nimble-escapism

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why does the siren on my cup keep telling me this

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I fully expected the ending of the Owl House to feel super rushed since it was prematurely canceled but that was shockingly good? I mean yeah there is a bunch of stuff that I wish they had time to dive more into (like who is the Bat Queen, what exactly happened between Philip and Caleb, who are all these coven heads, what is Hooty) and am sad they did not but overall that was an extremely satisfying ending to a really great and heartwarming show. Felt especially good after I really did not like the ending of Steven Universe.

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The writer of the Owl House has to have been a Drarry shipper, right?

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It seems that these are turbulent times in the land of the Dunmer.

currently obsessed with the fact that oblivion only takes place six years after the events of morrowind.

meaning the impact of the fall of the tribunal is barely even understood, or even being felt in full. the great houses are no doubt opening up a private civil war - as is the dunmer way - for the top spots in the wake of the nerevarine, the temple in ruins with the loss of their god-kings, the empire at their doorstep, not to say the least about the spiritual impact on the dunmer people. how much time does it take to mourn the god-king mother of morrowind? of sotha sil?? how does one even navigate the idea of their gods dying while they, their worshippers, remain???

i just. the entire country has to be in freefall, and thats not including the damage dagoth ur has done to vvardenfell. that the repressive system built in the wake of ALMSIVI is doing to the entire nation. and then oblivion gates start tearing open, and the entire country which is at the lowest it's been in possibly it's entire existence has to deal with a full blown daedric invasion. the implications for the dunmer are just so staggering

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oh my god

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Our Organizing Committee at my store has been getting into Epic the Musical together so I spent the day before our strike coming up with a parody of Survive for the picket line. I am a very productive strike captain.

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How I picture Odysseus from Epic the Musical

No but seriously I keep thinking about how similar Ody is to Kiritsugu Emiya from Fate/Zero. Also how Kiritsugu starts out as an incredibly ruthless person dedicated to his wife and child and at the end he comes to terms with the fact that he will never see them again and rescues a young boy from the destruction his actions caused in order to raise him and settle down to a life of peace. It feels like a very similar character going on an almost opposite journey.

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You have a baker who makes all of reality cease to exist if he eats bread

"Glarthir is the town eccentric" your count is a reclusive vampire there is a woman who is called "Else God-Hater" because she so loudly and obsessively hates all gods the local alchemist is an actual necrophiliac you can't have a town eccentric if your whole town is eccentric

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Doing a max difficulty thief RP Oblivion playthrough and accidentally got the Sneak master trainer killed without realizing it.

Part of the challenge for this run is I am not using lockpicks at all, so in the early game my character’s been relying on shoplifting in the Market District and pickpocketing. I’ve been living in the Abandoned Shack in the Waterfront, and a couple nights I noticed a well dressed upperclass woman just standing alone in a secluded spot in the Waterfront with her back to the road in the middle of the night, so I thought she would be a perfect pickpocketing target.

My first attempt she noticed me but I didn’t get a bounty and was able to run away. The next night that I tried though, she pulled a blade and began chasing me. I tried to escape her by leaving her line of sight and loading into the Abandoned Shack, but she chased me. Then, instead of attacking me, she started fighting Dranas Llethro, one of the other residents. I helped him out because I didn’t want him to be killed, and since NPC damage is not affected by difficulty he could actually put up a fight against her. My damage is a nonfactor, but using my fists along with Dranas meant we were able to keep her staggered most of the time. Dranas dealt the final blow, and I still had no bounty. This ended up being a huge score since I got her key and was able to loot her whole house, the first time I had been able to break into a house this playthrough. It was only later when I looked her up that I realized she was the master trainer for Sneak, which explained why I kept failing to pickpocket her. Guess I will have to level Sneak naturally this run.

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If I had a nickel for every time my favorite character in an animated show was a sword wielder with a blue color scheme who struggles with being less powerful than the other main characters and has a name that starts with S and ends with -ka I would have two nickels.

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Shout out to wiki.puella-magi.net and canta-per-me.net

The fact is the mass consolidation of wikis and fan sites into single sites was basically a trap to force those communities to deal with the eventual enshittification of the platform that absorbed them. Some of us had the foresight and hands to see this coming and avoid this, but others are now trying to escape and stand on their own at last. The UESP isn't alone, Indie Wiki Buddy has a pretty good list (and extension to help you find them).

Are there any other independent wikis/fan communities that you care about still out there? We'd love to hear about them.

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[Thunder Bringer starts playing ominously in the background]

The problem with discussing anything complicated is that it's a real roulette whether you're going to have an intelligent, nuanced and practical conversation, or end up hearing some of the worst takes of your life.

I once had an economic conversation with a guy who was adamant that we should eliminate currency and go back to a barter system for world peace because "lots of people kill over money, but I've never heard of someone getting killed over a cow."

This was a real man who was actually serious and I had to see him every week to play Dungeons and Dragons.

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For my Madoka marathon this year, I thought it would be fun to keep track of how many scenes made me cry per episode. Some of these were literally just the BGM came on and I immediately got emotional remembering how much I loved the scene. Here were my stats:

Episode 4: 1 (When Madoka and Homura are on a walk together and Madoka promises to remember her too)

Episode 6: 1 (The conversation between Madoka and her mom)

Episode 7: 3 (When the instrumental version of Sis Puella Magica comes on during the conversation between Kyouko and Sayaka, when Sayaka is crying to Madoka about how she almost regretted saving Hitomi, and the Elsa Maria scene)

Episode 8: 2 (The bus stop scene in the rain, the fountain scene)

Episode 9: 1 (Kyouko's sacrifice)

Episode 10: 3 (End of timeline 1, end of timeline 3, when Homura calls Madoka her one and only friend at the end of the episode)

Episode 11: 4 (When Madoka's mom is lamenting to her teacher about not being able to support her, when Homura tells Madoka about her time travelling, the Walpurgisnacht fight, when Madoka talks to her mom for the last time)

Episode 12: 1 (When Homura talks with Madoka's mom)

That's an average of about 1.33 scenes per episode.

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Embarrassing! I just realized I've been confusing Terror Adhaerens and Pugna Infinita with each other

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Episode 3 is overrated

And Episode 4 is underrated. Episode 3 is the most famous episode of Madoka Magica, and when new people get into the show for the first time it is the one built up with the most hype. This happens to such an extent that the concept of the Three Episode Rule is often misattributed to Madoka Magica (it predates it, but Madoka definitely popularized it). Now I do think Episode 3 is good, but imo the hype is a bit misplaced, and it's actually best in combination with Episode 4.

Episode 3 relies on a Big Twist that really isn't that much of a twist except in the context of how the show was originally marketed back in like 2011. As it was coming out, the creators put in great effort to market it as a normal, cute magical girl show despite the writer's reputation for dark stories, and Episode 3 was the big reveal that this was in fact going to be a dark show with major character death. But without the context of being intentionally mislead by the marketing, it really doesn't have the same impact. The first three episodes clearly set up mystery, intrigue, and creepy surreal monsters that all give you a feeling of unease. They hook you with questions. What was that dream sequence at the very beginning all about? Who is this mysterious transfer student and this cat thing, and what are their motives? What was with Homura's cryptic warning? When will Madoka and Sayaka become magical girls, and what will they wish for? In that context, a mentor character dying - a pretty common trope - isn't really that surprising, and doesn't immediately make the show that much more interesting.

Episode 4 gives Mami's death a much greater impact by letting the characters really sit with the emotional weight. While the first three episodes give you an interesting premise, mysteries, and monsters, it's Episode 4 that tells you this is gonna be an intensely tragic and emotional show. It allows you time to really feel for the characters. The scene with Madoka's family adds new meaning to Homura's warning from Episode 1. You get a great scene with Homura that allows you to really start empathizing with the suffering she must have experienced as a veteran magical girl while at the same time raising more questions about her. Then, Sayaka becomes a magical girl, and instead of just the obvious next step in the plot it feels like oh shit what's gonna happen to her now?

Despite being widely associated with the Three Episode Rule, Madoka Magica is actually best approached with a Four Episode Rule. I would always recommend watching Episodes 3 & 4 in the same sitting to someone watching for the first time to really get them invested and give them a taste of what makes it my favorite show of all time.

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i've watched this show more than thirteen times over twelve years and somehow this is the first time i understood the joke of sayaka using a fire extinguisher on the girl whose name literally means "flame" wow i'm slow

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Declined an opportunity to come into work and get more hours because it's Walpurgisnacht and I need to do my 12th annual Madoka Magica marathon