and fierce in hand-to-hand combat, fitting the belligerent character of Britannia's best warrior princess). This translates into Lelouch's weaknesses. The boy needs to think before acting, and if he doesn't take into account some variable that may appear later or nothing goes according to his plan, he's lost, because Lelouch doesn't know how to adapt to situations. He doesn't know how to improvise. See, every time he's in check it's because he's thinking about what he can do (and his intuition tells him that nothing works) and unfortunately the battlefield isn't a place where you can stop and think.

But you know who can adapt well to situations and improvise better than anyone else? Yes, Kallen.

Guren is the complete opposite of the Gawain, as it is a short-range attack Knightmare by virtue of lacking long-range weapons and instead being equipped with a knife, a custom pistol, the Slash Harker, and of course, its main weapon is its right hand, which houses the Radiant Wave Surger, which is a powerful microwave radiation emitter. So Guren needs to get close to its opponent in order to grab them and fry them. Thus, Guren takes to the field as a Knightmare as a melee unit and with an aggressive, direct and opportunistic attack style.

Kallen is well suited to that fighting style (and that type of Knightmare) as she is direct, spontaneous, impulsive, and practical. But all of this means that Kallen takes a lot more risks, and since she can't predict the consequences of her own or her opponents' attacks, her Knightmare is more vulnerable to damage, and indeed, when she is outmatched, it's because her Knightmare has been affected, things that are out of her control (not because she ran out of ideas or was surprised by something she didn't see coming, like Lelouch).

The fandom believes that Kallen isn't a strategist and is just pure brute force. In reality, she is a good tactician. She doesn't stop to think: "I won't do this because the Guren's arm will be damaged." No, that's Lelouch who is comfortable planning the entire battle in his mind to prevent possible setbacks before taking action. She simply connects to her environment and responds to the stimuli, as they arise in the moment, in what is happening. A good example of this can be seen in episode 9 of the first season. Kallen is in a Sutherland and is outnumbered by a police Knightmare, but she manages to win at the last minute when the Knightmare is about to give her the coup de grace. How did she do it? Because Kallen fires her Harken Slash, grabs onto some infrastructure and pulls, so that the Knightmare crashes into the infrastructure and the pilot dies. I mean, Kallen worked with the elements she had at her disposal.

By the way, something that was emphasized quite a bit in episode 10 of season 1 is that Guren is the first Japanese Knightmare and Kallen identifies herself as Japanese, so the Guren reflects her identity. But, after Lloyd and Cécile had access to it, it was reconfigured, modified, and updated. So we can say that Guren, who is a Knightmare made using Japanese and Britannian technology, and Kallen, who is the daughter of a Japanese woman and a Britannian man, are mixed-bloods. Did you notice that, Larry?

Also, the Knightmare has blue eyes and is red in color. Kallen is a redhead with blue eyes (and sometimes wears red clothes).

Now, what about Suzaku?

Lancelot is a Knightmare that has different weapons: two Vibrating Maser Swords, a VARIS particle rifle, two shields (called Blaze Luminous, in case you didn't know, Larry), two data sphere sensors, and four Slash Harkens, which are, roughly speaking, projectiles, and the curious thing about these Slash Harkens is that they have experimental thrusters called Harken Boosters that can improve Lancelot's speed and allow it to change direction in mid-flight. And what is Suzaku's best quality in combat? No, Larry, it's not being "annoying." It's his speed. The guy is so fast that bullets don't hit him when he's running (he has to stand still for them to hit him). The Guren has the Landspinner propulsion system, only it's built into its legs, while the Lancelot has it in its feet, so this Knightmare is as fast as its pilot.

Regarding the different weapons, I think about the training Suzaku has received throughout his life. In the flashback with Tohdoh, he's training with swords (Katanas, surely). In the army, he would have received training on the use of firearms. (Guren, by the way, only had one knife, and Kallen carried a pocketknife hidden up and down her body throughout the first season - coincidence? I don't think so.) If you ask me, Lancelot has the bearing and weapons of a medieval knight, which reflects not only Suzaku's chivalrous attitude, but also his rank as a knight in the Britannian army (first as Princess Euphemia's knight, and then as one of the Knights of Rounds).

As you can see, this is another Knightmare that doesn't have long-range weapons. They're short-range, too. So, the Lancelot is a melee unit just like Kallen's Guren. Suzaku and Kallen are trained in self-defense, mind you. On the other hand, the Lancelot lacks an ejection system like the Gawain. Leaving aside that Lloyd is so excited about installing weapons and upgrades that he forgets to install an ejection seat and that he doesn't care enough about the physical integrity of his pilot, I associate it with Suzaku's kamikaze will. Even if he had one, he might not use it because he wants to atone for his sins through death.

Aside from that, the Lancelot has green eyes and is white. Suzaku also has green eyes and his uniform is white.

In short, Gawain is the right Knightmare for an INTJ like Lelouch, while Lancelot and Guren are ideal for Suzaku and Kallen respectively, who are two Sensors (he's ISFJ and she's ESFP), meaning they pay more attention to their physical reality (Lelouch is more focused on reading situations between the lines).

Anyway, you guys might have more to contribute to the conversation since you like mecha and are more familiar with it than I am.

[zoguy1]

Okey, so I tried watching the show, and mid way through the first episode, my friends got me side tracked with the This Is Not A Website Dot Com thing, and while my friends were making fun of me for typing in "lalalala" into the computer. signing my soul away, got a Bill Romance novel and then divorced Bill, I found something out that I don't hear people talking about when it comes to Ford's character... or they did and I'm just really late to the game. Either way, it's something I think is interesting to point out to pile on the "Pines family is autistic" allegations.

Ford is actually developmentally delayed.

Specifically emotionally delayed. Bill points it out when he was recalling playing chess with Ford, the way Ford was so desperate for approval. Bill mentioned it was like he was stuck at 18, not progressing past that point.

I think it's interesting because as far as I'm seeing about my father is that he's leagues ahead of his peers in the academic field. He presents himself as more mature than Stan and more collected. His only downfall is that he's hyper obsessive, narrowminded, and inept in the social department.

So to learn that he's behind in his development is shocking for me to hear, but not all that surprising. It's common for autistic people to be delayed a few years. I was held an extra year in school just to compensate for my developmental delays. So I obviously got it that from him. And Ford's whole Savant syndrome thing going on, it distracted from the fact he's emotionally delayed, so that's kind of why I've never heard of it before.

Just another thing to note has me having similarities to my father here. Lol.

[alterrune]

RE:KMRG - END OF A WOODEN EMPIRE (THE GRAND FINALE, PART IV) (EPISODE 12)

I GOT THE SOLUTIONS!

Really?

What were they?

"MAT", "CHESS", "SEABORGIUM", "YOYO", "CUCUMBER", "VOYAGEUR", "FIVE", "POLARIS", and "SIGNALS".

Well, what are you waiting for? Enter them into the goddamn "download.exe" file already!

(I do just that, and it appears to be an image of a directory.)

"C:/MM2WD/BRIDGE/DESKTOP/BACKUP"?

Is that a directory?

Yeah, but...what kind of directory is it?

Alright. Let's do this.

(I type the directory out, and a single file is in it: "finalkey.exe". Upon clicking it, the RE:KMRG folder itself finally opens. Within it are pictures of myself, the CSB, and all our adventures prior to this one, from the PMD Event in Pokémon Square all the way to the ATO: The Spinjitsu Whip event back in March.)

So he's been gathering intel on us this whole time.

Why am I not surprised...?

Hey, there's a .EXE file labelled "portal.exe"!

I think you should run it, Kyle.

You have the honors, Kyle.

Let's fuck up Wood Man.

(I open it, and a portal to Wood Man's base opens up.)

Time to finish this.

(We all hop in.)

-🔺💜🔵💕✍🏼🃏🌸🤪🚀🎱👨‍✈️🎭🪙🌊🥶🔪🪓🧣🎄✡️-

HEY WOOD MAN!

(We all hop through the portal, with him about to set up the AI core.)

You're too late. I'm finally going to do it. Sacrifices must be made for the greater good.

M.O.S.H.I., NOW!

(M.O.S.H.I. uses a magnet on the AI core, flinging it over to me, which I catch immediately.)

FUCK YOU! GIVE ME THAT AI CORE RIGHT THIS SECOND!!!

(I turn into my rainbow-colored supercharged Beast Form, "The Beginning".)

No, Wood Man. You've done enough.

You're not going to sacrifice 3 years worth of progress just to fufill your own selfish needs.

You've done nothing but hang onto the past, when you should be looking to the future.

There's only one outcome for you. To be turned to ash, right here, right now.

It's clear that you can't be left alive in any way.

You are nothing but a big bully. I have tried to tolerate your behavior for far too long, and it seems that my patience has finally run out. It was inevitably going to either way.

You're not doing anything with the SiIva AI core. And neither is your second-in-command, Anna. (bang, thwip!) Nice try with the sneak attack, by the way, but my net-shooter is faster.

You've done nothing but belittle us and put us down.

That's the very definition of a "bully".

You messed with the wrong people today.

And now you'll pay with your life.

"If you think you can mess with all of us..."

"you've got another thing coming."

Do you have anything to add, Noaka?

ggame ovver!

Indeed.

THIS GAME IS OVER, WOOD MAN!

(All of us launch a powerful attack at Wood Man and Anna, disintegrating them both and securing the AI core.)

We...we've done it.

We defeated him.

About damn time.

Hey, mind if we stay here for a bit longer?

Of course not.

You are more than welcome to stay.

Great. I don't feel like leaving yet...

M.O.S.H.I., launch the fireworks.

Affirmative, Kyle.

(M.O.S.H.I. launches fireworks, as we all celebrate our victory.)

-----

RE:KMRG CREDITS

Original RE:SPH ARG Concept: BobTheTacocat

Original RE:SPH Directors: BobTheTacocat, Grambam36, Madinstance, Minido & Spottygamester

RE:KMRG Concept & Director: Kyle Gibbons (Alterrune)

ARC 1: The First 5 Folders

-MAXPH FOLDER-

Original Cognitive Dissonance Concept: Grambam36 & Madinstance

Original Cognitive Dissonance Lead Writer: KilvaKunner

Original Cognitive Dissonance Additional Writers: ackrostation, Grambam36, BigBadBlob, BobTheTacocat, 601billionlazer, circunflexo & Minido

OG Special Thanks: SoDaRa

RE:KMRG - Cognitive Dissonance (Bad Ending) Concept & Writer: Kyle Gibbons (Alterrune)

RE:KMRG - Cognitive Dissonance (Bad Ending) Inspiration: "Friday Night Funkin' - Doki Doki Takeover: Bad Ending Mod"

-FOOLS FOLDER-

"Track 7 - No Sister Of Mine" Rip: Sarvéproductions

"Puzzle - Game inside a Game inside a Game" Rip: minido

"Anna" and "Erased!Kyle" Special Text: FancyTextPro.com

-AIRTH FOLDER-

Original SiIva AI Log Concept: minido

Original SiIva AI Log Writers: ackrostation, Grambam36, Jiko Music & BigBadBlob

"News Flash! SiIvaGunner: King For A Day" Lead Writers: ackrostation & Grambam36

"News Flash! SiIvaGunner: King For A Day" Addional Writers: Jiko Music, Nernant, RedHeartPink, BigBadBlob, Jp & Bum Soldier

"News Flash! SiIvaGunner: King For A Day" Implementation: minido & BobTheTacocat

"News Flash! SiIvaGunner: King For A Day" Implementation Assistance: MJ, eg_9371, lazyPeaster & RedHeartPink

RE:KMRG - Additional SiIva AI Log Info: Kyle Gibbons (Alterrune)

-PAINT FOLDER-

("Story Mode - Mr. Rental: The Video Game" and "Story Mode - Looney Tunes" were both based on an original concept by ripper NBG.)

"Story Mode (Rental & Own)" Concept: ackrostation

"Story Mode (Rental)" OG Narrator Voice: Retro Gaming

"Story Mode (Rental & Own)" OG Writers: Grambam36, BigBadBlob, Jiko Music, minido, Psych Lantern

"Story Mode (Rental & Own)" OG Editors: eg_9371, Grambam36, JoeBro, minido & RHMan

RE:KMRG - "Story Mode (Rental & Own)" Recharter & New Ending: Kyle Gibbons (Alterrune)

-BLACK FOLDER-

"SIIVATALE: REBOOTED" Director: BigBadBlob

"SIIVATALE: REBOOTED" Concept: 601billionlazer, BigBadBlob, ackrostation, Spottygamester

"SIIVATALE: REBOOTED" Lead Writer: ackrostation

"SIIVATALE: REBOOTED" Additional Writers: BigBadBlob, 601billionlazer, Maggie, Keeby10, Netyasha Roozi

RE:KMRG - Haruka Amami Textbox Sprites Ripped By: thecloverguyfromtwitter

ARC 2: The GRAND Finale

Original SiIvaGunner Trivia Quiz 7000 Dogen J. Bot Creator: Xarlable

Original SiIvaGunner Trivia Quiz 7000 Question Writers: 601billionlazer, Big Bad Blob, BobTheTacocat, eg_9371, Grambam36, Hisa, Maggie, minido, Nernant, Netyasha Roozi, RHMan, Spottygamester & Xarlable

Original "petrlb's Place" (Wokeagunner HQ) Regretevator Assets Provided By: The Axolotl Sun

Staggering Winds Creator: Shengda Noaka Baba

Staggering Winds Neocities Site: Shengda Noaka Baba

Staggering Winds Neocities Lead Writer: Grambam36

Staggering Winds Neocities Additional Writers: ackrostation, eg_9371 & Shengda Noaka Baba

Original SiIvaGunner Terraria Map: The Official SiIvaGunner Fanserver & Xarlable

"The Meeting - A SiIvaGunner Christmas Comeback Crisis Side Story" Lead Writer: BobTheTacocat

Special Thanks

@blossomaaoc - Your original reblog of my intitial announcement of this event was what pushed me to actually do it. You're the reason I went through with this entire thing in the first place, Blossom. I was gonna back out, but you pushed me to do it. I thank you for that.

@carriercroc - You were the very first to solve the Library of Babel puzzle I solved. I thought I may have made it too hard, but you proved otherwise. Plus, your interactions with The $!$! Squad are absolutely fucking amazing. Thanks for playing. Give Mel some treats for me!

@cru5h-cascades - When I needed a break from the event, I found your Refreshed NSS blog and sent an ask with Dystopiac. I'm so glad it ended up with you as a mutual. Welcome to the All-Star Askers, Cru5h! Thanks for giving me some laughs when I felt hella burnt out.

SiIvaGunner - Obviously, without these guys, this event wouldn't have existed. I only joined the RE:SPH ARG when it was nearly finished bc I had to go celebrate with my family, but I'm so fucking glad I got to do it. Thank you to the entire SiIvaGunner team for the event that inspired my own.

And YOU for reading this event!

Character Sources:

Susie Haltmann - Kirby Planet Robobot, Nintendo

Agent 3, Agent 4, Agent 8 and Neo Agent 3 - Splatoon series, Nintendo

Wood Man - Mega Man 2, CAPCOM

Haruka Amami - iDOLM@STER series, Bandai-Namco Entertainment

Kris, Susie, Ralsei, Noelle, Berdly, Catti, Lancer, Rouxls Caard, Jevil, Spamton and Tenna - Deltarune, Toby Fox

War Machine - Iron Man comics, Marvel Entertainment (version used here taken from Iron Man 2, a movie by Marvel Studios)

Moshi Monsters is a product of Mind Candy (which is the inspiration for the M.O.S.H.I. name)

Tools Used

Demirramon's Undertale/Deltarune Textbox Generator - Used for the textboxes in The Grand Finale arc

GoDaddy Studio for iOS - Used to make the teaser images, as well as the blog's PFP and banner for the RE:KMRG event and the PFP and banner for the Splatoon 3 Summer Nights Splatfest tie-in

THANK YOU ALL FOR THE AMAZING EVENT!

TO BE CONCLUDED IN EPISODE 13 (EPILOGUE) - "NO MORE WOOD TO BURN" (THE GRAND FINALE, PART V)

[satoshi-mochida]

Ace Attorney Investigations Collection announced for PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC - Gematsu

Capcom has announced Ace Attorney Investigations Collection for PlayStation 4, Switch, and PC (Steam, Microsoft Store). It will launch on September 6 worldwide for $39.99.

Here is an overview of the game, via Capcom:

About

Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth and Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor’s Gambit finally come together for a highly anticipated collection! Both titles were originally released on the Nintendo DS, and Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor’s Gambit was previously only available in Japan. Now, both Ace Attorney spin-off titles will be remastered, localized, and available worldwide with the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection. In Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth, players embark on a legal journey as the esteemed prosecutor and navigate through a collection of puzzling crime scenes and challenging witnesses. In the series’ second installment, Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor’s Gambit, players prepare for bigger challenges and confront new nemeses as Edgeworth fights to keep his job. In this newly available title, players will learn to interrogate witnesses, find incriminating evidence, and use the power of logic to solve mysteries.

Key Features

Experience Ace Attorney Like Never Before – Unlike the mainline Ace Attorney games, these titles focus more on point-and-click puzzle and adventure gameplay, offering a fresh perspective within the Ace Attorney universe. Players will explore crime scenes, interact with diverse environments, and solve puzzles to uncover the truth, providing a more hands-on investigative experience.

Crime Scenes and Witness Confrontations Optimized for Newer Consoles – Ace Attorney Investigations Collection will be available on modern platforms including Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows, and Steam for the first time ever. The highly anticipated release also features improved resolution with more fluid character animations, as well as richer expressions for both classic and new sprites—all created by the Investigations series’ original character designer. Players will have the ability to change between classic sprites and the new character sprites. Each game will also have text and voice-overs available in English, Japanese, French, German, Korean, and Traditional and Simplified Chinese (Mandarin).

Newly Added Features for a More In-Depth Gameplay Experience – The collection allows new and veteran players to experience both titles in an exciting and more in-depth way. With the History functionality, players can review any dialogue they may have missed and can freely choose which game, chapter, or section they want to start from or revisit. With the Story Mode feature, players can immerse themselves in the twisting tales of each case with a story and puzzles that progress automatically. Mind Chess is another new feature players can explore from Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor’s Gambit, where they engage in mental battles to pull important information from witnesses.

A Collection of Special Items for Passionate Prosecutors – Players can delve deeper into the world of Ace Attorney Investigations with the Gallery, which features a catalog of illustrations, sketches, character animations, promotional art, and accolades, as well as all 106 in-game background music tracks, 23 orchestral tracks, one completely new song, and five arranged tracks from the original Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth.

Arranged Tracks from Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth include:

“[AAI Collection] Confrontation – Allegro 2009”

“[AAI Collection] Confrontation – Presto 2009”

“[AAI Collection] Miles Edgeworth – Objection! 2009”

“[AAI Collection] Pursuit – Chase Down the Truth”

“[AAI Collection] Pursuit – Chase Down the Truth (No Intro)”

Watch the announcement trailer below. View the first screenshots at the gallery. Visit the official website here.

Announce Trailer

English

Japanese