#I can’t find much on Safari tbh

[oh-boy-me]

I just read both the australia and museum post and the chaos levels are top tier, but like imagine the chaos that ensues if lord diavolo discovers about amusment parks and immediately just buys tickets to disneyland. Lucifer is basically the dad trying not to loose his children(lord diavolo included). Lord diavolo wanting to ride a loopy rollercoaster and just having the time of his life! (Also I highkey see diavolo ordering lucifer to make a disneyland in devildom tbh) Also mouse ear headbands!

This..... this took forever

Hey there anon!  Sorry it took literally a year to answer this!  If you’re still into Obey Me, I hope this was a pleasant surprise.

Also for the first time ever a scenario post is being put under the cut for length purposes.  This scenario is 2.6k words Jesus

Please note that the last time I went to Disney was in 2015, so anything that’s newer than that is taken from the extensive reading of Disney advice blogs I read in preparation for this post.  Anything older than that is likely from experience.

Also, I tried my best to keep this spoiler free for the attractions that can be affected by it.

--

So the Devildom DOES have the concept of amusement parks.  I slept on this ask for so long that we’ve learned about Devil’s Coast.  It seems to be more akin to a smaller-scale theme park, though.  Small-ish.  I’m used to NYC idk what constitutes as small.

Something like Disney World is on such a larger scale!!  When Diavolo heard about that, he knew they had to go.

They are going to Disney World in Orlando because it’s the only one I’ve been to.

Lucifer is REALLY getting tired of these field trips, but there would be no weird animals, and there would be no sobering lessons on global extinction events at a family-friendly amusement park.  He.  He can handle this.

Solomon has actually been banned from all Walt Disney theme parks.  We’re talking blacklist-level banned.  He’s barred from ever entering any Disney park ever again.  However, this was back in 1976, so this must be, like, his son or something, right?  There’s no way this is the same guy.  Thought the security guard who let him in.

What did Solomon do to get banned?  When asked, he only gave a curious hum.  “Yeah, I wonder.”

The place is split into four parks, so they’ll spend one day in each.

Barbatos continued to flex his power as the only one in the group with a brain cell, being sure to get them all fast passes.  He even set time back just for the passes while they were booking the rides they wanted to cut the lines for, so if they don’t get used he’s going to be very snippy.

Also for convenience sake this is taking place in an AU where everything is the same but COVID doesn’t exist to shut down some rides and attractions.

Day 1: Hollywood Studios

MC and Simeon basically have to coerce Lucifer into letting everyone run free instead of making them all line up with a walking rope all day.  He relents on the condition that everyone checks in periodically so he can at least know they haven’t killed anyone.

Nobody will check in except for maybe Beelzebub and those at Purgatory Hall.

Levi immediately gathered his fellow Star Wars fans (which basically meant calling over Mammon Belphie and Asmo and then pulling in two unsuspecting people suddenly given the title of “Star Wars fan”), and made a beeline for Galaxy’s Edge.  There’s a LOT to do there and damn it if he wasn’t going to hit all of it.

First up for their group is the interactive Millennium Falcon Smuggler’s Run.  They fail the mission.  Levi’s pretty pissed, but everyone agrees that it was fun nonetheless.  They really felt like they were doing a mission in the Falcon!  Plus, the gameplay element was totally up the alley of most of this group.  Simeon does feel a little nauseous from Luke’s jerky steering, though.

Did you know that Diavolo loves Toy Story?  He does.  He’s very much enjoying the Slinky roller coaster with Barbatos.

Barbatos would rather be spending time at the shows and performances, but oh no god forbid we don’t get an autograph from Doc McStuffins.  Lucifer please come find him and save him.

Lucifer somehow wandered into the Frozen Sing-Along Celebration.  He wants out.  Barbatos please come find him and save him.

In general, Lucifer isn’t a fan of these sorts of places, so honestly he’s just hiding from the others and waiting for today to be over.  Barbatos told him that there are parks that don’t revolve around rides and characters, and he’s holding out for those.

Luckily for them Diavolo wants to do LITERALLY everything, and that does include the shows, so Barbatos and Lucifer can have at least some fun today

Levi, Asmo, and Beel are about to start their relay for getting character autographs when Satan shows up out of nowhere and starts dragging everyone over to the Tower of Terror.  Solomon bars all attempts to flee on a certain Avatar of Greed’s side.

The line to the Tower is so long, and honestly?  Satan feels like the ride didn’t live up to the literal hour they waited to get on.  Like yeah it was fun, but way too short.

He voices those thoughts, and Levi, who Satan knows is afraid of heights, is pretty fucking livid and drags him to Rock n Rollercoaster as revenge.  Satan hates roller coasters.

As for the others, Asmo and Luke have a lot of fun on the thrill rides.  Mammon and Simeon do not.  Beel is a little spooked by them but still manages to have fun, while Belphie and Solomon think they’re alright.

Eventually, Simeon gets too sick to move, and they assign him to Luke.  They say it’s because he’s too short to ride some of the rides (even though he’s literally not, screw you guys.)

Barbatos messes with time a lil bit so they can enjoy the Fantasmic Show and Fireworks to wrap the day up.

Levi is very jealous of Diavolo’s Doc McStuffins autograph.  Somehow Asmo has Buzz Lightyear’s number.

Day 2: Animal Kingdom

Satan is vibrating

He literally instantly sprints to the Kilimanjaro Safari.  And good for him; that’s something best done while the sun isn’t high up.  The whole gang actually agrees to check that one out, and while Satan isn’t thrilled to be within 50 feet of Lucifer, he’s glad Simeon is there because he remembers how his presence lured animals out in Australia.

Simeon also finds himself pulled along the trails by Satan and parents watch in horror as a gorilla gives him a friendly pat on the back.

If you didn’t know, Animal Kingdom is divided into the two continents of Asia and Africa, as well as the secret eighth continent Avatar (2009).  Diavolo heard great things about the Flight of Passage ride, but he totally forgot to tell Barbatos about it, so they’re stuck on a three hour wait line now.

Levi takes Luke on the Everest roller coaster because Simeon saw it in the distance and looked like he was about to cry.  Levi wouldn’t shut up about how the yeti effect needs to be fixed and Solomon had to explain that the effect literally couldn’t support itself.

Simeon, having escaped a roller coaster for the first and only time on this trip, grabs lunch with Lucifer and Solomon and they enjoy the Lion King performance together.  Solomon’s the only one of them who’s seen the movie, but the others still found it fun.  Solomon keeps making up random plot points that don’t exist, though.  Remember when Simba was captured by pirates?

Mammon found the Bugs Life show very scary.  Normally Asmo would laugh at him, but he’s afraid of any bug he’s never seen before and at least Mammon was afraid of the things that were supposed to get you.  They agree that bugs are still not their friends.

Satan has many things to say about the Dinosaur ride and most of them aren’t good.  Belphie thought it was pretty ok, though.  Lucifer can’t believe there was a sobering lesson on a global extinction event at this family-friendly amusement park.

Diavolo is still in line.  Barbatos abandons him.  He accompanies Luke to the kiddie fossil thing and actually finds it more tolerable.  Oh yeah that’s the other secret ninth continent, Dinoland.

Beel and Belphie spend most of the day together at the various petting zoos.  Belphie comes back knowing more than he ever wanted to about conservation.  He thought Rafiki’s Planet Watch was going to be about watching other planets, not this one!

Asmo gets very interested in the costumes of the performers, as well as the parrots in the bird show.  He could probably make some really colorful designs with those as inspiration.

Nearby, Mammon runs into Kevin and squawks in surprise.  The zoo staff spend the next two hours trying to find the bird that escaped.

Diavolo says the ride was worth it, don’t worry.

Honestly this park has a lot of stuff that wouldn’t translate well to a funny scenario post so this part might be a little short compared to the others.  I can only talk about a zoo for so long.

Anyone remember the Honey I Shrunk the Kids 4D show?  Apparently it closed in 2016 to make room for more Star Wars stuff.

Anyway, at the center of it all there’s the Tree of Life, which is really pretty all day.  Lucifer is thrilled to have a decently obvious meet-up place, too.  They get to catch the brief awakening show at night.

They’re very bummed to learn the Rivers of Light show isn’t happening anymore, so Levi pulls it up on his phone so they can watch it in spirit.

Then Satan learns about the Wilderness Explorers badges and the others spend the rest of the time preventing too much collateral damage over the fact that nobody told him.

Day 3: Epcot

Finally, Lucifer thinks.  Boo, Luke thinks.

Beel didn’t expect this park to be that interesting to him (he’s much more into the wonder and immersion of Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom), but then he learned about the restaurants.  China, Norway, France, Mexico, Germany, Morocco, Italy, Japan, Canada--Canada?  Huh.  Canada.  There’s so many different restaurants from so many cuisines to try, and yeah he knows that it’s definitely not the same as going to the place and it’s overpriced (sorry Lucifer), but it’s all right there.  He makes certain to take MC on a deluxe Epcot restaurant tour.

Oh yeah MC.  That’s the first time we’ve heard from them in a while.  They’re doing whatever you want them to I guess.

Levi buys so much from the Japanese gift shops that he has to go back to the hotel for a bit to drop his bags off.

Satan and Diavolo aren’t much better, but their stashes are more varied.

Also, Diavolo found Mouse Gear, and bought everyone a pair of ears.  Lucifer says that everyone has to keep them on because it’s what Lord Diavolo wants, but he is by far the most upset about them.  Mammon snaps a picture and Lucifer throws his DDD into the lake.

Asmo and Belphie decide they’re gonna take it easy this day, and they nab Solomon and Barbatos for some exhibition hopping.

Luke finds Mission Space and please father no Simeon thought he was safe he thought he was safe here no please

Aside from that, though, Luke honestly finds this part of the park boring.  He’d have been more interested in these attractions elsewhere, but as a kid he’s in Disney for roller coasters and Mickey Mouse.

Simeon is very grateful that Luke doesn’t have much that he wants to do, because it means that he can enjoy the Gran Fiesta and Living with the Land boat rides and have a single moment where he doesn’t feel like he’s about to be sick.  He’s not even afraid of the rides; he just gets motion sick easily.

Asmo makes sure to see the Chinese acrobat show, and Mammon catches that with the show-hopping gang since there isn’t much he wants to do here either.

Epcot has alcohol and Solomon hasn’t been able to drink in ages so he really wants to spend some time doing that with MC.  No demons allowed, thank you very much.  He doesn’t hold his liquor as well as he’d like you to believe, but he just gets really talkative when drunk so it’s ok.

Epcot is a nice day to take a breather and Lucifer and Barbatos definitely needed a breather before tomorrow.

Day 4: Magic Kingdom

This is the day Diavolo has been waiting for.  The crème de la crop, the best park for kids and kids in a future king of the Devildom’s body.

Also I feel like now is a good time to mention that this probably isn’t a reasonable order of events because I don’t remember the map layout of these places idk Disney city planning

This time.  This time, Levi, Asmo and Beel are gonna get those autographs, dammit.  Levi doesn’t even know who half of these characters are but hell if he’s not getting their autograph.

Mammon actually really loves the mascots too, but he’s embarrassed about it so he’ll only try to get one if he can use the guise of MC wanting one.  MC, please help him out

Belphie isn’t big on rides, but he does have a soft spot for the more retro ones like Dumbo and Seven Dwarves.  And like I said before, Beel loves Magic Kingdom for its wonder.  So Belphie is perfectly happy being led (read: piggybacked) around by Beel today, because their favorite attractions match up pretty well here.

Actually, Beel’s favorite Disney movie is Lilo and Stitch, but.  RIP Stitch’s Great Escape ride 2004-2018

Diavolo and Lucifer take a moment to enjoy the Carousel of Progress, and they reflect on how much the Human World is always changing and how much about it they still don’t know.  It really does make them think, like.  Grandma found the VR games at Christmas!  The Devildom doesn’t have grandmas!

Mammon is terrified of the Haunted Mansion ride, and Satan has literally never felt so much schadenfreude in his life.

Mammon’s afraid of most rides to be fair, but he likes water rides, so Levi eventually takes pity on him and they go on Splash Mountain together more than once.

The Peter Pan ride broke down

Luke wanted to go on Space Mountain and Simeon was the only one around, so.  RIP Simeon ????-2021

Diavolo was That Guy.  If you know, you know.

Beel accidentally spun the teacups way too fast.  Not even Solomon got out of that one unscathed.

Following that, Solomon manages to drag Barbatos onto the Jungle Cruise while Lucifer is busy.  What is Lucifer busy with?  Riding the Buzz Lightyear shooting ride over and over until he hits every single target and gets a perfect score at a Disney ride, something that is normal to want and possible to achieve.  Anyway, Barbatos finds it really charming and Solomon finds it a nice break that he didn’t know he needed.

While looking for a food place that sells water for a reasonable price, a kid runs up to Asmo asking for a picture and autograph.  He’s kind of confused, but goes along with it to make the kid happy.

Turns out, Asmo’s so naturally charming that they mistook him for a prince.  Other groups see that family and follow suit.  Mammon eventually catches wind of it and shows up to charge a fee.  The parents are pretty sure Disney doesn’t charge fees like that, but their kids really want a pic with Asmo so they hand over the two bucks.  (“Oh it’s so low” come on Mammon’s not a dick to children.)

And that’s the story of how Mammon and Asmo ended up in Disney Jail.  You’re very much not allowed to pretend to be a cast member and then charge money for it.  Lucifer has to bail them out as their “guardian,” and as punishment they aren’t allowed to opt out of It’s a Small World.

Small World isn’t that bad imho, and those like Diavolo, Satan, Simeon, and Levi would like it a lot.  But Lucifer has been playing parent all day, Belphie does not like the noise, and Solomon has literally been on this ride at least fifty times.  Very mixed feelings on this one, but it feels fitting to end with that and a fireworks show.

All in all though this wasn’t the worst trip Lucifer’s been on (cue everyone applauding for some reason).

Barbatos by far had the least fun of them all because for four days he was stuck in a park where the mascot is a fucking rodent and he wasn’t allowed to annihilate Mickey Mouse where he stood

“Disneyland Devildom when” “Lord Diavolo, no”

Masterlist

[purplesurveys]

1189

survey by chasingghosts

What do you like about the house you live in? I relishhhhhhhhh the fact that we have a rooftop with a nice and calming view. I’m the only one in the family who makes good use out of it, so it’s a nice place to escape to whenever I need or want to be alone.

What furniture do you own? The only Adulting-related thing I’ve ever bought so far was my bedside lamp haha. I'm not comfortable investing in bigger things yet, and I’m still at the point where I’m rather carefree when it comes to my purchases i.e. expanding my BTS merch lol. I don’t put a lot of pressure on myself, and I appreciate that my parents don’t either.

What's the most cliche song you can think of right now? I feel like most of the Top 40 genre have generic and cliché concepts, but that won’t stop me from listening to them from time to time.

Name three of your favourite crepe toppings. I never liked crepes. I never understood why they have to be so thin hahaha. Do you watch How I Met Your Mother? What did you think of the ending? No, it never interested me.

Have you ever played paintball? Did you get hit? I never have.

Right now, are you too hot, too cold or just right? Too hot. It’s remained quite chilly in the evenings until tonight, which is an unwelcome but expected change considering we’re in May and the drastic change in temperature was bound to come any time soon. Still, the inside of the house is at least several Celsius degrees higher so I’m fine with staying here even though I’m already mildly sweating.

What was your favourite fairy tale when you were a kid? I never was into fairytales and I think I may have skipped out on them entirely as a kid.

Do you depend on others for happiness? I wouldn’t say I’m dependent. My conversations with my friends simply complement the happiness I can already provide myself with.

How do you feel today? Tell me about it. Physically, mostly uncomfortable because of the heat. Otherwise, I had a great time just spending time in bed all day, catching up on rest, and watching In The Soop and the new Run BTS episode.

What's the weather like today? Terrible. I never do well in the heat.

Do you ever use a laptop in bed? Yep but I put it on my lap or wedge it between my tummy and thighs while sitting up. I never directly place it on my bed since it heats up that way.

What were you doing in 2014? Crushing on and eventually asking out some girl. I was also starting to open up that year and was gaining more friends in school. Overall, a more than decent year; I don’t have any negative memories from that time.

Are you wearing socks right now? What colour are they? Nopes, I’m all barefoot.

What time are you taking this survey? 10:20 PM.

Have you ever eaten Caribbean food? I don’t think so, but as with all kinds of food I’m always open to trying it out should the chance come up.

Do you need to make any purchases soon, big or small? Just the remaining balance from all the merch I bought in the last two weeks. One thing I’ve picked up so far from collecting merch is that K-Pop merch is expensive as FUCK, so considering BTS’ core audience is on the younger side, most shops are super flexible and let people pay a downpayment first. Anyway, that said, I have several purchases I’ll have to fully settle by the end of the month.

What was the first movie you saw at the cinema? How old were you? Stuart Little 2; I was 4.

Do you feel hopeful for the future? Sure, but I don’t really dwell on it for too long because it would also just make me anxious. I like living in the now.

Where did you last fly to on a plane? Bicol.

If you were going on a daytime date tomorrow, what would you wear? Oversized tee + mom jeans + bucket hat, assuming the date is on the casual side.

Are your parents still together? If not, do you know why? Yes.

What is the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out like in your country? I’m from a third-world country, so you take a guess...light kidding aside, I hear of more and more people getting vaccinated everyday and that makes me glad, but the whole process has still been very slow. On my end, I don’t think I’m getting vaccinated until July or August, or potentially even later than that.

Have you ever been evicted? Why? My friends and I were once asked to leave a McDonald’s because they were being loud and rowdy playing a card game inside. We had it coming tbh; I just hated that I was dragged into it.

Would you say you're an organised person? When it comes to work, yeah. Not always with my room.

Have you ever worked as a manager or supervisor? I haven’t.

Do you eat at a table or on the couch? I usually eat at the dining table. But when I’m at work, since I can’t really ever leave my laptop, I have to contend with eating at my work desk even if it’s a little convenient.

Tell me something good about the last week of your life. Butter teasers!!!

When was the last time you heard a siren? What kind? A month ago maybe? when I heard the faint siren of an ambulance from somewhere far away.

Do you like jogging? No.

What brand is your TV? I don’t have my own TV in my room, but the ones we have everywhere else in the house are Samsung.

What was the last thing you voted for? Michelle had put up a poll on Twitter asking if people liked the apple chunks in apple pies crunchy or soft, and I’m guessing it’s because she’s planning to make her own recipe soon. I don’t entirely hate apple pies, so I still voted hahaha. I went for crunchy.

Do you remember much from high school? Sure. My memory’s not exceptionally crystal clear, but I’ve still been able to keep more than a handful of memories with me.

What's the longest you've ever stayed awake? Why did you do it? I’m not sure exactly but it has to be a little over 24 hours, and I probably did it just because I felt like staying up.

What's the most amazing animal you've ever seen in captivity? This is such a downer of a question...but idk. I find all animals fascinating, which is why I never like visiting zoos or animal parks.

Do you live in the state/province/territory you were born in? No, my family left Manila a few months after I was born, I believe.

What do you want to eat right now? Sushi sounds fucking fantastic, but alas it’s 2:36 AM and my best bet right now would be some cheap California maki from a convenience store.

Have you ever been wrongfully accused of something? Sure.

What are the five apps on your phone that you use most often? If I had to guess, probably Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Messenger, and Safari.

What's one of the most useless things you've ever purchased? I haaaaate the idea of buying things I know in the first place would be useless. But related to this, the last purchase I kind of regret is my current phone charger cord. It cost nearly P500 but was already detective from the get-go :(

[abusedandromeda]

So most of us have “abuse tactics” or rules when it comes to abuse. There are some cases where people stash food away to eat without their abusers catching them. Sometimes people hide apps where abusers can’t find them. Or it could be as simple as faking a smile around your abuser. Some rules could include “don’t say x” or “don’t wear x clothing”. Let’s talk about our own, shall we? I’ll start:

Simple rule when it comes to the yelling and emotional abuse: Don’t believe a thing my abusers say. They like to call me selfish, confused, overemotional, attention seeking, name calling(Y’all know THAT kinda name calling), etc. Nowadays, now that I know they’re abusive, I just ignore everything because I know those things just aren’t true. I don’t even think back to what they say because if I do, I’ll start thinking “well, isn’t this TECHNICALLY true?”(Thanks to my headmates for telling me otherwise).

Or I could do the opposite of the first rule and take the insults with stride. YES, I am fat. YES, I an overemotional. YES, I am a bitch. No, I don’t think I’m better than everyone else, I KNOW I’m better than everyone else(No, I don’t say this all the time, only when egg donor says it. I’m not better than y’all, and I don’t think I am, we love y’all!(Still better than egg donor though).

Be aware of “the trail”. Talking unprompted has repercussions. We can remember a few times where it has gotten us in trouble. An example would be when I would brag about getting Bs on class quizzes instead of the As that egg donor wanted and that I thought she’d be proud of but then she’d accuse me of not studying enough. Another would be when we accidently told her too much about an incident we were dealing with and she accused us of being a bully(reminder that she didn’t have the full story). Or maybe there’s a friend you want to tell a secret to, is that secret going to be leaked back to your abuser? Be aware of the slippery hills you might stumble upon before you slip and hit rock bottom again. Always assume the worst for example: “If I bring up trans rights, are my parents going to catch on? My mom found my binder, but she’s been quiet. Is she going to take that away? Are they going to tell me I’m still AGAB after they catch on?” Always know “the trail” before you say something you’ll regret (Policing, I know, but I do this to stay out of the way).

Never tell them anything that is sensitive to you, or any secrets for that matter. It’s better to have them insult you using the wrong insult than to have them get under your skin. For example, my self harm is used to call us “attention seeking”, which gets under our skin because it’s such a sensitive topic for us. But, egg donor loves to bring up the fact that we’ve “ruined our hair”, she clearly has forgotten about the fact that the body itself is genderless(we say nonbinary irl because people don’t know we’re plural), I’m a nonbinary trans guy and I’m fucking euphoric with this hair, so those words just don’t affect me as much, if not at all(it did at first, ngl, but then I was like “well, I’m not a woman, so I really don’t care”).

We’ll sometimes bring clothes to school in our backpack or hide them under our clothes. We’ve hide our enby thigh highs and shorts under our jeans, hidden tank tops under jackets, hid make up because egg donor yelled at us for “wearing it on inappropriate days”. Very rarely do we go to the girls’ rest room(I’m AFAB) since we hide the clothes underneath(if y’all are wondering why we do this, it’s because egg donor is basically ashamed of our body being fat and scarred, not to mention having to hide our binder sometimes because of the creep she is analyzing our chest).

Sometimes just sucking it the fuck up. I’m honestly too terrified to correct my “”family”” on my real name and pronouns(the “trail”, egg donor threatened to hospitalize me if I told the teachers my real name. PLUS I don’t want her to use my name, I feel like she’ll just dirty it tbh). It’s also just better to nod along in order to not anger her because she’ll throw her little tantrums if she doesn’t get her way. It sucks, it really does, but I also know it’s going to be for less than a year now. There’s just not much time left, so I just keep my head down, responde to her commands because I know it’s going to pay off. Some weird quote about patience(fuck off, Voltron fans!!)

Now let’s talk about phone stuff. Egg donor doesn’t stalk our phone, but she definitely checks the usual messages and internet hisory. We bypass this pretty easily, but we definitely slipped up just last week by using the messenging app on our iphone and telling another abuse victim that egg donor was abusive. To this day, we don’t know what she knows, but thankfully not a lot since we learned that we’re safe online. We’ve stopped using the messenging app on our phone completely unless it’s not anything related to the “”real us””. As for internet history, egg donor would’ve said something by now, but since she hasn’t, we just switched to chrome instead of using Safari

This is more gender related, but last year we teamed up with teachers to use our name(Carmen irl) and pronouns(they/them)behind egg donor’s back. It worked, surprisingly, and we went through the whole year being called Carmen without egg donor knowing, so I am personally really fucking thankful, especially to my band teacher, for that idea

Hiding stuff is a pretty obvious one. We have hidden money, our hidden electric shaver, we used to hide our pronoun pin, we have hidden documents for a name change, our hidden binder, food even if we don’t want to eat snacks in front of egg donor(nothing happens, I’m just uncomfortable), we used to hide razor blades and a first aid kit unfortunately, hidden ace bandages(Don’t bind with those, pls, that’s very unsafe), and hidden boxer briefs!

Tracking footsteps is very helpful. We can brace ourselves for when she comes around. If I’m crying or just trying to cope with stuff, another headmate can help and deal with her. Tracking footsteps for us just allows to prepare for her basically

And I think that’s all the tactics we use for now. If y’all made it this far, thank you so much for reading this much(or scrolling down here XD) . If y’all want, share what y’all do if you have tactics! I’ll be sure to add more if I remember to!

[f4liveblogarchives]

Fantastic Four Vol 1 #241

Sun Dec 20 2020 [12:49 PM] Wack'd: Front-cover tagline is one font change away from being a Jeopardy! clue

[12:50 PM] maxwellelvis: Who is "Kang the Conqueror"? [12:51 PM] Wack'd: We open on Nick Fury showing the Four a digital map of Africa with a huge glowing spot indicating a massive power surge [12:51 PM] Umbramatic: welp [12:51 PM] Wack'd: Ben thinks "maybe the ay-rabs got some new power source" which, y'know, fun [12:51 PM] Umbramatic: oh geez [12:52 PM] Wack'd: Anyway the cover's got Black Panther on it, so naturally this surge is on the Wakandan border [12:53 PM] Wack'd: T'Challa won't let SHEILD in, and he's resigned as an Avenger, but Fury figures since the Four are old friends T'Challa might let them do some snooping [12:54 PM] Wack'd: Ben naturally is like "wait, if you're respecting Wakanda's sovereignty how did you guys flag this" [12:55 PM] Wack'd: Turns out SHEILD was following some other weird phenom and stumbled into this by accident. Said phenom turns out to be Attilan flying to the moon [12:55 PM] Umbramatic: oops [12:55 PM] maxwellelvis: Good thing Reed's collar stretches. [12:56 PM] Wack'd: Reed says he took special measures to make sure every airspace that got violated got a message not to worry about it which 1. seems like a good way to make folks worry and 2. I guess he forgot to send SHIELD that memo [12:58 PM] Wack'd: Hmmm. Not sure I like this

[12:58 PM] Wack'd: Also Raiders had like just come out which is weird to think about [12:58 PM] Umbramatic: ben is cosplaying [12:59 PM] Wack'd: He's cosplaying a Mightey Whitey character for an Africa trip which. There are worse options I guess [12:59 PM] Umbramatic: oh [01:00 PM] Umbramatic: that did not sink in at first [01:00 PM] Wack'd: We're still doing huts and loincloths, huh? I am increasingly wondering when he Afrofuturism kicks in and we get a Wakanda that's less...this

[01:01 PM] Umbramatic: ...same [01:01 PM] maxwellelvis: Not until black people start writing for Black Panther. [01:01 PM] Wack'd: (Probably once Black people get a crack at writing it tbh--yeah [01:01 PM] Wack'd: Also: did Bryne change Ben back to a lump for the sole purpose of justifying let's-you-and-him-fight bits [01:02 PM] Wack'd: Because if so that's...actually pretty clever [01:04 PM] Wack'd: Anyway the Four + Frankie go undercover as a safari complete with pith helmets and fatigues. Which always feels more like cosplay than realism when fictional characters do it no matter what the era [01:04 PM] Wack'd: Like when characters from the American south wear white suits. I always assume it's something that got come by thirdhand even though who knows maybe it's a thing [01:05 PM] Wack'd: Well something’s up

[01:07 PM] Wack'd: Hm. The implication that Wakanda has gotten less superstitious because of Europeans is certainly gross!

[01:08 PM] Wack'd: The Four get a closer look and find some Russians had also been investigating. Operative word being "had" because they're all skeletons now [01:08 PM] Bocaj: No telling where the meat ran off to [01:09 PM] Wack'd: No telling indeed [01:10 PM] Wack'd: No sooner do they start investigating than the team are ambushed by a squad of folks in gold-and-red Roman centurion cosplay. Not wanting to blow their cover, the team lets themselves get taken hostage, but Sue turns invisible before she's noticed so the team has an advantage if things need to pop off [01:10 PM] Umbramatic: spooky scary [01:11 PM] Umbramatic: what's with all the fucking cosplay this issue [01:11 PM] Wack'd: The team are led through a mountain stocked with Kirby-esque tech and led out the other side to:

[01:12 PM] Umbramatic: well [01:12 PM] Umbramatic: when in rome [01:13 PM] Wack'd: You know when I asked when the writers will realize Wakandans should probably have some degree of advanced architecture and whathaveyou this is not what I had in mind [01:14 PM] Wack'd: Frankie knows how to deal with sexual harassers and also racists

[01:14 PM] Umbramatic: good [01:14 PM] Wack'd: ...god I hope the guy under that helmet is white because if this isn't deliberate I'm gonna go apeshit [01:15 PM] Wack'd: ......unless I guess a white guy saying that doesn't necessarily mean the white guy writing it is deliberately writing a racist, considering *gestures at Wakanda's whole deal* [01:15 PM] Bocaj: I hope this isn’t nova roma [01:15 PM] Bocaj: That’s supposed to be in South America and also they tend to wear black face [01:15 PM] Bocaj: Not Claremont’s finest hour [01:16 PM] Wack'd: Does the name Gaius Tiberius Augustus Aggrippa mean anything to anyone. Also does it mean anything period, like, is that actual Latin [01:16 PM] maxwellelvis: It's just nouns [01:17 PM] Umbramatic: it sounds like a lot of emperor names mashed together and also that [01:17 PM] Bocaj: It sounds like all Roman names because there were only like twenty names and every Roman used every so far one [01:17 PM] Bocaj: Caligula’s real name was Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus [01:18 PM] Wack'd: Having lost the element of surprise Reed orders an ambush but GTAA manages to neutralize their powers. Including Sue's, which, how'd he even know she was there, c'mon [01:18 PM] Bocaj: Boo [01:18 PM] Umbramatic: boo [01:18 PM] Wack'd: It is time now for the traditional sequence in which the entire team is locked up and has to escape [01:19 PM] Bocaj: It sure happens to them a lot [01:19 PM] Bocaj: You’d think Mr Miracle was a fantastic four member at this rate [01:19 PM] Phantom: Hmm it's interesting how much I associate Latin with species names [01:20 PM] Wack'd: It turns out the deception vis-a-vis Black Panther was just the ol' Queen Amidala gambit. T'challa gets in a Batman boast about how you can't neutralize his powers because his powers are just having worked out a lot [01:20 PM] Umbramatic: MUSCLES [01:21 PM] maxwellelvis: This was before the Heart-Shaped Herb was a thing? [01:21 PM] Wack'd: T'Challa has been put in a slave gally because of course. Reed and Frankie are shackled in dungeons to the ceiling. Sue....has been stripped naked and left in a lavish bedroom [01:21 PM] Umbramatic: ...oh [01:21 PM] Phantom: of course [01:22 PM] Wack'd: GTAA has had "games called in [her] honor" which I assume means Gladiator. Maybe he'll surprise us by being big into baseball, who knows [01:22 PM] maxwellelvis: What are the odds that Byrne actually knows what gladiator games were like? [01:22 PM] maxwellelvis: I'm guessing not very good. [01:22 PM] Umbramatic: GTAA is really into esports [01:22 PM] Wack'd: Middling to low [01:23 PM] Wack'd: T'Challa tries to break Frankie out of her cell by just being like "hey, I'm your king, knock off this fuckery" but the guards aren't having it [01:23 PM] Bocaj: “You can’t neutralize my powers” is a weird flex when you get caught anyway [01:23 PM] Wack'd: Yeah [01:24 PM] Wack'd: GTAA decides to exposit his backstory to Sue [01:26 PM] Bocaj: I like to imagine that she makes the blah blah gesture while he talks [01:26 PM] Wack'd: He was an ancient Roman soldier sent to investigate a "falling star" which, of course, was actually an alien spaceship. He managed to dispatch its sole occupant and steal their armor, which imparted to him great smartitude [01:26 PM] Bocaj: Sure, of course [01:26 PM] maxwellelvis: Aaarrgh! No! Not another Prester John! [01:27 PM] maxwellelvis: John Byrne, have you no decency at all, sir?! [01:27 PM] Wack'd: By the time he got back his platoon had pulled out of the region for reasons unknown so he did what anyone from another culture with superior force and no mandate does when stranded across borders and take up dictatorship as a hobby [01:28 PM] Wack'd: So, uh. [01:28 PM] Wack'd: There are some...coloring discrepancies...in this book [01:29 PM] Umbramatic: oh [01:29 PM] Wack'd: I glossed over a panel with a Black Frankie Raye because, uh, I didn't really have a good joke about it, frankly [01:29 PM] Wack'd: But it seems instructive because there are two flashback panels where GTAA is colored Black and then a further three where he's a white guy [01:30 PM] Bocaj: In fairness [01:30 PM] Bocaj: That is in character for a Roman [01:30 PM] Bocaj: The dictatorship as a hobby I mean [01:31 PM] Wack'd: Dude has gone increasingly mask-off, racism-wise--during his backstory he boasts about rendering all his subjects mute because their language offended them and trying to teach them Roman was a bust because he still hated their "gibbering monkey voices" [01:31 PM] Wack'd: So, uh, I guess we'll see if this issue ends with An Aesop [01:31 PM] Bocaj: .... [01:31 PM] Umbramatic: wow dude [01:32 PM] maxwellelvis: He... DOES know there were black people in Rome, right? [01:32 PM] Wack'd: Bryne? I mean it's the 80s [01:32 PM] maxwellelvis: Either or [01:32 PM] Wack'd: Most pop culture assumed every country had monoracial societies in The Past until like ten years ago [01:33 PM] Bocaj: Not that rome wasn’t racist to anyone not from rome but [01:33 PM] Wack'd: You can pin a lot on Bryne but "yeah of course Romans were all white" is pretty on par [01:33 PM] Wack'd: Oh also GTAA deliberately named himself after Caligula so there's that settled [01:33 PM] Bocaj: Sure [01:34 PM] Umbramatic: so we can stop calling him Grand Theft Auto Anarchy [01:34 PM] Bocaj: We don’t have to [01:34 PM] Wack'd: Anyway GTAA wants Sue as his bride and if she refuses he will force Johnny and Ben to fight [01:35 PM] Wack'd: ...to the death, not like usual [01:35 PM] Bocaj: Ha [01:35 PM] Bocaj: It’d be funny if she was like “oh is it Tuesday already?” [01:35 PM] Wack'd: *long, deep sigh*

[01:36 PM] Wack'd: Thankfully Sue's immediately like "his powers come from his helmet, right? All I gotta do is take the helmet off" [01:37 PM] Wack'd: Turns out that helmet granted lots of powers [01:37 PM] Wack'd: Like immortality for him and his subjects [01:37 PM] Wack'd: And structural integrity for his city [01:37 PM] Wack'd: And the suppressive effect on the Four's powers [01:38 PM] Wack'd: Aaaaaaaaand there's no ontological inertia [01:38 PM] Umbramatic: ._. [01:38 PM] Wack'd: So just by taking the helmet off GTAA and all his slaves immediately die and the city crumbles [01:38 PM] Bocaj: Of course [01:38 PM] Wack'd: Kind of a bum deal for the people who spent twenty centuries in servitude [01:39 PM] Wack'd: "WE'RE FREE!" 💀 [01:39 PM] Bocaj: Sue: “well that’s the most people I’ve ever killed at once” [01:39 PM] Umbramatic: F [01:40 PM] Bocaj: “I never wanted to be dead, Surfer. Frankly, I only died out of peer pressure” [01:40 PM] Wack'd: And so everyone escapes, Reed does an exposition dump, and the story immediately ends [01:40 PM] Bocaj: No moral? [01:40 PM] Wack'd: Nope [01:41 PM] Umbramatic: "don't wear funky alien helmets kids" [01:41 PM] Wack'd: So...maybe Bryne was just being racist. I mean it seems probable but also it goes waaaaaaay mask-off in a way I don't think even Bryne woulda thought acceptable [01:43 PM] Wack'd: Anyway I do not think I have time for another issue before I gotta leave for work. Perhaps when I return later this evening we will do the next story, which is about everyone's favorite established Four baddie [01:43 PM] Wack'd: Terrax the Untamed [01:43 PM] Umbramatic: :O [01:43 PM] Wack'd: Who despite being from the 70s and thus far more recent I still had to look up

[firewoodfigs]

18 and 19 for the fanfic asks? :D

18. Do you have a fic reading/writing routine?

For fic reading, I usually have a number of tabs open on my safari 😆 some I’ve already read cursorily on my phone or something, but I just leave it there so I can leave a comment when I have time afterwards! :D 

For writing, I generally prefer to write alone, in the comfort of my own room, but sometimes it’s nice to write in a cafe too :’) music and tea are super important to me when I'm writing, and I tend to lose the mood a little when I can’t find the right song for the chapter HAHA :’D 

19. What’s your favorite character headcanon?

tbh off the top of my head just... royai being ~ childhood friends ~ is my favourite character headcanon because it makes everything about their relationship even more tender and bittersweet ;v; (mild spoiler for chapter 5 of MA LOOOOOL)  Xingese Roy is pretty cool too because there’s so much to explore on that front 😆

thanks for the ask, friend @lantur ! <3 

[somedaywithflyingcolors]

Tymee Thoughts Tuesday #1

February 25, 2020

1. EDSA Revolution and Imelda Marcos

Today, the Filipino people celebrates the 34th year  that we were able to overthrow a dictator, Ferdinand Marcos through collective action. And this was not a single dictatorship, it was conjugal. Ferdinand Marcos ruled hand in hand with her wife, Imelda Romualdez Marcos. The “beautiful” and extravagant Imelda.

Under the Marcos Regime, they were able to stay in power for as long as 21 years. They declared Martial Law which lasted a good eight years with the excuse of extinguishing rising communist threats (exaggerated to extend and increase their power). During the regime, 70,000 were jailed as political prisoners. 35,000 were tortured. Almost 3,000 were killed. Human rights were violated.

Luckily, this week, I have had the chance to watch two documentaries featuring the iconic First Lady. Ramona Diaz’ Imelda (2003) and Lauren Greenfield’s The Kingmaker (2019). 

While Ferdinand Marcos seems to be very predictable and lawyerly-like, Imelda, with her beauty, wits, and charm, is very spontaneous. The narcissistic woman and her edifice complex seems to make her appear someone not to be taken seriously. This was all part of the act. The 3,000 pairs of shoes, the lavish dresses, the terno, the hair, it was part of her brand. She wants to appear as someone laughable but she does that with the intent to manipulate us.

In the Ramona Diaz documentary, she goes on explaining her absurd theories of life from apple to apple and here obsession with beauty as part of the Circle of Life -- how beauty is love applied. It was funny at first and would make you believe that she needs psychological help (fun fact: in the kingmaker it was revealed that she was actually brought in a psychological hospital in New York where the doctor aid that she’s okay, she just could not take politics, so Ferdinand said that he will give up politics for her, which obviously didn’t happen, but after that incident, Imelda is a new person). Afterwards, it starts becoming horrifying.

This quote from the documentary reveals how out of touch Imelda was with the reality of the situation. Truly, the best villains in a story are those that think they're the hero.

Let’s now jump to the Kingmaker!!! This one talks more about the rise authoritarianism, how the Marcoses are going back power. It acknowledges that Imelda is an unreliable narrator but is a very instinctive and powerful political animal.

A great point that hits home is when a footage jumped on the kids in a high school asking what their thoughts were on martial law. All they said were positive (but untrue) accounts of the Marcos regime. The history was revised. The memory of tortured heroes, forgotten. The children had a Utopian view of the Martial Law Era, seeing it as a time of economic progress and discipline, when it fact it is very far from the truth.

That said, it show the importance of writing our histories, sharing them with the world, because with the rise of authoritarianism, the strong-man narrative of Rodrigo Duterte (our current president), one the only ways that we do not fall to the same mistakes of history is to study it, remember it, and learn from it. It is scary to imagine another Martial Law, but seeing the political climate now, the future is not very far. We need to educate more, be vigilant. Hold our line and contribute in our nation-building. Contribute in defending our freedom.

 Another feature of the film that I didn’t know before was how Imelda displaced 254 families, a community in Calauit, an inhabited island, just to house the animals coming from Kenya. Now, the safari and its animals, with no budget, no veterinarians, are suffering. The community in there were suffering as well. This is a metaphor for the Regime’s way of using their power as well as their priorities once in power.

Some key takeaways:

- The EDSA Revolution was not bloodless. The revolution began 14 years ago. Saying that it is peaceful and bloodless disregards the unsung heroes that were killed in the process.

- The Filipinos are very forgiving. What we Filipinos should learn is that while we can forgive, it is also important that we hold those that wronged us accountable. It is almost unthinkable how a family of someone that plundered an estimate of half a trillion peso can still return to power.

- As much we can, we must also continue to speak of the people that were against this dictatorship as someone to emulate. One person from the panel said that for every time we are angry and mention the Marcoses name, we must spread the names of the people who toppled the dictatorship ten times so as to have someone to emulate and be known. People like Edgar Jopson, Archimedes Trajano, Primitivo Mijares, Pete Lacaba, Emmanuel Lacaba, Lorena Barros. They are the heroes that need to be broadcasted more in this narrative. Less of the narcissism of Imelda and more of the injustice and violations of democracies during that time.

-Duterte and Marcos are experts of the Filipino Psychology. While we academics tend to be very rational and logical, these politicians know how to tickle the minds of the Filipinos to allure them into believing that they are someone that they could trust. Now, they not only use the media. They also use weaponize the Internet in a way that would benefit their narrative. Their propaganda continues with all the lies and the fake news.

Sorry this was mostly me talking about Imelda and their injustices during their time in power. I still have so many words and I really can’t help but be outraged. It was just so outrageous to think that (1) they are slowly going back in power, (2) they have no remorse nor guilt over what they did, (3) they have single (double??)handedly affected the influenced major key factors of today’s time, mostly relating to the economic status of the country.

ANYWAY, here are some of the other thoughts that have passed through and plagued my mind through the week!!

2. Valentines Day Podcasts

Because it is still February, go on and check some of the cool podcasts about it!

Here’s Usapang Econ Podcast that discusses the economics of love and valentines!! (In Filipino, sorry international audience :( ) 

And this episode of Debatable by Nina and Kyle that discussed some debate motions about love and valentines. I really enjoyed their chaotic energy there. I ship the two too, so that’s a plus! (Seriously Kyle, why would you leave Nina hanging on your Valentines Dinner for a Bumble Date??)

3. You will be judged not by what you do but by what you did not do. Some musing on where best to spend my time.

I have been thinking about the organizations that I need to join and the things I need to do to be able to land a good job once I graduate. I want to do an internship. In the my course, an internship is voluntary. In the Philippines, unlike in the US or other Western Countries, becoming an Intern just because you want exposure on something is not the fad. Internships are a mandatory thing needed before you graduate. However, I don’t want to just go with the flow.  I want to gain real life experience on real things, especially on the work that I am most interested in. This was triggered by this Rappler Article regarding internship, wherein, apparently, aside from a CV, I also need to pin a portfolio of a work that I’ve done. I am beginning to become convinced that for me to land a good job someday, I need to begin looking for connections related to the job that I want to do. A thick CV won’t cut it. I want to maximize my skills and opportunities here in college while I still can.

Tomorrow, I will be awarded as one of the University Scholars of my University. It can be assumed that I am a good student, I get good grades, pass my work on time. But am I really limited just by the grades that I earned inside the classroom? Should I rush into looking for a workplace or should I just continue doing the things that I’m currently doing (because it seems to be working). Should I dare to be more than what I am now?

Because that entails sacrifice. It may mean less time for family, less sleep, less time for myself. God knows how much I value my time alone. But God also knows how much time I waste for resting and sanity breaks (a little bit too much break tbh). Another fear that I have is going against the harmonious relationship that I think I have now with my family. Saying that I want to do an Internship, which is not included in the curriculum, may raise some eyebrows from the people in my family. I think I need more courage to explain to them the value of doing such things. I remember a saying that I don’t know where I remember from (maybe in the Bible, but I can’t find it): You are judged not by the good that you do, but by the good that you choose not to do. What am I not doing? How can I be better? 

[soulerflaire]

So I beat the story of Pokemon Shield yesterday, and now I’ve had time to think about everything. Spoilers below the cut. Also super long post.

First I wanna focus on gameplay.

Overall, fantastic Pokemon game. I liked a lot of the new Pokemon, I felt there was a really good variety of Pokemon available throughout, graphics were good, the gym missions were (mostly) clever and (mostly) fun.

I heard people had complaints about the starters, but I like them. I picked Scorbunny and was terrified he’d end up Fire/Fighting, but Cinderace (and all the starters) remained single-type. I think their designs are cool! I love Rillaboom’s drum and Cinderace’s soccer fireball attack. I like Inteleon the least of the three, but I still think his design is neat. It is basically finger guns: the Pokemon, which is funny, but not particularly interesting to me. I’m glad I picked Scorbunny.

I liked the set up of the Gym Challenge, though the pacing was a bit weird. Not sure if that was me or the game, but I felt like there was very little story between each gym. That led to me doing several gyms in rapid succession, then spending 3 hours in the Wild Area doing nothing, then tackling another set of gyms. But the gym challenges were fun! Except the fire one. I hated that. And the battles themselves felt awesome! The crowd cheering (especially in the final part of the music, oh my god that was so good), the huge Pokemon, the dialogue, it all made for a match that felt like it mattered. Even if I one-shot all their Pokemon, the match still felt meaningful. It wasn’t just stomp and move on.

I think the Wild Area was a cool experiment, but either make the whole game like that, or don’t have it. It feels like the Safari Zone; an area disconnected from the rest of the game, with the express purpose of catching Pokemon and nothing else. Except it’s so huge and seems to have every single Pokemon in the game, so long as the weather is right, that I feel like there was no point in catching Pokemon anywhere else. Why bother even touching the tall grass when I’m travelling through the regular world, when I can just catch whatever would be in there in the Wild Area later? And frankly, I never really got punished for that mentality. I can just catch them all in the Wild Area later. The only hurdle is they all turn level 60 after you become champion, which I have very mixed feelings about. I would like to hear their explanation for doing that, tbh.

Max Raid battles feel really cool, but god damn, Nintendo, you have got to get a better connection system. Half the time, I can’t find any raids to join because there are no shout cards popping up and the button to get new cards isn’t there for some reason. Even when I can see the cards, most of the time I fail to join, either because the raid already started or the person cancelled the raid. There’s only a 3-minute window to join, and with the infrequent appearance of cards (with no timestamps) I have no idea if any of the cards I see are even from the past 10 minutes, let alone past 3. And the NPCs are randomly selected and use their moves randomly, so once you get to the 5+ star raids, you cannot use them at all. One of them is a friggin’ Magikarp that uses Hydro Pump for no damage and misses half the time anyway. Why!? That was funny exactly zero times!

The music, however, I have zero complaints about. Fantastic soundtrack! I love the gym battle music, and the Team Yell fight music, and the Wild Area bagpipes, and the legendaries fight music, and just pretty much all of it. If they release the soundtrack, I’m buying it immediately.

Graphics were good. I wasn’t blown away by them, but it’s a pretty game.

One thing I noticed is how rushed things started to feel towards the end. Initially, the world feels enormous. Routes are long and winding, and it really feels like exploring things. But the further into the game you go, the shorter the routes get. And there’s no Victory Road at all. Just an extremely short route called White Hill, with, like, 6 trainers and a couple grass patches. You take a train to the White Hill Station, and if you look at the map, you see you ended up skipping an entire mountain and a stretch of land twice the length of the actual route. Kinda feels like they planned to do something with all that space, but cut it later on. The forest that they did the 24-hour stream of, Glimwood Tangle? It’s tiny. Like a third the size of Viridan Forest. It’s gorgeous, sure, but I spent more time exploring the first town than I did in that place. The final town certainly looks enormous, but then it turns out you can’t access half of it, and a huge chunk in the middle of the part you can access is taken up by the rail station. Which has nothing important inside it. Just a generic mart and some NPCs to talk to. There was honestly a lot of stuff the seemed like it was gonna be something later, and ended up being nothing. If it’s all content that got cut to release the game sooner, that’s extremely disappointing. Frankly, I wonder if they bit off more than they could chew, turning Pokemon into a console game. They clearly were trying to make it worth being on console, but ended up running out of time.

Now for the story. This is probably the first Pokemon game I feel this way about, but honestly: I loved the characters, but found the story to be pretty lackluster.

Hop has a wonderful character arc, where he’s boastful and energetic, but slowly loses confidence as he keeps losing Pokemon battles, and falls into a depression after a particularly hard defeat. He seems to pull out of it after encouragement from friends, but then he spirals into it again when you beat him in the finals. He spends most of the endgame putting himself down and saying he can’t do anything to help, but as you travel together stopping the Dynamaxed Pokemon, he perks up again (thanks in part of Piers being a really good Dad despite having no kids), and all this culminates in him saying he’s realized being champion isn’t really for him; instead, he’s gonna become a Pokemon professor and travel around helping people and Pokemon wherever he can. It’s really sweet, and I like that we see a rival who actually does get upset that they keep losing to you all the time, without turning them into a villain. Hop is never not your friend during all this; he’s just sad and needs so many hugs.

Marnie was a lot more fun of a character than I was expecting. From the official art, I thought she was gonna be the super reserved, stoic character who gets angrier and angrier as she loses to you over and over. But she’s actually outgoing and fun, and loves battling the player even if she loses. And her brother Piers is just as good at subverting expectations. He’s all dressed up as a super punk rocker who’ll be a terrible influence on everyone, but he’s definitely the Tired Adult of the group when you’re travelling around trying to fix things, and he’s a good Dad friend. Team Yell is much less creepy now that I have context. Piers is a gym leader, and Team Yell is the gym staff that he asked to go help cheer Marnie on during her gym challenge. They’re overzealous, but they’re just trying to help her. Some of them even start cheering for you instead, once Piers acknowledges your skill.

Bede can go fuck himself. I know they tried to give him some kind of backstory or whatever, and some vague punishment/redemption with Opal making him the new Fairy Gym leader, but dude’s a dick, through and through.

I could go on and on about the characters, but this post is already getting too long, so I’ll talk about the story itself now. Through most of the game, you get hints that something bad is happening or going to happen, or something is going wrong, but every time one of those hints pops up, the adult say “Let us handle this, you focus on your gym challenge.” And that kind of bothered me at the time, because it’s like if you get the guard station outside Saffron City and start to argue with the guard, then Lance shows up and says “Hey, why not skip down to Vermillion City? I’ll take care of this.” And that’s the end of it. Next time you try to pass through, it’s open and there’s nothing wrong. You know something is going on, but no one will let you near it, so you just keep going on your gym challenge.

Later you find Leon (the champion) in an argument with Chairman Rose (owner of every corporation in the region) about an energy crisis. Rose says we need to start dealing with it now, Leon says it won’t happen for a thousand years, why do we need to bother right now. Then of course the Chairman triggers the Darkest Day right before your championship match with Leon, ranting about the energy crisis and whatnot, then you have to go stop the super powerful legendary Pokemon he released for Real Reasons That Definitely Make Logical Sense And Don’t Need Explained No Sir. At first, I thought this with a super shitty take on the energy crisis, that we’ll run out of fossil fuels and not have renewable energy ready. But if that’s the case, it’s extremely clumsy, because 1) no owner of a corporation gives two shits about anything a thousand years from now and 2) they had the guy warning everyone about the future crisis also be the guy who almost destroys the whole country. I chalked it up to being rushed and tried not to think about it too hard.

But now I’m thinking differently. There’s something Leon says, after the whole Darkest Day thing is averted: he’s gonna start thinking about the future now, and start working on ways to make the future better (or something to that effect). I think maybe the “moral” of the story is that we shouldn’t just let problems be until they come to a head, and we shouldn’t rely on others to take care of the problems. We relied on the adults to handle things in a reasonable manner, and it nearly led to the apocalypse. So maybe that’s the point? Don’t rely on others to take care of things; if you see a problem, try and fix it. And likely specifically talking about climate change and the destruction of the environment. Galarian Corsola is a bleached, dead coral for a reason.

If that’s the case, then A+ for message, D- for execution. But it’s Pokemon, I know they can’t get too serious about things. But it mostly led to a story I didn’t really enjoy, full of characters that I loved. While I would prefer to finally have the remake of Gen 4, I wouldn’t be sad to see a Sword and Shield 2.

[365daysofsasuhina]

[ 365 Days of SasuHina || Day One Hundred Twenty-Five: Small Town ] [ Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata, Uchiha Itachi ] [ SasuHina ] [ Verse: Catch ‘Em All ] [ AO3 Link ]

“So...where do you want to go first?”

Sasuke can’t help a grin as Hinata looks the map over. While she’s familiar with Kanto’s geography, this is a rather important day.

It’s been several months since he caught her a Goldeen. Since then, she managed to keep it a secret from her father...until he caught her showing the water type off to the trainers in the Cerulean gym.

Needless to say...it wasn’t pretty. Hiashi was furious. But thankfully, the current gym leader - Neji’s mother - stepped in. Once she learned that her brother-in-law had been actively keeping Hinata from pokémon, she rallied on him with her stern ways and managed to back him down. Pointing out her son and his accomplishments - and his safety thus far - she argued back any paranoia he had about the creatures and their relation to his wife’s passing.

So - begrudgingly or not - Hiashi agreed to let her keep the Goldeen.

As soon as Hinata told Sasuke...he had made up his mind. He was taking her on a journey.

True, Hinata doesn’t have high aspirations like most trainers: to battle the eight regional gym leaders and then face the Elite Four and Champion. Rather, she simply wants to travel with her pokémon, and see if - maybe - she can add some more of them to her team.

Because ever since Sasuke caught her her first...she’s been itching to have more.

“Someday...maybe I’ll run the gym like my mother did,” she’d mused in her letter to him. “But first, I’d have to get a good team! And get stronger!”

So, Sasuke actually traveled up with his own fledgling team to Cerulean to ask Hiashi’s permission in person: to let him take Hinata on a tour of Kanto while he himself would battle the gym leaders and attempt to take the title.

The question had hung in the silence for what felt like forever. Hiashi stared at him with squinted, evaluating eyes. Then grilled him. What was his team? How much training did he have? Was he really a gym leader’s son? What did Fugaku think about all this?

It’d been exhausting, but Sasuke’s held back his sometimes-steely temper...and eventually, managed to convince him.

They decide to leave from Fuchsia, and Sasuke lets her pick the first destination.

“Um…” There’s a sheepish pause. “I...I-I’ve only ever been to Fuchsia besides Cerulean, so...I’m not sure…”

“Anything that jumps out at you!”

Eyeing the various routes, Hinata traces them with a finger. “I think...I’d like to go here.”

Leaning over the map to look, Sasuke perks a brow. There…? “...okay. It’s just up the docks from here! But uh...it’s a pretty small town.”

“T-that’s okay! I think I’d like to start small. And...maybe we can find more water types in the ocean on the way!”

“Okay! My big brother is letting me borrow his pokédex, so we can check what’s there when we get there!”

Lavender Town...not what he expected her to choose. Sasuke has to wonder if she knows the darker side to the eastern town. But, in some ways, it’s a good choice: they can head west to Saffron, and then either south to Vermillion, or further west to Celadon without much difficulty.

Rolling up the map, Sasuke sticks it back into his pack. “So...think you’re ready to go?”

“I...I guess so.” She looks over her shoulder at her own backpack. “I tried to go light, but...also have everything I need!”

“We can always buy some supplies in the towns if we have to - when you battle another trainer, if you win, you get some money!”

“O-oh! Well...I don’t know if I’m good enough to battle…”

“We can practice with some wild pokémon first! And I can always help you out, too.”

“So, heading out?”

The two preteens turn to spy Itachi coming to see them off, alongside one of the Safari Zone’s younger employees...the latter of which makes Sasuke pout ever so slightly.

“Mhm!” Hinata chirps in reply, not noticing her companion’s expression. “We’re gonna go to Lavender Town first!”

That raises the older brother’s eyebrows. “...I see. Quite a few fishermen hang out along the docks, so be careful. They enjoy a good battle to test their new catches.”

“It’ll be okay,” Sasuke rebukes, expression a bit aloof. “I’m sure Ivysaur can handle them just fine.”

The elder pair exchange a glance, but don’t argue. “Ne, Hinata-chan,” Itachi’s companion offers with a smile. “I got you a few things to start your journey! A few potions, some pokéballs, and a revive!”

Expression alight, Hinata accepts, looking to the bag of goodies with starry eyes. “Oh...thank you!”

“All right you two, be safe,” Itachi offers. “Remember, if anything goes wrong, send me a letter, and I’ll fly to you and make sure you’re all right.”

“We’ll be fine, aniki,” Sasuke insists.

“I’m sure...but it never hurts to have a backup plan, hm?”

“I guess...c’mon, Hinata-chan. We better get started before it gets too late in the morning.”

“O-okay!” Jogging to catch up as he leaves, she waves over her shoulder. “Bye! See you guys soon!”

Itachi just sighs softly. While he knows his brother to be of sound judgement...he’s also often a victim of his pride and haughty temper. He can’t help but hope neither of those traits will land them into trouble. Especially with Team Rocket still about…

The little pair, however, don’t seem nearly so daunted as they head east before they can reach the docks that head up north toward Lavender. Glancing to Hinata, Sasuke hesitates before asking, “So, uh...what do you know about Lavender Town, Hinata-chan?”

“Not too much. Why?”

“Well…” He itches the rear of his neck. “...it, uh...it has a really big pokémon cemetery. Just so you know.”

“Oh...yes, I knew that.”

He jolts a bit in surprise. “You did?”

“Yes...it’s...part of why I want to go there.” Hinata gazes somberly ahead. “...that’s where my mother’s team was put to rest. And...I-I want to go visit them. I’ve never had the chance.”

...Sasuke finds himself unsure what to say.

“But thank you for warning me.” She manages a hint of a smile. “...I appreciate it. You l-looking out for me.”

“Oh, uh...yeah. C’mon, we better pick up the pace, or we won’t make it before dark.”

“Mhm!”

     I have had the LONGEST weekend, so I'll be brief.      More pokes! I need to do more of this crossover, tbh - it's so cute x3 Looks like out little heroes can finally give their own journey a chance - how will it go? Time will tell!      Thanks, as always, for reading. Time for sleep =w=

[primatechnosynthpop]

alright gamers here’s some #thoughts on a heroes/pokemon crossover (under a readmore because it’s a very long list. Like, you would not believe how much nonsense I have to say on this topic)

The voiceovers at the beginnings and endings of many episodes are about Pokémon evolution, how it differs from regular evolution, and so on

That being said, Mohinder is a Pokémon professor who specializes in studying evolution

Peter works in a Pokémon centre

Nathan is a member of the Unova Elite Four

Hiro and Ando work at Silph Co.

Instead of having a teddy bear collection, Claire has a Stufful she got from her father. It’s her favourite Pokémon

Whenever somebody uses their powers, it’s basically like a Pokémon move (“Peter used Mirror Move”, “Claire used Recover”, “Matt used Mind Reader”, etc.); they can run out of Power Points

“When destiny calls… you answer your Pokégear!”

The Company is actually a branch of Team Plasma (Plasma rather than any other evil team because Unova= America) and since “specials” can use Pokémon moves, the Company sees them as closer to Pokémon than humans and therefore want to “liberate” them from society

Arthur Petrelli’s power does extend to actual Pokémon moves as well; he used to have a job as a move deleter

The formula from volume three is basically a TM

When Peter jumps off the roof in season one, Nathan claims it was his Pidgoet that rescued him, not Nathan himself. However, Peter knows better because Nathan’s Pidgeot is currently at the Pokémon daycare

Actually, the way a lot of “specials” keep their powers a secret is by attributing their abilities to their Pokémon. For instance, Matt claims his Growlithe sniffed out Molly Walker when in fact he used Mind Reader

A surefire way to tell whether it’s Niki or Jessica: Niki has a Clefable; Jessica has a Gengar

The climax of season four takes place in Nimbasa City (since there’s a ferris wheel there)

Instead of fixing watches, Sylar used to work at a Pokéball factory

Rather than Mirror Move like Peter, Monica Dawson’s ability is more like Assist; she can only use moves that belong to the Pokémon on her team

Speaking of which, Peter can borrow moves from actual Pokémon as well. Sylar can’t, but on the upside, he isn’t limited by having only four move slots

*Paints Castelia City exploding* Isaac used Future Sight! Isaac foresaw an attack!

Since it doesn’t make as much sense for Daphne to call Hiro “Pikachu” if they’re in the Pokémon world, she instead calls him a twerp, a la Team Rocket from the anime

Matt’s turtle is a Tirtouga that he resurrected from a fossil which he found while wandering around in the desert

Mr. Muggles is a Lillipup; Sandra Bennet used to enter him in Pokémon contests 

The Company uses a special kind of Pokéball called a Company Ball that’s not actually any different from a regular Pokéball but is black with a gold “Godsend” kanji on the front. In season one, Hiro thought he had to catch a Pokémon using a Company Ball in order to access his powers

Claire goes to the trainers’ school in Striaton City

Instead of the cello, Emma plays the Pokéflute

Tracy started out running an Ice-type gym but after season three she changed it to a Water-type gym

When the Company locks away a special, they confiscate their Pokémon as well and have them stored indefinitely in PC boxes. After the breakout in volume three, a couple main characters end up with Pokémon formerly belonging to these individuals—Peter ends up putting Jesse’s Loudred on his team, although it’s rather uncooperative and he eventually releases it

In season one, when Claire recorded herself trying to hurt herself & healing, she used a VS Recorder to do it. Normally a VS Recorder only records Pokémon, but since she was using a move (Recover) the VS Recorder registered it as a battle taking place

On a related note, Noah was able to track Sylar using a modified version of the Pokéfinder

Rather than finding Nathan’s body, Peter finds out about the whole “Sythan” ordeal because he finds a Yamask whose mask resembles Nathan’s face

Rather than accidentally shooting her, Peter and Isaac get into a Pokémon battle and Simone gets caught between energy blasts like Ash in Pokémon: The First Movie (but without the magic tears of life)

When Hiro is in the Feudal Era, Adam and Yaeko are amazed by the fact Hiro has a Pokémon team—Pokéballs didn’t exist back then

Micah uses his power to instantly fill out his Pokédex. He uses this information so he’ll be prepared for any rivals he comes across

Instead of torturing Sylar with a tuning fork, Mohinder tells his Minccino to use Echoed Voice. It’s super effective!

Noah isn‘t a trainer, but he borrows Pokémon from the Company to battle with when necessary

Claire has a Secret Base where she keeps all the Pokédolls Noah gets her. In later seasons, she spends a lot more time hiding away in it

Nathan, being a Gym Leader, is very much a competitive battler; he’ll disregard any Pokémon with poor IVs

Linderman is the boss of Team Rocket; if Niki doesn’t fully repay him, he’ll steal all her and her family’s Pokémon

Matt’s dad was one of the developers of the Entralink (because dreams)

At one point or another Hiro definitely teleports to the Ilex Forest and catches a Celebi

Tracy works at Pokéstar Studios

The formula Mohinder concocts in season 3 has the same properties as the Dubious Disk. He tests it on his Porygon-2, which evolves into Porygon-Z, and he takes this as a good sign

Remember that one time in the anime when Ash got turned into a Pikachu? That’s what Arthur Petrelli does to Hiro instead of scrambling his brain

Noah wants to keep Claire from having Pokémon battles–“why can’t you be a coordinator like your mother?”–but this only encourages her to train her team harder

When Meredith shows up with her level 85 Rapidash and level 87 Flareon, it’s a bit of a wake-up call for Claire: even if she constantly uses healing items on her team, they’ll keep taking damage from a burn affliction

Instead of just a bunch of pigeons (or Pidove) on the Deveaux building, it’s the location of the Pokémon daycare. Even though they’re not affiliated with the Pokémon centre, Peter still loves going up there to play with the Pokémon

The wall in the episode The Wall is UB-Wall; the episode ends when Peter and Sylar can defeat it in a double battle

Niki has a Kangaskhan that she spends most of season 1 thinking she doesn’t have the power to Mega Evolve, but in the finale she succeeds and fights side-by-side with Micah, who commands the baby Kangaskhan

Peter has a Rockruff that eventually evolves into a Midday Lycanroc. However, in every “bad” future, it’s instead in the Midnight form

During the early days of the study of specials, scientists tried to do things like capture them in Pokéballs

That being said, the corrupt desert camp in the 60s was branded as a Safari Zone

Isaac thinks he can only use Future Sight when he’s holding a Toxic Orb

The Burnt Toast Cafe is a Malasada shop (I guess that means Hiro is basically Hau? Accurate tbh)

From season three onwards, Micah has a Cubone on his team

Molly uses her power to find where wild Pokémon are hiding in the tall grass and avoid walking there

People who work for the Company or are prisoners of them aren’t allowed to have Pokémon, but Elle trains an Electabuzz in secret. When she and Sylar get together, she trades it to him in exchange for a Jolteon, and it evolves into Electivire

A lot of the side characters and characters without powers aren’t trainers. Ando doesn’t have any Pokémon of his own until the end of volume three, when he catches a Plusle that he uses to aid Hiro in double battles

In the Five Years Gone future, Niki has a Phantump on her team. Make of that what you will…

Throughout season one, Claire is reluctant to let her Pokémon evolve. At the start of season two, we see that she has evolved her Stufful into a Bewear and her Buneary into Lopunny

The first Pokémon Hiro ever caught was an Abra, which he never evolves (although it is evolved in the Five Years Gone future). In volume five, when he goes back in time to three years ago he trades it to Charlie. When he sees her as an old woman at the end of the show, she still has it, now as a Kadabra. She trades it back to him and it evolves into Alakazam

When one character dies, another will generally adopt their Pokémon. Peter puts Isaac’s Smeargle on his team, and later Nathan’s Unfezant; Matt keeps Daphne’s Accelgor and Crobat on his team; Meredith gives Claire her Torchic before she explodes; etc.

Tracy’ team is mostly ice and/or water-type, but her oldest Pokémon is a Wigglytuff that she doesn’t use in battle much, only as a companion

Bonus: everyone’s Pokémon teams at the start of the show and by the end

START:

Peter: Chansey, Eevee, Rockruff

Nathan: Pidgeot, Noctowl, Tailow, Staraptor, Braviary, Unfezant

Claire: Oricorio, Stufful, Buneary

Hiro: Pikachu, Abra

Matt: Growlithe, Turtwig, Slowpoke

Niki: Clefable, Gardevoir, Kangaskhan

DL: Haunter, Mismagius

Micah: Elekid

Mohinder: Porygon, Magnemite, Minchino

Angela: Persian, Gothorita, Munna

Sylar: Klink, Ditto

…And by the end:

Peter: Blissey, Sylveon, Lycanroc, Smeargle, Unfezant, Mew

Claire: Oricorio, Bewear, Lopunny, Ursaring, Blaziken, Delcatty

Hiro: Alolan Raichu, Alakazam, Celebi, Aegislash, Furret, Gyarados

Matt: Arcanine, Torterra, Grumpig, Tirtouga, Slowking, Hypno

Tracy: Wiggytuff, Frosslass, Lapras, Glaceon, Jellicent, Primarina

Micah: Electabuzz, Rotom, Marowak, Scrafty, Pancham

Mohinder: Porygon-Z, Magnezone, Minchino, Muk, Genesect

Angela: Persian, Gothitelle, Musharna, Xatu

Sylar: Klingklang, Ditto, Electivire, Umbreon, Zoroark, Mewtwo

[encchantress]

so this guide is going to be a very very basic overview of what it’s like to WORK AT DISNEY WORLD (pt. 1)! i have a somewhat in depth knowledge of the process and what it’s actually like to be working there because i worked there doing the college program for 5 months. this will be a v v basic overview though and maybe if i feel like it, i’ll do a college program version as well, but here it is!! please like or reblog if you found this helpful!!

AFTER YOU’RE HIRED!

i only know about how you get hired via the disney college program so i’m going to gloss over that, though i will say that for the dcp you apply online, have a web interview, then a phone interview and then you find out whether or not you join the cast!!

CASTING!!!! i know for the dcp we didn’t know what role we had and what location we were going to be at until we got there, but i can’t speak for normal disney cast members. all i know is that no matter what you’ll end up at the casting building at downtown disney to get your assignment and scan fingerprints and all that!!

TRADITIONS!!!! god i’m so lit just thinking about it. traditions is the day that you’re called in to learn all about the history of disney and hear a bunch of stories about how disney has touched the lives of so many. it’s business casual, and disney is VERY strict about this. i watched a girl take off her lipstick bc a cast member told her it was too bright. basically you go to disney university and you get told a bunch of heart-warming stuff, you do some trivia and earn some figurines if you answer correctly, and there’s a box sitting in the middle of your table the whole time which you aren’t allowed to open until the end. they take you to magic kingdom and they have you wear these headsets that don’t rly work and they take you backstage through the tunnels and up into some part of magic and you just like observe what’s going on and you learn about some of the neato things you only get to learn as a cast member. then you go back to Disney University and mickey mouse himself comes to give you your name tag. of course, at the end, you get to open the box and there’s your very own pair of mickey ears waiting inside. it’s honestly life changing. 

okay, so after you have to go through this thing called operations. basically you go to DU and you’re split up into groups based on your role. your roles include:

food and beverage (quick service or full service)

retail (bibbidi bobbidi boutique/floral/merchandise/vacation planner)

entertainment (character performer/character attendant/costuming)

lodging (bell services/front desk/housekeeper)

recreation (children’s activities/lifeguard/recreation attractions)

operations (attractions/custodial/photopass)

and basically what you do in ops is you spend a full day taking a bunch of internet quizzes about personal safety, osha standards, and how to handle situations like unattended suspicious bags and lost children (although at disney they don’t say they’re lost children they say they have lost parents)

i’m gonna be honest, it’s real boring. like 90% of my day was spent trying not to fall asleep. but something else important to disney that you learn during ops are THE FOUR KEYS! The Four Keys are how Disney moderates how they’re doing as a business. The Four Keys are as followed:

SAFETY

COURTESY

EFFICIENCY

SHOW

you will get tested on these often. 

**quick note about safety. disney’s slogan for being safe while on property is “SAFE-D BEGINS WITH ME!” every cast member makes so many dick jokes using that phrase. please do it it’s so funny.**

then once you’re done with ops you’re typically sent for costuming which i’ll get into a little bit later probably bc there’s not rly that much to say on it right now other than like, just do a quick google to find out what your character will be wearing for wherever they work.

STARTING WORK!

so depending on which park you’re assigned to work (note: you will not park hop unless you’re deployed or you pick up shifts. pick one park and stick to it.) you have an orientation day. each park has a cutesy name for it 

DAKlimation (disney’s animal kingdom)

once upon a time (magic kingdom)

discovery day (epcot)

on with the show (hollywood studios)

this is basically a full day of walking around the parks, learning some of the secrets behind the theming and getting accustomed to the backstage areas. you also might ride a ride if you’re lucky (we rode kilimanjaro safaris at DAK). then you’ll start your on the job training. this can range from a week to two weeks depending and at the end of training you are tested on your knowledge of all the skills you learned during training. ((if anyone is interested in lifeguarding or quick service specifically pls don’t hesitate to ask!)) and through all this training you get to wear a cute little “earning my ears” sticker on your name tag!!

ROLES!!

honestly you can do a quick google about any of the roles above, but pls feel free to ask me questions too bc i know a lot about qsfb, lifeguarding, merch and character performer especially. i’m just going to highlight some common misconceptions (imo) below.

character performer: OKAY SO THIS IS WHERE I GET REAL NITPICKY!!! this paragraph is gonna be long so settle in. to be a character performer YOU HAVE TO GO TO AN AUDITION. and let me tell you, it is not easy. it is very likely that if you are a character performer you have auditioned a very good number of times bc disney is so specific in what they’re looking for. and character performer isn’t just someone in a costume or a lookalike. it extends to parades, shows, and even street performers like the citizens of hollywood in hollywood studios. 

there are a few different types of auditions too. they have character performer auditions where they are just generally looking for performers, but they can pull you aside for lookalikes. in character performer auditions you do a parade dance that increases in difficulty the further you go along if you haven’t been cut. in lookalike auditions you literally go into a room in groups of 50 and smile at a man for like 5 seconds and then they cut based off of that. ((if anyone wants a more detailed guide on this i can do it bc i have auditioned for disney 5 times doing both kinds of auditions))

height ranges!!!! this is also a huge thing for me bc some of yall stay trying to play like a 5′7″ bitch as tinkerbell. disney is usually pretty good about sticking to particular height rangers for costumed and face characters. 

most princesses are within the 5′4″-5′7″ range. alice and wendy are usually between 4′10″-5′2″. most costumed characters with the exclusion of most villains and goofy are between 4′11″-5′4″. 5′4″ is definitely at the v top of the height range though and might be pushing it tbh. these are all based on what i know to be true myself having met a shit ton of princesses and character performers, but there are deviants for sure. basically don’t use taylor swift as an fc for alice. cool??? cool.

quick service food and beverage: once you’re in a restaurant you typically stay there. although qsfb can also extend to outdoor vending (odv) in which case you would rotate from cart to cart (they’re the ones that sell the mickey bars and pretzels n shit), but if you work in a restaurant you typically don’t switch between that and odv. 

WORLD SHOWCASE @ EPCOT: if you’re in the world showcase, the people that work in the different countries are usually authentically from there. it would be very, very rare to have a white/european person working at one of the restaurants in mexico. i’ve honestly never met someone who wasn’t from their assigned country that worked there. i’m speaking specifically about the world showcase and not any other part of epcot. many world showcase cast members are part of the cultural representative program which means they come for 12 months and they work in either the world showcase in epcot, animal kingdom, animal kingdom lodge, or international guest relations/greeter roles. basically, if you’re gonna have your character work in a world showcase pavilion, make them from that country pls. 

attractions: if you work attractions, you are most likely not just working at one ride for your entire life. for example: in adventureland in magic kingdom, those attractions workers work aladdin’s magic carpet ride, the enchanted tiki room, swiss family robinson treehouse and anything else in the area. basically if a land or a certain area within the park has the same costume, you’re working all of it so i’d familiarize yourself with just how many attractions your character might be working. 

**quick note again: not every job is within a disney park. you may get a job at disney springs, water parks, or resorts!!!**

WORK THINGS!!!

when you’re working, disney has you on a strict points system. if you’re late to work, they dock you half a point. if you miss your shift/call out, they dock you a point. if you get 3 points within 30 days you get what’s called a reprimand. and this is not good my friends. you get 3 reprimands within 3 months and you’re out. like out out. like turn in your blue card and get out. you can get authorized days off or (ADO’s) but you have to request off like crazy early or get someone to take your shift. 

ahh!!! blue cards!!!! your blue card, or blue ID, is what identifies you as a cast member at disney. it’s also what you flash to bypass paying for parking, and it’s what gets you through the gates to get you backstage at disney. you don’t have it, you’re fucked basically. blue IDs also get you discounts on merchandise and food at some QSFB restaurants.

MAIN GATES!!!! your key to the kingdom!!! your maingate is your entry pass to all the parks. it serves as a park hopper. you also get 3 guest passes which, depending on if you’re a cp, part time or full time has so many passes on it for whomever you wish to bring with you into the parks. 

you answer to two people while you work at disney. your coordinators and your leaders. your coordinators are out on stage with you and there’s usually like 2-4 of them depending on how large your location is. they’re who you ask for help in a pinch. your leaders are like your managers. they give you a briefing in the morning before you open, they make tough calls, and they have to ability to smooth over almost any situation effortlessly. if you have a reeeeally angry guest, you better call ur leader. 

when you’re not on stage, you are backstage. i literally cannot stress this enough. if you’re on break you should not be seen or heard. there are break rooms for every section of each park and if you’re not on your feet, you’re back there. they’re not nice. they’re small, crowded, and usually smell. there are larger cafeterias within every park though (at DAK ours was called PRIDE ROCK) but they’re usually quite a walk depending on where you work.

BREAKS!!! if you’re working at disney that means you’re typically spending 6+ hours on your feet and however long your shift is is how long your break is. 6 hour shift?? you’ve probably got one 15 min break. 8 hours?? prolly one 30 min. break. 10 hours??? that’s when you get the hour long break.  oh also that 10 hour shift you were scheduled for?? it just turned into a 13 hour shift thanks to a force extend. you’re welcome. but you’re in luck!!! sometimes you get an early release or an ER!!! that’s when they don’t need you so they’re like fuck it go home. 

oh also everything is in military time.

GLOSSARY (terms cast members use a lot)

cast members - if you work for the walt disney company you are a cast member, not an employee 

DU - disney university (yes it exists and it’s fuckin baller on the inside)

company d - this is a store inside disney university. it’s where you can get exclusive cast merch and also you can buy your discounted party tickets there

cast connections - ok this is honestly disney’s best kept secret. cast connections is this huge store where u can buy so much shit for like 75% off. they even have a small grocery section where everything is hella cheap. you have to be cast to buy shit.

costuming - where you go to get your costumes duh. there’s one at every park, but magic kingdom’s is at west clock.

west clock - ok so basically not all mk cast is allowed to park in the parking lot like at other parks so there’s this thing called west clock that has a huge parking lot and it’s where disney university and magic king costuming is. you go to west clock and then take a bus to get to magic.

tunnels/utilidor - backstage at MK consists of the utilidors or tunnels as they’re often called. MK is the only park with tunnels and they’re fuckin extensive. there are colored lines on the walls that can direct you to where you need to go, but it’s still confusing as hell.

qsfb/fsfb - quick service/full service food and beverage

merch - merchandise

odv - outdoor vending

stands west/stands east - a variation of working merchandise in the parks. you work at the small stands instead of the shops

four keys card - if a fellow cast member or guest thinks you’ve successfully exemplified the four keys, they give you a four keys card. this is for recognition and it also takes a point off of your record.

MK - magic kingdom

DAK - disney’s animal kingdom

DHS - disney’s hollywood studios

CP - college program

ER - early release

force extend - when they fucking extend your shift without asking u

ADO - authorized day off

deployed - sometimes you get asked to work in a different park for a few days or weeks, they call this being deployed.

on stage - when you’re on the job in front of guests

backstage - the areas where you can’t be seen by guests

guests - not customers, guests.

honestly there’s probably so much more i need to cover, but that’s just a lil taste of what it’s like to work at disney. i might add onto this later or just make a second guide. if you have any questions about anything specific, the disney college program, qsfb or animal kingdom rly let me know bc i know the most about those things, but i’m knowledgeable in A LOT of other stuff too. 

[universalfanfic]

ABC character

tagged by the lovely @raiswanson​! Sorry it took me a bit... I had to actually develop some of these ideas.

Let’s force me to think more in depth about....hmm... Ember! (Protag for my modern fantasy novel wip)

A is for Age: Ember is around 27 years old 

B is for Biggest Fear: Failing in life and at her job. She can be a bit “Type A” and takes her job seriously. 

C is for Current Time: Um... sorta modern day? At least they have advanced technology mixed with magic. 

D is for Drink Last Had: Probably a coffee; the girl needs to cut back tbh

E is for Everyday Starts With: She adjusts to waking up quickly since she has to wake up early everyday to go to work. She’ll usually get ready quickly and grab a coffee and something to eat before getting to her office. 

F is for Favorite Song: “Fight Song” - Rachel Platten .. mostly this just sort of fits her situation?

G is for Ghosts, Are They Real?: Some might call them ghosts, but they’re really more of imprints of energy. They can’t communicate, since they’re just a replaying loop of a moment in time that either had a lot of emotion/energy or happened continuously and wore themselves into an area/object.

H is for Hometown: Originally she was born in Baguio in the Philipines, but her parents immigrated to the United States when she was young. Now she lives in Portland, OR.  

I is for In Love With: A dragon shifter named Moto! (Although there’s a bit of a wrench thrown in their bliss thanks to a certain Fae.) 

J is for Jealous Of: People who can just live in blissful ignorance

K is for Killed Someone: Nope! But she’s definitely contemplated it... (I’m talkin’ bout u, Caél)

L is for Last Time They Cried: As of how much I’ve written... After she found out she’d accidentally accepted a gift from a Fae

M is for Middle Name: *I haven’t given her one yet*

N is for Number of Siblings: She’s an only child! 

O is for One Wish: To find a way to break the magical contract she accidentally agreed to

P is for Person Last Called/Texted: Probably Corrien, her Mer friend

Q is for Questions They’re Always Asked: "What do you do for a living?" And the follow up, "doesn't it suck to lose most of your cases?"

R is for Reasons to Smile: Her boyfriend, Moto who is a sweet, lighthearted guy who always knows what to say. Small, domesticated gryphons that she can pet. The charm on her phone so she never loses it. S is for Song Last Sang: Probably some top 40 that was on the radio while she was thumbing through case files.

T is for Time They Wake Up: Ember wakes up around 5:30am

U is for Underwear Color: She’s got a variety pack? Idk man...  V is for Vacation Destination: Anywhere she can go on a wildlife tour/safari. The girl loves all creatures and you will regret bringing them up in conversation if you just wanted to say "hi and bye". W is for Worst Habit: Getting snippy with people when she's stressed out, even if they don't deserve it. She also tends to underestimate people.

X is for X-Rays; Ever Broken a Bone?: No, but she does have an unfortunate encounter with a gryphon.

Y is for Youth: What Was it Like?: She had a pleasant childhood. Her parents have always doted on her and pushed her to succeed. In a way, there has always been a pressure on her to be successful so that she can care for her parents, but she takes it all in stride. 

Z is for Zealous: What Are You Passionate About?: Justice! She doesn’t believe all the laws pertaining to magic (especially Fae laws) are fair and wants to change the system.

As for tagging...

@gracieinanovel @ladynefertankh @writing-is-literally-my-life and @ anyone else who wants to

[purplesurveys]

725

Your name? Robyn. Age? Just turned 22. Ugh, I’ve finally reached the point where future ages – other than 30/40/50 etc – won’t be much of a milestone anymore. I can hear Monica Geller tell me, “welcome to the real world, it sucks.” Gender? Identify as female. Ethnic background? I usually just say Filipino to make it easier but technically I’m mostly Tagalog with a bit of Mangyan and Ilokano and I think Bulakeño? in me. What do you like the most about your ethnic background? It’s hard to find anything to be proud of from being Filipino sksksk I like our cuisine I guess? Especially the seafood?

The least? It’s not something I dislike directly about our own background, because what I like the least is the hundreds of years of colonization by four different nations that led to the near-complete wipeout of our native culture and the severe colonial effects that followed. The reason I find it so hard to rack my brain for stuff about our ‘ethnic background’ is because everything about it has already been penetrated by Spanish, English, Japanese, or American influence, even down to how well I can speak English right now. It’s almost impossible to look for something that’s ours. Who is your favorite golf player? I’ve never liked watching golf. Whats your favorite kind of gold? (White, Yellow, Rose, Traditional) Rose gold looks pretty. Would you rather wear turquoise pants or purple? Highkey would not wear either of these but if it came down to it, purple. Would you ever go on a jungle safari? I kind of already did. It was a lot of fun and I would rather keep going to safaris if I wanted to see wild animals as it’s a much lesser evil than zoos. If you saw a UFO what would you do? Hope my fingers are quick enough and immediately take a video. What color is your mailbox? We don’t have one. Mailmen just place it by the handle of our screen door. Are you taller than your Mom? No, I’m the smallest one in the family. Who is your meanest friend? I never really counted Patrice as a friend but she’s been the least nice acquaintance I remember having. Her attitude is actually the reason I hadn’t seen her as a friend, so that said I wouldn’t really be befriending anyone who I thought isn’t very nice. Have you ever thought about suicide? Yeah, well I’m not exactly the most mentally well person durrrr. I don’t think of it as often as I used to, but it’ll cross my mind more or less once a month. Have you ever broken a pinata? I’ve never had that experience before actually. I’ve only seen it in cartoons. Who loves Orange Soda? I don’t like soda, period. Where did you go the last time you used public transportation? I dunno if it counts because the jeep just goes around the campus hahaha but I took a jeep coming from CAL going to CMC, my home college. My dad accidentally drove the car I was gonna use that day so I had to book a Grab (our local Uber; also I can’t do public transpo for long distances hence the private car, heh) going to school, and then the campus jeeps to go from one class to another. If you were to start a band what would you name it? Never hire me to name stuff. Would you rather spend a year in the abyss or outer space? Outer space. It’s where I’ve always wanted to go anyway. I fear for my sanity if I wind up in the abyss. Do you know someone who has shot off a part of their own body? No but I know someone who had been shot (or stabbed? I can’t remember but he was attacked); it was my Kuya’s close friend. What TV shows stick out from your childhood? Mr. Bean, Pokemon, SpongeBob, Jimmy Neutron, Drake and Josh, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, That’s so Raven, to name a few. What is/was for dinner tonight? No idea yet. My dad usually whips something up at the last minute but it always turns out so so good. What’s really the best cure for a hangover? FRIED CHICKEN and I will die on this hill. Do you eat the stems of broccoli? Oooh I don’t think that’s been served to me before actually. I’m not opposed to trying them though cause broccoli’s my favorite vegetable. How many cavities do you have? I had a couple before but they’ve since been fixed at the dentist. Have you ever given money to a bum? Yes I always give them money ranging from ₱10 to ₱20, and biscuits if I have some in my bag, if they knock on my window. If you found 100 dollars on the floor of a church what would ya do with it? If I found it in a church I’d absolutely run the fuck away with the money lmao. Is your head a fun place to be in? I’m a bit of a workaholic and am always thinking about the next thing to accomplish, so tbh I imagine it looking like Spongebob’s brain HAHAHAHA as in exactly this shot

What is your favorite word? Poignant to me sounds and looks the way it means, which is so satisfying. Why is going to poop such a social taboo? We covered a bit of this in my anthropology class last semester and our prof shared a theory that says our body is in and of itself clean but once substances exit the body they’re seen as impure and already dirty - which is why we’ll have no problem talking about the circulatory system but many tend to faint if they cut their finger too much and see blood leaking out of them. Same explanation goes with poop, saliva, sweat, etc. I’m too lazy to check my notes if every bit of this is accurate, but the impure/dirty is the one I remember to be correct. Who is your worst enemy? Don’t really like the idea of enemies per se but after Marielle betrayed my trust twice I vowed to never speak with her again, and I never have. When was the last time you passed gas? I don’t like farting. If I feel one coming I suppress it on purpose. Do you eat raw hot dogs? No, that sounds so nasty. Do you ever speak out loud what you should be typing? Eh, sometimes and only if I’m by myself. It’s not a habit though. Do you own a squirt gun? We call them a water gun here but it used to be one of my favorite toys from childhood. I don’t own one anymore as I largely don’t need them. Do you like the Subway $5 footlong? I don’t really eat Subway. What is the last thing you ate with Marshmallow in it? Hate marshmallows. I always remove it if it had been added to the food I’m eating. Would you rather live in a shack on the beach or a mansion in Ohio? I love you beach, but I’m taking the damn mansion lol. Do you believe that zombies could really invade the Earth? I don’t think zombies could ever surface naturally but at some point in the distant future, when technology and human knowledge advance enough and if someone was ambitious enough to use such knowledge for the worse, I feel like some chemical or substance causing someone to become a zombie could be made. Idk, people have come up with crazy shit from science that were initially thought to be impossible so for me I’m not ruling out zombies or at least a milder version of them haha. If you were to buy a boat what would you name it? Margo, as an homage to Margo Martindale’s role from BoJack Horseman. Who is your internet provider? PLDT. What has the tv show two and a half men taught you? Nothing, because I’ve never watched an episode. What’s something you’re not supposed to be doing right now? Not thinking about my unfinished thesis. I should definitely be thinking about it right now lol. What’s hotter topless or pantless? A bit TMI considering the time ksksks but topless for me. What would you do if you found a four leaf clover? I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean (but I wanna say it means good luck?) so maybe I’ll just take a photo of it heh. Miami Dolphins or NY Jets? I don’t even know what sport these teams belong to. What is your favorite kind of instant popcorn? I don’t like popcorn, so it’s a pass for me. Do you pay attention to the expiration dates on food? Yeah I check on them quite often since I once had a terrible experience drinking spoiled milk; but I’ve also been told by my dad that the expiration dates don’t necessarily mean spoilage and molds and all that nasty crap, and that the date just means by when the product’s quality will slowly start to decrease, like if chips start to get tougher to chew or if a chocolate bar becomes less sweet. It’s a source of relief, but I’m still paranoid about expiration dates overall. What ringtone is on your phone? Just the ones Apple provides. What odd thing do you wish you were doing right now? Driving in circles around the village just to enjoy the outside world :( Are you a smoker? Socially. How do you feel about not being able to smoke in a lot of bars? I don’t mind it. I’m not desperate to smoke ever.

[ihavehalfofmyblood]

eighty five questions tag

it’s currently 12:37am and I’m bored so why not do this tag! thank you @theheirofillea for tagging me!!💙

Rules: answer these 85 questions and tag 20 people

THE LAST

1. drink: water

2. phone call: I think it was my uncle

3. text message: one of my best friends

4. song you listened to: the eve by exo

5. time you cried: tbh I can’t remember I think it’s been a couple weeks

6. dated someone twice: haven’t even dated someone once so

7. kissed someone and regretted it: no

8. been cheated on: no

9. lost someone special: yes

10. been depressed: yeah

11. gotten drunk and thrown up: nope

3 FAVOURITE COLOURS

12. blue

13. black

14. red

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU

15. made new friends: yes!! many

16. fallen out of love: eh

17. laughed until you cried: yes!

18. found out someone was talking about you: yes

19. met someone who changed you: yes

20. found out who your friends are: sort of

21. kissed someone on your facebook list: dont have facebook

GENERAL

22. how many of your facebook friends do you know in real life: no Facebook

23. do you have any pets: nope

24. do you want to change your name: not really

25. what did you do for your last birthday: it was a snow day so I had no school and so I woke up late and spent time with my family eating some good food

26. what time did you wake up: last morning? almost 11am

27. what were you doing at midnight last night: scrolling on social medias

28. name something you can’t wait for: to see my best friends!!

29. when was the last time you saw your mom: like an hour ago

31. what are you listening to right now: the sound of my fan

32. have you ever talked to a person named tom: no

33. something that is getting on your nerves: school

34. most visited website: youtube maybe?

35. hair colour: Black

36. long or short hair: very very very long but I might cut it soon

37. do you have a crush on someone: not really

38. what do you like about yourself: umm my jokes ?

39. want any piercings: some more ear piercings

40. blood type: idk

41. nickname: sam, sammy (no one has called me that in a very long time though), Safari, etc

42. relationship status: happily single lol

43. zodiac: Capricorn

44. pronouns: she/her

45. favourite tv show: mm hard one I don’t really have a favorite show I guess, I used to really really be obsessed with once upon a time and my fav drama is descendants of the sun

46. tattoos: none

47. right or left handed: right

48. surgery: none

49. piercing: ears

50. sport: I don’t really play much sports lol but I do enjoy badminton

51. vacation: can I just say the whole world

52. pair of trainers: if this is shoe size, then US 6-7

MORE GENERAL

53. eating: nothing

54. drinking: nothing

55. I’m about to: finish this tag and go to sleep

56. waiting for: winter break and to gET MY LIFE TOGETHER

57. want: some peace

58. get married: only if I find someone I actually want to spend the rest of my life with

59. career: I’m a student

WHICH IS BETTER

60. hugs or kisses: hugs

61. lips or eyes: eyes

62. shorter or taller: taller

63. older or younger: older

64. nice arms or nice stomach: i don’t care

65. hook up or relationship: relationship

66. troublemaker or hesitant: both


HAVE YOU EVER

67. kissed a stranger: no

68. drank hard liquor: nope

69. lost glasses/contact lenses: nope

70. turned someone down: no

71. sex on the first date: nO

72. broken someone’s heart: I hope not

73. had your heart broken: no

74. been arrested: noooo

75. cried when someone died: yes

76. fallen for a friend: no

DO YOU BELIEVE IN

77. yourself: …eh

78. miracles: yes

79. love at first sight: still not sure

80. santa claus: totally

81. kiss on the first date: yes

82. angels: yes

OTHER

83. tumblr best friend’s name: don’t have one ?¿

84. eye colour: brown

85. favorite movie: aaaah I’m not sure

I tag:

@aesterea @celestia471 @mldebm @xxxlinasivanxxx