#(if you do go looking for that segment - it's called 'We've Got Work To Do' and be warned: it has some pretty graphic imagery and-

[c0nfessions-of-a-writing-freak]

Winner Winner, Stormfly's Dinner

Pairing: Hiccup 'Horrendous’ Haddock III x fem!oc

Word count: 6.7k

Hiiii I was wondering if you could write a fic about the dragon races? I’ve seen your fic about the Lightfury stealing a dragon rider and really enjoyed it and I loved the dynamic the Lightfury had with your oc, Toothless and Hiccup even tho she doesn’t seem to like him too much. I was hoping you could incorporate that dynamic into an x reader fic? Also, you're free to use Stardust as the name of the Lightfury since I thought it was so cute. Since I know it probably wouldn’t fit into your original story I thought it might be easier to do it as something completely new with similar characters if that’s alright? Love your work and can’t wait to see more! From Anonymous

Hiii i was wondering if u could do something like a dragon racing fic with the sheep since I thought that might be fun. I’ve seen most people have requested Hiccup so I’m just going to request him as well since that’ll be fun and easy for you. So maybe like just segments where the reader is singled out with each rider so she can have some fun banter or moments with them and then maybe she gets the black sheep and wins the whole thing and hiccup is super proud of her <33333 From Anonymous

(Y/N): Your name

(H/C): Hair colour

(D/N): Dragon name

A/N:

A loud horn rang out as (Y/N) stepped into the old dragon training arena, her Lightfury–Stardust–following behind her. The noise signalled the nearing of the annual dragon race, letting those know to start making their way over soon. The stands were empty but the pit of the arena was full of dragon riders and their dragons, applying paint to the wings and heads of their dragons.

"Running a bit late now, are we?" Astrid called out as (Y/N) passed her. She wore a smug grin on her face, coloured orange and blue just like Stormfly behind her. Stormyfly perked up at the sight of (Y/N) and Stardust, trying to take a few steps towards the pair to greet them. At the sound of her talons scraping along the stone floor, Stardust's head snapped towards her, and a flash of teeth and a wrinkle of her nose deterred Stormfly from getting too much close. (Y/N) placed a hand on Stardust's head, lightly pushing it in the direction of where a mass of darkness sat patiently and with his chest puffed out slightly as its one-legged rider smeared paint across his head. At the sight of the other fury, Stardust went gracefully over without a second question, leaving (Y/N) to fend for herself.

"Hi, Stormfly. Looking good," (Y/N)'s voice rose as she ran her hands under the Deadly Nadder's chin, earning an elated hum from the beast. A bubble of joy rose from the pit of (Y/N)'s stomach to her chest, lighting her up until her soft laughter rang out around the arena. Astrid soon joined in on the laughter as she followed after her wayward dragon. "You ready for today, Astrid? Been feeding Stormyfly as much chicken as possible?"

At the mention of chicken, Stormfly lit up. Rising from (Y/N)'s grip and stomping her feet lightly in excitement. Astrid raised both her hands to try to calm the Deadly Nadder down, shooting (Y/N) a feigned annoyed glare. "We've definitely been getting some extra practice in, though I wouldn't say… you know what is needed to beat all these knuckleheads. What about you? Got any secret flights in with Stardust in preparation for today?"

(Y/N) ticked her head to the side, the corners of her lips lifting. Her body language showed indifference, but Astrid could tell something was going on that (Y/N) wasn't telling her. "Stardust and I will do just fine without any extra help. We always have a few tricks up our sleeves."

"We'll see about that once we get in the air," Astrid comments as she leads Stormfly back to her painting station. She dabbed a small sponge into the bowl filled with orange paint before lifting her arm to run it along Stormfly's outstretching wing, leaving a trail of paint behind that she would later go over to make the colour brighter and the lines steadier. "I took the liberty of setting up your station near Hiccup's. I hope the colours are to your liking."

"I'm sure whatever you picked out will make Stardust and I stand out amongst the rest of you," (Y/N) called over her shoulder with a laugh ringing through her words, choosing to ignore any undertones of teasing that she could find in Astrid's voice. (Y/N)'s eyes now landed on a new target. A target that she wouldn't be able to reach as quickly as she would have hoped to.

"(Y/N), I need your honest opinion–well, not too honest, or I might cry–about my battle paint!" Tuffnut called out as he saw the (H/C) haired girl walking past. As (Y/N) turned to take in the mix of colours on his face, she jumped back at the closeness of the boy. Tuffnutt had run up to her and was standing with his face pushed outwards with his eyes widened. On it was a yellow skull with the rest of his face blacked out. "Is it too much? Too little? I think I should add more paint but Ruff disagrees."

"It's, uh, very you," (Y/N) said slowly, her palms extended in front of her and faced up as she acknowledged the thought-out design. (Y/N) took half a second to think out her answer before she was closing a fist and lightly punching Tuffnut in the shoulder with it, "You know, I think you should go with your heart. If you think you should add more, then by all means, add more."

Tuffnut stared at her for a few seconds before he threw both hands into the air, "This is one of the many reasons you are my favourite," He exclaimed with a large grin overtaking his feature before he was spinning around and walked back towards his sister, arms still in the air. "You hear that, Ruff? (Y/N) thinks I'm brilliant!"

A smile displayed itself on (Y/N)'s face as she watched Tuffnut happily run back over to his paint station, his half of Barf and Belch looming over as he watched Tuffnut happily smear more paint on his face. The groan that rang out did little to wipe the smile off (Y/N)'s face as she turned to see Ruffnut glaring at her with her arms crossed. "Great, now I'm going to have to deal with the aftermath of all that."

"If it makes you feel any better Ruff, you get to dunk water on his head later. Maybe even repeatedly," (Y/N)'s words got an evil grin stretched across Ruffnut's face as she rubbed her two hands together, shooting her twin brother a sideways glance as she imagines the future that awaited for her.

(Y/N) didn't stick around for too much longer after that since she was losing time. Everyone else had finished painting at least themselves or their dragons and were now either going in for more details or working on whatever they hadn't done yet while she was still yet to even see the colour of her paint. Her hope for getting started didn't stay around for long as a short Viking called out to get her attention.

"Oi, (Y/N)," Snotlout yelled as he waved a large hand at her. Hookfang stood behind his dragon rider, sporting some red and yellow paint along his wings and a little bit on his jaw and cheeks. (Y/N) quickly walked over to greet the boy, not one for ignoring anyone. "You mind helping do my face? I would use the mirror normally, but the twins shattered it earlier while trying to call dibs on it."

"Are you sure you weren't in on the shattering of said mirror?" (Y/N) questioned with a grin as she came to a stop in front of Snotlout. The shorter boy's shoulders dropped as he tried to fight to string a sentence together to defend his honour. It only ended up causing a laugh to rise from (Y/N). "I was kidding, Snotlout. I totally believe it was just those two causing their normal ruckus."

"Good, because you know I would never stoop so low to join in or whatever it is those two get up to," Snotlout puffed out his chest as he said this, earning another huffed-out laugh from (Y/N) at his actions. "Now, about that face paint?"

The laughter slowly died down as the question was brought up for a second time. One of (Y/N)'s arms was raised as she wrapped it around the forearm of her other arm. Trying to let the boy off gently, she spoke softly, "I don't know, Snotlout. I haven't even started on Stardust or my own paint, so I don't think I have the time."

"It will only take a second, I promise," Snoutlout said as he tried to push the bowl of paint into (Y/N)'s hands.

But at the sound of a second horn (Y/N) shook her head and pushed the paint away from herself and back to Snoutlouts chest. "I'm sorry, Snoutlout, but I don't have time. How about if I finish myself and Stardust and still have time afterwards, I'll come back over and help y

The offer was a good one, and the best (Y/N) would be able to give as she could already hear the first group of Vikings arrive early for the race later. Snotlout seemed to ponder the offer, taking his time in weighing it out in his head before giving a single nod of his head. "But I want you coming straight back here once your done. No faffing around with Hiccup afterwards."

One of (Y/N)'s hands shot up to her forehead in a salute as she looked down at Snotlout. "Hearing you loud and clear, soldier."

(Y/N) could hear the huffing of Hookfang, along with some muttering from Snotlout, as she turned away from the flaming duo and tried, once more to get to her desired destination. This time she thought she'd finally be able to. She had gotten through nearly all the dragon riders, and Fishlegs wasn't one to socialise much before a big race, having some pre-race ritual he had to forgo. But as she started walking once more, a Gronckle-loving dragon rider attempted to get her attention.

"Ooh (Y/N)! (Y/N)," He called as he left Meatlug behind, the Gronckle happily snacking on some rocks. Fishlegs held a card in his hand as he made his way over to the (H/C) haired girl, a nervous grin on his face as he came over. (Y/N) came to a stop even though she was a little annoyed at being stopped for the fourth time. She tried to hide that annoyance as Fishlegs hadn't done anything wrong. "I stayed up late last night trying to finish this new card I made for Lightfury's. I thought we needed a newer version since we've found out so much more about Stardust and her species."

A smile fought its way onto (Y/N)'s face as she saw the carefully drawn Lightfury on the small trading card. (Y/N)'s eyes widened as she swore she could see every detail on the small picture that replicated her very own dragon. "Wow, Fishlegs, I don't know what to say. It looks amazing."

"This one's for you," Fishlegs quickly said, placing the card in (Y/N)'s hand before she could decline. "And before you say anything, I have a second one at home. I made this one just for you since I know you love everything and anything dragon related."

"Thanks, Fishlegs. I don't even know what to say," (Y/N) grinned as she stared at the small card before delicately placing it in a small pouch she had attached to her belt so it wouldn't get ruined while she was racing. As she thought about the race, she realised how much time she lost between getting to the arena late and having to talk to all the different dragon riders. "Good luck with the race, yeah?"

"I'll see you out there," Fishlegs concluded as they both turned away from each other.

This time, (Y/N) was finally able to get to where she needed to be.

"Hi, Hiccup," (Y/N) said as she trailed her fingers along the brunette's arm. The taller boy looked up at (Y/N), a soft smile on his face as he watched the girl dance around him. "And hi, Toothless. Red is such a good colour on you."

A gargling noise quickly erupted from Toothless' throat in his way of saying hello. Stardust was wrapped around the other dragon, head resting under his chin as she was careful not to smudge any of the red paint, mainly because she didn't want any of it getting onto her scales.

Before (Y/N) could take another step forward, she felt two arms wrap around her waist and pull her backwards. As she fell back into Hiccup's chest, a bubble of a laugh rose from her chest as she felt him pull her down to sit on his lap as he rested his head on her shoulder. At the action, Stardust let out a small growl. Her nose scrunched up as she threatened to take a step forward, the gentle coaxing from, Toothless stopping her from doing so.

“I was wondering when you were finally going to make your way over here,” Hiccup said as he rocked the both of them back, completely ignoring Stardust’s warning as he was already used to the untrusting behaviour on her part. He was sure he was slowly starting to get a breakthrough with the dragon. Having Toothless around certainly helped with that. “Once Stardust over there came bounding over, I knew it was only a matter of time before you would follow. I didn’t know it would take that long though.”

“All the other dragon riders seemed to want to keep me as far away and for as long as possible,” (Y/N) said as she wiggled out of Hiccups grips to the Viking's annoyance. She quickly turned around however and stood between his legs, forcing the Viking to look up at her from where he sat as he extended both of his arms so they could gently rest on her hips. “I’ve got a lot of time to make up for. So, if you could help me by painting Stardust with me, I’d appreciate it.”

At the mention of her name, Stardust stood and stalked a few steps away from Toothless, getting ready to be coated in paint. But when she heard her name in the same sentence as the Viking (Y/N) likes to keep around, her head shot around so she could watch Hiccup with a heated gaze.

“I’m not too sure Stardust likes the sound of that,” Hiccup said slowly. Rising from his seat, he followed after the shorter girl as she moved over to where three bowls of paint sat. Of course, there was the bowl of red paint that Hiccup had used for Toothless, but the other two bowls were left untouched.

“Nonsense. Stardust will stand still as you help me,” (Y/N) announced confidently as she picked up a bowl filled with light blue along with a sponge that sat near it. As she turned back around she sent Stardust a warning look, silently telling her to behave. “I want to do a sort of spiral along Stardust’s back where the colours intertwine with one another. But I don’t know what markings I want to do on her wings or face yet.”

Hiccup came up next to (Y/N), a step or two away from Stardust as he watched (Y/N) dip the sponge into the paint and slowly start to trail it along Stardust’s back. A soft purring began to emit from the Lightfury as (Y/N) worked her way down, her other hand gently trailing along with her. Hiccup took this as his chance to step up beside her now that she had gravitated further down Stardust’s body. At the sense of his presence, Stardust’s head whipped around while the rest of her body stayed eerily still.

“Easy girl,” Hiccup reassured gently as he raised a slightly shaking hand for Stardust to sniff. The dragon however scoffed a bunch of air out of her nose, the wind smacking against Hiccup’s hand as she turned away from him once more with a grumble. As if on cue, Toothless waddled over to them and stopped in front of Stardust to keep her busy while Hiccup worked.

When a hiccup got about halfway, (Y/N) left his side as she walked over to Stardust’s other side. Patting the white dragon on the edge of her wing, Stardust extended it for (Y/N)’s use. (Y/N) started to run the blue paint over the groves of Stardust's wings. As Hiccup walked over to help finish off the wing, he got a similar response to when he stepped up to her once more.

(Y/N) didn't pay too much mind to her, shushing her as Hiccup watched what she was doing. "I want this done on the other wing but in reversed colours. Also, can you fill these in with pink? And trace the back of her wing with it as well before you start on the other side with me?"

"Sure I can," Hiccup agreed, quickly doing what the (H/C) haired girl had asked him to. Again, (Y/N) was able to finish and move on to Stardust's other wing as Hiccup fought to catch up, trailing behind her as he copied her work. When Hiccup finished, he could see the girl crouched in front of Stardust's face while the dragon leant her face down low. Coming to a stop behind her, Hiccup saw the two bands of blue wrapped around Stardust's front legs while she now trailed some paint up her face. Looking at the close proximity between the two, Hiccup said, "I think you should finish Stardust off."

Once the final stroke of paint was drawn, (Y/N) turned back to smile at Hiccup. "Come on Hic, you know Stardust won't bite."

"That's the thing," Hiccup unwearily said as he cautiously stepped forward, an immediate response rising out of Stardust. (Y/N)'s head instantly whipped around at the noise emitting from her dragon. A light scowl was on her face, slowly making the rumbling calm down. "I'm not completely sure she won't."

(Y/N) took a second to think over what she was going to do before she reached a hand back for Hiccup to take, waiting patiently until she felt the steady weight of it. At the contact she pulled him forward, the light ring of his metal foot hitting against the stone floor as (Y/N) pulled him to crouch down next to her. Stardust's face twisted at the sight of the other dragon rider but tried to stand still as (Y/N) was still crouched in front of her.

Grabbing onto Hiccup's other hand, the one that had the bowl and sponge held in it, she pulled it forward before making another grab for his previous hand. Together they dipped the sponge in the paint before trailing it along Stardust's front legs, having two rings on each alternating leg. Since (Y/N) was doing most of the work, Stardust couldn't find it in herself to try and scare them off. She still however made her annoyance known as she glared at Hiccup, the boy only being able to give her a throaty chuckle in response.

As they moved onto Stardust's face, (Y/N)'s hold on Hiccup's hand loosened, giving him the chance to back away if he wanted. But the boy's hand stayed where it was, trying not to seem too keen to get closer. As the sponge dipped back into the paint before moving up to the Lightfury's face, Stardust slowly closed her eyes, allowing the paint to trail across her face. Hiccup could feel a smile slowly starting to etch across his face. Never before had he been able to get this close to the Lightfury with Stardust's willingness. Even if there wasn't much of it right now.

"All done," (Y/N) happily cheered as she pulled Hiccup's hand away from Stardust's face. The dragon's eyes instantly shot open, a smile starting to stretch across her face as she turned to find Toothless to show off the finished work. (Y/N) watched happily as the dragon bounced over to Toothless, spreading her wings as she pranced around Toothless, forcing him to turn to follow her as he showed one of his famous toothless smiles.

"Now it's time for something more important," Hiccup said as he stood. Balancing the paint in one hand, he pulled (Y/N) to her feet before tugging her slightly closer.

"What could be more important than painting Stardust?" (Y/N) questioned, smiling softly up at Hiccup as she waited to see what he might do.

"This," He said as he dipped his thumb into the pink paint and brought his hand up to (Y/N)'s cheek. He waited half a second before running his pink-coated thumb across her cheekbone, making sure he curled the paint up the higher he got. A laugh rang out of (Y/N) as she pinched close one of her eyes when Hiccup ran his thumb underneath it. Once he was done with that half of (Y/N)'s face he wiped his thumb into the palm of his hand, trying to get rid of as much of it as possible before he bent down to place his bowl down and pick up the one (Y/N) had put down earlier. "Nearly done."

"You have to let me do your paint after this," (Y/N) demanded with a grin, leaning forward as she bounced forward on her toes.

"Absolutely not." Hiccup was careful not to mess up the swirls he was painting onto the girl's face. "What I want is simple and I can do it myself. Plus, I know you're going to try and add something to the design if I don't keep a close eye on you."

"Alright," (Y/N) said as a hum in return. She stood still as she waited for Hiccup to finish. "Here, I'll take the paint back over."

At the offer, Hiccup handed the bowl of light blue over, watching as (Y/N) turned to get the pink bowl off the floor before walking over to the table it had originally rested on. Dipping a thumb into the blue paint, she let it coat her thumb before grabbing the bowl of red paint for Hiccup and bringing it over for him. "Thank you, (Y/N)."

"No problem, my love," (Y/N) said as the bowl was handed over. Hiccup's eyes flashed up at her, trying to hide a smile as he dipped his pointer and middle finger into the paint. While Hiccup was distracted by his own paint, (Y/N) reached her thumb up and smeared the blue paint she had gotten on it across her lips until they were completely covered in blue. Hiding her face by knocking her head down, (Y/N) circled Hiccup until she stood behind the dragon rider. Wrapping both of her arms around the taller boy's waist, she rested her chin on Hiccup's shoulder like he had done to her earlier. As Hiccup dipped his two fingers into the paint again so he could drag them along his face, (Y/N) lept forward and placed a small kiss on the boy's jaw.

"What was that for?" Hiccup asked as he lifted his hand up to draw on the paint, ignoring the sensation of the paint (Y/N) had left behind.

"Nothing," (Y/N) grinned, hiding it behind Hiccup's head as she moved to his other side before placing a longer, drawn-out kiss on his cheek. The blue paint wasn't as vibrate as the first kiss but still was a clear outline of her lips. "Am I not allowed to kiss my boyfriend?"

"I never said that," Hiccup said as he twisted in (Y/N)'s arms. His eyes locked on the colour of (Y/N)'s lips too late as he had already dived forward to catch her lips with his own. (Y/N) smiled at the sensation, keeping her arms tightly wrapped around Hiccup's midsection while the boy's brows pinched together. His tongue edged forward, waiting for (Y/N) to part her lips when the taste hit him quickly. Just as (Y/N) was about to grant him entrance, Hiccup pulled back, staring confusedly down at (Y/N)'s lips. "Why is there paint on your lips?"

"No reason," (Y/N) quickly said, feigning nonchalance. Maybe she spoke too quickly or should have been quicker since when she surged forward to try and leave another kiss mark on Hiccup's face, the boy planted both hands on (Y/N)'s shoulders, a groan leaving his now blue-coated lips as he hung his head onto (Y/N)'s shoulders.

"Please don't tell me your blue kisses are all over my face." (Y/N) didn't respond, causing another groan to rise from Hiccup as he lifted his head again, scowling lightly at the shorter girl when all she could do was smile. "You know what?"

"What?" (Y/N) asked, her brows furrowing at the lack of reaction from Hiccup. Once she saw Hiccup's thumb dip into his red paint, her eyes widened at what she knew was coming her way. Dropping her hands from Hiccup's side, she tried to wiggle back and out of his grip.

"No, you don't," Hiccup quickly exclaimed as the bowl of red paint dropped from his hand and spilled across the stone floor. Not to matter though since Hiccup's lips were already coated red. (Y/N) tried to fight Hiccup's arms off her as she backed away with a laugh. Hiccup's arms shot out and tightly secured themselves around (Y/N), trapping her arms to her side in the process. (Y/N) tried to lean back as far as possible but Hiccup only followed after her. Leaning up and forward, Hiccup placed a large kiss on (Y/N)'s forehead, marvelling at the red that was left behind. "There. Now we match."

(Y/N) pretended to be annoyed as she felt Hiccup's arms loosen around her. She wasn't doing a very good job at hiding her true emotions as a large smile blossomed across her face. At that moment, (Y/N) didn't have to worry about anything. Certainly not about the betting that was going on above her.

“My money’s on Snotlout,” Spitelout said as he stood neck to Stoick. Spitelout was looking down at his son as he pointed an all-knowing finger towards him.

“You sure he ain’t gonna throw it all away again?” Gobber asked from the other side of their chief as he scratched his beard with his fake wooden hand, looking down at Snotlout with a less then keen eye.

Spitelout flashed Gobber a glare, both of his arms crossed tightly over his chest as he said, “I’m sure he has it this time around.”

"What about you Stoick?" Gobber asked, turning Spitelout's glare away from him as they both turned their attention to the man sitting down. "Who have you got your eyes on for today's race?"

Stoick didn't even need to think about his answer as he brought a large hand to rub against his chin while saying with a bellowing voice, "My golds going towards my daughter-in-law."

"Oh? Hiccup's popped the big question?" Gobber asked he turned back to look at the pair still wrapped in each other's arms. He could see the splatter of paint they had been leaving on each other's faces, but Gobber was more than content to let them stay in their own little bubble for a bit longer.

Stoick's face pulled downwards at the question. In a grumbled-out response, he said, "Not yet."

"If that boy doesn't hurry up, she's going to do it for him," Spitelout stated, getting silent agreement from the Vikings he was conversing with."Now, back to business. Not putting your gold on Hiccup, eh?"

"Not today, no," Stoick shook his head. "(Y/N) and her dragon have been looking promising recently."

"We'll see if your judgement has grown clouded soon enough," Spitelout teased, grinning as he heard the final horn ring out. Some of the dragon riders got on their dragons as soon as possible, flying up to where they stood on their baskets, waiting for the race to begin. "Normal amount?"

"Hm? Sure," Stoick absentmindedly said as he stood from his seat and walked a few steps forward, gaining the silence from the crowded arena stands. The silence urged the remaining dragon riders to mount their dragons and get to their starting positions. "Vikings and dragon riders, today we join for the first race of the year. On the Gronckle we have Fishlegs, the Monstrous Nightmare being flown by Snotlout-"

Stoick was cut off by a loud cheer from Spitelout, the man yelling, "That's my boy!"

"Yes, thank you for that wonderful display Spitelout," Stoick deadpanned as he turned briefly to face the other Viking as he calmed himself down. "The twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut of the Hideous Zippleback, Astrid on the Deadly Nadder, and my son of the Nightfury."

Stoick paused as he got to (Y/N)'s part, drawing the crowd into suspense. "And on the Lightfury we have my hopefully soon to be daughter in law, (Y/N)!"

(Y/N) turned and grinned at the Viking chief, her face light and full of joy as she laughed along with the other Vikings watching from the arena stands as Hiccup gave off a slightly sheepish smile. At his smile, Gobber banged his wooden hand on the arena's railing before pointing accusingly at Hiccup and saying, "We see you, Hiccup and we're all waitin' for that question to be answered."

"Moving on," Stoick yelled as Hiccup threw his hands in exasperation. "I hear now begin the first dragon race of the year! Release the sheep!"

Once the horn rang out, all six dragons took off. At first, it was a battle of speed as they all raced straight up before breaking away from each other so they could scower Berk for any of the painted sheep they needed to win this. There were twelve sheep that they needed to find before the black sheep worth ten points would be shot to the sky.

As (Y/N) guided Stardust a bit closer to the huts when she noticed another fury trailing behind her. Looking over her shoulder with a grin, she saw Hiccup flying not too far behind them, the paint from earlier still smeared across his face and lips. "Love that colour on you. Is it maroon?"

"Oh, laugh all you want," Hiccup waved her off as he leaned forward on Toothless's back a bit more, his hands tightening on the saddle as Toothless tried to speed up.

(Y/N)'s head quickly turned back around, copying Hiccup's movements as she leaned down to Stardust's ears. "Come on girl, it's time to disappear."

Stardust let out a soft mew at (Y/N)'s words. Spreading her wings wide, speeding up as much as possible in the time to heat up a plasma blast in her mouth. Without warning her wings shot inwards towards her body as she turned into a nosedive. As the shot rang out, (Y/N) buried herself as close to Stardust's body as possible. As the both of them dived through the blast, the same cloaking that took over Stardust danced across (Y/N) and the few white scales she had woven into her clothes.

"Whoo!" (Y/N) yelled as they vanished without a trace, the only lingering part of them being her voice. It took a while for (Y/N) to spot her first sheep, the fluffy animal trying to hide under the hut of some Viking. But when both her and Stardust's eyes landed on it, they changed paths without a thought and swooped down. Twisting her body so (Y/N) sat upside down on her back, Stardust flew upside down so (Y/N) could hang down and pick the sheep up from where it lay. Pulling the sheep to her chest, Stardust helped to right them up as they burst back into the sky.

To everyone else, it looked like a sheep had somehow been granted the ability to fly but those who truly knew could just see the ripple in the air as (Y/N) and Stardust tore through the air.

Taking a sharp turn, the two of them with their extra passenger dived back towards the training arena, careful to keep out of sight of any other dragon riders. As they swooped in, the crowd cheered as they faded back into view to drop the sheep into the Lightfury's basket. Taking a quick look at the other baskets, (Y/N) could see that Astrid already had two sheep while Hiccup had three, meaning there were only six more sheep to find before the black sheep was released.

Pulling back on Stardust's saddle, the whistle that commonly was handed to the Nightfury rang out, filling the air as she shot away from the arena. The two of them didn't have time to waste as Stardust looked out for any stray sheep while (Y/N) looked for any dragon riders in the air with sheep.

As her eyes landed on Berk's Nightfury, a grin spread across her face. "Stardust, we need to go after Toothless. Make sure he doesn't see us coming."

Stardust shot out another plasma shot, cloaking them as Toothless looked back as the noise echoed. The dragon's eyes narrowed as it searched for Stardust but eventually had to look away when nothing turned up. Hovering above him though was Stardust as (Y/N) began to climb from her back. (Y/N) kept a hand situated on the saddle as she got ready to drop. Her feet touched down on the leathery back of Toothless, a confused yelp escaping him as his head shot back once again. As the feeling began to climb along his back, he tried to hiss out a warning to Hiccup.

"I'll be taking that," (Y/N) yelled as she tore the sheep from Hiccup's hands before launching herself off and over Toothless's head. Toothless gargled as (Y/N) went falling off of him, diving through thin air as she waited for Stardust to catch her. She continued to fall for a few seconds before she saw a floating sheep hurtling towards her in the claws of Stardust as she faded back into existence once more. (Y/N) landed on Stardust's back harshly, her bones rattling as one of her hands unlatched from the sheep to grab onto Stardust as she turned to the arena, a Nightfury on her tail.

"I'm going to need that back, (Y/N)," Hiccup called as he tried to keep up with (Y/N) and her Lightfury. Adjusting his metal foot, Toothless's tail changed directions, giving them a gust of speed. The soft grunts of a Monstrous Nightmare behind him were slightly startling with how close Snotlout and Hookfang were to catch up to them. Stating his thoughts, Hiccup said, "We can't let that happen, bud."

Toothless made his agreement known as he flapped his wings once, shooting away from Snotlout as they grew closer to Stardust. But no matter what they seemed to do, Stardust had an impossible lead on them. So there was no stopping it when Hiccup watched as both sheep were dropped into the Lightfury's basket. Hiccup and her were now tied. Astrid still had two but the twins had been able to score themself a sheep of their own. Nine sheep found, three to go.

(Y/N) and Stardust shot up once more, hoping to make one final round before the black sheep could be found. They didn't bother to vanish again, shooting through the sky as they tried to find more sheep. It was when a commotion could be heard above them. Meatlug had a sheep clutched in her claws while Stormfly and Barf and Belch tried to herd the sheep towards them. Fishlegs was panicking from atop the Gronckle, a perfect opportunity for (Y/N) to steal it.

Barf and Belch slammed into the side of Meatug, making the Gronckke growl as the sheep was dropped from her to retrieve the fallen sheep already gone after it. Stormfly was close to grabbing it within her claws when Stardust shot forward, sweeping the sheep from the air as she spiraleD up. “You’re going to have to be quicker than that if you want to win this!”

"Stormfly fetch!" Astrid yelled and the excited growl that erupted from Stormfly was anything to go by, (Y/N) was going to be in trouble.

"Fly Stardust, fly," (Y/N) screeched as the Deadly Nadder's eyes locked onto the both of them. Stardust's head shook as she shot forward, taking sharp turns to try and lose Stormfly as they were chased down. (Y/N)'s eyes landed on the last two remaining sheep. Patting on Stardust's neck, the Lightfury's eyes also landed on where (Y/N) was looking. "This is going to be a close one."

Dropping down, Stardust got all of her claws ready, planning on holding one sheep in each pair. As they reached the sheep, Stadust's front claws were able to score the first sheep but as she started to lift, her black claws pointing out to latch onto the sheep's fur, something snatched it out from under her. "I think it's only fair that I get this one after what happened earlier."

It was Hiccup. Both Stardust and (Y/N) were left slightly dumbfounded as they followed after the Nightfury. The others had caught onto their catchings and were trailing after them, making a train of dragons and dragon riders. As Hiccup threw his sheep down, followed by (Y/N) and her two, a final horn rang out, signalling the black sheep as the scores rested five to (Y/N), Hiccup at four, Astrid at two and the twins at one. Whoever grabbed this sheep would seal the victory.

"It's just one more sheep, Stardust," (Y/N) whispered to her dragon, the two of them shooting away from the arena along with all the other dragon riders. (Y/N) could hear them also muttering encouragements to their dragons. "We've come far enough to win this all."

As she spoke, she heard the launch of the sheep, the subtle clank of the chains smacking against wood as the black sheep went flying. It was a fight of flames and talons as all eyes locked onto the black sheep. It was a certain Nightfury that was able to shoot forward and steal the sheep into his clutches. That's when the chase broke out again.

Toothless had an advantage with speed, taking a small lead as Stormfly and Stardust were close behind. Both dragons were trying to shoot forward in front of the other, the riders on their back yelling jeers at each other as their dragons did the work. It was only when Stardust was able to push herself forward in a burst of speed that Astrid let out a frustrated yell. "He's right there Stardust. It's now or never."

As her agreement Stardust flew under Toothless, getting close enough that (Y/N) could reach up and snatch the Blacksheep from his claws, earning a snap from the dragon. "Right, let's go."

As they lowered themselves even further, Stardust let out a roar as they flew. The arena could be seen coming up, crowds of Vikings hitting each other and jumping up to see who had the black sheep as they all rode in.

It didn't stop there though. As they began to dip into the arena, Snotlout came hurtling around from the other side of the arena, an axe in hand as he tried to swing it toward (Y/N)'s head. Stardust already acted as (Y/N) yelled, "Dive, dive, dive!"

Nearly falling from Stardust's back because of the lost grip she had, a not-very Viking-sounding squeak as she fought to grip onto Stardust's saddle. Stardust rumbled from below her as she knocked her tail up, bumping (Y/N) further up her saddle as she swung around the arena, weaving in and out from the different dragons as they tried to steal what was theirs.

As the black sheep made contact with the Lightfury's basket, the sheep getting squashed in with the other ones, a ripple broke out through the stadium as the race ended.

"Yes," (Y/N) yelled as she threw both her arms out, Stardust throwing her own call to the wind as they sailed across the arena perimeter, close enough to the stands that some of the Vikings could read out and congratulate her.

"That's my girl," (Y/N) heard the yell from Hiccup as he flew up next to her, the tips of Toothless and Stardust's wings overlapping. "I almost thought I'd be able to win one over you."

"That is where you must have gone wrong," (Y/N) called back before Stardust was steering her to Stoick's seat, the man waiting happily with a grumbling Spitelout not too far away from him. "Have I won you enough gold, Stoick?"

His booming laugh shot around. "You have this time."

"Placing bets again Dad?" Hiccup questioned as he fell from Toothless's saddle, climbing over to (Y/N) where he pulled her from Stardust's saddle and placed a kiss on the side of her head.

"Of course I was Hiccup," Stoick said as he watched the two. "Picked the right dragon as well."

Turning around to face Hiccup, (Y/N) grinned up at him. "You want to go on another race?"

[mimiwrites2000]

Attack On… Podcast!

Archive of Our Own

As the Attack on Titan series comes to an end after ten years, the cast is reunited in hosting a podcast, talking about their times on the set of the filming, their friendships, and all in-between.

And well, shenanigans are inevitable.

Attack on Titan acting AU, as the cast host a podcast, and interview the rest of the cast.

Episode 01

Armin: On that day, mankind received a grim reminder. We lived in fear of the Titans and were disgraced to live in these cages we called walls.

Eren: Wow, you made me travel back so many years, that was so long ago.

Armin: I know… I just love saying it, it's a cool way to start a series–

Eren: Welcome! everyone to the Attack on Titan podcast! Where we share our experiences, stories, and behind the scenes from the set of, Attack on Titan.

Armin: indeed indeed, and we are totally doing this because we want to, not because the production company is forcing us into it–

Eren: Armin–

Armin: and the marketing these days is crazy but here we are! And we are glad to have you around, we don't know how frequent these podcasts would be, but, yeah, anyway, Eren.

Eren: Y-yes? What?

Armin: How are you?

Eren: … you don't know how podcasts work, do you?

Armin: nope.

Eren: Oh Gosh–

Armin: Sooooo for our first segment, we will be reading some of your tweets from Twitter–

Eren: X, it's called X.

Armin: not in my house, so anyway, the first tweet here says, how hard was it to act with all the green screens and dots and all those effects things, while not being able to see any of those effects in real life?

Eren: Good question, I think that, being part of a project for… ten years, you just become part of the set, you know?

Armin: yeah we don't really have to imagine these effects or try to deal with things that we don't see, it's like we are there, it's like we lived those moments, we also had a really great VFX team and artists who gave very clear instructions, and they provided us with draft samples of how these effects would look like, and… well, considering the rumbling, it was quite… not easy.

Eren: you did a great job with that monologue though.

Armin: well, thank you, and do I have to mention it took me over 34 takes?

Eren: oh yeah we got to a point where we were literally reciting his speech with him.

Armin: but they ended up using the first take, which made me proud but equally pissed off.

Eren: they used the first take?

Armin: yup, and yes, you all could've been spared from memorizing that speech.

Eren mocking: get up! You useless piece of shit!

Armin laughing: Oh God.

Eren: you asshole! I-don't-know what other profanities but some sad other hate-speech things!

Armin: oh well…

Eren: no but good job, it was phenomenal, it'll get you many awards. Now for our second question, how much physical exercise do you guys do to stay in shape? I both love and hate this question, because I've never been in such good shape, but at the same time, I don't want to be reminded by all the exercises and diets we used to do…

Armin: yeah, especially you, I mean, I don't have many shirtless scenes soooo…

Eren: Oh you do have one.

Armin: no I don't.

Eren: Oh yes you do! He does! They cut the scene out! 

Armin: hey no! I do not have a shirtless scene!

Eren: yeah sure, pretty sure we'll talk about that scene at one point

Armin: sooooo next question.

Eren: It'll come up, it'll come up.

Armin: so, this question says, favorite drinks? Coffee–

Eren: Rum!

Armin: ok another question, oh this is a good one, so this question says, if you have one thing to change about your characters in the finale, what would you change?

Eren: hmmm, well, for me, personally, I wouldn't change anything about the finale, it was perfect, but, I wouldn't mind more insight into their futures.

Armin: yeah I was going to say the same thing and I think it's because I'm just not over the fact that it's over, we've lived with these characters for over ten years, we can't just let go.

Eren: Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Armin: Well, I mean, it's like, it's weird, you know?

Eren: Yeah I know, but I also would've loved to have more romantic scenes–

Armin: oh there he goes.

Eren: oh come on! Are you complaining about having more romantic scenes? 

Armin: alright yes of course after all that pain and sadness, more romance would've been great, but at the same time, it had the perfect amount of romance.

Eren: You're just saying this because-

Armin: Eren don't–

Eren: –you don't want anyone to question that shirtless scene.

Armin: OK SO, we are done with questions for today, that's it, I don't know how they end podcasts, I don't know what I'm supposed to say here, but I guess follow us to get updates, we will have guests in the following episodes, let us know what you would like to hear, and yes goodnight! 

Eren: Coward! 

Armin: bye bye!

note:

If you saw misspelled words, then no you didn’t

Hope you enjoyed this! This is just a tiny fun thing I’m working on for jokes and laughs while I work on other serious projects

But… anyone wants to record these…? Let me know

[jeysuso]

I usually keep quiet when it comes to my opinion because wrestling fans can be hypersensitive and call you a hater over any opposing opinion you may have. However, I’ve honestly got to say, the way the WWE has booked Cody since his return to the company has been irritating the hell out of me. I didn’t dislike him ever, but him being pushed as Courage the Cowardly Dog is irking me deeply. He’s constantly getting his a** beat by Brock and now we’re supposed to buy into him winning at Summerslam. If anything, it’s more annoying that he looks so weak. It’s almost unbearable at this point. And this is the same man fans are saying needs to “finish the story”.... this is the man people are pushing over the phenomenal, cinematic storytelling the Bloodline has given us over the course of 3 years?...... it kinda makes me sick to my stomach knowing that there’s a possibility this is the man that’s going to end Roman’s reign. Idk But I can agree to your disdain for him..

courage the cowardly dog has sent me to venus 😭😭😭 no but you are right. it's fucking mental, how blatant the pushing actually is. and then what made it ten times worse was kevin patrick had the audacity on raw to call him the "past, present, and the future of the wwe", and the issue is he hasn't done anything. he hasn't achieved anything. he hasn't earned those titles in the slightest, and yet we're all supposed to buy into him being That Guy when the only thing he's been successful at is using other people's gimmicks to get ahead. he did it with his brother's gimmick and it didn't work, he's doing it with his father's legacy and it's still not working. they have nothing else for him so they're constantly trying to push him as this down and out underdog when every week he's coming out in suits that cost more than my rent.

and, you know, fair play to him. if you have the money, dress like you have the money. but i find it so interesting that we've just seen on smackdown bobby lashley talking about style and dressing up when he's about to turn heel with the street profits - the implication being suits = villain. but cody comes out in a three-piece suit every fucking week and we're supposed to buy him as a babyface? come on. it's insane because it's contradictory with everything we know about how the heel/babyface dynamic works, and he isn't an exception. as much as they might want him to be, as much as he might think he deserves to be (and let's be honest, given how much he cries about being compared to homelander, he absolutely thinks he deserves to be known as the exception to the rule) he isn't. he looks like a corporate jackass. he acts like a corporate jackass. and whoever is writing his segments (or, god forbid, if he is coming up with this shit) helps him look like a corporate jackass. there's no planet in the entire fucking solar system where a clear-cut babyface talks about how much money they earn for a company, their momentum, their numbers. it doesn't happen. yet he does. and smugly, too.

he has no story to finish. he had no story to start with. his story is his father's story but the problem is, dusty was a working man. dusty was relatable. dusty was a man of the people. dusty dressed in jeans and wrinkled shirts and admitted that, yeah, sure, he didn't look like your typical wrestler with the glitz and the glam but he had one thing those other wrestlers didn't have, he had heart. and cody has no heart. there's nothing relatable about him from the perspective of the people he wants to look relatable to. i don't look at him and think he knows what it's like to have to go round a grocery store and count the prices up as you're putting things in a cart. i look at him and think he doesn't know struggle. he doesn't know pain. he doesn't know what it's like to wake up and not know where your next meal is coming from, but dusty did. dusty knew. and that's why people loved and clung onto dusty so much, because he was one of us. he was just a guy who had the heart of a lion. cody has the heart of a robot. he's manufactured, he's primped and prepared by the corporation that sits in the shadows behind him and that's it. it's blatant, it's transparent, and it doesn't help that he's outshined by nearly every other superstar on the roster because he has about as much charisma as a wet paper bag, too.

a wiseman once said (literally a wiseman, because i'm talking about paul heyman) that it's a wrestler's responsibility to prove to me, the viewer, why i should care about you. and cody doesn't prove anything. he doesn't even try to. he thinks he's earned the right to respect and adoration by having an injured tit, by being dusty rhodes' son, despite there being countless other superstars who have been through worse and haven't received half as much as he has in return. he's in the company for the money and the status, and he doesn't give a fuck about wrestling in the slightest. he's an entitled cunt.

[implausiblyjosh]

TEW 2020: Let's At Least Run One Show

Last time we booted up TEW 2020, we did all the setup stuff. We defined our player character (Poppy, a real-life pop star), made our company, hired workers, made some title belts, and... that was basically it! (Last post here)

It's now the middle of June 2023. What's the plan for our first show?

Well, one of our bigger "gets" was The Voros Twins (Da Vinky???), which I think tells us one direction we should go in: tag teams.

The Voros Twins are heels (bad guys), and while we do have some faces (good guys) to put in a team (I've put Amazing Red & Samuray del Sol into a team called "Amazing Sol") I think it may be a good idea to look for some tag teams who are available to work for us.

While we wait for people to get hired, let's look at our Storylines. Our product type wants storylines, and I think what I really want is a "Good Guy Group vs. Bad Guy Group" thing going on at the start. We've established that Poppy is an on-screen personality, and we've floated the idea of Shane McMahon as some "outsider CEO type" last time, so let's go with that?

I've got another idea with this, as well. What if we tie in The Voros Twins? So Shane has brought in The Voros Twins (and other heels) to try and take over True Power Wrestling, while Poppy will bring in her good guys (Amazing Sol and other faces) to stop the takeover.

Something we should talk about, while I'm thinking about it, is "Perception". In previous TEW games, you could just tell the game "I think this person is a Main Event level talent" or, crucially, the game could tell you. This would fluctuate, and you can push someone or manually go in and make adjustments, but the game "knew" where to put people for the most part when you're just starting out. This is not how it works in TEW 2020. In this game, it's all about crowd perception, and there's no way for you to flag in-game where you, the owner/booker, think a talent should be.

Take for example Shane McMahon. Let's assume he was actually wrestling for us. Based on his popularity (59 Pop across the US) and his skills, he would probably be a main event talent. In TEW 2016, there's a drop-down I can select and put him there, which will help me with my organization and booking of shows down the line. In TEW 2020, despite the fact that people know who Shane McMahon is (remember, Popularity of 59/100 in the US!), and despite the fact that the in-game news reports on my company and all other wrestling companies, Shane McMahon has yet to get a perception rating.

Now, I get what this is trying to approximate. This system is trying to play out the difference between what the owners/bookers see (ex. Roman Reigns is The Big Star, he's gonna be on TV all the time) and what the fans see (ex. Roman Reigns doesn't have it, they are pushing him too hard and he just kinda sucks, we don't wanna see him on TV). The problem is that they've only allowed one part of that equation any form of categorization. Yes, I can get a notebook out and write out who belongs in what tier, but that's not useful when I'm trying to search through people. Right now it's manageable, we've got maybe 20 people total that we've hired. What happens when you play as a company as big as WWE? How do you go and filter for Main Event talent from your roster of like 50+ wrestlers? Not people the audience sees as a star, people you have labeled a star? You can't. There's no way.

Anyways, this is all to say that apparently my audience will not have a single sense or idea of what kind of talent Shane McMahon is until the day of the show or until I pre-book a segment/match, despite the obvious information in-game to the contrary. So, let's pre-book a match.

But first, let's make a dang event.

Not too much going on here, but this is how we set the specifics of our show. I'm gonna name the event TPW - Power Zone I, it will be 1 hour long, and it will happen on the last Saturday of every month. Tickets will be cheap so we get more people coming out to our shows, and we'll spend a bit of money to get better sets. Also, for now, this will not be put on TV in any capacity. We couldn't even get on public access lol

Now that we have an event, let's pre-book a match!

I've decided the match I want to pre-book will be that tag team match we've been talking about. Even though we're likely to get more people hired on before the show, I really want to have this one match ready to go. So I've selected 2 Vs. 2 from the left, clicked the boxes in the center bottom to add my wrestlers, then clicked on "Road Agent Notes" to explain how the match should go.

This is going to be a 15 minute match between The Voros Twins and Amazing Sol. One of the Amazing Sol guys will win, and the goal of this match should be to further the storyline they're involved in. Click pre-book and... uh-oh, apparently none of these guys can call a match in the ring, according to this game. Okay, change that to "scripted beforehand", and the pre-booking will go through.

Now that I've pre-booked a match, I get to finally see those perceptions! What does our audience think? That The Voros Twins are unimportant. Great.

Now, this isn't that big a deal. I can keep pushing them as main event talent, and if they perform well then the audience will see that. But... sucks that I couldn't have known any of this before this moment! Good thing we're having the twins lose, cause apparently the audience loves Amazing Sol!

With all that done, it's time to finally advance time.

We are finally at the screen that will handle our show! These show screens happen the "night" of the show happening. Now, in this screenshot it says we don't have a backstage incident, and that's cause I took the screenshot late. We did have one incident:

Neat. We have to acknowledge this incident before we actually run the show later, so we'll do that now. We do have "Absent Workers" highlighted, which tells us Shane McMahon is injured so he can't wrestle, Kylie Rae is on maternity leave, and Komander & Aero Star are working with AAA tonight). Guess we may have to find another night to run our shows for the future!

I've added my one match to the show, The Voros Twins vs. Amazing Sol, and I've used the "auto-booker" to generate more matches and angles for me. I really don't know how people view my roster, so I definitely need the help! After a touch of tweaking, here's the match card so far:

From first to last: 1. An Angle w/ Shane and Poppy (I imagine this to be an introduction to the "Shane wants to buy out True Power Wrestling") 2. El Hijo de L.A. Park vs Reyna Isis 3. Allysin Kay vs. Dragon Bane 4. An Angle w/ Big Swole & Frightmare (I imagine this is table setting for their match later on in the card) 5. The Voros Twins vs. Amazing Sol 6. Angle w/ Poppy 7. Frightmare vs. Big Swole

There are some people being left off the card, so I think I'll have them be in a tag match for the post-show. Otherwise, I'm pretty happy with this lineup! I'll click start show once I've made my final changes.

Every time a segment happens, we get this screen that gives us a breakdown of what happened and how it got rated. Here's our opening segment w/ Shane & Poppy, and we can see it got the crowd hotter and it started the show off hot. We'll get this for every single segment, but I won't show every single segment.

So. Our angles are good, but our matches... not so much. The thing that hindered most was that they were unscripted matches, and it doesn't seem like anyone on the roster has the skills to call the match in the ring. I'll need to change our settings to make every match scripted. Big Swole is now our True Power title holder, and Allysin Kay is our Rising Star title holder. Now I gotta make a speech and finish out this day.

I'm going to compliment Shane, Patrick Voros, and Black Taurus. Giving people positive feedback will improve their morale after a few times, which is great! You want your backstage morale high so things don't fall apart socially. Limiting the messups to "i am a bad booker" is much better than "i am a bad booker and everyone hates each other backstage".

And with that, our first show was run! In the news the next morning, there's an "article": True Power Wrestling held TPW - Power Zone I in Mid South, and drew 86 fans. The feedback has been very positive.

Looking at our budget, we lost about $25k and earned around $5k. At this rate, we lose about $20k per show, and it won't get better until we can draw more people in. Since no one even knows about our promotion, we're gonna be in the red for a lonnnng time at this rate. Once we get to 17 Popularity in the Mid South we'll move from "Insignificant" to "Tiny", which will hopefully bring in more viewers. Until then... we keep up this pace as best we can, and try and get popular.

Until then... See ya next time!

[nochi-quinn]

campaign 3 episode 58: brb flying to la to steal matt's shins

I got sick again today but I'M TRYING

they got him!!

"we really should give all our producers a raise"

marisha that top

I believe the trope is magipunk but obvs I haven't seen it yet

HOWEVER magipunk is one of my favorite tropes so I'm hoping

game now called Taliesin's Baby

I hate literally every second of this

"teeth, tentacles and terror" hate that too

mapphew strikes again

"the trees have bones"

"we had a real estate agent but they ghosted us" BOO

"it's a bit much"

"I think you grabbed the one that was too big"

augh the wolf snouts coming out of it

"six :D"

HATE THAT NOISE

matt's noises are also hurting my brain so this tracks

nobody gets freaked out by legendary actions like travis gets freaked out by legendary actions

"BUT THAT'S METAGAMING"

"he's actually half butts"

matt says Make Expensive Choices

why does laura sound like she's on Old Timey Radio

I WARNED YOU ABOUT STAIRS BRO

it's a Wet Monster it should take double from lightning

Chew Again

BIT IT AND QUIT IT

"how many of its butts fell off"

guiding bolt upp the butt(s)

FEARNE

"matthew how DARE you roll a natural 20"

NINE

FRIDA

somebody curse matt's dice

trade matt's dice with laura's

frida pulling every available feat out to throw at the meat tower

Action Surge Sharpshooter Grit Point is the fighter version of Reckless Great Weapon Master

"please gif that"

"aRe YoU uSiNg ThE sAmE dIcE"

"say parmesan if you want me to hit him" "PARMESAN"

"OKLAHOMA SAFE WORD"

a whole lot of rules just got flung around and I zoned out in self-defense

"a weird divacup for this massive period stain"

AUNT FLOW

"does it have eyes" "occasionally" "you can't SAY THAT"

hey I hate it

"a roll I wish I had failed"

gay

"tree trunk of skin" [lenny]

"it's not the holy grail!" "if you read enough dan brown - kinda!"

liam is here in spirit

AND ON SAM'S GAS CAN APPARENTLY

"GIVE HER BANGS"

"no, we just got the art"

oh hate

oh HATE

please run. please leave.

it is going to Eat You

"I rolled a 1 but it comes out to 23"

this is the closest we've gotten to matt breaking out an hourglass in a while

"paper - not being humanoid - because it's a piece of paper - "

"it's nOT A DILDO"

"frida - take this down"

CHRISTIAN

"and then I burn the notes and leave" okay arkhan

"just be a little smarter, okay?"

and then it WORKED

"this gargamel motherfucker stealing smurfs"

"I've never read a book. I'm actually older than books."

not the dot matrix printer

"be careful, link….the yuck moon rises once again…"

"I only saw her from the back but my god was she beautiful"

"abs for days"

COBOSO

"I don't know why wizards would have abs"

"it was very sad, he died, clearly"

irl gifts IRL GIFTS

SHIRTS

"I invented polyester"

and in the COLOR SCHEMES

"it's segmented, sepratated" sasha nein's mindscape

"you're a mess"

don't chase the rabbit!

if there are stars when you look down -

everybody gets presents

"it's a sweatshirt made out of wood"

YOU ARE WHO YOU CHOOSE TO BE

"one more?" "…….ka-put"

EVERYBODY GETS PRESENTS

eabria come get your smut

their collective quest to get travis to turn into a tomato

I can't believe this is canon

they almost have to swap back now right. right? this is such a good place to wrap up. please return the other half of the table.

thank you for not being That Guy matt

;-;

HEY MATT??

YOU'VE SUFFERED A TERRIBLE FATE HAVEN'T YOU

the RED END

did fcg just become a champion?

IS DEANNA BEING MADE A CHAMPION?

gods going through their whole rolodex sending out SOSes

I forgot how much of a dick pelor is

I'm sorry, the ~dawnfather~

wait is the spider queen freaking out at opal? is this a disaster on both sides of the aisle?

where's opal, I wanna talk to opal

imogen is the kid who grew up secular and heard about every different religion from pop culture osmosis

(imogen is me)

it's a Stuff-Doing-Coin

see in scripted media her giving him the ring would be an enormous death flag. it still kind of is because I'm a paranoid panda but still

you have to give travis the inventory it's the rules

SDKJFLKSD

matt

THE RTA

sam sploded

this is tonight's real lore drop

just throw a dart at the map

it does DAMAGE?

"why does he say it like that"

MATTHOLOMEW MERCER

"WHAT'S NEW JERSEY"

liam's not even here to do the accent

"that's more fun" FOR WHO

NO FUCK YOU

LAURA

MATT

I HATE EVERYONE HERE

"I can't tell if she's doing a bit"

BEEN A WHILE SINCE I WANTED TO FIGHT THEM IN THE PARKING LOT AFTER THE SHOW BUT HERE WE ARE

[ultimateplaylistmaker]

I'm just saying there's a lot to work with. Perhaps they believed those with ahoges were psychic (as with the romance subgames after you beat the main games), the shot through the heart segment has you more or less read their mind and say the right thing. Btw, how the aliens figure out Danganronpa 2? The neo world program stuff was all recorded. And since Hajime had an ahoge and was also Izuru, a twist not even the aliens were expecting, they felt that those with ahoges were special individuals.

For how they get humans....we've seen alien movies. "Give us your humans so we can see them run around and kill each other. Otherwise.... we'll blow up the planet." Every so often, aka season, 16 students are chosen to go to the aliens and partake in what they call "Danganronpa". The sacrificed humans would all become Ultimates (if not already) and have their memories erased, as is tradition in every Danganronpa game, you start off not remembering some things, while one student is the Ultimate ???. No memories what do ever. This would be known as...the Ultimate Hunt! Or at least the process of rounding up designated 16 students. The project of sending them into space was called the Gofer Project. Tsumugi just... embellished their memories to make it sound different.

Now, you're probably wondering, why do they specifically have to be Ultimates? Well, if the first two killing games taught them anything, it's that Ultimates are really good at killing each other. This went on for so long and got really twisty that even the humans started enjoying it and wanted more. They knew it was wrong, that they shouldn't be chanting and clamoring for more death. But they couldn't look away. They had gotten an itch that just NEEDED a scratch that only "Danganronpa" could give.

Oh, and the alien faction behind it all, the ones spearheading this entire operation...was "Team Danganronpa".

This is so fucking convoluted but im so fucking enthralled by this universe, and the sheer implications it has, shuichi and his fucking alien ahoge he's going to end up chopping that thing off with garden shears

[sarah-dipitous]

Hellsite Nostalgia Tour 2023 Day 65

Are You There God? It's Me, Dean Winchester/Gridlock

"Are You There God? It's Me, Dean Winchester"

Would I Survive the First Five Minutes??: If what that hunter(?) did didn't work against...ghosts??? What makes you think I'M gonna be able to take it down??

Look. Honestly? Dean's got a HELL of a point here. It's one thing for a church to preach that we all have a mission from god or whatever. It's QUITE ANOTHER to have a LITERAL ANGEL tell you that god has WORK THAT ONLY YOU CAN DO. I'd be freaked out, too, and Sam and Bobby are being really really casual about it

It's really weird that Ruby is now being played by Jared's real life wife. And...like...I just feel like if you didn't want people to ship your stars with supernatural beings you shouldn't have given Sam a flirtationship with Meg and then cast his wife as Ruby?? I dunno...

The script writers are magical. The boys and Bobby go to the house of the hunter from the first five minutes because she's not answering her phone and she wouldn't ignore something like this (allegedly. I don't know. We've never met her before now.) When they get there, Bobby tries calling other hunters for backup and tells the boys that no one else is answering either.

Sam: Somethings up, huh?

Bobby: (sarcastically) Ya think?

You didn't HAVE to make Sam sound absolutely idiotic, but you did it anyway

The hunters have become the hunted...but what is hunting them?

Bobby telling the boys that a couple of other hunters that he visited redecorated...in red, and my first instinct is "oh, do they run a children's hospital?"

Uh oh...The drop in temperature can't be good. I don't believe this is strictly vengeful spirit shit. There's gotta be something BEHIND that.

Who're the creepy The Shining (not really) twins that came after Bobby??

Oh...REAL Meg's here. Oh that poor girl.

So, it is just people they failed to save? There's something about the symbol on Meg's hand...I know that's gonna be important, but what IS it?

I KNEW it wasn't REAL vengeful spirit shit. Someone DID THIS to them. And now we're getting closer to the end game of what was supposed to be the full run of the show...you know, before they tacked on ten. more. seasons.

Sitting in 2023 hearing Dean scoff at gas being $5 a gallon as a sign of the apocalypse is very *stares into the middle distance* (sure, right now it's under $3.50 for me here, but......)

I'm sorry to say this on International Women's Day, but...the actress who currently plays Meg is not a pretty crier. She's got an off-brand Renee Zellweger way of crying that's just not eliciting the emotions it's trying to from me.

I'm not so predictable that I'm gonna comment on whatever the concoction was that Dean threw into the fireplace turned the fire BLUE because I know it had nothing to do with Dean and everything to do with the properties of the concoction plus the incantation Bobby was doing BEFORE Dean had to be the one to throw it....but....I will MENTION it JUST A LITTLE BIT

Dean: I almost got my heart ripped out of my chest!

Cas: But did you die??

I can't help but ALSO contextualize alongside Good Omens. Almost half expect Cas to say that god's plan is ineffable

The softening of Castiel's character is so funny. Because right now, I'm legitimately intimidated by him saying "I dragged you out of Hell. I can throw you back in." But I also know that later he's going to interrogate a cat and call *checks notes* the archangel Michael an assbutt

"Been On My Mind...": No, unless you count Dean's denial that he got "groped by an angel." (We're definitely winding down to the end of this segment, me thinks)

"Gridlock"

The only thing I remember about this episode is there's a scene with kittens crawling all over the Doctor...but then...that might have been strictly a behind the scenes gif I saw. We'll find out!

Oh, Doctor...it was cute to take Rose to New Earth after what your earlier regeneration did to her on their first trip, but taking Martha there...come on.

I know the Face of Boe is an ally to the Doctor, so why...is he sending the cat lady with what I can only assume is a laser gun after him??

Also, fitting (in a "the Doctor treats Martha like a poor replacement for Rose and not her own person" way) that they've been dropped in the lower levels of New New York *rolls eyes* I honestly just get mad at him for his treatment of her.

Yeah, bet you feel like shit now, Doctor...

Look, I'm not saying I'd buy feelings (literally, purchase emotions or statuses), but how is this the vendors' fault? They didn't do anything that got Martha kidnapped. They're simply providing a service

Wait. Wait. Wait. Is the implication that the human woman and the cat man had a litter of straight up kittens two months ago? Someone get me a Punnet Square!

How are married lesbians such a "modern concept" when you ARE A CAT MAN MARRIED TO A HUMAN WOMAN?! He literally called them SISTERS. BRUH.

There's something oddly reminiscent of the early days of covid with this episode, and it didn't hit me til the broadcast started playing a song that everyone on the motorway started singing. Everyone's in little pods sanctioned off from every other being, you never even actually see the people you're closest (physically or emotionally) to unless they're in your very small circle (of literally one or two others), there are superficial shows of being together (with some genuine ones), but there are still enough people who will take advantage of anything and everything they can get their hands on to make their own life easier...and also?? the government is completely failing them. The Doctor questions whether ANYONE has ever seen a police vehicle or ambulance.

Amazing how the Doctor forgot for a second that the cat nun nurses were growing people to hold all of New Earth's diseases...............

Oh fuck. I 1000% forgot that this was an episode about a virus that mutated...well, no fucking wonder the covid parallels stood out...

OH! OHHHHH!!! THE WAY THE ONE LOW KEY ON THE PIANO IS PLAYING IN SUCH WONDERFUL PERFECT 4:4 TIME!!! AS THE FACE OF BOE TELLS THE DOCTOR HE IS NOT ALONE. True, it's not the exact tempo as the sound of drums but FUCK is it delicious anyway

Ugh...THANK YOU, MARTHA. THANK YOU FOR DEMANDING BETTER FOR YOURSELF.

Episodes Since the Doctor's Last Attempted Genocide: 3

[prismanga]

one piece chapter 42! i am emotionally invested! help me!

don't like the taste of a little clownmeat, eh?

so now we're officially out on the sea! and

it looks bad!

hehe. love these guys

ngl thats pretty based usopp. rare usopp w

AIRHORNS AIRHORNS AIRHORNS AIRHORNS

so everyone flops over for a second to relax besides luffy, of course, because he needs to do something silly or he'll immediately die.

KABEWM

ok... i guess that settles that

oh boy, i know what theyre alluding towards! exciting! except

i think we *should* have a musician.

uh... unsure if this is a choice the editors made or if the original japanese did say something to this effect...

side note i have as of the moment because this has been on my mind anyway: i just discovered in the icarly episode where they go to japan, they have two actors play japanese people who, long story short, neither of them speak japanese, and the dialogue they have in the language is not only very clearly generated by 2007's google translate, but rather than use the word "baka" ("idiot") one of the characters calls the other what is basically the japanese version of the r slur, and in fact that episode can't air in japan uncensored for this reason. isn't that some shit?

anyway.

oh fuck dude, tommy braces-and-headgear is gonna absolutely wreck our shit with his very comically oversized and stupidly shaped knife!

he has the kanji for "ocean" covering half of his face... okay, that's a choice

partner?

like...?

like partner partner, or...?

is this one of your buddies from the gay bar on homosexual island?

anyway, headgear mcOceanface explains that his buddy yosaku is sick and so he let him relax on top of a big rock.

you know. the one we just fired at?

didn't you just threaten to kill us? i don't think you actually believe what you're saying, bro.

anyway, time for nami to be the only competent one here.

WOAH, THIS IS SO PIRATECORE

SCURVY!!!

so nami explains how scurvy works, and apparently in-universe this is also regarded as what should be common knowledge to anybody who wants to be a pirate

aaaand yosaku is instantly healed all thanks to some limes, so, we've only got some mild basis in realism here, don't worry. lol

oh my god, dad, put some damn pants on, my friends are over! you're embarrassing meeeeee!!!

shit, just kidding, the realism hit him hard!!

so with that weird little experience, now we have...

...a very clear set goal to... go get sanji. can i just be frank? now we have a reason to go get sanji.

lol

this chapter ends off with a little q&a segment-- i only want to highlight this here

holy shit. acknowledgement of the constant do---n!!

wow, i feel validated!

well that was a goofy but good chapter! the adventure just keeps ramping up!

closing thoughts:

get your vitamin c, kids!

[sleepymarmot]

The Star Beast

The opening narration is so clumsy. At first I thought they just attached a trailer to the episode proper.

I didn't know Rachel Talalay was back!

I caught that melody!

They sure are making a point of calling attention to Rose's gender approximately five times per minute

Ah, the trademark RTD TV segments :D

Nice hologram function on the screwdriver, I think that's new?

Okay, was that really a trailer and not a cold open? Because both Donna and the Doctor are repeating the same things they said in it

Love the way he jumped into the truck and casually sat on something like on a throne

Oh so that's why the script gave Rose this business lol. Making Beep the Meep blend in with the stuffed toys, that's fun.

The Doctor yelling "Let me innnnn" like in the meme

Both Donna's "What the hell?!" and the slap™ are much funnier than they were in the trailers.

"My chosen pronoun is the definite article." Look I know all of this is comedy but "pronoun" and "article" are different parts of speech! This just sounds like when dumb dipshits say "I never use any pronouns" but on the opposite side.

"I am always the Meep." "Oh. I do that." Oh, nice one.

"[sniffs] It breaks both my hearts." Okay, I see, the Meep recognizes the Doctor and is doing this on purpose.

"Not today, thanks" while closing the door looks exactly like the "Thank you for your input" moment from Sherlock that was a popular gif in the superwholock days.

Making durable shields out of thin air is a wild buff for the sonic screwdriver.

Wow they really fucked up this poor house :( First Dan, now Donna. Doctor Who, making plucky funny companions homeless since whenever Flux aired.

Oh cool, he's making "the Oncoming Storm" face. Haven't seen that one in a while!

"Meepkind died rather than surrender. And now, only this one survives." Lmao? Approximately 90% of the information so far we've known for a year or so, but "Beep the Meep is a Doctor parallel" is something I did not expect.

Coming up with some bullshit excuse while a gun is pointed at him, classic.

I like how the possessed UNIT soldiers are still wearing the visors to save a bit on the CGI.

Is the Doctor jumping around without his jacket supposed to be fanservice? It's working for me.

Okay, that's a fun way to force them to work in tandem.

Doctor stop being stupid you know any reasonable person would take this bargain

"[the Doctor behind a pane of glass sobs, screaming] Why does it have to be this?" Oh we're bringing back all the good old hits

How many years since I've heard this theme?

Oh wow that's a cool reveal!

Did they declare the Doctor to be both binary and non-binary in the same line? Also wow I guess this trans girl who, as everyone has been pointedly insisting for the previous 50 minutes, should only ever be referred to as a girl, is more nonbinary than the person who fluidly switches between genders and appearances without any preference.

"We've got all that power, but there is a way to get rid of it. Something a male-presenting Time Lord will never understand. Just let it go." ????? What kind of gender essentialism wrapped in modern language is this?

Yo! New TARDIS! Classic style!

This was fun! When's the next one?

[the-gay-prometheus]

All I'm saying is if victor did make Agape a sister she should be named Storge. It means "familial love". Gotta keep up with the theme.

That is such a beautiful and sweet idea!! I was actually playing around with the idea of him making a second creature and my original idea was to name her 'Eos' as in 'dawn,' but I love that idea too!!!

It's funny you send this ask now though - the next two segments I want to write are A. Finishing the 'What's In A Name?' bit with Ags finally getting his name, and B. Writing a little bit of sad/angst (as a treat) that may or may not include Victor making A Decision(TM) that is very much related to making a second creature 👀 So be on the lookout for those relatively soon-ish.

[natromanxoff]

Queen live at Forest National in Brussels, Belgium - August 24, 1984

Some parts of the Hammer To Fall promo video were filmed during this show - the camera was filming the audience reactions during TYMD, Radio Ga Ga and Hammer To Fall. On the next day 20 fans from the Dutch fan club were invited to come again to the filming of the promo video.

At the gig, the band asked the audience to return the following day for the shoot. However, most likely assuming it was all a joke, the vast majority stayed away; in fact only a dozen fans turned up. Undeterred, the shoot went ahead anyway, with the band's performance that day interspersed with footage shot the previous night.

(x)

This is the first show of The Works tour.

According to the July '89 issue of Record Collector, Queen ran through about 40 songs during rehearsals. This list of songs rehearsed that didn't end up in the setlist comes from someone who worked on the tour:

Great King Rat (longer version), Brighton Rock (full song), I'm In Love With My Car, Sweet Lady, White Man, We Will Rock You (fast), Play The Game, Need Your Loving Tonight, Put Out The Fire, Las Palabras de Amor, Life Is Real (both Freddie solo piano and Freddie/Brian acoustic duet versions)

The keyboardist for this tour (and also the '86 Magic tour) is session musician Spike Edney. He would also lend some vocals to many songs and play rhythm guitar in Hammer To Fall. He and Roger Taylor would form a band called "The Cross" in 1987 which spawned three albums, and he would return to Queen in the 21st century to play on the tours with Paul Rodgers and Adam Lambert.

Spike was recruited in a very informal way by a Queen associate. He went to Munich for their first rehearsal in early August, wound up partying for most of the first night, and missed the first day's rehearsal. It later transpired that everyone else had. He recalls, "The next day, we all managed to get to it eventually, to the first rehearsal, and all the gear was set up. The stage was huge, and I thought "Oh well, here we go then" and we got to the first song , and what I'd forgotten was that they hadn't actually played together for two years. So they said, OK, let's try one of the new songs, I think it was Radio Ga Ga, and we started playing it, and course, I knew it, I'd been studying it for weeks. You know, 1,2,3,4 and we start and we get about a minute into the song and the whole thing collapses. And they all look at each other, you know, very sheepishly, and they say, "Anyone know how it goes?" and I say "well, actually, I know. I know how it goes" and they said "Ah". And so I started showing them the chords and everything and Fred looked at me and said "You don't know the words, do you?" and "Well, yeah I do actually" so then they all came round the piano and we spent the whole day just going through songs, and I thought, "I'm gonna be all right here, this'll be OK"!"

The show started very late, as the band were still doing soundcheck when they were supposed to go on. Apparently over the previous week there were few occasions when all four band members actually showed up for rehearsal. Many songs (likely those listed above) never made the setlist, and soundcheck was an extensive cramming session, particularly for the older material that they hadn't played in years.

Roger Taylor later reflected that this European tour was one of his favourites, and many fans cite the early Works setlist as their favourite ever played by the band. Three medleys are now played, two of which have revived many old songs: Killer Queen, Seven Seas Of Rhye, Keep Yourself Alive, Liar, Stone Cold Crazy and Great King Rat. Staying Power from Hot Space returns to the set, as does Sheer Heart Attack from News Of The World. Only half of Staying Power is played, and it runs into Dragon Attack, followed by an improvisation running into a more compact version of Now I'm Here compared to previous tours.

Many people who attended shows on this tour recall Queen having a very heavy sound, especially on songs like Liar and Stone Cold Crazy. By 1984 they had gained a reputation as being one of the best live rock acts in the business.

Six songs from The Works are performed each night, and the introduction tape is from the album track "Machines". After the heavy G chords are heard on the tape twice, the band walk on stage in the darkness to play the chords the third time, which leads into the brand new "Tear It Up". This is yet another effective opening to a Queen show, something they would perfect time and time again.

I Want To Break Free is performed each night in 1984-85 as the first encore, with Freddie coming on stage sporting a pair of huge plastic breasts under a pink shirt. Part way through the song, he would remove the breasts and twirl them around for a while before finally throwing them into the audience. Some souvenir! As a result of this gag, Another One Bites The Dust has been moved from the encore to be earlier in the set.

This tour showcases an incredible lighting rig and an overall setup mimics the movie Metropolis, from which scenes were used for the promo video of Radio Ga Ga last year. The huge wheels behind the stage (modelled after the ones on The Works album cover) rotate at mostly random times - usually because they are turned manually by various crew members such as Roger's tech Chris "Crystal" Taylor whenever they have a free moment (Freddie Mercury's assistant Peter Freestone told the tale in 2021):

“Yeah, I mean Rio was… amazing. The feeling from that crowd… you know, something like 350,000 people. Oh, you can’t beat that. And when you’re flying in a helicopter over that crowd, it was stunning. But the thing is, I know this sounds really, really stupid but [laughs]… one thing I will always, always remember from that tour was, remember, in the back of the stage you had these wheels that turned every now and then, not constantly but just every now and then. That was because there was… the guy looking after Roger’s drums and me who actually turned those wheels. And there was no set cue or anything that, “Oh, it has to start on this bar, on this song.” No, it was when he wasn’t doing anything and I wasn’t doing anything, we’d say “Ok, let’s go and do it.” And we turned the wheels for a couple of minutes and then left them alone. He had then to do something for Roger and I would just sit there like I always did. And then you’d go back and you’d turn the wheels, like a hamster. We were like hamsters…”

However, a crew member who worked on the tour recalls otherwise: "I do know local crew members were used on the UK shows and certainly (a number of) European gigs. The other thing is that Radio Ga Ga had a set piece with the cogs and lighting, using low ambient lighting and strobes to emphasise mechanical motion of the cogs during the instrumental break. Would Roger Taylor be happy with no one covering him/his kit during a show? Possibly Peter Freestone is remembering production rehearsals when any spare bodies might have been asked to operate the cogs?"

During vocal improvisations on this tour, Freddie would often include bits of "Foolin' Around" and "Living On My Own" from his pending first solo album, which he had been working on during this period.

Freddie now plays a Telecaster for Crazy Little Thing Called Love. It would remain like this through the Magic tour.

The band no longer bring a gong with them on the road. Roger now does a cymbal roll at the end of Bohemian Rhapsody.

A fan recalls hearing the band running through Tear It Up whilst queuing up to enter the venue.

Freddie's voice is in superb shape for this show, but it will quickly weaken as the tour progresses. As incredible as Freddie Mercury was, he certainly did not take care of his voice at times, especially in the mid-80s. After a couple years of heavy smoking, Freddie's voice now sounds a lot deeper and raspier overall.

Before It's A Hard Life, Freddie says, "I think tonight we're gonna do songs from just about every album that we've ever made. You heard some very early stuff from the first album. Right now I think we're gonna do something very new, and we'll see what you think of it."

Freddie does a vocal exchange with the audience before Staying Power, singing "Get Down Make Love" and "Gimme Some Lovin" a few times. The band would improvise bits of the latter a couple times in 1986.

This is the only show on the entire Works tour where Roger plays regular acoustic drums on Another One Bites The Dust (before which Freddie teases the audience with a bit of Mustapha). For the rest of the tour, he'd play electronic drums. He'd also integrate the electronic drum kit into a few other songs, like at the beginning of Hammer To Fall, where one might argue that his sounds don't appropriately complement the guitar to create the intense, heavy sound.

The band sound very tight on this opening night of the tour, with the only exception being the rough transition from Stone Cold Crazy to Great King Rat. The keyboard and guitar solos are integrated together for the first few shows of the tour, during which Brian plays a few bits from Machines. Spike Edney uses his vocoder (a Roland VP-330) for the "machines" and "back to humans" lines heard throughout the tour during this spot (he would use his vocoder for the "radio" lines in Radio Ga Ga as well). After this segment, Brian then gets a few minutes to play on his own as usual.

Parts of the promo video for Hammer To Fall were filmed during this show. Claims from some (even official) sources state that Freddie invited the audience back for (what would actually be "additional") filming the following day aren't true. Here is all that Freddie had to say before the song: "This next song we're gonna use in our next video. So everybody just go mad and maybe later you'll see one of you guys inside the video one day. Oh, just go crazy, take your clothes off. It's called Hammer To Fall." After the song, he simply says, "Good night, you guys!" as that was the last song of the set.

Here is a fan's recollection: "On the night of the gig, there was a camera mounted on an arm that would swing over the front rows of the audience during a few songs. These audience shots were taken during Tie Your Mother Down, Radio Ga Ga, and Hammer To Fall itself. I guess they also had a camera up in the box at the back of the hall [as there are a few shots of both the audience and the band]. I don't remember any cameras onstage during the gig - just the one mounted on the arm."

The Dutch fan club invited only about twenty of its members to attend the video shoot the next day. They were instructed by a roadie to sit quietly on a chair and not to move or approach the band members. After a few hours, Brian came over and had a chat with them, checking to see if they were enjoying themselves and if they were hungry. He then promptly ordered them some take-out!

A minute of Tie Your Mother Down from this show was later broadcast on the Belgian TV station "RTBF" (x) (x). An audience-shot video allegedly exists as well, containing five songs.

After years of speculation, the existence of more footage from this show was proven when bits of it were included in the promo video for Let Me In Your Heart Again in 2014. About 30 seconds of Somebody To Love (largely crowd shots) were seen. There is, however, no accompanying audio. (x)

The first photo is from the autumn 1984 Queen fan club magazine. Brian is seen with a watchful eye over the proceedings. Tour manager Gerry Stickells and his wife are also in the shot.

Pics 2 through 6 were submitted by Alessio Rizzitelli, and the seventh pic was taken by Dave Matkin.

(x)

[sushishorts]

magic hour highlights!!!

i am gonna try to put the highlights under the cut; i survived the live with the kind people who were translating as they go

anyway, all of these are non-verbatim. onwards!

first segment is basically an interview by the mc; normal questions that we've heard before really

second segment is question from the fans!

key questions were what if kurosawa was the one with magic? and machi answered that kurosawa might use his power to solve adachi's problems HAHA

another one was after five years, if they had the opportunity to work together again, what would they want to work on?

sonnu was like "ACTION! WHERE MACHI IS THE BOSS! AND THEN HE SHOOTS ME THEN I DIE" (me: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA)

third segment is called photo stories, where they share the backstory of the various behind the scene photos posted in the official account

one is this — basically they were waiting in between shots and machi doesnt even know that their picture was being taken?

another is the delulu date one with the champagne, posted here

ANOTHER is this

and sonnu mentions that the cherimaho pose is from one of the staff from the costume department (or sth, i don't remember the specifics); he and machi did a quick demo. it was adorable.

they also discussed this

where they mentioned that as much as they were relieved to be able to shoot properly during the pandemic, there was an overall sense of sadness that the production was over from both the cast and staff :'(

also MC asked what's their fave flowers: machi likes narcissus bc it grows in gunma apparently, and sonnu likes tulips bc he's from class tulip in kindergarten. aka that pinned tweet of his in twitter pfft

ANYWAY

fourth segment is MAGIC MOMENT RANKING, where sonnu and machi rank their top 3 fave cherimaho moments

sonnu 3rd: the kurosawa poetry scene

when asked what part he liked, sonnu just said that he likes the entirety of it HAHA. he was also excited to see it air, which made machi feel pressured to do his best for it HAHA

sonnu also said that he memorized the lines of the poem pfft

machi 3rd: when adachi stayed over

when the scene was airing, sonnu was laughing hard in the bg when kurosawa licked his chopsticks (apparently he never knew that machi did that when they were shooting so he only knew when it aired) tmachi also mentioned the gap between adachi at kurosawa's house and adachi at work, and machi was excited bc sonnu's expressions looked so cute

sonnu 2nd: rooftop kiss

they mentioned again the bottle thing that took 20 takes HAHA sonnu mentioned being surprised that the end of ep 3 aka this scene didn't have BGM; machi mentioned that during the scene, sonnu wasn't even looking at machi at all; sonnu said that he was looking at a building behind machi bc he was embarrassed

machi 2nd: confession scenes

yes, scenes: both kurosawa's and adachi's; he really liked that line adachi said about having the magic to touch kurosawa's heart

sonnu 1st: scarf scene

sonnu mentions that this is basically the scene where adachi's heart opens, and it's the beginning of it all, so that's why it's his fave

machi 1st: adachi mannerisms compilation aka

mc: what's your favorite scene of all machi: yes

sonnu demonstrates the face slap live after having a lil sip of water. which is cute as HECK

NEXT SEGMENT IS CAN YOU READ MY MIND portion, aka they try to guess what the other prefers more; this has a prize at the end and loser gets a punishment game

i can't remember all questions (i'm sure it's around in twitter) but:

COFFEE vs TEA - sonnu & machi prefers tea YAKINIKU vs SHABU-SHABU - both prefer yakiniku NIGHT vs DAY - if i'm not mistaken, sonnu likes night and machi likes day? OUTDOOR vs INDOOR - sonnu likes outdoor, machi likes indoor COOKING vs EATING - they both like eating, as far as i remember?; sonnu answered cooking for machi and machi was like "that's such a kurosawa thing" MONOCHROME vs COLORFUL - they're both wrong; they answered colorful but both prefer monochromatic SUMMER vs WINTER - they both like winter, but sonnu answered summer for machi bc of how sports-inclined machi is MOUNTAIN vs BEACH - they both like the mountains CAT vs DOG - they're both cat people! ONIGIRI vs RAMEN - they both like ramen! they also like tonkotsu ramen

ok forgive me i forgot the rest

anyway MACHI WON and he got blue muay thai shorts; sonnu's punishment is pressing on those electric shock gag pens. there's videos of this on twitter (I KNOW IT'S NOT ALLOWED) but the funniest part is how he managed to actually. convince machi to do it too even tho he won. SONNU GREMLIN

last segment is — SURPRISE HAPPY BIRTHDAY SONNU GREETING

they had machi give sonnu the bouquet; sonnu is surprised bc he mentioned it wasnt in the script and he was nervous for a bit haha! while MC is translating his thanks, off-mic he leans over to machi and asks if he knew, machi just nods and smiles

ANYWAY that's pretty much it?? they mentioned their upcoming shows, said that they'll see us again on the bluray event, and thanked everyone for attending, yadda

nope, no season 2 news so far. i know, i know. also i couldnt resist squeezing event pics here and there i am so sorry

ANWYAY god this is long. excuse the typos i am sleepy as hell. CANT WAIT FOR THE BLURAY EVENT!

bye

[jimmygibbsjrrr]

I have a lot of thoughts about the Slaters

namely, I've been wonderin why the Fairfield Survivors got thrown off the boat in Death Toll

in this panel of The Sacrifice comic, Francis confirms the fates of three of the rescue vehicles:

Image ID:

A panel from The Sacrifice: Part 1. Francis is sat in the rescue vehicle from Blood Harvest, speaking to Louis. His dialogue is as follows:

"Louis, I hate to be the one to break this to ya, but we been heading to the safe zone four times now. Helicopter: crashed. Plane: crashed. Boat: kicked us out and left us to die."

/end ID

the chopper from No Mercy was confirmed crashed in Crash Course, and as for the plane from Dead Air, it was pretty easy to guess (and would have been confirmed in the cut campaign Dam It).

but the part about the boat? that's the Slaters' boat from Death Toll. this is the first time we learn this information.

so...why? what happened?

(more under the cut, ended up writing wayyyy more than I expected over these past few days and don't wanna clog people's dashes lol)

so. let's take a quick dive into the last chapter of Death Toll, to see what we can discern about the Slaters from their dialogue.

the rescue vehicle in Death Toll is a civilian boat, Saint Lidia II, owned by John and Amanda Slater, a married couple. Amanda is never heard in-game, but John's reactions to her can be heard over the radio.

the Slaters are explicitly looking for "anyone out there with firearms". John later adds that "once you get on this boat? Your job is keeping our asses alive". it appears that their motivation for saving the Survivors is selfish from the get-go.

this is undoubtedly true in Amanda's case, however, some of John's lines betray a more selfless attitude. he will berate Amanda for not "think[ing] about the little guy". he will ask, "So what, then? We leave 'em to die? I can't do that, Amanda." whilst Amanda is thinking purely of their own survival, John still feels compassionate towards his fellow survivors. despite this, he says that "I don't want our first act of kindness to be our last", acknowledging the conflict between his compassion and his self-preservation.

so. these are the Survivor's saviours in Death Toll. a conflicted married couple looking for bodyguards, offering to take the Survivors upriver to a military safe zone in exchange for protection.

as for why they get thrown off the boat...well, the easiest explanation would be Amanda.

but, stay with me here, because I think it's a little more complicated than that.

this boat? fulla tension. there's the obvious tension between the Slaters, who we've established seem to fight and disagree regularly. then there's the inevitable tension between them and the Survivors. I reckon Louis, with his generally positive and friendly attitude, wouldn't have much of a problem with them, might even attempt some friendly conversation or something. however, he's about the only one.

the comic fully establishes Bill as caring about nobody except the Fairfield Survivors - the most obvious evidence of this being the words he lives and dies by, "we look after our own". he isn't particularly interested in other people, unless they can help the group out. and he'd likely recognise the unstable and conditional nature of their rescue. while I'm sure he'd try and keep the peace, in any reasonable disagreement or fight Bill's likely to take his friends' side, and if anyone's getting thrown off the boat Bill is going with them. this goes for the whole group, to be honest; I don't think they'd want to split up at this point.

Francis hates boats, hates water, and can't swim, so (and I'm getting a little speculate-y here) would probably be in an even sourer mood than usual on the journey. being as abrasive as he is, plus this additional stress, it's fully possible he could piss off the Slaters enough to get himself (or all of them) thrown off the boat.

as for Zoey? well, I don't imagine a married couple who constantly argues is gonna sit well with her, considering her backstory. similarly to Francis, the situation they're in would make her far more stressed, making it more likely for her to lash out.

Amanda didn't want to save the Survivors in the first place, so while I think that John wouldn't throw them off the boat without reason, I reckon she could persuade him to throw them off if they 'caused trouble' - and they would get into an argument with her far easier than they would with John.

in short: yeah, I can see them getting thrown off the boat by the Slaters after some huge fight or disagreement. I think that's a reasonable interpretation of canon, and definitely an interesting concept.

...however, I do wonder if this tension would really be enough to destabilise their mutual need, after everything they went through to come together.

which is why I'm going to bring up The Last Stand!

I gotta quickly address something before this segment: yeah, I'm totally aware this campaign isn't canon. this evidence works with the fact that it exists in an 'alternate timeline'. also, I am missing a few citations for this section - if anyone can provide them I'd really appreciate it, but just a disclaimer that I currently can't prove some of the things the wiki claims members of the Last Stand Community Update Team have said. here and here are the wiki pages where I got this information. in short - the above explanation is simpler and more canon compliant, the conclusion I draw at the end of this post is backed by shakier evidence but I believe is more interesting, and you can make of all that what you will.

allegedly, members of the Last Stand Community Update Team confirmed a strongly-suspected fan theory about The Last Stand: that it branches off from Death Toll in some way, in a non-canon alternative timeline. as well as this, they allegedly confirmed that in this alternative timeline, the Survivors still end up in Newburg for Dead Air. even without the confirmation, this remains a solid fan theory, due to the constant references to Riverside and re-use of many of Death Toll's assets.

who rescues the Survivors in The Last Stand? John Slater. no Amanda - just John. despite her lack of voice actress, if she was still present John would give some indication of this at some point. it can be speculated that whatever happened to her contributed to the lack of rescue at the boathouse that forced the Survivors to take an alternative route. either way, he ends up at the lighthouse when the Survivors call for rescue, alone, and picks them up.

and then later...throws them off the boat. into Newburg.

what reason would John have to do that? without Amanda, surely he wouldn't have that push, as he wanted to rescue the Survivors for multiple reasons in the first place. without his constant arguments with Amanda, Zoey wouldn't be nearly as stressed. and between the three of them I'm sure the other Fairfield Survivors would stop Francis from pissing John off enough to get them thrown off the boat. in short, less Amanda = less tension, and no reason for the Survivors getting chucked off the boat.

...right?

I'd like to remind you that a symptom of the Infection is paranoia.

what if, in both The Last Stand and Death Toll, John and Amanda are infected by the Survivors on the way to the military safe zone? after all, the virus is confirmed to occasionally be airborne, and I doubt two civilians have completely effective, sustained protection against that. likely the only reason they hadn't already been Infected is because they got out on the water early on in the pandemic, and hadn't come into contact with anyone else since. it's unlikely that one of them is immune, and even more unlikely that they're both immune (especially considering those with XX chromosomes may be genetically less likely to be carriers). wouldn't Francis have mentioned it if their rescuers turned or were obviously Infected? yes, but it's possible that the airborne strain works slower as well, meaning that the Survivors are thrown off of the boat after the symptoms kick in but before the Slaters fully turn. even Church Guy had at least an hour from being Infected to turning, and he was bitten. Newburg isn't too far from where the Survivors are rescued in Death Toll anyway (the burning city in the background of the finale is Newburg), so the Survivors clearly didn't last long on the boat anyway. as a result, the Survivors wouldn't realise it was the Infection intensifying the Slaters' paranoia - they'd just think the Slaters were being dicks. Francis also explicitly mentions that they were "left to die", implying negativity or even hostility from the Slaters as the Survivors were being thrown off.

so yeah. that's why I think they got thrown off of the boat in Death Toll - a combination of the intense tension between the two parties, and the Slaters falling victim to Infection-induced paranoia. but an explanation minus the Infection is equally as plausible. it all depends on what you find most interesting, I suppose, and both feel like they fit pretty well into the world.

lord this is a long chunk o text. I know most fandoms prefer art and fanfic over this sorta thing, so please let me know in replies or something if you're interested in more stuff like this. also if any of this makes sense because I like to ramble.

oh and if you'd like to use any of my interpretations in fanworks like art or fic, I'd love to see it :)

[masketeersgame]

Hello!

I really like your game, the concept, the lore, the visuals... Everything is just MWAH❤

But not the character's stories, sadly. The only good one, in my opinion, is Titan's, but others made me very confused and now I have a lot of questions.

In Kein's case... Why did he got all the blame if he wasn't the one who made that mistake? He's been working pretty long in the company, so his boss must've known very good, that he is a very valuable employee, they just shouldn't have had ANY reason to make him so stressed! Why didn't they fire the person who did this, instead of obviously innocent Kein?

Pixie... Why didn't anyone call 911? The orphanage was too far away from the city? Then why didn't Pixie herself call anyone for help? It's hard to believe that the fire was so strong that it destroyed whole building in such little time that no one was able to leave. And didn't anyone else around notice, like, HUGE smoke?

Koro's story actually pretty nice, though I would've change some detail — maybe someone would stop when they saw Koro asking for help, but they wouldn't believe her story because they assumed she was just some beggar.

And Hawk... Well, this one made me so confused that I had to read his story again. Very, very weird one. If his family was so rich and powerful, why did his mother go to look for him? Didn't they have any servants to do this? At least gardener, since Hawk was chilling in the garden. And the whole bird segment... WHAT WAS THAT??? Why would his mother want him to KILL that bird? Wasn't it waste of time too? She could've just made him leave it to die, that's much easier than, um, traumatizing your kid for life. His family just elite, not some assassins, there's absolutely no reason for her to act this way, at least if she's not mentally ill.

In my opinion, a better twist would be if Hawk would unintentionally overheard how bad his parents treat their servants, and this injustice and realisation that he's unable to prevent such things from happening would make him run away. But that's just what I think.

I didn't get to see other masketeers yet, so I can't tell anything about their stories.

I hope I didn't make you sad with all of this, it certainly wasn't my intention, I just wanted to ask these questions about characters.

I wish you luck with your game, hope it'll get more popular ❤

Hi friend, thank you so much for the kind encouragement and for sharing your thoughts about our stories! We appreciate your feedback and love that you've thought so deeply about the Masketeers.

While we've already conveyed everything we want to say about the Masketeers in the existing backstories and game content, please do feel free to continue exploring these characters and stories according to your own interpretation and ideas. We recommend that you join our Facebook Group, Discord, or Reddit through the community tab in-game to discuss the Masketeers' backstories with other players like you!

[dherzogblog]

The Birth of The Daily Show: 25 Years of Fake News and Moments of Zen

It was July of 1995 and I had left MTV to become President of Comedy Central. It was the basic cable equivalent of going from the NY Yankees to an expansion team. I was on the job just two weeks when I received a call from Brillstein Grey the high powered managers of Bill Maher, host of one of the networks few original programs, "Politically Incorrect". We were informed Bill and his show would leave the network when his contract expired in 12 months. It was a done deal. Bill wanted to take his show to the "big leagues" at ABC where he would follow Night Line. Comedy Central was left jilted. Terrible news for a network still trying to establish itself. We had a year to figure out how to replace him and the clock was ticking. So began the path to The Daily Show.

It was very much a fledgling Comedy Central I joined, available in barely 35 million homes, desperately seeking an identity and an audience. It was just over three years old, born into a shot gun wedding that joined two struggling and competing comedy networks, HBO’s Comedy Channel and Viacom’s HA!, Watching them both stumble out of the gate, the cable operators forced them to merge, telling them: "We only need one comedy channel, you guys figure it out”. After some contentious negotiations the new channel was born and the red headed step child of MTV and HBO set out to find the pop culture zeitgeist its parents had already expertly navigated. The network had yet to define itself. The programming consisted mainly of old stand up specials from the likes of Gallagher (never underestimate the appeal of a man smashing watermelons), a hodgepodge of licensed movies (“The God’s Must be Crazy and The Cheech and Chong trilogy were mainstays) and Benny Hill reruns. The networks biggest hit by far was the UK import “Absolutely Fabulous”, better know as “AbFab”. Comedy Central boasted a handful of original shows, including the wonderfully sublime "SquiggleVision" of “Dr. Katz”, the sketch comedy "Exit 57" (starring the then unknown Amy Sedaris and Stephen Colbert) and of course Maher’s "Politically Incorrect". In retrospect I don’t think Bill got enough credit for pioneering the idea of political comedy on mainstream TV. Back then he was the only one doing it.

Politically Incorrect performed just fine, but got more critical attention than ratings. It was a panel show, and I had something a bit different in mind to replace it. I knew we needed a flagship, a network home base, something akin to ESPN's Sports Center where viewers could go at the end of a the day for our comedic take on everything that happened in the last 24 hours….."a daily show". I had broad idea for it in my head. I would describe it as part "Weekend Update", part Howard Stern, with a dash of "The Today Show" on drugs complete with a bare boned format to keep costs low so we could actually afford to produce it. We could open with the headlines covering the day's events (our version of a monologue), followed by a guest segment (we wouldn't need to write jokes...only questions!), and finish with a taped piece. Simple, right? We just needed someone to help flesh out our vision.

Comedy Central was a a second tier cable channel then and considered a bit of a joke (no pun intended). It had minuscule ratings, no heat and even less money to spend. Producers were not lining up to work with there. Eileen Katz ran programming for the channel and the two of us began pitching this idea to every producer who would listen. One of the first people we approached was Madeleine Smithberg, an ex Letterman producer and had overseen "The Jon Stewart Show" for us at MTV. We thought she was perfect for the role. “You can’t do this, you can’t afford this, you don't have the stomach for this, it will never work ” Madeliene said when we met with her. We could not convince her to take the gig. Ok then....we moved on. The problem was we heard that same refrain from everybody. No one wanted the job. So after weeks being turned down by literally EVERYONE, I said to Eileen: “We have to go back to Madeleine and convince her to do this with us"!

Part our pitch to her was we would go directly to series. There would be no pilot. The show was guaranteed to go on air. We had decided this show was our to be our destiny and we had to figure it out come hell or high water. As a 24 hour comedy channel, if we couldn't figure out a way to be funny and fresh every day...what good were we? We told Madeliene we were committed to putting the show on the air and keeping it there till we got it right (for at least a year anyway). That, plus some gentle arm twisting got her to sign on. Shortly after that, Lizz Winstead did too.

Madleiene and Lizz very quickly landed on their inspired notion of developing the show and format as a news parody. It brought an immediate focus and a point of view to the process . All of the sudden things started to take shape and coming to life. Great ideas started flowing fast and furious while an amazing collection of funny and talented began to come on board. Madeliene and Lizz were off to the races. Now all we needed was a host.

The prime time version of ESPN's Sports Center was hosted by Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann back then and it was must see cable TV. But I had recently started to notice another guy hosting the show's late night edition. He was funny, with a snarky delivery reminiscent of Dennis Miller. His name was Craig Kilborn. On the phone with CAA agent Jeff Jacobs one day, I asked if he knew happened to know who repped him? “I do" he said. "We just signed him”. Within days he was in my office along with Madeleine, Lizz, and Eileen who were all a bit skeptical about the tall blond guy with the frat boy vibes sitting across from them. After opening the meeting with a few off color comments that would probably get him cancelled today (an early warning sign fo sure), Craig ultimately won them over and we had our host.

FUN FAC#1: Minutes after the news of Craig's hiring went public, Keith Olberman's agent called me directly to ask why we hadn't considered hiring him?

Ok, we had a host and producers...but what to call it? After sifting through dozens of ideas for a title, Madeleine called me one day and said, "I think we should just call it what we've been calling it all along...."The Daily Show". As we approached our launch date we taped practice shows and took them out to focus groups to get real life feedback. The groups hated it.... I mean with a red hot hate. They hated Craig, the format, the jokes, everything. We were crushed and dejectedly looked around at the room at one another. "Now what?" “Either they’re wrong, or we are". I said I think they are...but it doesn’t matter, we're doing this!" We never looked back.

The show took off quickly garnering some quick buzz and attention, we felt like we had crashed the party. Well, sort of. We had no shortage of fun, growing pains and drama along the way. The Daily Show version 1.0 was about to unravel. In a December 1997 magazine interview Craig made some truly offensive and inappropriate remarks about Lizz and female members of the staff. Whether it was poor attempt at humor or just plain misogynist (or both) is beyond the point. It was all wrong, very wrong. Craig was suspended for a week without pay. Lizz left the show. In the moment I chose to protect the show and its talent more so than Lizz. That was wrong too. It's more than cringe worthy looking back now, and I regret not making some better decisions then. My loyalty to our host was later "rewarded" when in the Spring of 1998 Kilborn's team, a la Bill Maher, unceremoniously informed us he had signed a deal to follow Letterman on CBS when his contract expired at the end of the year. No discussion, a done deal. Comedy Central jilted again. Like Maher, Kilborn wanted his shot at the network big leagues and we had a little over six months to figure out how to replace him. We all know how that chapter ended. That search would eventually reunite us with Jon Stewart who along with The Daily Show took Comedy Central and basic cable to the "the big leagues" on their own terms, redefining late night comedy in the process The rest, as they say, is "Fake News" history.

Fun Fact #2: before approaching Jon (who I did not originally think would be interested) I initially offered the job to a chunkier, largely unknown Jimmy Kimmel, fresh off his co hosting duties on "Win Ben Stein's Money" ...only to have him turn us down.

My fascination with late night began as a kid. I remember how exciting it was to stay up to sneak a peek at the Carson monologue and watch him do spit takes with his chummy Hollywood guests. Later on I also loved the heady adult conversation Dick Cavett would have with everyone from Sly Stone to Groucho Marx. But it was the comedic revolution of Saturday night Live in 1975, followed by Letterman's game changing show in 1981 that truly established late night as the coolest place on the television landscape. I could only dream of one day being part of it.

25 years on, I couldn’t be more proud of The Daily Show and its legacy. Those days helping build it alongside Madeleine, Lizz, Eileen and the team were among the most satisfying (and fun) experiences I have ever had. It was thrilling to take a shot at the late night landscape and try and make our mark, especially when no one thought we could.

I am prouder still of what Trevor Noah and his staff have achieved since they took the hand off from Jon, evolving and growing the show through a new voice and lens. I think my personal "Moment Of Zen" will last as long as Trevor remains behind the desk, allowing me to selfishly boast of having hired every host this award winning and culture defining franchise has ever had.

25 years later. it remains as relevant as ever, a bona fide late night institution, standing shoulder to shoulder with all the great shows that inspired us to start.