#which i think ultimately is a feature and not a bug; obviously there were able to do (mostly.) great stuff with it

[sea-changed]

#hoohoohoo #this is what is so interesting abt band of brothers pop cultural role as an entertainment product that gets treated as a documentary #and more broadly the way authenticity is framed in the warshow genre #like saving private ryan being hailed as essentially a recreation of the combat experience #bc vets who watched it were troubled/re traumatized by the initial dday scene #like liebgott especially is sort of a microcosm of the rpf ethics of this mode of storytelling #and the places where the needs of the propaganda and the needs of the real live dead guys intersect and what that produces #(certainly not documentary truth) (@wrishwrosh)

Reconstructing Joe Liebgott

Ross McCall on finding Joe through the vets

"What was incredible was that, very early on they [Easy Company veterans] started attaching themselves to the likes of me. And they'd call me 'Joe'. You know? And they were sort of starting to lean on that a little bit, like I was their pal. [...] And these guys, they hadn't seen or heard from Joe in years, almost leaning on me for that, which was an immense pressure but also a complete and utter honor."

Band of Brothers Full Cast TV Guide Interview (2001)

Several decades ago one veteran phoned Liebgott's father to invite his son to a reunion, but the senior Liebgott reportedly replied, "You messed my Joey up," and hung up.

Chapter 4: The Wound from Mary Louise Robert's Sheer Misery

In reconstructing their wounding stories, then, many men did not possess a cohesive narrative. At the same time, connecting the dots was a vital need. [...] The wounding story was restorative as well as redemptive. The narrative moved from chaos to order, from misery to comfort. The idea was to make a fresh start. Nurse McBryde explained the logic: “to transform the dirty pulpy mess left by shell explosion into a clean area where what remained of the structures could be repaired.”

[genericpuff]

What is your advice on handling criticism?

I saw your response to a critic on Lore Rekindled in the sub and it's very good and you could say, professional.

I have a big problem of people-pleasing, so if I get critcism (eventhough it's very polite), I get very sad at the fact there's fault with my work (I also suffer from perfectionism). It will drastically change how I see my work, and in the end I give it up 😭

fam i got teased tf out of for making it so wordy LOL

I totally get that struggle though, I know it probably doesn't seem it at times, but I do have the 'ole RSD (Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria) due to being ADHD/autistic, so I totally relate to the whole people pleasing thing. It's hard to feel like something you made isn't making everyone happy! But that's also ultimately not what it's for. You can't make everyone happy, and your art doesn't deserve to exist any less just because some people don't find it their cup of tea.

I've definitely had to like, disconnect my work from myself over the years to get better at taking criticism. Not to the point that I get apathetic, obviously I should be invested in whatever I'm working on, but enough that when people criticize my work, it's not necessarily an attack on my own self.

And if they are clearly just out to attack me, then I dismiss the criticism, it's of no value to me.

Unless it's something that's specifically a result of my own values or biases bleeding into the work, most of the time it's people literally just saying, "I like this work, but I feel like it wasn't as strong as it could have been here and here" and that has nothing to do with me as a person, I'm just still polishing my skills and those outside opinions help to target specifically what needs improving. I think we as artists pour a lot of ourselves into our work, especially when we're just starting out, so it can be hard not to take criticism as an attack or rejection of yourself, but we have to ultimately remember that we are not 100% of our work. Even with works like LO, while some of the criticism I give of it is indicative of Rachel's values and personal preferences as a person, a lot of it is also just about the work itself and how far it's fallen beyond what I assume Rachel intended from the beginning.

I've also learned to separate helpful from unhelpful criticism. I'll use Time Gate as an example because I've gotten way more input on that series than Rekindled (just because I've actually like, intentionally sought out criticism for it). A common criticism in the past was that there weren't enough backgrounds and the story's pacing wasn't concise. It sucked to hear at the time, especially the backgrounds one, because I'd heard that one time and time again... but it was literally because I wasn't doing anything to improve them. You know what stopped those criticisms? Drawing backgrounds more LOL And I still suck at backgrounds tbh but I feel like I've definitely improved compared to the first few volumes when I was just drawing characters on top of white constantly LOL

old and busted:

new hotness:

(i think there's like a 4-5 year difference between these two pages. and the backgrounds STILL aren't perfect in those newer volumes but they still feel more finished than the older panels did)

So that was helpful criticism! My art wasn't as strong as it could be in a few specific places that people were clearly able to pinpoint, so I did what I could to improve those places and I'm still working on it.

Unhelpful criticism has just been either personal attacks (not valuable) or statements that are basically asking the comic to not be what it is, criticizing things that are features, not bugs. Things like "well I think the story is too anime-like", "it's a lot to try and read", "why don't you draw eyelashes on the girl character", etc. which are criticisms of things that I know are intentional. The story's anime-like because that's the story I want to write. It's a lot to try and read because it's intended to be a longform series for people who like reading longform series (people like me!). I don't draw eyelashes on Uzuki because she would look terrible with them LMAO (we even made a joke about that later on):

(the hilarious part is that that comment was definitely made with the idea that all women should have that makeup look, meanwhile mitsuhiro's pulling off the look so much better and he knows it LMAO

And actually, the example you're referring to where I responded to crit in the ULO subreddit, is also an example of unhelpful criticism, though the person who posted it definitely didn't mean any harm by it, but the crit was literally "why aren't Persephone's boobs big enough" which I thought was pretty funny. She still has boobs! I just don't draw them popping out of her top like Rachel does LOL I also don't give her the exaggerated pinched waist or broken spine that Rachel often gives her because that's all just to, again, emphasize her boobs, and it's often unnecessary, especially in a comic that's being marketed as a feminist piece of work, yet is often drawn completely through the male gaze. So yeah, that was definitely crit that wasn't really beneficial because it was literally just about Persephone's cup size lol

I know it's easier said than done, but when you feel that sadness coming on in response to criticism, remember that that criticism exists to help you, not hinder you. Considering you've been getting polite criticism, that means the people giving it likely have your best interests in mind and want to see your work improve. The only way to do that is to learn how to critically analyze your own work, and the only way to do that is to surround yourself with works whose quality you want to achieve, and get outside opinions. And if that criticism isn't in good spirit, then toss it aside. If it's not going to help you, then it's not of any value to you. And yes, it will take practice, there are still times I find myself getting overwhelmed, but ultimately I can't control what anyone else says or does, only what I do. So I funnel that into my work and I always keep moving forward.

Be at peace with the process of learning and improving, because you never stop having to learn, there's always something new to improve, and that shouldn't be taken all doom and gloom "I'll never be perfect", that's literally just the process and beauty of being an artist, there's always something new to learn and that's something that should be exciting!

Think about whenever you give criticism or have personal critiques of other comics. I'm willing to bet most of the time, you have those opinions with good intentions, you're not trying to attack anyone. So why not give yourself the same grace?

...holy shit, I forgot Uzuki's lipstick in the bottom right panel- （；´д｀）ゞ

[softomi]

I bet my wife is scarier than yours.

Kuroo Testuro

He was always lectured by you to take off his wedding ring when he went to the bathroom, but he was never worried about his ring. It would pass over his head as he washed his hands, urging to himself that the next time he’d do it. But today, his face fallen and pale; it didn’t help that you were already currently angry with him for forgetting to move the wet clothes from the washer to the drier; and now he watched in horror as his wedding ring slipped off his finger and into the drain.

“What are you doing?” Your hands on your hips when you see his hand stuffed into the sink.

Kuroo laughs, “Just thought I’d fix the drain.”

You eyed him before moving your way to the laundry room. Kuroo whips out his phone, emergency texting his friends who gave zero decent input into his situation. He fears that he may have to spend another week sleeping on the couch; or worse, kicked out of his home until he can replace his ring.

But he wasn’t going to let that happen, even if it meant they have to hire a plumber later to fix what he breaks, then so be it; as long as you never find out.

“You lost your ring didn’t you.” Out from under the kitchen sink, Kuroo watches your facial features frown, arms cross, and a deep irritated sigh.

“I swear honey, I’ll get it back. It’s in the stupid drain. Just don’t be mad.” When Kuroo finally manages to unscrew the bottom, he feels triumphant. He shakes the ends a bit and out falls two rings. Kuroo curiously picks up the band that was clearly not his, staring at it until he realizes, it was your ring, “What the? You lost your ring!” Kuroo is using his shirt to clean the diamond, “This cost a fortune and you let it fall through the drain!”

Your hand collides with his head, your lips twitching, “Were you not digging in the drain for yours too?”

Iwaizumi Hajime

Many thought that there was nothing that could scare the man. He was immune to bugs, horror films, even when his friends try to surprise him; it never really works. Nothing scares him; or so they thought. It was one thing for him to bring his kids to work, sure, he’s done it hundreds of times on days when he knew it was going to be slow; but you specifically told him to keep the children off the court. Has he ever listened; no because in his mind, what could go wrong, apparently everything.

“Now what are we going to tell mommy?” Iwaizumi has stopped the car now, parked right in front of their home, he turns to his two children. His beautiful six year old daughter and his two year old son.

The little girl has remnants of ice cream still on her face, “I fell!”

He should have known better than to trust a six year old, the moment she walked through the doors and saw her caring, beautiful, loving mother; she began to bawl uncontrollably. Incoherent crying mixed with child snot, Iwaizumi was praying that you couldn’t understand her and would ultimately just make her stop crying.

“What!” You stood to your feet, “You let her go out onto the court! You know how dangerous that can be with all the guys spiking volleyballs all over the place.” You step forward but he’s using his two year old son as a shield, “Hajime!”

“She was just playing with Atsumu and then she fell!” Your eyes narrow on the male and he concedes immediately, “Okay so Atsumu set the ball, Bokuto spiked it, it landed right in front of her and might of hit her face for a second.” You let out a large gasp, “But I checked! She doesn’t have any major injuries! Right?” Iwaizumi attempts to pat his daughter on the head but she sinks behind her mother’s legs; the ultimate betrayal.

“Hajime.” You take a step forward but he uses his son as a shield again, “Hajime!” The male side steps you, practically skipping to the bedroom with his son, “Don’t even think that you’re sleeping in our bed tonight!”

Bokuto Koutarou  

Bless his soul, somehow you’ve thought it would be the most fantastic idea to leave him alone with his one and a half year old daughter. It wasn’t like he hadn’t been alone with her before, but this would officially be the first time that you actually spend a full twenty-four hours away from the house, the baby, and your husband. You had left him a list of instructions on how to feed her, different house chores needing to be done, and even a detailed timetable of your daughter’s day.

“Oh no, please don’t cry. If you cry, then daddy’s going to cry.” Bokuto sits on the living room floor, his daughter sat right in front of him with the worst cry on her face.

It’s two hours until you said you’d be back and Bokuto is just realizing now that he hasn’t done anything you asked. He thought that if he put his daughter to sleep just an hour earlier, perhaps he’d have enough time to finish the chores; what he discovers is that his daughter wouldn’t sleep, instead she continued to bawl in the bed and even when it neared her nap time; Bokuto made the mistake of letting her have a sugary treat, obviously she wouldn’t sleep.

“I’m home?” Your words are drawn out when you step into the living room, your daughter and husband on the floor just on the verge of tears, the living room a mess with toys all over the floor, the laundry sprawled out onto the couch, and for some reason there’s paint on the floors and walls, “Koutarou!”

You pick up your daughter who crawled to your foot, her crying slows down when she’s in your arms and Bokuto sheepishly looks to you, “Welcome home honey!”

“Do you want to explain?” Your hand gestures to the entire house that is a mess, “I gave you a very detailed list Kou!”

He stands, arms encasing you into a hug, “I’m so sorry!” He’s peppering away your angered expression with kisses and you can’t help but to smile. His hands are leading you to the bedroom, “I’ll clean everything up, just rest!”

He wasn’t able to clean everything up, when you emerged from the bedroom with your daughter napping, you saw that somehow the mess got bigger. Your hands on your hips, a scowl on your lips, when he tries to skip to you with puckered lips, you throw a pillow to his face. Maybe he’d be better off sleeping at Akaashi’s place.

Kita Shinsuke

It hadn’t been long since the both of you tied the knot let alone since finding out you were expecting his first child, so there were many changes in his routine. He’s persistent though, if he could do it one day then the next day he could do it too. Ever since you’ve entered the stage of pregnancy where you want to eat everything and anything, Kita finds himself at the grocery store more often than he would routinely like to.

“Yes dear.” Kita listens to you ramble a list of things you would like from the store, he was absolutely tired and wasn’t writing anything down. You had been in a bad mood all day due to your sore lower back and anything Kita has tried hasn’t worked.

“Are you listening? Honey, I really want watermelon, that’s what I want the most. I don’t want the prepackaged ones, I want an entire watermelon.”

He insists he was listening but when faced with the two different type of watermelon, all Kita can remember is you saying prepackaged. So the frown you have on your face when he pulls out a little clear container of watermelon, his memory rushes back to recall that you specifically asked for a fresh watermelon.

“I’ll go back to the store.” He gulps.

“No.” Your words are sharp, the smile on your face sends a chill down his spine, “It’s okay, maybe our son will be happy that his father has given him poor watermelon instead of listening to his loving wife who asked for a fresh watermelon. Shinsuke! You said you were listening!”

He was dejected to sitting outside, pulling at the random grass as he looked over his rice field. He turns when he hears footsteps, you were pouting while looking down at him. If there was anything that he was glad about with your mood swings, it was that your anger left as quickly as it came. He stands, a hand supporting your back to lead you back to the house.

“Why don’t we go to the store together? I’ll buy you everything you want.”

Oikawa Tooru

It was no secret that the two of you were angry with each other, the restaurant was awfully cheery compared to the silent treatment that you were giving Oikawa and the one that he was giving right back at you. So you two settled on just not talking to each other; but the more you stayed silent, the more Oikawa felt uneasy. Because now you were reaching an entirely new type of mad, one where you looked calm and collected but deep down in your eyes, he was screwed.

“I’m sorry.” He finally spits out in the middle of the meal.

“For what?” You inquire, sipping the soup from your spoon slowly without looking at him.

He lowers his head, “I’m sorry I decided to go hang out with the guys instead of coming home to you, my lovely and adorable wife who I adore and love.” He tries sending you a sweet smile, hoping that his sugarcoated words would bring you back to smile for him.

“Not good enough.” Your words stab him in the back. You set the spoon down, opting to finally look at him before lifting your hand. You place a finger down, “I told you to come home early tonight so we could clean the house.” Another finger down, “You lied to me saying you had to practice longer.” Another finger, “You go over to Iwaizumi’s place because he just got the PS5 and you just had to play.” Another, “You forgot to take out the trash this morning which I told you to do before you left.” One more finger, “If you want to play with Iwaizumi so much then go sleep at his place.”

His heart is wounded, still, he tries to be sweet and caring, “You shouldn’t be so stressed honey, it won’t be good for the baby.”

Your glare causes him to retract in his seat, “Oh! So when it’s convenient for you, you’ll use the baby.”

“No that’s not what I meant.”

You begin to spew more words that dagger into his heart, he’s finally concluded that he can’t do anything to cease your anger at him and as he trudges behind you into the shared home, he can already feel the loneliness of the spare bedroom he’ll be sleeping in tonight. As he turns to head straight for the room, you groan.

“Where do you think you’re going?” You stand at the doorframe of the main bedroom. Your voice suddenly changes, “Sleep with me.”

[head-canons-for-everything]

✨Encanto✨

The lack of clarity on the Madrigal cousin ages really bugs me. I like having everything laid out neatly with cool little links between people. But, Disney didn’t help me there. So I’ve made up a head canon for their ages. Obviously some of it will be canon, but not all of it.

Isabela:

Eldest first. I recon Isa would be the oldest of the cousins as she is mentioned as the golden child countless times. She is the example to her younger siblings and cousins because she is almost literally perfect. There is also that whole thing about how she almost gets engaged just because her Abuela thinks they would be a good match.

Age wise, I’m going with around 23. As the eldest sister, it isn’t unusual to have a 15 year old sister, and also, she almost gets engaged. She can’t be that young. That would put her as 7 when Mirabel was born which sounds right to me in my head.

Dolores:

I was debating whether or not to put her as the oldest, but decided ultimately that while she looks like she is an amazing older sister to Camilo and Antonio, I can’t quite see her being the leader of the cousins while they grew up, but rather the second in command who knows exactly what is happening all the time. Dolores also mentions in a song that she “grew to live in fear of Bruno stuttering and stumbling”. If I remember right, Bruno left when Mirabel was five (correct me if I’m wrong) which means as the second oldest, she would have had time to actually grow to be wary of him.

In the film, I head canon her as around 20. This would still give her a five year gap from Mirabel, meaning she could have grown up with Bruno until she was ten, but also give Isa enough time to be a good influence. When Isa got her gift of gracefulness and general perfection, Dolores would have been 2ish meaning she grew up watching Isa be perfect.

Camilo:

Camilo and Luisa were hard to choose between but I really liked the idea of Dolores and Camilo being closer in age and getting up to mischief together. Obviously they nicknamed each other Lory and Cam and they stuck when their cousins and brother joined them.

Cam can not be any older than 19 in my opinion. He is so laid back (which I’m not saying people in their twenties aren’t) but he also looks so young. I mean, if we went by looks, I would have said Luisa was the oldest. But yeah, I think Camilo was born almost exactly 10 months after Lory was

Luisa:

As I said before, Luisa really could have been the oldest looks wise. I head canon that she didn’t particularly like being the youngest and was thrilled when Mirabel was born because she looked up to how perfect Isa was as a sister and really wanted to be that person to someone else. Pretty much as soon as Luisa hit ten, she started volunteering for jobs and to do all the heavy work because she liked feeling appreciated and was constantly worried that she was in the way or not good enough. (Also, from her song, I would have thought Luisa was the oldest. I’m the oldest of four, and that is how I constantly feel)

Luisa is around 17 but still has a very happy go lucky personality that is sometimes replaced when she is really concentrating on something, but otherwise is like an excitable puppy

Mirabel:

We all know who Mirabel is. I don’t have much I feel like I really need to add other than she she too didn’t like being the youngest and was excited through Pepa’s whole pregnancy.

15, but we all knew that

Antonio:

Can anyone not love him? Isa used to make plants grow into whatever him favourite animal at the time was, and that was actually one of the first times she was able to make more than one plant that wasn’t some sort of pink flower or rose grow. Lory would sneaky into the nursery when she heard him waking and get him out of his cot and take him to play in her room as it could make any sound anyone wanted and had lots of wind chimes and water features. Cam was so happy when he was born because he finally had a brother and danced around the house, constantly changing into different people. Luisa was probably the least close with him as she was already working a lot and didn’t have much time to sit down, but she would let him climb all over her and throw him into the air and basically let him tumble around. Mirabel’s relationship is really nice in the film so I’m not changing that either.

Lil’ baby Antonio is only 5

But yeah, there is the Madrigal cousins as how old I head canon them to be

[tribus-mantodea]

[ Oh, words...? There are more of those as of late. ]

Brandishes nail. Alright. Here we go. Content will be scatterbrained snippets concerning the AU where the Lastborn Brother never succumbed to the infection.

Summary of what I’ve thought of is as follows:

Recall the scrapped Dryya fight. Well she’s alive and dandy now, so... Get Dunked On, Ghost (in which she would still not die here).

The Traitor Tribe still exists in this verse; however, they are small and generally leaderless, without direction even by due influence of the Radiance.

Ze’mer and the Mantis’ Child are also very much alive, happy, and venturing together.

Cloth is alive.

Ogrim gets a bit of closure.

Essentially what I have here is a “happier” AU through a round of shenanigans. I could prattle on about the Lords themselves, but I’ll get to my favorites another time. As far as timeline goes, it still aligns with the game. Sorta.

Uncertain of what I want to do with the ending.

DRYYA | SHE’S. WELL. THERE

Her assignment was to the White Lady, and so she’ll stay at her post until otherwise said. See those trifling beasts? (Whack.) No you don’t.

In which she has heard Ze’mer speak long, long stories of someone she’s infatuated with, always returned with her persistent line of questioning because Are you sure that she’s suitable for you and are you suitable for her and do you both actually love each other or are you just infatuated and what does she look like and Wait what do you mean it’s a Manti -- [Ai... ’che thinks you tell stories longer than her.] [...]

Of course, she meets the Mantis’ child at some point. Abruptly at that, where she also very obviously accepts that fine, okay, they’re cute, they seem fine. Fine.

(...She never asks when the Daughter’s features seem to crease just the slightest at the sight of the occasional husk of a beast.)

ZE’MER AND THE MANTIS’ CHILD | OH MAN THEY ARE LESBIANS

As for meetings go, it was (plot) when Ze’mer, the ever so elusive mystery, decided to visit the tribe one day if only to check on its state (perhaps by order and duty, perhaps not). She took a brief moment to mull in a few memories by the lowermost bench, staring beyond the pools of acid. Flowery parts omitted, the Daughter essentially took a detour and encountered (maybe threatened) this Tall Bug in White to which the response was a pause, a winding tale.

Apparently the Daughter liked stories more than she thought she did, but more importantly, she was best intrigued when “gently persuading” the knight into having a spar with her. One thing led to another and things went absolutely downhill from there (but the moments were almost always private, exchanging small bits of culture and pasts).

What ultimately mattered to the Lords when concerning partnership is whether or not said partner was strong. Are they capable in mind, heart, and skill? Being able to trust and rely on the lover and vice-versa -- that was the ideal, the only criteria. It would not do well for someone to have to be protected all the time as it sows heartache.

And they generally trusted that the Daughter had good enough judgement if she so selected (considering she could hold her own well enough to frequent outside of their domain, not that she often did so in the past). So in hearing and seeing the arrival of two, they did not interrogate despite their eagerness. Itched to test The Bug.

Beforehand, Ze’mer and the Daughter had exchanged more than enough words. She was warned they wouldn’t want to hear her tales and would better acknowledge strength and accept her if she simply challenged them.

So she did, of course, and wound up with many respectable brownie points and quite the leeway (as well as recognizing that the Tribe indeed deserved their prideful demeanors). She gifted them a delicate flower for their treasury which grows and entangles their only bench.

And then the two kind of just vibe for the most part. They occasionally separate to handle their own matters when needed, but generally, they venture together.

CLOTH | LIVING THRILLSEEKER

Her interactions with Ghost remain the same. With the absence of a Traitor Lord however, she instead returns to the place where she once fled at the mere sight of a Warrior, managing to push her way onwards to challenge the Lords... sort of. She did somehow avoid blunt-murdering any mantis on the path (instead maybe knocking them out cold) without sustaining too much damage.

So she challenged the Lords, having accepted that if she died here, well, fine, that can’t be any worse than the depths below and she only needed to prove her courage for herself anyways. It would be an honorable death. Would be, in that the cicada had managed to hold on with enough will and force that despite the incredible strain and aches, she bested them. And then passed out right then and there into a lovely nap. (She was moved to the bench not by their warriors, but by the Lastborn Lord with his excuse being, “I need to meet with our tribe anyways.” They all admired degrees of perseverance, but he especially found it worthy of respect.)

And such an encounter had inspired her. Reformed her resolve into wanting to fight as many strong (and cool?) bugs as she could so that when she did return to Nola when her time came, she would have more than enough tales to share.

In this verse, she absolutely has the time to have a few friendly bouts with the Lords when they have nothing else to do (which is fairly often). Said Lords were only more open to such a thing after the relationship between Ze’mer and the Daughter was formed.

...She totally saved Bretta. To the void with you, Zote.

Incredibly rarely, she will accompany the two lovers and get giddy every time they all somehow manage to get into a fight that involves all of them playing their due part together. (And oh, she cannot wait to tell Nola how exciting synergy was!)

OGRIM | OATH-BOUND?

Of course, Ze’mer introduced her fellow knight to her beloved just the same as she did with Dryya.

And Ogrim is ecstatic, happy to hear! And... complicated, in knowing of the other matters that have occurred in his near-isolation. Aching, when given the closure that both Isma and their King was no longer present. But, haha! There’s no room for sorrow is there? Not the time at least.

So he still follows his duties; it’s only right. But he allows himself little moments to visit Isma’s grove, never lingering too long as he mustn’t stray from oath, but...

It is a confusing matter to say the least.

Or something.

[lukepattrsn]

netflix and the chilling art of ghost cuddling

Also on AO3.

“I can’t do this anymore.” 

Julie Molina’s neck was bent to an inhuman angle. She had been laying in between Luke and Reggie, at the top of her bed, for over four hours. 

It was during times like these that she remembered her mom most clearly: she had always been the one to bug Julie about the lack of headboard where her bedroom furniture was concerned. She had been particularly vocal about Julie’s request—back when they were remodeling the house—for an extra wide window sill, so she could house her smaller plants where sunlight was most abundant. 

Julie knew her strong personality came off as petulance sometimes, and she was sure her mom had thought as much when she insisted that she direct her incessant nagging over to her tio Joaquin, when time came to finish the trimming for her room. Although Julie’s ego was well fed when her uncle adhered to her specifications, she was faintly aware that the pain she currently felt could very well be, in some form or another, her mother coming to collect for having been right all those years back and still swallowing all of her child’s dissent. 

So, yeah. Julie’s plants were hydrated and healthy, and had a lovely sunlit home above her sea of pillows—but her neck was absolutely destroyed. No amount of cushioning could do away with the protruding casing of the massive window behind her bed. 

The entire situation was weird, too. The boys were still ghosts in that they were still invisible to others aside from when they were on stage with Julie, but they had since gained the ability to become corporeal; so she could see them, and feel them, and hug them. And while their current reality was optimal for Julie’s sanity—being able to smack Reggie now and again had proven itself a hidden blessing—the air around them hung heavy with dread. 

If they were still invisible to others, they still had unfinished business to tend to. And it was hard to think about that part; that every happy moment with them, every performance, was really just another step taking them closer to crossing over. Julie suspected that there wasn’t much personal choice involved in fulfilling the very purpose of one’s afterlife, and that the boys would probably disappear off to wherever it was that her mom went, becoming ultimately separated from her. That thought alone filled her with an overwhelming sense of urgency, a need to exhaust absolutely every last shred of creativity among the four of them, before they were gone from her completely.

For this reason it was more than a little nerve wracking that they chose to remain nestled atop Julie’s full mattress, all sprawled in an asynchronous pile, nearing the tail end of Return of the Jedi, and readying for their first viewing of The Phantom Menace—they would do Star Wars in release order, of course, because it was very important to Reggie to experience these movies like everybody else. She only felt a little traitorous in wishing they could be writing, or at least doing something to help their doomed situation. 

Not to mention it was getting a little warm in the room, too. She wanted her fuzzy socks off so badly, but knew cuddling etiquette couldn’t possibly encompass that possibility. A little antsy, Julie shifted down slightly, so that her head would rest on a pillow edged in between herself and Luke’s chest, instead of continuing propped against the hardwood of her window sill. That caused a stir in Reggie, to her left, whose hand had become entwined with hers halfway through the first film due to equal parts sheepish excitement and a need to feel ‘human warmth’— his words. 

“Seriously, Julie, hang in there. This is 25 years in the making.” 

Reggie’s grip on her hand tightened slightly. From the floor cushions to the right of her bed, Julie could hear an amused laugh escape Alex. She considered the risks of peering over Luke’s mountainous arms to where her blondest friend resided, last she saw he was still all luscious pale hair and pink sweatshirts; but that felt too intrusive now. At some point in the night Julie suspected Willie had joined them. She had heard some rustling, had noticed a certain look exchanged between Luke and Reggie, and then again between the two and Alex; but it was only when they started waving to a spot in the room that looked totally empty to her that her suspicions were confirmed. 

She knew now how Flynn must feel around the boys. Sort of. The band, at least, materialized on stage. Willie was still entirely elusive to Julie. 

Once, after the ordeal with Caleb had settled and they had been able to reconnect, she had asked Luke to describe him to her, but all he had said was “he skates,” and that she would “totally know the type.” Completely useless. Since then she had been able to compile some additional information from the boys that allowed a more conclusive picture to form in her head—Willie wore cool cropped tees which Reggie was envious of, was all sharp angles, golden skin and cascading black hair (that one came from Alex), and he giggled, a lot. It was all very endearing, if not for the fact that every time Willie came around Julie felt a tiny pang of resentment for the fact that the boys had almost been taken from her because of Alex’s involvement with him. She was working hard to do away with those feelings, because Willie made Alex happy, but not being able to address it directly, because she couldn’t see or hear him, made the situation all the more difficult. It made her feel a little vulnerable, too, to be seen but not be able to see him. 

But that was just where things were right now, and she had to deal with it. 

“Fine,” she grumbled, shifting her weight slightly.

Two seconds later she felt a solid thump against her head. 

Startled, Julie looked toward the direction it came from, only to be faced with an open-mouthed Luke, seemingly significantly less interested in the Star Wars universe and suddenly very obviously asleep. He could do that now? Sleep? The rules of their existence were both unclear and inconsistent to Julie. She turned toward Luke a little more, making sure not to disturb Reggie’s grasp on her left hand, and took a short moment of her time to study the stillness of his features. Stoic brows, shaggy brown hair, perfectly curved lips. If he were drooling a little she would have to overlook it. He had shifted to match her earlier movements, and his right hand had fallen from where it rested behind his head, directly dropping onto Julie’s. They were in an impossible position now, and the slightest maneuver from Julie only served to nestle his fingers further into her hair. She was effectively being cupped by his right arm; her chin gently nudged in the space between his right bicep and forearm. She was pretty close to nuzzling the inner part of his elbow, and it felt really weird, but also sort of nice. After they played the Orpheum, she had been sure the boys were lost to her forever. Finding them in her garage, somehow nourishing their livelihoods, was nothing short of a miracle. Since then she vowed to relish in any form of touch she could get from them. From Luke. Any way to connect with him and to legitimize his role in her life felt very valid and very important, so she let herself freeze in that position. 

And while to Julie this whole movie marathon idea had originally felt like a waste of their time and resources, the scene unfolding in her bedroom made it much easier to understand the necessity behind this moment of serenity shared between herself and the boys, especially for them. Her boys—who loved music so much they came back to life. If being a present and willing fountain of warmth and friendship for them was what they needed, and if doing so landed her in Luke’s arms every now and again, she could hardly take issue with it.

[radramblog]

on Megalovania

This wasn’t what I originally planned to write today, but things change when cool news comes in. Besides, I’m in a pissy mood, and I want to write about something fun to try to change that.

To coincide with the 6th year anniversary of Undertale’s release, Toby Fox has announced the upcoming release of the second chapter of its…sequel?, Deltarune. And in honour of that very sudden and very sick announcement, I thought I’d do a piece on what many would describe as Toby’s iconic song, Megalovania. It’s had a fair few iterations at this point, so there’s plenty of meat to go through.

This may or may not be just an excuse to talk about Homestuck again. But there will be other things! I promise! Mostly those, actually.

Megalovania first appeared as the final boss theme for Toby’s Earthbound Romhack (back when he still went by Radiation), The Halloween Hack. Considering the works that would follow, THH has kind of been buried in history, and in some ways, that’s for the best. It’s very 2000s edgy, if you catch my drift.

Toby has stated that the original intent was for the final boss music to be Megalomania, from the soundtrack to another SNES JRPG, Live a Live (not to be confused with Kill la Kill), but he couldn’t get it to work for whatever reason. In a way, that’s kind of a shame, because Megalomania is an absolute bop, but I’m not going to act like what we got wasn’t also very good.

The original version of Megalovania from THH probably sounds kind of basic to those more used to the modern iterations. Do keep in mind that this was designed to be played by a now 26-year-old game on an even older console, and its not like SNES romhacking was easy at the time. Earthbound (and by extension, the Halloween Hack) are in this weird place where the soundtrack definitely still sounds really limited or bitcrushed at times, but some tracks (such as Pokey Means Business!) manage to sound excellent.

Megalovania is somewhere in between, I think. The guitar riff that drives the whole track sounds absolutely gorgeous, which is good, because I think that’s really the key element of the whole thing. The melodies present from other instruments throughout the whole thing vary in quality, both in the subjective sense and the fidelity sense, but without that riff, the song would be nothing. It’s the one truly consistent thing through every single version of Megalovania, it’s the heart of the track, and it’s surprisingly simple for something that sounds so driving and intense.

The context surrounding Megalovania iteration number one is somewhat more awkward to talk about. Like I said, The Halloween Hack is edgy, and I fucking mean it. The story is (after some preamble) a descent into the mind of Dr. Andonuts from the original game, having been driven mad on account of being in a timeline where Ness and friends don’t come back alive from the confrontation with Giygas. After a long metaphysical journey, the main character (who is Varik from Brandish for some reason) confronts Andonuts’s psyche itself as the final boss, who begs for mercy before flipping his lid with, well. I’ll just quote it. Keep in mind this is what you’re reading as Megalovania starts to play:

               “I HAVE FUCKING HAD IT WITH YOUR SHIT. you little fuckers are going to have your bodies ripped in half. I’ll shove your asses so far down your throats that when you crap you’ll sing fucking beethoven”

“tl;dr: eat shit, [slur redacted]”

 Which if you ask me is a little much. As spooky as the whole romhack is, Andonuts’s dialogue is so utterly over-the-top that it’s hard to take seriously. It’s such a pristine combination of the humour both of the time and of Toby’s likely age at the time. It’s still a fairly impressive piece of work as a whole, but considering where we’re up to, one could call this humble beginnings for Megalovania.

The track’s next big outing was as part of the Homestuck soundtrack. I’d argue that this is really where Toby got his name out there, seeing as much of his early notoriety came from his huge contributions to the webcomic’s lengthy list of albums, and also the fact that apparently Undertale was in part coded in Hussie’s basement. I don’t remember where I heard that first, but I’ve heard it from multiple sources, so.

This version of the song, styled as MeGaLoVania, starts off with a bit of a statement, with the opening notes being very much on a real shreddy-ass electric guitar, but the body of the song is actually largely the same (if cleaned up and with some different instruments) as THH’s version. Of course, this version does have more going on, as evidenced by a few of the guitar lines carrying on new melodies, as well as continuing in the background behind sections from the original piece. Owing a lot to the increased instrumentation and fidelity, this version of Megalovania is easily the rockiest, especially as the final minute of the track brings in Vriska’s banger of a theme (also composed by Fox) and the drums pick up in intensity.

While Homestuck’s soundtrack is incredibly vast, relatively little of it actually ended up being used in the webcomic itself. MeGaLoVania, of course was used, and it was right during what I’d argue was the comic’s peak in Act 5 Act 2. The animation featuring the song, [S] Wake, is such an incredible pair of oh holy FUCK moments, what with the revival of Aradia and her actually being able to (temporarily (heh)) halt the story’s main threat, and also Vriska just fucking murdering Tavros, no biggie. Looking back at it now, the whole thing feels kind of quaint, the animation style in particular (it was just Like That), but it was such a big deal at the time. It doesn’t hurt that this is easily my favourite version of Megalovania, because I’m a sucker for guitar noodling, and also a sucker for Vriska’s theme.

Homestuck (and MeGaLoVania) was pretty big in the early ‘10s, but at the end of the day, the comic and track were still very niche. And then 2015 rolled around, and Undertale came out, and suddenly it was everywhere.

As someone who’s known the song since before the game came out, it is somewhat disappointing to have it so strongly associated with Sans. Especially since A. He already has a much more fitting theme, and B. it’s so clearly the theme of that specific fight, and even moreso that of the Genocide player themselves, but fine, whatever. MEGALOVANIA, as it is styled, is very much a more bombastic version of the theme, one with more experience under the belt, and more control behind the context. After all, in this case, Toby didn’t have to wrangle with the limitations of SNES Romhacking or of featuring the track in someone else’s work. The track still has the base elements of a chiptune and chugging guitars, but the different soundfont used helps a lot to elevate the whole track’s intensity. In particular, I think the verses (do they count as verses? I know very little actual music theory, sorry) sound miles better in this iteration than any of the previous, and the snappy percussion is subtle but also great.

There are a lot of things that make the Sans fight so memorable, and MEGALOVANIA is obviously one of them. I imagine many would cite the sheer difficulty as another, but more important than that is the way it plays with expectations. In the Genocide run, you are the most attuned to the game’s combat system, and you’ve spent enough time wailing on Undyne to have expectations about how fighting Sans is going to be. And then he attacks first with an insane hard-to-dodge combo, he gets to dodge attacks, and he gets to force you onto a time limit. It breaks the rules of the game in such a shocking way that it’s hard not to find it memorable. This is not even mentioning the wild lore implications behind the fight’s dialogue, or that such a silly character goes so fuckin hard during a scrap.

Silly is something Sans is, which people seem to forget considering how much of his associated fan material is based around this one fight. Man spends half the game napping and selling hot dogs and telling awful puns. It does bug me a little, but I completely understand the impact of the scene. Despite most players never seeing it, it has to be one of the most iconic facets of the whole thing.

While hundreds if not thousands of remixes and covers of Megalovania exist at this point, most of them aren’t worth bringing up, because I don’t have infinite time on my hands, and because they’re not official. I do want to quickly bring up Megalo Strike Back, a track Toby made for an Earthbound fan album, because it slaps like hell. It’s clearly got a few of the elements of Megalovania, but the melody is so much more mysterious and eerie, and yet also kinda jaunty. I’m a big fan, and considering how many fan animations and games I’ve heard it in, so are a lot of folks.

The other version I’d like to bring up is, of course, the version that appeared in Smash Ultimate. Considering Nintendo’s typical policy surrounding fan media, having a track that originates from a SNES Romhack in fucking Smash is both incredible and hilarious.

Musically, however, it’s not that notable. The first minute or so, in fact is basically just the Undertale version with a slightly different mix (as it’s styled MEGALOVANIA, that’s the version being referenced here), though I think some of the later parts are in a slightly different key that sounds pretty interesting. I’m not sure how I feel about the piano section- on the one hand, I’m not really a fan of that instrumentation, on the other, it is very Smash, and the violins that come in are great. And then there’s guitar noodling on the back half! I just noticed that! It’s different from the Homestuck version, though.

And that’s all I have to say about Megalovania, I think. It’s a song with a surprisingly storied history, and one that is unlikely to be forgotten as long as people still remember Undertale, Homestuck, or even the Halloween Hack. And considering at the very least the popularity of the former, that’s going to be a long time away.

…okay two more things, one I think battle against a true hero is better than MEGALOVANIA and two James Roach aka probably the biggest lategame Homestuck composer remixed Megalovania for Pesterquest but it’s reaaaaaally subtle until like 3 minutes in and he called it “yeah, it is” and that’s fucking hilarious okay bye

[bringbackwendellvaughn]

Some Light Christmas Fun

i saw a bunch of my posts had been flagged as inappropriate by tumblr and appealed all of them so they now can show up. even the one about my obsession with psylocke. one i couldn’t appeal though (because it was a reblog) was a reply trying to identify all the characters depicted in The Raft as candidates for the Thunderbolts in Thunderbolts #155.

So now I am going to repeat some of what I said, add some more thoughts and try and identify them all.

This is actually one of my favourite past-times working out what stock background space fillers could reasonably be established characters. Let’s be honest, most of these were probably not meant to be anyone and were just people Kev Walker drew to fill up a room. But, within the story itself, they all have to be established super-villains who would be considered as applicants for the Thunderbolts. For identifying these, there are a few things to refer to here - the characters who are ultimately chosen to join the team are probably there, the next issue identifies some of these people who don’t make the cut, there was a poll featuring a vote for who you wanted to join the team (Shocker won, i voted for Madame Masque), some of the characters appear in other issues of Thunderbolts, some star in a preview story in Enter the Heroic Age and then in Heroic Age: Villains, Steve Rogers proposes several inmates of the Raft as potential future recruits for the Thunderbolts - some shown here.

1. Bison (Billy Kitson) or Man-Bull (William Taurens) Bison is a Thunderstrike enemy who later showed up on Crimson Cowl’s Masters of Evil in Kurt Busiek’s run on Thunderbolts. What we can see here is that it is an orange furred man, but the face cannot be seen. I am inclined to say that this would be Bison since Steve Rogers recommended him as a potential addition to the Thunderbolts in Heroic Age: Villains. This would be slightly off-model for him and it seems we should see his horns poking out here, but Bison is confirmed as being at The Raft and has that reason for being there. Alternatively it might be Man-Bull who is later shown to be at the Raft in some issues of Hercules. Then there is also Griffin (John Horton) who was a poll choice but like Bison’s horns, we should be able to see his wings, so I am definitively removing him as a possibility here..

2. Shocker (Herman Schultz)  Shocker joins the team next issue and is depicted with this hair. I’d lock him in as a definite.

3. ? We don’t have much to go on here besides a sort of faux-hawk hairdo. I’ve ran down the list of who could be there and turned up squat. Maybe in prison, Badd Axe grew a mohawk style. Badd Axe was another of the characters Steve Rogers proposed as a possible team candidate. Blizzard is confirmed as being there next issue - maybe he shaved his head like this to try and look more tough in prison.

4. Bloodshed (Wyndell Dickinson) Bloodshed is a Spider-Man baddie and another member of Crimson Cowl’s Masters of Evil (there’s a lot of them here). He’s apparently grown a goatee but I’d be confident to lock him in as another definite here. He was another of Steve’s candidates from Heroic Age: Villains.

5. Grizzly (Max Markham) I am a bit obsessed with shoving Grizzly into the background of this run. It’s not without precedent, he is depicted in Enter The Heroic Age as being at the Raft, Steve Rogers nominates him as a team member and before this run he was a full-fledged member of the team. This character design mostly suits being Grizzly, he’s the right size and has his soul-patch. The one thing stopping me from saying it’s definitely him is he appears to have some form of faceplate on him. Maybe this was an inking or colouring error? Maybe - just maybe - it is bandages from when Ant-Man climbed into his ear and beat up his ear-drums in Thunderbolts #143. That’s really reaching, especially considering Grizzly had appeared since without his ears being wrapped, but I really want to say this is Grizzly.

6. ? This character receives a fair amount of dialogue bullying pre-transformation Mr. Hyde in the next issue. Possibly trying to deflect their own lack of power by bullying Mr. Hyde when he thinks that Mr. Hyde is a weak timid guy worse off than him. We have a very generic black-haired guy who would bully a weakling, so who could it be?

7. Mr. Hyde (Calvin Zabo) This is kind of how he is depicted next issue when he is in his non-Mr. Hyde form. A small man with black hair cropped at the sides. He is also shown in front of 6 in a line and is bullied by him for looking weak and nerdy. Here he is shown stood in front of 6 again, so this would make sense as being Mr. Hyde.

8. Amazon (Katrina van Horn) or Titania (Mary MacPherran) I want to say this is Amazon, formerly Man-Killer, as she is an ex-Thunderbolt who despite only being on the team briefly always kept showing up in the book. She was again recommended as a possible Thunderbolt in Heroic Age: Villains and while her hair has grown a bit longer here, this would make sense as being her. I’d still hazard a bit to say lock this one in though because, alternatively, it could just as easily be Titania who is seen as an inmate in Thunderbolts #144.

9. ? This one has been bugging me for a while. I so know this character. Has black vertical lines on the eyes, right? Or it might be Armadillo (Antonio Rodriguez) which someone seems to have identified as being in this issue on terrible website ComicVine (I think they just confused 11 with Armadillo though). He’d be a good choice to be here though.

10. ? There is a few characters this could be. Next issue depicts a character with a hairless head with a less human face which might have been the intention here but it’s in the back so never required this detail. If we’re going with that one, the guess would be Headlok (Murray Singleton). At the other end, if you want to say he’s wearing a mask and again it’s the result of lack of detailed, Scarecrow (Ebeneezer Laughton) - next issue shows his mask as being biege. He was a poll choice and actually receives dialogue next issue.

11. Blood Brother The survivor of the two Blood Brothers, we saw this character in Enter The Heroic Age and in Thunderbolts #156 he is identified and given dialogue. He is depicted speaking to 6 and Mr. Hyde (7) next issue. There’s no area of debate this isn’t Blood Brother.

12. ? Short guy with long hair. This seems like it could be an easy one but I’m coming up empty. Dare I suggest this could be Grizzly again?

13. ? A tall woman with nice black hair. Possibly Titania again. Otherwise, the best I can think of is that Moonstone acknowledges Black Mamba as being there next issue. It’s maybe a bit too built for her but it’s also the one that looks the most like Black Mamba. 

14. ? I’m pulling this one out of nowhere but this could be Asp. The hair matches and she is Black Mamba’s bff, so it’d make sense they’d be near each other. 

15. Powderkeg (Frank Skorina) Powderkeg is a real Z-list villain fodder guy. He is confirmed as being a Raft inmate in Avengers Academy #4 (a light crossover issue with Thunderbolts) and I want to say this is definitely him even if it requires a little bit more footwork.

16. Super-Skrull (Kl’rt) Confirmed next issue.

17. Skeleton Ki (Alisher Sham) One of Steve Rogers’ picks and this one is wearing a skeleton face mask so it seems quite evident it is him. Lock in Skeleton Ki as number 17.

18. ? This character is also depicted next issue, stood behind Blood Brother and 6 during the Mr. Hyde bullying scene. Based on that, it’s clear he is a male with long hair.

19. ? Absolutely no idea. Woman with corn-rows.

20. Dark Beast (Hank McCoy) AOA-verse evil version of Beast. Jeff Parker originally wanted this character to join the team but was blocked by the X-offices. Centurius filled his role instead. Dark Beast is shown on the cover to #156, was also one of the poll choices and him being drawn a bit poorly here might have been a last-minute alteration to try and change it to NOT be Dark Beast. This is definitely meant to be Dark Beast though.

21. Poundcakes (Marian Pouncy) Poundcakes is shown as a inmate of the Raft in Thunderbolts #159. The body type is a match and the hair is consistent with how she is shown in #159. Lock her in.

22. Boomerang (Fred Myers) He joins the team next issue. This is another case where this is obviously the character. 100% definite here.

23. Ox (Roland Bloch) Member of the Enforcers (and briefly the Thunderbolts Army). This is how Ox was drawn in Enter The Heroic Age. The colour of his hair has slightly changed but put him in the definite machine.

24. Mandrill (Jerome Beechman) This is Mandrill. Easy.

25. Troll (Gunna Sijurvald) She joins the team. This is undebatably her.

26. Bushwacker (Carl Burbank) Bushwacker is a former Daredevil and Punisher foil. This is definitely him. He was depicted exactly like this in Enter the Heroic Age. Definitely lock him in.

Here’s the bit in issue #156 which features some roll-call with not necessarily the character models depicted. 

Of those I can’t identify the first one (Blizzard because she mentions him? Really, any number of other bad guys listed below can fit this design), the next one is either 6 or 7, then up-front in that mask is Scarecrow (confirmed next 2 panels). Next that would b Bloodshed/4, and then possibly a miscoloured Ana Kravinoff, and finally Headlok and Super-Skrull.

Extra notes: - Centurius (Noah Black) is not depicted but joins the team.  - Blizzard (Donnie Gill) is confirmed as being there in this room as seen above but I don’t see any character that could really really be him. - Scarecrow (Ebeneezer Laughton) is as well but he’s been speculated all over the place. - Black Mamba (Tanya Sealy) likewise. - The leftover Steve Rogers’ suggestions from Heroic Age: Villains are Absorbing Man (Carl Creel), Answer (Aaron Nicholson), Badd Axe, Hydro-Man (Morris Bench), Lady Stilt-Man (Callie Ryan), Mad Dog (Buzz Baxter), Redeemer (Shep Gunderson), Ruby Thursday (Thursday Rubinstein) and Vector (Simon Utrecht). Some of them like Ruby Thursday are clearly not there. - He also recommended the Young Masters but none of them were ever even arrested. - The cover to issue #156 also features Abomination (Emil Blonsky), Absorbing Man, Batroc (Georges Batroc), Ana Kravinoff and Sandman (William Baker/Flint Marko) - none of these appear to be there and Abomination had been dead for a few years by that point. - I can’t find the poll itself, I can find a link to it but it just redirects to Marvel.com, and other than the winner (Shocker) and who I voted for (Madame Masque), the other choices are sourced from a forum post. Absorbing Man, Batroc, Brother(s?) Grimm, Dark Beast, Doctor Demonicus (Douglas Birely), Griffin, Ana Kravinoff, Living Laser (Arthur Parks), Madame Masque (Whitney Frost), Mr. Hyde, Sandman, Scarecrow, Shocker and Other. Noticeably nearly all the ones on the cover to #156 were listed. Other allowed you to write-in a choice but they shouldn’t really count towards this. Of these ones, Absorbing Man, Doctor Demonicus (deformed face with horns), possibly Griffin, Ana Kravinoff, Living Laser (stuck in energy form), Madame Masque and Sandman are obviously not there. - Some other confirmed Raft inmates at this time from other Thunderbolts issues include Axe (Jerome Hamilton), Corruptor (Jackson Day), Mr. Fear (Alan Fagan), Mo Money, Purple Man (Zebediah Kilgrave) and Titania. #159 gives us 3 previously unseen characters: Big Roy (a Walrus monster man), Man-Mountain Mario (Man-Mountain Marko’s cousin) and Indali (a normal looking woman who is the Queen B of the women’s wing of the prison). In other books we see Basilisk (Basil Elks), Blackout (of the Lilin), Crossfire (William Cross), Griffin, Hecate, Man-Bull, Vermin (Edward Whelan) and probably much much more but those are the ones that come straight to mind from Avengers Academy #4, Hawkeye and Mockingbird and a Hercules story. - While Crossbones (Brock Rumlow), Hyperion, Nuke (Frank Simpson) and Norman Osborn are all being held at The Raft, they are not eligible for the team.

Feel free to contribute or ignore this.

[marshmallowgoop]

Goop Plays Kill la Kill the Game: IF (Satsuki Episodes 5-8)

Oh my goodness.

Episode 5

So, this episode starts off with that haunting line featured in the recent Anime Expo story trailer:

Ragyo: All of this is because of you, Satsuki. Because of who you are.

I guess Ragyo’s saying that Shinra-Kouketsu came into fruition because Satsuki couldn’t prevent this outcome, no matter her efforts, but I gotta say that I was expecting something a lot more sinister. But that’s just trailer magic for you, I suppose, lol.

And I know I said in my last write-up that I really enjoyed interacting with the story, but okay, I get what some reviews were referring to now. Fighting the COVERS felt extremely tedious.

Satsuki: Ugh, this is endless!

Same, Satsuki, same.

Though, to be fair, I don’t know if it’s the Steam port or my computer or what, but part of the reason playing through this segment felt so bad is because it ran so badly. It was slow and glitchy and an utter pain.

Still, I will say that fighting the COVERS with the Elite Four was a bit of a better experience purely because of the cute introductions when each of them joined Satsuki in battle. I particularly loved Nonon and Satsuki’s exchange:

Nonon: Nonon here, at your service!

Satsuki: I’m counting on you, Nonon. Stay sharp out there.

I mean, aw??? Satsuki saying she’s counting on someone? My heart. And that’s not even mentioning that she uses Nonon’s first name.

It’s a real shame that there are no subtitles for these bits. Those playing in Japanese who don’t understand the language will totally miss all of these moments.

But then again, the achievement for the battle is “Unspoken Understanding,” so these words aren’t really necessary. 

They’re so cute, though!

Anyway, on the subject of the Elite Four, my question about their Goku Uniforms gets quickly answered here:

Satsuki: Your Goku uniforms!

Houka: Iori patched them up fast, m’Lady. Nothing compares to his skill with a needle and thread.

And LOL, okay, Shiro can just sew four complicated outfits in like five minutes. Life Fibers: ain’t gotta explain shit.

(To be real, though, I’m honestly not bugged. Details like this just amuse me. And I really like that Houka says this line.)

But what the heck is Shiro referring to here???

Shiro: There’s just one thing that bothers me...

Satsuki: What?

Shiro: It can wait. I’ll come talk to you after the fight’s over.

As of episode 8, I don’t think this talk has occurred? Or did I miss it or something?? What bothered Shiro??? I don’t really have an idea!

Episode 6

It kinda cracked me up that Shinra-Kouketsu didn’t seem to be that far from complete. Nui, what the heck were you doing in the anime? It seems you could have finished that thing in a way more timely manner.

Nui: Awww, Satsuki! You’re too late. I just finished!

But on a more serious note, seeing Satsuki lose control and become Mind Stitched is heartbreaking. I knew at about this point that I was getting close to the end of the story, but gosh, I want so much more. I want to know how Satsuki feels. I want to know more about her history and what she’s done up to this point. Seeing so much go unexplored leaves me aching.

Still, I know I’m lucky to get any Kill la Kill at all after all these years....

Poor Satsuki, though... She’s had to fight all these battles, and then this happens....

But I will say... one thing I actually don’t think I want to know is what Nui ended up doing....

Nui: Okay! I’ll just stay here and mess around then!

Episode 7

Now, episode 7 is the absolute cutest.

Ryuko: Finally. Thought you’d never wake up.

I want ten hours just of the characters being cute like this. They don’t even have to like, do anything. They can just sit around and talk. This is my jam.

Back when the show was first airing, I remember so many people wanting Ryuko to save Satsuki after the Festival. This episode is the perfect embodiment of that dream. And it’s honestly better than I even expected. They are precious.

Ryuko: Can you move?

Satsuki: No. That’s not good.

Goodness, Satsuki, you are such a dork I love you.

Buuuut. Uh. I have so many questions.

How much time has passed? Have the Elite Four been awake a while? Were they talking to Ryuko about Satsuki for a long time (and can I please, please see this in Ryuko’s story?)

And, most notably, how the heck is Senketsu back together again?! Maybe I misunderstood what happened before, but didn’t Ragyo take one of Senketsu’s pieces? How can Senketsu Synchronize with Ryuko without that piece?? What did Ragyo want to do with that piece, anyway? What is going on.

As cute as everything is, it’s also a bit soured for me when it’s revealed that Ryuko was convinced she’d killed Nui.

Ryuko: I thought I killed you!

Just recently, I actually got into a whole discussion on the subject. Apparently, in the Grand Summoners mobile game that had a crossover with Kill la Kill about a year ago, Ryuko states that she’s perfectly willing to kill others without remorse.

And, uh.

Okay, was anybody going to tell me that the Grand Summoners/Kill la Kill crossover had a story, or was I just supposed to read that in a discussion about whether Ryuko would like Shadow the Hedgehog or not myself?

But anyway, I figured that Ryuko would say something like that purely to sound tough. I’ve always viewed her as a sweet who wouldn’t truly want to kill anybody, even Nui (which is why she ultimately doesn’t kill Nui in the anime).

Perhaps I’ve just interpreted her character all wrong, and maybe it’s unfair of me to expect too much depth from a 3.5-hour story in a tie-in anime fighter game, but if Nui is the first person Ryuko’s “killed,” I just... expect more of a reaction. Even killing someone you hate must make you feel something if it’s the first time you’ve done such a thing. Ed killing Greed in the 2003 Fullmetal Alchemist anime is a brilliantly powerful example of that, and Ryuko is a remarkably sensitive person when it comes to how she impacts others—her reaction after going berserk in episode 13 is a testament to that.

Of course, I haven’t seen Ryuko’s side of things. Maybe she does freak out after she’s done the deed. But I don’t know. From what I understand about Ryuko—going easy on Mataro’s gang, helping Maiko despite trying to be tough and saying that it’s everyone for themselves, hardly even being able to function after losing control and hurting the people she loves, putting all her doubts aside to “save” Nagita—it’s hard for me to believe that she’d be so unaffected by killing someone, especially in retrospect. 

I mean, heck, she doesn’t even kill Nui in this episode despite saying that she will and honestly having the opportunity to!

Ryuko: I don’t care how many-a-you there are! I’ll kill you all!

And it’s even weirder to me that Senketsu would be okay with this! He’s the one who says in the preview for episode 18 that “to kill as you please with a smile on your face is evil.” Why would he help Ryuko murder for revenge?

It’s Not That Deep, Goop, I know. But it irks me.

Still, I can (obviously) appreciate the charm of this short story. Nui’s little cloth dolls are adorable, for example.

Episode 8

And getting into episode 8, I love that Ryuko didn’t even understand what she was doing when she cut off Nui’s arms, but she acted so sure of herself anyway, like she totally knew that’d work out.

Shiro: But if you cut those Fibers from both sides simultaneously, they can can’t regenerate.

Ryuko: Ohhh, so that’s what happened with Nui’s arms.

And oh lordy, they are precious.

Nonon: Jeez, Satsuki. Don’t bow down to the new girl! What’ll people think?

But at the same time, we’re missing so much of the power of the anime here. When Satsuki bows down to Ryuko in the anime, it’s so meaningful because she understands that she messed up. She shouldn’t have used her own sister as a tool and a weapon. She went too far. This is cute, but it feels undeserved.

Carrie Keranen, Satsuki’s English voice actress, said in a recent ArcLive that the Satsuki’s apology on the Naked Sol was her favorite scene to voice. She talked about how Satsuki felt she was doing the right thing but realized that she didn’t have to go to the lengths she did. I was so hoping for the game to delve into that realization more, and there is still a tiny bit of time for it to do so, yes, but it was kinda sad to see the bow here before that.

I’m also kinda confused about what’s going on. What is Uzu talking about here?

Uzu: Yeah and besides, Matoi here was saved ‘cuz of you. She should be the one doin’ the thanking.

How exactly did Satsuki save Ryuko? She, uh, kinda tore up Senketsu.....

On a completely different note, I’ve noticed in the past that the localization is kinda wonky, and you definitely feel that in this episode. Ryuko says that she has the Rending Scissors, but then the subtitles call them “Snippity-Snips,” lol.

And more complaints about Ryuko, but I’m not sure I dig her being characterized kinda like a dimwit. “Primordial” isn’t that difficult a word, c’mon.

Ryuko: Wait... Prime-oatmeal?

Maybe it makes more sense in Japanese. Or Ryuko’s just really hungry.

I did appreciate this line, though:

Ryuko: I ain’t here to make friends with you all.

Oh, Ryuko.

But can’t say I appreciated this one:

Ryuko: I’m gonna kill that loli bitch!

Can we just... not with that word, please.

I loved the ending, though. Satsuki, you are such a sweet, oh my goodness.

Satsuki: That said, I’d like the four of you to go after her. Protect her, if necessary.

Awww! She really does care.

And the fact that she prioritizes her students?

Satsuki: I’ll make sure all students are freed from the COVERS and once I’ve arranged for their rescue, I will join you.

Satsuki a sweet, okay. Satsuki is good.

Gallery

Aight, I know this is really long already, but I gotta say that I really appreciate that Ryuko and Senketsu share a place in the Voice Library... even if their names don’t show up together there....

I’m also super curious about those bonus voice lines, but I feel like it’d be cheating to buy them now, and there are probably spoilers in them, too... and I’m broke in this game, lol.... But very excited for it!

And I’ve said it before, but can we just appreciate all the love put into this game some more? Look at all those voice lines! 146 for Ryuko and Senketsu alone. And all characters seem to have at least around 70 lines. I’m fearful about how this story will end, but goodness, the dedication put into this game will never stop being charming.

One more thing... when I started up the game again, Mako was narrating instead of Senketsu! I looked at these voice lines and realized that everyone can be the narrator, but I wasn’t sure how you trigger it to change. Learned today that it depends on the buttons you press during the introduction!

Again love all the effort put into this game.

In sum, I’m not sure how this thing’ll end, and I am nervous, but there’s a lot of charm here, even if I wish there was more. It’s hard to stop playing and write these posts, but I also feel like I gotta let this stuff sink in a bit! I don’t want to break my mind by going through way too much Kill la Kill content at once!

[theliberaltony]

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

It may seem strange that former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is entering the presidential race, as he will reportedly announce on Thursday. It’s really late. The field still has 16 ”major” candidates. And Democratic voters really like the group of people already running. But Patrick has a clear rationale for running — even if his odds of winning the nomination are pretty low.

Democrats, as I wrote earlier this week, have a somewhat unorthodox set of front-runners — at least when compared to past nominees. Joe Biden is on the old side (76). Pete Buttigieg is on the young side (37). Elizabeth Warren is very liberal. And Bernie Sanders is both very liberal and old (78). The last two Democrats to win a general election — Bill Clinton and Barack Obama — were 40-somethings who ran on somewhat safe ideological platforms.

Patrick, meanwhile, is 63 years old — not young, exactly, but not in his upper 70s either. He served two terms as Massachusetts governor. He’s liberal, but unlikely to push more controversial liberal policies such as Medicare for All or more drastic ones such as a wealth tax. I assume that Patrick, who is friendly with Obama, is himself wary of the current Democratic field and its lack of a Bill Clinton or Barack Obama style figure, and that his circle includes a lot of Democratic Party operatives and donors who see this void and encouraged him to run. (Or at least didn’t discourage him.)

You might think that Patrick’s logical path is to compete with Biden for black voters, and with Warren and Sanders for New Hampshire voters (all three come from neighboring states). And sure, it would help Patrick if he can peel off some of Warren’s well-educated liberal voters, particularly in New Hampshire. And to win the nomination, he will probably have to close the big lead that Biden has with African-Americans. But I think the real opening for Patrick is essentially to replace Pete Buttigieg as the candidate for voters who want a charismatic, optimistic, left-but-not-that-left candidate. Patrick, I think, is betting that there’s a “Goldilocks” opportunity for him — “Buttigieg but older,” or “Biden but younger” — a candidate who is viewed as both safe on policy and safe on electability grounds by Democratic establishment types and voters who just want a somewhat generic Democratic candidate that they are confident will win the general election.

After all, in his rise in Massachusetts politics, Patrick was not that reliant on black support — the Bay State has a fairly small black population (9 percent). Instead, he won a competitive 2006 Democratic primary for governor by emerging as preferred candidate among the state’s white, educated, activist class.

On paper, Patrick seems fairly similar to Cory Booker and Kamala Harris — charismatic, black, left-but-not-that-left. But he has two potential advantages over them. First, Patrick has a last-mover advantage — he’s seen how the other candidates have ran and can begin his candidacy to take advantage of perceived weaknesses. As a new candidate, voters might also give him a fresh look in a way that perhaps the two senators haven’t been able to get. But more importantly, Booker and Harris both spent the first half of the year trying to win some of the more liberal voters, who are likely now with Warren and Sanders. That may have made Harris, in particular, appear as though she was trying to be all things to all people. Patrick can now enter the race knowing that he is trying to win Democrats who self-identify as “moderate” and “somewhat liberal,” basically conceding the most liberal voters to Warren and Sanders.

Patrick currently works at Bain Capital, the private equity firm that Democrats spent 2012 criticizing because Mitt Romney had long worked there. That looked like a huge liability this time last year, when Patrick flirted with but ultimately ruled out a run. Back then, it seemed like the party’s left was ascendant and Patrick’s Bain work would be a deal-breaker. Now, I expect Patrick to be more unapologetic about his work, essentially leaning into the idea that he is more moderate and pro-capitalism than Warren or Sanders.

It all sounds pretty good on paper, right? You can almost see why Patrick decided to launch such a late, long-shot bid.

There is a potential problem, though: I’m not sure voters really want Buttigieg-but-older or Biden-but-younger. Whatever the Democratic elites think, Democratic voters like the current field, as I noted above. That makes me think that people in Iowa, where the South Bend mayor is surging, are not looking for Buttigieg-but-older. They’re probably well aware of how old Buttigieg is — he talks about it all the time! Biden, meanwhile, has led in national polls most of the year and has solid leads in Nevada and South Carolina — it’s possible many voters view his age and related experience as a feature not a bug. Patrick will be a fresh candidate and perhaps have a more honed message, but in the end may register with actual voters not much differently than Booker or Harris or any of the other lower-tier candidates, black or non-black.

I’m less concerned that Patrick can’t raise money or build campaign organizations in key states, although those are obviously challenges for him as well since he’s entering the race so late. (For example, the filing deadlines for two Super Tuesday states, Alabama and Arkansas, have already passed.) If he can manage to catch on with voters and thus rises in the polls, I’d bet donors and even staffers from the lagging 13 campaigns will switch to the former governor. If he is a really strong candidate, Patrick can make up for not competing in Alabama and Arkansas. Patrick will also face questions from progressive activists from his years as a corporate lawyer, particularly his tenure on the board at the now-defunct Ameriquest, which foreclosed thousands of homes in low-income areas during the early 2000’s. But I think voters who are wary of his business career and won’t support him for those reasons are already pretty firmly in the Warren and Sanders camps.

So my bottom line: Patrick is a more logical candidate to lead the Democratic Party than 77-year-old Michael Bloomberg, who has also been considering a last-ditch candidacy. The former New York City mayor is old, had tense relationships with black activists in the city and isn’t that closely tied to the Democratic Party. Patrick is black, not that old, a former civil rights lawyer and a stalwart Democrat. He would have been a totally logical Democratic nominee in 2016 and even 2020 if he had run a traditional campaign from the beginning. His late entrance, however, makes his path really, really hard. I’m sure the donor crowd that he talks to is convinced that the Democrats have four flawed frontrunners. But I’m not sure that the voters will agree.

[nymphgirlsofskyrim]

Version 2.0 Update Info

I am currently working on a new version of NGoS that will be ready in roughly a month or so.  I had originally planned on releasing this in March, but my schedule became too crowded and I didn't have as much time to devote to it as I had hoped.

The new update has numerous bug fixes, as well as new content and a few new features.

Bug Fixes

Bug Fixes are pretty numerous, mostly small stuff, but here are some examples

I defined a nymph specific skeleton to conclusively resolve feet deformity issues caused by having an out-of-date XPMSE skeleton

Fixed a lot of mismapped texture paths on meshes that caused them to show up solid purple.

A few meshes had the normal maps generated upside down.  This is because OpenGL and Direct3D have different conventions for lighting direction, openGL is Y+ for up whereas Direct3D is Y- for up.  On some of the older textures I generated normals for I accidentally baked them with the OpenGL directions.  This causes areas that should look recessed to actually stick out.  The most noticeable example of this is Kayellie’s Sword.  The Glyphs on her sword are supposed to be engravings, but they actually look like they are protruding in most lighting.

Bodyslide generated body meshes had the wrong .tri file specified so it wouldn’t work with in game uunp morphs

The followers were not correctly using some of the Nymph Racial abilities which applied their effects through perks.  This affected all of the followers to some degree (they didn’t get the default Nymph iron/steel protection) but it affected Kayellie and Mystra more, since they weren’t getting the Blended Nymph protection either.  Mystra is a lot sturdier now that both of those are working (as she should be!)

Synne’s Flames of Sin was not correctly scaling.  

This also includes the bug fixes from the hotfix updates I posted back in January, so you will only need to download 1 file.  There are a few other minor bugs I have fixed, and I intend to go through and examine each and every part of this before I release the update to make sure I didn't miss anything.

New Features

As for new features, the biggest one is that I am adding “Ultimate Abilities” to each follower.  

These are powers that they can only use once they are level 50 or higher, and these abilities are either a super powerful spell that can only be used once every 10 minutes, or a permanent upgrade to their basic fighting style.  

These abilities have very elaborate shaders that I have put a lot of work into, special audioFX, and a voiceline that each follower will say when they cast it.

Right now I have two of these completed, Yulia and Synne.  I will make another post to showcase these as well as give updates as I complete the other 4 follower ultimates.

The other big feature I am adding is preset placement.  A lot of people were asking for this, as well as Nymph world encounters, so I ended up creating a kind of scavenger hunt with the Nymph presets.

There are 22 in total, randomly scattered all over Skyrim.  There are more presets than this, but several of them ended up becoming crew members of the new follower, who I will get to next.

There are a variety of locations you can find them in, ranging from caves, ponds, rural inns to big city taverns, and they are placed according to their subtype.

You are most likely to find a Blended Nymph at a small Rural Inn, such as “Old Hroldan Inn”

The best place to find a Night Nymph is a major city, as you might expect.  They are part of the normal populace, but fortunately the perception-altering magic of the Night Nymph doesn't work on the Dragonborn, so you should be able to spot them easily.

While the two previous subtypes generally stay dressed and live discreetly alongside humans, the other three subtypes are encountered naked in the Wilderness, in typical Nymph form.

Most of time you can find a Wood Nymph at a glen or grove, just like you would find a spriggan.  Good thing Nymphii get along with spriggans!

The easiest place to find a Desert Nymph is in a Grotto type cave.  Frequently they get in territory disputes with the local bears or horkers, but wildlife aren’t a match for the warrior prowess of your average Desert Nymph.

Since there are no jungles in Skyrim, and the few swamplands tend to be shallow and lack sufficient foliage to suit a Beast Nymph, most of them live in caves.  

There are a couple Khajiit Nymphii that have claimed abandoned housing due to the particularly appealing treasures within: one has discovered a shack full of fish, while the other has found a house full of mice.

Each of these 22 Nymphii has been given a distinct class, combat-style, and spell-list, along with appropriate class-perks and the same leveling perks that the Nymph Followers possess.  I tried to make each one of them unique, and they run the range of magic, stealth, and different styles of combat, so that none of them is quite the same.  A few even have unique powers, but they will be harder to find!

New Content

The big addition is the inclusion of Nai’Yari, the new Desert Nymph Follower.  I have described her already in other posts, so I won’t go into a whole lot of detail here.  

The biggest thing I have to add is that I have made her crewmates into potential followers as well, and given them unique equipment and a special ability.

Currently she has 2 crew members that are camped out with her in Skyrim, a Desert Nymph and a Blended Nymph, but I am planning on adding at least one more, possibly two, a Bretoniic Nymph (!!!) and a Nord woman.

Besides the new follower I have already shown on this blog, I am also in the process of finishing up the lore updates that I have been working on.  

This is pretty extensive, and I don’t think I will be able to include it all with this update.  For now, here’s a teaser of some of the tidbits that have come up in questions I have received.

Nymphii have a mating selection process that is based almost 100% on some innate ability to sense the compatibility of any mortal's "magical essence" with the Nymph’s own magical composition.  

Most Nymph subtypes have almost no interest in status, wealth, power, or any other kind of social advantages or material resources.  A prince or a pauper makes very little difference to her.

The Nymph, like any humanoid creature, will obviously have some sense of aesthetics.  However, since all Nymphii are inhumanly beautiful, regardless of the father’s appearance, this is not a major factor in her selection process.  Whether a man is handsome or ugly is only relevant if they have equally compatible “Magical Essence.”

The result is that the Nymph may display strong preferences for one person over another that make very little sense, and her preferences may often seem incomprehensible to mortals.  

For example, a Nymph may show an irresistible attraction to the one-eyed beggar of solitude, and be completely disinterested or even repulsed by the wealthy, charming, and handsome nobleman.

Two males of the same race can still have hugely different patterns of essence.  

A Desert Nymph, whose composition generally favors Redguards, can be highly compatible with the essence of one Redguard man but may be totally incompatible with the essence of another.  

Every mortal has a unique pattern of “Magical Essence” that a Nymph can intuitively read.  Call this perception something like "Magical Pheromones" if that helps to explain it.  

This pattern of “Magical Essence” is usually something only a Nymph can sense, though it may be possible to "read" a person's essence with powerful divination magic.  

Every Nymph can perceive this essence this upon reaching maturity.  It is part of the basic reproductive behavior of every subtype, even the Blended Nymph, for whom selection is not quite so necessary. 

“Magical Essence" is contained primarily within mortal reproductive cells, male and female.  Similar to how a Succubus obtains whatever it is that keeps her alive from semen, the Nymph requires the "Magical Essence" housed within functional humanoid reproductive cells in order to reproduce, which she eventually uses to start an arcane catalytic reaction that generates a new Nymph.

She can gather “Magical Essence” from both men and women, but due to the great difference in number of cells produced (billions of sperm vs. a single ova), it is almost impossible for her to obtain enough essence from a woman to reproduce.  Her strong preference for males as mates is based on this fact, rather than on any anatomical reason.

Human males possess significantly more essence per cell to account for their shorter lifespans, and this helps to account for why Nymphii generally do not prefer Mer over Human except by specific Nymph subtype.

An egg will have thousands of times the quantity of essence per cell, but this is rarely enough to make a difference.

The only situation in which she might obtain enough essence from a woman would be a relationship with a Mer woman that persists for more than five centuries.  It is not impossible, but very nearly so.

It is next to impossible for a Nymph to get pregnant the first time she has sex with any given person.

Most Nymphii are aware of this fact, and it contributes somewhat to the “promiscuous” reputation that the Nymph species has.

They are also generally immune to most sexually transmitted diseases that affect mortals, though with the exception of the Wood Nymph, they are not immune to magical diseases. 

There may be a few diseases that only affect the Nymph which are carried by mortals...

Basically, there is very little risk or consequence for the Nymph if she chooses to indulge her desires.

The genes of the male are totally and completely irrelevant in terms of the composition of the new Nymph: she does NOT reproduce through genetic inheritance.

The “Nymph Generating Reaction” proceeds more quickly based on the amount of "Magical Essence" that she can use as building blocks: the more times she has had sex with the same person, the shorter her pregnancy will be.  

A Nymph could conceive with a mate she has only slept with a few dozen times, but her resulting pregnancy will last decades.  

Comparably, a Nymph who has been in a relationship with a Human man for his entire lifespan may have a pregnancy that lasts only a few weeks.

The building blocks of different individuals are wholly incompatible with each other and cannot be used to fuel the same reaction; each person has a unique variant of "essence" and she cannot further this reaction by sleeping with many different people.

A Nymph might be quite promiscuous normally, but once she has taken a mate she thus has a very strong incentive to be monogamous.

The essence of incompatible mates does not necessarily disrupt the reaction, but it does not provide any benefit either.  Since a Nymph pursuing reproduction is always engaging in a deliberate and conscious decision, it does not make much sense for her to sustain an interest in other mates until after she has conceived.

There’s a lot more, but that’s part of what I consider the “essential” basics of Nymph reproduction, and it should help you get an idea of the life-cycle and motivations of the Nymph.

That’s all so far.  I hope you look forward to it!

[a-wandering-fool]

Sanders: I Will Do a Better Job ‘Explaining What We Mean by Socialism – Democratic Socialism’

“I think what we have to do, and I will be doing it, is to do a better job maybe in explaining what we mean by socialism — democratic socialism. Obviously, my right-wing colleagues here want to paint that as authoritarianism and communism and Venezuela, and that’s nonsense.

“What I mean by democratic socialism is that I want a vibrant democracy. I find it interesting that people who criticize me are busy actively involved in voter suppression trying to keep people of color or low-income people from voting, because they don’t want a vibrant democracy. I do.

“Second of all, what it means, Rachel, is that in the wealthiest country in the history of the world we can provide a decent standard of living for all about people. That’s just the reality. That’s not Utopian dreaming; that is a reality. Health care for all can be done and we can save money in doing it. We can have a minimum wage which is a living wage, and I’m delighted to see that you know, right now, five states already passed fifteen dollars an hour minimum wage. The House of Representatives is gonna do it. We have got to do that.”

The problem with “democratic” Socialism is something the Left in this country should be able to intuit–but sadly don’t: sometimes you’re the party who wins the argument. And sometimes the other folks vote in President Donald Trump.

So when economic institutions are run by consensus rather than economic institutions being forced to cater to fickle customers–there will always be a large minority of customers who are as unhappy as the Left is today with our Democratically elected President.

It also never ceases to amaze me how someone on the Left who is a Bernie Supporter or who supports “Socialism” will then post endless diatribes againstthe Government for doing something stupid. Like cops arresting the wrong man. Like a local zoning commission leveling a bunch of homes for a Foxconn factory. Like the government taking cash from an innocent couple.

Our government is already “democratic”–yet this doesn’t stop our government from doing incredibly stupid things. And we’re supposed to turn over the entire economy to this same government?

The reason why Socialism fails is not because it’s not sufficiently “democratic” enough. Socialism fails because it creates a single point of failure: centralized command and control of the economy.

Through a free market, price signaling (which is a way of signaling what customers want) allows multiple suppliers to make individual decisions about the products they plan to offer and how they plan to make those products. But when decision making is pushed up to a central authority–such as a government oversight bureau–price signaling falls to the wayside. Instead of giving customers what they want, governments tell corporations what to give to customers. And like the Left who is unhappy about the 2016 Presidential Elections, some customers don’t get what they want.

Instead they get what the government tells them the should have.

If you don’t think this description–that the Government should tell us what we can consume, rather than having corporations guess what we want by providing a variety of products–doesn’t apply to Bernie Sanders, remember his famous, but rather telling quote:

You can’t just continue growth for the sake of growth in a world in which we are struggling with climate change and all kinds of environmental problems. All right? You don’t necessarily need a choice of 23 underarm spray deodorants or of 18 different pairs of sneakers when children are hungry in this country.

But there is a rather natural result of companies (made up of and employing thousands of people) competing for your dollars.

And when they do: when companies are forced to compete for your dollars, by appealing to your desires and to your convenience, this is the natural result:

The thing is, though, one of the attacks against Capitalism by “Democratic Socialists” of all breeds, is this very excess. What many of us see as a feature, Socialists see as a bug: all that bread, just sitting there, waiting to be consumed, is somehow “proof” of either Capitalism’s waste, the excesses which are destroying our planet, or it’s proof of Capitalism’s “excesses”–the fact that the bread just sits there, when there are people who are going hungry.

These arguments was just used by an editoralist in the Guardian to argue we must end capitalism:

We need to fundamentally re-evaluate our relationship to ownership, work and capital.

The sad part, however, is that for most socialists, while they see the excess bread waiting at the store for someone to buy it as a sign of failure–they can’t envision a world where they themselves don’t have access to such a large selection of bread.

Which is what the Party leaders of the former Soviet Union did: they created two classes of stores–one for themselves and other Party leaders where there were plentiful supplies for the Party elite, and one where there were constant shortages as various 5 year plans were being “tweaked” to properly account for supply and demand constraints whose signals had been destroyed by decades of central planning.

Of course, Socialists of all stripes believe “fixing” the problem of oversupply (but perhaps limiting oversupply to an important few, ‘natch) will help the planet. Because we don’t need 23 different brands of underarm deodorant and 18 different pairs of sneakers when children are going hungry and the planet is on the brink of collapse, right?

And if a few people wind up with a temporary shortage–well, next year, with computers, we’ll somehow do better…

I remarked once elsewhere that I believed that people who call themselves “Socailists” are stupid and they hate people.

This was not just a vapid ad-hominem attack.

I believe self-described “Socialists” of all striped are willfully ignorant because they deny all this reality: they deny that the fundamental problem with “Socialism” is that it centralizes decision-making power to a handful of people who make production decisions through political, rather than economic, decision making tools. And by denying economic signals, they ultimately destroy the feedback loops that make the economy stable.

This is why things failed in Venezuela, by the way. Not because Venezuela was authoritarian (though it takes a degree of authoritarianism to tell farmers what to grow and at what price to sell their goods, and it takes a degree of authoritarianism to tell store keepers what price to charge and how much to stock).

But because Venezuela made it impossible for farmers and store keepers to do their job in an efficient manner.

And had Venezuela been run by a strongman dictator, a central committee of economists, an democratically elected board of governors, or by an on-line nation-wide plebiscite where everyone got to participate and vote–the results would have been exactly the same. Because the decision making process in all of those cases was removed from the economic forces which should motivate those decisions.

As an aside, if you’ve been following along, the smarter of you should be saying “yeah, but doesn’t this happen with large corporations?”

And you’d be exactly right. Large corporations often become inefficient because a central suite of corporate leaders decide what products to produce and at what price point to sell them at. Corporate leaders then can become fixated on providing the same products in the same way–even when market tastes or market forces demand they change–as Circuit City did, denying the rise of on-line retail of electronics, right up to the point of bankruptcy when hundreds of stores closed nation-wide.

Which is why it’s imperative that corporations which become inefficient be allowed to go bankrupt rather than limping along on government life support, such as Obama’s bailing out of General Motors. The resources General Motors would have lost in a bankruptcy hearing don’t get burned to the ground; they get purchased by other corporations who may be able to put them to better use.

Imagine the world today if Tesla had picked up a couple of functioning GM car factory plants back in 2008. It’s not unreasonable to assume we’d be farther along towards the all-electric utopia the Left keep asking for, had a Leftist President not interfered with the economy.

For a free market to function, you need two things: things governments often try to prevent. You need robust competition, such as the rise of Amazon destroying Circuit City’s business model. And you need to allow old, outdated companies to fail.

The answer to a rich billionaire is a thousand entrepreneurs pecking away at that billionaire’s business.

I also said that Socialist “hate people.”

The reason for that goes right to the heart of the “you don’t need 23 different kinds of deodorant and 18 different kinds of sneakers” remark, without considering why these things exist.

Each of these different products are, in a sense, like the bread waiting for customers: each brand, each variation, are all attempts to constantly figure out what consumers want. And we don’t all want the same thing. Me: I want a roll-on deodorant (rather than an aerosol), because my armpits don’t get that sweaty. And I want an unscented brand, because I’m sensitive to perfumes.

But if we were to decide by some sort of central committee the one brand that is allowed to be in the marketplace–because supposedly all that time and effort thousands of workers are engaged in trying to come up with a different brand that may appeal to consumers is better spent elsewhere–which brand should we have? Bernie Sander’s favorite brand? Will it be an aerosol antiperspirant which can dry out my arm pits, leading them to hurt? Will it be an “Old Spice” scented deodorant which can make me physically nauseous?

You may not want any one of the other 22 brands of deodorant in the store. But someone does. And when you eliminate them, aren’t you taking away someone else’s choice?

Are you ignoring their desires?

Isn’t that a little hateful?

So go ahead, Bernie Sanders.

Let’s have a conversation about Socialism.

Let’s allow you to get frustrated because you think–as policy makers in the past have thought countless times before–that the reason why the American public is rejecting your ideas is because somehow we’re stupid and we need those policy decisions explained to us in simpler words. Convince yourselves that Conservatives are genetically inferior, more susceptible in believing lies, and are just outright stupid. Never mind that conservatives actually do better on an ideological ‘Touring test’, meaning conservatives (and not liberals) are better at discussing oppositional beliefs without exaggerating them or resorting to negative stereotypes.

And never mind that conservatives actually understand liberal ideology better than liberals understand conservative ideology. Which is a trivially obvious conclusion, when you realize that left-wing ideology is taught in our schools and parroted on our television shows and news programs, in a country where “Das Kapital” is more likely to be read in college than “The Conservative Mind.” For most thoughtful conservatives (really, classical liberals subscribing to a brand of liberalism before “progressives” stole the term), we had to find our own way out of the weeds, guided by some references to Adam Smith and John Locke half-remembered in passing from a class on American History in high school.

I’d love to have that honest debate about socialism, not a one-way “conversation” where we are lectured to by our betters, and told by those with an agenda how their definition of “Socialism” has never been tried before because of some slippery definition that is full of double-speak and gobbledygook.

Let’s have that honest discussion, with people who know the difference between Milton Friedman and John Keynes, who understand what David Hume was trying to do and why Adam Smith’s “The Welfare of Nations” is more a book about morality than it is a primer on economics. Let’s talk about John Mill’s ideas about the use of forceable action against others.

And let’s have an honest debate over if economic decisions are better made by economic forces or by political forces.

Let’s have this discussion, as Phil Donahue did with Milton Friedman, several times.

But don’t be surprised if voters reject your ideas.

It’s not that we don’t understand them.

It’s that we understand them extremely well.

=====================

[alexistitania]

TOKYO GHOUL ENDED AND I AM EMOTIONAL

Like, it legitimately ended. That’s it. No Part 3. I mean there IS material for potential Part 3 but this is the definitive closure to the story. 

AND GUESS WHAT? IT AIN’T A TRAGEDY?!

I know people are always gonna be divided on this, like I’m seeing actual hate in the tag, and I guess that’s to be expected, this always happens when a popular series is ending. But I don’t think this particular ending deserves so much hate, and hopefully there are more people who are happy with it. Personally, I will FOREVER be thankful for this chapter! It’s not perfect, but then again, no ending is. Yes, it could’ve wrapped up more loose ends, but I think it did enough. What’s more important is that it’s not bad (in MY opinion ok chill thanks). No, it’s SO far from bad! For me, it’s an overall GREAT ending, more or less along the lines of how I always imagined TG ending. I just never really believed it WOULD end this way, like I was legit afraid Ishida would go for the tragedy thing instead, but hey, thanks anime gods! 

I think most people expected a tragic ending with Kaneki dying and everything being hopeless or bittersweet at most, but we actually got an extremely pure and happy chapter, with a neat bow on top, and I for one am LOVING it! Because I’ve been following TG since 2014, and I’ve wanted a happy ending for Kaneki and all of these characters for so long, and now I’m finally getting the payoff for all those years of suffering, don’t TOUCH ME I AM FRAGILE! 

It still feels kinda weird though, seeing genuinely happy things happen in this manga, it’s like a dream I never thought would come true, but it did! Obviously, you can’t please everyone, and there will always be people who will hate this ending because they envisioned it differently, but I think at the very least the ending shouldn’t ruin the rest of the story, for anyone! Of course, people will have to take some time to recover before they decide exactly how they feel about the series after its ending, but I mean, we all stayed for the ride, didn’t we? And although this final arc - for whatever reason - felt rushed toward the end and stuff, I think Ishida made the most out of the final chapter, considering where the previous chapter left off!

So we have TSC instead of CCG now, and good riddance, I hated that organization lol, although I loved a lot of the characters who were a part of it. I really like how it’s emphasized in this chapter that nothing is really over yet, the fight still continues. The difference is that there’s a new enemy of both humans and ghouls now. As expected, for the two species to finally coexist, a mutual enemy was necessary. But even though a lot of ghouls are now living peacefully with humans, thanks to the two races’ joint effort, it’s not like everyone is willing to make peace. Speaking of peace, I like how we have the title “peacekeepers” now instead of investigators (it reminds me of one of the home worlds from the Spyro the Dragon game, but that’s just my own nostalgia speaking), although it’s just in Tokyo, because apparently, other branches of CCG are still active and fighting the ghouls that are disrupting the peace. Hopefully the investigators have a new policy now, and they don’t attack friendly ghouls nowadays. Of course, there are always gonna be bad feelings from both sides, but hopefully the hostility isn’t as strong anymore. I actually wish the chapter had gone into a bit more depth and explained the nature of an investigator’s job in this new world, since some of the characters we know stayed investigators, but oh well.

Basically, both species have obviously made incredible progress in the past six years, but it’s not all flowers and rainbows, not EVERYONE is happy with this new world. And that’s so very like real life. What I think is great about this chapter is how it builds this new society as broadly as possible, and tries to explain as much as possible from different angles, because so many things have changed, it’s practically entirely new worldbuilding. It’s surely only a glimpse of what this new world looks like, but I believe it’s as detailed as the 30-page format allows. And I actually LIKE how we aren’t given everything, I feel like that’s very much Ishida’s style, leaving some things open. Because, nothing is really concluded, this fictional world didn’t just magically reach Nirvana, nor did it completely crumble down; it’s just transformed, it’s still transforming, PANTA RHEI MY DUDES! The overall theme of this chapter goes perfectly with the message of Kaneki’s speeches about the world and the never-ending change. I just really, REALLY like how the chapter emphasizes that constant change. And I like how you get this sense of cause & consequence from the chapter, as it’s made very clear that, while the Dragon war was definitely horrible, it actually allowed for new technologies to develop, which ultimately led to a better world, a changed world. We’re definitely meant to see this chapter as a closure, or actually more of an afterword, but we’re also urged to realize this is not the end of the story; the story goes on, and we were only shown a fragment of it. Like, that’s real poetic stuff right there my man.

Now, I also have a few things to say about some of the characters featured in the chapter. There are so many, I can’t even remember half of what was said about most of them, although I reread the chapter three times. It’s just extremely text-heavy. So I’ll just list the things that were important to me personally, mostly the things concerning the main characters. Otherwise, this post would get waaaay too long.

We actually got these little notes about pretty much every character I can think of (man this manga has so many CHARACTERS), telling us what all of them have been up to during the six-year timeskip. My only real complaint is that there was no mention of Eto, even though the previous chapter didn’t really bother to explain what exactly happened to her. It would’ve been fine if she’d never even come back at all, but this way, it kinda feels like the author just forgot to mention her lol. Maybe I’m just reading too much into it, it’s probably just that when the Dragon died, so did she. I was also hoping for a Rize mention, since she was such an important figure in Kaneki’s life, but at least we got a mention of the Washuu clan. And that was actually really sad, but it’s a fitting outcome, the main branch going extinct. Because first Furuta died, and then Rize shortly after, although her destiny had already been sealed much earlier. The fate of these two, and especially Rize, foreshadowed this outcome; Rize & Furuta equals Washuu inside the narrative, and when they disappeared, the Washuu they symbolized had to disappear as well.

Ok, I lied, I have another real complaint, and it actually bugged me much more than the lack of Eto mention. And that is, we only got a cameo of Akira and Amon, and no textual explanation of what was going on with them. We actually didn’t even see their faces, when literally 384576 other minor characters made an appearance. Like, they’re super major characters, what’s up with that? I guess we’re just supposed to assume they got married and lived happily ever after, but other than that, what else? Like what do they even do these days? Even just one sentence for both of them would’ve sufficed, and I really hope it’s included in the volume version of the chapter. Like, it didn’t really ruin the chapter for me, but I kinda felt like I was left hanging. And they deserved to have their faces shown one last time for closure, why all the mystery? They were both pretty important in the final arc too. Maybe we’ll get an omake about them in the final volume, who knows, but they still should’ve been shown in the last chapter. Well, I’ll admit it IS kinda poetic how we only see their backs and how it’s implied they live peacefully nowadays, and this closure IS kinda fitting for them, but still, I’m a little salty. Another thing I felt was missing was a note about Touka. I was really looking forward to learning where she ended up, other than being a mother and a wife. I mean, it’s still amazing that she was blessed enough to be able to have a normal life with her family, but the girl also wanted to do things. So yeah, it’s another thing that I hope will be added in the volume version. 

Other than that.... I think pretty much everyone else was mentioned, but then again, I am not a machine and I’m pretty sure I’m forgetting a lot of characters already, so I’ll just talk about what really made me happy personally. I really liked how the narrator of this chapter was Hide, it allowed for a kind of outside look at the very end of the story. It wouldn’t be the same if it were Kaneki who was narrating, and anyway, having slept for weeks, he wouldn’t even be able to tell us the full story of the events that took place right after the Dragon war. Hide was the perfect choice for the narrator, because he’s so involved with everyone and everything. We even got Hide’s very summarized backstory, and although I believe he deserved to be exposed more thoroughly much earlier, I’m thankful Ishida didn’t completely forget about it, and that he told us basically all we needed to know. It would’ve been nice to know more, since Hide is one of the main characters, he could’ve been given a more meaningful backstory, but as it stands now, it seems that his story isn’t really crucial to his character or the series overall, so I guess I’ll take it. One thing that made me extremely happy about Hide’s ending is that he’s literally travelling and changing the world, he’s like some kind of hero history books will talk about. That’s the ending Hide deserved! And DAMN, he deserved to stay Kaneki’s friend for the rest of his life! They’re finally together, and together they’ll stay, and my heart is so full right now! Oh and another thing. I’m pretty sure the part of the translation where it says Hide was adopted by fatherS was just a typo or a mistranslation, since there is no plural form of nouns in the Japanese language (so you can’t always tell if it’s father or fathers), but it was nice believing Hide had gay dads for a while, even if it was a short while lol rip.

I like what Tsukiyama ended up doing, he’s helping rebuild the society and his family, basically being super important and leading the entire ghoulkind, more or less. The boy will go down in history! I knew he had it in him, his character growth has been incredible, and he’s finally getting the recognition he deserves! But I still think wedding planning would’ve been the ideal career choice for him.... Also, the way he spoils Touken’s daughter later in the chapter is ADORABLE! And he has different hairstyles in these two scenes, I like the second one better. And there’s Banjou, awww he’s also a really important figure now, I’m happy for him! Old man Marude got a new hairstyle too, and a beard, why am I not surprised? And he’s still the boss, so that’s cool. Ah, Kiyoko being such a forever single mood lmao. Ui boy’s doing his best and I am proud of him, but he’s missing his girlfriend rip... As for Hirako, damn, the boy looks so distant, I hope he’s doing ok. Well, he’s finally living a normal life, even if he’s detaching himself from his comrades. And wow Yusa really out here at the top of his game, both his career and his looks, damn. 

The Qs also got their own satisfactory endings, I believe. I nearly sobbed at Urie searching for Shirazu’s body, this boy’s amazing development and how he constantly goes back to Shirazu in his mind has seriously cost me a few years of life. And then him visiting Shirazu’s grave, with Shirazu’s sister there! I was hoping to see her, we finally know what her condition is, and can sleep peacefully knowing Shirazu would be so incredibly happy that she’s all up and healthy again! It’s kinda sad how Mutsuki seems to not be around as much, but at least he chose his own path that hopefully fulfills him. And it’s super sweet how he sends Touka apples, like I was totally not expecting that, but I am so glad they are on good terms now and Mutsuki is doing much better emotionally and mentally. Also, I was totally expecting like a Moment™ between Mutsuki and Urie but I guess not lol... I don’t really like actively ship it, but I like their relationship, they could have gotten more of a wrap-up, so there’s that I guess... And then there’s Saiko, who has just... become so beautiful? Like what the hell, she’s just so gosh darn pretty? And is apparently living her best life, so you go Saiko! And she’s such a CUTIE when they’re visiting Touken family, calling Touka “mama-wife” and everything, baby you are my ANGEL!

And then comes the Suzuya squad, and they’re all doing fantastic, bless. And then Suzuya and Shinohara and I jUST! I’ve been waiting for this scene for so long, and I am SO glad it didn’t just happen off-panel during the timeskip! We actually got to see it, got to experience it first-hand, the full emotional impact of it! And let me tell you, this is the scene that FINALLY made me sob! Wtf so many years of suffering paid off, and Suzuya crying at the top of his lungs, but out of happiness, paralleling that panel where he was crying out of despair in Part 1 of the manga? I’M CRYING! AND THEN! Suzuya’s also like the literal star of this whole TSC project, YOU GO LITTLE MAN! AND THEN! And then Naki and Miza, and just... WOW! Miza, how much D can you even take?? NINE KIDS??? I mean good for you, I love you both, but DAMN! Man, I’m just so happy they’re both alive, I seriously thought Naki was a goner until a few weeks ago, so seeing him and Miza happily together like this is so surreal. And then we have another very important ship, Nishiki and Kimi, and damn Nishiki is either having a bad hair day or that’s simply a bad haircut lol. Like dude seriously, go back to the fantastic hairstyle you were rocking before. But anyway, I’m so happy seeing him and Kimi together and MARRIED? BLESS! Been waiting for that for literal years! Kimi is doing such an amazing job, helping create a more peaceful society, even though she’s using her boyfriend as test subject in the process lol. LOOK AT MY GIRL CHIE YO! She be going PLACES! SEIDOU! DUDE! Why you gotta be an Edgelord like that, please come back! Well, he’s probably too broken to fit into this new society, so he’s working out ways to live his life the best he can, helping in his own way. But don’t make such a sad face Seidou! I was hoping to see a bit more of him, but I guess we’re not meant to know much. He’s a loner, a mystery even for the readers. 

And now... AYAHINA IS CANON MY DUDES! THAT IS ALL! Listen, I don’t even like... hardcore ship it, but it’s just plain obvious, it’s just right THERE! Hinami is playful, Ayato is tsundere, and love is in the air! PEACE! Also, Ayato sure saved his brother-in-law’s ass back there, just like we’d hoped he would, he really does care! Hinami is a teacher *sobs* Kaneki you taught her well, and Ayato’s this cool Main guy, look how far he’s come! I’m just so happy for both of them, I’ve been rooting for these kids for so long, Hinami is finally free from all her burdens and is genuinely Happy, and being Ayato is no longer suffering, can y’all believe??? And then we have Yoriko and Takeomi and a new addition to their family, how precious is that! Now, I would’ve liked for those notes about each character to say something about Yoriko’s relationship with Touka, I mean they were best girlfriends! And their friendship was kinda huge, I think it deserved at least a mention. Just something like “She visits Touka regularly” would’ve been enough. Ishida probably just forgot lol, the poor man, having to think about so many characters and their entire lives, I don’t blame him for just randomly forgetting to include some things. I just think this is one of those things that are kinda hard to forget, considering how meaningful this friendship was for Touka, and how it even played a big role in the final arc of the manga. But hey, maybe there’s hope that it’ll be included in the volume version lol. Or maybe in the omake! Ishida you have the opportunity to give us such pure, domestic omake, you’ve never failed us before, do your magic! 

YOMO!!! RIBBONS! YOMO WITH RIBBONS IN HIS HAIR!!!!!! This transcends all the levels of adorable of anything ever! We were right, Yomo is the most doting uncle in existence, and it’s all I ever wanted! And damn, he still bangable af. AND THE SMOL TOUKEN BABY! Well, she’s actually like six now, BUT BABY! THE TOUKEN BABY IS A GIRL is this Ishida spoiling the shippers again? And she looks like a tiny Haise, can y’all believe?! Even Haise practically made a cameo, through this precious child. Amazing. I guess she has no name, so we’ll just keep calling her Pleasure-chan, sorry baby, it’s your parents’ fault. And I guess the Clowns are just doing their thing as usual. Clowns always have the last laugh, so of course this new society has nothing on them, they’re just laughing at everything and gathering for drinking games on Friday nights. Uta is still the Sasuke to Yomo’s Naruto, I guess some things never change. 

AND THEN TOUKA MY LOVE! She looks so pretty, so beautiful, so dazzling, so fresh! I am so happy for her and so proud! She finally has a peaceful home and a happy family she’s always dreamed of having, IT’S WHAT SHE DESERVES! And on top of that, she has all these amazing friends who come to visit her! So many good things for my favorite character, thank you Ishida for my live! Again, I would’ve liked to know more about what she’s doing in life, but I can still hope the omake will tell me that lol. I’m just satisfied knowing she’s living her absolute best life, after struggling so much through life, suffering from such an early age, having to deal with abandonment issues her entire life, and then selflessly waiting, AND IT PAID OFF MY GIRL IT ALL PAID OFF! 

AND THEN COMES OUR BOY! OUR BOY! The lonely boy who has gone through so much pain, lived his own tragedy for most of his life, never even imagining he would ever find joy or fulfillment or that he would ever heal. YET HERE HE IS! HERE IS THAT BOY WHO ONLY WANTED TO GO ON A DATE BUT GOT HIS LIFE TURNED UPSIDE DOWN INSTEAD! And now his life is finally, FINALLY fixed and things are OKAY and he is so LOVED and has a FAMILY! And yes, he’s definitely not 100% ok, and he never will be, but he has matured so much and come so far in life, he’s able to at least be at peace with himself and live a somewhat normal life. IT’S WHAT HE DESERVES! Like, I know we were all expecting Kaneki to face the consequences of his actions. From the narrative point of view, it seemed logical. But looking at it now, it wasn’t really necessary. Kaneki’s already learned his lesson. And he’s not living a life free of burdens either. He’s still an active part of the collective effort to recreate the world, and the chapter gave us a glimpse into his mind and his feelings. He is still unsure and conflicted, and it’s frustrating not being able to do anything, but he has to live with it. Finally, Kaneki has to settle for “there are things I cannot do”. He has to settle for a new and different life, and learn to live with himself and everything his actions caused. The consequences follow him every day, in the form of this new conflict. He has already suffered enough, is torturing him more really that necessary, just because he’s “the tragic protagonists”? Characters have gotten away with worse things, just saying. Also, judging from the marks on his face and neck, it seems he’s still having some trouble with his RC levels and healing and stuff, I just hope it doesn’t affect his body in bad ways. I mean he’s damaged his body so many times, it would be unrealistic not to expect consequences, but at least it’s not serious. Otherwise it would’ve been addressed. I mean, judging from Touka’s round tummy, it appears he managed to fill her up yet again, so yeah, he fine. (All the condom jokes can end now, Touka and Kaneki are nothing compared to Naki and Miza.)

In the end, Kaneki’s story ends on a positive, hopeful note, although still somewhat bittersweet. And it pulls the whole narrative, with all the other characters’ individual stories, along with it. The cycle of tragedy is finally broken. And personally, I just couldn’t be happier! I’ve been hoping for this kind of ending for so long, I literally never really wanted a tragic ending! And don’t give me that “Happy ending = Bad ending” NAH! You can’t deny that happy endings can be good if written right! It’s true that the general profile of Tokyo Ghoul screams “TRAGEDY” but that’s exactly why I think this ending is a beautiful twist! You might have expected it, you might have not, but it’s certainly a neat contrast to the rest of the story, but instead of ruining the “vibe” imo it worked unexpectedly well! Now, if your problem doesn’t lie with the type of ending we got, but the execution of it, then I guess we’re just not on the same page lol...

Now, this ending certainly wasn’t 100% happy, which is GREAT, but it’s still very hopeful and kind of bittersweet. All in all, I’d say it’s a beautifully positive closure to an incredibly sad story. It gives a positive message, that things can sometimes work out even if life seems hopeless. We may not always have control over it, but we can damn well do our very best! And it’s not unrealistic, it’s just real life! And it’s not your typical “happily ever after “ type of ending either, because, as I said earlier, the story isn’t actually over! The author simply decided to stop telling it at this particular point. And by teasing some future events, he made this chapter feel not just like an ending, but also a new beginning, a very hopeful one at that. And one that leaves infinite possibilities for potential Part 3, if Ishida ever feels like writing one, though right now I doubt it. I think he’s done with this series, and what an amazing job he’s done, for seven years! 

Well, I think that’s probably all I wanted to say lol. My emotions are all over the place and I’m practically slamming my keyboard in excitement right now, so I’m probably forgetting a lot of other thoughts that were going through my mind as I was reading the chapter. But this encapsulates most of it, probably.

Tokyo Ghoul has been one of my main fandoms for four years now, and I’m so thankful for all the time and effort Ishida put into this work! It’s so unique and means a lot to me! It has helped me through some tough times in life (which is probably hard to believe since the story itself is sad but yeah...), so seeing that all the suffering wasn’t in vain, and that it all led to THIS, is just so amazingly fulfilling and satisfying!

Thank you for everything Ishida-sensei, get some rest now!

[neoduskcomics]

If you didn't hear the news, 6 new episodes of Steven Universe were recently made available on the Cartoon Network app. Go watch them if you're able, and then come back here if you'd care to hear what I thought about them. SPOILERS. SPOILERS. SPOILERS.

Dewey Wins The plot in this episode is basically creating a parallel to Connie's heartbreak over Steven's actions in the last story arc and putting him in her shoes. It's not exactly the most gracefully or subtly executed story device, and I was a bit disappointed when, at the end, I realized that the entire point of it was simply to get Steven to understand why Connie was upset at the beginning of the episode (something that I'm sort of surprised wasn't immediately obvious to him).

That being said, I didn't dislike this episode. We're coming right of the heels of some of the most dramatic and loaded plot in the series, so a lot of it is really just winding down and getting everyone up to speed in the aftermath. It sort of subsists on carrying the momentum of what came before it. While the stuff with Dewey wasn't the most engaging, it was harmless, and they got a couple good jokes out of it.

I was hoping we'd see a bit more of Dewey actually dealing with the consequences of his lackluster-ness as a mayor, which we sort of did, but he didn't have a lot of time to process any of it, since the episode had to shift focus right back onto Steven's relationship issues with Connie. Hopefully, we'll see a future episode that features some actual character growth for Dewey so that this whole story wasn't just a means of getting from point A to point B. Gemcation What do you do when your son is clearly having some kind of personal problem, judging from the fact that he's constantly checking messages on his phone and all bummed out? You drag him to a vacation home that he's clearly disinterested in and try to force uncomfortable conversations about his traumatic space trip, of course. So much sound, emotional clarity going on in these episodes. Kidding aside, though, I did enjoy this one. It was amusing seeing the gems trying to figure out what was bugging Steven (and doing a comically terrible job of it). Pearl's antics got several laughs from me, and it made me feel like the comedy in this series was on point for the first time in a while. The plot wasn't outstanding, but it had a lot of good character moments. Seeing Garnet being awkward and out of her field of expertise was fun, and seeing Greg defer to the gems with helping Steven, only to reassert his role as father was nice to see. The whole cell-phone-reception-race ended predictably, but I do like that interpersonal issues in this show aren't resolved so quickly and easily. It's part of what helps the characters in this show feel like people and not just set pieces, and helps this series about magical gem warriors from outer space feel more grounded. Also, for real, though, that part with Pearl trying to talk to Steven and she kept covering her own mouth. The fuck was that. She totally killed Pink Diamond. Or she knows who killed her. Or she knows something. And someone cursed her or ordered her not to talk. Maybe Rose. Who the fuck knows. I'm sure everyone has already drawn up like fifty conspiracy theories about it. I'd prefer to just keep my mind open and let myself be surprised, but it's hard not to speculate when the show drops shit like that. Raising the Barn Say bye to Lapis, kids. I mean, you know, again. I'm sure she'll come back, but it is interesting to see such a status-quo-shifting departure happen on the show. Again, I like it when the show has these realistic turns of events. Connie's not gonna immediately make up with Steven. Lapis isn't necessarily going to stay just because Peridot wants to. Now, if I had an issue with all of this, it's probably that the way in which we arrive at these issues (or the resolutions thereof, but we'll get to that) isn't always the most interesting. Like, this episode was good, but it wasn't great. It could've done with more comedy or maybe more dialogue that was of consequence to the characters, rather than looping around the motions of Peridot very obviously avoiding the situation before finally and predictably confronting Lapis at the end. I'm not saying this episode was bad, just that it could've been better. I don't really have a whole lot to say about it other than that. Back to the Kindergarten While not one of my favorite episodes, this was a good episode for Peridot. I like seeing her really grapple with her newfound feelings of despair and distress, and trying to deal with it in an emotionally healthy way. While the sunflowers all dying was a tad predictable, it was still a well-executed plot device, and moving forward with the idea of understanding that while some parts of life will always be sad, there's always a whole world of potential happiness around you. Again, it's a more realistic message and, as a result, it feels more genuine. For there to be highs, there have to be lows. You have to work for your catharsis, and I think that's something this show mostly gets.

The last time we saw Amethyst, Peridot, and Steven hang out was the "shorty squad" episode, and I found this one to be far more interesting. Peridot doesn't simply spend the whole episode moping and then finally realizing some uplifting truth--there's an emotional mini-arc that she goes through: moving from despair to hopefullness, having that hope crushed, and then learning from the experience and finding that hope again in a different place. Moving through a range of different feelings is, I think, what makes for a more affective episode than having basically a single tone or conflict that leads you to an inevitable conclusion. Sadie Killer I think this is the first episode involving the cool kid crew that I genuinely enjoyed. There are a handful of episodes in the series are pretty much devoid of magical gem stuff, but out of all of those, this is definitely one of the better ones, if for no reason other than that it just has some great character development and progress for Sadie. For the first time, we really explore her as a person, not as she relates to Lars, but just herself. It was neat seeing her feel the weight of her monotonous and stressful life, and then finally break through and come out of her shell of her own volition—not because she was forced to in some contrived plot about how she doesn’t communicate well with her mom.

The musical number was fun and it was a great way to have Sadie let loose, doing something she enjoys and showing a side of her that you always sort of detected was there but she never just came out and expressed it. Sadie didn’t suddenly have a dark side for the sake of this episode; you’ve seen her deal with anxiety and stress and dealing with bullshit for five seasons. It’s good to finally see a culmination to all of that.

If I had an issue with this episode, it’s maybe that it just ends with her quitting the job. I would’ve liked to have seen her really deliberate over the situation, either prior to or in the aftermath of the decision, rather than simply using it as an ending revelation. But apart from that small gripe, it was a great character episode.

Kevin Party

I think this episode was a bit of a mixed bag. I think they really nailed the awkwardness of having Steven and Connie struggling to confront one another. The nervous tension is present in every scene of that episode, basically from the moment Kevin informs Steven that Connie would be at the party. Aside from that, though, the episode feels mostly like another one of those terrible “guy gets bad relationship advice from person he very obviously shouldn’t be taking relationship advice from and then inevitably screws things up before finally coming clean and being honest with himself which in return earns the trust/affection of the girl” plots. It’s played out and this story didn’t really offer anything new to the formula.

Not only that, but is Kevin just going to be a thing in every episode where Steven and Connie are having awkward relationship issues? I mean, we’ve already seen them embarrass/humiliate him for being a douche. I thought this time we might get something different. When he brings up that girl he apparently broke up with, I thought we might actually explore Kevin’s character and see why he is the way he is, and make him maybe a more complex character. But, no, we just saw him continue to be an asshat for self-gain before it blows up in his face.

Overall, I do like that we got to see Steven actually mess up in a personal matter and not just a magical destiny matter, and that’s something he really had to struggle with and learn from. At the same time, I feel like getting into that string of episodes and then leaving it was not the most gracefully executed. I’m glad that it happened, but I also sort of wish they went about it in a more interesting way, especially in a show that has frequently demonstrated, in the past, an ability to break the mold and go against the grain with its characters and storytelling.

But, you know. Connie has a cute haircut, now. So there’s that.

Overall

This was a nice chunk of episodes that left me feeling ultimately satisfied. I was expecting a string of episodes that leaned more toward the slice-of-life element of the show, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed them. To me, these were far superior to the slice-of-life episodes of Season 3 that I complained about. I found the plots more compelling, the characters were more engaging, and I even thought that the jokes were funnier (Steven’s oblivious napkin-stealing cracks me up).

Not to mention the fact that we’re seeing a lot of changes to the status quo. And not ones that feel like they were made just to switch things up. They all feel like logical outcomes based on what we know about the characters. Mayor Dewey was always ignorant and incompetent. Lapis was always against getting mixed up in Gem business, even Peridot at first. Sadie was always having her patience and tolerance for bullshit tested. It’s a good feeling when you have developments in your story that feel less like arbitrary sources of conflict and more like payoff to what we’ve known and felt all along.

I hope we get more episodes soon. Even if the “main plot” doesn’t advance, I just miss being in this world with these characters. This last Steven Bomb reminded me a bit of why I like the series so much in the first place. I hope we don’t end up like Steven, waiting fruitlessly for an update for days on end.

[cookiedoughmeagain]

Haven DVD Commentaries - 2.12, Sins of the Fathers

First of two commentaries, this one with Sam Ernst and Jim Dunn, writers of this episode (and creators and executive producers of the series). I can’t reliably tell their voices apart, so there is not much info on who is saying what, though where I’ve quoted stuff I have tried to show when the speaker changes. The quotes aren’t necessarily exactly word for word. Feel free to ask questions if something doesn’t make sense :)

They start off by saying that they’re recording this commentary a couple of months after the episode aired and in that time they’ve been to comic con and talked to fans and so they have the benefit of feedback on the episode and the whole season.

“We have a lot to say about the finale because there is a lot of mythology in this episode,” and “what was tricky about the finale is that we always have a curse of the week, and what we’ve struggled to do in both of the finales (Sam and Jim wrote the finale for season one too), is that we always have a real affliction show up.” “But it needs to be something simple, that you can get in a heart beat, so that we aren’t spending a lot of time explaining what’s going on, you can just easily follow along while we have all the other things going on with our characters.” So for example the curse of the week for the season one finale was the Chief although it didn’t just feature in that episode, but for this episode the curse is something that’s completely independent. And they decided to have ghosts because they needed those characters to provide some of the back story in an organic way.

They refer to Laura having a board up in the office for two months taking notes before they started writing this episode; “What if we brought people back from the dead?” “Are they zombies or ghosts?” “Are they tangible or intangible?” and how they were really attracted to being able to bring back people we would otherwise never see; people who have already been killed e.g. the Rev. Being able to bring him back “just seemed like gold.”

They talk about Duke and how he was in the first scene of the first episode of the season, talking with the Rev. on the steps of the church, and how they “rewrote that scene about 70 badillion times” but how it ended up where it started; different words but the same ideas where there i.e. establishing an arc for Duke, “Why is he part of this story?” But at that point they hadn’t thought of bringing Simon back in the finale. “We just knew that his father was important, we knew why his father was important, but we didn’t know how we were going to bring that back. But we set it up in the beginning.”

As we see Audrey knock the coffee cup from Dave’s hand, they talk about how they went through various different versions of the coffee cup being smashed or not, “We put it back in, we took it back out,” looking for a way to underline how emphatic she feels in this moment. There was some concern that it might be a bit melodramatic and it wasn’t included in the final version of the script. But it was discussed again on set when they were filming and Emily Rose really liked the idea, as did the director for the episode and so they used it. “And this scene, from the very first time they shot it to the 19th take was awesome. And Emily Rose kills it. I think she in this episode is at the top of her game with this character on this show.”

And they talk about Vince and Dave too, as “such great characters and around the office, Sam and I take some flak for being Vince and Dave, but there’s this thing about them; you know they know stuff. And in this season we’ve explored more and opened more doors to how much they know.”

There is a reference to “we did some interesting things on twitter with that,” and as Vince is giving Audrey the ring, “we wrote this whole twitter story that went to the reveal of this ring. And that ring was chosen for a very specific reason, which I will not reveal now, but it’s not an accident that it’s that ring.”

“Putting Audrey in with these guys it’s reminiscent of the finale from season one where we had the confrontation between Vince and Nathan’s father in the street, where there’s a hint that there’s something going on with these guys that’s bigger than we’re aware of.”

And they also refer to the actors behind Vince and Dave in that scene as “awesome.”

The fact that the Crocker box of weapons includes a throwing star bugs them, “Who kills people with throwing stars?”

And as we see Simon Crocker, “This is my man-crush because that of course is Helo from Battlestar Galatica.” “We were very excited when that opportunity came up,” to cast him. “And for us there was no discussion; he never auditioned, it was perfect.”

And they mention the weird moment they realised they needed to cast someone roughly Duke’s age, because “he died, in front of Duke, at a certain age.” And then “there’s an interest parrallel because here’s the guy who died, facing roughly the same crisis at the same point in his life that Duke is facing.” But at that point there were some concerns about who they might cast because they need it to be someone with “gravitas” which they would have if it was someone older with grey hair or whatever (“a tough guy, maybe a Tom Selleck”) but that “wouldn’t make sense. And we run into that a lot on the show, which is we have a certain thing that makes sense in the rules and the story of the show, but then people are looking for a more visceral reaction.” and how “That’s the thing with genre shows; there’s the internal logic that doesn’t always match what you’d expect.”

As Nathan is about to ask Audrey out to dinner, “This is great; this is Lucas Bryant at the height of his powers. Here he is, he’s trying to express himself with the least amount of dialogue in telling Audrey ‘I want this to go further’. And this scene is so great, because what’s on the page is so minimal, and they didn’t need anything more.” There’s a pause in the commentary as they listen to the scene. There’s a little “See?” in appreciation for what the actors are doing with their minimal dialogue, and then as Audrey says, “We can talk about Lucy,” There is a comment “Yeah, you can talk about Lucy and all that stuff --- with your clothes off!” And then as Nathan stumbles over his “or b-breakfast?” line, there is a comment, “That’s what I’m talking about, right there!” And they add how Lucas is “charming, goofy, hilarious, all of those things, and you just see the tip, tip, tip of that iceberg when he’s playing Nathan.” “It’s really funny; he would be perfectly comfortable in Vaudeville.”

And then at the next scene, “This is Eric getting out of bed and having a drink, which is what Duke does.” “It’s kinda awesome.” “It’s hard to imagine Eric not being Duke. There’s a lot of overlap between the two of them, although Eric is a much more straight ahead, genuine guy by a long shot.” “It’s funny because he plays characters like this … we all have our facets. But he’s really sweet and genuine and he would never do these things.”

They talk about this scene (Simon waving his hand through the whiskey glass) as being a lot fun to write because it’s all about Duke being used to Haven’s craziness “he rolls with the insanity” and yet he has huge amounts of anger towards his father because his father was such a douchebag. Although it turns out maybe he wasn’t a total douchebag, maybe he had an agenda.

As Simon and Duke argue, “The thing about Tahmoh is he’s huge, he’s muscular, he’s terrifying in person; absolutely the gentlest man.” “It’s always that way right? Like Edge.” “And the funny thing is, he’s flying in, playing a pivotal role, giving us pivotal information and he doesn’t know anything about what’s going on. So when I met him I was like ‘First of all it’s unbelievable to meet you because I’m such a fan and two, this is what’s going on.’”

“But he had to give this performance, and we didn’t put scars on him, we didn’t make him this bruiser, because that’s not who Duke is either, although they obviously both know how to handle themselves.”

As we see Audrey and Nathan walking into the graveyard they talk about how it rained on and off all day as they were filming, so it was shot in chunks in between the rain. As we see Kyle throw away his joint they comment that they weren’t allowed to show him putting the joint to his lips.”

Talking about Kyle; “I was a fan of this actor from the Tudors .. in part because of his presence on screen; his eyes just jump out at you.”  

As they look into the dug-up coffin “When we shot him, he looked like his picture. All of those facial effects are digital.” “As is the hole in the ground you just saw.”

As they’re back in station talking to the guy who spoke to his dead sister, they talk about how it was a struggle writing it to make sure that this investigative aspect of the plot didn’t step on Simon’s story and the Rev. coming back and … we really worked hard on it and I think it ultimately worked.” and then also, “In editing, some scenes got shifted around because it’s always a juggling act.”

There are comments about how the police station set has gotten bigger and bigger over time, “It’s so cool, there are so many pockets to it, everytime we write something, like somebody died in the bathroom, so they had to build a bathroom and it’s great to see this whole world.

As we see Kyle tapping down Arlo’s grave they say that while Arlo’s is a fake headstone, it is a real cemetary and all of the old graves are real and it’s “beautiful, ill-kept, on the hillside, overlooking the ocean. And those gravestones go back 300 years.”

They talk about how they had conversations about whether to see the Rev. appear, and disappear in some ghostly way, or whether to just have him walk on screen, and eventually decided it was scarier to just have him walk up and then reveal the details later.

As Simon and Duke talk in front of the field of lavender, “When we wrote this scene, I didn’t think about what the field would look like. We just wrote ‘a field’. And thanks to Nova Scotia, it’s a field of lavender and it’s gorgeous.

“Shawn Pillar is always looking for a way to make things more sci-fi-y, and sometimes we push back because we don’t need it in that moment, it’s all about the characters. Sometimes it’s an opportunity we might have missed, and this was one of those. And I’m not sure if it was Shawn, or Lee Rose the director, but one of them said, ‘Why doesn’t he just walk right through Tahmoh at the end.” There is some further discussion which establishes that maybe that idea was in the first draft and taken out because some unspecified person didn’t like it, and then a few drafts later it made it’s way back in. But also they didn’t do it (Simon walking through things) a lot in the first draft of the script, because they weren’t sure how much it would cost to do in production.  So they wanted to save it for when it really felt effective. And “having Duke’s father try to get in his way to stop him from leaving, and Duke walk through him, made the point.

As Nathan and Audrey sit practically on top of each other to look at the dead people’s records, “Another scene with the two of them being awesome. When we wrote this scene, we wrote more. And Lee Rose said ‘they can do it with less’ .” “And we were both thrilled, because we weren’t happy with all of it.” “And it’s these pauses and the awkwardness. And the fans really reacted to it and it was great. And the thing is, 25 epsiodes in, you don’t need a lot because these two have so much history.”

They’re a little unsure, but think that the cemetery we see from the air is a different one from that they filmed in.

As we see Nathan telling Audrey about how his Trouble was triggered, “So this is the big story about Duke and the foundation of Nathan’s distrust and dislike of Duke. And people are always pushing us to say what it is between these two guys, and I think one of the things I’m most proud of in this show is that they have this fully fleshed out relationship the two of them.” “It’s not a simple ‘I hate you’ or ‘I love you’ or ‘we’re best friends’“ It’s not just a male banter thing either. “I feel like these guys actually have a real, more tortured friendship, but it’s a friendship. And yet here’s this big betrayal where Duke used Nathan from the start to further his ends. And the funny thing Jim is, we haven’t really seen Duke do that on screen. We haven’t seen him be a total son of a bitch to somebody, especially Nathan. And I wonder if we need to.” And so Jim replies, “I wonder if we need to get Duke’s side of the story at some point too, because it might not be as simple as it feels to Nathan.” To which Sam replies, “Well that’s interesting.” And they mention how the first introduction to Duke we had was Nathan’s tirade about how untrustworthy he was in the first episode, but that things between them have evolved since then “they’ve been through a lot.”

As all of the ghosts walk up to Nathan and Audrey in the graveyard, “We were so happy when we figured this scene out because we figured out a curse, where Audrey’s special skill (being immune to the curses) is actually a liability. And I was amazed because I thought that when we came up with it we would have to really talk people into it, (producers, network, studio, everybody) but everybody kind of got it from the beginning.” They figure this is an advantage of being 25 episodes in because there is enough background that people are more likely to get this stuff straight away. “I’m looking forward to writing season three because there’s just so much foundational knowledge that we don’t have to explain. Or when we explain it for the new people we can do it very efficiently.

They talk about this scene being interesting in the sense of ‘why did all these ghosts come up to them in the graveyard?’ and it’s in the background, the “stuff that only writers would know” but they both agree what it was about was that “they all came to look at Audrey. And who knows what it is that they see with their dead eyes when they look at her.”

They discuss the issues of filming these graveyard scenes in the rain, saying that there are some shots where you can see the leaves getting hit by rain but the actors are under cover so they stay dry. As Audrey, Nathan and Duke are stood talking by the bronco; “this was supposed to be a walk-and-talk, but instead it’s a stand-and-talk,” because it’s raining and they’re under cover their, but they can’t go very far without getting wet, and that’s a hassle for hair and makeup and wardrobe. And they comment that “In order to see rain on screen, it has to be pouring buckets.” “Or lit right.” Normally rain just doesn’t show on camera.

Nathan’s gone off to make his phone call and they comment “This is where Duke is real with Audrey. And this is setting up a foundational thing for their relationship, which is already kind of established, but we’re building on it and building on it, because we really want three relationships going forward into season three. Everybody’s talking about the romantic relationship, and I’m not saying that’s not an element, but I’m just talking about three fully fledged relationships.” “There’s three very different burdens and perspectives running through the series now.”

As we see Garland they talk about how “awesome” it was to have the actor Nick Campbell back, and how thrilled everyone on set was. And how “we always knew that he would be coming back in this way. It ended up being the last episode of the season, but we always knew he was coming back.”

As Nathan and Garland talk, “So this is a huge scene, and Jim, you wrote this scene, and rewrote it and rewrote it.” And Jim agrees that “Everyone had a lot of opinions about what needed to be said between Nathan and his father.” and Sam continues, “This is a huge big deal, the two of them getting together. They’ve had this fractured relationship and then in the last 12 episodes Nathan has risen to be chief and he struggled and fought, and now they have a new relationship. And we find out at the end of the episode [when Vince and Dave disagree about whether they need him back or not] that there is a possibility of him coming back. And if he does come back (and I can neither confirm nor deny) it would be very interesting to see how their relationship changes and evolves.” They also discuss the possibility that, since the ghosts are the result of a curse, there is a question over whether this is really Nathan’s dad that he’s talking to.

They appreciate the line and the actor’s reaction when Garland learns that Audrey shot the Rev. And they both agree that the way Audrey shot the Rev. was “very satisfying.” And there was a line there they took out where someone (Nathan or Duke) says to Audrey that she could have just shot him in the leg, and without even looking at him she says, “Could have,” and just keeps walking. It didn’t make it into the episode in the end because it was felt that it was “a little too bad ass.”

Where Garland tells Nathan he can’t fall in love with Audrey, “And this is the big question, this is the choice that Nathan has to make, because there’s a certain truth to what his father says, which is Nathan’s job is to keep this world together, and being in love with one of the central pieces of it and having a relationship with her is dangerous as hell.” And “There are so many women out there, but unfortunately only one that he can feel. It’s so tragic. I’m so happy we did that to them.”

The mention the rain again; “We shot 91ish days and it rained 67 of them this year,” in comparison to season one when the weather was beautiful.

As Audrey walks by the Rev. they comment that it would have been cool to have had Audrey walk through the Rev. here “I wish we had the budget to pull that off.”

Talking about Simon and the Rev. “It was interesting because in some ways they have the same agenda, and in some ways they have completely conflicting agendas.” And they say how in the Glendowers episode they had wanted to have flashbacks to the 1980s to show the relationships of these people, with dual timelines for the episode. They would have had Vince and Dave younger, “all that kind of stuff.” But it just got too complicated to do, partly because the curse itself was complicated enough to explain that they it made it difficult to add more complicated story telling on top.

Talking about the bronco, “That truck is a big source of production headaches. It only runs when it feels like it and for some reason Lucas is one of only two people who can drive it.” “Which is terribly convenient.”

As Audrey sees the orange paint on Kyle’s wife’s hand, they note that the logic of that receeded into the background a bit because there were a couple of scenes that got deleted, one that they couldn’t shoot because it just kept raining too much. So “that particular investigative thread got pushed to the background,” but equally, “it’s not really missed all that much.”

And they talk about realising that for a lot of people watching, they are not watching closely enough for the details like that to matter e.g. watching the first episode when it aired with a friend and they were excited to watch it but “While they were watching, they were doing 27 things. They were answering the phone, dealing with the kids… and I thought, how does the normal viewer catch everything…. But people usually do catch a lot of stuff; certainly the ones that write on the boards.”

As we see unconscious people being taken into the shed by the Rev.s men; “this was an important point in terms of how brutal can we be here, because we shy away from being too brutal, This isn’t Walking Dead, by a long shot. And so we have all these innocent people about to be murdered.” And talking about how bad that is, but also, “When you look at the mood of America and you see how angry people are on both sides, you can see that a zealot who really feels that they’re doing the right thing could get to this place. It feels more possible now to me in this country than at any time in my life, because there’s so much anger about so many different things.” And “It’s interesting because the arc of this season of dealing with the ‘normal’ people in Haven, with some of them rebelling against the presence of the Troubled in the town, we kept working on what that meant in terms of the bigger story arc and you wind up in this place where you have concentration camps or genocide and that was always troubling to us (no pun intended) because it didn’t feel quite right in modern day America that you would actually go to that kind of place. Which was another reason that this curse worked well for this episode because the Rev being the leader of these fanatics coming back from the dead and appearing to them as though he’s been divinely chosen to come back and complete his mission; you can go one step further. And then the thing with Duke tying into it became an either/or, a way to leverage Duke and give him an out.”

As they’re all assembled outside the shed, “This was a tricky scene to shoot because it’s five pages in one location and that can get really boring to shoot, and everyone was complaining about it. And they’re just standing around, but after I watched it when it was cut together and with the music and everything; there’s so much going on in this scene.” And they add that it helps a lot to have Simon at Duke’s shoulder talking to him, and so in the end it was tense enough that it didn’t seem slow at all, but on the set it was like “how are we going to make these five pages interesting of people standing here talking.”

And they mention the rain again; they had to shut down early because it was raining so much. They’d never shut down early before, but this day there was rain and lightning and so this was shot over two days. And they note that there was no way they could show the ghosts getting rained on, because they’re ghosts, “If they’ve got wet shoulders, then we’ve got a problem.”

“And this of course is setting up the two fathers fighting this war through their sons, and I love that. It shows that Nathan and Duke are fated. We haven’t talked about how much fate there is in all of this.”

As Kyle’s blood soaks into Duke’s hand, they point out that his eyes change colour, but he doesn’t get the rush of strength he did last time. “That’s an essential point, that he got a lot of strength the first time, but after that he doesn’t get super strong, and that was something we’d discussed for a long time.” But there’s still enough going on for Nathan to notice, and “the stakes of this whole game just changed for Nathan.”

They say how much they like Garland’s final lines (“I have a son too, you know. Damn good one.”) “those father/son moments” and that now “the die is cast between Nathan and Duke. “And what’s interesting about this scene is it’s not really about Audrey Parker at all.

As we see the Herald’s offices, “That storefront says ‘Haven Herald’ all the time, year round. I love that, it’s in that town of Chester, and it’s the one permanent set we have that’s not on a stage. Jim, we’ve set up some stuff here that people probably don’t notice, with the Chief and these two guys.” And he talks about loving the actors, “John Dunsworth looks like your accountant, and he’s not.”

And so then we see Audrey in her apartment. “So this is a set we don’t use very much; it’s too bad, it’s a beautiful set. She’s making pancakes, which everybody knows that. That was actually a fishing guide in Minnesota who went on about his pancakes and he kinda reminded me of Nathan, so that’s how that started.”

Then we see Audrey get tasered, “Who tasered her, where she went, all of that stuff, we wrote, and shot, and then decided not to use. And I’m obviously not going to say anything about that, but that actually went some place, and it will still go some place and we’ll reveal that in season three. But I feel bad that we left on that much of a cliff hanger, but this was an action packed episode.”

“So there’s the whistle. That’s actually Eric Balfour’s whistle, he wears it all the time, so we made it part of Duke.” And then we see Nathan confronting Duke, “We were most excited about this scene, in the writing of it, and it was the easiest to write in a lot of ways. We went through a few versions, but the core of it remained the same the whole time.” “Because is it about the two of them and their girl that they share between them, or is it about everything that happened in the scene before between the fathers, is it about the betrayal that they’ve had between the two of them, is it about what is about to be revealed on Nathan’s arm? It could be about any of those things, with these guys. And that is just wonderful.”

“It was a very physical scene with these two guys; both of them in incredible shape, able to do their own stunts.” And when Duke notices Nathan’s tattoo, they point out that it’s fresh, and then as we hear the gunshot, “Alright well that’s out JR Ewing ending, we’ll hopefully pick it up right away when we get back in season three and we hopefully head back into the writers room pretty soon now. Thanks for watching.”

[welovekpopscenarios]

11 questions tag!  ❤️❤️

So!!! We were tagged by the amazing @theliqht to do this and Candi and I are delighted to answer!! Thank you so much for the tag my queen, I hope you’re having a lovely day ily ily ily,,, *AHEM* These are some cool ass questions, here we go!

01. What are your fears/phobias?

Mimi: Bugs. I really, really hate bugs. Any kind I really just can’t handle asdfgfd pls get away from me tnx. Also public speaking, or doing anything where I have to be centre of attention or whatever nope nope my anxiety does not like that lemme tell ya Candi: I really hate clowns, small spaces and open water but let’s just say nothing scares me 😎

02. Are you taking any classes that are not academic (if you’re still a student)? if yes, what?

Mimi: I’m in college, and I do Creative Broadcast Production, so does that count??? Candi: I’m in college so uh I guess they’re all academic? I do creative broadcast and film production

03. Your top 3 fav albums? doesn’t have to be kpop!

Mimi: OOOH MAMMA MIA- Uhm, I guess it would be Diamond Eyes by Deftones (I love them so much), a tie between Going Seventeen or A|1 by Seventeen (ofc asdfliasj my actual LIFE), and idk if this counts as an album or naw and this might seem nerdy but the skyrim soundtrack is a blessing and very good for study so I’m going to put that down bc I can’t think of anything else (tbh all game soundtracks are phenomenal hmu if you want some recommendations bc I have TONS) Candi: O boi this is gonna be hard. Demon Days by Gorillaz, Bad by Michael Jackson and Never Mind The Bollocks by Sex Pistols.

04. Would you rather explore the depths of the ocean or go to outer space?

Mimi: As much as I love the big, blue and beautiful ocean, I’m gonna say space lol. Like, space is infinite, and there’s so much to discover, and the ocean is just limited and scary tbh. Take me to the stars lmao Candi: Definitely space, fish are creepy and y’all have ye seen the shit that lives in the ocean? I mean I guess I’d stumble upon funky ass aliens in space too but sure look it, space is cooler imo.

05. Which celebrity would you want to be best friends with?

Mimi: Oh damn, this is really hard. Would it be cliché to go with someone from SVT and say Seungkwan adsjkfasldj I just, I love him so much he’s so funny and kind and I’ve always said I’d love to be friends with him like I feel like he’d be down to do whatever with you so yeah Candi: I’d say Miley Cyrus because we could chill and smoke weed all day, she is one of my favourite arists as well so.

06. Do you have any piercings? how many?

Mimi: I only have the regular ears pierced, but I don’t even wear earrings LOL I haven’t worn earrings since I was like 14,,, Candi: I have 11 piercings, lmao yeah 11. I have my vertical labret, snakebites, septum, both my nipples, tongue, industrial, rook and helix. Hawhaw pls don’t judge me.

07. What animal best represents you?

Mimi: Damn this is deep what’s on your mind fam asdfjkdfdsf lmao I jk I jk, uh,,, my fave animal is a wolf, and I guess wolves are kinda like quiet creatures like me? Loyal and steadfast. Wow that was poetic. But tbh I’m probably more of a turtle – slow and scared of everything to the point of hiding ^^’’ Candi: I don’t know tbh I never know how to answer these questions. I like to stay in my bed a lot so I have the qualities of a sloth, I’m very loyal so I’m also a dog, idk fam, lots of animals.

08. If you could change one law, what would it be?

Mimi: I guess since the topic is big here atm in Ireland, changing the law on abortion? Like I’m not comfortable with the idea of it like idk, it’s a big thing to think about, but if a woman needs to do it, then I believe she should have the choice. It’s her body, her decision, and no judgement should be passed to her Candi: This is a lil bit controversial but I’d love if abortion was legalized in Ireland because we are currently fighting H A R D for it with all the protests and stuff and it’s 2017 ffs, give women the right to their bodies thank you bye.

09. Your ideal type?

Mimi: Someone who makes me laugh, who can bring me out of my shell at my own pace, who will accept my flaws and be comfortable with me, who’ll bring me peace and happiness even in the simplest ways, someone who’ll have patience with me but also like to be crazy with me (so like, if I’ve somehow described wonwoo, mingyu or hoshi, don’t be surprised and just overlook it ok I love them so MUCH) Candi: I honestly don’t know, I love guys who look like they haven’t slept since they left the womb and who look psycho because I obviously have issues but then when it comes to girls I like chubby/curvy girls who are quite girly. Honestly, I don’t even look at the appearance that much it’s always the personality that blinds me. A person could look like ass and I’d fancy them because they’re funny. I just have a lot of issues l m a o.

10. Would you rather live in the city or countryside?

Mimi: I’d say the city, as much as I’m not a fan of big crowds, I feel like you can get comfortably lost in a city? Like you’ll have your solitude as you want it! Unless someone offers me a cottage in the forest then bye I’m living there for an eternity and becoming a witch of the land Candi: Both have their advantages but I’d much rather live in a city. I’m a busy busy person and I love the hectic lifestyle so in a city I’d be able to live how I like

11. How did you find my account? or if I was the one who found you first, what was your first impression of me? (just be honest really, no hard feelings !!)

Mimi: I’ve followed your blog on my personal one for a while and I absolutely love your content bc you bring me those amazing SVT scenarios that I lack in my life and you’re just a lovely person and your blog is so positive and nice and UGH I’M A BIG FAN ILYSM KEEP DOING WHAT YOU’RE DOING YOU’RE SO SWEET Candi: I’m pretty sure Mimi followed you and you and Mimi chat but just so you know I LOVE YOU TOO OKAY? YOUR CONTENT IS A++

Ok, all done!! Here are our questions now!

1. Describe your personality.

2. Who is your ultimate bias and why?

3. Besides kpop, what other music do you listen to? (If any, if not that's g)

4. Favourite movie and why?

5. Your hobbies!

6. Do you see yourself falling in love and staying with the one person for the rest of your life? : ) ) ) )

7. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and what would your ideal trip be?

8. Let’s be positive! What is something you’re proud of? (can be a feature, smth you’ve worked on, smth you’ve done etc.)

9. Do you have a large friend group, or small?

10. What was the last book you read?

11. If you play games, what would you consider your favourite, and why? (I’m sorry I had to gghjkgjk)

We hope you like the questions! We’re tagging @kpop-stole-my-lyfe, @seventeen-teen-teen-trash @incorrect-seventeen-quotes, and @incorrectmxquotes You don’t have to do this, but this is the handful we thought might like to! Enjoy!!