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#I kind of want to make a poll for how many people have seen too
carmendeiact2whenplz · 2 months
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Things we don’t know about Old Mondstadt (that Hoyoverse refuses to tell us)
Aka things that haunt me (and probably many other old mondstadt fans)
(keep in mind- not all of these may be entirely unanswerable as of now, some have partial/vague canon answers, while some may have completely canon yet relatively obscure answers)
(for the sake of making things easier to write, i will refer to venti’s dead friend/the nameless bard as “nb” and the red haired warrior as “rhw”, and specifically wisp venti as “wispti”, and i will be referring to the group of wispti, nb, rhw, gunnhildr, and amos (and maybe decarabian too if he’s relevant in that context) as the “old mond gang”)
Note- lots of paragraphs ahead
1- why is nb nameless? does he just… not have a name? does he have a name that he either intentionally or unintentionally kept secret? did he have a name that he used openly and oftenly, but it was forgotten by history as time went on? if anything, did he at least have some sort of nickname people used for him (so we can stop calling him “some nameless guy or smth idk”)?
2- While nb being, well, nameless, may be a bit more justified, what about rhw? did he also have some sort of name? would calling him “ragnvindr” (or similar) be entirely un-canon? did he at the very least have some sort of code name/nickname?
3- what is the timescale of the rebellion? did it take weeks, months, years? decades? how long ago did thoughts of revolution start in old mondstadt? were the people always unhappy, or did old mond use to be a better place?
4- what is nb’s role in the rebellion? did he start it? is he just a leader in general? or is he just there for the moral support? was he on the front lines or in the distance, playing his lyre to rally the troops? is he a strategist? has he ever directly fought anyone on the opposing side?
5- actually, how old is nb anyway? pretty sure most people agree that the rest of the old mond gang are adults (not wispti but like. i’ll touch more on that later), but i’ve seen stories/theories/headcanons about how old nb was (at the time of death) ranging from around 14 to 23 years old- that is not a small range by any means. (according to a poll i made a while ago, 16 was the most common answer on what people thought their age was (my headcanon too), but there was definitely a lot of range in the answers)
6- If Amos and Decarabian’s romantic relationship is so toxic (for lack of a better word), how any why did they get together in the first place? Did amos enter the relationship aware decarabian was against some of the things she wanted most in life? did she enter the relationship purely to try to “fix” him? was he abusive towards her, or was it just a lack of attention/affection/caring about other things more than her? or was it that he never loved her/was attracted to her romantically at all? were they still in a relationship even until the very end, or did they eventually split up when they both knew they would have to fight eachother and that things wouldn’t work out between them?
7- according to the “biography of gunnhildr” book (i think that’s the name), it says they worshipped the wind spirit barbatos and treated it like a deity, while other sources say wispti was nameless and was like. just kinda there. is one of them the truth, or both, or neither?
8- does wispti have arms and/or legs of any kind? can he talk/communicate with people? if so, how does he go about doing so?
9- it’s implied in “a drunkard’s tale” (an ingame book) that the wind spirit that transformed into a fox and helped create wine is the same wind spirit as well. wispti. if that means wispti can shapeshift, to what extent can he do it? can he even become a human/humanoid (not to the same detail and/or time extent that modern venti/barbatos can do so but still)? if so, how does that impact his relationship with nb and/or the rest of the old mond gang?
10- how long did the members of the old mond gang know eachother? did most of them meet in relation to the rebellion, or did some of them know eachother before they got to that point?
11- what is the order of events between amos dying, nb dying, decarabian dying, barbatos getting the gnosis, barbatos taking nb’s form, the end of the fighting, and rhw leaving/abandoning (for lack of better words) everyone? how much time took place between all those happening?
12- what exactly are the purposes of the tower? is it just a living space/government building for decarabian and amos, or is there more to it? did other people live in the tower too? if the circular ruins/symbols seen in the tower present-day were also there back then, why and how are they there? are the light actuators in the tower related to anything involving decarabian’s power/immortality and/or the storm wall?
13- how impenetrable is the storm wall, really? is everything restricted from going in or out, or are some people able to move freely? what is the immigration/emigration rate of the city? how often are things imported and exported? does the wall have any intended purpose other than for keeping the blizzard out?
14- how did amos get her bow? why is it so (hypothetically) powerful? where did she get it and how did it “retain its power” to this day?
15- how “old” is wispti? he could theoretically be any “age” between “manifesting into existence shortly before his first interaction with nb” and 14 billion years old/as old as time itself(and you thought nb’s theoretical age range was large.) how much did wispti truly know before getting involved with the rebellion? was he technically a toddler (in terms of knowledge/mentality), or does he actually have thousands of years of knowledge?
16- to what extent did the imunlaukr (i probably spelled that wrong) and lawrence clans participate in the old mondstadt rebellion? were they involved at all? should the old mond gang be eventually expanded to include more people? (lawrence, venerare, etc)
17- HOW DID DECARABIAN LOOK LIKE? HOYOVERSE PLEASE. IF YOU WONT GIVE US HIS FULLBODY DESIGN WITH MULTIPLE POSES AND FACIAL EXPRESSIONS AT LEAST GIVE US SOME CRUMBS ABOUT HIS APPEARANCE (how tall he was, hair color, outfit style, special accessories he wore, weapons he used, etc)
18- what is the relationship of the old mond game to eachother? were they friends? found family? or were things far more complicated than that? (and what was their reaction to knowing amos, one of their biggest allies, was also the lover/partner of their (the old mond gang’s) enemy?
19- did some of the genshin weapons with lore relations to old mondstadt actually get used during old mondstadt? (aka did nb get to use freedom-sworn as an actual combat weapon)
I probably left out a lot of things so i may go back later to edit, but there are just. SO many things hoyoverse keeps behind the lore basement. If anyone would like to add onto this list, or provide personal headcanons and/or canon answers to the things mentioned here, i highly reccomend doing so.
@honorary-fool @amarisrosalette @gierosajie @lanternlightss @arson-n-quwubilder @littleblueberryartist @lilyandthegenshinbrainrot @elysianheresy
@goyayato @lordofthetower @nellfe-the-feral-creature @thatonenerdinyourclassroom
@yume-shirokuro
(if anyone tagged would not like to be tagged, please let me know)
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qqueenofhades · 2 months
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One of my more "radical" leftist friends admitted after the 2016 election that they voted for Jill Stein. I asked them why and they said, and I quote, "I don't really know."
Anyway, thank you for the thoughtful post about polling. I'm still terrified of another Biden-Trump match up, but I suspect you are right that many of these online leftists yelling about sending a message to "genocide Joe" were not likely voters to begin with.
Well I mean, in Online Leftist world, voting is an essentially meaningless act anyway, so if they do bother to do it, why not make some sort of "protest" against the Corrupt System, even though (as I said) Jill Stein is literally a Manchurian candidate sponsored and funded by Russia precisely in order to dupe gullible leftists who want to Send a Message to the Democrats. She has no platform and no policies. She just exists to hurt Democrats and she is another part of the reason HRC lost in 2016, but hey. That sure showed us, or something.
And the thing is, while I'm not discounting that there could be some slippage of the youth vote, it would be much more effective as a threat (much as I would still deeply disagree with it, since the stakes are far too high with Trumpian fascism to fuck around with this bullshit) if we had literally any shred of evidence that they were planning to vote at all, that they were planning to vote for Biden and this is somehow the one thing that made them decide otherwise, or that their arguments were at all widespread beyond their tiny hermetic internet echo chamber. As I have said, I have not thus far seen compelling evidence that any of this is true, and believe me, I am ALSO keeping a close eye on things because this year will probably kill me before it's over. But when the Online Leftists have already spent three years lying about and trashing everything Biden has actually done, it is difficult to believe that they were in fact intending to vote for him, that they should be priced into any election analysis, or that they are as impactful as they think.
I suspect they're mostly being used to try to convince other people (who may or may not have planned to vote) that it is morally reprehensible to vote for Biden solely because of Gaza, no matter how illogical that is and how many orders of magnitude worse Trump would be on literally everything. And while I'm not denying that they may well peel off a few of the wishy-washy leaners and that's why their rhetoric is dangerous, I deeply doubt that they themselves were ever any kind of electoral or voting participant at all, because they keep telling us loudly that they're not. The media is running hard with this angle because they desperately want more Biden in Trouble stories, but actual election results keep proving them wrong, over and over. For all our sakes, let's hope very much this trend continues.
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02/29/2024 Daily OFMD Recap
TLDR; Cast & Crew Sightings; VicoOrtiz; Gypsy Taylor; Samba Schutte; How to Help: Ranker Polls; BBC News; New Appreciation Events; Rhys' 50th Birthday; NewarkNewark Watch Party with @adoptourcrew; Watch Party Reminders; PeopleOfEarth; TheseThems; SaveOFMDCrew; Calendar;Fundraiser Goals; LeapDayBingo; FanSpotlight; Collages;Trading Cards; LoveNotes; Daily Darby/Tonight's Taika
= Cast&Crew Sightings =
= Vico Ortiz =
Sorry were you planning on getting anything done today?
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Vico has so much going on! "These Flowers Might Be Ours" read by Vico is available now on Amazon.co.uk!
Also too, ActNow: LA's LQBTQ+ Acting Class will be doing a scene study with Vico starting March 10th!
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= Gypsy Taylor =
Our favourite costume designed Gypsy Taylor was interviewed by @screenaustralia! Check out the Podcast episode here. Src: Gypsy's Instagram
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= Samba Schutte =
Just a little celebration of Leap Day!
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== How to Help ==
Polls are still up! So that Ranker poll is still there! It's still taking responses, please feel free to stop in and push OFMD up! (You could even do it on multiple browsers!... not that I'd recommend something like that). Our friend @patchworkpiratebear was kind enough to make a helpful infographic since it is a bit of a goofy set up. Link to the Ranking
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Step 5: You can actually rank the other shows and they still affect the ranking of OFMD.
== BBC News ==
So this was a cool catch by @queerly-autistic, our friend over here on tumblr and twitter. "A Pirate Comedy with a cult following". Talk about making noise!
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I know I've seen several asks lately regarding whether or not the time slot change for OFMD on BBC was a good or a bad thing. @queerly-autistic had some great insight on this. Please check out their thread here. "It's a really great slot to have the show advertised in, and I was so surprised and thrilled to see them giving it that space (and specifically pushing people to watch it on iPlayer)"
== New Appreciation Events! ==
March 21: Rhys' 50th Birthday
Do you have prepared best wishes for our pirate captain? 
Use the hashtag #youwear50well in your social media posts! Also, here's a neat list of time zones to ensure our birthday wishes will be the first thing Rhys sees (depending on whether he's in NZ or LA at that time!) Tweet/Insta at the times of your zone to ensure timely impact. 
12 AM on March 21 in New Zealand is: 
    12 PM on March 20 for AEDT/Sydney
    11 AM on March 20 for GMT/London
    7 AM on March 20 for EST/New York
12 AM on March 21 in LA is: 
    6 PM on March 20 for AEDT/Sydney
    7 AM on March 21 for GMT/London
    3 AM on March 21 for EST/New York
Thank you so much to our lovely friend @yronnia and all the other folks working on this project! Super cool!
= More Watch Parties! =
Please join @adoptourcrew for a @NewarkNewark watch party on March 5th at 10 pm GMT/ 2pm PS / 5pm EST!
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== Watch Party Reminders! ==
Coming down to the end of s2 Friends! #People Of Earth continues tomorrow and then a whole rewatch on Saturday! 10 pm GMT / 5pm EST / 4pm CST / 2pm PST!
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= Mar 1: THESE THEMS WATCH PARTY =
Join @adoptourcrew on Friday 3/1 for a watch party of #TheseThems! Times haven't been secured quite yet but mark your calendars!
Watch Party Hashtags:
#TheseThems
#These Gems
#AdoptOurCrew
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== Save OFMD Crew ==
= Calendar =
Tomorrow is #ImmoderateCitrus Day! (National Sunkist Citrus Day in the US). Feel free to reach out to the @saveofmdcrewmates about citrus-related faves: food, drink, clothing, recipes, or art!
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= UK Advertising Fundraiser =
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The truck stretch goal was met! The final stretch goal is getting petitions up in the tube in the UK! As always friends, donating is not a requirement but if you want and can afford it, that's great too!
== Leap Day Bingo ==
Today was Leap Day Bingo! Bingo credit to the lovely @OFMDBingo42 on Twitter or @Our_Flag_Means_Bingo on IG! There are several versions, see how many you can find across our socials. 😘
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== Fan Spotlight ==
Febuary 29 bring the February LOVE #OurFlagMeansDeath Collage Fest to a close! Thank you again @wndrngnomad for taking the time to make such lovely dedications to our favourite show, cast, and crew!
Wanna see them all? Check them out here!
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== Cast Trading Cards ==
Appropriate timing considering all the Vico sightings we've been seeing lately! Our lovely @melvisik has done it again. I didn't realize Vico was in Harley Quinn!
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== Love Notes ==
HEY YOU!
Yes, YOU!
LOOK AT YOU!
With your awesome face, and your sweet ass smile!
Who do you think you are bringing all the swagger and charisma up in here? You're gonna blow this world away with that kind of powerful aura!
You are kicking ass today! Seriously, give yourself a big hug and a fist pump and say, "HELL YEAH!" because you are rocking it!
Now get out there and do whatever you're doing-- sleeping, playing, working, strutting, etc-- and show the next 24 hrs who'se's boss!
Love you crew <3
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== Daily Darby / Tonight's Taika ==
Today's Darby is brought to you by none other than @sherlockig.
Daily Taika is by @memzhay. Why are these related? Idfk know, they just felt like generally the same vibe. Rhys being a cat chasing a string, and Taika a pup playing dead. (It's opposite day cause it's Leap Day, I guess).
Don't ask me how my mind works. I gave up many many moons ago.
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soulkeeper801 · 1 year
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The Bet - Twice’s Nayeon
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(A/N: According to this poll, you like longer fics instead of several parts. So hope you enjoy these almost 3.5k words!)
f!reader x Nayeon
Nayeon and Jihyo bet on who can take Y/N out on a date first, until one of them catches real feelings and wants to back off.
“What’s taking Mr. Park so long?” Jihyo wondered as she stretched before the mirror.
The girls were gathered in the practice room waiting for their choreographer to arrive. He was almost half an hour late, something that never happened.
“I heard his wife was pregnant, maybe she’s got an appointment or something,” Sana commented. “He looks like the kind of person who would leave everything behind for his wife”.
Jihyo nodded at the new information, trying to figure out how they were going to continue without the guidance of their teacher. 
“Choreography is almost done,” Tzuyu said, noticing the worry on her leader’s face. “Can’t we practice it by ourselves?”
“We can,” Momo encouraged, getting up from the floor and suggesting everyone to do so. “There are some little details that we can go through together and we can wrap it up”.
As they were about to get in position, the door flung open. Their manager looked out of breath as he stepped inside of the room, calling everyone to gather around him.
“Mr. Park won’t come, his wife is having their baby right now and he’s at the hospital with her”.
Tiny gasps echoed in the room as the girls smiled widely at the good news.
“So I had to get someone last minute to replace him and help you through the final parts of the choreography”.
Momo looked past his shoulder and noticed a familiar face behind the door that brought a relieved smile to her face.
“She’s been working for Itzy these last few months and she’s familiar with Mr. Park’s work, so she knows how your choreography ends,” he assured, getting nods of approval from the girls. “Ms. Y/L/N, please come in”.
As soon as you arrived, you received several bows as a sign of respect. You had seen them many times in the building so you weren’t strangers, yet this was the first time you got to work together.
“Hello, everyone. I’ve been working with Mr. Park on this project so I’m used to what you have been doing the last few weeks. I’m confident we will finish it without any trouble”.
The practice went on smoothly. You had each part clear and got to make every girl shine whenever they got the center. You didn’t have any experience working with so many people at the same time, yet the girls made you feel comfortable enough.
You left the practice with the promise of coming back the next day to keep finishing up the details. Mr. Park was going to be away for a couple of weeks so they passed the project over to you.
“I didn’t know Y/N was this good,” Momo said as they were picking up their stuff.  “I had seen her around but I never saw her dance,” she kept saying. “I’m glad she’s taking over”.
“She’s also very…” Dahyun said, trying to find a word to describe the feeling you gave her.
“Pretty?” two voices said at the same time.
Jihyo and Nayeon looked at each other when they realized it was them.
“I was about to say something related to the way she teaches, but now we know Jihyo unnie and Nayeon unnie have the same type”.
Both girls laughed out loud at how the word simply escaped their lips.
“Y/N looks like the kind of girl who would go for an introverted type,” Tzuyu pointed out. They hadn’t been for a long time with you but that was the feeling she perceived.
“I think so too,” Momo supported, “you two are really far from the calm type,” she joked, giving them a teasing smile.
Nayeon rolled her eyes. “I don’t need to be a certain type to make someone fall for me,” she stated, curling a strand of her hair with a finger and flashing a smug smile.
Jihyo laughed along with her. “Right, she could easily fall for me, I’m just not interested in that way”.
“Is that so?” Momo asked, raising her eyebrows at the younger girl’s statement, “or you’re just not sure if she’d say yes to you?”
“What are you trying to say?” Jihyo replied, a bit offended at the sudden comment.
“I think she means that it’s easier to say you don’t get her because you don’t want to than accepting the fact she wouldn’t say yes to you”. Nayeon replied calmly, knowing perfectly well that she was making her mad.
“Is that a challenge?” Jihyo asked one more time.
“It can be,” Nayeon replied, holding her leader’s gaze as they were now face to face.
“I don’t think that's a good idea…” Momo said under her breath. The other girls were still sitting on the floor watching how both girls were arguing.
“The first one who gets to take Y/N on a date,” Jihyo stated.
“How will we know if we succeeded?” Nayeon asked, defining the terms.
“A picture”.
“Done,” Jihyo agreed, gripping Nayeon’s hand in a tight handshake as they both were dazzled by the sudden competition.
A chorus of deep sighs was heard in the background. The others knew anything could go right when the two stubborn girls plotted something like this.
*
Jihyo never left any space for improvisation. She had every moment of her life thoroughly planned out. The moment she knew she had to get close to you in order to ask you out on a date, she simply observed.
You arrived at the practice room and the first thing she noticed was that you took a couple of vitamins before starting to stretch.
“I take the same ones,” she casually said, before starting stretching by your side.
It took you a bit by surprise the way she just struck up a conversation with you, but you welcomed it as a nice gesture from the leader to make you feel at home. Getting to be familiar with an already consolidated group of people wasn’t easy and she was trying to make you comfortable. You were grateful.
“They’re really good especially when you’re about to engage in physical activity, I guess you’re already used to it,” you said, looking at her through the mirror since she was now sitting next to you.
“Yeah,” she trailed off, turning to her side to look at you.
“What?” you asked, as her eyes wandered on your hair.
“I’ve always wanted to grow my hair like yours, but it’s so difficult, how do you do it?” sincere admiration on Jihyo's face as she focused her attention on your words.
Unknown to the both of you, Nayeon was looking intently at the conversation that was happening in front of the mirror.
She didn’t know what Jihyo had asked you but it brought the brightest smile on your face as you kept talking and talking passionately about something. What could you possibly be talking about that made your eyes sparkle as much as they were?
“So this thing about Y/N was not a joke?” a short haired girl asked as she sat down beside her.
“Shut up,” Nayeon replied, her eyes not leaving you and Jihyo.
“I just hope no one’s feelings get hurt,” Jeongyeon said.
The statement made the older girl chuckle. “It’s not that deep, we’re just having fun. It’s gonna be over in less than a few days when I get Y/N to have dinner with me”.
Jeongyeon shook her head. “You two are really stubborn, huh? I think this is the biggest proof now”.
“Okay, girls,” you said, standing in front of the mirror and calling them to the middle. “Let’s begin by going through yesterday’s formation, shall we?”
Jihyo shot a smug smile Nayeon’s way, as the older girl simply rolled her eyes.
-
“Wait, wait,” Nayeon said as she abruptly remembered something before getting into the van that was taking them back to the dorm. “I left my bag at the practice room!”
Jihyo whined at the realization of what the older girl was doing. “Unnie, that’s not fair!”
Nayeon closed the car’s door and shot a big smile at her leader. “I’m gonna ask Y/N for a ride so you can just get back to the dorm without me”.
As the car moved away, Nayeon hurriedly made her way back to the building. She arrived at the floor of the practice room and noticed it was the only light still on. Everyone seemed to have ended their shifts long ago. She checked her phone and realized it was almost midnight.
When she was about to step into the room, a sudden noise made her stop in her tracks. She pressed her back to the wall before the door to hear what was happening inside. She recognized your voice but it was now tainted with a soft cry. 
Her eyes shot wide open at your next words.
“Please stop calling me,” you said in a whisper as your tears streamed down your face. “It’s been two months already, I’ve moved on, I don’t wanna see you again”.
Nayeon took a glimpse of you from the door and saw you hugging your knees in front of the mirror holding your phone to your ear. 
What happened to the bright smile and beautiful eyes that she saw a couple of hours ago? 
Her heart broke when you sobbed and your voice got louder.
“You played with me! This was your fault! Don’t even call me again!”
You hung up and threw the phone away. The tears now falling freely in your face, you were shaking due to the sobs getting almost unbearable.
Nayeon didn’t know what to do. She felt terribly sorry for listening to your conversation, she didn’t mean to do so, she was just trying to play along with the stupid bet. 
However, she knew that you were going through something. She didn’t have the right to ask what it was or what happened, but she knew you might need someone to listen, someone to be there even if it was an almost stranger.
As soon as she heard your sobs becoming quieter, she quietly stepped into the room.
“I’m sorry,” she said after clearing her throat, letting you know she was there. “I think I forgot my bag and some stuff here”.
You immediately stood up and wiped the tears away, facing towards the wall so Nayeon wouldn’t notice, but little did you know she had already heard everything.
“Don’t worry,” you replied, not meeting her eyes yet, “I was gathering my stuff here and was about to leave”.
You took a look at the time and realized it was already too late.
“Is your manager waiting for you?” you asked, as you stuffed your belongings in your bag, noticing how the other girl was doing the same. The air was filled with tension since any of you said a word.
“Oh, well…” she fidgeted with her fingers. “I don’t think they are waiting for me”.
Nayeon had planned to charm her way into convincing you to take her home, but she wasn’t expecting the scene she found minutes ago. 
Now she felt guilty for even thinking of inconveniencing you. 
You nodded, feeling a little defeated since you wanted to go back home and rest for a while, dissipating your mind. “No worries, I can take you there”.
She walked towards the elevator with her head hung low. There couldn’t be a worse time to do what she was planning to do. 
As you both got into the car, an unknown number rang your phone. You froze at the sight of your screen lighting up because of the notification. Nayeon noticed and out of pure impulse, rejected the call.
A long sigh of relief left your lips as her eyes widened at the realization of what she had done.
“I’m so sorry,” she said a couple of times. “I shouldn’t have, I just…”
“No,” you replied, the light of the car being the only one in the parking lot, “thank you”.
After a couple of seconds, you continued. “It’s been a couple rough months and I didn’t have the courage to decline the call,” you said in a whisper, your eyes still fixed on the phone. “It was this easy”.
Nayeon tried really hard to find the right words to comfort you.
“I know we don’t know each other, but I can assure you that if you ever need to talk to someone you can call me. I’m not the best at giving advice, but maybe I can be of help”.
You chuckled softly at her words and finally gathered the courage to look at her eyes. They were sincere and meant every word that had left her lips.
“I…” you said, “don’t wanna talk about it,” she nodded. “I rather ease my mind thinking about anything else but that”.
Nayeon immediately understood that.
“Today a makeup brand sent me a bunch of lipsticks,” she suddenly said, trying to take your mind anywhere so you wouldn’t think of what was bothering you. “I got so many shades,” she continued, now going through her stuff, “I’m gonna give you these two, I think they would go really well with your skin”.
“I love them,” you said as you started the car. “What other colors do you wear?”
Nayeon smiled at the sight of your face lighting up again.
*
“Uhm, Y/N?” Jihyo asked cautiously as she approached you before the practice started. “I’ve got you these vitamins that I’m taking. I think they will work for you too”.
You turned to see her as she handed you a small bottle. “Thank you,” you said, reading the indications on the surface. “Oh, this is also for hair nourishment?”
“Yes!” Jihyo replied excitedly, “I remembered you were telling me about how you wanted your hair to be stronger. Although, I think it looks pretty anyways”.
Her sudden compliment turned your cheeks a little pink.
“Do you mind if you help me stretch?” she asked, a little more confident now, maybe due to your reaction.
You nodded before standing behind her. 
“Sorry,” you said before placing a hand on her right shoulder. She chuckled. “If you throw your head to this side while holding your shoulder in place, you’ll feel a better pull on your neck muscles,” she did as you told her. “See?”
The leader smiled surprisedly at the sudden relief she felt while doing so. “Y/N, you’re too good at this!”
Nayeon was annoyed.
She didn’t know what was happening between you two but it seemed like you were getting closer. Closer than whatever happened the night before to her. 
It was all because of the bet, right? She wanted to win, that’s why she was feeling kind of bitter.
Right?
“I think Jihyo is a couple steps forward with this one,” Jeongyeon said, looking at Jihyo applying pressure to a certain point in your back as a way to relax. “They are all over each other, what’s happening?”
“I don’t know,” Nayeon simply replied, having a weird feeling in her chest. “Do they look good together?”
You had taken Jihyo’s phone and were now typing something in it while the shorter girl smiled widely at the action.
Jeongyeon turned to take a look at Nayeon’s face after that question. “What does that mean?”
“I don’t know…”
*
Once again, it was almost midnight after everyone left. You were in charge of making sure everything was at its place and ready for cleaning service the next day. As you were about to turn the lights of the practice room off, you heard steps coming to the door.
“Nayeon?”
“Hi,” she replied softly from the other side of the door. She had her backpack and was fidgeting with her fingers.
“How can I help you?” you asked, making sure everything was okay, since she looked like there was something wrong.
“Well,” she trailed off, her eyes wandering around. “Remember how you said you wanted to try more lipstick colors?” You nodded. “Well, I got you this”.
Nayeon took a set from her backpack. It was an expensive set with bright colors that she had bought for you. A big smile formed on your face.
“You didn’t have to!” you said, as you excitedly hurried towards her and took the set from her hands. You didn’t see it, but her face lit up at the sight of your happiness.
“I, actually, have something for you, too,” you said, after a couple of seconds contemplating if you should do it or not. “It’s nothing fancy, but yesterday you told me you didn’t have this”.
You went back to your stuff and took a small keychain with a flashlight.
“No way,” she said as she started laughing while clapping her hands. “I’ve wanted one of these for so long!”
Nayeon took the keychain like a kid would take a new toy. She turned the flashlight on and off repeatedly while laughing at it. “I wouldn’t think you’d remember this”.
“I wouldn’t think you’d get me this either”.
As you both fell in silence, her eyes found yours as a big grin was still plastered in your face.
“Uhm,” she trailed off. “Would it be weird if we go eat something right now?”
“I’m…” you said, noticing how expectant she was, “actually very hungry right now”.
*
“Jihyo?” Nayeon called as she got to the kitchen where the leader was having breakfast. Momo and Jeongyeon were there already while the others were still sleeping.
The night before had gone perfectly. You both arrived at a small restaurant and ordered some appetizers and a couple of beers. Once you started talking, it never stopped. Nayeon found so many exciting things about you that she wanted to treasure forever. She discovered that you’ve been dancing your whole life and even got an offer to become an idol by JYP himself, yet your love for the art and not the fame got you the chance to work as a choreographer for the company. 
Not only did she find out more about you, she found out things about herself, too. She noticed how pretty you were with your blushed cheeks due to the beer, how you would giggle at things you found cute and how it all made her heart warm. She was usually really talkative and loud, yet the night before she stayed silent, enjoying the sound of your voice.
She wasn’t sure why, but she wanted to see you again, and again, and again.
“Unnie!” Jihyo said as she showed you her phone. From where she was standing, she couldn’t see what her leader was showing. “I’m about to ask Y/N to have lunch today! I’m winning this!” she said, letting a little evil laugh out.
Her heart skipped a beat.
“Wait, wait!” Nayeon said, rushing towards her and taking the phone away.
“Yah!” she whined, trying to take it back. “You’re just jealous that my charming skills are better than yours!”.
“No,” the older girl replied, putting the phone in her pocket. “I wanted to talk to you about this”.
The serious tone in her voice got not only Jihyo’s attention, but also Momo and Jeongyeon’s.
“I want to call the bet off”.
“No way,” Jihyo replied, “I’m about to ask her out on a date and now you wanna call the bet off?” she asked rhetorically, trying to get her phone back. 
Nayeon groaned. “I went out with her last night, that’s why I got home late”.
Three pairs of eyes landed on her immediately. 
“What?!” Jihyo asked in disbelief. “Picture or you didn’t win”.
The older girl shook her head. “That’s why I wanna call the bet off. I don’t have a picture, I didn’t even have time to”.
“What do you mean, unnie?” Momo asked from the table where she was sitting. 
Nayeon sighed. “I like Y/N. I think I wanna ask her out on a date officially but I don’t want to continue with this bet. It makes me feel like I’m playing with her”.
Jihyo’s eyes widened at the statement. “Why didn’t you say so?”
“I just found out yesterday. I tried to make myself believe that it was just a feeling pushed by the desire of winning a bet but I realized it is not”.
“Are you sure?” Jeongyeon asked cautiously.
“100%. If it was, I would have taken a picture yesterday and showed it as proof. I would have won but I actually want to win her over”.
Jihyo smiled gladly this time.
“So please, don’t ask her out,” Nayeon whispered while hanging her head low. A first time for a girl with a huge ego like her.
Jihyo engulfed her in a tight hug as she got her phone back.
“You got this, unnie. I’m backing off and the bet is over”.
She nodded at the words and felt brave enough to start approaching you with the intention of asking you out officially.
“Unnie?” Jeongyeon said, gaining the older girl’s attention. “I think you two would look good together”.
Nayeon smiled widely at the thought.
She couldn’t wait to see you again.
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violetlunette · 2 months
Text
So, I did a poll for Silver pairs (twice) and have been meaning to give my own thoughts but started writing essays before I realized; wait a minute, I don’t need to do that. I can just give my basic opinion. I don't need to justify or over explain, so here we go!
Notes:
*Long post
*twst spoilers
*Opinion-based
*Rambles
Silver x Sebek (Silbek) was, voted #1, to the surprise of no one I’m sure.
Personally, Silbek isn’t my cup of tea and I prefer them in a platonic sense. On top of that, I’m not a big fan of childhood friend romance. It just—annoys me intensely and there are very few instances where this trope works for me. (It may because I’ve been exposed to too many Hallmark romances with this trope and in other media.)
There are a few other minor things I don’t like about the ship, but they’re not worth mentioning.
That being said, I can see why others love the pair.
They have enough opposites to be interesting, such as Sebek being loud, emotional, always active, abrasive, and even arrogant at times, while Silver is quiet, stoic, sleeping—through no fault of his own—and humble. Yet both share a lot in common as well:
They place family above all else, are loyal but keep to their morals, and are helpful and kind. 
Plus, in the canon, we see how much they love and care for each other. Sebek is always there to pull Silver out of his own head and sort out his insecurities, as seen when Silver worried about his lack of emotion, when the other Diasomnia students weren’t listening, and—more recently—Chapter 7 and the revelation.
They understand each other, make up for one another’s weaknesses, and more. So, while it’s not my personal ship, I’m not surprised it was voted #1 and can admit it deserves its placement.
So, fun fact; when I did the poll the first time, this pair was the winner. I remember that as I was super surprised. And I’m still a bit surprised they’re #2.
Granted, they’re cute, but I assumed the pair would be in third place behind Silver x Sebek and Silver x Idia, as I don’t see much content between the two
That being said, it does surprise me that this puppy pair has so many fans;
They share the same morals and are cute together, plus, they’re friends in Canon. Also, Silver admits that Kalim is someone very dear to him, and Kalim is always saying nice things about the other. As a bonus, Kalim is already favored by the father-in-law.
I see these two as being the type that are in a relationship before they know they’re in a relationship. They're holding hands, eating together, and going on outings. Neither of them realizes what they’re doing until someone points it out. Even then, they’re confused for a while.
The downside is that while their relationship would help each other grow and change, it wouldn’t be one that could last long-term.
Silver’s dream is to serve Malleus in Briar Valley, a place he loves and where the people he loves live. His dream is to foster peace between the fae and humans.
Kalim, on the other hand, has a responsibility to take over as head, and it’s not one he can just toss aside, and I don’t think he wants to either.
When I think of the outcome of their relationship, I think of this Bojack quote: “I think there are people that help you become the person that you end up being, and you can be grateful for them even if they were never meant to be in your life forever.”
Silver and Kalim would help each other grow, but they wouldn’t be in each other’s lives forever, at least not as lovers. But in fanfiction, anything could happen. And I would love to see more fanfics of the pair and the challenges they would face.
Third, we have Silver x Idia, a personal favorite of mine. I love the two as individuals and squee whenever I see them together. To me, their interactions are a lot of fun, as I like seeing Idia deal with Silver’s “odd” attitude towards things.
On the surface, the two have nothing in common. Idia is shy, while Silver is bold. Silver is determined to the end, and Idia thinks it’s best to not even try. Idia is a tactician, and Silver is a warrior. Idia was raised around technology, and Silver was raised by nature. Idia is weaker than a kitten, and Silver is strong as heck. (How strong? I have no idea.) The list goes on.
Yet, while they are opposites in several ways, their differences just highlight the good they bring out in each other, or could.
On top of that, the few things they do have in common are pretty strong.
I like that they seem to admire each other. Silver genuinely admires Idia’s skills and isn’t afraid to tell him. He often compliments Idia and offers praise, though he does go overboard, which can make her shy.
For his part, while Silver can be too much at a time, Idia admires Silver’s beauty and skills, comparing him to things he finds cool, like ninjas. Both seem interested in the other, though Idia acts in denial.
Both value family to the point where it’s their main character arc. I love that Ortho likes Silver while Lilia and Idia get along online. The in-laws approve!
They also share a deep sense of insecurity about themselves. Idia thinks he is worthless, to the point where all he can do is hide away, mainly due to a tragic event in the past. Silver believes he’s a burden to those around him, and he does all he can to repay those he has troubled. It would be nice if these two could help one another see their own self-worth.
On top of that, I really believe that of all the Silver pairs, aside from Silbek, these two have the best chance to work out in the long run.
If things go well and Idia can break his family curse, he would be instrumental as Malleus’ tech advisor (probably the first) and could bring Briar Valley into the modern age.
And if he can’t and has to work at STYX, Idia and Silver could still work, as both could maintain a long-distance relationship.
Silver was often left behind as a child, and with technology, they could communicate whenever they wanted and visit when they could. On top of that, both have the temperament needed for a long-distance relationship to work.
The problem is that thanks to Idia’s personality, it would be hard for the two to get together in the first place. (His theme song would be “I won’t say I’m in love” as he sails down the river of De Nile.)
Silver would have to realize his feelings first and do most of the leg work in a way that wouldn’t scare Idia off. (That or Ortho and Lilia would have to play cupid.) Regardless, it would be a very slow burn, but I think once they got together, the two could be happy. And once they were together not even the powers of hell would break them up as both are EXTREMELY stubborn. (Another commonality.)
One problem I do have is that, even if they were together, Silver would most likely be doing most of the emotional labor, as Idia is too self-defeatist to do anything. Luckily, Silver’s pretty low-maintenance, and I'm sure Idia would step up if Silver really needed support.
If I had the time and energy I could write an essay on these two, but for now I’ll just say I really love these two and while they’re not #1 on the poll, they’re #1 for me.
The next is Silver x Malleus. My feelings for this ship are complicated.
I like how their personalities mesh, their shared family history, the drama, and all the works that make a ship memerable. Honesty, two have many, many things I like in a ship. There’s just one HUGE problem that keeps me from loving them: Malleus helped raise Silver.
Malleus was there when Silver was a baby and played an active role in raising him--My brain can’t get past that.
When I try to ignore it, my mind can’t help but slide to, “Shit, is this grooming territory?” (It's not unless the fic has Malleus raising Silver with the intent to have sex with him. Even so, there’s a lot of yikes, you know?) But then again, I overthink things, a lot.
That being said, I still find the pairing entertaining.
For one, it’s an interesting pair to explore human and fae dynamics, as well as the blue and orange morality that comes with it. Like when a vampire falls in love with a human. And again, there’s all the stuff I mentioned before.
I’m also really curious how Lilia would react to the relationship. This something I’ve never seen a Silver x Malleus ship bring up, but they should as Lilia is a HUGE part of both their lives. Isn’t anyone else a bit curious?
I don’t think Lilia would be a supporter of the relationship for multiple reasons, so what would he do? How far would he go to keep the two apart? And how far would the two fight him? (The angst potential, man! THE ANGST!)
In a yandere Malleus setup, would Lilia try to run away from his beloved Prince? Would he take up arms against him to keep Silver safe? Would he be able to do anything? Or would he just be helpless as the dragon he hatched takes away his beloved son forever? It just has a lot of potential story-wise, which I adore.
It’s a nice ship to explore darker themes but If I wanna skip those and just have a cute ship, I just find Aus where Malleus didn’t help raise Silver.
So to conclude this part, while I prefer them in a platonic sense I can’t deny that I have an interest in the stories they could tell.
Silver x Riddle; I never thought of these two, but now that I am, I think the two would be like Silbek without the childhood element. I like that Silver would have no issue standing up to Riddle when he started acting like a tyrant and would stop him before it went too far, yet he would always be there to offer support, especially emotional support, which Riddle desperately needs.
On his side, Riddle could help Silver improve himself, such as in how he presents himself, his studies, and his magic. He may even help Silver overcome his habit of talking down about himself.
I think the romance would be a slow burn due to Silver being oblivious and Riddle being a tsundere in denial who refuses to admit his emotions until they overflow. It could be fun to see Riddle drowning and being jealous of anyone near Silver until Trey and Ace have enough and set the two up.
Other than that, I don’t have too much to say.
SilJade is one I forgot to put on the first poll, but one that I like in casual passing for one-shots. To me, Jade is the bad boy that Silver could end up with. I enjoy how Jade is usually sweet toward Silver in canon. While he has his own reasons, he does nice things for Silver and helps him. I also think it’s cute how Silver’s purity surprises him at times. It’s a cute pair for me and I like to imagine them kissing under toadstools.
A pairing that got a mention but wasn’t on the last poll is Silcarter. I don’t think I’ve seen the two interact too much, but I can see Silver operating as a home to Carter, who never got to settle down in the past, and Carter can help Silver in a social setting like Kalim. It’s also neat to see his energy contrast against Silver’s. Other than that, I don’t think much about the pair.
Next have Silver and Leona. (Sileo?)
While in canon Leona is annoyed by Silver, I like the concept of the two.
Personality-wise, there are opposites, but in a low-key way. The only thing they have in common is that they sleep a lot, and even that’s an opposite between them.
Leona chooses to be lazy. Everyone and their mother sees he’s got talent for practically everything but he chooses not to do anything because he never get the role HE wants, which is to be King of Sunset Savanna. So, he choose to be be lazy and just rest all the time. However, Silver doesn’t have a choice.
Silver tries his best to be active and stay awake, but because of his “blessing” he struggles in all that he does.
I really like the contrast between the two. It’s entertaining to see Silver’s earnest and pure nature against the grumpy cat that is Leona and I think, if allowed to develop, they could have an interesting relationship. I can see Leona constantly being a bit annoyed but gradually coming around and may even try to help the other in subtle ways.
There’s also a possible drama plot where Leona wants to be with Silver, but Silver is devoted to Malleus as a guard, resulting in Leona’s insecurities activating as, once again, he can’t have what he desires because another has it. He can’t be Savana’s king, nor could he be Silver’s king.
Like I’ve said with others, it’s hard for me to explain but I like the potential here.
Tied for last are Silver x Jamil and Silver x Azul. Let’s look at SilJam first.
I love how their personalities contrast and how, despite the fact they’re in similar positions, they feel very differently.
Silver is honored to be Malleus’ guard, while Jamil is resentful that he has to serve Kalim. The difference is simple but major. Silver CHOSE to serve Malleus and Jamil only serves Kalim because of family obligations. It’s a single difference that changes everything for the two.
I think it would be fun to explore the two and their dynamics as they grow from each other.
I REALLY enjoyed during the Halloween arc how they worked together and how, for the first time, someone was interested in Silver and his history. I don’t think anyone other than Idia showed an interest in Silver, though correct me if I’m wrong. And even then, Idia seemed more interested in Silver’s dad than him.
I also enjoyed how Silver respected Jamil’s efforts and how he made sure Jamil got the recognition he deserved in the end. Considering how overlooked Jamil usually feels, this was a sweet moment for me.
Not to mention, it was fun to see how Jamil reacted to Silver’s air-headed moments and how he had to work around Silver’s honest nature, though unlike with Kalim, he didn’t seem too annoyed by it. (Of course, they don’t have the complicated power dynamics between them, so that may be why, but I digress.)
I mean, it’s hard for me to explain how much I enjoyed seeing these two together in the Halloween Event. They show an interest and appreciation for one another, I love how Silver baffles Jamil at times and so on.
And, of course, I see story potential! (Yes, this is a big part of why I pick ships. I can’t help it, I like stories!)
A fanfic plot I like is two versions of the love triangle. (Yes, I like these IF done well.) One is where, at first, Silver likes Kalim, who likes Jamil, who likes Silver. Another is that both Kalim and Jamil like Silver, who’s oblivious. Either way, this feeds into Jamil’s resentments, creating drama that could end a victory for him if Silver chooses him in the end.
That being said, the only way these two could have a future is if Silver leaves Briar Valley, as Jamil wants to travel, see the world, and be free. He doesn’t want to stay in one place.
This pair is one I think of when I want Silver to venture beyond all he knows and see the world. To be something more than a royal guard and expand his horizons.
He could still work for Briar Valley by becoming a diplomat alongside Jamil, so he could still embody Lilia’s teachings and fulfill his dreams for peace, but they would still have to leave the Diasomnia fam.
Now on to Azul x Silver (AzuSil? SilAzu?). This is another pairing I believe has potential.
These two are opposites in EVERY way. One is a pure angel of heaven, and one is Azul of the deep. Silver is strong, honest, kind, and does everything for the benefit of others. Azul is as weak as a guppy, cunning, and manipulative, and he does everything for his own benefit.
However, their interactions did light a spark in my brain and I like the pairing of the “devil” trying to charm an “angel.”
The contrast between the two are intriguing and I’m facinated by the idea of these two coming together to make a couple. I think having someone like Silver in his life would help Azul as he could realize not everyone wants something from him and some genuinely just want to help others.
Not to mention fanfic-wise they work SO many ways;
There’s the redemption arc that Silver could provide for Azul--Beauty and the Beast AU, under the sea edition, anybody? No? Oh, come on—as well yandere Azul when the mood strikes, Lilia vs Azul for Silver, and more.
Though I acknowledge these two would probably never work in canon as there Azul is looking for an intellectual partner, I still have a soft spot for them.
Recently, I was asked about SilRook, so I’ll share my opinion here:
First off, my gutter brain found it interesting that Rook appreciates that Silver can “sleep” anywhere, lol.
In a way, I see some potential for fun between these two and think that Rook would hold a lot of surprises for Silver and would help the latter find things to appreciate about himself. Other than that, it seems like it would mainly be Rook being odd or showering appreciation for Silver and Silver going, “Um, okay?” The main entertainment would be from the "in-laws,” as Lilia and Malleus don’t seem fond of Rook.
Rook would be a fun yandere for a fanfic, but otherwise doesn’t do much for me. Still, there’s fun to be had with the two if a writer’s willing to put in the effort.
Another pair that got a special mention was SilYuu. I didn’t put this on the poll as it’s basically Silver x OC as Yuu can be interpreted many way.
If we go off “canon” Yuu, however, they’re still cute but are definitely a “quiet” pairing. And I mean that figuratively and literally due to the fact neither talks much.
I don’t see them as an out-there, exciting couple, but they don’t need to be. Silver can be Yuu’s shelter from the madness of Twisted Wonderland and a safe-port in the storm. It’s difficult to explain, but when I see these two, I see a very tranquil pair with the feeling of a warm afternoon, napping in the son till the kids and grampa start making noise.
And I think that’s it!
I’m sure some of you noticed that most of these are based on the stories I think they could produce, but I can’t help it. I like stories, so when I look at a pairing I think how well they get on together and what tales can they create together. That’s how my brain works, which is why I’m a fic writer.
I guess it’s cheating as I base my ships on potential and what I THINK they could be rather than what they are, but eh.
Anyway, my personal ranking of all the Silver Ships mentioned here are thus;
Love: Silver x Idia, Jamil x Silver
Really like: Silver x Azul, Silver x Kalim, Silver x Malleus with a huge "it's complicated mark"
Like: Silver x Jade, Silver x Leona, Silver x Riddle, Silver x Canon Yuu
Meh/Don’t care for: Silver x Rook, Silver Carter
Not for me: Silver x Sebek
So, how about all of you? What’s your favorite pairing for Silver, and why? I would especially love to hear why people like Silver x Kalim, as, despite it being voted so high, I don’t see a lot of content for the two, so I don’t know why they’re so popular. Is it really just because they’re both sweet angels? Or do you see something else that you like?
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valoisfulcanellideux · 11 months
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Points of interest from today's Pix stream
See behind the cut for some points of interest transcribed from Pix's Empires stream today (fWhip joins in, in chat, too). Included:
endings for the season and fan expectations
fanworks and headcanons, how Pix wanted to structure his S2 to enable fans to run with their own ideas, and how his S1 ending the way it did also enabled that
what Pix would like to do if there's an Empires S3 [speculative only; not concrete plans]
Behind the cut with you!
This led out of a conversation wherein Pix discussed having seen many fans' opinions of S2 ending 'suddenly'/'too soon' and 'unsatisfactorily' and not to their liking, and how the endings could have been better/loose ends tied up more, etc etc (we've probably all seen those opinions and posts repeatedly by now, so I'm not going to belabour them anymore).
First off, Pix very briefly mentions his season end plans:
fWhip (in chat): A lot of people seem to have taken my video as the end.. not realizing everyone will upload their own finale. I didn't do any real lore this season so having a full lore based ending felt wrong
Pix: I've got an ending planned, but it's going to be very much like my ending. And, again, I'm somebody who doesn't have any story to my stuff, really. Like… I became a ghost. Nothing's really happening with that. It's just a fact of my existence now.
fWhip (in chat): I finished building gobland to where I was happy with it, so that was a natural end for me as a creator
Pix: Yeah, like, "Guess what? I'm done building. Series over!" [pause, then mutters] I wish I was done building [laughs]
[discussion continues for a while around fan expectations]
fWhip (in chat): also I think some fans don't realize not all of our audiences love the heavy lore, and if our videos don't get views we can't really keep making videos lol
Pix: Yeah, that's the thing. There's always going to be the most activity around stuff that people really feel like they can get behind as a community. But the communities tend to isolate themselves with other people who enjoy the same stuff they do, right? So, like, folks on Tumblr or Reddit, for example, might get really behind certain creators' approach to lore.
[short discussion about browsing the Empires subreddit and seeing so many posts about Jimmy being a toy, including polls worded in such a way that they're biased from the outset. also how - when fans latch on to certain ideas like that - it can be stifling to a creator, as in 'once you've exhausted that thing but people still want it from you, where do you go from there?']
This next part was what I really loved about this stream discussion: Pix's views on fanworks:
Viewer: Tumblr will come up with lore even if there isn't any tbh
Pix: And that's what I wanted to do with this season. I really wanted to just create whatever I wanted to create, and have it be something that people could speculate about all they wanted to, and any answer would be the right answer. That's one of the things I liked about… [pause] Even though I felt bad having left Empires Season One when I did, and everyone else was very kind in pointing out, like, "You said you were going to leave then anyway, so it's not you kind of left us in the lurch, or whatever"… [pause]
One of the things about the ending of Season One not really being there was that people come up with their own theories about what happens to the Copper King after all of that. And I'm, like, "All of those are correct!" [laughs]. Whatever you think happened, happened. Because that's the fun of using your imagination for stuff like this, right? That's sort of the approach I want to encourage people taking when we do projects like this, is your interpretation is just as valid as ours. And if you want to imagine that stuff, don't always expect us to act on it.
Finally, someone in chat asks what Pix would like to do if Empires S3 takes place. [NOTE: This should not be taken as gospel and what Pix plans to do. He appeared to just be spitballing and chatting casually here, so this isn't a concrete plan, nor is it confirmation that there will be a season 3. I'm just adding this as another point of interest from the stream.]
Viewer: I know you said that you're not sure about Empires season 3 but what would you do if it did happen?
Pix: That's the thing: I really don't know, and that's part of the reason we're not doing a season 3 immediately, if at all. I don't know what ideas would work, I don't know what ideas would be compatible with other people's ideas. Like, I would love to do something that feels a bit more modern, because I don't challenge myself often enough to build in a modern style. I would love to do something that felt a little bit more cyberpunk, in… like a System Shock kind of way. But I don't know for certain if that would be at all compatible with anything else, because Empires in general skews a bit more, like, D&D fantasy, which tends to be more medieval fantasy; European medieval, specifically. And, y'know, there's a few exceptions to that, but I think a lot of the time - because Minecraft itself feels like more of a fantasy world… y'know, there's cobblestone and wood everywhere, and bookshelves, and enchantment setups, and brewing and that kind of thing. It all feels a lot more medieval fantasy than anything else. I just think it's kind of difficult to sell the idea of there being, like, a cyberpunk kind of modern setup in the middle of all these other people who are still playing, like, straight-up D&D. It feels anachronistic, and not in a good way.
[brief discussion about how 'modern empires' could also mean business empires, but that would then mean creators having to build whole cities, which are a pretty hefty undertaking]
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sonik-kun · 4 months
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I feel a level of accountability needs to be had amongst certain wangxian stans, particularly in regards to how some of them make us JC fans feel and have us reluctant to engage with the mainstream part of the fandom due endless hounding and bullying..
Yes, for Twitter users, this is about that one poll that is going around and the conversations I've seen amongst moots about the poll..
After reading what I've read this week.. I just need to get something off my chest about how icky this fandom is sometimes and how it has us JC fans feeling all the time. So bear with me whilst I rant. It's a lot to unpack, but it has to be said.. So here I go..
So for those who dont know, there's this poll going around on twitter for best DILF/MILF.. Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji both happen to be in that poll.
To both the surprise and excitement of us JC fans, JC is doing well.. However.. So is LWJ.. and so, of course, the possibility of them two coming head to head hangs over us..
And now, in the semi-finals, JC is up against Toji from JJK, LWJ is up against Loid from Spy x Family. It seems LWJ is going to win his.. and JC fans, as a result.. Have felt the need to step away and let Toji take the win.. In fear of backlash and what's to come for our fanbase, if LWJ and JC were to face each other in the finals..
Throughout the entire tournament, we already saw a few nasty remarks from these antis, rearing their ugly heads. So we could only imagine what it would be like should the two be put up against each other.
The fact that we as a fanbase feel the need to let another character win so our favourite doesn't recieve any backlash is both upsetting and really telling of what this fandom has been reduced to.
The fact of the matter is, it shouldn't have to be this way. Us JC fans shouldn't have to be afraid to vote for our favourite character, to see him do well and win and to enter his name or his ships into other tournaments. We should be able to enjoy ourselves and have fun, free of any fandom drama and bullying. The same freedom wangxian fans get to enjoy.
I know it's just a twitter poll, and it doesn't really mean anything, but.. It's just so disheartening seeing your moots feel that way about a character they should be allowed to enjoy.. Honestly, the whole thing has just left a bad taste in my mouth.. I wasn't really a fan of LWJ due to some of his fanbase.. But the nasty attitudes I've seen in this poll, amongst many, have only further solidified that stance..
To the kind and normal wangxian fans out there, I am sorry if you are reading this. I'm not tarring you with this lot. But I hope you all understand that this is the position of most JC fans rn. We do not trust most of you because, unfortunately, the toxic but very vocal minority speaks the loudest.
It really is ruining the whole fandom experience and making MDZS look like a joke and I think that is a conversation that needs to be had.
JC fans aren't the only ones who feel this way. Anyone outside of Wangxian feels very alienated by some of the fans of the main ship.
As a result, a lot of us are afraid to enjoy our characters the same way wangxian fans do.
No Wangxian fan would ever feel afraid to enter their fave into a mainstream poll, and rightfully so. So why should we feel afraid? Why can't we enjoy our characters the same way?
Sorry, this is all mostly me rambling, but.. I just couldn't sit there and not address all the ick.. Especially whilst I was having so much fun, seeing JC doing so well and my moots being so happy as a result..
Note: Just to make it clear, in case I haven't already, I'm not upset with the JC fans who chose to no longer vote for JC towards the end of the tournament. Giving all the bullying and backlash we receive, I can see why you wouldn't want him to win for that reason. A part of me felt the same way, too. I just wish it didn't have to be that way.. It just sucks to see that some people can't behave and let others have their fun :(
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fandoomrants · 3 months
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Ok, so as much as the Hunger Games scare and unnerve me as a concept, I really want to learn so many things about how they played out through the years...
Let's start with the first games ever. I wonder how long they took and what happened, who was the victor ofc, I think that in this exact case, all tributes had more or less equal chances as they didn't know what to expect, but most importantly, how did everyone else die? Did anyone actually kill another tribute, or the arena finished them? Because we already saw what's going on in the 10th games and tbh, yes, there was a group that was ready to kill and all but most of them were just scared and didn't want to kill/hurt. But they got to watch 9 games before that and already had an idea what was to be expected. And also, this arena didn't seem that easy to control as the ones in the 74th and 75th so what happened during the first games?
Then there's the First Quarter Quell. It's been a while since I read the books and I don't remember seeing in the movies but it goes around the fandom that the twist there was people from the districts voted for who goes in? How crazy is that? Tbh, if I have to number the wickedness of these quells, I'd say this is the worst, followed by the victors entering again in the 75th, and then maybe the most... Mild would be the Second where it was double tributes. Because yeah, double the trubutes is awful but... they're all endangered and 23 or 47 lost lives is... when it comes to having large number of victims, somewhat not that crazy. And only victors entering again is also so crazy and twisted, like, look at them, they're all mostly mentally or phisically damged but imagine being chosen not in some large poll with numerous other names in it but because people choose you?! Like, neighbours, people that know you actually looked at you and decided "Yes, they'll be the ones doomed this time." How did this one even go?? I've already discussed this with friends and we were trying to decide if some of the districts chose the ones most likely to win, or just the ones they disliked for one reason or another. But come on, it's crazy. Though, this might be eventually how the idea of Careers appeared. But I also wanna know the victor of these games because just imagine winning games in which people you know put you in? How do you get back and live... Not a normal life but some kind of life and you just know people you interract on a daily basis send you to your death.
And then, of course like most people in this fandom, I want to know more about the games of the victors we've seen. We have some of them discussed and shown in bigger details but still, maybe just a little more information and details about how exactly these games played out wouldn't hurt...
I just said earlier how the Second Quarter Quell was maybe the most okay-ish when it comes to the twist but this doesn't make it less tragic. And we first see Haymitch when he's older and he's... Well, a total wreck, dealing with alcoholism and all of that and you just wonder how this guy even won?! And then we later learn how he won and what led him to become the way he is now but still, it's pretty crazy that he won when there were not 23 but 47 other people. And yes, he "cheated the system" but I don't really think he was the first one. As I've seen people pointing out, so did Lucy Gray and so did Katniss and Peeta. And I believe others also found a way to just... Survive. And as I sae in an earlier post, who was his mentor? I think there wasn't one. And there were surely Careers in these games too. Wasn't the last girl he was left with a Career? So, this guy from District 12 managed to win a game where there were double tributes without a mentor even. And then he just keeps suffering and honestly, I absolutely understand him. Honestly, I think for all he went through, alcoholism is an understandable thing, I probably would have just commited a suicide or sth. And the more I think about it, the more I think the real reason he was punished and had his whole family killed wasn't because he "cheated" but because he was someone who was extremely unlikely to win and yet he did and this is what really made lots of people angry. He wasn't an "interesting" tribute.
And speaking of "interesting", here comes Finnick. Yet another victor who we know most of the details about but still. He's famous for winning sg only 14. Was he a Career? Was he just unfortunate? And his whole story with Annie. Did they know each other before her games? Did they fall before or after that? Was she a Career? I've seen lots of people commenting on it and how she might have been, even though she developed problems after that. Likee, it's one thing to prepare for the games and a whole another to actually be there. Yet this only makes me think that if this was the case, they probably became a thing after the games. I just can't imagine him knowing what it means to be a victor (him, of all people!), and actually supporting her decision to take part.
And on the topic of Careers, I really want to know how this became a thing. I have to admit, I somewhat see the logic of children starting to prepare and train for the worst but I can't fully wrap my mind around the idea of someone volunteering for the games knowing fully well that they have a very big chance of dying. No matter what, there's is only one victor always (with one excpetion but we know how bad this played out in the end) so to enter willingly games where you just know there are others who have trained for? And one of them is also from your district and you've most likely trained together?? What's going onn?
And how some of the tributes would form packs. I actually want to see how games like this one played out. Haymitch and the girl from 12 (I know her name but I won't spell it right) broke theirs because they didn't want to kill each other in the end but there surely must have been games where this was the case in the end. A group of people who had been hunting down the others together would have been the only survivors in the end and they must have had to kill each other eventually. How do you even kill someone who was your ally and you had each others' backs until this moment??
And I also wonder how many people had won similarly to how Foxface got close to winning. By just avoiding the others and survivng. And were they punished for it later too?
Also, when and how did the victors become public and famous figures? We saw Lucy Gray after her games back in 12, continuing her life almost as before (though we see this through Snow's eyes so I don't claim she didn't have a hard time, it's just that she was left unbothered, mostly). Then, the 11th Games is when the Victor's Village first became a thing. And the tours? Everything else? The way the victors would be used by the Capitol for the rest of their lives? When did this become a thing? I can't help but think this must be just another form of punishment that was implemented there. They survive yet they suffer for it in other ways.
I just really need answers and these are only some things on top of my head now, I might add to the list later...
If anyone is interested in indulging and discussing these or something else, feel free to DM me..
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youredreamingofroo · 17 days
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a bit of a message talking about inactivity and my possible hiatus. I dont know if this counts as a cw but i talk about depression here and there at the beginning (nothing graphic) and as usual, its a rant
im gonna be straight honest rn, i'm probably not gonna be active on tumblr for these next few days, ive been super up and down depressed and im just unmotivated and too tired to do anything, im still gonna check in here and there but dont expect me to reblog or reply to many posts, if at all. This could mark the beginning of a hiatus, but with mood swings and up and down depression, i could be back, active as ever tomorrow. Ever since ive uninstalled Sims 4, i did feel a weight lift off my shoulders, but simultaneously made me depressed due to the lack of... well... doing something, i dont... really know how to put it into words, its just something in my brain that i just cant explain, i guess a good way to put it is playing sims 4 gave me the motivation to stem off into other mediums, blender for example, gave me something to do, something to learn, and while i can still use blender, i just get progressively slower and slower at doing stuff in it because of my limited resources, some scenes i want to do require specific outfits and i dont have the facilities to make those outfits... i mean i probably do but i just dont feel motivated to do all that. I still play other games, ive been playing a lot of slime rancher 2 and have been trying to branch out to other games (indie games and bigger games), I want to post gameplay but if youve seen me rant about tumblr before, one of my biggest gripes is just how fucking annoying it is to upload images, so i just get completely unmotivated to post images/gameplay especially if its just some silly post. if uh if anyone is still reading this, ill be honest, i havent even been motivated to write about WAS at all, probably havent touched the planning doc in about 2 weeks. This... 'spiral'... has been noticeable for me for the last week as my sleep schedule gets swapped around from sleeping at night and awake during the day... to sleeping during the day and awake at night, this is all my fault, but its also just something that happens rotationally for me, i go from sleeping VERY early in the evening (6PM at the earliest) and waking at VERY early times in the morning (4AM at the latest) to sleeping VERY late in the morning (6AM at the earliest) and waking up late in the evening (3PM at the latest), i dont really know what causes the shift, but it happens, and i often blame myself for it even though i dont know what causes it...
anyways sorry, this will probably mark a very iffy hiatus, like i said ill be active but not... super active, i didnt check tumblr at all yesterday/monday, so thats kind of the pattern to expect from me depending on the day. In the meantime... i might try to get back into older sims games, ive mentioned this before, but i do have sims 1 on my laptop so maybe ill post stupid little gameplay posts from there (granted i havent played in like... a month 😐). I'll probably put up a poll after this post for people to vote on which sims game i should play- i KNOW i did it once before but im probably gonna do it again cuz i cant find the post and i have over 1000 posts 😭
if you read thus far, thank you for sticking around, if your a random person who read this for no reason... thanks? if your a follower of mine and cant understand where im coming from with this lengthy post, see yourself out or deal with it 🙃 otherwise, thank you all and i will be lurking about
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across-violet-skies · 1 month
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so lately I've seen a lot of things about lu wild and people's opinions and stuff and I thought maybe I'd add my two cents in a way that (hopefully, if I can articulate my thoughts well) won't make anyone upset. feel free to scroll past this or whatever I just thought I would share my view :)
semi long post under the cut!!
so. wild. first off, I like him. he's fun, he got me into lu in the first place, his games are my favorite in the series, all of that.
he's popular and unpopular all at once. generally, according to a poll I ran recently where I asked for people's least favorite lu link and why, people who like wild the least (which doesn't necessarily mean they dislike him, mind you) said it was mostly bc he's just so popular.
which... yeah, ok. he has the most content I'd say, so that checks out. but I also think the problem (if there even is one?? I'm unclear) is NOT that there's too much content for Wild, but rather that the amount of content he has is just so much more compared to the rest of the links.
basically, I think the amount of Wild content is fine, but it's more about how little content there is for everyone else.
Wild fics are fine. wild fics are good! great, even. I've written some myself. you can't have too much I would say, but you CAN have not enough content for other characters, and I think that's where people have issue with it.
and yeah, the other links aren't as popular, so it makes sense that there'd be less fics. but also there's a chicken and egg situation here: is wild more popular bc of more content, or is there more content bc he's more popular (this literally doesn't matter. I'm looking too far into it. it's 1 am please excuse my rambles)
but also... any wild content seems to be more consumed? if that makes sense? like take my writing for example:
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two fics in a series together, two stories, around the same length, about similar subjects, written around the same time. one of these fics is wild-centric, and the other is hyrule-centric. I'm sure you can tell which one is which. (also, stats aren't everything. I'm happy with both of these stories, it's just an example to show the difference!)
the wild-centric fic has about 3x as many views, over twice as many kudos, and over twice as many bookmarks than the hyrule-centric one. the hyrule-centric fic has more comments and is part of a collection.
(these fics can be found here (wild) and here (hyrule). shameless self promotion)
anyways... yeah. again, I don't think there's a problem with people writing/enjoying wild content. always create for what you love! however, I think a lot of the dislike/less like of wild stems from the fact that any other character just doesn't have as much content available. I don't think it's the actual content or character that people take issue with.
(and again, I like wild. he not my favorite, but he's certainly not my least favorite. he's somewhere in the middle for me, maybe towards the favorite end more but still in the middle)
I hope this made at least some sense if you read this far!! I don't want to upset anyone so feel free to discuss things with me. I'm typically pretty easygoing online so don't be afraid to mention something I mightve glossed over or worded poorly, but just please be kind and respectful to other people because ultimately, its just an opinion/thoughts on other people's opinions and other people are ofc valid if they disagree :)
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theluckydimecaper · 4 months
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Which is ABBA's Best Album?
I've been sitting on this for a while. Originally, I wanted to write a seperate post for each record with my thoughts, but in the end I thought I would put it all together with a poll, because I also want to see what other people think is the best album.
I've commented in the past on various rankings of the ABBA catalogue (and how they're just wrong) so it's only fair that I do my own as well, so I can also be judged accordingly for my views and opinions. See my very self-indulgent ramblings under the cut if you want to read it (it's very long though).
Otherwise, just vote for your favourite album below!
ABBA Album Ranking (Worst to Best)
This is more for me really as I have wanted to write about their discography for a while and get it out of my system. I've actually really enjoyed going back and listening to all of the albums in order, from start to finish as they were intended. And I had so many thoughts, but I tried to keep it short!
I have only considered the original track listings for each album, so no Deluxe versions (sorry The Visitors). I just felt that it would make things too complicated if I took into account extra singles and tracks that weren't actually supposed to be on the album when it was released.
9. Waterloo (1974)
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Waterloo is a bit of a false-starter. In my eyes, this is the transitional album, where they are clearly experimenting with different styles but they haven't really figured themselves out yet.
You still have a lot of the saccharine Schlager-pop type influences from Ring Ring in tracks like Dance (While the Music Still Goes On) and Gonna Sing You My Love Song wedged in between the glam pop/rock style they were moving towards. It just doesn't gel and thematically it's a bit all over the place. And to launch the record with a stomper like Waterloo and then follow that with Sitting In The Palmtree is a bit of an anti-climax from the get go.
It's an important album for them, due to the international success of the title track giving them their break outside of Sweden, but with songs like What About Livingston and King Kong Song (both of which I have grown to like tbf), I can totally see why people assumed at the time that ABBA were just a novelty Eurovision one hit wonder type band.
Album Art - Probably my least favourite, but it does show them in their iconic Eurovision outfits which are instantly recognisable. With a nice nod to Napoleon and the whole Waterloo theme.
Stand Out Track - I'm going with My Mama Said. It's so different from anything else they did around this time. It's just cool.
Fun Fact - They almost chose Hasta Manana for their Eurovision entry for 1974. Would we have even had ABBA if they hadn't gone with Waterloo instead?
8. Ring Ring (1973)
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For a first album it's not a bad one. Ring Ring is cohesive, it knows what it’s about and draws from a lot of styles popular at the time. It's all folksy pop, loaded with the male/female vocal harmonies commonly seen from bands like The Mamas & The Papas or Brotherhood of Man, and She’s My Kind of Girl could have been lifted straight from a Small Faces album or something of that ilk.
This was actually the first proper ABBA album I owned outside of Gold/More Gold, and I remember being a bit disappointed with it. I wanted to start at the beginning, but I soon realised this wasn't ever going to be their best album. It's still enjoyable though - peppy and fun to sing along to. Also, it has yodelling in it, so there's that.
And I have to give a shout out to Rock And Roll Band, probably my favourite track on here. It doesn't get much attention, but I love the chord transition during "come on baby let's dance, to the rock and roll band" - it makes my ears happy. They already knew how to write a great pop hook.
Album Art - It's fine. A nice picture of two already well-known musical couples (in Sweden anyway), which was kind of their selling point at the time. Also note that the name ABBA hadn't actually come about yet.
Stand Out Track - Ring Ring as it's quite different to anything else on the record and is the first hint of where the band would be heading for the next couple of albums.
Fun Fact - Agnetha wrote the music to Disillusion and it is the only ABBA track which has credits to one of the girls.
7. Voyage (2021)
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I wasn't sure where to place this album. It could have gone higher, it could have gone lower. It almost stands aside of the whole ABBA discogrphy in my mind with it being released 40 years on - it has a different feel to it, and it's hard to see it for what it is without all the excitement for them just being back again. But despite that, what I love about Voyage is, you just know it's ABBA. It's just them.
There also hasn't been an ABBA album that's made me want to dance so much since Voulez-Vous. If you skip Little Things and I Can Be That Woman (which I do, because they're probably the worst 2 songs they've ever done), then you get a string of absolute belters in When You Danced With Me, Don't Shut Me Down and Just A Notion. The latter of which sends me to the fucking mooooon - everytime the key changes in the chorus you know I'm straining to hit those notes.
Voyage makes me so sentimental, and that's because this album is about them, their relationships with each other and their legacy. You can see the threads running through almost every song. None of us ever thought that we'd ever get this album and we're so lucky that they wanted to share it with us. It might not be anywhere near their best record, but it's certainly a special one.
Album Art - Is it the sun setting or the sun rising? Either way it fits so well with the theme of the album and their comeback as a whole.
Stand Out Track - Don't Shut Me Down. It's classic ABBA, disco beat and all. Are they talking about their relationships with themselves or with us, the fans?
Fun Fact - Bjorn said they went into this album "trend blind" and you have to love them for it. They always put their own spin on things and well, you don't need to follow trends when you set a lot of them in the first place.
6. ABBA (1975)
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Well here we go, things are starting to sound much more like the ABBA we know and love. This is the album where we really start to hear the classic and familiar "ABBA sound". It's just a solid, fun pop record and apart from Tropical Loveland, I don't have much to fault it on.
There's still a lot of the early 70s glam-rock edge to tracks like So Long and Rock Me, and Bjorns clearly going through his Noddy Holder/Slade phase. But then you have the beautiful I've Been Waiting For You and songs like I Do (x5) and SOS where they're really starting to take advantage of the soaring, wall-of-sound "third voice" vocals of the girls and it transforms everything. You feel it when the chorus to SOS kicks in - it's one of the best moments in pop music.
It's clear that they are starting to find their feet now, and you can just imagine Benny and Bjorn writing these songs and feeling so good about it. Like everything's finally starting to fall into place. This album is the lynchpin for what's to come.
Album Art - One of my favourites. They're starting to hit the big time now and it has a glamorous vibe to it. Bobby's Brother on YouTube delves into the history of this photoshoot here.
Stand Out Track - I have to pick two: SOS and Mamma Mia. Two of the greatest pop songs ever written and they're only on their third album!
Fun Fact - I can't remember where, but Frida said she really disliked Tropical Loveland and you can tell - she sounds utterly bored. You can't really blame her, they really short changed her on this album, but just you wait!
5. Arrival (1976)
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Okay we're packing up, everybody go home, we have won pop music. It's all over right? This is the pop album of all time, surely? Well yes, by any other band's standards that would be the case, but this is ABBA we're talking about. Arrival is top notch from start to finish, but I feel like they're still a bit... gimmicky? (/affectionate) at this stage with songs like Money Money Money and Dum Dum Diddle, which is why it doesn't place higher for me.
So yes, we're only half way through the list, but this is only the beginning! This is where things start to get really fucking good. And when the record opens with When I Kissed The Teacher, we know these guys have finally made it. The "third voice" is in full force throughout and Frida finally gets to really shine on this album, leading on most of the big hits.
The only real downside to the record is that the mix isn't great. It sounds a bit... thick and muddy, especially on Dancing Queen. I don't know if that's because the scope was limited by the technology of the time? Perhaps they were trying to be too ambitious with it.
Album Art - Just iconic. The white suits, the helicopter and the brand new sleek ABBA logo with the reversed B. This new image perfectly matches the polished pop sound they would now be known for.
Stand Out Track - Knowing Me, Knowing You. They took SOS and ran with it and now the melancholic break-up song with the bright, up-lifting chorus would become their signature sound.
Fun Fact - Why Does It Have To Be Me was orginally Happy Hawaii, but they weren't satisfied with it and so rewrote the song with a rockier sound and new lyrics.
4. Voulez-Vous (1979)
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This is where it starts to get really tough for me. The Top 4 have all been my favourite ABBA album at some point or other, so putting them in order is a challenge. This album is a blast, it's pure joy - but I have to be in the mood for it. It's not something you can just stick on and listen to, you have to be prepared to throw some shapes.
I'm not sure why they decided to jump on the disco bandwagon after years of mostly doing their own thing, but I'm glad they did. For me, Voulez-Vous has some of their most enjoyable songs - singing along to tracks like Angeleyes, Kisses Of Fire and Does Your Mother Know is just plain irresistable.
I could live without I Have A Dream - as pretty as it is, it just feels out of place on this record. And as much as I love Chiquitita (I launch myself into the sun at the piano outro every time): I feel these both should have perhaps been chosen as the stand-alone singles due to the whole UNICEF thing, rather than Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! or Summer Night City, which would have fit in a lot better amongst the rest of the tracks.
Album Art - A bit lazy to be honest. I don't really get the light thing they're holding or the weird belts the girls are wearing. They should have had a disco or night club backdrop, or at least something a bit more interesting.
Stand Out Track - If It Wasn't For the Nights. No further comment. It's criminal that this was never even a B-side release.
Fun Fact - The first album to be recorded at ABBA's very own Polar Studios (RIP). However, the backing track to Voulez-Vous is the only song ever recorded outside of Sweden by the band.
3. Super Trouper
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The absolute fucking nerve. The audacity of this record. How dare someone make such a perfect pop album? It sounds SO good. And they just make it sound effortless, like it was just plain obvious that pop music should sound like this. Super Trouper is sparkly and spangly and heartfelt... and a little bit cheesy. Only ABBA could pull this off in such a way and I love it.
Wall-to-wall bangers, this record. Even the ballads. The girls sound incredible - Agnetha on The Winner Takes It All is easily up there with one of the best vocal performances in pop music history. She does Happy New Year justice too, it's gorgeous. This album has some of Frida's best vocals too. And don't even get me started on The Way Old Friends do, it's so beautiful it makes me want to cry a little.
I have to admit, this is the last ABBA album I got fully acquainted with, only really listening to it in it's entirety properly this past year. I think because I'd already heard most of these tracks separately on compilation albums in the past, I kind of brushed them off somehow. But to hear them all pulled together really changed the experience. Me and I was a nice discovery too, quickly becoming a favourite.
Album Art - I like this cover, they all look great and it fits well with the narrative of the title - and the idea of fame, performing and touring being like a circus.
Stand Out Track - I can't choose between Super Trouper and Lay All Your Love On Me. Both are exquisitely crafted and produced - go and listen to them with a really good pair of headphones.
Fun Fact - They wanted to shoot the album art at Piccadilly Circus in London, with circus animals and all the works, but there was too much red tape. So they ended up hiring 2 circus acts, but what they didn't know was that they were sworn enemies and hated each other, and one act walked out halfway throught the shoot.
2. The Visitors
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My very first experience of this album was a cassette tape copied from the vinyl that my friends parents owned. I'd listen to it in bed on my Walkman and by the end I'd usually be fast asleep. I was still a kid and I don’t think I really appreciated the gravitas of these songs back then, but I always knew on some level that there was more to this record than perhaps I could understand. And even though I've placed it at number 2, The Visitors is probably their best work to date.
Listening to it as an adult though is a whole other experience. Once you've lived a little, and lost a little, the songs hit you in a different way. This album is icy and stark, and at times it’s bleak - something we’re not used to from a band like this, but it’s fitting and it feels right. It’s expected, almost, based on the circumstances. It’s about death in all it's forms - the devastating loss of love and life and freedom, the passage of time and looking back on what came before - and the end of this band as we knew them.
It's a shame we never got another album from ABBA in the 80s. When you listen to the bonus tracks you know they could have really gone somewhere interesting with this sound. But at the same time, I love that they play out this record with songs like Slipping Through My Fingers and Like An Angel Passing Through My Room. The clock keeps ticking and ABBA just slip away into obscurity.
Album Art - I love how they're barely recognisable by this point. Who are these people? Why are they all sitting apart and not looking at each other or at the camera? What happened to them??
Stand Out Track - It has to to be The Visitors really, doesn't it. It might be their best song ever actually. That synth riff is just some dark wave, sci-fi soundcape that, for want of a better word, fucks.
Fun Fact - ABBA were ahead of the curve again with this being one of the first ever digitally recorded and produced albums, as well as one of the first to ever be released on the magical new format of the ~Compact Disc~ (CD).
1. The Album
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I was a late 90s ABBA revival baby and back then this was my favourite ABBA album. It's still my favourite almost 25 years later. While The Visitors is about death and the end of things, this album is about life and wonder: a tapestry of the joy and beauty in the small things and the big, and everything in between.
While most of their records are all great pop albums there's something about The Album that's... special. It's the point when ABBA started to become very smart with their craft, and the artistry here is so refined... I'm going to say it, this is art-pop. Guys, are ABBA prog? I'm not sure, but there's an intelligence and intricacy here that you don't see often in contemporary music and it shines through. This is peak ABBA - the beautiful layered vocals, the intricate instrumentation and composition: You could take these songs apart piece by piece but you'd never be able to put them back together again in the same way.
I must admit it does feel a bit random at times - You shouldn't be able to start an album with a song like Eagle and then launch into something like Take A Chance On Me, but it just works. And if I'm being super honest, they could end it on Thank You For The Music and I'd be happy, but the mini-musical is interesting at least. It shows they're trying new things and pushing boundaries, honing their craft as songwriters and performers.
Album Art - Beautiful, amazing, love it. Tattoo it on my body. It suits the theme of the album so well, along with the The Movie and just the 1977 tour vibe as a whole.
Stand Out Track - The Name Of The Game. It was written last minute to shoe-horn into the movie, but I don't care, it's a masterpiece.
Fun Fact - The UK release of the original vinyl for some reason has the blue fade across the top and this is the version I own (I've run out of ideas, can you tell).
And there we have it. If you have read this far then well done and thank you! I spent quite a bit of time on this, but it was fun! If there's any major facts or whatever that I've gotten wrong, please let me know!
I just want to end this with a little thought. I read a quote from the ABBA Voyage show production manager, who summed them up perfectly as - “a folk-pop band from Mars”. And it does feel a little like that. Like they were sent to earth from some astral plane to write the perfect pop song. And in all their awkward goofiness they achieved that. Multiple times over the past 50+ years. I'm glad we have them.
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messydiabolical · 3 days
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Just saw a poll about what in fanfics you dislike the most and it reminded me about a specific plot line I see in Thane fics a fair bit and, well I have a lot to say. I've thought about writing this before but I chickened out tbh, I hate getting into discourse generally. I feel the need to preface that this is personal opinion and feelings, no fic authors owe readers a damn thing, and you can write what you damn well want to! Just to make that abundantly clear. This is also not written with any one fic/author in mind, this aint some vague posting attack on any person in particular. It is a trope I have seen occur on multiple occasions with Thane in particular, and one that gives me a lot of feelings. I bloody LOVE a Thane lives AU. That's my jam, no doubt. It's a cathartic, soothing balm for me. And how you choose to get there can vary massively and I love that too. I would say that I prefer when his motivation to persue treatment is based in wanting to live for Kolyat and especially for himself, and not just because his love of Shepard. And while they break my heart, I also think stories that follow canon, or divert from canon but still have him die, are also super important and I applaud the writers who go there, because ouch. Disability and terminal illness are difficult, real subjects and having that representation is so important. I completely understand why there are people who dislike Thane lives. So to the thing I really dislike: nothing makes my stomach drop faster than the disregarding or removal of Thane's bodily autonomy/consent on his own health. They tend to go like this: Thane has decided not to persue any potential treatments, collapses/is rendered otherwise unable to have his say on the matter past his already stated wants, and while unconscious Shepard overrides his DNR wishes and has him given life saving or extending treatments. He wakes up and is upset at Shepard, but ultimately forgives or even thanks them for making that decision for him (basically saying that he was 'wrong' and Shepard was 'right'.) I do think this can be written in an interesting, character study way. There's also those grey area tangents: For example, what if the treatment suddenly becomes available after he's already unable to give consent, one that he was not aware of. Or what if the source of the treatment changes; before he was against a transplant because it would mean taking from another drell, but suddenly cloning or something else becomes available? etc. Perhaps such plot lines have been explored and I've missed them, because unfortunately after reading a handful of the type where he is just wholesale disregarded by Shepard if I get even a whiff of this kind of plotline I abandon the reading. As for why this does not sit well with me at all? It creates a situation where you have to basically make out that Thane was somehow in the wrong for ever feeling that way, that his acceptance of his terminal illness is bad, his motivations wrong. Again, something that can be explored- but not by just wholesale disregarding and overriding him then later teaching him why he was 'wrong'. We are getting into the very murky area of "if a person is depressed/mentally compromised by trauma/their past enough, they are no longer able to make decisions on their own health, this is for their own good'. And- yikes. Red alert. Because that is a story that needs to be handled with so much care, and it absolutely should not be used as a temporary source of angst to further a fucking romance plot. I think this hits hard for me especially as a disabled person who has had to deal with my fair share of medical fuckery. I'm also neurodivergent and have mental health issues. Advocating for myself is something I have had to battle many a time. Anyway hoo I had that one pent up hey? Again, I hope no one feels personally attacked by this. It's my own ick, one that might resonate with some, one that others might completely disagree with.
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shih-coulda-had-it · 10 months
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If I may ask what is the original context for afohiko? I am still making my way through the manga so I definitely may not have gotten to a pertinent part yet so I preemptively apologize if that is the case. Is it based on an interaction they have, or was it spurred more from you imagining how they would interact and enjoying the way their personalities fit together? Either way your content of it is very enjoyable and very interesting. :] I also like how expressive your art style is! I hope you are having a nice day.
Aw, thanks :DDD
tl;dr (but I’m not putting it under a read more because I’m feeling obnoxious): the original context for afohiko is that I want Prime Torino to be popular, and if I have to bait people onto my blog with hot AfO, then I’ll fucking do it. It’s still honest work!
//
Okay. So, for context, what you need to know first is that I am a strong promoter of Prime Torino. I love him, he’s hot and miserable and devoted to lost (well, debatable) causes. And I want other people to love him too, but this is a thankless task because Prime Torino is very notably a traumatizing jackass.
I still want people to love him. So I scheme, quite constantly, for ways to slot Prime Torino into AUs and ships.
Around two years ago, April 2021, @pocketramblr made a Google Poll for cursed ships. GranAfO got 1%. This is pretty unremarkable, except for the fact that I could refer to it a month later, and assign the genesis of All for One x Gran Torino onto her when some anon (possibly frustrated that I kept dodging Nana x AFO questions) asked me about it.
And at first I was like, ‘Oh, ew. AFO is a jackass.’ And then I started drawing it, and I ended up with one of those standard kabedon poses with Prime Torino against the wall. Which got me these kind of reactions:
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What could I conclude? That by drawing an attractive All for One with Prime Torino, I could bait people into thinking twice about Prime Torino. (MY AGENDAAAA)
DfO Week was then announced; between my own afohiko art and the few asks Pocket fronted for an dfohiko thought experiment, I was inspired to start writing the first of many branches of dfohiko verse. I like to ground my fics with a bit of basis in canon, but you gotta understand--this is a crackship. I’m shooting blind here except for a few key references/facts:
1. Gran Torino survived the initial retreat with Toshinori in tow, even though AFO certainly must have seen them fleeing the scene. Sorahiko then survived the following decades AND Kamino Ward despite evidence of AFO’s insane scorched earth policies.
2. The Ultra Analysis book has this for a quick 101 of Gran Torino’s perspectives of a few characters:
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For a character assigned as ‘nuisance’, AFO sure doesn’t bother swatting him into a hole six feet deep. And for name-calling AFO a ‘monster’ + having an infamous stance on killing to save, Sorahiko is incapable of dealing damage. (Undoubtedly because he knows he would get squashed like a bug. But I digress. This post is for reading too deep into the unspoken bits.)
3. Gran Torino in his fight with Kurogiri ends up saying, “If you’ve got a preference for a date, then I’ll go with you wherever you want.” (Crunchyroll subtitles, E78). This is obviously one of those one-off lines, and not even canon to manga, but I like referring back to it as an indicator of Gran Torino’s Bad Taste in Men.
All this to say… afohiko is hilarious to me, and I can draw/write them as hot disasters, in both ways oblivious to the red flags at the start and end of their relationships. Emphasis on hot. You think Prime Torino’s hot, right? Did I succeed in my agenda?
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suna1suna1 · 2 months
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Hello, Tumblr! It's WIP Wednesday!
I think I'm gonna switch some stuff up because I haven't been getting much interaction with my WIP Wednesday game for a while, which is understandable. After a while of the same things, it isn't as exciting anymore and just gets boring.
So for this week, I'm gonna start a (no pressure) tag game! If you don't like participating in these, you don't have to, and if I tag you and you don't want to, PLEASE feel free to let me know. I don't want to be that annoying moot in your activity every week.
That said, here are the rules.
If I tag you, you can send 500-1000 words if your current WIP if you're a writer, your current WIP or WIPs if you're an artist, or both if you're both!
Then, once you're done, you can tag as many or as few people you want! Once again, NO PRESSURE! You can do or not do this as you please! ^^
Gonna get the tags out of the way first
@deadrabbithq @killingthecringe @nodulemodule
Starting with the art WIP, I have Silver's ref that I'm working on for To Catch a Hedgehog (as requested by the poll I put out)
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And underneath the cut, here's about 500 words from To Catch a Hedgehog (if you don't like sonadow, no need to look under this cut. Ik at least one of the people I tagged isn't too big on it so yeah, no need to read if you're not into it lol)
"Informant. Now, why haven't you moved yet?" 
Sonic: "SO YOU WERE STALKING ME! GO AWAY!" 
Shadow: "I told you, it's not stalking. And I'm trying to save your ass."
Sonic: "After trying to take me out? Nah. I'm good." 
Shadow: "Look, I get it. But if you don't get out of the city, Robotnik is going to fire me and sick somebody else on you, and I doubt they'd be as merciful as I have been." 
Sonic: "Huh... 'have been'... interesting word choice. Okay, I'll bite. Why do you want to save me so bad when it's obviously putting your job at risk? I'm literally the person trying to wake people up and get Butt-nik out of power. Why are you turning on your boss?" 
Shadow didn't respond for a while. Why was he doing this? Sonic was right. He was putting his job, hell, maybe even his life on the line for a random guy. But this random guy was the only person stubborn enough to pull the kind of stunt he did. But if Robotnik wanted him dead so bad, then maybe it was because it was working. 
Besides, while Shadow had a job, it wasn't pleasant. It had never been something he wanted. He remembered wanting to help people, help Maria. He remembered saving up for medical school... before Ivo took out the council. Now he'd ended too many lives with his own hands.
Maria would have hated the person he'd become. He sure did. 
Her face flashed in his mind's eye. Her smile, encouraging. 
He swallowed. Then he typed out his reply.
Shadow: "You're not the only one who's lost people you loved to that monster." 
Sonic didn't reply for a bit. Shadow wasn't sure if he was going to, if that was a good enough reason to listen to him. 
Several minutes later, there was a new reply. 
Sonic: "I guess everyone has. But then why have you gone along with it for so long?" 
Shadow: "In the moment, I guess it beats starving." 
Sonic: "...Yeah, I still don't trust you. How do I know you're not gonna come here and murder me in my sleep anyway?" 
Shadow: "If I were going to do that, I already would have."
Sonic: "Sure... Anyway, is that all? Because I'm hungry and I can smell my roommate making chili." 
Shadow: "No. I want to know how you got those paintings up so fast. And you said you'd seen it when people become completely cybernetic. How?" 
Sonic: "Question numero uno, trade secret. Question numero dos, you don't want to know." 
Shadow: "I work for the government and even I don't know. I didn't even know that could happen." 
Sonic: "Oh, it does. All the time. Not pretty." 
Shadow: "How do you know?"
Sonic: "...Alright, look. I'm gonna set up a more secure account (and probably burn this one). I'll message you on the one condition that you don't tell anyone who I am. We can go from there after I've eaten." 
Shadow: "Fair enough."
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something it occurred to me to wonder recently and thought if anyone would know, it would be you ;p
when Eva began back in 1995, how much was it anticipated? both narrowly in otaku circles, and more widely among 'people who watch TV in Japan'? as far as i understand the history, Gainax was pretty niche back then and mostly known for dating sim games, but the visual style of Eva is so immediately striking...
like, I know nobody quite realised just how huge it would become, but was there some sort of excitement for a new robot anime from the people who made Wings of Honneamise, Gunbuster and Nadia? or was it a complete surprise?
Hm, good question! I am not super confident in my answer, so my bet is "highly anticipated but not crazily so". Gainax was known but niche, having 'Otaku' success with as you mention Wings and Gunbuster...until Nadia: Secret of Blue Water came out in 1990. This would not have put Gainax per se on the map, as Toho and Group Tac were branded as the primary producers, Gainax as secondary, but it definitely put Hideaki Anno on the map as director. The show was wildly successful, aired in prime-time slots - which, fun fact, meant that its first season airing was interrupted due to breaking news about the onset of the First Gulf War - and Nadia herself became Best Girl in most of the Newtype/Animage style polls of the time until being dethroned by Sailor Mercury in 1992. Nadia was definitely still 'an anime', and it was a kids show in too many ways to be a real breakout. But it was the top of anime of its time, no debate.
Its success is what gave Anno the ability to finance Evangelion, and it meant he was also able to pull a lot of 'big talent' for branding purposes - which ofc was intentional, Anno is no fool. Hiring Usagi from Sailor Moon's voice actress Kotono Mitsuishi to be Misato for example, when Sailor Moon was the #1 anime of 1994, is certainly because of her talent but also because of her buzz, and he has a bunch of hires along those lines to make Eva the "oh man the best of the best are all here" kind of show.
(Again fun fact time - you prob know this one - he also tried to bring Kunihiko Ikuhara, Sailor Moon director, onto the animation staff, and as part of his tactics to woo him named Rei Ayanami after Sailor Mars, Ikuhara's favourite SM character that he famously cosplayed. Ikuhara was alas too busy with wrapping up his time on Sailor Moon and forming Be-papas to make Utena to spare the time)
All this meant that by the time Evangelion was getting ready for its Fall 1995 debut, the cover of the April 1995 issue of Newtype looked like this:
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And hey, if you want some evidence of the buildup discussed, the first page of the cover feature starts off in 1990, with a discussion of the impact of Nadia:
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Even here, once it transitions to discussing Evangelion, Anno is promising "something anime fans have never seen before". It was a common refrain in all the marketing material throughout 1995, that this show was going to be special. The manga adaption actually began print in February of 1995, as a hype builder. The Evangelion team was putting it all on the line.
Also I love that early concept art - the more gundam-esque pilot suits over the plugsuits would have absolutely been my jam, alas.
(This marketing material is more evidence against the mythical "mid-production pivot" theory that fans in the past surmised about Eva's intended story, but a topic for another time)
Still, this is just marketing - who wouldn't say your show will Change Everything, that is your job as a business! For all the inner-otaku hype and rep, Evangelion was definitely targeted at those otaku, and it wasn't marketed to an all-ages demo with wider appeal like Sailor Moon. Anno even remarks in the interview above it would be more of a 'cult hit' compared to Nadia. It had a Wednesday airing slot (at 18:30, not actually super late - another myth, it just had late night re-runs after its evening air slot), not a great time and definitely not a Saturday evening slot like Sailor Moon.
It was a show that instead grew over its airing and broke out of its slot and genre - its finale got audience ratings almost twice that of its premiere (though these numbers are hard to aggregate over different stations). Its about midway through its run that you start getting those "phenomenon of Evangelion" style articles, and when the ending hits the culture critics start jumping in as well and it becomes a true cultural event, and discussion of the show in mainstream magazines starts happening. That wasn't happening in 1995.
I wish I could say it all culminates with End of Evangelion being released and being the #1 film of the year and all that - but while it did well it got its clock absolutely cleaned by Princess Mononoke, which came out the same week. An honourable defeat at least!
Hopefully this is a good answer! Definitely more to be said on the topic, man this would be a great deep dive project...
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talkingattumble · 8 months
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oh no another post about something I like
okay here goes
So most people think that, in ace attorney, wright and edgeworth or shipped together due to like. Being two young men in the same franchise. But there’s a whole bunch of other stuff and I have made a handy dandy list of the main reasons, because I love making lists. Also for my non AA fan viewers after reading this list how gay would you say they are? Curious how this looks from an outside view. Okay list time
- well I’m going to be bringing out the big guns first and saying they they’re the only AA characters to have matching wedding rings as their merch (every other character got necklaces)
- edgeworth is noted by the creator to apparently not be interested in women, and also apparently finds phoenix attractive (in a romantic way)
- phoenix changed his entire career and centered his life around meeting edgeworth
- art for ace attorney was done by kumiko suekane, who not only used to write BL but also was very adamant on phoenix and edgeworth being the same/similar age
- that line. Yknow the one. In the first trial where edgeworth makes an appearance, he has a talk with phoenix anout how seeing phoenix again has given him “unnecessary…..feelings”. That’s the quote. It’s gayer in the game.
- edgeworth is noted by gumshoe to repeat phoenixs name for some reason??
- the uh. One game where phoenix calls edgeworth daddy. That was something.
- other gay lines, I csnt include them all but I highly recommend experiencing the games firsthand.
- the second game was purposefully written to make it seem gay. Not like actually, most queerbaiting, but hey.
- the voice actors for the English AA dub have tons of bloopers where they just mess around, and a bunch of that is just them ammong jokes about edgeworth and phoenix being gay
- apparently there’s something about a really gay looking piece of official art? I haven’t seen it nor do I know what it is but I do see it mentioned a lot so. Thought I’d put it down here because it could be significant, what with the artist being a former BL writer.
Alright that’s all the reasons I can think of for now. I also find it important to mention that many people also headcanon edgeworth as being aromantic and/or asexual, which is also an interpretation I like, but that’s another topic and would make a shorter list (in fact, I’ll list the main reasons right here: he’s said to “not want to marry a woman”, he isn’t swayed at all by the attractive women in court when even the judge is, and is the kind of guy who’s “married to his work”, as they say).
Anyways I’ll add a poll too for fun.
Wow that’s a lot of options, even though my posts aren’t really seen by anyone. Still had fun with it though. And that’s what matters.
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