#I based this off of Song 2 by Blur for obvious reasons

[sunny-daysss]

What do you mean I’m not drawing him from the waist up at a 3/4 angle facing to the left

[boysplanetrecaps]

The Great Produce 48 Rewatch: Ep 2, Grade Reassignment Part 1

Hey, National Producer! You look great today -- have you been resting a lot and watching some good content? Anyway, when we left off with this earth-shattering earth-changing earth-touching project, we had finished watching the 94 trainees preparing for their grade evaluation. Now it's time for the actual evaluation and grade reassignment! Let's get to it!

The next portion of the show is a little irritating. First, MNET shows some of the girls recording their performances. Then they show the girls making tearful phone calls home. Then they show some of the judges watching some of the performances. Then they show some of the girls finding out their grades, while trying not to react too much so we can’t tell what their grade was. Then the girls begin walking to their new classrooms, often while blurred out so we can’t tell who is walking until multiple reactions have been shown. It’s typical MNET editing, delaying just simplifying telling you for no real reason. I mean, if they’re going to show a fully blurry body walking down a hallway, they might as well just show a blank screen, you know? Like just with a sign that says “be right back, just wasting your time”. 

I asked an AI image generator to make me that picture, and this is what it came up with:

Thanks, AI-image-generator. Thraymygrator. 

Anyway, given all the back-and-forth, I’m not going to recap bit by bit. I’m going to recap person by person, and give you the info on who went to which class as we go along -- during the recording segment, during the phone calls home segment, or during the "judges watch the video segment." If someone gets totally skipped over, I’ll just tell you all the rest at the end. I hope it’ll make sense as I go.

The first person we see record is Shiroma Miru, who I think of as Miru-chan. 

After the first chorus, she just sort of stops dancing. The choreography -- and I think the lyrics -- have absolutely left her brain. At least she keeps smiling. She really is the cutest. Miru-chan is one of those rare cutey pies who gives me insight into why someone would vote for someone who isn’t that skilled. I still wouldn’t actually vote for her, because I vote based on merit, but I can’t help but keep cheering for her success. (I try to not use the term “root” as in “I root for her” because apparently that means something quite different in Australian slang.) Unfortunately, the judges aren’t on the same page; later on, they move her down to D class. Well, she’ll look pretty in green, right? 

Wang Ke, who is Chinese but signed to a Korean label (she does her interviews in Korean), also forgets everything. She’s the one who had the red polka dots in the Celeb Five audition. She’s only 17, for starters, and it has to be so hard to learn the songs in both Korean and Japanese when she isn’t a native speaker of either language. Like Miru, she later gets moved down to D class.

Hong Yeji, one of the CNC school girls who auditioned with Kep1er’s Dayeon, forgets everything, begins to panic, and actually falls down. I want to jump through the screen and hug her. It’s obvious that she failed the test, and later on we find out that she did indeed get moved down to F class. Afterward, her classmates stroke her head and try to comfort her, but there isn’t much anyone can really say. She interviews later -- wearing a small scarf around her neck, maybe to protect her throat for singing purposes? -- that she didn’t want to look like she didn’t practice hard. My diagnosis: she might have practiced too hard, or she might have not practiced the right way. 

Cue: An Yujin.

Our future IVE queen knew that you have to practice the way you’re going to be tested. So she practiced recording herself, so that she would get out some of her nervousness ahead of time. (I wonder if they all had access to a camera…? Hmm…) She had some trouble the first time she tried it, suddenly forgetting all her moves, so it helped her practice more effectively. Her performance is pretty good -- her singing is quite pitchy but her dancing is correct and fun to watch. The judges later move her up to A class. 

Lovies, learn from Yujin! If you are going to be evaluated on camera, practice on camera. (And by extension: if you are going to have to write an in-class essay for your test, practice writing essays at home! If you are going to be timed while you’re tested, time yourself in practice! If you’re going to have to deliver a speech to your class, see if a friend will listen to you practice it through once. Whatever way you’re going to be tested, try to spend at least some of your practice time doing that thing. ) 

Son Eunchae’s audition is going great. The future-former Bugaboo member auditioned with Humble/Aing, and we saw her and her teammate joking a lot on the first day. Her singing is clear and on key, and her dancing looks great to me. The show teases us -- will she hit that high note on the line “ ‘cause you’re my star”? Dance Bae had told her that as long as she can sing, she’ll go up to A-class. She *sort of* hits the note, though she lets the strain show in her face more than she should. After she sits down, her classmate Kim Sohee from Woolim -- future Rocket Punch member who auditioned with Kwon Eunbi -- voice overs sympathetically that Eunchae made a lot of mistakes. Did she? I didn’t think so, but I guess the judges found something to nitpick too. She gets moved up, but only to B. Still, good work, Eunchae! 

Lee Chaejeong, future Alice, who auditioned with Roller Coaster, can’t hit that high note (though the rest of her singing sounded good, even if she was out of breath). The judges decide to keep her in C-class. 

Park Chanju, who auditioned with Chaejeong, also can’t hit the note, and just whispers the whole line instead. It must be hard to sing a note that high while jumping up and down. The judges move her down to D class.

Left to right: Huh Yujin, Park Seo Young, and Park Ji Eun

We get a little mini montage of three girls who can’t hit the notes. For all three girls, we really can’t hear any of their singing, so it’s hard to know if they’re doing ok, but all three seem tired and nervous and a little embarrassed. 

On the left is future Le Sserafim Huh Yujin, getting her nanosecond of attention here. I wish we could see more of the audition and figure out what’s so wrong with it, because the judges move her all the way down to F!  

In the middle is Number-One-Chair girl Park Seo Young. She gets moved down to class D. 

On the right, that’s Park Ji Eun, future-ex-Purple Kiss, who auditioned in a red stripe sweater with the song Pretty U. Later on, we see the judges watching a clip of her audition and she’s basically just sort of standing there as if hoping to remember the steps. 

The judges are like, “get yourself together, girl!” We find out later still that she gets moved down to F. 

Next, we check in with D-class.

Up first is sweet-faced Motomura Aoi, who auditioned in that Never Ending Ferris Wheel group, the one I thought looked like a little puppy. She isn’t perfectly on key, but she’s close, and she’s dancing with a smile on her face. Aww, and the judges later reward her by moving her up to B! 

We see Imada Mina, really throwing herself into it! She’s the tall one from that Never Ending Ferris Wheel group, the one with no bangs. Later on, we find out that she get moved up to C-class, so good work, Mina! 

Nakano Ikumi is going for it too. She’s the one who had apparently won “best dancer” in an AKB based vote and who Dance Bae tore to shreds. It’s nice to see her really dancing! Later on, we see that the judges all smile watching her performance. Cheetah says, simply, “I like her.”  As we find out later, she gets moved up to B class. Great work, Ikumi! 

Very Pretty Girl Kim Minju interviews that she’s jealous of the way the Japanese girls “make their faces so bright while they dance”.  That is definitely a strength of theirs. Kim Minju must also have displayed some strengths, because the judges move her up to group C. We don’t see even a nanosecond of her evaluation, though. Congrats, though! I always thought she wasn’t nearly as hopeless as Hyewon.

Han Chowon, future Lightsum, also likes the Japanese trainees’ energy. We don’t see any of her audition either, but it must have gone well because she is later moved up to B-class. I think that’s richly deserved -- I think they were way too harsh on her for her audition.

Next, we check in with the F girls.

Chiba Erii goes first. 

She starts off ok, but after the first few lines, she just forgets everything -- lyrics and steps. She voice-overs that her mind just went blank. The judges decide to keep her in F class. 

The same thing happens to Matsuoka Natsumi, the one with the distinctive face from the Never Ending Ferris Wheel group -- she seems to go blank. But she must have done some good stuff with the rest of her evaluation that they don’t show here, because she actually gets moved up to C class! That’s fantastic, Natsumi!

Here’s Mogi Shinobu, our living meme girl from the fashion-challenged What’s Your Name group. Oh no! She looks and sounds like she’s about to cry. She doesn’t seem to forget everything, though, and she’s not that far off key. Still love her. A little later, in an an interview, we hear a staff member asking her -- IN KOREAN? -- whether she thinks her grade can go up. (Why are they talking to her in Korean? Maybe there was a translator right there and they edited that out?) She can’t even answer. She just shakes her head no, while her face contorts into all different shapes as she tries not to burst into tears before she finally answers, in Japanese, that she doesn’t think so. Shinobu, your singing wasn’t that terrible, really, judged by the standards of this competition. 

The judges, as it turns out, agree with me. As we see later, they like the way she --and other Japanese trainees, don’t stop dancing.  We later on find out that she’s been moved up to D, which probably actually made her feel a little bit proud. I hope it did. 

Here’s Shinozaki Ayana, also from the fashion-challenged What’s Your Name group. She forgets everything and sort of gives up, shaking her head. By the way, I noticed she has a small birthmark right under her lip, on the left side, that will help us recognize her in the future. And when we see her, she’ll still be wearing that gray shirt, because the judges keep her in F class. 

Many of the F-class girls just burst into tears when they’re done with their recording, wondering why they did so badly when they practiced so hard. I repeat my comments from above -- they probably didn’t sleep enough and they probably didn’t practice the way they were going to be evaluated. I wonder if they took turns dancing alone in front of each other? That would probably have helped. When you dance in a group, you are all constantly subtly reminding each other of the choreo and lyrics. And when you dance alone, you can mess up and start over as many times as you want.

Bibian goes last in her segment. She seems to almost be crying even before she starts, and she does in fact forget most or all of the steps. She hold back her tears and keeps moving around. Later, in an interview, she shows signs of long sustained crying as she says “I realized I’m not really that talented. I’ll have to work harder to catch up.” The judges seem to agree with her -- they keep her in F class. 

Meanwhile in A-class, the girls are just as tense. 

They know they’re just trying to hold on to their high grade -- there’s nowhere to go but down.

Even Lee Chae Yeon, future soloist, is nervous (right), while friendly Choi Yena, who auditioned with the Everglow girls, is trying to soothe herself (left). We don’t see Chaeyeon’s audition yet. We find out that she’s hoping to the be in the center, which reminds us that the girls are not experiencing what we, the viewers, are experiencing. Like, to us it’s obvious the center will be Sakura, but Chaeyeon doesn’t know that. 

From what we can see, Gaeun does great. Later on in the episode, we get to see a bit more of her audition video, and really, it looks almost perfect. She introduces herself confidently, and the judges are excited to watch her perform. She sounds a little shaky on the high notes, but Jeremy says that the song is just too high for her and that she still can sing well stably. She will keep her A status. 

Na Goeun, future Purple Kiss, also does pretty well from what we can see. The stuff we don’t see must also be good, because even though Soyou scolded her a lot in class, they will keep her in A-class.  

Little Lee Haeun, the “mini-Chungha,” does great. Despite a little bobble on one note, overall her vocals are pretty fantastic, even on that high note. Later on, we get to see the judges watching her video. Dance Bae says, “She’s small but she’s good.” Naturally, she keeps her A-status. 

Kim Da Hye from Banana Culture seems to struggle specifically with the Japanese version.  Later on, we see her as part of a montage of girls who failed to learn the lyrics in Japanese. The judges move her down to C-class.

Kim Cho Yeon, the “fire-eyes” girl, also struggles. It really shows on her face, too. When she’s done, she sits down, miserable, hoping against hope she can keep her place. Later on, we see a bit more of her audition, including when she forgets the words and dance steps and begins adjusting her hair instead. The judges all say “aigo” with a bit of sympathy, like they’re cheering for her, but they move her down to C. 

Hwang Soyeon, the little Sunmi girl of the flat tummy, struggles as well, though she seems to be confident with the dance, and she tries to sing the words that she knows that are in English. When she sits down, she struggles to fight back tears, wondering what’s happening to her and all her classmates. YOU GUYS DIDN’T SLEEP, IS WHAT HAPPENED! She thinks she might lose her place. However, I, in the future can assure you that the judges will keep her in A-class. The parts of the video that we didn’t see must have been a lot better than what we did see.

Choi Yena’s face is a study in misery as she starts. You can tell that the lyrics have completely left her brain. It wouldn’t be so bad if she smiled and hummed or something, but she just sort of miserably dances in silence. For all we know, at some point she starts singing, but that’s not what we see. The evaluation isn’t perfect, but it isn’t a complete failure either; the judges move her down, but only one grade, to B-class. 

Kwon Eunbi also dances in silence, though she tries to put on a braver face.  (I couldn’t get a decent shot of her dancing, so I used this one since at least you can see her face clearly.) We later on see the judges watching her audition, and it does seem that she doesn’t sing a single word of Japanese. The judges are relatively kind and just move her down to C. 

And I can't fit any more pictures in this post, so I won't include a shot of Sakura, but I think by now you know what she looks like! From what we see, she does pretty great in her evaluation performance. Her voice isn’t perfect, but in the parts we see here, she’s a lot better than some of the other Japanese girls. In the clips we see, she seems to know the lyrics in both languages, and she seems to know the dance and to perform it well. During the judges’ evaluation, we can see that she introduced herself in Korean. The judges are complimentary, though in this clip we can hear that her singing is a little… I don’t know, reedy. Thin. Pitchy. The judges like how she looks right at the camera, though. She keeps her A status. 

And that's all we see for now of the video re-evalutions! In the next post, we'll see the girls phone calls home as well as some of the judges opinions of the girls' performances. Thanks as always for reading and see you soon!

[ziamhaze]

My Future in Fic

Yeah, so, the 100k fic that I’ve been working on for the past six months?  The one that was going to be uploaded to AO3 last week?  Yeah, it’s accidentally getting published...

Where do I start?

I suppose with a massive thank you to anyone who’s clicked on any of my fics over these past two years.  I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again.  I never ever thought about writing as a career.  I’ve never written anything prior to my Harry Potter AU Compartment 451.  I didn’t even take an English class in undergrad or grad school.  I genuinely just had an idea for a fic I wanted to read and since no one had written it, I had to do so myself.  Since then, I’ve written every single day for 2 years.  I left my job in the entertainment industry, got accepted to one of the best creative writing programs in the world on a scholarship, and now one of my stories is being considered at Harper Collins.  Yes, the Harper Collins.  It’s the longest shot in the world, but for legal reasons I was not allowed to upload the fic version on any website prior to submission.  Even if they don’t pick it up, I’ve been advised to continue to shop it around to agents.

What I can do, however, is share the premise.

If you’ve been following my tumblr and watching my tags - I SEE YOU ALL OUT THERE - then you’ll know that this fic was meant to have Zayn with his signature undercut hairstyle and one more little thing...

Someone sent me an ask a while back about what this fic was supposed to be about.  I believe I said something about it being an adaptation fic, but not from a film/tv show/other piece of literature, from a song.  This next fic was meant to be an adaptation of the song Younger by Ruel.  Later on, it also took shape with the help of Remember by Liam and a few others that you can find here.

The miniature summary is as follows:

When his father suddenly passes, twenty-nine-year-old Liam Payne is brought back to the Sydney suburbs where he grew up.  He doesn’t plan on seeing his childhood best friend, Zayn Malik, at the burial service.  They haven’t spoken since going from brothers to strangers one fateful day fifteen years prior.  But Zayn puts an end to this when he approaches Liam after the burial, offering his condolences and asking if Liam can help his archaeological research team with photographing their newest project.  The unexpected closeness forces each man to wade through uneasy emotions.  For Liam, a mixture of grief, lost identity, and confusion over why he’s willing to interact with the one person he swore he’d never forgive.  And for Zayn, a tidal wave of anxiety that comes from finally facing a part of himself he’s always chosen to deny.  When We Were Younger is a story heavily rooted in blurred identities and exploring what loss can look like in two different scenarios: death and friendship.

For obvious reasons, their names will be changed.  Liam, to Hutton.  Zayn, to Cairo (his ethnicity will also be changed to Egyptian).  As you can see, it was meant to be my big ‘enemies to lovers’ fic.  Technically, it’s ‘best friends to enemies to lovers’, but you know.

Right, so what does this mean for me going forward?

I still have so much inspiration when it comes to writing Zayn and Liam as characters.  I don’t plan on putting a complete stop to writing them, but with my career taking this large of a turn, I do have to prioritise my time.  That said, as of now, I can’t afford to write long-form fic any longer.

Soon, I’ll be starting a PhD program where I’ll be writing another full-length novel for mass publication.  For fun, here’s a little insight on the two ideas that I’ll be pitching:

1.  Underground boxer (loosely based off Liam) falls in love with arms gang leader (loosely based off Zayn).  Throughout their love story, the latter has to outrun the psychological trauma his father (the leader of Zayn’s rival gang) still throws his way. 

2.  Cold War AU.  Paris, circa 1950/51.  Ambassador’s son (loosely based off Liam) befriends new student (loosely based off Zayn) at the international school.  Paris is a ticking time bomb; war is about to break out at literally any second.  The two clearly have feelings for each other, but can’t act on them because homosexuality in the 1950s...yikes.  When war does break out, the two are separated, and as Liam’s character goes out to find Zayn’s, he learns a secret of his that changes everything.

Whichever I don’t write for the PhD will be the novel I write following it.

In the meantime, I’m going to continue to write (and edit) like crazy.  Ever since I randomly wrote C451, there hasn't been a day that’s gone by where I haven't written something.  It may have only been a paragraph or two, but never zero.  This is how you get better.  This is the equivalent of going out and shooting free throws for 30 minutes a day.  You have to put in the work in order to get better.  I'm very lucky that I'm incredibly self-disciplined and I've been able to crank out as many stories as I have over the past 2 years.

That said, I’ll be writing shorter little oneshots.  I have several ideas that I’ve been sitting on, but haven’t ever thought to write because I HATE writing short stories.  Little ideas that don't have huge plotline/climax potential, but that I want to just see on paper, I'll probably end up writing.  If I had to guess, I'd say they'll come out to around 10-15k.  Also, sequels?  Prequels?  Haha, you never know...

I’ve also got a series called “Sleep Drabbles” that are, yes, you guessed it, a series of drabbles based around one theme: sleep.  I also have a few scenes that I want to write which are based on ziam’s kids, not actually ziam themselves.  If there’s enough demand for that, I can upload those too, but they’re quite niche, so I don’t think the general fandom would be very interested.

As far as frequency for all of this, I have no idea.  I’ve always done things at my own pace and written stories that I want to write, for myself.  That won’t ever change, so I don’t want to commit to one drabble a week or one short-length fic per month.  It takes me weeks (months for this last fic) to research and interview the necessary people to get character arcs correct/believable.  I love that part of writing, and so if I have a little story that I want to write that may only be 10k but takes me ages to put together how I want, then so be it.  I will always be around to answer asks/messages and please, continue to tag me in your writing tag posts!  But please, no prompts.

So, that’s my future with fic.

Again, I cannot say thank you enough to every single one of you.  Every single thing that people tag me in (@malik-payne , @zqua1d , @zentiment , @liamisthesun , @redyellowberry I’m looking at you), I appreciate and love!  The recommendation lists that people have put me on, THANK YOU!  It’s wild to think that I used to look to rec lists for years and now I’m on them.  @ziamfanfiction THANK YOU for always having my back with exposure!  @paynefulperiods , my beloved beta reader, THANK YOU for always encouraging me and putting up with shit first drafts.  @march-z5 , THANK YOU for always being on call for ideas and listening to me bang my head against the wall at 4 am.

Now, might fuck around and make a fake picspam for the fic that never was...

Also, all of the behind scenes pages for each of my fics are now public, so feel free to check those out here.

I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for making this journey possible. I know people say that a lot when they gain a following of any sort, but I truly truly mean it.  You have to have talent in order to be an author, but you also have to have people who want to read your stuff.  Proof of concept is a real thing.

So thank you a million times over.

Speak soon my friends.

[yumgrapejuice]

Okay so I did a whole analysis on Ranboo’s lore music so now it’s time to use that for an actual analysis/interpretation!

There are a few themes in the playlist and I’ll go over the ones that I found one by one. I’ll also mention the songs that correspond to each theme.

(quick disclaimer,,, I’m honestly just having fun here theorizing about whatever lol, I’m hyperfocusing aight, nothing what I talk about can turn out to be valid and I’d just go !!!! new theory time !:D, so it’s just that lmao)

/dsmp /rp

1. Blurring lines between dreams/nightmares and reality. The songs are “Introduction to the Snow”, “Dream Sweet in Sea Major”, “The Mind Electric”, “Stranded Lullaby”. I think this theme is the most straightforward and easy to interpret. c!Ranboo has been dealing with feelings of derealization for a long while and these songs allude to that. I don’t think I need to really get into this one that much given how obvious it is lol. Ranboo at times is having issues telling what’s real and what’s not. The fight with his mind is especially highlighted by the song “The Mind Electric” where he is, quite literally, losing hold on sanity. His “ill” mind is causing him to commit things he wouldn’t want to.

2. The need to belong, be liked, have someone close. The songs are “Ruler of Everything”, “The Bidding”, “Hidden In The Sand”. The theme of isolation also fits here, highlighted by Miracle Musical’s tracks. Ranboo is one of the only characters on the servers that is mostly generally liked. He hasn’t yet got many any enemies or anything of the like, really. It’s often joked that Ranboo has no spine, and that’s a big reason why he hasn’t yet gotten in someone’s bad books. It’s very easy to get him to do whatever you want, pull him to a side. If he protests, it’s only vocal and meek, and soon enough, he gives in. He doesn’t want anyone to dislike him and that can also play into why he has such a hard time to say “no” to anyone. 

But it’s all... very surface level. People don’t mind Ranboo, they might enjoy his company, but that’s about it. It’s unfulfilling, it can’t be satisfying. Based on his speeches about people, not sides, we can assume he does value connections a lot. However, instead of trying to form more strong bonds, Ranboo had started isolating himself, choosing to stay away (perhaps in fear of being pulled into a side). His own anxieties is what’s keeping him like this. The longing is still there, though. Now the situation is better with Tubbo, but that brings its own peculiarities. Ranboo’s ready to join a side, the Syndicate, to protect Tubbo, the one he’s most attached to, going against his morals. Sometimes, it’s impossible to choose people without choosing a side.

3. The divide between good and bad, a mindset of black and white. The songs for this would be “Turn the Lights Off”, “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked”, “&”. As we saw from one of Ranboo’s latest streams (the one where he found out Tommy’s alive) and his other ones, Ranboo has a very black and white mindset. He has incredibly strong morals but they are also very skewed. I talked more about that in this post but in short, in Ranboo’s pov, there are the bad guys and then there is the rest. Ranboo seems... almost incapable of looking from a perspective that’s not his own or isn’t closely linked. He’s right in his own mind and that’s all that matters. The idea is that everyone has their own reasons for their actions and, if you looked closer, you could begin to understand them, but Ranboo is looking only through his own lens, is paranoid about making mistakes, and thus can get very harsh sometimes. Since the world isn’t black and white, though, and it’s never just their side or our, he often contradicts himself and goes against his morals.

4. A twisted sense of ego-centrism. My favorite and the one that’s most up to interpretation, I’d say. The songs would be “Killer Queen”, “I Can’t Decide”, “A Mask of My Own Face”, “I’m Gonna Win”. I’d say this one is least related to c!Ranboo as we see on stream, which leaves us with something else... That’s right, enderwalk Ranboo :D! I’d like to preface again that this is purely my own interpretation!! I like to do those a lot lol. But anyway—

A certain idea unites these songs, and it’s the idea of doing whatever you want for your own pleasure. Having no breaks. What’s most entertaining today? Oh, let me indulge in that. They’re also all about things that are actively malicious/frowned upon. Whatever you want to do without any regards to morals. And that got me thinking.

Let me talk about the idea of id, ego and superego. For those unfamiliar with these concepts, id refers to a person’s most primal instincts, their aggressive urges and hidden memories, superego is one’s moral conscience, and ego is the reality, the mediator between id’s desires and superego. The idea is that id operates on pleasures and the need to satisfy them immediately. It’s illogical, irrational, unconscious. Superego is the opposite, sort of—it’s a person’s moral system that dictates what is wrong and what is right, how one should behave. Ego controls both. So, I got thinking, maybe e!Ranboo is just... c!Ranboo’s literal manifestation of his id?

It’d make sense, I think! It’s still Ranboo, just “wild”, as he himself said. Uncontrolled. He has no regards for his image and indulges in his whims. Maybe it’s also part self-preservation. c!Ranboo is divided, he has barely any control of his life, people can make him do whatever they want whenever. And that must be frustrating. Maybe not consciously, but definitely subconsciously. That sort of frustrating of not being able to do what you want and always needing to listen to others could very well manifest as something like a whole different state where he does what he wants, maybe even purely for the hell of it. And to compensate for his id going out of control, he—his ego—might favor his superego, the morality part, more to compensate. That could make him harsher, too. More categorical. Causing a further divide.

And that’s about it for now, I guess. Yeah, this playlist really did... make me think lol.

(yes i am once again creating another theory for why e!ranboo could act the way that he does that doesn’t include manipulation idk sue me, i’ll die on this hill)

[tooruluv]

Tooru Oikawa x F!Reader ( part 2 )

❝ my love for him is much like winter, a skeleton for the world to see. too bad he never liked the cold. ❞

description: being the neighbor and lifelong best friend of tooru oikawa definitely had it’s perks. you were never an outcast, always had a seat at lunch, got into volleyball games for free. the problem was, however, that being in love with him outweighed those perks. you would never tell him that, though, even if it hurt like hell.

genre: best friends to lovers, angst, unrequited love, fluff if you squint hard enough

word count: 2,029

warnings/notes: the “party scene” so mentions of alcohol, underage drinking, weed, getting high, and some mentions of sex, mentions of throwing up, strong language (per usual), lots of angst, i based a lot of the experience on american high school simply because it’s easier for me to write

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Now, the exact day you fell in love with your best friend didn’t exist. There was no specific day, no specific realization, no “I had a dream about him”, no sudden “I see him in a different light”. It was a messy timeline of a million things, a mixture of waiting and wanting compiled together into what you determined to be love.

“How long have you been in love with him, anyway?” Iwaizumi asked you one evening.

It was after volleyball practice, and the two of you were sitting on your bedroom floor. He was leaning his back against your bed, one leg bent at the knee, his practice jersey still on, moonlight dancing off of his skin.

You would be lying if you denied his attractiveness (Like, c’mon, have you seen him? Seriously, there must be something in the volleyball water.. anyway..). You just never viewed him as anything other than a friend, a good one.

You were laying beside him, legs propped up on your bed and your head on the floor.

“I don’t know.” you told him honestly.

It was at that exact moment that you realized something else: you never openly admitted your love for Tooru Oikawa. Not once had the words slipped past your lips, to yourself or to someone else. The longest secret kept, in your opinion.

“I guess it all kind of mixes together, in the end.” you explained, deciding that the ceiling is the most interesting thing to look at. “Do you remember, when we were kids, and we were playing outside? And I brought that tub thing of peanuts?”

“Yeah, I remember that.”

“And ‘Kawa called me stupid for bringing it because it wasn’t…”

“It wasn’t peanut butter and why have peanuts when they weren’t spreadable?” Iwaizumi finished with a small laugh.

“Yeah. I think that was one moment that I was like “oh”. He even threw them at me.”

The two of you sat in silence for what felt like half an hour. It was a comfortable silence, one of processed memories and fondness.

“He does still call you nut.” Iwaizumi spoke into silence. You smiled.

“I should beat your ass! You scared the shit out of me!”

You were walking out of class when hands clasped around your sides. Your immediate reaction was one of both terror and putting your guard up, which ended up with you jumping and going to punch whoever just attacked. Luckily, it happened to be the tall, brown-haired volleyball captain.

“You’re cute.” he walked with you.

“What do you want from me, ‘Kawa?” you asked, pausing in the hallway in front of your next class.

“What could you possibly mean? I can’t just scare the shit out of my best friend?”

This fucker.

“You can scare me until I pee.” You crossed your arms, looking into his eyes. He always seemed to stand too close to you. “But you never call me cute unless you need something from me.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about. You are very cute. The cutest.”

You squinted up at him, trying to see through his lies. He smirked.

“Soooo… there is something I want to ask you. Completely irrelevant from me calling you cute. That would have nothing to do with this request. Have I mentioned that you look good in the uniform? It really…”

“You’re a dork. Ask.”

“Do you still talk to that one guy from across town? The guy you buy alc from?”

“You want me to buy alcohol for the party.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement. He pursed his lips. “Yes, I can get it. Now get to class before you’re late.”

Oikawa smiled, eyes squinting and tongue between his teeth. “You’re the best!” he exclaimed as he picked you up in a hug. 

You watched as he jogged down the hall.

You knew your way around. It was a gift you had: the ability to just talk up anyone and find a way to get what you’re looking for. You knew people all over Japan, to be honest, that could help you in basically any way. It had been that way since you were younger.

The first time you ever bought alcohol is when you were thirteen. And it wasn’t even for drinking. You and your friends (when you had a million friends and not two) wanted to play spin the bottle and figured it would look cooler if you were to use an actual “drink”. You gave it to your mom as a gift after.

Since then, you had bought drinks for various things. Parties, get togethers. It was only when Oikawa’s older brother wasn’t able to get it for you guys, of course.

This was one of those times.

There was this little shop a little ways away (in Torono, to be specific) that never ever ID’d anyone. You would always go there to buy since you found it at thirteen, to the point that you and the owner were on first name bases. Sometimes you would have actual conversations, if he was in the mood. Sometimes you barely spoke, but he would still bag the bottles for you.

His eyes only lifted from what he was reading for a moment to catch yours as you entered the Sakanoshita Store. You were already by the alcohol.

“You’re still not of age, kid.” he spoke through the cigarette.

“You’re still smoking.” you joked. You placed like ten bottles on the counter. “I thought you were going to try and stop. Health and all.”

“I know you’re not talking to me about health, you little alcoholic.” he sat up, running a hand up his hair to fix his headband. “Just give me the money before someone comes in.”

The exchange was fast, per usual, and you were leaving with a black bag of fun. “Thank you, my darling Keishin!”

“Get out of my store. Don’t die.”

And he was back to reading, cigarette still hanging from his lip.

The volleyball tournament ended the exact way Oikawa thought it would: wins. So, that meant that the party was already in full swing before the sun was down. You were moving between crowds, cup in hand.

It was not a secret that you were Oikawa’s, and (by association) the rest of the volleyball team’s, best friend. You sat with them at lunch, you interacted in the hallways, you let some of the boys copy your homework. It was quite obvious. That was the main reason so many people approached you. Their main goal was popularity through the most popular and successful sports team at the school. You didn’t mind.

It was when the girls would come up to you asking you to put in a good word for them to Oikawa that you had to put on a fake smile and say “yeah!” or “of course, I’ll give him your number!”. They never made it past your memory.

“What do you think?” The man of the hour asked from his position beside you. You were watching the party from the kitchen, the already drunk laughs and conversations blurred into a single volume. “How much cleaning do you think we’ll have to endure?”

“Ah, definitely hours.” You took a sip from your cup. You offered him your cup, knowing whatever’s in his cup is nonalcoholic. “You might as well live a little. Take a guzzle, you earned it.”

“You know I don’t drink.”

“But you’ll get high.”

“That I will do.” He took a sip of his cup. Maybe he put his drink in a red solo cup to look like he’s drinking, or maybe he just did it because it was better than drinking out of an actual juice box. You didn’t bother him with it. “Speaking of getting so high I forget everything around me, I gotta find Hanamaki.”

“Have fun!”

“Without you? Unlikely.” he joked. Your stomach turned.

You didn’t know if it was because of the alcohol or the love.

“Technically, you’ve kissed Oikawa.” Iwaizumi told you as you both sat in the corner. You were both definitely tipsy, but not quite drunk yet.

You scoffed. “What are you talking about?”

Tooru Oikawa has kissed you, sure, but never once had it been on the lips. He had left kisses on your forehead, cheeks, temple, top of your head. Even one time on your hand. But never lip to lip. And Iwaizumi bringing it up out of nowhere made your cheeks heat up. You blamed whatever was in your cup.

“We played spin the bottle before. I kissed both Oikawa and you. And by contact, your lips were also on his.”

“You are a shitstain in my underwear, Iwa.”

“Ah yes, that was the most ladylike sentence I’ve ever heard come out of your mouth.”

“Dance with me!” you pulled Oikawa with you to the dance floor. It was freshman year, and both of your families were invited to a wedding. It was some woman your moms were friends with, you don’t remember.

But he agreed, and let you drag him along as you danced. The songs were fun and fast, and a majority of the reception guests were dancing their hearts away on the floor.

“You’re really beautiful, you know that?” he told you that day, in the midst of the summer sun.

That was one of those moments. Those blurred moments you wished you could record to memory as the beginning of your love for him.

“You’re not too bad yourself.” You told him, but your mind screamed you’re beautiful too.

The night was something between a blur and random scenes mashed together. Several drinks later (why did the vodka taste like water?) and hits from multiple joints, you were staring in tunnel vision.

You remember a snippet here, a minute there. You danced with Iwa for a bit, before he went to do something. You hung out with some people on the couches for a bit, and there was definitely a lot of laughing. You remember laughing.

What were you doing again?

Oh yeah, you were trying to find Oikawa. You didn’t know what exactly you wanted so desperately to tell him. You figured your drunken mind would find out what you wanted when you found him.

Scanning the crowds, you couldn’t find the boy. The house wasn’t that huge, he had to be somewhere. Come to think of it, you hadn’t seen him at all since he went to get high with some of the boys.

Finally catching a glimpse of him, you smiled to yourself. You were going to do it. Maybe today, maybe at some trashy party Oikawa threw, would be the day you would tell him you were in love with him. Maybe not. You didn’t really know. You just knew that you missed him and needed, desperately, to talk to him. Hear his voice.

Maybe you were pretty drunk, mind drifting away.

And he just happened to be your anchor.

Everything was moving around you. In slow motion or way too fast, you couldn’t really tell. That was, until everything froze at once.

Oikawa was standing in the far corner of the party, with someone else. He had his tongue down her throat, lips chasing hers in some passionate dance you only wished you knew what felt like.

You only stood there as he groped her, and her hands in his hair. You didn’t recognize her at all. But he was unmistakable. Even with his hair sweaty and in front of his face, he was undeniable.

You were going to throw up. 

You had to find Iwaizumi.

“Takahiro Hanamaki!” You waved to the man. He immediately caught your eye and came to you.

“What’s up? Oh, shit you’re drunk.” He helped as you nearly stumbled. His arm stayed under your armpit as he stood in front of you.

“Have you seen Iwa? Need to talk to him. Best friend emergency.”

“I thought Tooru was your best friend.” Hanamaki looked behind you, eyes scanning over the people for you. You almost threw up on the spot at the sound of his name.

There was a huge difference in hearing about Oikawa’s girls and hearing about who was in his bed, and seeing it with your own eyes. It made you sick to your stomach. You lost all breath, all feeling in your body. You didn’t know to be mad or jealous or upset. You decided that you were going to be all three.

“The last time I talked to Iwa, he went that way. He might be throwing up somewhere or something.”

“Okay, thanks my little wing spiker. My little outside hitter. My stoner boy.” you pinched his cheek.

“Hey, are you sure you’re okay?” he asked before letting you go. “You look like you were crying.”

Were you? Did you cry? You didn’t think you did. But it was definitely a possibility as you have been trying not to do just that for the past ten minutes.

“I don’t know, I think I’m just red from being crossed. I can’t even see straight. Ha ha.”

Hanamaki didn’t press it further, but he did give you a smile and hand you a water bottle. You liked being friends with the team.

The volleyball team were always the nicest towards you. They greeted you with smiles whenever they would come across you in the hallway, always made sure you had a smile on your face.

They all knew, too. It wasn’t hard to see how out of the entire team, Oikawa had you wrapped around his finger. (Unintentionally, of course). They tried to get him to notice. “She looks good today, right, Oikawa?” or “It’s Saturday, don’t you have plans?”. Not that their efforts helped.

Maybe one day Oikawa will know too.

You found Iwaizumi in a closet near the stairs. The party was still in full effect, but it was quiet near there. The only problem was that he was not alone, and was, in fact, preoccupied with someone's tongue down his throat.

“I swear to everything that is holy, I am so sick of finding people like this.” you sighed. “The second time today and I’m going to seriously vomit all over the place. I’m not kidding.”

Iwaizumi gasped, pulling away from whoever he was with. It wasn’t until they were both apart that you realized who it was.

“Matsukawa?”

You got pulled into the closet, the door slamming behind you.

[tinyboxxtink]

Build Me Up Buttercup *PART 7*

Whooo man, I don’t know if this is a longer chapter or not. I had planned on splitting the situations into two separate chapters, but it seemed short so I combined them. 

If you need to catch up!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 8

Tag List: @wanniiieeee

Rafael slammed the door to the men’s room open, terrifying some poor cowboy just trying to use the john. 

“Sorry…” He nodded apologetically to the guy who grumbled some obscenities as he washed his hands and left, leaving Rafael alone to stew.

Why had he just done that?! Why did he have to glance back at your table as soon as you closed your eyes? In that split second, he had locked eyes with Olivia. They were so close it was like they could telepath whole sentences between each other; and the look she had given him in that moment was definitely saying “What the FUCK do you think you’re doing?”. 

Truth be told he really had no idea what he was doing, it all happened so fast. Really, the whole day was a blur. Before today you were just a junior detective to him, albeit a very sexy one. But truthfully you were barely a blip on his radar; you didn’t speak much, and when you did it was usually insulting him or contradicting. How had this one out of town trip completely flipped your relationship through a dryer tumble cycle? First the song in the car, the coffee in the car, the Fahey’s bathroom, and now this. At one point did he start…falling for you? Was he even falling for you? Were you planning this thing all along? Had you been seducing him? No, surely he wasn’t that dumb to just be seduced by a pair of pretty eyes and a tight t-shirt...and a soft soul who’d been through so much at so young…

NO. 

He wasn’t doing this. Not here, not now.

----

“What do you mean, he just left?”  

Once again you had fled to the bathroom, this time to update your BFF on the never ending nightmare that was this day. 

“I mean he LEFT. He mumbled some bullshit about being ‘sorry’ and just….walked away. No I’m sorry, he RAN away.” 

“Well...maybe he got scared?”

“A grown man?” 

“I don’t know from what you’ve said about him, he seems pretty high strung am I right?” 

“That’s putting it lightly…”

“I mean the fact that you even got him on that dance floor sounds like a miracle to me, maybe he just got in his head all of a sudden,” 

“Maybe…”

“Which means….” they paused ominously. 

“Means what?” you asked skeptically. 

“You’ve gotten yourself a def con one situation here, babe,”

“...What?” you were completely lost.

“Everyone knows the rule, Y/N” they kept completely serious.

“Wha-What RULE?” 

“The RULE! Once you have a…’moment’ with someone that gets interrupted, you HAVE to actually kiss them...or bang them but let’s be realistic,” they continued in a very serious tone, despite the fact that they were talking conspiracy theories. 

“Is ANY of that realistic? What happens if you ‘break’ this rule?”

“You have to kiss them in 24 hours or else you’ll just stay friends forever,” They stated like an oracle.

“Do you hear yourself when you talk, or has the crazy just become white noise at this point?” You rolled your eyes.

“Mock all you want, but you remember Duncan and Sarah?” 

“They went on one date and decided to be friends?”

“No no, they went on one date and she got called away before the end of it, thus nixing the good night kiss. And then the next time they ‘went out’, it had been 72 hours and when he went in for the good night kiss, she said they were better AS FRIENDS,” 

“...THAT’S what you're basing this insane rule on? A story about people we barely know?” 

“Well, it was also on Scrubs. Elliot and JD had to go through SO MUCH just because he couldn’t man up in those 24 hours!” They insisted.

“Oh my god, I’m hanging up--”

“WAIT WAIT WAIT, Come on Y/N just hear me out,” They begged. You sighed, putting two fingers across your eyes.

“Alright, let’s hear it,” 

“Look, you can choose to think I’m full of shit, but you gotta ask yourself: Are you willing to chance it?” 

You bit your lip, actually pondering if she could be right. 

“And you better think REAL quick, because your time has already been cut in half,”  they added. 

“NOW what the hell are you talking about?”

“You’re like, on a ‘vacation’ right now. Barba is FINALLY seeing you, like a person. A woman. Someone who’s not up his ass for warrants or bitching about deadlines,”

“I’m not that--” you tried protesting. 

“Shush. No time. You’re in like, another dimension right now. I’ll bet money as SOON as you hit the city line he’s gonna go back to his robot self and remember the fact that you two are completely inappropriate--”

“Oh come on that’s a strong--” you once again tried defending yourself. 

“I’m just saying what he’s gonna reason, babe. You know I’m right,” 

You paced the bathroom now, thinking of all the reasons you and Barba were bad news. 

“....What if he’s already there? What if that’s why he walked off? What if he’s talking himself out of….ANYTHING?”

“THIS IS WHAT I’M SAYING, HELLO You need another ‘moment’, but without everyone staring at you. I’ll bet you anything that’s what got him into his head all of a sudden,” 

Your eyes widened, remembering the front row seats your entire squad had to your little romantic moment. 

“Oh my god you might be right...they were all staring at us,”

“See?? You need to get him alone,” They went on, as you walked out of the bathroom. 

“...Fuck,”

“What? Fuck what? WHAT?!”

“I may have run out of time,”

You saw Barba approaching the booth again, Olivia gesturing wildly. The body language of their conversation did not seem very encouraging. What was worse, Amber walked up and handed them a check. 

“I think we’re leaving, Olivia got the check and she looks like a mad mom bitching out her ten year old for trying to swipe candy,” You groaned, ducking behind a man with a huge cowboy hat and following behind him to a seat at the bar, out of the squad’s eye line. 

“You need more time! You can’t just get in the car and drive back with everybody there, the ‘moment’ will never happen!”

“Okay can you stop with this, I’m already flipping out enough without you stating the obvious,” you twirled your hair and bit your lip.

“....You need to do something to your car.” they suddenly threw that at you like it was a completely reasonable statement. 

“EXCUSE ME?”

“Slash one of your tires!”

“Are you high right now, be honest with me,” You narrowed your eyes.

“Desperate times, babe,”

“Desperate times, not PSYCHOTIC times,”

“Look if you have a flat tire, you’ll have to call AAA and have them come and fix it, that should give you at least an hour. Then you can go back inside, get him ALONE, and get your moment!” They tried reasoning with you. Was that Hurricane THAT strong, or were they actually making some sense?

“...Why am I listening to this?” you kept a straight face, even though it was just a phone call.

“You can act smug all you want baby, but I can hear it in your voice; you’re considering it,” 

“Of course I’m considering it! But it’s...it’s insane. It’s like, ‘Fatal Attraction’ crazy,” 

“Ok I’m not telling you to boil his bunny, just inconvenience yourselves for another hour, drama queen,” you could hear both of you rolling your respective eyes at each other.

“And what’s more insane; puncturing a tire, or giving up something we both know you’ve wanted for MONTHS,” They pointed out. 

“How do you--” You blinked in disbelief. 

“Girl, please. I knew before you did, and I’ve never even met the man,” 

After several more moments of silence, you pulled your keys towards your face. 

“...I’ll call you later,”

Before you could talk yourself out of it, you sprinted outside to the parking lot and back to your car. You pulled the nail file attached to your key ring, and stared at your tires. 

“God forgive me…” You sighed, making a sign of the cross across your chest before kneeling next to your left rear tire.

You dragged the nail file across the tire, it barely made a scratch. Panic began filling your head, thinking of missing any chance to have Rafael’s lips on yours. Your BFF was right, you probably had a thing for him the moment you met him; even though you hadn’t even dared to let yourself think about it, until this morning. This WAS like an alternate dimension, it was like the rules of the ‘normal’ world were moot. 

The emotions of it all bubbled to a head as you stared at the tire; with a sort of pathetic battle cry, you PLUNGED the nail file into your tire and pulled it HARD across the top. Air came gushing out, the tire deflating in mere seconds. You sat back, the nail file in your hand like a machete, your breath going in and out like you had just run a marathon. Okay, you did go a LITTLE psycho there for a second. 

You barely had time to admire the work, you knew you had to go back inside to make it look like you had been in the bathroom this whole time. 

There was no going back now. 

----

Back inside you weaved in and out of the crowd back towards the bathroom, then made a turn for the booth so it looked like you had come from that direction. You walked up slowly, still hidden in the crowded bar as you heard an exchange between Barba and Oliva.

“...What I’m saying is, don’t start leading her on when you know it’s not going anywhere,” 

“How do you know it’s not going anywhere, Liv?” 

“Barba. Be serious,” 

Oh hell no. Who was she to make that decision? Surely he didn’t think that...did he? 

“HEY, hi,” you spoke up loudly, the entire group jumping at your rather loud greeting. 

“Oh hey Y/N we uh, I got the check. I just went ahead and paid for everybody, and when I say I, I mean Dodd’s,” She smiled, like she hadn’t just insulted the fuck out of you. 

“Oh, yeah? Ready to head home then?” You acted completely oblivious, noticing Rafael was avoiding your eyes.

“Yeah, I’ve got my nanny waiting on me and it’s already...8 o clock?!” Olivia gasped, looking at her phone. 

“Good lord, how long have we been here? I better call my sitter,” Amanda grabbed her own phone out of her bag as the group walked out.

“Well, we were driving for a good 45 minutes outside of Hartford before Rafael made us stop here,” 

“Wait, what?” You now for the very first time, took a good long look at the parking lot. The bar was next to a motel on one side, a gas station on the other side next to it. And then field, across from it. And for miles. 

You were literally in the middle of nowhere. 

“Oh god…” you muttered, mentally yelling obscenities at your BFF and yourself for listening to their bat shit logic. Fin glanced at you quizzically, overhearing your ranting-- and then you heard Sonny’s voice.

“Is that….?” 

You saw him gesture towards your back wheel. FUCK.

“Oh my god, are you serious?? A Flat tire?!” Amanda slammed her phone against your car. 

“Barba must have driven across a nail, or glass, or something in the parking lot. Probably a broken beer bottle if we’re being honest,” Sonny scoffed looking at the less than stellar cars in the parking lot. 

“Hey it’s not Barba’s fault!” You snapped defensively, once again mentally face palming. THINK before speaking. 

“I mean it’s...it’s nobody’s fault, right? I mean, maybe the road people? Or, drunk hicks? Certainly no one here in this vicinity though, I mean obviously,” Nope, still couldn’t stop talking. 

Olivia’s eyes narrowed, looking from you to Barba, who was staring at the pavement silently. She started to say something, but realized she had no concrete evidence to start throwing accusations. 

“She’s right Liv, it was just a stupid accident,” Fin chimed in, patting Olivia’s shoulder. 

“Do you at least have AAA?” Olivia asked you, still suspicious of the sudden turn of events.

“Oh yeah, I’ve...I’ve never used it before though,” You dug into your wallet and pulled out a worn out AAA card. Olivia took it and started dialing the number into her phone. 

You took this moment to start your mission, despite the fact that your plan was quickly running off the rails.

“Can we…?” You motioned sideways, Barba nodded and moved to the side with you. 

“Look, Y/N. The whole dance thing it was, cute. Flattering.”

“Flattering?” you scoffed. Seriously?

“But, I mean you know we’re in front of the whole squad, and we’re working,” His words cut you like knives. Was he actually implying that whole was embarrassing?

“ ..And I just don’t think--”

“ARE YOU SERIOUS?” Olivia’s booming voice snapped you both out of the conversation. 

“Yeah, well-- thanks a lot,” she scoffed, tossing your card as she hung up the phone.

“Hey I might--” you walked back over to her, her red hot eyes meeting yours. 

“You don’t have AAA out here,” she spoke directly to you, the annoyance of her voice turning to anger.

“W-What do you mean they don’t--”

“I mean, Y/N-- your AAA card is for NEW YORK, and we’re still in CONNECTICUT,” 

“Liv seriously will you knock it off? Leave her alone, she didn’t know,” Barba finally spoke up in defense of you, putting space between you and Olivia. 

“I’m...I’m sorry, Y/N. I know it’s not your fault,” she apologized, not knowing it was indeed your fault. 

“What am I gonna tell Lucy? We’re going to be stuck here until morning,” She sighed. 

“Morning?” Amanda exclaimed angrily. “What about my Jesse?” 

“I’m sure Lucy will watch her at my place with Noah, Amanda. I’ll call her right now,” Olivia assured her, the two of them walking off to the side.

You started running your hands through your hair and pacing like mad, trying not to hyperventilate. This wasn’t supposed to happen!! This was supposed to be a MINOR inconvenience, not a crisis! WHY did you listen to your BFF? 

“Hey, are you ok?” Barba came up behind you and put both hands on your shoulders. 

“Come on Y/N you know that’s not what I--” he protested but you wouldn’t hear it.

“Why do you care all of a sudden? Didn’t I embarrass you in front of your colleagues?” You snapped your head around, glaring at him.

“Can we please just forget it, PLEASE? I am already getting my karmic ass kicked, I don’t need you lecturing me on top of it,” You started walking towards the door of the bar. 

“What? I’m not lecturing you I don’t--” He trailed behind you.

“EXACTLY,” You spun back around, planting your feet as you stared directly into his eyes. He stopped suddenly almost on top of you, surprised by your sudden stop; his puppy dog eyes were begging you to forgive him. 

“Exactly. You don’t want to, I get it counselor. I get it. I should have never--” you feigned tears welling up in your throat.

“Carino--” he went for your hand. 

“Don’t. Just-- I’m sorry. For all of this,” You snapped your hand back and ran back inside the bar, noticing Barba following right behind you. Your fake tear filled face now slid into a sly smirk. 

You were getting this moment come hell or high water now. 

[leapingtitan]

The Final Season - Episode 1 Thoughts

I've watched the first episode around 3 times on my own and over a dozen times from anime-only live reactions on YouTube. Those are always something to have a field day with every season, and are part of the whole enjoyment post-watching the episode on your own.

Obviously I'm only reviewing this based on the first episode, so it's way too early to judge The Final Season as a whole. However, I will say that my strategy to keep my expectations low definitely worked. I was very hyped, don't get me wrong, but after Season 3 Part 2, I realized that production and scheduling has never been this show's strong suite and things behind the scenes were always chaotic. And it was my mistake to realize it this late and have unrealistically high expectations of the manga's adaptation.

But enough about that. I'm just gonna say it right now. I absolutely loved this episode and was completely blown away by it. It was a rollercoaster ride from start to finish and boy, the staff wasn't kidding when they said the first episode was like a movie. It definitely felt like that, and it went by in a flash. Now, on to the individual points.

Story/Adaptation

Flawless. Everything was executed perfectly and went beyond my expectations. The thing that stood out to me the most was how many things were changed from the PV in terms of scene construction, camera angles, and overall storyboards. There was only one shot that we reused from the PV, namely the one with Zeke and Reiner inside the airship where they're referred to as the spear and shield. Everything else was redone, which was a huge surprise. Wit was always very faithful to the original manga panels with how they used them as a big reference for most of their cuts, but this one changes them up a lot. Personally, I am 100% fine with it and as someone who has read these chapters in the manga dozens of times over the past few years, seeing them like this was a pleasant and very welcome surprise.

The anime-only additions here are notable and also quite welcome. Falco's line in the beginning in particular stood out the most in the long-run, but the addition of the Eldians' terror being shown as well as the scene before the ED was very welcome. I would like to assume that this was Isayama's doing as whenever the anime usually adds/changes up things, it's his request to do so. He sort of considers the anime to be the "definitive" version of the story that he, for one reason or another, couldn't do in the manga himself when that particular chapter came out. Season 3 Part 1 (The Uprising Arc) is a prime example for this. Once again, I'm very content with what was done here and I trust MAPPA will do the story justice.

A small but very neat thing is the fact that we got to keep the title cards and the info eyecatches mid-episode. Really added to the whole sense of consistency.

Animation

When the initial trailer came out, many people were concerned about Shigeki Asakawa (Director of Photography)'s odd and excessive usage of blur filters on top of the scenes and were wondering if they would remain in the final product, given her track record with other shows like The God of Highschool. Luckily, that is not the case here as the scenes look very clean and the minimal blur on top adds a bit to the muddy/gritty atmosphere of what's going on. Personally, I don't mind it at all and I barely notice it anyway. MAPPA's biggest strength to me is the usage of effects like blood and explosions. You feel the impact of everything and with such an action-packed episode, it made everything so much better.

The usage of 3D CGI for the Titan Shifters has been the biggest controversy surrounding this first episode. When I first watched it, it didn't bother me at all. Personally I care more about a model fitting in the action sequence rather than how it looks for the most part. Right now I would say I'm neutral. It's not the greatest CG ever conceived in anime but it definitely does not look out of place and is pretty decent. For the Jaw Titan, I couldn't tell what was CG and what wasn't for the most part. For the other Titans it's more obvious, but it's not too jarring. Obviously, if it was up to me and the production committee/NHK didn't push their scheduling shenanigans onto MAPPA, I would have gotten every Titan in 2D, but you can't have everything. If they choose to focus on more important scenes later on and cut corners in this first episode as a result, that's understandable. I can live with it. And again, even then, it's not that bad in my eyes.

Now, the character designs are just absolutely stellar. In multiple interviews, it’s been stated that they wanted to stay true to Kyoji Asano’s designs at Wit while also being consistent with Isayama’s style in the manga. And boy did they absolutely nail it. It’s exactly what as they said. Tomohiro Kishi could not have done a better job with the characters we’ve seen so far and I am beyond impressed with his work. I look forward to seeing the rest of the characters in this arc.

Sound

I've been following Kohta Yamamoto's works for a few years now, ever since he started working with Sawano (and being mentored by him to an extent) in early 2017. Although he's been involved with AoT before, particularly with the character songs in Season 2, whenever those two would collaborate on a project it would usually be because Sawano is too busy to compose a full soundtrack. So what usually happens is, Sawano does one track and variations of it (think ShingekiNoKyojin, ThanksAT and T-KT), and nothing else. Meanwhile, Yamamoto handles the rest of the music for the show. On top of that, Yamamoto's style as a composer is different from Sawano's as he comes from a rock/guitarist background as opposed to Sawano, who is a pianist and is classically trained. My biggest concern for The Final Season was that we would get a similar case as with the other shows where Sawano doesn't put in too much effort, while Yamamoto essentially becomes the main composer. Although it looks like this is in fact the case after this first episode, let me explain why I don't think it's a bad thing.

After the premiere of the first episode, both Sawano and Yamamoto tweeted that it was in fact Yamamoto who is handling the majority of the Marley Arc's music. And after this first episode, I have to say I'm impressed. His initial track that he made for the PV was a bit off-putting to me because it sounded like every epic blockbuster Hollywood trailer background track ever, but after the way it was used in this episode alongside a few other tracks, I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised. It fits what's going on, and overall delivers a fresh sound to the show that is very appropriate given the massive change in narrative. Back during S3 Part 1, Sawano stated in an interview that he was already burned out and had trouble coming up with new music for AoT given how many tracks he had already composed for it. Given how few new melodies were in S3 Part 2;s music, I think this should be clear. Especially now that we're going into yet another season. To summarize, I think Yamamoto's work here is a result of three conditions that just happened to line up perfectly. The change in narrative, which the new composer style reflects. Sawano being busy. And Sawano being burned out with AoT. Now personally I still believe we're going to get at least one new original Sawano track with variations of it for the big climax moments this arc, and he may compose more music for the 2nd half of this 16-episode season, since that's technically a new arc. But we'll see. As a whole though, I'm satisfied with what I've heard from Kohta Yamamoto in this first episode.

The last point to make in regards to the sound is Masafumi Mima who, apart from Sawano, the voice cast, and some freelancers, is the only one from the previous seasons' staff members to return here. And once again, his work here is absolutely phenomenal. The mixing and usage of sound effects in this episode was stellar and truly felt like I was watching a war movie. It enhanced the action tenfold and I could not want it any better. Music usage is something that goes through the director (Yuichiro Hayashi), but ultimately the sound director is the one who implements the track (instrument layering/stem editing) and does the mixing. The usage of Kohta Yamamoto's music here was very well done, and although the track from the PV repeated quite a bit, it didn't get repetitive at all. Also, the sound director remaining consistent here means we got to keep things like the titan transformation sound effects, which may be a small thing but was very welcome and added to the whole consistency.

Opening/Ending

I'm gonna wait until Shinsei Kamattechan releases the full version of the opening in a single or album to fully judge the song, but boy do I love this opening. Although I'm not sure if the TV-size version is my favorite AoT opening yet, I have to say that it's without a doubt the most fitting OP this show has had until this point. It perfectly showcases the themes of war that this arc focuses on and has this lowkey disturbing eerie vibe with the dissonant chords and mixing of the vocals that feels just as "mysterious" and "tense" as the show itself. I love it so much, honestly. Now, Isayama was a fan of Shinsei Kamattechan prior to them doing the S2 ED, and was the one who got them on-board to do it. Although that song isn't really my thing it's also a perfect fit, which leads me to believe that Isayama himself most likely chose the band again, namely to do this OP. And it's fantastic. I love the song. The visuals also have a very distinct style with all the colors and white backgrounds and I love how it's more metaphorical and symbolic (I guess "abstract" as well?) rather than flat-out just spoiling everything like the last arc's OP did.

The ED by Yuko Ando is fantastic. The first time I listened to the full song on its own I couldn't stop getting chills. Love the production aspects of the song and it's just really nice altogether. The visuals are quite interesting especially towards the end and I also like them a lot. Not much else to say about the ED. It's amazing. Go listen to it.

Conclusion

As a whole, I kept my expectations extremely low prior to the premiere despite my hype. As a result of that, not only were they exceeded, I was absolutely blown away by this first episode in pretty much every way. It may still be too early to judge, but from what has been shown here so far, I am absolutely looking forward to see MAPPA adapt the rest of this amazing story, or about as far as they can get with 16 episodes.

[aion-rsa]

15 Worst NES Games of All-Time

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The worst NES games of all time are a truly special breed of bad video games. Say what you will about the downsides of the modern video game industry (and there is certainly a lot to say), but there is, in most cases, a baseline standard of quality ensured by better, cheaper technology, experience, and more controlled distribution channels. You may get the occasional indie game that is basically a scam, but when it comes to major releases…well, even Cyberpunk 2077 was pretty good in a lot of ways.

That wasn’t the case during the NES era. At a time when console gaming was basically the digital wild west, it was incredibly difficult to tell good games from bad ones, and developers often exploited that fact to get us to buy titles that refuse to leave the deepest, darkest parts of our nostalgia all these years later.

That’s the thing about these games. Are they among the worst NES titles ever? Absolutely, but years later, there’s something about remembering the pain of playing them and sharing those memories with others that is strangely enjoyable. 

15. Tag Team Wrestling

Even with all of the other bad wrestling games for the NES (and there were many), Tag Team Wrestling manages to stand apart largely by virtue of being fundamentally unplayable in nearly every way you can imagine.

In a dream world where you manage to overcome this game’s all-time bad animations and unresponsive controls, you still have to deal with the fact that there are times when the opponent A.I. difficulty is raised to such a degree that it becomes quite literally impossible to win. If it weren’t for the fact that this game eventually inspired Homestar Runner’s Strong Bad character, it would be entirely worthless.

14. Friday the 13th

There are some who will credit Friday the 13th for being unique and ambitious. We shall not speak their name in this house of truth where we recognize that the Friday the 13th franchise was never scarier than the moment you tried to play this game as a child.

This game’s bewildering map and unforgivable controls were practically designed to eliminate the possibility of fun. It’s easy to love Jason’s weirdly stylish purple jumpsuit in this 8-bit nightmare, but much like Patrick Bateman, no amount of style can hide the monster beneath.

13. Super Pitfall

There’s no shortage of NES games that are difficult to the point of being fundamentally unenjoyable, but Super Pitfall may just be the king of that particular trash heap.

Super Pitfall‘s developers seemed to believe that the reason people love video games is that they offer the chance to listen to repetitive music while dying all the time to obstacles you have little to no chance to avoid. Just in case that level of abuse wasn’t enough to make you love their project, the developers decided to just go ahead and fill their game with essentially invisible items that no sane person would ever find organically despite the fact that they’re required to progress. To it’s credit, this game does recreate the sensation of being trapped in a dank underground cave.

12. Operation Secret Storm

While it almost feels too easy to pick on developer Color Dreams (the studio responsible for many terrible unlicensed NES games, many of which were based on the Bible), Operation Secret Storm is really on another level in terms of all-time bad games.

Even if we can put aside the often blatant racism and bizarre Gulf War storyline, we’re left with a game where control commands are more of a polite suggestion and hit detection is a bug, not a feature. From top-to-bottom, this may be the “best” example of just how bad those old-school unlicensed NES games could be.

11. Where’s Waldo?

You know, it’s pretty amazing that Where’s Waldo? the video game can’t offer an experience comparable to the Where’s Waldo? books considering that the books weren’t exactly the great American novels.

Beating this game will either take you five minutes or 50 years. It really all depends on your ability to determine which of the blurred on-screen figures the game is trying to pretend is supposed to be Waldo. It’s truly impressive that this game manages to botch a concept this simple, but that’s the magic of the NES era. 

10. Back to the Future Part II and III

The first Back to the Future game for NES was bad, but at least it followed basic video game logic in terms of its level structure. Back to the Future Part II and III, meanwhile, somehow beats Primer for the title of “most confusing use of time travel in entertainment history.”

To be honest, I still don’t know what this game expects from me. It’s supposed to offer a time travel adventure that spans the scope of the last two Back to the Future films, but I dare you to play this for more than 20 minutes without feeling tears in your eyes and the words “What do you want me to do?!?!” escape your lungs. If it’s not the most unintuitive bit of 8-bit game design, it’s certainly one of the most unenjoyable.

9. The Adventures Of Gilligan’s Island

There are two things worth remembering about Gilligan’s Island: the theme song and how annoying Gilligan was. To its credit, this game nails both of those elements.

This game is basically the result of escort quests and bad comedy games forming an unholy union. Imagine being dropped into a hedge maze and being forced to endure the constant jeers of the dumbest man you’ve ever met while trying to figure out where to go. Also, your legs are tied together. That’s basically the Adventures of Gilligan’s Island experience. 

8. Bad Street Brawler

It’s tempting to overlook the golden age of beat ‘em ups for their seeming simplicity, but as Bad Street Brawler shows, it’s very much possible for those kinds of games to go incredibly wrong.

Bad Street Brawler was designed to be used with the NES Power Glove, which should probably tell you everything that you really need to know about what it’s like to try to “play” this game. Manage to master its nearly unplayable controls, and you’re left with a beat ’em up with bewildering visuals and fundamentally unsatisfying gameplay that leave you wondering how the industry lasted this long.

Read more

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7. Mario is Missing

Look, there are a lot of bad video games on the NES, but there’s something especially insulting about a terrible Mario game on NES that passes itself off as an educational experience.

This game feels like it was made by a dentist who wanted to give young patients a way to pass the time in the waiting room while also making them less afraid of the impending pain. Nothing in this game makes sense, and the fact it fooled young gamers into thinking it was an actual Mario game makes it that much more infuriating.

6. Ghostbusters

You know, it really shouldn’t have been that difficult to make a respectable Ghostbusters game. Honestly, the only way to go wrong is to pass up the more obvious genre opportunities and try to do something weird and stupid that nobody ever asked for.

As you probably guessed, that’s exactly what we have here. Ghostbusters has the audacity to try to be this strange combination of various gameplay concepts when the fundamentals of controls, visuals, and logical progression so clearly elude it. It’s genuinely hard to believe someone had the chance to make a Ghostbusters video game and came up with this.

5. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

There are some who say that you really need to learn to play this game before you can judge it. The fundamental flaw of that premise is that it assumes that there’s a game here that’s worth playing in the first place.

I genuinely can’t imagine what Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’s developers were going for when they concocted this unintuitive blend of confusing mechanics, overwhelming (yet unimpressive) enemies, and controls that only seem to work seconds before you convince yourself to give up on the game entirely. You can read every guide about this game that’s ever been written to try to understand how its needlessly complicated mechanics work, and they still wouldn’t answer the one question everyone has about this title, “Why are you like this?”

4. Action 52

It almost feels bad to pick on Action 52 considering that it is an unlicensed collection of 52 small games that were clearly made by underfunded and inexperienced programmers working on a project that legally probably shouldn’t have been “released.” Then again, that’s perhaps all the more reason to make fun of it.

Against all odds, not one of Action 52’s 52 games manages to be even remotely playable. These games would have been embarrassing even if they were released for the Atari 2600, but in the age of the NES, they offered young gamers the chance to quickly realize that the world is full of scammers and they will try anything to part you with your money.

3. Deadly Towers

Every NES gamer has that one game they just couldn’t beat and never seemed to understand no matter how hard they tried. Well, Deadly Towers is all of those games of your respective childhoods rolled into one.

There is not a single aspect of this game that makes any kind of sense that I’m familiar with. Imagine you’re trapped in the maze from the movie Labyrinth, but instead of getting to meet sexy David Bowie at the end, you have to listen to Eric Clapton tell you what’s wrong with your generation. That’s about what’s it like to play Deadly Towers. Even if you bother to learn the game’s structure, you quickly find you don’t want anything to do with the “rewards” that follow. 

2. Dragon’s Lair

How do you take a game like Dragon’s Lair (an innovative arcade experience that combined FMV visuals with QTE gameplay) and port it to the humble NES? Well, if this port is any indication, you…don’t.

I don’t know if there’s ever been another game that inflicts so much pain on its first screen. I’m willing to bet that 90% of Dragon’s Lair players never figured out how to cross that first bridge and actually enter the castle. That’s probably because the solution to that “puzzle”makes no sense and is fundamentally unenjoyable to execute. Those 90% will be happy to know that the game only gets worse from there. 

1. The Uncanny X-Men

Imagine how easy it would have been to make a decent X-Men game for NES. Just take Batman, Mega Man, Castlevania, or any number of the other great NES games, throw some X-Men designs on the whole thing, and you have a game most of us would probably fondly remember to this day.

Infamous NES developer LJN decided to go a different route, though. They decided to make a top-down action game where hit detection is basically non-existent, the music constantly assaults your ears, half of the characters are essentially useless, the graphics are so bad that you quite literally can’t tell where you are or what you’re supposed to be doing, and the AI is useless to the point that I”m pretty sure the in-game characters have become aware of the game they’re forced to exist in and are doing everything in their power to get out.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

There’s no shortage of bad NES games (clearly), but when it comes to wasted potential, this is truly the worst of the worst. 

The post 15 Worst NES Games of All-Time appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[topweeklyupdate]

TØP Weekly Update #69: Proud of Our Boys (11/2/18)

Technically, not a lot happened this week. Also, everything happened. Does that make any sense? I don’t know, everything’s been a blur since Tyler Joseph wore a pride flag on a Halloween show in the capital of the United States. Let’s cover that and more in this week’s Update!

This Week’s TØPics:

The Bandito Tour Continues

Tyler Visits the Live Lounge- Or, Rather, It Visits Him

The Best Interview of the Trench Era, Conducted by Fans

“My Blood” Moving Slowly but Steady Up the Charts

Major News and Announcements:

No new music, no new tour announcements, but plenty of other things going on this week.

Mark is helping to keep our lanes nicely watered, as he returned to giving us weekly doses of video content for the tour starting almost immediately after the release of last week’s Update. The first episode covers the planning for the tour, Tyler and Josh receiving the first physical copies of Trench, Josh’s unique method of opening CD cases, and Josh getting a nice head injury after falling off his riser during a rehearsal. Plus, there’s a pretty nice piano interpolation of “Morph” to kick the whole thing off. The second goes more into the depths of planning and staging the show, giving a glimpse of just how much of a diva Tyler Joseph is when it comes to getting every aspect of the tour right. It doesn’t exactly put him in the nicest light- he calls the prototype clip that drops his “Stressed Out” beanie “garbage”, clearly expects the crew to be as intimately familiar with his music as he is, and pushes pretty hard to get the transitions faster and faster. But hey, that approach worked to produce a great show, and Tyler makes sure to thank the crew in every Trees Speech.

I was wavering between whether to include the content from the BBC Live Lounge sessions here or in the Shenanigans section, but considering that we got three HD video performances and a high quality recording of a new cover, I’m gonna tie it in here. In-between the stops in Washington and Atlanta, Tyler flew back to Columbus solo to record a session for the world-famous Live Lounge from Newport Music Hall (because of course Tyler was that extra). Sitting at a gorgeous shiny piano and wearing an outfit that looks like a flannel traffic cone (in a good way, honest), Tyler played some stripped-down covers of “My Blood” and “Ride”, using brand-new vocal interpolations for both of those songs that are just incredible. Live Lounge is most renowned for its covers, and Tyler delivered there as well with his version of Damien Rice and Lisa Hannigan’s classic “9 Crimes”. It’s an incredible rendition of a gorgeous song, and the fact that Tyler mentioned the track way back on “Drown” when “9 Crimes” was a brand-new song makes it land as even more heavy. The real kicker came just this morning, when Live Lounge revealed that they recorded one more song: we have our first high quality performance of “Neon Gravestones”. I still haven’t fully recovered, mate.

Performances, Interviews, and Other Shenanigans:

Touring continues to keep us well fed. As I mentioned in the opening, Tyler grabbed an offered pride flag during “Holding On To You”, which deeply affected the entire Clique, especially our LGBTQ+ family. So many kids in that community struggle with depression and lean hard on this band’s music to get through; this clear and pure gesture of support, while small, simply means the world. 

Outside of that show, there were plenty of other great moments from the tour this week. You can tell Tyler’s been tinkering with the format as he’s been getting feedback from the audience response. Despite how dedicated Tyler was to getting back to the stage for the end of “Pet Cheetah”, the big drop now starts while Tyler is still on the skybridge above the pit’s head, which makes way more sense. The ending of “My Blood” seems to be reduced to just getting the audience to fight to be louder than the other side rather than try to harmonize different bits. And Josh keeps writing city-personalized messages on his chest that he shows off to the crowd as he walks across the bridge, dramatically removing his jacket like something out of Magic Mike.

Also, Tyler tossed a frisbee in Boston and the boys discovered finger guns in Philly. Those were pretty cute moments, gotta share ‘em if you missed ‘em.

Interviews continue as the tour travels the nation. KISS FM Cleveland kept the tradition of B.S. first meeting stories alive with a deep dive into Josh’s talent as a painter, though that’s really the only thing you need to watch that interview for. Boston station ALT 92.9 does a little better, though he mistakenly attributes the backflip to Tyler and asks when Josh will get out from behind those drums... To his credit, the interviewer asks about how Jim is accommodated on the tour (unsurprisingly, the crew fights over who gets to look after him) and what Tyler learned from co-producing Trench with Paul.

The best interviews, however, have all been in the form of fan meet-and-greet conferences that have been finding their way online. There’s just something to the energy of these interviews that is so much better than the awkward and rushed ones in cramped green rooms hosted by radio station interns who obviously just Googled a few facts before they’re rushed in. These fans truly care about their band, and their questions were thoughtful and about so much more than just trivia. 

The best of these, I think, is from St. Louis’s 105.7, a station that’s always had pretty good relations with the band.

Tyler has tried to be more intentional about seeing the places they go on tour outside of the venues, with the mindset that he wants to have better stories to tell his kids (oh my God, please help me...). His favorite place that he’s visited? Hobbiton in New Zealand. I love these nerds.

Tyler and Josh talk about the origins of that gorilla suit that shows up in the “Ode to Sleep” video.

They talk about how one of the more difficult aspects of touring early on before “making it” was eating healthily enough to sustain regular shows when they were broke and the only places that were open to eat late at night after shows were Taco Bells.

Tyler tells a truly heart-wrenching story of being at his parents’ house and seeing his two baby nieces playing with (and vomiting on) the keyboard that taught him to play music and opened up the world for him. The obvious emotion in his voice as he talks about learning the “Pachelbel Canon” from staring at the keys for hours and the clear joy he felt at getting to share this private moment with Jenna... I still haven’t recovered.

When one fan asks how she might learn to overcome creative blocks in her career of graphic design, Tyler gives a really technical explanation of how he got past blocks when writing “Neon Gravestones” and “Pet Cheetah” before taking those lessons and extracting how they might broadly be used to help any artist “shock the system” by breaking habits.

Tyler says that he anticipates that “Legend” will be pretty tough to perform live. He further states that a lot of songs don’t emotionally affect him much because he has to worry about achieving the technical aspects of his performance. That said, “Neon Gravestones” has been really emotional for him, and “Holding On To You” is so driven into him now that he actually can think about what he’s saying.

Tyler views the two-man nature of the band as a challenge rather than a crutch to excuse the use of backing tracks due to how hard they have to work to keep audience attention. Tyler does appreciate the dynamic of having a bunch of people collaborate for music (as shown by the cover medleys), and he is not vehemently against the idea of adding members in the future. He’s just very happy about the way things are with just him and Josh.

Josh once again gets very open about his struggles with anxiety, particularly speaking in front of people, tracing it back to how he would even ask teachers to give him alternatives to giving presentations because it scared him so much. He’s come so far since the Vessel days where he just wouldn’t talk in most interviews at all, and I’m so proud of him.

Tyler is against the “Magellan” method of trying any and all new foods, preferring stuff he knows will satisfy his hunger (he mentions that’s been difficult to stick with now that he’s married to Jenna).

Tyler says that you can tell which of his songs started with lyrics before composing the music based on which have rapped lyrics. The raps are almost always poetry that he’s tried to incorporate into a song- otherwise, he almost always starts with the melody.

Another great conference-style interview comes on behalf of Philly radio station 104.5, whose fans also gave some great questions:

As tactfully as possible, Tyler passes on a question about what event specifically motivated him to write about “Neon Gravestones”, saying that he could not do so without violating the respect that he hopes underlines the message of that song.

Tyler tells a pretty rough story about a time when he was working at a restaurant to support the band and school, only to lose weeks of wages to a traffic ticket. It’s a scene that will definitely be in the band biopic in thirty years, but it’s also just a very thoughtful reflection on Tyler’s part about how unfair a feeling it can be to realize that our labor and time are so commodified.

Tyler used to be real annoyed that Josh didn’t like Russel Crowe as an actor, mainly because he admitted that he didn’t have a good reason for it (Tyler Robert Joseph always has a reason). Josh deciding one day that he’d like Russel Crowe because not doing so aggravated Tyler seems like a pretty neat microcosm of their entire personal and professional relationship.

Tyler and Josh haven’t noticed any bands “copying” them, no matter what music press looking for an easy descriptor might say because all they have to copy is “freedom to write whatever kind of song they want”.

Josh keeps himself grounded by searching “21 pilots” on Twitter. Tyler agrees, but also points out that their relationships to their families also play a big role (“our respective families, to clarify”).

Finally, on social media, Tyler keeps hopping on social media to troll fans and his own band account. I hate him so much.

Chart Performance:

Things continue to be a little quiet for Twenty One Pilots on the US charts. The tracks from Trench are slowly sliding off the Hot Rock Chart, with “My Blood” being the only track to gain traction in any region- radio. With that said, however, “My Blood” also managed to sneak onto the very bottom spot of the Hot Pop chart, suggesting that we are approaching a potential crossover moment. We’ll have to wait and see if that happens. (I can only assume until then that Tyler’s having to ignore a lot of phone calls about a radio edit that cuts that slow first verse to keep the general listener’s attention; watch for that.)

Upcoming Shows:

(Can you believe that all of Tyler’s meticulous planning for the marketing and promotion of this album cycle has been totally supplanted by Josh’s cute dog?)

On topic, there’s another host of important shows this week, so let’s get into it!

Show 13: State Farm Arena, Atlanta, GA (11/2)

Capacity: 21,000

After visiting his hometown with Josh yesterday, Tyler rejoins the touring crew today to play a show for the folks in Atlanta at the newly-renamed State Farm Arena. This is bound to be a special one: though the band has headlined the huge Music Midtown festival in the city, this is their first ever arena show in this major metropolitan market. It’s sure to be a real special show.

Show 14: Amalie Arena, Tampa, FL (11/3)

Capacity: 21,500

The band’s next stop is at a more familiar ground. The band played Amalie during the last arena leg. Twenty One Pilots actually has a pretty extensive history of playing shows in Tampa stretching all the way back to college shows from before they were signed. Tyler has some relatives in the Florida area, so expect some more cute moments from this show.

Show 15: BB&T Center, Sunrise, FL (11/4) 

Capacity: 22,300

The touring crew continues their journey south to the outskirts of Miami. Again, they’ve played BB&T before, but if there’s one thing this band has proven time and time again, it’s that they’re not ones to ever get complacent.

Show 16: Toyota Center, Houston, TX (11/6)

Capacity: 19,3000

It might surprise you to learn that the band has never played an arena show in Houston, despite the city being one of the biggest metropolitan centers in the United States. That oversight will be corrected on Tuesday with a show at the NBA Rockets’ home venue.

Show 17: American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX (11/7)

Capacity: 21,000

The last show before our next Update will be held in Dallas. Once again, this marks the second show Twenty One Pilots will have played in the space. Texas will continue to get plenty of love after this show, but we’ll get into that more next week!

-

Power to the local dreamer!

|-/

[kewkyu9]

My logical brain doesn't know if I should be alarmed or not

So it's 5am - I woke up about 10 minutes ago from an odd dream, one that logic and anxiety warns of foreshadowing, but part of me felt comforted?

Before a certain point, I can only remember glimpses or the feeling of being able to, not unusual for me, I usually forget 90-100% of any dreams that seem relevant within the hour, hence my typing now.

I can remember glimpses of a man with pointed features and red-ish brown hair which was either wavy or curly and wildly frizzed, reminding me of my own after cleaning, my mind has already forgotten and blurred other details that I want to remember about appearance. I say glimpses, but there was a solid section of interaction with this man who, although I don't recall him saying his own name, I can recall myself calling him Loki in dream - this is the first recognizable and recollected dream where someone is called Loki, be it by me, the individual themselves or someone else in the dream, and it hasn't been the Marvel Loki incarnation - and here is were my logical brain starts to get confused, and ironically it stops being just glimpses or fragments of dream...

I was in my bed, supposedly in my little granny flat, but the room itself appeard more like my old bedroom before I even moved interstate, and a phone I didn't recognize rang right next to me. I answered somewhat groggy and I could hear a male voice that sounded familiar at vthe time, and even had a sence of reassurance despite the fact that I could hear annoyance, or held back frustration? directed to either me or something I had done. I can't remember the conversation, but I can remember being told to go back to sleep and getting a seriously strong parental vibe and simply smiling and agreeing, maybe thanking (idk?), before the call ended and I put the phone on the pillow next to me.

I think I looked over some paperwork briefly before rolling back over into bed, bills or something, all I can remember was a dread about money when looking at the sheets of paper. My eyes were closed for what felt like a few seconds before the phone rang again, something along the lines of "what would you do if...?" came through in a slightly nervous and apologetic sounding voice, my response was a clear "Loki, What did you do?" To which there was a moment of silence before he told me "You should come here..." in a voice that sounded somewhat exasperated (is that the word I'm looking for? =/ )

So I climb out of bed, go through an unfamiliar yard and down an unfamiliar hallway - it doesn't look like any of the houses I've lived in, and the journey is oddly brief - and stand in the doorway of my mother's bedroom. There, this man I recognized as Loki is laying on his side on mum's bed, propped up by his elbow, chuckling away and talking with mum who was laying down on the opposite side. I smile at the scene but get a sense that something is off, I get thier attention and almost immediately see what was likely to be the reason for my summons; mum sits up in an almost ethereal form, her body, a duller image of herself, still laying on the bed.

I start to panic - is she dead? How?! Why?! When!?! - and Loki is quick to reassure me, "No no no no, my dear, she's just not in her body, she's....fine... she's fine, nothing to worry about, . . .yet..." (Paraphrasing because my mind isn't sure if that's what it remembers, or if imagination has taken creative license based on briefer memories of the dream)

So I somewhat calm down and start to question how to go about fixing the situation, the clearest answer I can remember getting was a "We'll find a way / We'll figure it out,"

So I start to go about the house - which seems to be a mix of at least 2 of the houses I used to live in - and do bits of cleaning and have something to eat, catching glimpses of the dawn sky outside, and see mum laughing with someone in the dining room, at first I get my hopes up that she's back in her body, but a wave of depression hits me when I realize that she looks even more ethereal than before.

A hand lands on my shoulder and I don't remember if I looked or if I didn't even need to, but I can remember the same voice I recognized as Loki telling me that even if mum lost her body entirely, he'd be there for me, and a soothing reassurance washed over me.

Other small details I can remember that were likely a 'new' dream:

Seeing mum's cousin for something like 5 seconds,

Budgies having their tails gently pulled by cats (what even?)

Being able to see the neighbors dimly lit entertainment room (in a building that, although a logically average house, was completely unfamiliar) and a figure possibly practicing dance routines to the song "Paradise" and what sounded like some Imagine Dragons (none of these songs are on my phone's playlist) in said dim lighting,

Going out into my granny flat, the only recognizable "place" in the whole dream(s) and locking every door I walked through?

Like, I don't even understand, but I know the interaction with this Loki felt reassuring and natural, despite my confusion in waking up and the wave of emotion that hit me typing up that last interaction with him.

Anyone think I should be worried or relieved? Anyone better at seeing the possible warnings or the blatantly obvious reassurances (for things other than that specific event) than me?

My tired mind can't quite wrap itself around all this...

[airoasis]

Fallout 76 Angry Review

New Post has been published on https://hititem.kr/fallout-76-angry-review-2/

Fallout 76 Angry Review

You fucked it up by means of now you know that this sport sucks I might barely carry myself to play it in order to conclude this evaluate i’ve never in no way obvious this type of piss-bad effort from Bethesda a recreation manufacturer i like in a door you would name me a Bethesda fanboy I make whole game days for his or her releases and no I truly failed to get a review reproduction or a free box set I in reality purchased the 200 greenback collector’s variation with my possess cash long in the past most often for the helmet but I had a small hope that Bethesda would put out the game they promised to us and conceal up so much go the place you want watch do anything you need this is the Golden Age of game make the player proud song language make your self proud that you simply made it make your player proud that you simply purchased it it works it absolutely responds to move the place you need do some thing make your player proud well I was once lied to we were all lied to and betrayed betrayal yeah that is all I wanted shut the door fuck this position shut the door i have not felt one of these massive disparity between what we have been instructed and what we bought due to the fact aliens colonial Marines and no man’s sky bethesda has unequivocally failed at what it set out to do right here in spite of whether you for my part like it or no longer on account that one man’s trash is a further man’s treasure and trust me this is trash by using their possess words they fail and this time it points all new rendering lights and landscape science rendering quite you get here it is proper over there there it’s see it you not see that helicopter what the fuck proper there it just spawned in that popin is fucking horrible and this time it elements all new rendering lighting fixtures appear at this like can i just ask okay inform me why that light is coming from okay it can be like you understand what like you know if persons like God Ray’s God Ray’s out of the fucking earth that is so folks like what’s the floor will not be why is the ground i am blowing oh my god what is this fucking guy and this time it points all new rendering lighting fixtures and panorama technological know-how first of path that you can play this solo alright you’ll be able to be you can be who you want exploring a big world doing quests experiencing a narrative and leveling up we like those things about our video games too it wouldn’t have it another means in actual fact you’ll by no means even see a server while you play so realistically speakme oh appear the server crashed tremendous time it cup yeah it relatively cannot go any minimize severely fallout 76 is through some distance the biggest undertaking that now we have ever performed it encompasses materials of the studio in Maryland Austin Montreal for Bethesda sport Studios as good as we’re getting quite a few aid from different parts of Bethesda one of the vital pleasant men and women at ed software arcane ZeniMax online and so it really is a tremendous challenge not just for us but all elements of Bethesda no no it can be not and if that many studios contributed to making this mess then perhaps that used to be a part of the predicament why did it take that many to create this piece together fallout four asset blip considering that that’s what that is provide an explanation for it to us gigantic patches that hardly fix some thing it is obtained so many technical problems it can be amazing Bethesda I’ve web I’ve there may be truthfully I’ve this clip proper here this is this encapsulate psmith is de this is without doubt one of the most blurring undercooked worm crammed lazy efforts with the aid of Bethesda and as long as i will be able to remember you sir I just bought a sweet roll hell yeah they would need to double your stamina they usually desire a fast travel again right here at least OG we see a participant here you higher be competent to move bro i’m continuously competent be ready to move at all times it comes by means of a hundred% as a speedy effortless money snatch to any person with a mind it takes expertise of the Fallout fan base except but this did not even trouble to decorate it up a little bit bit no rather it shows up tremendously late belligerent and shit-faced inebriated to the survival get together you understand that asshole that manages to break it for everyone 76 is here little one ready to social gathering no boy come on let’s go back know the survival occasion is over howdy did you just log out no no would you just glitch no you bros you all out fallout all out 70 triumphant first-rate – it’s idiot no all right it’s night he is asking me for money now look nobody plans survival games in or you are late to the party it can be what about mutters oh yeah now combat Royale fuck is that fuck that man he is a fine man he does not have you ever go residence go home touch me do not touch me cook dinner come on I are not able to don’t forget this is the identical studio with a view to cancel the strong-watching preto due to great issues and production cut-off dates yet turns around and places out this excellent sign for this with probably the most worst bugs and outright admitting it can be now not even completed of their freaking press free up and their computer virus record reads like a fucking novel no no this isn’t ideal this is not our job that’s your job your job is to unlock a completed game not a opening factor to a sport so that we will fix it for you our video games often at this point have numerous techniques which might be working but we’ve not quite gelled all of them together rather the way the end customers see it and definitely we did file these malicious program issues to you three years ago and fallout four you just ported it proper back in right here nonetheless damaged although the group fix them with patches you could not be equipped to do the equal and they literally reproduction pasted this sport so tough that that trojan horse from fallout four exists in this sport and it is fucking over 1000’s of people when you consider that you can not patch it what do you imply you can’t patch up you cannot use the fix from fallout 4 and fallout 76 which was once a participant patch Bethesda is mindful of this worm and it has existed for two years in Fallout 4 and they not ever constant it and it is on this recreation that too I’ve grow to be Windigo man all proper you’ll you can be who you want exploring a huge world doing quests however that’s executed this isn’t early entry this can be a full retail recreation that clearly has no proper to be bought at these costs that you’re promoting and now you have to agree considering the fact that it’s already reportedly right down to 40 after which by the point this review it is like a 35 I’ve under no circumstances noticeable a sport dropped that rough and speedy in price in ceaselessly if ever that means they already knew it wasn’t worth that shit and folks like me who paid for to persons such as you who pay for guts we paid them to beta experiment their game we anticipate triple a satisfactory or at least finished pleasant from a company we keep in high regard and that i on no account not ever want to see them pull some thing like this again I I learn on the net that our video games have had a few bugs I did I learn it on the internet so it is actual and that in many instances it would not just work anyway certain variations it is excellent the graphics are awful it permits us to have sixteen instances the element sixteen occasions the detail sixteen instances the element I was once announcing sixteen occasions the detail yeah I used to be saying some thing 16 times the detail I was once definitely pronouncing whatever that is for sure the sport is actually destabilizing in front of me there may be a glitch in the matrix its action oh my god it’s just getting worse in each door oh however God the game is destabilizing sixteen instances the element i’m jogging into an invisible wall correct now all of this simply works it’s no longer i’m not kidding and again it just works in even view far-off climate programs throughout the map and i’m worn out of it the computer interface it’s shit there was zero effort put into that poor and the engine it is a literal fossil the sport on pc has such awkward default enter instructions its dumbfounding in an RPG where you are fiddling round along with your inventory much more so than than fallout 4 and also you cannot pause the article for the reason that of all their gathering and crafting and within the are living survival recreation now that damn factor was applied to enhance a player’s exceptional of lifestyles ctrl + tab doesn’t do some thing yeah does ctrl tab and that is sure I would like to join the staff now you invited me to alternate within the manipulate tab you have to become a member of our staff they simply basically did the identical from fallout 4 the same crafting the identical constructing with a few extra abnormal action options right here and there this game is actually all of the weakest points of fallout 4 repackage together as its core expertise does that sound enjoyable to you the shitty filler quests the busy work the fumbling around and a strategy to small stock all made worse by the introduced hunger and dehydration considerations there must be residing this factor proper additionally we have to heal we did not even drop I bought two pieces of dogmeat and that i bought that is it that’s off the dead dog lets off the dead dog gunpowder and why don’t our there no interesting human NPCs it contributes to creating real world feel empty and shallow though it teases you with a mayor a hunts grasp oh however of path they may be robots just of course you’re fortunate they help us get equipped for the upcoming flood of keen tourists and i am now not the whole 5% off the cost of all points of interest we now have four major points of interest around here wavy Willard’s no doing variety no no no you mess with the lore anyway to get this recreation to occur you mess with the Brotherhood lore you may have messed with the creature lore you’ve got messed with the Enclave and the timeline you are clearly inclined to bend matters and create new things but you refuse to place in human NPCs with intriguing reports given that of a massively misguided directed from possibly Todd that every human he desired you to meet can be a participant however there is one huge difference with this game it can be that each of these characters is an actual person well guess what players suck gamer’s don’t play games like npcs and they may be able to on no account be substitutes for them chiefly on account that people are shitty assholes in games with the aid of nature they do and say shitty matters they lose their fucking cool please do not behave as Bethesda wishes them to and none of this cross their mind considering that they could not even be bothered to position adequate push-to-speak feature at launch ELC which is the fuck they the game with the open mic from the damn personality creator they do not even help you get out of the vault before somebody’s yelling racist shit respiration into the mic like a moron or their mother is heard yelling at them to wash their fucking room that is fucking ridiculous what’s the who the fuck is speaking right now shut the fuck up tell your mom to shut up looking to fucking play listen right here you little stop fucking masturbating and switch your mic off this indicates you ways little proposal went into this it’s all downhill from there the opening of the vault it feels weak when it’s presupposed to be this epic moment it appears like rust crap i am opening compared to yes okay when you get available in the market there may be consistent popping so it is for that rendering and landscape engine horrible draw distances there’s an unsightly blur off in the distance irrespective of how powerful my computer is and it is empower ‘fl movement pace is relatively tied to border cost some persons document that it even makes the motion ill to play with this totally limited field of view and bobbing head made even worse in third-man or woman and particularly once more there is an issue with the engine they can not even quite comfortably repair to put sufficient in fov slider yeah there is zero problems with this engine all right um the satisfactory strategy to alternate the fov is to move inside of your consumer account files my video games and fought seventy six find the fought 76 I and i and do a replica paste and then rename the reproduction customized simply add the phrase custom like that now I can not do it once more on the grounds that I already have one however you then just identify yours customized and then what you wish to have to do is go into the custom ini and these are the two traces you need the lighting fixtures bloom effect is ridiculous guys it offers everyone keratoconus a degenerative eye that I actually was diagnosed with and suffer from where lights get blurred and they have got like these halos and lots of spill to them and bleed outcome so watching at fallout is how I truely see most often this game actually gives you a simulation of getting a scientific i what the fuck it seems that the shadows are based on the place i’m looking video on how to get unlimited grenades and unlimited XP so and it will not stop going up fucking unlimited however yeah see i’m going right right here showing you you could go to each of these wires don’t work that way oh yeah the sport’s story which there is not any story is brought to you in probably the most boring static holotapes so you engage of their story we brought a lot of holotape to this sport you can hear plenty of audio you will of path be capable to it so that the reports absolutely wealthy in a way considering that you’ll be able to be able to hear it as you continue to quest along and enjoy the experience in a technique we have not carried out earlier than oh your acquaintances and random strangers are screaming on your ear so you barely even work here with them they’re saying I do not know how you are making ammo I believe you desire a tinker and these supposed quests first of direction you can play this solo my god I was once describing this recreation to a buddy and i spotted simply how mundane these quests have been I used to be like hi there man yeah I needed to select up ten beer bottles turn a water valve which failed to do something cool like fill the park with radiated water or something after which I had to kill a crap exceptional satisfactory genius time you keep thinking that it’s gonna get higher it is gonna go someplace the questions gonna get better your degree 10 it can be gonna get better degree 20 is it better but level 30 better please degree 60 oh my god why is it no longer better he’ll Dell even made it to 100 and fucking 40 and it in no way acquired any better it in no way does all that occurs is you get fairly cooler loot to play the equal terrible gameplay loop again and again awful pics awful UI awful quests terrible gameplay loops terrible enemy AI awful and that’s to not say that the gameplay can not be exciting once in a while along with your buddies it can be a stressful second while you see an awfully high-level gigantic monster on the earth and taking one down with the crew it can be enjoyable but these moments are few and a ways between and are not particularly all that high-quality after its newness wears off by and large because the combat is so shallow can they are saying they made these guys like pleasant shit Raiders are replaced with the boring scorched zombies I believe they are forever caught in here but other than that the style of enemies is without a doubt notably good most effective ruined by the horrible AI it is mind-dead god-awful standing round like statues caught in poses or enemies popping correct in entrance of you fuck did you simply spawn correct in entrance of me but perhaps that is all of the intention maybe the complexity of the AI in fallout seventy six is so first-class that it is borderline self-mindful and the AI effortlessly just desires to kill itself for being on this game stating that this can be a $60 recreation with shit like this okay did this this is my point this proper right here Wow seem chat is still oh my goodness Wow what about what about just like the super gun right here nope still nonetheless the difficulty bats has been bastardized to check out to fit in here it should had been unnoticed entirely it is what made fight in prior Fallout games tolerable but it surely’s oftentimes less accurate than just firing your self considering the fact that it will go from like ninety five percentage all the way down to zero in an on the spot without good judgment real-time bats it is simply dumb and i’m so unwell and worn out of the Bethesda fanboys attacking me on the grounds that i do not like this game and that i think Fallout multiplayer deserved significantly better painting me as a troll on YouTube immediately to Todd or to Pete conveniently since I located it boring in one early session however Joe it can be fun with pals frankly any game is extra fun with friends so do not trot out that tired excuse to disregard its flaws and paint me as a villain i do not I critically should not have some form of vendetta to ruin this sport I wanted it to be excellent to be better than what we bought I paid $200 but it has just method too many problems and i see it for what it’s my personal favorite part of fallout 76 is when they create their own enjoyable a giant part of the sport is meant to be PvP it is only awful and execution here it desperately desires a whole redesign and our PvP targeted provider to work if n if the game is meant to be a co-op expertise to take down fallout monsters with your acquaintances then let or not it’s that but if it was once supposed to be PvP as well that some serious work needs to go in right here cuz everyone ignores it i do not even care o.K. Let me show off my PvP so dumb on this game i have a bounty of a hundred and twelve caps right now would not topic that i’m desired or some thing if I if I die lose these caps but except I fucking go and get shot back by means of this man or woman even though I want a PvP it doesn’t matter most robust shotgun in the entire King imaginable and i cannot kill this individual I do like one damages shot i am got bounty for attacking him up to a hundred and twelve calves and there is nothing i will do except he clearly fucking shoots me again now that I simply have a bounty and if I die I lose all those caps there is nothing I would do about it so if he shoots me but oh no someone’s opposed and i will be able to kill them in a single shot or not I would get the injury worm on a participant I ok now I acquired I got the damage trojan horse on a player so i don’t i don’t even understand i don’t even comprehend how you can handle that this game is too damn buggy it is just you suck at a such a disadvantage to fight your enemy’s gonna respawn correct subsequent to you again and again striking you into a demise spiral loop it’s atrocious put out of your mind it i’m accomplished the top recreation it is non-existent yes shedding nukes may also be cool as hell what have I completed that is what you get for telling me to gather cans motherfucker that is what you get well feed the humans you know what I spent them dying but even that has disorders you type new codes which can drop by way of the world or perhaps it failed to drop through the arena and it is just that worrying beeping even when there’s no codes it makes no gameplay feel anyway you kind these codes you drop the nukes and then you definately inform the new crop field but you don’t even need to farm those codes anymore when you consider that these idiots don’t trade the codes whenever a nuke is launched so the code is the same and all of the work you probably did to find that code means nothing when anybody else simply post the code to learn it so that you can simply launch it with no need to do any of that shit it is long gone there may be nonetheless beat me there’s still fuckin pygmy whats up hey the place did you get that new this is penny out bloodless do you telling me that i’ve been out here for hours days or don’t fucking map for the fucking correct go peasant get fucking read did you waste your time however watch out to now not drop a couple of nuke at a time or it will crash the Bethesda servers if truth be told you’ll be able to under no circumstances even see a server while you play your ultimate boss is a scorch beast queen I imply Skyrim dragon however even that’s mainly a enormous waste of time legendary drops are so totally random so that you get a lone one megastar piece of legendary for your entire rough work and past that there’s nothing at this factor within the recreation you’ll be killing glowing loss of life claws like they may be nothing oh my god I wrecked it simplest life deflating the entire undertaking in the sport happens means too speedy your hardest enemies assault Franz possibly mirelurk queens are more difficult to kill definite but once more the sport finds a approach to fuck that up hiya howdy this just works it can be no longer i’m now not kidding look at that 4 bus kiss chat get in on that for a bus yeah let’s doing it for me oh there she bought me get oh there goes the help and again it just works so does the game do anything well good sure i would say probably three matters complete the new perks system it can be sort of interesting but I cannot particularly say better per se it’s simply exciting it’s like playing should you get card packs and gum which scared the hell out of me into considering that we’d be shopping these packs as frankly it seems developed for that purpose however nope they’re simply given to you at intervals perhaps it’s intelligent to keep it that means if they weren’t aspiring to do some thing one of a kind let’s hope it stays that method but at later levels even with that you simply get annoyed regularly swapping your perks for stuff like normal things like lock-deciding on given that it’s the one technique to do it and if you screwed up your stats while leveling get this too bad you can’t admire at all although I completed the sport and i hit degree 50 and like you get stopped getting perk points at level 50 not being capable to respec like to change your stats it can be such a tough method because i have so many perk facets and so many matters I want to do but there may be like actually no appreciate within the recreation you just caught with anything aspects you get so should you like her just a informal player and you do not feel this out earlier than you go and do it you get screwed like if I have been to only have 5 agility i would be screwed someone else at this point consider this game was once not well suggestion out and was rushed every game that we will we are taking the entire suggestions that now we have gotten from our fans that are effective and they provide it all to us whether it’s good dangerous anything that is what makes us better builders and so reading all that suggestions from our previous video games what they already consider about fallout 76 fairly informs what we’re doing what we do in the future go the place you want what do anything you need I was gonna say the tune subsequent but fairly it can be only one stunning track that I rather love k and the map the map it’s stuffed with exact areas and lots of kind probably greater than some other Fallout sport ever the sport is colorful in ingredients now considered one of my colossal criticisms of Fallout 4 used to be how drab it used to be and this cements that it is only significantly better with just a little of color but what is the factor when the whole thing else fails to are living up round it it is like a amazing wealthy child sandbox with just a bunch of broken lame-ass toys to play with him there after which it has the gall to ask you to purchase microtransactions but what the fuck is this or are you fucking serious a paint set 1800 atoms for fucking blue you need me to spend $18 for fucking blue what is this evolved no Bethesda No zero effort here like the rest of the sport but laziness even extends to what they need you to buy and microtransactions it’s astounding you guys are fucking incompetent I hate this sport and that i barely desired to play any further of it i’m sorry the overview took goodbye however i’m gonna recall this this it can be it can be simply terrible it is boring there’s nothing worse than boring I almost have a hilariously dangerous sport than a fucking boring game and that is what that is it in general deserves probably as if you’re crazy you could supply it a type for those who literally love whatever certainly not once more and i hope this sends a message but this does now on become aware of and recognize the trolls did not do it the YouTube provocateurs failed to do it however that did it and now i am going from insanely occupied with megastar subject and Elder Scrolls 6 to deathly afraid if Bethesda used to be willing to position this out with out apology this must be a serious warning call for this corporation there’s no love no care no effort here at all an asset flip fuck fucking cat toes you’re gonna you are gonna put tattoos in my face on the end of the evaluation for this much money anything that was once free and a long way for I can’t I cannot I cannot with this no terrible i want my money back okay am i able to nonetheless get my money back does anybody wish to buy up a fallout 76 what number of any individual did you waste your time you’re now not fucked it up

[batterymonster2021]

Fallout 76 Angry Review

New Post has been published on https://hititem.kr/fallout-76-angry-review-2/

Fallout 76 Angry Review

You fucked it up by means of now you know that this sport sucks I might barely carry myself to play it in order to conclude this evaluate i’ve never in no way obvious this type of piss-bad effort from Bethesda a recreation manufacturer i like in a door you would name me a Bethesda fanboy I make whole game days for his or her releases and no I truly failed to get a review reproduction or a free box set I in reality purchased the 200 greenback collector’s variation with my possess cash long in the past most often for the helmet but I had a small hope that Bethesda would put out the game they promised to us and conceal up so much go the place you want watch do anything you need this is the Golden Age of game make the player proud song language make your self proud that you simply made it make your player proud that you simply purchased it it works it absolutely responds to move the place you need do some thing make your player proud well I was once lied to we were all lied to and betrayed betrayal yeah that is all I wanted shut the door fuck this position shut the door i have not felt one of these massive disparity between what we have been instructed and what we bought due to the fact aliens colonial Marines and no man’s sky bethesda has unequivocally failed at what it set out to do right here in spite of whether you for my part like it or no longer on account that one man’s trash is a further man’s treasure and trust me this is trash by using their possess words they fail and this time it points all new rendering lights and landscape science rendering quite you get here it is proper over there there it’s see it you not see that helicopter what the fuck proper there it just spawned in that popin is fucking horrible and this time it elements all new rendering lighting fixtures appear at this like can i just ask okay inform me why that light is coming from okay it can be like you understand what like you know if persons like God Ray’s God Ray’s out of the fucking earth that is so folks like what’s the floor will not be why is the ground i am blowing oh my god what is this fucking guy and this time it points all new rendering lighting fixtures and panorama technological know-how first of path that you can play this solo alright you’ll be able to be you can be who you want exploring a big world doing quests experiencing a narrative and leveling up we like those things about our video games too it wouldn’t have it another means in actual fact you’ll by no means even see a server while you play so realistically speakme oh appear the server crashed tremendous time it cup yeah it relatively cannot go any minimize severely fallout 76 is through some distance the biggest undertaking that now we have ever performed it encompasses materials of the studio in Maryland Austin Montreal for Bethesda sport Studios as good as we’re getting quite a few aid from different parts of Bethesda one of the vital pleasant men and women at ed software arcane ZeniMax online and so it really is a tremendous challenge not just for us but all elements of Bethesda no no it can be not and if that many studios contributed to making this mess then perhaps that used to be a part of the predicament why did it take that many to create this piece together fallout four asset blip considering that that’s what that is provide an explanation for it to us gigantic patches that hardly fix some thing it is obtained so many technical problems it can be amazing Bethesda I’ve web I’ve there may be truthfully I’ve this clip proper here this is this encapsulate psmith is de this is without doubt one of the most blurring undercooked worm crammed lazy efforts with the aid of Bethesda and as long as i will be able to remember you sir I just bought a sweet roll hell yeah they would need to double your stamina they usually desire a fast travel again right here at least OG we see a participant here you higher be competent to move bro i’m continuously competent be ready to move at all times it comes by means of a hundred% as a speedy effortless money snatch to any person with a mind it takes expertise of the Fallout fan base except but this did not even trouble to decorate it up a little bit bit no rather it shows up tremendously late belligerent and shit-faced inebriated to the survival get together you understand that asshole that manages to break it for everyone 76 is here little one ready to social gathering no boy come on let’s go back know the survival occasion is over howdy did you just log out no no would you just glitch no you bros you all out fallout all out 70 triumphant first-rate – it’s idiot no all right it’s night he is asking me for money now look nobody plans survival games in or you are late to the party it can be what about mutters oh yeah now combat Royale fuck is that fuck that man he is a fine man he does not have you ever go residence go home touch me do not touch me cook dinner come on I are not able to don’t forget this is the identical studio with a view to cancel the strong-watching preto due to great issues and production cut-off dates yet turns around and places out this excellent sign for this with probably the most worst bugs and outright admitting it can be now not even completed of their freaking press free up and their computer virus record reads like a fucking novel no no this isn’t ideal this is not our job that’s your job your job is to unlock a completed game not a opening factor to a sport so that we will fix it for you our video games often at this point have numerous techniques which might be working but we’ve not quite gelled all of them together rather the way the end customers see it and definitely we did file these malicious program issues to you three years ago and fallout four you just ported it proper back in right here nonetheless damaged although the group fix them with patches you could not be equipped to do the equal and they literally reproduction pasted this sport so tough that that trojan horse from fallout four exists in this sport and it is fucking over 1000’s of people when you consider that you can not patch it what do you imply you can’t patch up you cannot use the fix from fallout 4 and fallout 76 which was once a participant patch Bethesda is mindful of this worm and it has existed for two years in Fallout 4 and they not ever constant it and it is on this recreation that too I’ve grow to be Windigo man all proper you’ll you can be who you want exploring a huge world doing quests however that’s executed this isn’t early entry this can be a full retail recreation that clearly has no proper to be bought at these costs that you’re promoting and now you have to agree considering the fact that it’s already reportedly right down to 40 after which by the point this review it is like a 35 I’ve under no circumstances noticeable a sport dropped that rough and speedy in price in ceaselessly if ever that means they already knew it wasn’t worth that shit and folks like me who paid for to persons such as you who pay for guts we paid them to beta experiment their game we anticipate triple a satisfactory or at least finished pleasant from a company we keep in high regard and that i on no account not ever want to see them pull some thing like this again I I learn on the net that our video games have had a few bugs I did I learn it on the internet so it is actual and that in many instances it would not just work anyway certain variations it is excellent the graphics are awful it permits us to have sixteen instances the element sixteen occasions the detail sixteen instances the element I was once announcing sixteen occasions the detail yeah I used to be saying some thing 16 times the detail I was once definitely pronouncing whatever that is for sure the sport is actually destabilizing in front of me there may be a glitch in the matrix its action oh my god it’s just getting worse in each door oh however God the game is destabilizing sixteen instances the element i’m jogging into an invisible wall correct now all of this simply works it’s no longer i’m not kidding and again it just works in even view far-off climate programs throughout the map and i’m worn out of it the computer interface it’s shit there was zero effort put into that poor and the engine it is a literal fossil the sport on pc has such awkward default enter instructions its dumbfounding in an RPG where you are fiddling round along with your inventory much more so than than fallout 4 and also you cannot pause the article for the reason that of all their gathering and crafting and within the are living survival recreation now that damn factor was applied to enhance a player’s exceptional of lifestyles ctrl + tab doesn’t do some thing yeah does ctrl tab and that is sure I would like to join the staff now you invited me to alternate within the manipulate tab you have to become a member of our staff they simply basically did the identical from fallout 4 the same crafting the identical constructing with a few extra abnormal action options right here and there this game is actually all of the weakest points of fallout 4 repackage together as its core expertise does that sound enjoyable to you the shitty filler quests the busy work the fumbling around and a strategy to small stock all made worse by the introduced hunger and dehydration considerations there must be residing this factor proper additionally we have to heal we did not even drop I bought two pieces of dogmeat and that i bought that is it that’s off the dead dog lets off the dead dog gunpowder and why don’t our there no interesting human NPCs it contributes to creating real world feel empty and shallow though it teases you with a mayor a hunts grasp oh however of path they may be robots just of course you’re fortunate they help us get equipped for the upcoming flood of keen tourists and i am now not the whole 5% off the cost of all points of interest we now have four major points of interest around here wavy Willard’s no doing variety no no no you mess with the lore anyway to get this recreation to occur you mess with the Brotherhood lore you may have messed with the creature lore you’ve got messed with the Enclave and the timeline you are clearly inclined to bend matters and create new things but you refuse to place in human NPCs with intriguing reports given that of a massively misguided directed from possibly Todd that every human he desired you to meet can be a participant however there is one huge difference with this game it can be that each of these characters is an actual person well guess what players suck gamer’s don’t play games like npcs and they may be able to on no account be substitutes for them chiefly on account that people are shitty assholes in games with the aid of nature they do and say shitty matters they lose their fucking cool please do not behave as Bethesda wishes them to and none of this cross their mind considering that they could not even be bothered to position adequate push-to-speak feature at launch ELC which is the fuck they the game with the open mic from the damn personality creator they do not even help you get out of the vault before somebody’s yelling racist shit respiration into the mic like a moron or their mother is heard yelling at them to wash their fucking room that is fucking ridiculous what’s the who the fuck is speaking right now shut the fuck up tell your mom to shut up looking to fucking play listen right here you little stop fucking masturbating and switch your mic off this indicates you ways little proposal went into this it’s all downhill from there the opening of the vault it feels weak when it’s presupposed to be this epic moment it appears like rust crap i am opening compared to yes okay when you get available in the market there may be consistent popping so it is for that rendering and landscape engine horrible draw distances there’s an unsightly blur off in the distance irrespective of how powerful my computer is and it is empower ‘fl movement pace is relatively tied to border cost some persons document that it even makes the motion ill to play with this totally limited field of view and bobbing head made even worse in third-man or woman and particularly once more there is an issue with the engine they can not even quite comfortably repair to put sufficient in fov slider yeah there is zero problems with this engine all right um the satisfactory strategy to alternate the fov is to move inside of your consumer account files my video games and fought seventy six find the fought 76 I and i and do a replica paste and then rename the reproduction customized simply add the phrase custom like that now I can not do it once more on the grounds that I already have one however you then just identify yours customized and then what you wish to have to do is go into the custom ini and these are the two traces you need the lighting fixtures bloom effect is ridiculous guys it offers everyone keratoconus a degenerative eye that I actually was diagnosed with and suffer from where lights get blurred and they have got like these halos and lots of spill to them and bleed outcome so watching at fallout is how I truely see most often this game actually gives you a simulation of getting a scientific i what the fuck it seems that the shadows are based on the place i’m looking video on how to get unlimited grenades and unlimited XP so and it will not stop going up fucking unlimited however yeah see i’m going right right here showing you you could go to each of these wires don’t work that way oh yeah the sport’s story which there is not any story is brought to you in probably the most boring static holotapes so you engage of their story we brought a lot of holotape to this sport you can hear plenty of audio you will of path be capable to it so that the reports absolutely wealthy in a way considering that you’ll be able to be able to hear it as you continue to quest along and enjoy the experience in a technique we have not carried out earlier than oh your acquaintances and random strangers are screaming on your ear so you barely even work here with them they’re saying I do not know how you are making ammo I believe you desire a tinker and these supposed quests first of direction you can play this solo my god I was once describing this recreation to a buddy and i spotted simply how mundane these quests have been I used to be like hi there man yeah I needed to select up ten beer bottles turn a water valve which failed to do something cool like fill the park with radiated water or something after which I had to kill a crap exceptional satisfactory genius time you keep thinking that it’s gonna get higher it is gonna go someplace the questions gonna get better your degree 10 it can be gonna get better degree 20 is it better but level 30 better please degree 60 oh my god why is it no longer better he’ll Dell even made it to 100 and fucking 40 and it in no way acquired any better it in no way does all that occurs is you get fairly cooler loot to play the equal terrible gameplay loop again and again awful pics awful UI awful quests terrible gameplay loops terrible enemy AI awful and that’s to not say that the gameplay can not be exciting once in a while along with your buddies it can be a stressful second while you see an awfully high-level gigantic monster on the earth and taking one down with the crew it can be enjoyable but these moments are few and a ways between and are not particularly all that high-quality after its newness wears off by and large because the combat is so shallow can they are saying they made these guys like pleasant shit Raiders are replaced with the boring scorched zombies I believe they are forever caught in here but other than that the style of enemies is without a doubt notably good most effective ruined by the horrible AI it is mind-dead god-awful standing round like statues caught in poses or enemies popping correct in entrance of you fuck did you simply spawn correct in entrance of me but perhaps that is all of the intention maybe the complexity of the AI in fallout seventy six is so first-class that it is borderline self-mindful and the AI effortlessly just desires to kill itself for being on this game stating that this can be a $60 recreation with shit like this okay did this this is my point this proper right here Wow seem chat is still oh my goodness Wow what about what about just like the super gun right here nope still nonetheless the difficulty bats has been bastardized to check out to fit in here it should had been unnoticed entirely it is what made fight in prior Fallout games tolerable but it surely’s oftentimes less accurate than just firing your self considering the fact that it will go from like ninety five percentage all the way down to zero in an on the spot without good judgment real-time bats it is simply dumb and i’m so unwell and worn out of the Bethesda fanboys attacking me on the grounds that i do not like this game and that i think Fallout multiplayer deserved significantly better painting me as a troll on YouTube immediately to Todd or to Pete conveniently since I located it boring in one early session however Joe it can be fun with pals frankly any game is extra fun with friends so do not trot out that tired excuse to disregard its flaws and paint me as a villain i do not I critically should not have some form of vendetta to ruin this sport I wanted it to be excellent to be better than what we bought I paid $200 but it has just method too many problems and i see it for what it’s my personal favorite part of fallout 76 is when they create their own enjoyable a giant part of the sport is meant to be PvP it is only awful and execution here it desperately desires a whole redesign and our PvP targeted provider to work if n if the game is meant to be a co-op expertise to take down fallout monsters with your acquaintances then let or not it’s that but if it was once supposed to be PvP as well that some serious work needs to go in right here cuz everyone ignores it i do not even care o.K. Let me show off my PvP so dumb on this game i have a bounty of a hundred and twelve caps right now would not topic that i’m desired or some thing if I if I die lose these caps but except I fucking go and get shot back by means of this man or woman even though I want a PvP it doesn’t matter most robust shotgun in the entire King imaginable and i cannot kill this individual I do like one damages shot i am got bounty for attacking him up to a hundred and twelve calves and there is nothing i will do except he clearly fucking shoots me again now that I simply have a bounty and if I die I lose all those caps there is nothing I would do about it so if he shoots me but oh no someone’s opposed and i will be able to kill them in a single shot or not I would get the injury worm on a participant I ok now I acquired I got the damage trojan horse on a player so i don’t i don’t even understand i don’t even comprehend how you can handle that this game is too damn buggy it is just you suck at a such a disadvantage to fight your enemy’s gonna respawn correct subsequent to you again and again striking you into a demise spiral loop it’s atrocious put out of your mind it i’m accomplished the top recreation it is non-existent yes shedding nukes may also be cool as hell what have I completed that is what you get for telling me to gather cans motherfucker that is what you get well feed the humans you know what I spent them dying but even that has disorders you type new codes which can drop by way of the world or perhaps it failed to drop through the arena and it is just that worrying beeping even when there’s no codes it makes no gameplay feel anyway you kind these codes you drop the nukes and then you definately inform the new crop field but you don’t even need to farm those codes anymore when you consider that these idiots don’t trade the codes whenever a nuke is launched so the code is the same and all of the work you probably did to find that code means nothing when anybody else simply post the code to learn it so that you can simply launch it with no need to do any of that shit it is long gone there may be nonetheless beat me there’s still fuckin pygmy whats up hey the place did you get that new this is penny out bloodless do you telling me that i’ve been out here for hours days or don’t fucking map for the fucking correct go peasant get fucking read did you waste your time however watch out to now not drop a couple of nuke at a time or it will crash the Bethesda servers if truth be told you’ll be able to under no circumstances even see a server while you play your ultimate boss is a scorch beast queen I imply Skyrim dragon however even that’s mainly a enormous waste of time legendary drops are so totally random so that you get a lone one megastar piece of legendary for your entire rough work and past that there’s nothing at this factor within the recreation you’ll be killing glowing loss of life claws like they may be nothing oh my god I wrecked it simplest life deflating the entire undertaking in the sport happens means too speedy your hardest enemies assault Franz possibly mirelurk queens are more difficult to kill definite but once more the sport finds a approach to fuck that up hiya howdy this just works it can be no longer i’m now not kidding look at that 4 bus kiss chat get in on that for a bus yeah let’s doing it for me oh there she bought me get oh there goes the help and again it just works so does the game do anything well good sure i would say probably three matters complete the new perks system it can be sort of interesting but I cannot particularly say better per se it’s simply exciting it’s like playing should you get card packs and gum which scared the hell out of me into considering that we’d be shopping these packs as frankly it seems developed for that purpose however nope they’re simply given to you at intervals perhaps it’s intelligent to keep it that means if they weren’t aspiring to do some thing one of a kind let’s hope it stays that method but at later levels even with that you simply get annoyed regularly swapping your perks for stuff like normal things like lock-deciding on given that it’s the one technique to do it and if you screwed up your stats while leveling get this too bad you can’t admire at all although I completed the sport and i hit degree 50 and like you get stopped getting perk points at level 50 not being capable to respec like to change your stats it can be such a tough method because i have so many perk facets and so many matters I want to do but there may be like actually no appreciate within the recreation you just caught with anything aspects you get so should you like her just a informal player and you do not feel this out earlier than you go and do it you get screwed like if I have been to only have 5 agility i would be screwed someone else at this point consider this game was once not well suggestion out and was rushed every game that we will we are taking the entire suggestions that now we have gotten from our fans that are effective and they provide it all to us whether it’s good dangerous anything that is what makes us better builders and so reading all that suggestions from our previous video games what they already consider about fallout 76 fairly informs what we’re doing what we do in the future go the place you want what do anything you need I was gonna say the tune subsequent but fairly it can be only one stunning track that I rather love k and the map the map it’s stuffed with exact areas and lots of kind probably greater than some other Fallout sport ever the sport is colorful in ingredients now considered one of my colossal criticisms of Fallout 4 used to be how drab it used to be and this cements that it is only significantly better with just a little of color but what is the factor when the whole thing else fails to are living up round it it is like a amazing wealthy child sandbox with just a bunch of broken lame-ass toys to play with him there after which it has the gall to ask you to purchase microtransactions but what the fuck is this or are you fucking serious a paint set 1800 atoms for fucking blue you need me to spend $18 for fucking blue what is this evolved no Bethesda No zero effort here like the rest of the sport but laziness even extends to what they need you to buy and microtransactions it’s astounding you guys are fucking incompetent I hate this sport and that i barely desired to play any further of it i’m sorry the overview took goodbye however i’m gonna recall this this it can be it can be simply terrible it is boring there’s nothing worse than boring I almost have a hilariously dangerous sport than a fucking boring game and that is what that is it in general deserves probably as if you’re crazy you could supply it a type for those who literally love whatever certainly not once more and i hope this sends a message but this does now on become aware of and recognize the trolls did not do it the YouTube provocateurs failed to do it however that did it and now i am going from insanely occupied with megastar subject and Elder Scrolls 6 to deathly afraid if Bethesda used to be willing to position this out with out apology this must be a serious warning call for this corporation there’s no love no care no effort here at all an asset flip fuck fucking cat toes you’re gonna you are gonna put tattoos in my face on the end of the evaluation for this much money anything that was once free and a long way for I can’t I cannot I cannot with this no terrible i want my money back okay am i able to nonetheless get my money back does anybody wish to buy up a fallout 76 what number of any individual did you waste your time you’re now not fucked it up

[pullsarah]

10 Reasons Why I Disliked The New “Beauty and the Beast”

Ok, let’s start with warnings.  This may include spoilers.  This may also include a lot of opinion, which you are welcome to disagree with.  Here we go!

1. I did not like Emma Watson as Belle *gasp* *faint* *cling madly to collection of Harry Potter DVDs*  She has a good voice for a pop artist or in a more modern type of production, with a straight, clear tone and easy control; however, I did not think this suited the character of Belle and it was weirdly juxtaposed with a cast of actors who all had very different vocal abilities.  Some seemed to have operatic, chorally-trained voices while others had more lazy, jazzy voices...it just didn’t mesh well for me.  Mainly, though, I did not think that Emma Watson had the vocal power needed to really capture Belle’s character, especially when she runs onto the hillside, arms open, and (in an only slightly louder voice) sings, “I want adventure in the great, wide somewhere/I want it more than I can stand!”  That moment is a great example of what sets Belle apart from all the other sweet, cute girls in her town and should be a verse that gives an audience the chills.  I did not get the chills.  I wanted loud vibrato, or Broadway-style belting, or something really bold for that moment, but instead it fell flat.  In addition, Emma Watson looks really, really young, like 12-14 young, which threw me because Gaston (who is played by a 38-year-old man and looks like it) tries to convince Belle to marry him based on the argument that Belle will become a spinster.  Perhaps if she were older that argument would make more sense, but instead it just comes off as very child-molester-y...but I suppose that fits in with the whole theme of 18th-century France (when middle-aged men were still legally marrying children).

2. I did not see the movie in 3-D and it was obvious.  What I mean by that is that there were scenes which were obviously designed for the 3-D effects, so when they were shown in 2-D they ended up looking blurry and confusing.  The best example would be when Belle is first brought to her bedroom suite.  Based on the music and the characters’ dialogue, I could tell that the room was supposed to appear breathtaking, with painted ceilings and pure gold details.  Instead, it was mostly a blue blur with weird golden tentacles.  In addition, most of the CGI seemed oddly...flat.  The Beast’s face seemed very strange throughout the entire movie, perhaps because the details were better presented in the 3-D version, and the wolves looked all but realistic (and definitely not scary).  Speaking of the CGI...

3. What is the point of remaking an animated movie as a live-action movie if Disney still just used animation for most of the characters during most of the movie?  Ok, ok, I get it, CGI is much different than the old outline-and-color-in animation used in 1991...which is why I was horribly disappointed with the quality of the 2017 version.  In my opinion (which, remember, is what this all is) the CGI was TERRIBLE.  I could barely make out Lumiere’s face most of the time, which probably wouldn’t have mattered because Cogsworth and Mrs. Potts could be seen quite well and had little to no expression compared to...well anything other than a slightly-more-than-inanimate object!  The excellent voice acting done by the big name actors lassoed into this project (Ian McKellen, Emma Thompson, Ewan McGregor) was deflated because the characters appeared with flat affectations except for some eye movements.  But, wait, isn’t that because they were all slowly turning more and more into objects, therefore becoming less like people with each fallen petal?  Even if that were a good enough reason to have main characters devoid of facial expression (it is not) I’d still like to talk about that, too...

4. For those who have seen the stage production of Beauty and the Beast, there were clearly some ideas taken from it for the 2017 movie which were mashed together with the overall concept of the original animated movie.  In the stage production, the enchanted castle characters start off as real people and then s-l-o-w-l-y transform into objects, rather than just living as talking objects until the last petal falls.  This new movie makes a big deal about each petal falling - parts of the castle come crumbling down, the whole property rumbles, and one of those times Lumiere comments that “another petal has fallen.”  So why didn’t the characters start off with more human features, with an obvious transformation during each dramatic, petal-withering moment?  Why is the only reference that is made to this transformation a moment in which Lumiere comments that his “leg” is getting stiffer, rather than using the incredible technology of CGI to visually demonstrate to the audience the changes?  One of my writing teachers once gave some great advice, saying, “Show the reader what is happening with description rather than using narration or a character to just tell them.”  I wish I could have seen the human characters actually transforming into objects, rather than just hearing one of them mention it off-handedly one time. It felt like a cop-out - a missed opportunity - and I was disappointed.

5. Aaaaaaaand back to that music, because I have more to say about musical choices than just the people who were chosen to sing.  Did anybody else notice that some...well actually all...of the songs were just a bit different than you remembered?  Plus, there were all those new ones that got added.  Looks like this part of my critique is going to be two-fer.  First of all, the original songs from the 1991 animated movie were altered in some not-so-subtle ways.  The lyrics were changed (particularly in the song “Gaston,” sung by LeFou and Gaston) and even the phrasing - the actual measures and beats within the songs - were changed.  This meant that while I was tapping my toes and humming along to familiar songs that I have known for over 25 years, I would suddenly find myself lost or stumbling over lyrics.  It was jarring and confusing, and I honestly did not think the changes made the songs any better.  They were already wonderful before, plus they had the added nostalgic value for people like me who have known them since early childhood, so why change them? Secondly, several songs - if you could call the partial, singing segues “songs” - were added, but for what reason?  It seemed like the goal was to add depth to the characters and perhaps lengthen the movie, but the result was a smattering of yawn-worthy add-ins that left me wanting either more...or less.  Maurice’s little tune that he sings during his character introduction is sweet, so why did it not continue further?  If it was never meant to be more than just a simple verse, why have it at all?  It did not add enough to his character to be worthy of time in the movie, much like the Beast’s weird singing childhood memory of his mother dying.  Oh, that reminds me of another thing I did not like...

6. Why all the new backstory?  As with the added half-songs, I found myself yawning through most of the flashbacks.  Actually, I found myself yawning through a great deal of the movie (and it wasn’t even my bedtime).  First, there is Belle’s backstory about how her mother died.  I realized while watching these new scenes that never, not once, did I ever wonder what happened to Belle’s mother in the original movie.  She isn’t in the picture, it’s 18th-century France...she’s dead, right?  At least that’s what I always assumed.  And, I was right.  So, no need for a backstory, right?  I mean, maybe if Belle’s mother had abandoned the family, or ended up in a mental institution, or some other scenario that would have added more than what most of us already assumed, it would have created depth for Belle and Maurice.  But, I already assumed that Belle’s mother died, so it came as no surprise and made the movie longer than it needed to be.  Perhaps the only backstory I found remotely interesting were LeFou’s references to Gaston being a war-torn veteran, but those were presented as jokes and never developed much beyond that.  Belle’s dead mother was a very serious affair, the Beast’s dead mother was a very serious affair...but Gaston having witnessed death and destruction and then suffering from PTSD as a result was joke-worthy.  Hmm.

7. Moms keep dying, dads never die and make horrible parents, and servants who have been turned into teapots need to explain why they never chose to leave an enchanted castle.  Ok, Maurice isn’t a horrible parent (and his character was probably the only one I enjoyed and had nothing bad to say about).  But, why does Mrs. Potts need to explain why she and all the other servants stayed at the castle, caring for the Beast?  First of all, they were SERVANTS.  They never left before, during all the years when the Prince was a twat, because they were SERVANTS.  This wasn’t modern-day America, where Mrs. Potts could have used her skills to open a bed and breakfast and Lumiere could have applied at Taco Bell as a manager.  This was, again, 18th-century France, and they were SERVANTS who received food, housing, clothing, and employment working for a PRINCE in a CASTLE.  As if that weren’t enough, they got turned into coatracks, candlesticks, clocks, wardrobes...where is a talking feather duster going to find a place to live and work in the French countryside in 1720?  But, the explanation offered for why the servants never left is, instead, guilt.  That’s it.  The servants felt guilty that the Prince turned out to be a horrible person, so they stuck around to feed his grumpy ass and make him tea.  If Belle is going to be 12, and Gaston is 38, then let’s keep things historically accurate and just assume that the butlers and maids had no responsibility in raising the Prince into a decent human being and had little to no choice in life but to serve him until he, or they, died. No other explanation necessary.

8. LeFou is awkwardly gay (and do I need to mention that, in addition to being the only gay character, he is also the only human character whose name has a literal translation instead of being a real name, and it means “the fool,” so, in essence, the only gay character is also the only fool).  It’s great that Disney was like “Hey, let’s include a gay character!”  I like gay people.  I have no problem with the gayness.  For me, it was the weird way it was portrayed.  LeFou oscillates between being in love with Gaston and actually wanting to be like Gaston, so it was confusing because I had a hard time understanding where his affection for Gaston actually comes from.  I am not saying that someone couldn’t be in love with a person and, at the same time, want to be like them.  I am saying that the way it was presented, in little snippets, was actually more confusing than clarifying.  LeFou also bounces between seeming to try to win Gaston’s affection and diverting Gaston’s affection onto Belle and other women.  There weren’t enough scenes involving LeFou and Gaston for his character to be this complicated.  Then, at the end, he just suddenly decides (in the MIDDLE of a battle) that he no longer gives a flying fuck about Gaston.  So, LeFou has been Gaston’s best friend, has battled alongside him in war, and has had Gaston’s back for years, but then all of a sudden decides that he has had enough because Gaston is a jerk to him for, like, the 1,000th time?  It’s possible, but a long shot.  Again, if I had seen more of LeFou struggling to win Gaston’s affection and getting shut down over and over again, I might have believed it more.  

9. The gay guy and the transvestite end up dancing together (for two seconds) at the end.  How stereotypical!  It goes like this: an unnamed character that is given only two scenes beforehand makes his debut during the final battle when the wardrobe dresses him as a woman and *gasp* he’s happy about it!  Because mid-battle is a great time to realize life-long gender identity goals.  Then, the unnamed now-transvestite or possibly trans-gendered person ends up as a dancing partner with...the only other character who is revealed to have a sexuality that differs from the entire rest of the cast.  I am getting reeeeeeeally nit-picky here, but wouldn’t it be more realistic if LeFou and, say, Cogsworth (who is not at all pleased about being reunited with his wife) ended up together while the transvestite or possibly trans-gendered person joins the opera singer on stage?  Or, better yet, LeFou could have danced with anyone and the transvestite or possibly trans-gendered person could have danced with anyone because, if Disney really wants to tackle the gay AND transgender issue all in one movie, they could realize that being gay and/or trans-gendered doesn’t mean that you always end up hanging out with only other gays and/or trans-gendered folks during parties...

10.  When the Beast transforms back into a man, he’s actually old and ugly.  Ok, that’s a harsh exaggeration!  But, seriously, he looks to be about 15-20 years older than Belle and I wasn’t seeing much chemistry during that first kiss.  This is just personal preference, but when the big reveal happened and the Beast’s human form was finally unveiled, my husband and I both went “oh, yikes!”  Don’t get me wrong, Dan Stevens is a handsome fella (and that voice...oh that rich, baritone, rumbling, sexy voice) but he just looked weird and wrong for the part.  They never confirm his age in the 2017 movie (and perhaps that is on purpose) but I cannot forget the line from the 1991 animated version when the narrator explains that the last petal will fall on the Prince’s 21st birthday.  Dan Stevens is in his mid-30′s and looks it.  And, again, Emma Watson looks 12.  It was weird, seeing them kiss was weird, and thinking about them getting married later was weird.

There you have it, my scathing, overly-critical review of the 2017 version of “Beauty and the Beast.”  May your viewing experience of it forever be tainted.

[emiliaclarkesdragons]

Based on 13 Reasons Why.

TRIGGER WARNING

>Y/N

Welcome and thanks for listening. Voicemail is always the best way to send these sort of messages, especially when you know he doesn't turn his phone on after a long flight. I'm sorry Chandler, that's what I need to get out the way. I'm sorry, I need you to know I will always love you-

>CHANDLER

I had to stop listening. Wouldn't you? It came through on my phone this morning. I had just got back last night and today I would be going back to school, expecting to find her waiting for me, like we had planned. I knew what that was, I don't know how I knew but I think it's obvious when you see one.

"Chandler! Do you want me to drive you to school?" Mom shouted from the bottom of the stairs.

"Yeah" My voice was shaking and I knew she would be able to tell. I had to take the letter to school, my mom can not find this. I locked my phone and placed it in my pocket.

Does the school already know? Or am I the first one to find out? Do I need to listen to it all?

I looked to the voicemail message, it was only a minute long, but there wasn't just one. I pushed my earphones in and played the voicemail. One at a time...

>Y/N

Maybe I should've said that when I was--- more often, I should've said it more often. I guess now is a good time as any.  Chandler, I love you but it's time for you to play voicemail two.

>CHANDLER

"What you listening to?" Mom asked as I pulled the earphones out of my ears, "perhaps you shouldn't listen to sad songs... they can make you depressed-"

"Thanks for the tips mom" I said, I had to cut her off, I didn't know what she was going to say next, I didn't know if I would be able to handle what she would have said next.

"I still don't know why you are going to school today, you've just got back. There can't be much that you've missed"

Yes, mom. I think you'll find there is a lot I've missed.

I didn't respond, "Have you heard from y/n today?" Mom asked. I shuck my head. "Oh... she's probably still asleep" Mom laughed.

"Yeah, she's sleeping" I mumbled, it was the only thing I could think, nothing else came to mind. I was saying my thoughts aloud.

I can't delete the message. My finger hovered over the play button of the next voicemail but a jolt of the car snapped me out of the daze I was in. "Jesus, Mom!" I huffed. I looked up.

"Isn't that y/n's friend?" Mom asked, "she looks like she's been crying." I didn't respond, I jumped out the car and ran after her.

She's had them too..... How has she recorded more than one?

"Teresa!" I shouted as I ran after her, through the crowds of people. 'Great job on the show' was what they said, a few mumbled some horrible words. "Teresa!"

"What?!" Teresa stopped suddenly and spun around.

"You've had the voice mails?"

"Yes, Chandler. I think that's obvious--- you haven't listened to them all"

"No, I was-"

"She's not here... listen to them all, Chandler." Teresa said, turned and walked away. I placed my headphones in and began walking slowly back.

I guess it's time for voicemail 2.

>Y/N

Greetings from beyond. This ones for you, Teresa. Thanks for what you done, I guess after all you done, it still wasn't enough. You were there when the person I needed the most wasn't.

But, that doesn't matter anymore. You asked me once, 'how can you have so many friends?' And I replied with a witty remark, 'having Carl Grimes as your boyfriend helps'.

I was lying, Teresa. It didn't help and I didn't have so many friends, I had one. They would say hi to me, but when our backs were turned... it was a different story. You were immune to the harsh words thrown our way. That was because they weren't aimed at you... they were aimed at me. You never heard them but I suppose I was forcing myself to hear them. Until---

>CHANDLER

"No!" I shouted at thin air as her voice cut off. I looked around, everyone was watching me. I shook my head and carried on walking. I waited until I reached my locker before taking out my phone.

Why did you stop? Why did you stop? This repeated thought turned into, why didn't you say something to me? Why didn't you ask for help? Because you weren't there.

It was the end of voicemail 2, why are they so short? I pressed play on voicemail 3.

>Y/N

---they began posting them through my locker, you know that little grate at the top?

>CHANDLER

I reached up and touched them, that was how I asked you on our first date

>Y/N

Yep, that's the ones... Chandler made that little grate seem sweet when he posted a little note seeing if I wanted to see a movie with him... but these people turned it sour. I wish I knew who they were but they weren't stupid, of course they changed their hand writing... smart move on their part. I didn't keep them, they went straight into the bin.

But that's when those exact notes turned up at my house. That means they knew where I lived, but most people did at this school. Especially when your boyfriend has a role in the biggest tv show... Chandler I'm not blaming you.

>CHANDLER

I stopped listening once again. But that wasn't by choice, for two reasons. 1) the voicemail was over and 2) the speakers crackled in the hallways. I looked up at them, everyone did. We were waiting. "Good morning students, I'm afraid for this next piece of news you may have to sit down..." the Principal Jefferson trailed off and then carried on, "it brings me deep sorrow to say we have lost one of our fellow students last night, y/n y/l/n..." He was still talking but I couldn't hear, I couldn't stay here. Everyone was watching me. All eyes on me.

I walked until I reached the park. I found a tree to sit under, that was the best place to listen to the rest of the voicemails, but there were only two left.

Just wait a minute Chandler, you need to calm down. On that thought my phone began to ring, I thought it was y/n. It wasn't, it was my Mom. I knew why she was ringing but I couldn't answer, I wasn't ready. I have to listen first.

>Y/N

By now, you have probably left the school where you were both suppose to meet me. Teresa you would of listened to all these voicemails before you even made it inside and turned around but Chandler. Oh Chandler, you would of wanted to try and make it through the day but Principal Jefferson would have used the speaker system for the first time to announce that it has brought him deep sorrow to say that I am no longer... attending the school. Now you are sitting in the park, under the tree where we had our first kiss, aren't you Chandler?

>CHANDLER

I looked around I didn't think it was our tree. There isn't the markings we made here, y/n.

>Y/N

Look again, your backs on it.

>CHANDLER

I sat up and turned, of course she's right... I smiled to myself but it soon faded when I heard her voice again. This was the last voicemail.

>Y/N

Here was where it all began. That kiss. This was where I didn't think about the fans you had and how I would be able to gain so much hatred for just being your girlfriend. Here was where I didn't see you as Carl Grimes or Chandler Riggs from The Walking Dead. Here was where I saw you as Chandler the computer game nerd, just a normal guy. And that's what made you happy... but I was eventually brought to terms with who your were. My twitter blew up. My Instagram blew up. But not with love from your fans... with hate. Somehow you didn't see the comments but maybe that was because you had learned to ignore them. But your hate wasn't because you were being you, your hate was at your character from a tv show...

>CHANDLER

I waited for a second, has she paused for effect? Because that's not funny. No, she was crying, I could hear it faintly in the background.

>Y/N

Chandler... I'm trying so hard... I tried so hard...

>CHANDLER

"To do what?!" I screamed, tears streaming down my face. There was a figure walking towards me at the bottom of the hill but the tears were blurring my vision. I hoped it was her.

>Y/N

I tried, but I can not take it anymore. Chandler, my love, I'm sorry. Goodbye.

>CHANDLER

"To hear the voicemails again press one, to---" Once again my hearing failed me. The line went dead.

Nothing.

She's gone.

"She's gone" I cried. A pair of arms wrapped around me.

"I know, your going to be okay" It was my Mom, she repeated it over and over and each time she said it, it was more unbelievable. "Teresa told me you would be here... she said that her source was extremely reliable" Mom laughed a little but she stopped and sat down next to me, pulling me into another hug.

>GINA ANNE (Chandler's mom)

I picked up his headphones, I knew he saw me doing it, but he didn't stop me. They were five voicemails, all from y/n. I shouldn't listen, but I had to. To help Chandler...

Thanks for reading! Would you read my Marvel imagines book??