#ep: utopia

[rumpled]

Utopia (2013 - 2014) created by Dennis Kelly ↳ Episode 1.04

[smashmpregcastiel]

theyre holding hands <3

[synthient]

Man. We've only got two more episodic eps left before we get to (what I think is effectively going to be) the three-part finale

[astralhope]

- No, this is one duel I refuse to lose! -

[imminent-danger-came]

I'll never get over the fact that MK trades his friends for power to save his friends. What's wrong with him

[tankgotstuckinthecircusgate]

everytime i spin in my head scene where carlo meets all that mafia men who's in charge (ie frank leo alberto etc) for the first time idk fr it sounds like this to me.............. oh mindgames my dear mindgames

ah moretti & leo chess scene u live in my head rent free. carlo as the new piece on the board... not normal bout this

[goldenkid]

guys I've got Martha Jones demons the likes of which have never been seen before s3 is living RENT FREE in my head rn

[gbhbl]

EP Review: The DSM IV - Negative Utopia (9x9 Records)

Sweaty, shaking, eyes rolling around the head, and completely lost in a world of hyperrealism.

Liverpool gothic alt-pop trio The DSM IV will release their new EP, ‘Negative Utopia’, via local independent label heroes 9×9 Records on January 21st, 2025. Photo Credit: @richiebyates At times, listening to Negative Utopia is akin to a fever dream. Not just because of its surrealistic antics, but because it has garish goth tones that combine retro styles with modern thinking, and somehow, ends…

[thursdayinspace]

So I rewatched "Our Town" last night and when I sat down at my laptop this morning to do something that was not writing, I ended up writing instead. These things happen. Just a silly fluffy-ish little thing because omg that ep is so gross and also Scully has to be getting sick of being abducted all the time. Mulder feels the same way.

She can’t sleep. It’s not every day you almost get beheaded—even after everything that she’s already been through this year, it seems there are still things that can shake her up pretty badly. She rolls over on the lumpy motel mattress and tries to get comfortable. For a glorious moment, she considers quitting. Handing Skinner her resignation and walking away, finding a nice job with regular hours where people won’t handcuff her to radiators, stick her in closets, contort their stretchy bodies through cracks in her bathroom window, or drive her around in the trunks of their cars before handing her over to aliens or the government or whatever theory Mulder’s going with right now. A job where she won’t spend the end of a work day strapped into a metal harness as a guy in a mask raises an ax above her head.

In her mind she pictures a simple life: a nice house with a yard, a dog greeting her as she opens the door and walks inside after a long day at the hospital…no, a private practice? A day of teaching? Whatever she’s been doing, she walks into a kitchen that smells like home-cooked dinner, leaning up to kiss her faceless husband who’s vaguely Mulder-shaped. “Honey, I’m home!” “Dinner’s almost ready! How was your day?” “Fine. Narrowly avoided decapitation. Nothing exciting.” Fuck. Not even fantasy-Scully can escape the absurdity of this life.

The knock on her door doesn’t even surprise her. She already knows who it is. He stopped waking her unless it’s something really important, so she groans and gets up, her bones aching, weeping inwardly as she makes her way to the door. So she can’t sleep; that doesn’t mean she wants to spend the night going over their case report or whatever that infuriatingly charming insomniac wants from her this time.

But when she opens the door, he doesn’t look as if he wants to go over case reports. He looks like shit. As much as that’s even possible for him. Another thing that’s simply unfair about her life, she thinks with a sigh. Even with bags under his eyes and pale as a sheet he still looks beautiful. “Mulder?” she says.

He doesn’t answer, just steps right into her and pulls her into a wordless hug, so tight she’s a little afraid he’ll crack her ribs. She hugs him back weakly and pats his back, not quite sure what else to do since she has no idea what the fuck he’s even doing. She expects him to pull back, but he just keeps holding on, and she’s genuinely having trouble breathing.

“Uh, Mulder?” she says again, a little louder.

“You’re okay,” he mumbles into her hair, and she wiggles in his arms, trying to loosen his grip.

“Not for much longer if you don’t let go.”

“Sorry.” He drops his arms and takes a step back, but keeps looking at her like he’s never seen her before. “Sorry, I just—”

“It’s fine,” she says. “Did you have a bad dream?”

He shakes his head. “I couldn’t sleep.”

“Yeah.” She grimaces. “Me neither. It’s been…a day.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asks, and she laughs. She’s too tired not to.

“Thanks to your timely rescue, my head is still firmly attached to my body.” It sounds a little bitter, and she’s surprised at herself before she feels another little piece of her frustration clicking into place. Ah, yes, she thinks. There’s that too. Rescued once again. She makes a mental note: fantasy-Scully in her little imaginary suburban nine-to-five utopia will never have to be rescued. She’s gonna be the one doing all the rescuing. Except nobody needs to be rescued in that perfect little world, because nothing bad ever happens to anyone.

“You don’t sound okay,” Mulder says, and she closes her eyes for a second. She’s not annoyed with him, she reminds herself. It’s not his fault that she became part of these townsfolks’ dinner plans, and it’s not his fault that she needed him to keep that from happening.

“I’m just a little tired.”

“I’ll let you sleep.” He sounds exhausted and when she looks at him, she sees leftover fear in his eyes. “No more interruptions, I promise.”

Her hand reaches out for his before she’s fully conscious of what she’s doing. It’s just that he’s here and she’s had enough of being Agent Scully for tonight, and he really looks so much like Doctor Scully’s faceless dinner-cooking husband in her nice little fantasy home. “Come on,” she says.

“What are you—”

“Bed,” she explains, hoping he won’t ask any more questions.

“Oh. Okay.”

She gets in on her side and is relieved when he lies down next to her without another word. She closes her eyes, but she can feel him stock-still as a statue next to her, she can feel the tension radiating off of him, and, hell, it sounds like he’s even trying to breathe without making a sound. So she grabs his arm and rolls onto her side, tugging him with her until he has his back against her chest, and she holds firmly onto his hand and snuggles back into him.

“Scully?” he asks, sounding a little confused.

“Relax, Mulder,” she tells him. “Sleep.”

“Are you sure?”

“About sleeping?”

“You know what I mean.”

She laughs and squeezes his fingers. “No. Of course not. But honestly? I really don’t care right now.”

“Okay,” he says, and he gets it, she knew he’d get it. “Okay,” he repeats, and laces their fingers together. She feels him lift his head, feels his hot breath against the side of her face, and then a gentle kiss against the corner of her eye. “Good night, Scully.”

“Good night, Mulder.”

Behind her closed eyelids, fantasy Scully lies just like this with her faceless partner, who’s just as warm and smells just as good as real Scully’s friend-partner spooned up behind her. The only difference is that her own real Mulder is…well, real. No matter how perfect her beautiful little dream house with her beautiful perfect husband may be, she kind of prefers snuggling with someone who has a face and a name. And maybe she’d actually miss the mess.

Not all of it. Not the ax-swinging, homicidal maniacs or the lumpy motel mattresses. But a partner who knocks on her door in the middle of the night because he couldn’t sleep without making sure she was okay? Who sleeps wrapped around her with his breath ruffling the hair at the back of her neck, knowing this isn’t leading anywhere other than comfort and friendship? And…she kisses the backs of his fingers once she convinces herself he’s probably asleep…a vague hope that maybe this won’t always be all there is between them?

Yeah. She’ll take it.

[florezcookie]

analysis about pavlova and sugarfly, because they are doomed and I am insane (heavy spoilers bellow to ep. 10, theories as well)

Pavlova is inspired by Eros (or basically any Cupid)

Beyond that, my initial theory about Sugarfly’s backstory—before Episode 10—was that she originally arrived in “Paradise” (not the biblical one meant to explain death, but more like a utopia, as most Cookies do), and freely enjoyed the experiences it had to offer.

That is, until she was chained there. (I saw a theory suggesting her metal shoes were actually some kind of shackles, and I was obsessed with that idea.)

At some point, once she was bound and no longer able to fly, Pavlova may have helped Sugarfly regain her confidence—maybe even taught her to hover or glide again despite her restraints. That would explain why she doesn’t seem to mind taking orders or running messages, even with how cruel—or just cold—Pavlova acts toward her.

“No one” can leave Paradise.

So when Sugarfly finally gets the chance to leave—and to fly again— Pavlova, the Cookie obsessed with love, finally experiences it for himself. And in doing so, he has to do something different: For the sake of the one he loves... He has to let her go.

He can’t chain her to Paradise. Even as he feels himself trapped within its gardens—watching them crumble, watching Sugarfly and everyone else leave—he remains behind. And that’s heartbreaking.

The line ���Even with her wrinkled, tattered wings, she flew higher than I ever could” is just... my god.

Sugarfly is free. He is not. Anyways,,

First off, he says:

“Envy is just another form of love.”

And again:

“She flew higher than I ever could.” 👁️👁️👁️👁️

“Sugarfly Cookie can be so dull sometimes!” — he says this about her, because she never even considers escaping Paradise until Episode 10.

“No one can escape from Paradise, heh.” He clearly has some sort of tie to Paradise, but we still don’t know exactly what.

“Wherever there’s love, that’s where I’ll be!”

But when Sugarfly finally leaves Paradise... He changes. He becomes an adult. His pupils flip upside down. As if losing her turned his whole world upside down. Or as if love meant nothing without her.

We don’t know exactly why he pretends to be a child, But we know this: He’s Eros. And Sugarfly has a clear Psyche parallel.

Maybe Pavlova transforms into a child because it’s the only way he can still feel or express joy— Maybe he’s so emotionally broken that, as an adult, he can’t even pretend to be okay. But as a child, it’s easier to play the fool. Just like how Eros disguises himself.

When Aphrodite is offended by Psyche’s beauty, she sends Eros to strike her with a cursed arrow—one that would make Psyche fall in love with the first creature she saw, and lose that love the moment they looked into each other's eyes. Eros accidentally pricks himself with the arrow. And falls helplessly in love with her.

Their love begins in the dark, in secrecy. Eros hides his face. Hides his identity. And in doing so, he discovers real purpose in his love for Psyche. And Psyche falls for the god—without illusions, without appearances.

💔💔💔

Back to Sugarfly and her wings.

She hates her wings. So much so, she poured syrup on them—not to fly, but to make them beautiful.

“When syrup touched my wings, I was reborn!”

But the moment she did, she bound herself to the Garden. She couldn’t fly anymore.

“These wings are all I need to be happy!”

She talks about “ugly things” a lot, which could hint that she saw herself as ugly. So she didn’t want to exist. 💔💔

“These beautiful wings are everything I’ve ever wanted!” “Why do unpretty things exist?” “I hated my dull, boring wings!”

In one of their dialogues:

Pavlova Cookie: “Don’t you ever wish to fly again…?”

Sugarfly Cookie: “Oh, but there is no need to fly in Paradise.”

Pavlova Cookie: “No wonder you’re such a slowpoke!”

Sugarfly Cookie: “I’m sorry, Pavlova Cookie. I’ll do better…!”

Pavlova Cookie: “Forget it.”

Pavlova Cookie: (I wish to see her fly freely… just like she did when she first entered the Garden…)

He wants her to be happy as herself—not trapped in a version of herself that she’s not. 💔💔💔

This ties directly into the official game art that says:

“They had different ideas of happiness.”

Pavlova’s idea of happiness was her—because he loves her. But Sugarfly’s happiness lies in beauty—her own or in the world around her.

When Sugarfly finally leaves Paradise, he says:

“Was it my destiny to watch her walk away?”

Just like how Eros, struck by his own arrow, was doomed to love Psyche— But as soon as she saw his face, their fate was sealed: separation.

Pavlova once saw Sugarfly as weak, submissive. She didn’t push back against his cruelty, and that frustrated him. He wanted her to resist. To have a backbone.

You can also see him being rude to her as some “tsundere” copying- Maybe he was defensive over himself like “ha! As if I would fall in love with her… someone who can think for themselves.” But this is just a little perspective

anyway

But now— Now she chooses for herself. She chooses freedom. Something he desperately wanted, too.

Even when he talks to the Tree of Wishes, he asks:

“...Can I be free?”

He manages to escape the monsters (apparently), so the real thing keeping him there is fear—or maybe a contract, or bond—with Eternal Sugar. And honestly, he has good reason to be afraid of her.

I mean, there’s a lot to figure out from why Pavlova can’t leave,, i mean he could tag along with the others? Maybe he is bound to either the Paradise/garden or Eternal Sugar as a whole— Still not quite sold on just that “he’s scared of her that’s all” (saw a theory that she trimmed his wings like u do with pet parrots)

either how—

he cared about Sugarfly in his own way. He wanted her to be free.

Watching her leave broke him. But he also got to see her fly again. Free—just like he always wanted her to be.

(His heart shattered.) AFTER ALL…. Who makes the cupid fall in love???? HMMM????

But maybe... that’s what made him grow up. Like... he accepted her freedom, and in doing so, accepted his own fate to remain behind in Paradise,,,, 🤧🤧🤧

in his core love is innocent as a child, maybe he choose to take that form? who knows

Even though her wings are still coated in syrup in the final cutscene— Pavlova appears fully transformed: taller, long-haired, his wings bigger, his ribbons longer—just like his "true" sprite (maybe??)

And also— They have a red bow connecting them.

The red string of fate comes from East Asian folklore, and it says that an invisible red thread connects two people who are destined to be together—regardless of time, place, or circumstances AAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[russanogreenstripe]

So many good moments in Ep 5 of Burrow's End, but this is the one that sets my mind buzzing the most. The idea that community predates identity. We know mama, dada, and baba before we know not only their names, but our own names. And in the season all about family, community, in-group versus outgroup? This feels like such an important idea, and it was came up likely on the spot. It's fascinating to think about, and touches on such big themes about Burrow's End in general.

My mind keeps trying to read "name" as "self," and come up with something like "we have to know others before we know who we are," but I think there's a fundamental error in that idea. Neurologically, we just start off with just "Me" - one of our basic senses is what is "Me" and what is "Not Me." That's fundamental to further categorization, and faults in that sense is where things like depersonalization / derealization come from. Names are just labels, and they're not even the first labels we have for them.

This ties into another point that a lot of people had when watching the trailer at the end of Ep. 4 and during the live reaction of Ep. 5 - the idea that because Sybil was so reluctant to say her brother's name after he died, that it was the result of some top-down oppression within Last Bast and further proof that it's not as idyllic as it seems. Now, Last Bast almost certainly isn't a utopia, and I'm sure we're going to learn more about that in the next episode. And it's possible that it is a top-down enforcement that Sybil, having been raised in Last Bast, has internalized. However, there's a chance this isn't the case.

Less than 30 seconds on Google turns up several cultures that have taboos around speaking the names of the dead - Aboriginal mortuary rituals, the Apache of the Southwest US, the Tolowa tribe of California, the Yanomami on the border of Brazil and Venezuela, certain Romani/Irish Traveller groups, and almost certainly more. While it initially seems unfathomable to Western cultural mores around remembering and memorializing the dead, it's just as possible possible that instead of a method of social control, it's simply a cultural taboo.

https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/gravematters/2017/04/18/aboriginal-mortuary-rituals/

And as Aabria has commented both during the live discussion and general discord channels,

Aabria's a smart cookie, and I trust that she's done plenty of worldbuilding and put tons of thought into how Last Bast's society works. We've seen she's great at her cultural analysis while in the DM's chair in both Misfits & Magic and in A Court of Fey and Flowers. Culture and society are interwoven in all of her games, and where does all that start? With family.

[murfeelee]

The Sims 4 Enchanted by Nature | Official Reveal Trailer

As usual, the Build/Buy content looks amazing AF, but I was hoping to see way more of the CAS stuff, the wings, the magic--you know, the FAIRIES?! 

Y’all made us sit blue-balled thru this dry boring trailer for...meh. 🙄😒

These are the only wings I like. PLEASE tell me EA is finally gonna let us HIDE the wings when the fae is around normies? 

Did her wings go away cuz that’s an actual ABILITY fae have, or was that just for the trailer cuz the girl was just dreaming? If yes, that’s AWESOME--same way I love how TS4′s vampires have a normie look AND a vamp look, the way werewolves do; it’s one of my fave thingf about TS4 occults; hiding in plain sight.

But why bother hiding, when the fashion is from the kiddie section at Halloween-R-Us?! The clothes are a hard NOPE for me--the dude looks the best of all, which is NEW for EA; I’m shook! 🫨  

Flower Beards--YAAS, KING! 😍 

But you’d think after seeing what an epic fail the TS4 Plantsims are that EA’d do all out on making Fae really look more plant/bug-like: cool skintones & makeup/tattoos & antennae & leaves & petals & roots everywhere--real High Fantasy Nature Couture Realness. 

This looks more like a Halloween costume. It’s just basic Prom dresses and a lazy AF top/skirt combo that pales in comparison to TS3′s counterparts--

--let alone the incredible CC the modding community’s been making for the past DECADE since this effing game came out. No, the best you get is this guy who looks like he fits better in ITF’s Utopia than in the land of the fae!

What in the High School Prom Night in Whoville are these shoes, EA? 🤦

Ok, lemme stop being mean--the CAS stuff doesn’t matter; the modders always do FAR better than EA ever has in that department; so why am I even surprised? 

On to the GAMEPLAY. 

EA kinda sorta listened to my call thru the ether way back in the Werewolf pack about making the occult lifestate & world flora/fauna work together to cure magical ailments & such (x x).  

Seems like gardening, potions & herbs will be a real focus--which is recycled content with another coat of paint, sure, but this is EA after all. So instead of SN EP’s Elixir Shop, TS4 will have a Potions Shop--that better not be a rabbithole EA! 👀

There’s so much Build/Buy goodies though, ngl. 😍 😍 

The Shire roofs~! 😍 😍 😍 

But I don’t really care about any of that--these gardening/foraging skills look like something any sim can do. What is unique to the FAIRIES? 

These pestering sprites look exactly like TS3′s LN EP Will-O-Wisps, which is cute for continuity, but lame compared to what the fae sprites look like in SN.

I’m seeing a lot of old interactions from the SN EP return, but what is new and INNOVATIVE here, to push the franchise FORWARD?

This animation is so stupid--she looks DEAD. 🤦 Once again, EA’s mistaken Nature-Buff with Homeless:

I would’ve at least had a magical patch of flowers/moss grow all around her as she slept, kinda like the trail of flowers that appear wherever TS3 Plantsims walk. And no MUSHROOM RING?! That’s rule 101 of the fae, duh, EA! 🤦

Not a single mushroom in sight. This is a Hedgewitch, EA. A cluttered greenhouse/treehouse does NOT a faery make! DO MORE. 

Speaking of trees--

I despise that the new Faery Treehouse has such a basic plain design, and has to sit on a table, instead of being it’s own plant-like growth. Even the giant burrow tree in Country Living looked more fit for fae than this crap. 

There’d better be more options & prettier treehouse choices, EA, istg. 😤This design sorely lacks imagination & creativity, esp. when TS3′s look so much better.

I hope this is a treehouse, though it's giving more SN EP Jellybean Bush--but as a harvestable plant for ingredients. I wonder if it’ll kill/affect normie sims.

Grandfather Willow, come through? I love that there’s a Jack-in-the-Green, but I hate that it’s a dead-looking tree stump, and not legit Grandmother Willow with an iconic huge foliage canopy. 

What would be REALLY cool is if there was an NPC Plantsim Jack / Old Man of the Woods who could help sims with stuff. Not whatever’s going on with the cooky gnome angle they’re leaning towards. 

Jesus.

What on earth--you know what? Nevermind, forget I asked.

And don’t you dare show any mermaid motifs, when TS4′s mersims were barely a step above TS4′s plantsims in the Lame Department. 

Yawn. I’d rather see the forest for the trees, cuz this is a FAERY pack--why TF would I care about some seaside portside fishing village? That was Island Living’s job, DUH.

And I said I’d stop being mean, LOL. 😅 But what ticking me off most about this whole expansion is that it’s giving TS3′s Hidden Springs--which had a MUCH stronger concept even years before we ever got SN. 

That’s what’s killing me. Cuz you could easily tell that there was the normie side of town, but the deeper you went off the beaten path, the more obvs it was that there were legit ELVES living in Hidden Springs, too, chugging whatever meth was in that magic fountain of theirs that turned their skin green & blue & whatever.

So like, is this glowing stone the entrance to a magical realm, like Realm of Magic’s portal gate that led to Diagon Alley? Or is this just a hidden corner of the nornie world, like Hidden Springs’ area where the Fountain of Youth was, Tuck Everlasting style? Ngl, it had better be a magical realm portal, EA; I hope there’s whole Hobbit Town Shire where fae live, separate from the muggles; the way I’d hoped RoM would be. 

I am SO SICK of EA being scared to go the distance and really do the occult lifestates justice, and really give them a High Fantasy expansion that takes place in a different time, the way the SN EP was obvs more Victorian/Vintage, and ITF was ofc scifi. Stop with the generic hipster millennial garbage, and take us to another world already! These are FAERIES, ffs! The one time y’all should’ve literally done a full-fledged Fairy World! And instead we get MAINE!? 🤦

TL;DR: Underwhelmed, but still curious. 

*sigh*

I’m still lowkey excited, okay? I hope this pack works out, cuz  this is the 2nd TS4 lifestate I’ve BEEN waiting for after Witches. But EA really better make sure there’s WAY more to this EP than what they’ve showed, cuz they had 13 YEARS since TS3′s SN EP to get faeries right, and so far I’m just seeing an awful lotta hedgewitching and very little fae shenangians. 🤔

[thirstkanaphan]

Thirst Gets Lore-Pilled (Part 1/?)

Becoming a Lore-Tiny: Notes and Observations

I decided to lock in and immerse myself in Ateez lore! Thank you to @loving-that-officey-feel for being my guide and curator (their quotes are in italics). With their permission, I'm posting our interactions as I go through the different eras.

Treasure Era

It's kind of amazing how cinematic and assured their concept is from the get-go. I don't often give Pirate King its due credit, but it's such a bold and striking debut.

Everyone was playing that song (including me) because, like, at the time I really really didn't follow kpop news so I rarely heard about groups about to debut before they actually did, but I did actually hear the hype about ATEEZ. And when Pirate King dropped we all lost our goddamn minds with the 'holy shit, these are not rookies, how is this a debut track????'

So from what I understand (Hongjoong explained it to me) Treasure takes place chronologically after Fever. In terms of their storyline, they've already made it to the other world.

Yeah, Treasure's definitely for sure after Fever (just when exactly is kind of up for debate). They hooked us on black pirate drama and then they were like 'flashback/backstory time for a whole series' :D'

Treasure Ep. 2 is one of their strongest albums.

Hala Hala really is a staggering song/performance

 So, Hala Hala is our introduction to Halateez. These are not our boys.

Who are these mysterious dudes in black that have our faces, and what do they want????

Okay, Wooyoung taking his mask off at the end of Hala Hala feels important.

Treasure Part 3: the boys have no interest in being woken up from their dream. They are fully immersed in the "Illusion." The tick-tock sound in Crescent is so ominous!

Yeah, that ticking clock really starts to get more ominous the more clock show up in Golden Hour... that's all I'm saying there

Treasure Ep. 3 is also an all-time summer album.

Illusion deserves better from me.

Treasure 3 is the anime equivalent of a beach episode before things get really dark.

OPEN YOUR EYES (Maddox!!)

anime beach episode on the surface... potential grimmdark reality (depending on what they are actually trying to wake up from.....)

They are so beautiful in Wave. Like, the platonic ideal of beautiful youth. Whoever styled Seonghwa for this album deserves a medal.

Holy crap, the Wave - Overture!! I've never seen this performance before. San is blowing up the screen.

All of them asleep during Utopia (Japanese Ver.) ... hmm

they do be needing some waking up... wonder what put them to sleep <cough>sopro<cough>

Wooyoung tangled up in chains...

I wonder what he did to cause that to happen as he's bathed in a ton of red light....

Woah, the All to Action preview is so eerie!!

Right? this is why you should never skip the teasers! They can set a whole different tone from the song they actually use in the mv, and a lot of the time the different tone is EERIE MENACE FOREBODING

End of Beginning goes so hard!

The comeback stage for Wonderland is SO CREEPY! All the naked mannequins...

Symphony No.9...an all-timer stage. So are we watching the full maturity of the pirates?

The more important lore bits from symphony no 9 are that ATEEZ are on a mission given to them by Halateez, (on Halateez's ship) after Halateez gave them the cromer. It's kind of like Illusion in that we are living our Best, Most Epic, Badass pirate life (that may be a dream within a dream within a dream...)

The silence at the end is so haunting. I know this happened during COVID so there's no live audience, but the silence also feels part of the performance.

Asnwer always felt like the Hero's Feast before the final battle.

Answer, my beloved (I am pretty damn sure) turning point for the entire lore.

Ooh, Maddox's evil laughter in the trailer...

Maddox really brings his Best Level Menace factor to the intros/outros (and being Z... if you weren't aware he's the guy who literally wears the Z outfit in any MV where Z appears)

Horizon and Precious have such menacing energy. I get why people love them, but they feel like corrupted files (perhaps by design).

THE VCR FOR THE ANSWER COMEBACK STAGE IS BONKERS!!

The stage for Ode To Joy! THIS IS MUSICAL THEATER GREATNESS!

I just recognized the classical vocalist in this performance and it's the bus driver from the Drunkteez episode who sings Phantom of the Opera 😂

Evergreen statement: Ateez are the best performers of their generation.

End of Treasure: What a ride! Right? what a hell of a way to end the Treasure series with like a billion questions and no answers (lolllllllllll) and then Fever can finally start doing some worldbuilding.

More lore tomorrow!

[oodlyenough]

more arcane s2 thoughts in no particular order. this is pretty negative. woops

Cait, Vi, Caitvi

despite being what initially got me watching to begin with caitvi just never ended up being my primary interest with this show, so going into s2 it wasn't like I had very well formulated expectations or hopes. I think if I had I would maybe feel disappointed? They had some nice moments, they got the kiss and the sex scene, they're clearly endgame, etc, and that's nice, but it also felt like their relationship was so ... never really the star of the show or focus of the story to the extent I expected it to be. Did they even get a big fight-together battle-couple moment in the last ep, I don't think so? I didn't find the resolution to their Act 1 breakup especially good, I think Caitlyn owed Vi an apology and Vi deserved to be angry for longer than ten seconds.

I generally feel across both seasons that Vi's pain and trauma is rarely given as much weight as other characters', I was pretty underwhelmed by Caitlyn's dictator arc after being extremely interested in it at the end of act 1...

I dunno. I hope their stans liked it and are satisfied getting to see them kiss and have sex and be together and I wouldn't downplay the significance of The Couple in Arcane being a lesbian couple. But I wasn't personally very compelled or moved by it.

Jinx

Like the above I'm not a Jinx academic by any means but I think if I were I would be frustrated by how cyclical her arc was in season 2. And no, having Silco show up to be like "it's a cycle" doesn't really justify the narrative interludes. Isha is a hard sell of a character for me because I don't ... generally want little kid characters around ... and I found Jinx (basically) looking straight into the camera to say "gee you are just like me, Powder, when I was a little kid, which reminds me of being Powder, is this how Silco felt, is this how Vi felt" to be hamfisted. But some of the scenes with the two of 'em and Sevika were cute ... only for Isha to die and Jinx to be depressed, again, and then come through the other side, again, and then "die", again. Like if we wanted to deal with depressed Jinx we started off s2 that way...

I've seen other posts by Jinx fans that articulate much better the ways in which she goes from the driving plot force in s1 and main autonomous actor to just kind of being wafted around by plot in season 2 so I won't repeat them. But I think they are right. I also question the way her mental illness was portrayed -- or rather wasn't... -- in season 2. Powder in the AU showing no sign of illness (despite baby Powder in the main timeline already having some of that going on, pre-Vander death)... I mean, sure, she's got a support system etc in that world, and one can argue we don't spend enough time with AU Powder to necessarily see it, but combined with the Isha stuff it just kind of felt like a weird message.

Sevika

I love Sevika, one of my faves from s1. I was so excited she seemed to get a bigger role in act 1 and then in the first ep of act 2. And then she never spoke again. What the hell man... like damn... really?????!? Not a WORD in act 3? I'm sure this was some of the stuff they trimmed to get that finale down to 50 minutes but god that sucks, so much, in ways a wordless shot of her in the council chamber can't really resolve. Which leads me to

Piltover-Zaun

I have to admit I don't think the class politics in s1 are as good as they were reported to be, so I didn't have high hopes, but MAN is Piltover going "hey we need cannon fodder <3 thanks" not... a reasonable resolution... especially after an indeterminate time of Piltover being EVEN MORE oppressive with Caitlyn enforcing martial law. It was sooooooooo ridiculous. Also, lol @ the show acting like hextech is solely responsible for the suffering of the undercity. If only Vi, Jayce and Viktor weren't around we'd have a equitable utopia. Sure Jan.

Sky

One of the most offensively written female characters I've seen in recent media. A spectacular, zero-effort failure from the writers. What a horrible decision to write this poor girl, a Black woman no less, and give her absolutely no characterization outside of an unrequited crush on a gay white man. In season 1 I could forgive most of it because a show like Arcane needs redshirts and it's just unfortunate they made this particular redshirt a young Black woman. There are so many other complex and developed women in the show, I thought, they can afford to have some minor ones who aren't.

But oh my god season 2. The ghost hallucination which they never even clarify as being "really" Sky or just being the Hexcore or just being his own imagination of guilt because neither the show nor Viktor give enough of a fuck to explain fhglakhdglh. Even posthumously she barely has any dialogue except to reference off-screen conversations with Viktor we never see them have and then die again. "No you won't" ?????? It is ridiculous that they wrote this.

[cityof2morrow]

Space-O-Rama Build 001

Published: 7-19-2024 | Updated: 7-20-2024 SUMMARY “With intricate geometric patterns, delicate parabolas, and inverted inversion, Space-O-Rama glass sets a new standard that’s out of this world!” An odd mixture of low-to-mid poly items for retro-futuristic builds, inspired by the Space-o-Rama glass fences (Pets EP). There are 41 objects and a host of recolors using texture resources from PineappleForest (2022) actions from CuriousB (2010), Pixelhate, and Klevestav (2015; 2013). Many of the recolors have a weathered/distressed look.

DETAILS Requires Uni, Nightlife, and Apartment Life Eps. §100-500 | Build and Buy Files with “MESH” in their name are required. You also need the BBNiche1Master (BuggyBooz, 2012),  Elemental TXTR Repository, and he Graphic Glass TXTR Repository from the Repository Pack (Simmons, 2023). Additional repo pack recolors can be found on this site under these tags - #co2recolors, #ts2recolors, #ts2repo #co2repo #co2repopack. ITMES 3 Fences (~1622 poly) 5 Divider Screens (1025-1528 poly) 8 Window Boxes (Columns) (576 poly) 4 Doorframes (Deco) (92-1353 poly) 2 Door Rugs (Columns) (34 poly) –for doors 003 and 004 7 Planters (546-1092 poly) 4 Wall Accents (Columns) (8-12 poly) (3) Neon Panels A-C (1080-1521 poly) – sharp corners and some overlap (shadows look better than when the mesh is completely smooth); small gap on the side ; requires the Nightlife EP. 3 Bunker Walls (22-24 poly) – some overlap 3 Garden Panels (99 poly) *You’ll need “moveobjects on” and “grid on/off” cheats since not all parts align perfectly. DOWNLOAD (choose one) from SFS | from MEGA

7-20-2024 UPDATE : Added alternative versions of Doors 3 and 4. The texture on the top interior was distorted when the poly count (“faces”) got reduced. I recolored that part separately in black. If you want the alternative versions, manually delete old files (they are “..doorframe3-MESH” and “…doorframe4-REPO”) and replace them with these new files (“…alt2”). DOWNLOAD (choose one) ALTERNATE DOOR 3 & 4  from SFS | from MEGA CREDITS Thanks: Simmers with meshing, cloning, and fencing tutorials. Sources: Beyno (Korn via BBFonts), Sci-fi House (AiKu via Creative Commons Attribution, 2018), Space-o-Rama Divider (EA/Maxis), 4t2 Eco Living Door (Ethan, 2020), Streets of Utopia (Stonemason, 2024), SciFi Panels (Unity Fan via CCA, 2023), Scifi Gate (Stan via CCA, 2023), Bomb Rush Cyberfunk Street [fan art] (Max Staples via CCA, 2023), Modular Bunker (mats de Wind via CCA, 2020), modular Walls (detona via CCA, 2018).

[lady-asphodel]

ZZZ - Translating Hugo's EP "my curse, my fate" lyrics"

Lyrics:

My life is insipid, like dust

My inner demon don't let me have respite

All the malicious words, leave deep scars

That remain open, what can I do ?

My life comes down to endure contempt

and to survive through pain.

Why do I have to take the blame,

While I am not guilty ?

Nobility and misery, could it be luck ?

What will be my choice,

Between the path of thorns or rose ?

And at the toss of that coin,

Will I surrender or resist ?

I am merely the puppet of my destiny

What is my role in this intrigue

Where hope is vain ? ( is vain )

Life is only pain.

Am I worthy of a happiness

and an ephemeral Warmth ?

Life torments souls with vehemence,

But it sometimes give pieces as mercy.

(I shouldn't exist)

What will be my choice, between the path

( with me )

Of thorns and rose ?

( you will have )

And at the toss

( all that you desire )

Of that coin

Will I surrender or resist ?

( how naive )

To be free from those threads

( it's impossible for me )

Is merely an utopia for a puppet

( to break these cold chains )

Follow your heart,

( I am ready )

And the blood of the Ravenlock

will bring your the answer

( to pay the price )

I refuse to hear the sound of the knell

I want the thoughts to turn to me

I believe in me, I will be my own master

I trust fate, for it embodies my will

What will be my choice,

Between the path of thorns and roses ?

And at the toss of that coin

Will I surrender or resist ?

Enough with all these pretentious tenets

I will turn and torn the page of my past

What will be my choice,

Between the path of thorns and roses ?

And at the toss of that coin

Will I surrender or resist ?

Fate will bend to my will

As for me, I am now my own master

( own master )