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adviserbabycom · 2 years

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Owlet Dream Duo 2 & Owlet Cam 2 Review [ Sock Plus vs Sock ]

If you're a parent-to-be or have a young child, you've likely heard about Owlet Baby Monitors. There are two different types of Owlet baby monitors: Owlet Dream Duo 2, and Owlet Cam 2. So, which one is right for you? In this blog post, we will compare the Dream Duo 2 and the Smart Sock to help you decide which one is best for your family! Comparison Owlet Dream Duo 2 vs Owlet Cam 2 + Old Models Owlet Dream Sock Plus vs Owlet Dream Sock The Owlet Dream Plus Sock is no different from the model Owl Dream Sock Owlet Dream Sock Plus vs Owlet Dream Sock What's included in Owlet Dream Duo 2 What's included in Owlet Dream Duo 2 - Owlet Cam 2 (2nd Generation); - Dream Sock Sensor; - 4 Fabric Socks (fitting babies 0-18 months, 5-30 lbs); - Base Station; - Cam Mounting Kit; - Access to the Dream App with Predictive Sleep Technology & all-new video clips; Owlet Dream Duo 2 (HD Video Baby Monitor with 2nd Generation Camera & Dream Sock) Review Owlet Dream Duo (Video Baby Monitor with HD Camera & Dream Sock) Review Owlet Dream Sock Baby Monitor Review What is the difference between Owlet Dream Sock vs Smart Sock vs Sock 3? The Owlet Dream Sock baby monitor is the perfect way to keep an eye on your little one while they sleep. With this trusty technology, you can track your baby’s every nap and bedtime, including wakings, heart rate, sleep quality, and more. And if that weren't enough incentive to get some shut-eye yourself, our award-winning sleep program can help you see better slumber in just seven days! Owlet Dream Sock vs Owlet Smart Sock Plus, the built-in room temperature sensor ensures that your baby is always comfortable. You can also use the Owlet Dream Sock to track your baby’s sleep patterns. See how long they slept for each session, and identify any patterns that might need attention. With weekly parenting tips from experts, you can be sure that you’re raising a happy and healthy child. This nifty device attaches to your child's foot and monitors their heart rate and oxygen levels, sending all the data straight to the Owlet Dream App on your smartphone. Owlet Dream Sock Baby Monitor Review https://youtu.be/nJjCNhu9Kws Owlet Dream Duo Baby Monitor Review Hey guys, Andrew here, we're Dad Verb. So in this video, we're gonna be reviewing the Owlet Dream sock and cover everything that you need to know and see how it differs from their original smart sock. So as an intro love every makes stage-based play kits for newborns. Up through age four, their kits were designed by a team of researchers, academics, and specialists to help develop your child's brain at key stages to foster improved, play, learning, and growth. In those early months, the charmer play kit might be a perfect fit for your child. As it's designed to foster exploration with their mouth eyes and hands as their social awareness grows, uh, that's best for the three to the four-month range, but there are many options to explore. Owlet Dream Duo Baby Monitor Review Now, we recently got our hands on the outlet dream sock duo, and while we mostly plan on using Miku for baby number three, we really wanted to give the dream sock a go, especially in these early weeks. We'll touch on the camera a little bit later, but let's focus on the sock to start so out of the box, we're looking at the sock and sensor, uh, base station power adapter, power cable, and, uh, larger size socks. So the original outlet smart sock was an innovative piece of wearable tech known for delivering real-time heart rate and oxygen vitals on your baby. Owlet Dream Duo Baby Monitor Review And while it was really popular with a lot of parents and particular parents of, of preemies, uh, it came under fire by the FDA, which I previously made, you know, the whole video on, uh, an outlet pulled their smart sock from shelves, but they'd already been planning their dream sock. And it didn't take 'em long to pivot and switch to this guy right here. This is the dream sock. So what are the differences on the surface? The dream sock looks exactly the same as the third generation of the smart sock. It seems to mimic the dual Velcro design with one strap, looping around the ankle and securing itself on the other side, to keep a tight fit. Owlet Dream Duo Baby Monitor Review Uh, the sensor is also Velcroed on and can easily be removed and charged in the bay station, which also looks exactly the same, but where it differs is the smart sock had features notifying users based on heart rate and oxygen levels that fall outside of preset values. The dream sock no longer sends notifications based on that in asking the brand myself, they position the dream sock as quote, a sleep solution that uses a variety of sleep quality indicators, such as movement, heart rate, oxygen level wakings, et cetera, to determine your child's sleep state and sleep quality and prompt you. If your child is uncomfortable or needs your assistance to sleep more soundly, the sock is still able to read those vitals, but they use them as indicators of sleep, state, and sleep quality. When the sock is on and you open their new dream app, you'll be able to see those indicators right here, along with current movement patterns and how many wakings have been reported. Owlet Dream Duo Apps Uh, and at the top is a restfulness bar, which visually sums up everything. The sock is tracking rather than showing you second-by-second oxygen levels. It's now only showing you a 10-minute historical average of oxygen. Now, a common question is if oxygen levels get low, will it still alert you as it did before with the smart sock? Technically yes, but the alert would be for poor sleep quality, not low oxygen because it's a metric being tracked in their multifactorial sleep algorithm. If it's normally low it'll report that, you know, sleep quality is suboptimal, and it's gonna trigger a lavender alert on your base station and your phone, will it take 10 minutes to alert because it's reporting a 10-minute oxygen average? No, it'll be instantaneous looking at the other base station alerts. We most commonly get the yellow alert, uh, which means that the sock kind came loose or something. Normally you just kind of tap the base station, reset the, the sock, and, uh, it'll be good to go, but for whatever reason, we still keep getting these alerts. Uh, no matter how many times I press the bay station. So what I have to do is just put the sock on the charging pad for a beat and then pull it back off. And that's a good reset. Owlet Dream Duo Baby Monitor Review I don't know why that keeps happening, but that's just something that we've noticed now on that note, the sensor can hold a charge for up to 18 hours, but you'll need to make it a habit of charging it on the base station daily, moving on, let's explore the app and see what they've added below. The sleep indicators is a summary of your baby's sleep for the night and below. That is the status of all of your equipment in the history tab. You can go day by day to review your baby's sleep patterns. And as of now, there are no subscription fees, uh, for this, like you may see with N uh, while you can use the calendar to jump around. I think it would be helpful to have the option of an aggregated view of sleep bars. Owlet Dream Duo Baby Monitor Review Like we've seen with the Miku pro in the guide tab, they'll have general tips for you based on your baby's age to stay informed. Uh, and lastly is their dream lab tab, which will actually be sun on August 31st, 2022. It was a short-lived feature that was kind of like an in-app sleep coaching type thing. Uh, but according to the outlet, uh, it will be replaced with a new feature called predictive sleep, uh, which tells you exactly when to put your little one down. So we'll see how that kind of shakes out down the line while the sock is a star outlet, and does offer the connected monitor to see your baby as well in the past. I've hated it. Owlet Dream Duo Camera Review I I've said that a couple of times. I thought that, uh, the connection was pretty bad, but on this go, I've actually been pretty happy with it. And to a fixed camera, it seems to load fast and delivers a decent image. Overall, it's not as clean as like Cubo AI, uh, but you know, it's, it's fine. It has two-way talk. And you have the option to toggle, uh, background, and audio monitoring as well. I'd say overall, you know, surprisingly good, I guess, but, uh, let me know what your experience has been to rounded. Outlet's head on one final question. What about the old smart socks? Are they bricked? Can you still use them according to the outlet, older users do have the option to convert their smart socks into dream socks. Unfortunately, I haven't done this myself yet, uh, but I do have a link below that sheds a little bit more light on the process. Everything that I've mentioned is linked down below. Owlet Smart Sock 3 FAQ What is the difference between Owlet Smart Sock 3 vs Owlet Smart Sock 2? New design. Owlet Dream Sock has 2 dimensions, dimension 1 (up to 12 lbs) as well as size 2 (12-30 pounds). There are right and left versions in each dimension, so you have a total of four fabric socks.The Owlet Dream Sock includes cordless charging so there are no cables to plug in after a sleep session-- simply go down the Sock on the Base Station and leave!The new layout Owlet Dream Sock of the Sensor, as well as Sock, permitted us to make improvements to accuracy, specifically for oxygen analyses. These are minimal enhancements yet might result in a little different reading than what you may have seen in your sessions with the Smart Sock 2.We have actually added an ambient light notice to the Owlet Dream Sock Base Station so you no more need to manually adjust light levels from day tonight.The Base Station now only has one switch, utilized for whatever from registration, switching on as well as off track, stopping notices, as well as turning off the sock. Monitors through gentle motion - The Smart Sock 2 does not track via activity, as a result, put on hold readings and also notifications when movement happens during a session. This suggests if you left your Smart Sock 2 on throughout tasks such as baby diaper adjustments, burping, or nose cleanouts and your youngster got distressed (creating heart rate or oxygen levels to leave preset areas) we wouldn't send a notification. - With the Smart Sock, 3 may still get analyses throughout these events as well as you could get a red notification if your youngster obtains upset. - Monitoring through motion might additionally suggest you are able to get readings while your youngster is awake. Notifications - When you take the Sock off the Base Station you have 2 mins to obtain the Sock placed on your baby's foot to obtain a reading prior to a yellow alert will seem. - When the Sock comes off the foot after getting analyses a yellow notice will certainly appear in one minute. To stay clear of yellow notifications at the end of a session just shut off your Base Station prior to getting rid of the Sock. - The Smart Sock 3 allows you to stop alert audio on the Base Station with a short press or in the Owlet application as opposed to switching off the Base Station during a notification event. The noise will certainly stop briefly on the Base and also in the app for 60 seconds, or up until the circumstance has actually been fixed if quicker than one minute. Application differences - The Smart Sock 3 programs battery degrees in hours and also minutes while being used, as well as shows percent charged while charging. - With the Smart Sock 2, you can readjust yellow as well as blue notices in the app to postpone the default threshold for time to notify or to mute audio completely. The Smart Sock 3 does not have this capacity because of its far better fit and also ability to track via gentle movement. How to Get Readings Owlet Dream Sock? 1. Take the Sock off of the Base StationWhen you take the Sock off the charging port the Base Station will start jumping green, showing that the Sock is trying to find readings from your youngster. It's time to place the Sock on your kid's foot. Sock 3 Base Station 2. Choose a sizeEach box includes 4 socks (2 sizes in a left and right). Choose the ideal size Sock for either the left or appropriate foot. sock sizes owlet 3 3. Insert the sensor (If not already attached)After choosing a dimension, make sure the sensing unit is properly attached to the sock. The notch on the sensing unit must line up with the notch in the sock. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Zp5sdLNSdw 4. Position the SockLocation the notch in the Sock behind the pinky toe on the side of their foot. Position the Owlet Dream Sock Secure the velcro from the toe strap around the foot over the toes. Secure the velcro from the toe strap around the foot over the toes. Then wrap the ankle strap around the back of the ankle joint as well as safeguard it in addition to the foot. Guarantee that the ankle joint band covers the full velcro strip from the ankle to the top of the foot. Guarantee that the ankle joint band covers the full velcro strip from the ankle to the top of the foot. 5. Check the base stationWith the Sock now on the baby, check the Base Station. Once it gently pulses green that suggests that your youngster's analyses are being grabbed and are typical. 2. What are the common mistakes when using Owlet Dream Sock and 2? Leaving these problems unresolved now can bring about pain for your baby, or being notified when you are trying to sleepMismatched sockSee to it to utilize the left sock for the left foot and the ideal sock for the appropriate foot. Mismatched sock Wrong sizeIf the ankle strap velcro doesn't fit all the way on the pad, you may need to move up to the size 2 sock. Wrong size Sock too looseThe Sock and velcro straps should be snug against the foot. Sock too tightDo not cinch the Sock also limited or it could be unpleasant for your baby. Pro tip: the owl on the Sensor should always be on the outside of the pinky toe, never the big toe. Please note: the Smart Sock is intended for use during sleep, and it’s important to note various normal activities such as feeding while awake can cause notifications that you would not see with a Smart Sock 2 because of motion limitations. Help Center Owletcare Baby Foot Monitor - A Comprehensive Guide With Answers To FAQS Foot monitors function as an automated alarm system for children. These devices are often worn on a child's ankle and send a signal to the parent or caregiver when they leave a designated area, get too close to water, or if there is some other type of emergency situation that would put their safety in jeopardy (such as going through traffic). Foot monitoring devices can also be used so parents know where their kids are during playtime at school. Foot monitors typically work with an app on your phone which gives you the ability to set up zones anywhere around the perimeter of your home - these allow you to designate specific distances within this zone where the device will either notify you if it detects motion outside those parameters or notifies someone else who has been given access to the app. Foot monitors are a great and affordable way of giving parents peace of mind no matter where their child is or what they're doing. Foot monitoring devices should not be used as a replacement for looking after your child's safety yourself, but rather in addition to such measures you take when supervising them on a day-to-day basis. There may also be times during which it doesn't make sense to use this type of device - examples would include if your children need to get too close to water, or if there is some other type of emergency situation that would put their safety in jeopardy (such as going through traffic). Foot monitoring devices can also be used so parents know where their kids are during playtime or when they're napping. Foot monitors are designed to be very unobtrusive and easy for children to wear, so there's no reason your kids won't want them on their feet when you put them on in the morning (assuming that this is a good time of day for wearing these devices). In general, parents choose what times throughout the day will work best based upon where they need help keeping track of their kids - which might include before school or after school depending on whether it would interfere with bedtime routines if those were watched over by someone else without using Foot monitoring devices. Foot Monitors for babies are a great way to track the movement of your little one. Foot monitoring devices allow you to see how active they're being and can even predict when their naps or bedtime will be coming up based on this information! They also work really well with people who have chronic conditions like diabetes, so that if something changes drastically in an individual's life (like getting sick), Foot monitor data can alert loved ones right away. Foot Monitors for babies are excellent because they're designed to be very unobtrusive and easy for children to wear, so there's no reason your kids won't want them on their feet when you put them on in the morning (assuming that this is a good time of day for wearing these devices). Foot Monitors for babies are designed to be worn on the foot and work in conjunction with a small device that is attached to the baby's other hand, which collects data about their movement. Foot Monitors for babies allow parents or anyone who cares for children (such as teachers) to gain insight into what they're doing during any given time of day! Read the full article

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mosneakers · 4 years

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If you’re reading this, I’m probably long gone now. You might be one of my kids, or grand-kids, or maybe even a dear family friend. Whoever you are, brace yourself. I’ve had a hell of a life, and I want to share some of the details with you. You probably won’t believe any of it, hell, I don’t blame you.

My first, and probably most unbelievable claim is that I married Agnes Crumplebottom. TWICE! Me, Erik Darling, some corny schmuck, married Agnes Crumplebottom, or as I like to call her now, Mrs. Darling.

Aggy was something special. I’ve never met a woman like her. She was classy, smart, unpredictable and absolutely drop-dead gorgeous.

I suppose it was my sense of humor that hooked her, or maybe just pure luck, but one thing’s for sure, my life would never be the same after that first date. We shared a beautiful kiss on the beach in Sunset Valley, and the rest is history.

It didn’t take long before she married me. We had our whole life planned out, let me tell ya. We got a house close to the beach, started planning our future, hell, we even made some progress on a nursery. Agnes always wanted to be a mother.

That’s when things got dark. I drowned on our honeymoon and was pronounced dead on site. She didn’t even get the chance to change her last name.

The worst thing that could ever happen to me was losing her. But let me tell you, watching her scream in pain beside my grave, without being able to comfort her or let her know I’m with her, was a close second.

Her name was still Agnes Crumplebottom, but it wasn’t supposed to be. I needed my second chance. My soul couldn’t rest until I could once again make her

My Darling.

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#ts4 #ts4 stories #Agnes Crumplebottom #Erik Darling #Many Moons Ago #Many Moons Ago: Gen 1 #I hope you feel the same vibes as the original #I know I did #I might post the original intro one day for comparison #If you all enjoy this #MMA intro: Gen1

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cf56 · 2 years

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Revisiting the Scratchansniff-Warners relationship

Last year I wrote an analysis of the Warner siblings' relationship with their p-sychiatrist, Dr. Scratchansniff. I outlined how their relationship progressed episode-by-episode in the original series and how it all inexplicably went downhill by the end. That post was more of an overview than anything really in-depth, and in the time since I've done some more thinking on this topic, and I think there's more to explore here. (epic Outer Wilds reference)

So, welcome to part 4 of "overanalyzing the Warners". Well, welcome to part 1 of part 4. This writeup became so long that I decided to split it into two parts.

Part 1: Scratchansniff as a character, why he sucks as a psychiatrist, and what he should've done instead

First, I want to really get in deep with the character and concept of Scratchansniff. The first surface-level thing you might notice about him is his really juvenile name. Everyone in the show treats it like a completely normal name, with the Warners nicknaming him "Scratchy", so if you watch the show it also starts to sound normal to you. This doesn't really have any deeper meaning. I just like to mention it because I find it funny reading and writing serious stories with a man named "scratch and sniff" in them.

Well, maybe it's not entirely meaningless. It does give some insight into what his character was initially supposed to be. He is a man who takes himself and his surroundings completely seriously, but he isn't a serious character. He's a normal, mundane person who finds himself trapped in a cartoon world with extremely absurd situations happening to him on a regular basis. I've seen him compared to Squidward in this way, and the comparison is extremely apt. They are both characters who take themselves seriously in a world that is completely non-serious, regularly interacting with other characters that have no regard for rationality or common sense. In doing so, they often find themselves actually acting more childish than the childlike characters around them, making a fool of themselves as they try to project some sense of normalcy on a world that rejects it out of hand. Their appearances are even quite similar, with their thin figures, big bald heads, and big noses. I wouldn't be surprised if Squidward was in some ways directly inspired by Scratchansniff.

Now, there's a question I've been throwing around in my head, and I can't come to a solid conclusion one way or the other. Is Scratchansniff meant to be incompetent? The answer that immediately comes to mind is, yes, obviously. He does a terrible job with the Warners, after all. We'll come back to that later.

But I was watching the first episode of the show for this post. Besides the intro, Scratchansniff is the first Animaniacs character ever introduced. The first segment of the first episode starts with him meeting with his own psychiatrist, telling his life story. He says he was "one of the most successful psychoanalysts in all of Hollywood." He tells the story of helping countless stars on the Warner Bros. lot, and he clearly says he loved his job. The question can still be asked, though, are we meant to take him at face value? He's shown talking to Ronald Reagan, in his actor days, who tells him about dreams he's having where he becomes president. Scratchansniff writes in his notes- "Delusions of Grandeur, incurable". It's clearly just a joke, I know. But taking it seriously for a second, it seems like he did a terrible job at helping his patient. To immediately write someone off as incurable at the slightest hint of a strange dream, a dream that isn't even all that strange? If that's all it takes to make him give up on a patient, how can he possibly deal with the more serious cases?

He continues, saying that the stars told him all their problems, their secrets, their pain. "It was so much fun!", he says. Ok, hold on. Is a psychiatrist supposed to take pleasure in knowing the secrets and pain of their patients? It seems like Scratchansniff may have been in the business for the wrong reasons. One might even start to think that he deliberately doesn't help his patients as much as he can so he can get more juicy secrets out of them.

Scratchansniff is next shown reacting to the moment the Warners escape the tower. I honestly haven't seen the first episode much, or at least not this part, so what I saw next surprised me. I was always under the impression that Scratchansniff first met the Warners in the 90's, when Plotz made him try to dezanitize them. But what is the first thing the Warners do when they escape the tower? Like, literally the very first thing? They race over to Scratchansniff's office and yell "Did you miss us?" Scratchansniff replies "I hardly even know you." He hardly even knows them. Which means he did know them, at least a little, before the 90's, before they escaped the tower for good. He goes on to ask if they know who he is, and Yakko immediately answers correctly with his full name and title.

Scratchansniff had been at Warner Brothers for 50 years according to him. Quick math says he started there around 1943. It's known that the Warners did escape briefly on a few occasions between the 1930's, when they were locked up, and the 1990's, when they escaped. So, at some point during one of those escapes, the Warners met Scratchansniff, and they seem to have immediately taken a liking to him, as he's the first one they visit when they escape again. Was it just a chance encounter? Was Scratchansniff their psychiatrist before the 90's? No way to know for sure, but what we do know is that their relationship extends farther back than is generally thought, possibly decades farther back.

Soon they start their first session, which goes disastrously. And this is where Scratchansniff's lack of real psychiatry skills comes into focus. He is vague with his wording, unclear in his demands, and very quick to anger, even when the Warners are only being mild annoyances at worst. At one point he says that he will say a word and he wants Yakko to say the first word that comes to mind in response. And Yakko does it, exactly how he was asked to, but the only problem is he starts a little early. Instead of simply adapting to the situation and starting the exercise while Yakko's being compliant, Scratchansniff becomes furious, calls Yakko a "stupid kid", and throws him out of his office. What a great way to start a healthy, trusting doctor-patient relationship.

He is at one point shown studying child psychology to help him treat the Warners. And I think this shows one of his major shortcomings- he's not a child psychiatrist. He treats the major stars of Hollywood. How many of those are children? He has no experience with children, especially toon children. He tries to approach things like he would with adults, expecting a calm and insightful conversation, when any child psychiatrist would know that doesn't always work with kids.

So, back to the big question. Is Scratchansniff bad at his job? Well, I'm going to hit you with a cop out answer. You can interpret the evidence however you want- take it at face value or dismiss them as the clear jokes they are- but the truth is it doesn't matter how good of a psychiatrist Scratchansniff is for most people. For the Warners, he's an awful fit. He has several shortcomings in this regard:

He's not a child psychiatrist.

He's out of touch. Scratchansniff had been a psychiatrist for 50 years. Do you know how much that field changed from 1943 to 1993? They were still doing lobotomies in 1943. Regardless of how well he's kept up with the times, some of his techniques are surely out of date. Not to mention the fact that, yes, he's still practicing in 2022.

He had become complacent with his work and was extremely overconfident in his own abilities. More on this in a second.

He had too short of a fuse and was too uber-serious to see the Warners' mild annoyances as what they really were: just playful mild annoyances.

Scratchansniff sees himself as a super successful psychiatrist, and so does most of the world. I don't think he ever was- I think those are delusions of grandeur. I think Scratchansniff had an "in" with Warner Bros.- maybe he knew someone high up in the company, or maybe his mentor was the previous psychiatrist there and recommended him for the job. Once he got that job, a job he truly enjoyed for seemingly the wrong reasons, he never looked back. He never dared to challenge himself with any truly difficult cases. He never left his comfort zone. When the Warners showed up, they turned his whole world upside down. Instead of the calm monotony he enjoyed, now he had to deal with constant zaniness and three children who were a bit of a harder nut to crack than all of his previous patients. He resented them for this, at least at the beginning.

The main counter argument to all of this is that the Warners are simply impossible cases. There is no curing them, so how could Scratchansniff be blamed for failing to? I don't see it this way. Yes, the Warners are deliberately annoying and difficult. But they're far from impossible patients.

The Warners are extremely intelligent. They are self-aware. Their only big problem is that they're poorly socially adjusted, as would be expected from three orphans who were mistreated from birth and never had a single trustworthy adult figure to guide them in their lives. Frankly, their problems seem to be fairly obvious and self-evident, even to an untrained layperson like me. Any psychiatrist worth their salt would pick up on this immediately and have a field day with patients like this. Scratchansniff doesn't.

The Warners aren't even that hard to make friends with. It's true that they closely guard their emotions with a thick shield of sarcasm and general mistrust toward human adults. On the other hand, it's been repeatedly shown throughout the series, original and reboot, that anyone who gives the Warners the tiniest bit of genuine affection will be instantly accepted by them. Frau Hassenfeffer, Flora Norita, Hello Nurse. They even form an attachment to Mr. Plotz, who never did anything but mistreat them. Scratchansniff has seen this happen right in front of him and he still doesn't realize it.

And it's not like the Warners don't have the motivation to improve. The Warners don't want to be outcasts. They want to be included, as I asserted in more detail in this post. So, if that's the case, why do they act the way they do? Why are they so difficult? I believe they act like outsiders because that's the only way they've ever been treated. It's similar to how I believe that Yakko plays off all affection as cheesy because it protects him from the letdown of genuinely hoping to receive affection and being denied it. The Warners play the part of annoying outsiders because that's the role they've been cast in. If they didn't play that part, they'd have to confront the reality that the reason they're disliked and shunned is simply because of who they are. It's far less painful to believe that people don't like them because they're deliberately annoying. Then it starts to feel like their choice, instead of something forced upon them unfairly (which is what it truly is).

Scratchansniff is completely oblivious to this. He takes their zany charade at face value. There are certain things you have to do as a psychiatrist if you want to solve anything more than the most surface level cases. You have to constantly be trying to dig deeper. You have to be extremely persistent, continuing to attack the problem at different angles even if the patient is being as difficult as they can be. You have to be willing to dispose of your preconceived notions, your natural emotional reactions to things, and try to truly see and understand the patient's real motives for their actions. Yes, the Warners know exactly how to push anyone's buttons to be the most annoying they can possibly be. A good psychiatrist has to rise above petty feelings like annoyance and frustration. Scratchansniff seems incapable of every single one of these things I just listed. It's like he expects every one of his patients to walk into his office as a completely healthy, mentally balanced person with only minor surface-level issues, which is the complete opposite of what he should expect in his position. So, no, the Warners are far from impossible patients. They aren't even really that difficult. There's far, far worse than them. (In terms of difficulty of treatment.)

It might seem like I'm taking this personally. That's true, I am. I care about these funky cartoon children and I do get a little angry thinking about how much they've been mistreated by everyone they've ever known.

Another problem with Scratchansniff's treatment of the Warners is the way he's been forced to approach it, and this is largely not his fault. He was asked by his boss, the CEO of the company, to get the Warners under control. To dezanitize them, make them quiet, "normal", polite, compliant children. In other words, he's asking Scratchansniff to destroy every part of the Warners' unique personality. What Plotz is asking could only be accomplished by a lobotomy.

I'm not saying the Warners don't need treatment. They do have problems and could benefit a lot from competent psychological treatment. That, though, would look a lot different from what Scratchansniff has been ordered to do. Effective treatment for the Warners would not seek to change who they fundamentally are. They would be allowed to remain zany, remain silly, keep the things that set them apart from everyone else. But they would be taught the things they were never told about the world and their role in it. Shown when it's appropriate to be all-out zany and when they might want to consider bringing it down a notch, and, most importantly, they would be told why these distinctions are important. Their self-esteem would be boosted, they would be shown that it's possible for them to exist in society and be accepted by others around them. They would realize that they can be comfortable simply being who they are, that they don't have to act out and amplify their zany traits to protect themselves from judgement and disappointment. All of this can be accomplished through just a few easy steps:

Make the therapy sessions feel like a learning environment. The Warners enjoy learning, they like the feeling of knowing stuff. If you make them feel like they're under a microscope, that there's something wrong with them you're trying to fix, of course they'll become defensive and uncooperative. You have to make it feel like a collaborative effort where you're simply showing them things about the world that they had missed before.

Make them feel accepted, both in the psychiatry office and outside of it. This step is the hardest because you have to get Plotz and WB leadership on board. Make sure the Warners know that you fully accept them, everything about them, and that they can talk about anything without judgement. They might make fun of you if you directly say this to them, but it's important that they know. Even if they don't seem like they're listening, they are. Then, make sure the rest of the studio lot is also an accepting place. Don't make certain areas off limits to them just because you think they'll annoy others. Let them out of the damn tower whenever they please. Teach them certain social norms that will allow them to more easily interact and feel accepted outside of the lot as well.

Gently make them aware of how their own behavior contributes to their marginalization from society. Be very careful not to point the finger at them, lest they become defensive again, and emphasize that none of the abuse they've suffered is in any way their fault. However, somehow they must become aware of how their actions can be off-putting to humans, why some people may find them annoying, and how it doesn't make their situation any easier. They probably already know on some level, but they have to become consciously aware. They also must be reassured that they are completely in control of their own actions. In the past, humans have given them the impression that they're nothing more than zany robots who have preprogrammed comedic reactions to things. Make sure they realize they're more than that, that they are intelligent, thinking people with complete agency over themselves. Allow them to detach their self-worth from their comedic skills, from their status as toons. This is a later-stage step that should only be undertaken once the Warners are comfortable with you and willing to be open and honest about themselves.

Never go back on your word or betray their trust in any way. This is one of Scratchansniff's major mistakes, possibly his biggest single mistake with the Warners. The Warners have simply been betrayed and misled too many times- they will turn their back on you and run away (metaphorically) the second they feel like you haven't been completely honest with them. They don't easily give others their trust. It has to be a slow process, building up trust over time, never taking a step backwards or giving them a reason to doubt that it's all worth it. It's like trying to build a relationship with a skittish wild animal. If you make any sudden movements, they will flee and your chances of befriending them take a major hit.

If everything goes well, the end result will not be three quiet, conformist children. They'll still be the Warners in all the ways that matter. But they'll be self-assured, confident that there is a place for them in society, willing to take social risks and open themselves up to people outside their little familial bubble. And all of this will have the side effect of ending most of their destructive, so-called annoying traits, because they'll simply have no need to do those things. People that feel connected to the world around them, that care about others and have others that care about them, will be much less likely to harm it.

To conclude this first part, I'll bring the focus back to Scratchansniff. If you still have any doubts that the Warners are not an impossible case, here's the strongest proof I have- even for all his many, many faults and missteps, Scratchansniff still managed to make progress with the Warners. He came close to earning their total trust and did form a close relationship with them, despite all the reasons they had to doubt him. But, in the end, Scratchansniff was simply unsuited to help the Warners in a way that would actually benefit them. He didn't have the tools. What Plotz should have done, if he truly cared at all about the Warners, is hire someone who had actual practical experience working with children, preferably even someone with experience working with toons (I assume such people exist in a world where toons live alongside humans in everyday life). The Warners could have been tamed. If you want do that, though, taming them cannot be your primary goal.

The next part will talk about the positive side of Scratchansniff's relationship with the Warners, and how it eventually all went wrong.

UPDATE: Here is a link to part 2.

#animaniacs #yakko warner #wakko warner #dot warner #the warner siblings #warner siblings #dr. scratchansniff #animaniacs analysis #overanalyzing the warners #cfposts

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dimonds456 · 3 years

Note

*sees your tags about being salty about suf spinel*

YOU CAN'T JUST SAY THAT AND NOT SHARE YOUR SALT /LH

Okay, but I'm warning you, you asked for it.

LONG POST WARNING.

LIKE A REALLY, REALLY LONG POST WARNING.

Dimonds456 Presents: How They Did My Baby Dirty: An SUTM and SUF Analysis on Steven and Spinel (Told by a Progressively More and More Angry Narrator)

THE CONTEXT: There was a post talking about how you think a character will fix everything, but then they wind up making it works. My tags were "#*looks at suf spinel* #I am still salty about that like the bitch I am fghdjskgfa"

Grab some water, guys.

Let's start by talking about Steven for a moment. In the original show, when we were following him as a 12-14-year-old, we watched as he built up trauma and then learned how to hide it expertly well, to the point that most of the audience didn't even realize he was struggling.

You can actually pinpoint the seconds he makes those decisions, too. The best example is in "The Test," when he's storming up to the gems. He's pissed. His fists are clenched, he's got that anime eye shadow overlay on his face, he's frowning, all that. the Crystal Gems are clapping for him and lying to his face, and he KNOWS they are because he overheard them talking about how it was "impossible for him to fail" that test (- Garnet).

And yet... he also overheard them saying that they're just trying their best. They don't know what he needs. They never really have. No one is sure. So, Steven realizes that by picking a fight, he would just be making it worse for them because they would know they messed up, and nothing gets solved, and everyone gets more depressed and Amethyst and Pearl go back to fighting each other and- well, you get the picture. He doesn't have a full understanding of what's going on, so his kid brain went "so I can either be angry at them and cause problems, or I can tell them I did a good job to make them happy."

"I can lie to make them happy."

He storms down there angry, still mulling this decision over. He drops to the floor, frowning and pissed, and says "I can't believe you guys." He is so close to yelling at them, and yet, when he looks up at them...

"That was so... INSANE!"

You never would have been able to tell. It was right there. That moment. And then he never stops. For the ENTIRE REST of the series, he NEVER STOPS. He puts the Crystal Gems above himself every time. Think Rose's Scabbard, The Message, The Return/Jailbreak. The Cluster. Peridot. Dealing with Jasper. The zoo arc (ESPECIALLY the zoo arc). Aquamarine. Then pretty much the entirety of Season 5.

(NOTE: I went back and rewatched that scene for the screenshot. There is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it lip tremble in there too! D,: )

He lives for the people around him, and not for himself. Almost never for himself.

Put a pin in that.

Now, let's look at his maturity. People thought that was just him being mature, right? That he grew up. No. That was not it at all. He was learning from his own behaviors as well as the people around him, and building up this idea that he had to "fight to be everything that everyone wants [him] to be when [he's] grown" (- Steven, the extended intro).

Yes, he matured, but not because of that. He started making various decisions to benefit the group that oftentimes he wasn't fully comfortable with, but something he believed would be better for everyone.

Put a pin in that.

Then, later in Future, we see it all manifest. He is selfless to a fault, to the point that he can't think of himself in a positive light in the sense that he's good. We see it a couple of times, but especially in "Prickly Pair," when he vents to Cactus Steven about everything that happened. He feels useless, which is taking a toll on his mental health.

"Why do I need to be needed?" He needs to be needed because that's everything he was as a kid. His entire IDENTITY rests on his ability to help other people, no matter what happens to him. He literally sacrificed himself for them countless times (the big one of course being the Aquamarine incident), and now as a teenager, his whole sense of self is wrapped up in this need to get up and do something to make the world better.

And when he can't make the world better, his world falls apart.

Put a pin in that.

Now, let's talk about Spinel, the moment we've all been waiting for.

Spinel, as a gem, was made specifically to be a friend. That is her niche, and her purpose. Her reason for existing. At first, she and Pink Diamond got along very well, as shown in the flashbacks right before Drift Away plays (I headcanon she has illusion powers and was literally projecting her trauma, but that's a completely different post).

She and Pink vibed together for who knows how long, until one day, Pink started to not like being around Spinel anymore, finding her annoying and childish. We don't know what really caused the switch, just that it did happen (but of course, I have headcanons for that, too). Spinel never realized until it was FAR too late.

Steven actually describes his younger self as annoying at one point during the Diamond Days arc, when he decides to throw the ball, so I'm legally allowed to make this comparison.

Steven and Spinel were the SAME. They were both young and dumb, and something that at least a few people found annoying. People put up with their BS though, since they cared about them. But, while Steven realized this and matured because of it (or bottled up his emotions, to each their own), Spinel never did. She never matured. She was never given a chance.

In the movie, we saw her as a child, and watched as she played with Pink and never tried to be or do anything else, to the point that Pink Diamond thought to realize she might be struggling (and maybe Spinel didn't, either!).

She lives for the people around him, and not for herself. Almost never for herself.

And when she can't be friends with this one person, her world falls apart.

Sound familiar? It should. I literally pulled from things I said earlier lol.

Spinel and Steven are mirror reflections of each other. Reset!Spinel is 14-year-old Steven, completely devoting her entire self to one idea. Steven's was helping others no matter what, Spinel's was serving Pink no matter what. Spinel is like a combination of 14 and 12-year-old Steven in this sense, honestly. Goofy, without a care in the world, except one thing: the people around her. She would do anything for Pink, just as Steven would do anything for his family.

Now, Pink Diamond left Spinel. We all know this story. She left Spins there in the garden for 6,000 years because she grew more mature and started a rebellion, effectively forgetting about this one gem she kinda stopped caring about standing there.

Personally, I don't think Pink had any malicious or even intentional intent in that, but this ain't about her. This is about how Spinel continued to sacrifice herself for Pink, even when Pink didn't need her to anymore. She wanted to please Pink 24/7, all day every day, to the point she self-sacrificed and stood perfectly still for her for millenia.

Now, back to Steven. The gems don't need him anymore in Future, right? They've all grown up and matured and headed off towards their own futures, effectively stranding him alone in terms of self-identity and self-worth. But he stays there, ready to assist at the drop of a hat, or- in Future's case- the call of a phone.

Episode 6 anyone? The one everyone says shouldn't be in Future? That it should have been cut to allow more focus on Steven himself? The fusion episode? YEAH. THAT. He is running himself RAGGED to try and help others, to give himself a purpose. He is self-sacrificing. (He's a professional, don't worry. /j)

Steven metaphorically planted his feet down and decided that he was going to devote himself to the people around him.

Spinel's feet were literally tied down soon after she made that very same decision.

Okay, enough with the backstory. Time for the salt.

In Future, Steven is at his lowest low. He is running to the Diamonds for help, to see if there is SOMETHING they can do to help him. And we first see Spinel.

Spinel has been through the ringer on a lot of the same mental problems Steven himself is facing. She self-isolated, watched as everyone grew up and left her, and then began to lash out because of it. She understands what he's going through. We even see her concerned as Steven starts to tell her why he's there.

Spinel takes him from Diamond to Diamond, until he's running out of White's room in a blind panic. Spinel is able to catch up with him, and Steven realizes the same. SHE GETS IT. He turns around and says "Hey, you used to have vengeful thoughts!"

Spinel replies "Ohhhhh yeah, but I don't have 'em anymore."

"How did you make them stop?"

She then goes on to sing Change to him, effectively cutting that conversation short.

On paper, that sounds very in-character for her. She's goofy! And that is what worked for her! But the problem is that they had to dumb her down in order to make that character decision work. In the movie, she was shown to be observant and able to put two and two together, even if she often jumps to conclusions (see her being the one to figure out that the gems needed to remember their "pieces," as she remembers the Garden, her re-realizing what Pink did, and her meltdown later when she reactivates the injector).

Spinel is smart. It should have been in character for her to realize that Steven was panicking just as she had been, and needed to be talked to gently. But no. Instead, she starts belting out Change, which given Steven's situation, would not work for him.

At the very least, she would have started doing little tricks or started trying to get him to join a game, which would have taken his mind off of it (to her anyways, that wouldn't have worked either), which then could have prompted further discussion.

Then, once they finally start talking, Spinel could have been able to share some legitimate advise. She was hurt and lashed out. What worked for her was opening up to others and letting them in, learning to trust again (which Steven also has problems with- he can't trust that the Gems won't break down the second he turns his back. Trust does NOT equal love, there is no doubt he loves them to no end), and allowing other people in.

That is what Steven needed, too. He needed to let his guard down and just talk to someone. Sure, Spinel was not going to be a fix-all, but she could have at least offered some insight on what to do.

She UNDERSTANDS him. They are a reflection of each other.

But instead of offering help, Spinel made it worse. She was dumbed down to allow the rest of Future to happen, to make Steven feel even worse. Because- and here's the kicker- because the one person who MIGHT understand him doesn't, that means there's no hope for him.

At least, that's how he sees it. And so, the denial- and "Everything's Fine"- begins.

Here's the thing, though; they DIDN'T NEED to make that decision. If the Crew wanted to have Spinel not understand Steven, then draw the line of her being a Gem from Era 1, used to the Diamonds shattering people.

Steven has killed Jasper and revived her at this point, so maybe Spinel offers that at least he's trying to get better, just like the other Diamonds! See, they're doing so great now! And then that makes him feel worse since he IS trying to do better, but is only failing, while the Diamonds- who were MADE to be nasty dictators- are doing better than him.

The Diamonds shattered a lot of people, and they're doing better than Steven, who has only shattered one person, and not even on purpose. How horrible is that?

Then boom. THERE'S your angst, with a much smarter, more helpful Spinel.

Look, I knew going in that Spinel wasn't going to be able to help. The finale had to happen somehow, and we hadn't seen Wormy Boi yet. I have always been a storng believer of the corrupted Steven theory, so I knew it was bound to happen. But I was hoping that Spinel would at least try. But she really didn't. She just brushed him off, offering really loose advise that didn't even fit his situation and thinking that would be enough.

No. It's not.

I can see where the Crew was coming from. I still love that episode, and I love seeing Spins in it (until that exact moment). This is probably the only thing in SU that genuinely gets me mad. Or, well, maybe not mad, but definitely annoyed and- you guessed it- salty.

I have an unfinished fic where I kinda delve into Spinel's head for that episode called "A New Start". If you really want my thoughts on where Spinel's head was at, there's a bit in there that really explains it. In the fic, Steven decides to rejuvenate himself and brings Spinel along with him, and that's all the context you need for this.

I cannot explain that moment in the climax of the episode, though. Maybe she thought it would make him feel better, or that maybe he really did just need to open his eyes and see the error of his ways (which doesn't make sense, he KNOWS what he did). Maybe she thought that being silly would help somehow.

But you'd think she'd learn from her time with Pink as she grew more annoyed with her, but apparently not. Or maybe she would realize for a second that being loud and annoying was bad. Or maybe she doesn't learn.

Either way, it- and she- was dumb. And they did my baby dirty.

*drops mic and walks away*

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snarktheater · 4 years

Text

Ready Player Two — Opening Cutscene & Chapter 0

Hello again.

It’s been a while. I haven’t been active on this blog since, fittingly enough, Ready Player One. I was going to do this sooner—even had an alarm set up and everything—but then, it turns out, I’m feeling so much negativity about the world in general that a book just pales in comparison.

Seriously, I had to scrap this post’s entire intro because it’s not even 2020 anymore as I write this. And you know, maybe that’s for the best. I’m not really in the mood for doom and gloom and bitching anymore. I uninstalled Twitter from my phone a while back, I’ve been doing good at my daily writing sprints, my biggest fanfic project concluded on a positive note from people I didn’t even realize had been following it for years.

So I don’t know what this is going to be like. My commentary, I mean; I’ve heard echoes of what the book is like, so I’m not expecting a surprise there.

The book opens right after the end of Ready Player One, in a “Cutscene” where Wade recounts to us what happened after he won Halliday’s contest. It also assumes you remember exactly who the main characters of the book are, which is a bold move for a sequel that came out almost a decade after the original.

Technically, I could just look up the details I’m fuzzy about. But also, I think it’s more authentic if I don’t. I trust my memory enough that if I’m wrong, it’ll be in subtle enough ways that it’ll almost be a private jokes between all of us. An “if you know, you know” sort of error system. And I don’t think there’s anything more true to the spirit of this book than that.

Shoto had flown back home to Japan to take over operations at GSS’s Hokkaido division.

So Wade starts his tenure with nepotism. Wasn’t Shoto really young? Why is he qualified to run anything?

Aech was enjoying an extended vacation in Senegal, a country she’d dreamed of visiting her whole life, because her ancestors had come from there.

You know what, I’m not touching “send the token black character back to Africa.” This isn’t my lane.

And Samantha had flown back to Vancouver to pack up her belongings and say goodbye to her grandmother, Evelyn.

Why is she saying goodbye? Why, she’s moving to Columbus to be with Wade, of course! It’s not like there was anything else in her life. Was there? And why isn’t she referred to as Art3mis? I’m pretty sure Wade found out all of their offline names in the last book, and the inconsistency mildly bothers me.

These three sentences are back to back, by the way. Someone—I forget who—once described Ready Player One as a book that’s fun to write a wiki about, because it’s got fun concepts to summarize about until you realize that all the emotional connective tissue you need to turn a list of things into a story is missing, and that’s roughly how this first page feels.

Hell, the first line of the book is Wade telling us he remained offline for nine whole days after winning the contest, but by the end of the second paragraph we’re already to him logging back into the OASIS to "distract himself from [his and Samantha’s] reunion.

I’ll give Ernest Cline one thing: it feels like he wrote this opening nine days after the first book and did about as much maturing as a teenage boy would do between the two books.

Way more time is spent describing Wade’s OASIS rig, or the in-game planet where the climax of the last book happened, than anything else in this introduction. He is immediately greeted by a crowd of adoring fans who have been waiting over a week for him to come back in the game, because they’re all grateful that our protagonist and his friends restored their avatars after they were annihilated by the Sixers.

You’d think the adoring fans would serve some kind of purpose, or that something would happen, but no. Wade immediately goes “ew, people” and teleports away, since he essentially has ultimate powers within the game. With a caveat: the powers are actually coming from the Robes of Anorak he’s wearing, and I’m mentioning that in the hopes that it will pay off sometime in the book’s future, assuming Cline at least learned to do that. But still, let’s not skip too fast the fact that we introduced that crowd of adoring fans for no other purpose than to tell us they’re out there, because it fits right in with the last book’s attempts at saying as little as humanly possible in as many words as possible.

Anyway, Wade went back into Anorak’s study, where he arbitrarily checks out the Easter Egg he got at the end of the last book, and finds an inscription on it. I was dreading another riddle, but no, it’s just straight-up instructions to a vault in the GSS archives, so Wade logs off and goes to check it out.

Of course Halliday had put [the archives] [on the 13th floor]. In one of his favorite TV shows, Max Headroom, Network 23’s hidden research-and-development lab was located on the thirteenth floor. And The Thirteenth Floor was also the title of an old sci-fi film about virtual reality, released in 1999, right on the heels of both The Matrix and eXistenZ.

I’m equally shocked that it took two whole pages (on my ereader) to get to the first slew of references, and that one of these references is from 1999. I didn’t know we were allowed to think of anything that isn’t the 80s. Speaking of which, I’ll spare you the whole paragraph, but the book does feel the need to explain why it’s vault 42.

Inside the vault, there’s another egg containing a super-fancy and advanced OASIS headset. The egg also has a video monitor that plays a video message from James Halliday shortly before his death.

But despite his condition, he hadn’t used his OASIS avatar to record this message like he had with Anorak’s Invitation. For some reason, he’d chosen to appear in the flesh this time, under the brutal, unforgiving light of reality.

That oh-so-important message? An infodump about the headset’s working. He called it an OASIS Neural Interface, ONI for short. It basically lets you experience the OASIS through all your senses with sensory input just like the real thing, you know, that thing Wade had to get a fancy suit and massive rig to do in the first book. And yes, Wade does spend a paragraph or two comparing it to other works of science fiction. Of course he does.

More importantly, it also records all the sensory input into a separate file, which can then be replayed over to re-experience said sensations, or live someone else’s experiences. Halliday tries to frame it as a tool to generate communication and empathy, seemingly all without acknowledging the potential creepiness of that. But hey. Who knows. Maybe that’s because this is the setup stage, and it’ll pay off eventually.

I also wondered about the name Halliday had chosen for his invention. I’d seen enough anime to know that oni was also a Japanese word for a giant horned demon from the pits of hell.

Add “reducing Japan to anime” to the list of things the book has failed to improve upon. By the way, the narration insisted on spelling out ONI letter by letter earlier, so it’s weird to make that link now. It’s also just kind of inelegant to just tell us “this is the symbolism behind the name”, but that’s just the sort of thing I’ve come to expect from this book.

Anyway, the reason Halliday kept this for his successor to find is he wants Wade to test out the technology and decide if humanity is ready for it. Why Halliday thinks the most glorified pop culture trivia / video game competition qualifies you for such a decision should be a problem, but sadly, a lot of billionaires have said and done a lot of dumb and eerily similar things in the past few years since I read Ready Player One, so actually, I can’t fault the book for that one. Tragically, our fates really are in the hands of people who should rightfully be cartoon villains.

To his credit, Wade does question Halliday’s motives in keeping this under wraps at all rather than releasing it himself. So hey, maybe it really is setting something up.

Wade goes back to his office with the ONI, and we’re treated with this lovely piece of narration:

I was grateful that Samantha wasn’t there. I didn’t want to give her the opportunity to talk me out of testing the ONI. Because I was worried she might try to, and if she did, she would’ve succeeded. (I’d recently discovered that when you’re madly in love with someone they can persuade you to do pretty much anything.)

There’s a lot to unpack about the implications this has for their relationship, but it’s way too early in the book for me to editorialize when one character hasn’t even been on the page yet. So I’ll just leave it here for the record. Hopefully you see the problem without me needing to point it out anyway. If not, feel free to hit my inbox.

So Wade, confident in the fact that Halliday would have warned him if there were any risks to using the ONI, decides to try it out. Even though he immediately follows up that statement with this:

According to the ONI documentation, forcibly removing the headset while it was in operation could severely damage the wearer’s brain and/or leave them in a permanent coma. So the titanium-reinforced safety bands made certain this couldn’t happen. I found this little detail comforting instead of unsettling. Riding in an automobile was risky, too, if you didn’t wear your seatbelt…

Wade. My dude. What the fuck is this simile. And why don’t you see that maybe a machine where you’re forcibly trapping yourself inside a virtual reality might be dangerous? Hell, when I said this was setting something up, I was expecting something vaguely interesting about the potential breach of privacy, or how you don’t need to literally walk in someone’s shoes to feel empathy for them, or anything substantial, but now I’m worried it’ll just end up as “man, sometimes science fiction machines will scramble your brain, isn’t that weird”?

Like, I don’t know, to me “it will put you in a coma” sounds like a good reason for Halliday not to release the ONI. Maybe we can still make it into a commentary on how corporations will sell stuff they know is directly harmful if it can make them a profit. Who knows.

The book waffles on about more risks, and the mechanics of how the ONI activates, and the warning disclaimer when it does turn on. Specifically, there’s a time limit of twelve consecutive hours, after which you’ll be automatically logged out, because yes, using the thing for too long can also cause brain damage.

Gregarious Simulation Systems will not be held responsible for any injuries caused by improper use of the OASIS Neural Interface.

See, now there’s the sort of thing that could be a source for commentary, but no, instead it’s thrown in there like it’s nothing and Wade glosses over the entire warning, and instead keep wondering why Halliday didn’t just release the ONI if even the safety disclaimers were in place.

By the way: this whole system has apparently gone through several independent human trials already, so I’m finding it hard to imagine that it’s actually a secret Halliday took to the grave as Wade says. Unless he also had everyone involved in those trials killed afterwards. Or maybe they all ended up with brain damage which rendered them incapable of talking about it.

And before you think I’m being unfair and maybe we’re supposed to understand that ourselves even if the protagonist doesn’t, I’ll remind you that the book didn’t trust its reader to know what the number 42 is a reference to, or what an oni is, even though I don’t think anyone in the target audience wouldn’t know about these two things.

There’s also the fact that, since this book came out, a video game did release with a scene intentionally designed to cause seizures, and it had countless fans flocking to defend it over that fact. So you’ll have to excuse me if I’m not assuming this book’s stance on whether your video game console causes brain damage and possibly coma is actually a bad thing, or just an acceptable risk.

Wade certainly seems to think so, since he agrees to the terms of service.

As the timestamp faded away, it was replaced by a short message, just three words long—the last thing I would see before I left the real world and entered the virtual one. But they weren’t the three words I was used to seeing. I—like every other ONI user to come—was greeted by a new message Halliday had created, to welcome those visitors who had adopted his new technology: READY PLAYER TWO

Well now that’s just silly.

And that’s our opening cutscene. And while this post is already long enough, I feel like I have to go on to chapter 0, because it feels like barely anything has happened so far. We didn’t even introduce any new character motivation or conflict, or a mystery to set the plot into motion, unless I’m supposed to think “why didn’t Halliday release this?” counts.

So Wade is back into the OASIS, and tells us about how much more real it all feels thanks to the ONI. I especially have to question how he can smell or taste anything—both of which he tells us he can. Like, who coded that? Did Halliday implement every single smell and taste himself, without anyone noticing? I hope you don’t need me to tell you that’s not typically how features are added to a large-scale video game.

If it feels like I’m nitpicking at the logic of the book, even though I always say I’m not very interested in that and would rather talk themes, it’s because I am, because there isn’t much else to discuss so far. Wade is happy about tasting virtual fruit. That’s the scene.

He tests out if he can feel pain, but no, the ONI reduces pain (a gunshot is translated as “a hard pinch”). On one hand, good, it would be a nightmare otherwise. On the other hand, I sort of hope there’s a setting for that in there, because otherwise, you just lost an entire clientele of kinksters.

This was it—the final, inevitable step in the evolution of videogames and virtual reality. The simulation had now become indistinguishable from real life.

Ah, now we have some juicy themes. Because if you think this is the inevitable final step in the evolution of video games, I invite you to look at literally any other art form, and what happened to them once hyperrealism became easy. Hint: they didn’t stop evolving, because it turns out realism isn’t the only goal one can achieve with art.

The realism discussion is not a new one in video games, mind you. In case you’re out of the loop: most of the big-budget blockbuster games (“AAA” as they’re known) are aiming for hyperrealism nowadays, and it results in development teams being forced to work in horrible conditions (known with the equally horrible euphemism of “crunch”). And, because it turns out that 1) humans working themselves to the bones isn’t healthy and 2) racing for realism with little to no vision besides it makes for poor creativity, a lot of these games come out as disappointments. Oh, there are hordes of Gamers™ who will defend them to the bitter end, but inevitably, in the months following release, the defense cools off while the criticism keeps on going, because the defense was a knee-jerk reaction born of a mix of people hyping themselves up for a game they hadn’t seen that much of yet, then attaching a part of their identity to liking that thing.

Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that this throwaway line feels like it comes from someone who is so out of touch as to accidentally support a world view that has in fact resulted in the biggest part of the industry stagnating artistically while growing more toxic for the people working in it. All the while, more and more independent games come out every year, proving that that realism is nowhere near the most important thing to making a game good, and that you can achieve much better results with a small team.

What I’m trying to say is: watch Jim Sterling’s channel, they’ve been bleeding out subscribers since they came out as nonbinary and make much better commentary on this topic than I could, and play Hades.

Back to the book, which sadly hasn’t become any more interesting since I decided to go on a tangent. Wade tests the ONI functions some more, all the while musing on how he knows Samantha would disapprove but that he doesn’t care, because what loving relationship doesn’t consist of that?

Among the functions, he tries the ONI files, the aforementioned recordings of someone else’s experiences. Specifically, a woman, which Wade tells us by telling us he suddenly has breasts, I suppose because Ernest Cline saw that subreddit about men writing women and went “I want a piece of that”. Oh, and also, those sample files were recorded from real people, in the real world. And yes, this goes exactly where you think it does.

SEX-M-F.oni, SEX-F-F.oni, and SEX-Nonbinary.oni

Look, I actually started writing a complaint about the boobs thing, and I deleted it, but now Cline is doing it on purpose. So, here goes: I saw a quote from this book on Twitter that looked like Cline attempting to make up for Wade’s casual transphobia in the first book. It wasn’t good, but it at least sounded like he was trying. So to immediately get this is…a lot? Let’s go for a lot.

I can almost excuse the use of “M” and “F”. You gotta name your files and you could excuse a non-exhaustive list. But…nonbinary? On one hand, I want to know what Cline means. On the other hand, I don’t think he can come up with an answer I’ll find satisfactory.

We are thankfully spared from finding out because Wade has just lost his virginity to Samantha a few days ago and he’s 1) not ready for this and 2) pretty sure this counts as cheating. You could make a case that this is more like porn, but I can see that this is more of a personal distinction anyway, and I can respect that one. Plus, you know. I don’t want to find out.

Wade logs off, and he can’t tell the difference between the OASIS with the ONI, and decides this will change the world. And then it’s back to the “how did he do it and keep it a secret”, even though Wade now finds out in the documentation that this had been in development for twenty-five years, basically since the OASIS launched. So it’s not really that it’s a secret, so much as there are a lot of people under very strict NDAs out there. Or, again, they’re all dead and/or otherwise incapacitated.

The ONI is the product of the Accessibility Research Lab, and Wade tells us about other stuff that the lab has produced using similar technology, mostly for medical purposes.

GSS patented each of the Accessibility Research Lab’s inventions, but Halliday never made any effort to profit from them. Instead, he set up a program to give these neuroprosthetic implants away, to any OASIS users who could benefit from them. GSS even subsidized the cost of their implant surgery.

Look, it’s nice that you want Halliday to be the good guy through and through, but it’s kind of hard to take any social commentary seriously when you think this is how a billionaire is made. Hell, even when he shut down the lab and fired its entire staff, he gave them a big enough severance package to set them for life. You know. Capitalism!

Hey, remember when Samantha said she was going to end world hunger if she won the contest, a thing billionaires right now could be doing, but aren’t, and she is now the co-owner of GSS? Yeah, I kind of hope the book remembers that too.

Speaking of the co-owners, the book just completely skips over the debate that our four main characters have over whether or not to release the ONI to the world. All we know is that they voted, and the vote goes in favor of releasing it. I mean, why have characters who could have opinions and feelings that could create a discussion? That might make us care about them! And who wants to care about characters in a story?

We put them on sale at the lowest possible price, to make sure as many people as possible could experience the OASIS Neural Interface for themselves.

What exactly is “the lowest possible price” here? Your company literally owns money. Like, OASIS money is real money. There is literally nothing stopping you from giving them away, especially because what you’re giving away is access to the platform you’re already running for a profit.

It’s almost like, even trying to make “good billionaires” out of its protagonists, the book can’t stop and actually make them significantly good.

Oh, I should mention. If you thought my Ready Player One review was angry at capitalism, wait until you see what the past couple years have done to me.

Anyway, once they his 7,777,777 simultaneous ONI users, a new riddle shows up on Halliday’s website. Because yep: our plot is apparently not about the implications of releasing the ONI, or any of the potential ideological discussions associated with that, it’s another riddle. Oh boy, do I wish I’d known that.

Seek the Seven Shards of the Siren’s Soul On the seven worlds where the Siren once played a role For each fragment my heir must pay a toll To once again make the Siren whole

I cannot wait to have the book give me just not enough information to solve the riddle until it’s solved by the book itself. That was so much fun the other…what was it, five times? Six times? Something like that. Wade already tells us the Siren might be Kira Morrow, because her alias was named after one of the sirens of Greek myth, so I can’t wait for that plot point to stick around. It was so fun to hear all about this man pining for another man’s wife the first time!

So this is the “Shard Riddle”. People are apparently convinced it was made by Wade and his crew as a publicity stunt, but of course, they know that that isn’t the case, and they also don’t know what that riddle is supposed to lead to. So, that’s great. We have a puzzle, and we also don’t know what the stakes are. All we know is that Wade wants to solve the puzzle essentially because it’s a challenge.

We skip over a year, and Wade tells us about how IOI collapses and gets absorbed by GSS because of the ONI’s launch. Remember IOI? They were the bad guys, so I guess we have to cheer?

GSS absorbed IOI and all of its assets, transforming us into an unstoppable megacorporation with a global monopoly on the world’s most popular entertainment, education, and communications platform.To celebrate, we released all of IOI’s indentured servants and forgave their outstanding debts.

On one hand: good for the slave. On the other hand: not gonna cheer for a monopoly, you guys.

Another year’s skip, and now 99% of the OASIS users are using the ONI, and yes, that includes trading their experiences with one another too. And I guess we’re still hand-waving any possible problems associated with that technology, because the technology is made so that all recordings must be shared and played through the OASIS.

This allowed us to weed out unsavory or illegal recordings before they could be shared with other users.

How? Do you know any of the problems associated with content moderations on the current platforms? I don’t know if I want to point to Youtube’s extremely faulty algorithm, Twitter’s complete apathy towards its Nazis, or Facebook doing moderation by making underpaid staff watch all potentially problematic content, which resulted in serious psychological damage to said staff.

You can’t just say that as if it solved everything. The chapter later says this is handled by an AI called “CenSoft”, and as an AI engineer myself, let me tell you: this is not going to work. Again: Youtube is the way it is for a reason.

It also let us maintain our monopoly on what was rapidly becoming the most popular form of entertainment in the history of the world.

And again, monopolies are totally a good thing as long as it’s in the right hands!

When I’m implying that the book does not care for any of these potential problems, I mean it. These enormous ethical issues are sidestepped in cold narratin, and we just keep going on introducing new slang that I hate, but have to quote so help you keep up.

“Sims” were recordings made inside the OASIS, and “Recs” were ONI recordings made in reality. Except that most kids no longer referred to it as “reality.” They called it “the Earl.” (A term derived from the initialism IRL.) And “Ito” was slang for “in the OASIS.” So Recs were recorded in the Earl, and Sims were created Ito.

There. You have been infodumped.

In the midst of all this (still extremely dry) exposition about how this changed media, we also get this tidbit:

You could take any drug, eat any kind of food, and have any kind of sex, without worrying about addiction, calories, or consequences.

Now, I was going to rant about this, but then, a page later, this happens and spares me the trouble:

I’d struggled with OASIS addiction before the ONI was released. Now logging on to the simulation was like mainlining some sort of chemically engineered superheroin.

So, you are aware that addiction isn’t just possible, but extremely facilitated by this. But sure, no worries! It’s perfectly safe! Because our protagonists are good.

Also, remember how the last book ended on a weak attempt at having a moral that maybe the real world is good, actually? Yeah, Wade tells us the ONI helps poor people live enjoyable lives in the OASIS. So. Fuck that message, I guess. It only applies if you’re the literal wealthiest man on Earth.

And me? All my dreams had come true. I’d gotten stupidly rich and absurdly famous. I’d fallen in love with my dream girl and she had fallen in love with me. Surely I was happy, right? Not so much, as this account will show.

Aside from the aforementioned returning OASIS affiction, there’s the Shard riddle that Wade is now obsessed with, to the point of offering a billion-dollar reward to anyone with information about the riddle’s answer.

I announced this reward with a stylized short film that I modeled after Anorak’s Invitation. I hoped it would seem like a lighthearted play on Halliday’s contest instead of a desperate cry for help. It seemed to work.

On one hand: good, Wade finally has a character flaw that the book actually acknowledges as a character flaw. I can work with that. On the other hand: this is all told to me in such a dispassionate that I am dreading how the book will handle this character flaw. Which is to say, I’m not expecting it to be very good.

(For a brief time, some of the younger, more idealistic shard hunters referred to themselves as “shunters” to differentiate themselves from their elder counterparts. But when everyone began to call them “sharters” instead, they changed their minds and started to call themselves gunters too. The moniker still fit. The Seven Shards were Easter eggs hidden by Halliday, and we were all hunting for them.)

Especially when this is something the narration feels is more important to tell me about.

Anyway, skip another year, and a gunter finally leads Wade to the First Shard. Solved that riddle, I guess. And wait, wasn’t part of why IOI was ~evil~ in the first book that they were paying people to find the Easter Egg for them? How is this any different, Wade?

And when I picked it up, I set in motion a series of events that would drastically alter the fate of the human race. As one of the only eyewitnesses to these historic events, I feel obligated to give my own written account of what occurred. So that future generations—if there are any—will have all the facts at their disposal when they decide how to judge my actions.

And that is the end of our chapter 0. And can I just say: what a mess already. I don’t think my snark can properly convey how utterly devoid of emotion this book’s writing is, and that alone is honestly more of a turn-off than anything else in the book so far. Even, knowing that I railed about it in the first book, I still feel newly unprepared for it. And it’s not like this double-prologue is making me hopeful that the book will show an ounce more critical thinking—or decent fucking humanity towards marginalized groups—as its predecessor.

So, that’s a lot to look forward to! For the sake of my sanity and schedule, don’t expect me to do such big posts every time. I’ll probably do one chapter a week from now on, if that. We’re in for a long ride, but I hope it’s worth it, at least.

#ready player two #ernest cline #st: ready player two #book reviews

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popculturebuffet · 4 years

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Ducktales Reviews: The Phantom and the Sorceress

Ducktales returns! The Phantom Blot returns to animation after too damn long with a neat backstory, an infnity guantlet and a hate boner for anything magic related. And since Lena is magic related she’s forced to go to her worst enemy and local close up magician Magica De Spell for help. Also Gladstone is here because we missed him and for no other reason. But we missed him so it’s okay. Friendship Is Magic, under the cut.

Woo-ooo! We’re back! Months later and in a new room, with new things to be depressed about because this year is groundhog day and everyone is bill murray, which isn’t as fun as it should be, Ducktales is finally back on screens and in my heart. And my galbladder.. he really likes ducktales. But yeah with the recent cancelation of the venture bros, it’s nice to get it’s spirtual littlte brother back just a few weeks later to help fill the void, and while a comparison to it now I know frank’s a fan and noticed the simlarties between rusty and gyro thanks to a tumblr post, the same post for both things inf act, I might just do that one day. But tha’ts not what your here, for , iv’e had to rewrite this intro enough times, Pitter Patter, let’s get at er.

This episodes opens with Scrooge sitting down for his morning tea when the kids pop out of the tv and hte bored way he figures it out is really hilarious. David Tennat is really good at selling just how Scrooge has both seen it all and has the deductive skills of Barbra Gordon. What eveyrone syaing “Of batman” gets old after a while and she’s just as smart as he is, especially as oracle. Point is it’s a good bit. As he correclty guesses the kids were playing Legends of Nerverquest or whatever that game Huey and Della played last season is called, one of them wished it was real, presumibly Dewey, and Lena’s magic accidently made it happen. And since it’s her first spotlight episode of the season, and possibly only one since this season is kind of packed, it’s time to talk about Lena! Admitely I PLANNED to do at least her first episode and her two season 2 episodes before this, but life got in the way so here we are. Lena.. is easily one of my faviortes, the number of weblena chats have made that clear. She’sd got a compelling arc, the show tackles abuse well in her narrative, and she and webby have really sweet chemstiry. Plus she brought us Violet and i’ll always be greatful for that and she’s voiced by Kimiko Glenn in her first major voice acting role so that helps too. SHe’s a great addition to the cast and the canon. Same, as the previous comment made obvious, goes for Violet, and the three togther have a great dynamic and i’ts nice to finally see an episode with JUST the three of them post “Friendship Hates Magic.”.

But yeah Lena’s magic’s been going haywire and I do feel the setups abit rushed.. hilarious but rushed. While Night on Kilmotor hill did establish her magic can run wild, it was also vauge if it was because of her, or it was because magica was messing with her head. IT’s still a plausable setup since we haven’t really SEEN her use her magic or have any intrest and doing so and she’s only done so either while working for magica, to undo something magica did, or to give her sister a mace so she could literally go midevil on some alien ass, it just feels a bit abrubt. And while Night on Kilmotor hill also set up a problem we hadn’t seen on screen, it felt like it gave us more time to ease into it and Lena’s issues, and made it clear SOMETHING was up instead of just telling us that. The rest of hte episode is still good i’ve just seen the show be way better at setup than this.

But yeah Lena’s magic keeps runing their fun and she feels bad about it, while Scrooge ends up putting his foot and spats in his mouth by voicing his hatred of magic, with all his nephews giving him a “Grandpa no look” and Webby glaring at him.. and whiel I didn’t realize it while watching it.. whiel sh’es given him a disaporving look, the equilvent of shooting bambi in the face emtoinally, she’s only been THIS angry with him one other time.. and it was the time he said “Your not family”. Thankfully this time he’s not in defnstive arrogant bastard mode, so he meekly walks it back to exclude her and she shrugs it off: She hates magic too. And really.. it’s not hard to see WHY given that most times it’s enterted her life, it’s nearly got everyone she loves killed, and that the only spellcaster she knows personally is the absuive aunt whose gaslighted her on multiple occasions, most recently to try and renslave her. Thankfully before Webby can make an old man bleed for his insesntivity, Della reveals some magical creature is there and Scrooge, while annoyed it’s more magic, is happy for another adventure and invites everyone along. And I jsut love that he dosen’t even show the slightest hesitation bringing Violet and Lena along. As far as he’s concerned probably their family too, maybe not as much as Webby but their still welcome. I mean granted i’m sure della and donald had an awkard conversation with Ty and Indy over all this to make sure it was cool, but still, it’s a nice gesture on his part and show’s his personality: He really dosen’t care who comes along as long as they can pull their weight and share his love for adventure, their welcome. It’s also nice ot see him and Lena interact since the two really haven’t since the shadow war: Sure he’s been in the same room with her twice, btu they haven’t really spoken. Though my honest guess is they could’ve genuinely meant for Scrooge to adopt her into the family.. but when coming up with Violet found her family adopting her and them becoming sisters to be a better idea and went with that. And to be fair it is, and not just for shipping purposes, I just wish we got some closure on that line, but i’m also aware the show has a LOT of ground to cover each season, so I understand it probably got squeezed out by all the other stuff going on and don’t really sweat it since we got something better anyway, her getting two gay dads and a sister, it just felt worth talking about. And in universe.. I feel he didn’t simply because he didn’t either know she was back or have a chance to, though i’m also damn certain, at least in my own headcanon, he helped those men formally adopt her. I mean he owns most of the city, and they probably also had to make Lena legally exist in the first place since I doubt Magica bothered to put her on any offical records that weren’t signed in blood and written on paper made of avian flesh, which given SCrooge’s experince is probably not the first time he had to get a person into official records who came into being by way of magic or some other weirdness.

Anyways, Lena opts out of the adventure because she’s worried about it going haywire and Webby opts out out of sympathy and while Violet is clearly keen to go, she gladly does so for her sister.. though this just makes Lena feel worse since now her girlfriend and her sister are missing out on stuff because of her, and suggests just going to sleep before she whoopsie daisy magics them to death. The girls end up woken from their sleep however by a bang at the door. It’s Gladstone!

Yup it’s time to talk about another character I haven’t talked about yet. Gladstone is easily one of the show’s best overhauls. See in the comics while Gladstone is just as lucky and lazy.. he’s also just..

Okay i’m amazed it’s taken this long for me to refrence jean ralphio in one of these reviews but i’m glad it was for this. Back on topic, while I know Gladstone in the comics has his fans, and is softend a bit in european comics, but in most stories i’ve read with him he’s an insufferably arrogant dick. Even BEFORE getting his luck, his first apperance, which I own in trade and read earlier this year, has him trying to take Donald’s house and kick him and the nephews out on the street over a drunken wager to take a polar dive, which Donald fials because life hates him and he’s a coward. Thankfully Daisy rushed in and saved the day because she’s great sometimes ,and turned things on him wiht his own drunken crap, but still, it says something when your first apperance is trying to force three ten year olds and your own cousin out into the cold.

He .. did not get any better once his super luck came into play. Instead he just flautned it all the time and tried to constnatly win Daisy over from donald.. which had varying sucess based on how much of a shallow dick she was being that story, and in general was just unplesant. He really only works for me in comic in those aformetioned softer times: when a writer makes his luck ruin his love life or add actual depth instead of him just being the raincloud on donal’ds parade. The original ducktales and the going quackers game are the only places I can think of he showed up otherwise, prototype in the old disney shorts nonwithstanding, and Ducktales Classic made him a nice guy from what i’ve heard. Thankfully frank and crew knew exactly what to do to adapt him perfectly: He still retains some aspects from the comics: Donald and Scrooge still hate him, Donald for Gladstone always winning and always having it easy while Donald.. is donald and thus utterly miserable half the time and on fire the other half, and Scrooge because he’s a lazy asshole who gets whatever he wants with the least effort, which didn’t change. What did change was his attitude. While he still is proud of getting whatever he wants in life with no effort and being “the best at getting something for nothing” he dosen’t lord it over everyone else. Sure he’s proud of it but he dosen’t rub Donald’s nose in how much better off he is on purpose, and genuinely loves his family, something I really coudln’t say about most versions of comic Gladstone. While he’s self serving he’s perfectly happy to share his luck with whoever else: He can always get more money whenever he needs it because of course he will. The other factor helping is , as with this entire reboot, the voice acting, in this case the marvelous Paul F Thompkins of Bojack and so much other stuff fame, who really sells the “Sleazy vegas layabout” vibe this series gives him, updating his old aristocratic asshole vibe to something more fun to watch and really being a treat anytime gladstone comes up. Gladstone singing in season 2 was entirely something Paul Improvised during his first apperance they made sure to use eventually. He’s a delight any time he shows up and a total 180 from his utterly agrviating original version.

As for why he’s here.. said luck. is gone. After being hit by some weird energy, Gladstone suddenly, since he didn’t see it hit him, finds himself living normally: going to a restraunt offers no free meal for being 100th custmoer or anything, his wallet dosen’t magically have 20 dollars in it, and the atm gives him 20 dollars.. which would seem normal except it’s actually usually a sack of rubys. Naturally Gladstone having coasted his entire life on his magical luck, has no idea how to function as a normal human being and is utterly hilarious as he breaks down. Admitely he’s not the biggest part of the plot, he’s mostly here for comic relief and COULD have been eaisly cut.. but he’s so hilarious and seeing him utterly fail at being a normal person and whine about things as simple as walking or going up stairs is just groovy. As for what weird magical bolt took it, Violet being violet figures it out quick: The Phantom Blot! For those unfamiliar, he’s a charcter from the mickey mouse comics, though I know him from one episode of house and mouse that adapted those comics that I need to read more of, a master schemer and old school villian par excellence and Mickey’s greatest foe. I was ecastic to see him come here and in the capable hands of Giancarlo Espisto. While I haven’t watched brekaing bad i’ve heard nothing but good thigns and he does his best with what little he’s given. But here instead of a master schemer he’s an infamous magic theif and is obviously the one who drained gladstone.. and unforutntely for scrooge the boys and presumibly everyone else... we see him in action using his fancy infnity guantlet esque magic draining gauntlet to drain the portal they took. Ruh Roh. It gets worse when he mistakes Lena for magica, and charges after her, though Webby is able to hold him off with the axe she grabbed on the way to the door earlier, and damages his gauntlet. he retreats.. but it’s obvious he’ll be back and both Webby and Violet come to the conclusion Lena needs to grasp her magic in order to survive.. and both have the same unfortunate relization: They only know one person who can do it and Lena, once she realizes what hteir thinking, wnats nothing to do with her, and neither do they. But they have no options: they have to go to magica. So they journey to her house on Dagobah, with Gladstone tagging along because they need a wacky comedic sidekick to help lighten the mood what with the serious, grim hunter wanting to murder a teenage girl inf nront of her tweenage girlfriend and kid sister, and their only resort being going back to her abuser for help. Magica however isn’t all that helpful at first. Being Magica her first move is to make a grab for the Amulet to get her power back, which her running crew thwart quickly but naturally Lena still wants nothing to do with her and Magica just insults her for not using magic and because she’s a terrible person. SHe does however end up changing her tune when she hears the blot’s involved. She whisks them inside while we get a cutaway to FOWL headquarters where blot is working on his guantlet more on him in a minute. We soon get the Blot’s backstory which is actually really inttresting and invovled even if it’s not a lot like who he is in the comcis or house of mouse: A long ass time ago before meddling kids got in her way, Magica took over a small vililage with the threat of destroying it and eveyrone in it outright unless they gave her tributes.. and when those got boring she just did it anyway. Problem was, as happens a lot when evil sorecerers calously destroy hometowns, one of them survivied. It’s even lampshaded by Magica as she points out Blot wasn’t the first. The problem was.. he was persitant. The blot never gave up, coming up with better tech to fight her magic each time and coming back stronger and likely more determined. I like this verson: While he’s not the bwahahah mastermindk, he’s still an utter threat, a force with an unyielding hatred and a burning mission to take out the target of his hate and anything like her. He reminds me a lot of toffee from star vs but if htey actually gave his backstory on screen. A meancing, somehwat quite, or mostly silent in the blot’s case, immortal menace who’s deterimiend to wipe out those who wronged him and anything related to them and has warped from what was once probably a decen tperson into a human engine of destruction with one goal and one goal only. He’s a good enoguh villian for the episode, I just hope if he comes back they give him better lines. his dialouge is really what dosen’t work for me as whiel his backstory and aura of meance work, Giancarlo is given nothing to work with line wise. He dosen’t need to be a chatty cathy or anything, just give him one or too really cool lines. Sometimes tha’ts all you need. Watch how the pros do it.

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I do like this verison, I jsut think they could do more, but given the show has a good track record for only getting better with their villians with every use, I have no worries about that and he’s still a cool enough threat. I also wish we got more of fowl or why he’s working with them. just a small scene with one of them was all I asked, because we’ve barely gotten fowl this season. It’s really one of the season’s only real problems so far: 8 episodes in and while FOWL agents have shown up twice, adn one of the episodes did advance that plot by showing off heron and steelbeak, we really haven’t seen any progress on their plans to both take the missing mysteries or kill the Clan McDuck. HOpefully this changes as we go and again, it dosen’t ditract from the episode itself, jsut the season as a whole. Anyways, Lena is still relucntant because Magica is terrible and keeps slipping in how much she wants to take the amulet every five minutes. I love the show and catherine tate’s take on magica: just as hammy and nuts as before but when she does have magic, she’s the utter threat she was before too times ten. But yeah while Lena’s relunctant.. neither of htem really has a choice> Magica needs her amulet secure to get her magic back, and Lena needs to not die. So they relucntantly agree to work together among more hilarous sniping. Cue a training montage set to a hell of an 80′s tune. The show really has a good habit of making good incdental music to use in bits like this. Lena trains, uses gladstone as the training dummy, and it’s funny as it is creative and we even get some karate kids bit and the obvious star wars refrences. Meanwhile the blot approaches ever closer.. We also find out something important from Magica as she chastises Lena for having fun with her friends while training after Lena uses blue magic instead of purple: Turns out much like spellcasters in say owl house or my little pony each caster has a specific color to their magic, a Colur of magic if you will. Magica’s, and lena using hers is purple while the blue magic we’ve seen from her is her own powered by friendship and love. It’s a nice advancement of what we’ve seen so far: We’ve seen her magic powered by webby is stronger than her other stuff, and we’ve seen it come out during times their bond, or in the case of kilmotor hill her bond with everyone, is strongest. We knew something was diffrent with the magics and it’s now given a though and clearly well thought out explination why: Magica’s magic is hers and Lena was just borrowing it.. the blue stuff is hers and hers alone. Magica does try to get her to master it by having one of her friends shoot her.. Webby of course strongly objects so Violet takes it up since it is for study after all and her sister can take a hit. Lena also wonders how she can even do magic without the amulet, but as Magica makes clear, and as I outlined above, the amulet is just help. The blue magic is her. Lena fails to use it though to deflect in time.. and to make matters worse the blot shows up after plopping gladstone down and wants to kill them both. We then get easily the best laugh of the episode.. as Magica tries stage magic and the blot wonders what the hell he’s looknig at. I mean this is his mortal enemy, the monster who killed everyone he’d ever known or loved... pulling out a bunch of colored rags and asking him to pick a card. It’s amazing. Lena attacks from the side and Webby and Violet quickly asist, with Magica joining in to use the rope to bind him and Lena’s magic kicking in, turning the rope into chain and summoning a snake.. but in a show of badassery the blot easily shrugs it off: he absorbs the magic, escapes and knocks them around while Webby asks the snake for help.. can she speak snake? She hopes so.

Then things get dire as The Blot starts absorbing the magic.. and killing lena as she starts to fade away. Magica of course can’t even feign dispaointment in anything but loosing her magic. And that’s also something I really love here: The show makes no attempt to make magica better or turn around because it just isn’t who she is and even if she did after all the abuse she did, Lena would have zero reason to forgive her. It’s nice that they DON’T try redemeing her or shoing a brighter side: she’s a bad person, a worse caregiver and they only came to her because they had no choice.

But as the magic’s absorbed magica does tell her to find the source of the power and we get a great scene: She first thinks of all the abuse magica’s done to her and it’s a harrowing montage to watch. But webby, breaks through that, since that obviouslyf ails and reminds her of where HER magic comes from: Her and webby. and we get an adorable,a nd shiptastic montage as we see more clips from past episodes.. but this time we see their adorable fistbump from “Beagle BOy Birthday Massacre”, their hug from “Jaw$!” and Lena’s return to the world and hug with her lady and future sister from “Friendship hates magic”. IT’s her friends, her sister and the love of her life who are her real source of power, and her magic connects to htem as lena ccccchanges. And I mean entirely, her outfit changes and she gets these.. weird bright blue eyes. Like I like the rest of her outfits, a white and blue attire to show her change with a badass cape, looks like a superhero so naturally I love it.. her eyes just look really off. Like when Milo Muprhy’s law tried to give characters colored irses. Because no one else in ducktales has them it just loosk.. weird.. Otherwise though I like it. We then get a beam struggle, but with adde dhelp from her friends and her new power, Lena eventually beats the blot, as her sheer power overloads the guantlet and sends him running. However in the confusion the amulet was lost.. and Magica gets it back. Lena whollops her easily, pointing out her magic’s purpose is to protect the world from people like her. It’s a nice development too: Lena realizes MAGIC isn’t inherently evil... it’s how it’s used. Star Vs could’ve maybe taken this lesson, but regardless, it’s a nice bit of character development realizing that magic is a part of her IS Her, and she shoudln’t have to give up something in her nature because of her abuser. Magica, while repowered, is force dto lookf or her staff while Lena gladly floats team magic home. Also with the guantlet broken gladstone is back, as a rain of 20 dolalr bills he uses as tissues confims, and the portal returns, and with Lena you know, havin ga whole superhero outfit, glowing blue eyes and her hair streak now blue, they know something clearly happend and the episode just kind of ends. Still a good one. Final Thoughts: This was a good one as I just said. While I had my nitpicks here and there as I also said, Lena’s strong character, and the game performances of Espisito, Thompkins, and Tate really add to our usual trlo, and as I mentioned before it’s nice ot see team magic get their own episode now their a full team. IT’s just a good romp and a good way back. I”ve made my complaints clear but their drowned out by good jokes, good character stuff, and good worldbuilding that makes this an utter thrill and a great one to come back to and i’tll also be intresting to see where Lena goes from here. But wherever she goes she’ll have webby. They can be whot hey are, independent together, if theyt ry. And yes that’s my shiping song for htem and yes I have one.

Quick bit before I go I dind’t get to, Gladstone flirts with magica when she lands in his arms, a little something for the shippers and a nice gesture on frakn’s part. Whle she rejects him and he dumps her in the sludge with a shrug. I mean.. their probably going to bang at some point. Gladstone’s powers mean he’ll likely find her when sh’es super horny and more than willing, and he’ll be like “eh why not boobs”. I mean I thought about this: I figure his powers allow him to find a willing partner, any gender or none at all I see him as pansexual, who happens to probablyb e loaded and diseased free, whenever he happens to be into it who naturallyw orks out perfectly because if he gets money whenever he wants it, why not sex? It’s not even a concious thing as we’ve seen things just work out for him so of course he probably gets laid, and as we see here it’s only if the other person consets. Good for him. Hope to see him again sooner. I want to see more of him and della interacting and see what she thinks of him. Freshe eys andall that.

But yeah this was great to come back to. If you liked this i’ve reviewed the rest of the season up to this point and will be reviewing each episdoe every monday till they stop again, so keep an eye out for that. You can check the tabs on my blogs for more reviews, come back this weekend for regular loud house coverag,e follow for more reviews or shoot me a pm if you’d like to comission me to do an episode. For just 5 bucks i’ll review any episode of any animated show of your choosing, and as i’ve only covered one season 2 episode of ducktales, there’s over 40 left ot choose from if you have any you want to hear my thoughts on. Until then stay safe, quack hard, and Go Team Venture! Play us out Steg .. and Co.

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#ducktales #the phantom and the sorceress #weblena #lena saberwing #webby vanderquack #violet sabrewing #scrooge mcduck #gladstone gander #magica despell #the phantom blot #giancarlo esposito #reviews #animation #disney #disney channel

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crusherthedoctor · 4 years

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As someone who plays games and enjoys stories that aren't terrible, I always love it when the setting of a tale is allowed to truly manifest. That is to say, when there's just as much attention put into it as there is for the characters, to the point where the setting might as well be its own character. It doesn't always have to be completely in-your-face mind you, but generally speaking, if you can feel the amount of personality given to the location, there's a nine out of ten chance that I'm going to appreciate it. Bonus points if it's really pretty.

Naturally, this extends to the world of Sonic. Though the level of backstory varies when not taking Japanese manuals into account, the many islands/planets/theme parks in space/parallel dimensions Sonic has visited over the years nonetheless tend to hold a lot of charm with the way their zones and stages are presented. And when it comes to Sonic in particular - when they're at their best - his style of environments have the perfect aesthetic for my personal tastes: full of whimiscal, cartoony character, yet beautiful and sincere at the same time (or ominous and sincere, in the case of Eggman's moodier fortresses and the like).

So it goes without saying that this has been one major focus of mine while writing for Sonic & Tails: Beyond the Stars, my own little fanfic adventure for the blue hedgehog. From the moment I started putting my story into words, I wanted to make an effort to give the land of Viridonia the same love and focus that was given to the likes of Angel Island and the Little Planet in the official installments. Granted, it helps that the nature of my story already relies on a considerable amount of presence for my setting, but that alone would be insufficient. We have to go deeper. We have to go... advanced.

Long story short, I spend far too much time imagining locations in my head for my oh-so-epic fanfic where a 90's caricature confronts his breakfast mascot arch-nemesis for the nth time. Seriously, do not underestimate me on this. I think about the colour schemes. I think about the architecture. I think about not only what type of music would fit each location, but also the specific mood to go along with it. “No guys, it would have THIS kind of icy music, not THAT kind of icy music.”

Hell, I even make crappy MSPaint flags that represent each of the zones, Unleashed-style, which are “proudly” displayed in the appropriate chapters. I'm on a drug, and that drug is making Sonic settings come to life despite existing purely in written form. Please help me.

So I figured I might as well expand a bit on some details that may interest those of you who read my fic, that couldn't be acknowledged too much in the fic itself without severely ruining the pacing of the story in the process. Note that you will NOT miss anything important in the fic proper if you skip on these posts. It's just a fun bit of behind-the-scene elaboration on the thought and inspiration involved, if you're into that sort of thing. Nothing more, nothing less.

Oh, and by the way? I hope you like Spyro the Dragon comparisons, because there's gonna be a lot of them as this series goes on, and I won’t be sorry for any of it. :] Yes, it's hardly surprising that my equal love for Spyro's environments (specifically Classic/Reignited Spyro, as I was never a Legend or Skylanders fan) plays a recurring influence in the way I visualize my Sonic zones, mainly with the way colour contrast is often used. That's not to say that the Sonicy aspects are lost or forgotten, though. After all, their universes are already pretty similar in terms of general aesthetic, so it's not too much of a stretch anyway IMO.

Anyhow, this intro has gone on long enough, so let's begin with the central hub of Viridonia, shall we? (I was originally gonna lump in Trudy’s castle and Gleaming Meadows in the one part, but each of them ended up being even longer than I expected, so uh, guess they’ll have to be separate.)

Creating the Hub: Lime Shores

Right off the bat, my goal with Lime Shores was very simple: to make it different from Station Square. No disrespect to Station Square, I love it as much as the next SA1 fan (especially its music!), but considering that a recurring motif of Beyond the Stars is to mirror certain aspects of SA1's story WITHOUT completely copying the whole routine, it was doubly important for the central town of Viridonia to have its own identity to help further that point. And since Lutrudis - and the rest of the folk on the island - are all inexplicably English to varying degrees and varying stereotypes, I knew what had to be done.

I’d make it look like Solihull, of course.

What? You thought it'd be based on London? HA. That comes later, in more Eggmanian territory. No, for Lime Shores, I wanted something a bit more gentle, something more quiet, something that looks rustic yet refined in equal measures... and something that contrasts greatly with the unique oddity that's been placed upon it.

Because let's not forget, as an everlasting side-effect of the Ethereal Zone's lingering power, much of the stony architecture has been given a nice gleam that causes it to change colour depending on the time of the day. Whereas in the daytime it looks suitably turquoise, the tones change to purple and pink by nighttime.

This might also explain why some occasional buildings look a bit... SEGA World-y...

It was important to make the town down-to-earth (for Sonic standards), because that way the Ethereal effects would be more striking. If it was a big proud metropolis like Station Square or Empire City, it wouldn't have the same impact. You'd still probably notice it, sure, but the contrast between the quaint vibe of the town with the increasing wonder if it was touched by aliens or some shit would be lost. (But don’t worry, a big proud metropolis is indeed featured in this story. You’ll get your Speed Highway fix in due time, though as expected, that too has an identity of its own...)

And of course, no area with Shore in the title is complete without, well, a shore. And sure enough, the waters near the shore are a slightly deeper sea green than average, even without the help of its nearby shiny rocks...

But what sort of music, pray tell, would accompany this unique town that kicks off Sonic's latest adventure? Well it may have a gentle disposition in spite of the Ethereal alterations, but it's still a Sonic adventure we're talking about, and Sonic is obviously going to be excited as hell to explore this new land with or without Eggman shenanigans in the mix. So to reflect his particular brand of upbeat passion, I think something along these lines will do nicely. (NOTE: I’ve decided to include two tracks for each location - some of them not even being Sonic-related - for the sake of more comparison and for driving the intended tone home all the more.)

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But then, that's for the daytime. When it's night, however, we'll need something a little more relaxing and calm, yet still capturing a similarly mysterious atmosphere...

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Also, there's a (completely optional) training simulator set up by Tails in Lime Shores. Should you ever try it out to brush up your skills in beating all those Eggman robots, the simulation would appear very reminiscent of the Colosseum from Sonic Battle, if it decided to trade in its green for blue. This is apparently the only noteworthy visual change in this piece of Miles Prower technology since 2004. Go figure.

And finally, yes, the town comes with such charmingly English luxuries like a post office, a tavern, a museum, a spa, and... a Chao Garden.

Yes, they would all have different music tracks of their own.

No, I'm not going to list what I have in mind for each one. That would make this post longer - and sadder - than it already is.

#Creating Viridonia #Sonic the Hedgehog #Fanfiction

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etirabys · 4 years

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Rec: meditation

I started meditating with the app Headspace in 2017, and started using the app Waking Up this past month at the same time I started meditating a lot more. Part I of this post is a comparison of the two apps, meant to justify why I think someone getting into meditation should start with Headspace. If you are not interested in meditation but enjoy thinking about the human mind, the description in Part I of what Waking Up teaches may still be interesting.

Part II describes my motivation for meditating and what I think other people can get out of it, Part III gives specific recommendations for meditation.

Part I. Headspace vs Waking Up

Note before I go on: Headspace and Waking Up are both paid apps. Headspace is $13/month. Waking Up is $100/year, but many redditors in threads I read about Waking Up before buying it assure me that the team really wants people to meditate and will give it to you for free if you produce a good reason, like “I cannot afford this but I find meditation helpful”.

I think I’m getting about five times more out of Waking Up because I started with Headspace. Some things that I think are very useful before starting Waking Up that Headspace teaches better:

Being sufficiently good at staying at your breath that you can by default stay with your breath for 3 cycles before you get distracted

Being sufficiently good at noticing when you're distracted that distractions are normally <=1m

Either finding body scan (moving your attention down the body, tuning into signals from different subsections) easy/intuitive to begin with, or being familiar enough that you just 'know what to do' when prompted

Headspace teaches you these in a more accessible way. Waking Up asks you to perform new mental motions in almost every session of the introductory sequence, and I think it’s hard to get something out of this if you’re busy struggling on the basics listed above.

Headspace has a 30-session introductory course, where each session is 10m. Even if you never do another Headspace pack, I recommend this. I also endorse speedrunning it by doing it 2/day and finishing in 2 weeks.

Each Headspace course (1 course = 10-sessions with a theme like ‘Anxiety’, ‘Mindful eating’, ‘Pain management’) has 1~3 of the following techniques associated with it:

Body scan (moving your attention from your head to your toes – practicing letting sensory data fill up your mind)

Noting (basically installing the TAP of noticing when you have a thought, emotion, or sensation that is not the thing you intend to focus on, and bringing your attention back to the object of focus, using the breath)

Reflection (Emptying your mind a bit first, then asking yourself a specific question, or rather letting the question sit in your head, letting potential answers come and go)

Focused attention (focusing on one thing, noting when something that is not that rises to your mind, watching the thought run its course, which it generally will much faster if you're watching it rather than running it, and then going back)

Resting awareness (think and feel ~normally without an object of focus, but have a watcher process that's looking at thoughts and feelings interleaved with the process that's actually having those thoughts and feelings)

I don't think Headspace is very good at articulating and teaching the last two techniques. Waking Up teaches those two better, and those are the interesting ones.

Waking Up's schtick, as interpreted by me, is that it asks you to

Model your mind as a projector screen (or mirror, or ‘space’) on which things are appearing,

Notice how much of what's on that screen appears there without your input (like bodily sensations or sounds),

Notice an increasing set of things as 'things that appear there without your input',

Notice the 'you' that is the watcher-entity / consciousness that is separate from everything on the projector screen, because the watcher is not producing mental phenomena

And once you have this model and a visceral sense of using this model to move your mind the same way you use the model of a car to drive a car, you can do things you couldn't do before when your model was "my mind is me, making choices and doing things", e.g. having greater control over how you react to a thought or emotion.

My current view is that focused attention is the practice you do to familiarize your mind with using the "the mind is a screen and watcher" model instead of the "the mind is me" model, and resting awareness is just the thing your mind will do a lot with normal life once it is used to using the model. Like constrained exercises in physical therapy vs normal walking.

Waking Up also teaches you to

5. Notice that the watcher does not really exist – that every mental effort to ‘locate’ the watcher will fail.

because part of what WU tries to teach you is to let go of the notion of the self, completely step out of the “my mind is me” model. The creator thinks that letting go of this is a fundamental component of the mental transformation the practice of meditation is for. I am personally not very interested in this and am electing to ignore this / not actively learn it.

Part II. What for?

My original motivation to meditate came from failing to meditate the first time I tried it, being aghast that it was so hard to do something as simple as focus on the breath for even one minute, linking it to my general lack of mental discipline, and deciding meditation was an obvious way to try to fix.

I have not seen tangible improvement in mental discipline. But after a month of meditation 20m/day on average, I’ve seen tangible improvement in emotional control and what I’m going to call a-freedom-to-choose-the-self.

I have several instances per day where I’m feeling frustrated or anxious or guilty, switch into observer mode, and kind of watch the observer process take up more and more CPU until the original process isn’t running at all.

I sometimes recognize when I’m lost in a thought or feeling that centers around a desire to control or set the course of the future – whether that’s on the scale of hours (will I get enough work done today) or years (am I going to get divorced in the next decade) – and immediately translate it to the present: will I do some work in the next minute, am I paying enough attention to my partner’s existence and needs today. You don’t need meditation to do this, exactly, but it really helps to have a visceral feeling of your entire life being composed of slices of ‘the present’, that the present is sort of the only thing you can control and be responsible for. And have that visceral feeling, it helps to have a lot of practice tuning into the present, which meditating trains you to do.

What I’m labeling freedom-to-choose-the-self is the feeling of (1) having a thought that’s pretty tightly anchored to you – e.g. a sense of judgment about something you’re consistently judgmental of people (including yourself) for, investment in maintaining your status in your workplace or gaming forum that you’ve been part of for years, (2) switching over to the mind-as-screen-and-watcher model and regarding the thought/feeling the same way you’d regard traffic noise that’s happened to arise outside your house, (3) thinking “do I want this thing attached to me? Is it good for me? Do I like it?”, and (4) if you don’t, letting it go with the same gentle indifference you’d let go of the traffic noise. Crucially, you’re not rejecting the underlying drive that generated the thought, or severing it from the self – you’re just choosing not to make that particular thought an “I-thought”. Your future self may very well have a similar thought and choose to claim it as an “I-thought”, and that’s your future self’s prerogative.

Please note that I am still impulsive, undisciplined, full of stupid feelings, struggling with my job, and that I had a ridiculous fight with my partner just this week that was 90% my fault. I am merely happier and more in control of myself as I do all this.

Part III. Where do I start?

Here’s an extremely prescriptive schedule. I have designed it for someone exactly like me.

Get Headspace for a month.

Do 10 minutes every day for a week. (Headspace says the first week is free, which might mean that you can cancel in the first 7 days and pay nothing.)

If you don’t hate it, kick it up to 10m twice a day for the rest of the month. The introductory 30 sessions teach Body scan and Noting, you should definitely do those. After that you can do whatever you want – Headspace’s courses are very similar to each other, despite the names. I liked Acceptance (Body scan, Reflection), Transforming Anger (Focused attention, Body scan), and Managing Anxiety (Body scan, Noting). If you want to try a Headspace course that teaches Resting Awareness you might want to try Pain Management (BS, FA, RA).

After the month is up you should have meditated for about 9h, which I think is a pretty good start.

If you’re still interested at this point, quit your Headspace subscription and get Waking Up, either by paying or asking politely.

Waking Up’s intro sequence made of 10m sessions. Do one a day, and follow it up immediately with 5~10m of unstructured meditation where you just set a timer and either meditate on the breath or continue practicing what the day’s WU session told you to do. The sessions are kind of dense, so do repeat or revert sessions as needed.

Do ramp up. Doing 40m every other day was the frequency at which I started seeing interesting mental shifts after several weeks. (40 consecutive minutes, but not continuous practice – I don’t have enough discipline/attention for that. I do 10m of a Waking Up session, and then 10m each of focusing on sound, breath, and body scan.)

?? (time passes? other things?)

You are a different person? Maybe chiller and nicer and more productive? We do not know.

#rambl #meditation #headspace #waking up

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mewharley · 5 years

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But for real, "Dude that's my ghost" was really weird, I always loved the basic concept, so many things that could have been done with it :0

Billy, the ghost, was great hahaha he was the best part. But I always felt that the writers didn't know what to do with the show, I mean it was funny but sometimes weird, and sometimes it tried too hard but sometimes it was ridiculous hahaha

I liked it but wtf was that

Like are Rajeev and Shanilla twins? Or why do they share the same class but apparently not the same birthday? Are they important or not? They are in the intro and best friends of Spencer but a lot of time they didn't show up??? Idk at the moment I don't remember much but it was weird

Also the fandom was weird, not excluding me

Because for some weird reason the show was ehhhh ok a big part of the fandom shipped two characters a lot but they might be cousins? Distant maybe or maybe not, we just didn't know and the age difference was bad, like one was 14 and the other was at least 19, pretty skeevy, but, when you're younger you don't think too hard about it… until years later you're like wtf 14 is too young why why

And apparently with time the fandom started to realize that but i think there was a lot of discourse after the show died?? Idk

But it always amazed me the sheer amount of passion that there was in the fandom for the show, so much fanart, so many ask blogs, the theories, like the shows was really silly, nothing serious, but there was potential for angst and seriousness and drama and the fandom loved it

Idk I just don't know how to explain the weird comparison between the fandom and the show, so drastic

I wish I could find an old post I saw back then, it was about old and hidden info found about the show, about the original idea and designs, so weird I think it was an angel at first and then a ghost family? Idk I don't remember

The shows itself was a cryptid, I think it never aired in the US? It aired in Canada and the UK I think, idk about other places but when it came out in Mexico.. it was weird, there wasn't an order, I tried to watch it every day but ??? They repeated certain episodes A LOT, and other episodes only aired like once or twice? Idk it was so weird, I think I can't still find many of the episodes in Latin Spanish ???

Also people wanted a second season and apparently somehow they got in contact with someone related with the show??? And idk there was a rumour that there was going to be a second season but just no?? Nothing happened, the show disappeared and the fandom dissipated

I.. have an embarrassing high amount of doodles of Billy, I mean it helped me to draw more and develop more my style but god so many many many drawings of him

Anyway I feel like I just traveled back to 2013-14 wtf

#dtmg #dude that's my ghost #dude thats my ghost #My post #Long post #?

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watchathon · 4 years

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BONUS: The Last Airbender

In case you’re finding this post just by browsing the tags I’ve used for this post, this is the Watchathon, a blog where I’m hoping to watch an episode of a show (or in this case, a movie) every one-to-two days, with a short blog post where I give my thoughts on what I’ve just seen. Each new point starts with a hyphen and a bolded first word.

- Like so.

But today, I’m subjecting myself to the notorious live-action film The Last Airbender, to... Well, to “celebrate” its tenth anniversary. I initially planned on doing it either after Book 1, or after Book 3, but for whatever reason, I have decided to do this now.

Fair warning, this is going to be one of my rare posts where I’ll be mostly negative.

So much for “gushing about things I like”...

Also, so much for “the rare occasion I cover movies”, but that I don’t mind so much. The Lilo & Stitch post was a ton of fun to make.

- So, first things first, I don’t tend to be a fan of live-action movies based on animated properties in general. But it’s not like I don’t give them a chance.

Sometimes I even like them better than the original. I could never get through The Jungle Book in one sitting as a kid, but the 2016 live-action remake? I adored it!

Even the worst ones I tend to be “meh” about rather than flat-out disliking. But The Last Airbender? I hated it when I watched it as a kid... Emphasis on the past tense. I could well change my tune because of this, though I can’t imagine I’ll end up liking it.

- They recreate the “Water, earth, fire, air” part of the intro but without narration. Which, to be frank, just makes it look pretty silly.

- “The four nations. Water, Earth, Fire, and Air Nomads.” Sooo are they all nomads?

- Awvatar? Pronouncing Aang as Awng, I could sorta get, but... Awvatar? Really?!

- It feels oh-so-weird to see a white Katara and Sokka, when they, and all the people of the Water Tribes, had the darkest skin in the show.

- Something that really strikes me about this movie already is that it’s so... humorless. Sokka described himself once in the show as “the meat and sarcasm guy” if I’m remembering right, and not even five minutes in I can already tell we’re missing half of that description.

- Not only is this movie humorless, it can seem strangely... smaller, than the cartoon. In the cartoon, Katara got Aang out of the iceberg by accidentally using powerful Waterbending.

But here, Sokka causes the ice to crack by accident, revealing the iceberg with Aang inside. Then Katara grabs Sokka’s boomerang and whacks the iceberg twice with it.

- More about the lack of humor: There’s not even a mention of penguin sledding once Aang is out either.

- And not only are our most prominent Waterbenders white, the Fire Nation (who had light skin in the cartoon) have the darkest skin of the whole main cast. Juuust great...

- Aang’s heroic moment from the cartoon is taken away from him. In the cartoon, Aang was on his way out of the Southern Water Tribe when he saw the Fire Nation approaching, at which point he turned around and helped them.

Here? Aang sits in a tent until one of the Fire Nation soldiers sees his tattoos and drags him out.

- “We found that boy, he’s our responsibility!” Katara sounds like she’s talking about a stray puppy they found. “I’ll feed him, and bathe him, and teach him!”

- It crosses the line into unintentional hilarity when, as Katara and Sokka are discussing Aang, there’s just Appa noises in the background, entirely unremarked upon. The only take a glance in that direction once they’re done talking, ironically after Appa’s quietened down somewhat.

- Nobody gets out of this movie without major changes, but if it weren’t for Iroh referring to Zuko as his nephew, I’d have never guessed it was him. Also, Eeroh. Frankly, I’ll be surprised if Zuko isn’t pronounced Zucko.

- Katara and Sokka’s grandmother pronounces Avatar correctly. Why don’t Katara and Sokka? Or, heck, why doesn’t she pronounce it “Awvatar”? It’d be better if they stuck to one rather than the inconsistent pronunciation.

- I’ll give them props: The idea of testing if Aang is the Avatar by setting four objects representing the elements in front of him is pretty cool. Does become kinda silly, though, when the rock just... wobbles and goes upright. They could have had it, like, cracking, but instead, wobbly rock.

- I might be misremembering, but it felt like Aang’s escape from Zuko’s ship was a lot... more, in the cartoon. I know, time constraints of fitting a twenty-episode season into a two-hour movie. But I have to tilt my head at just how much shorter (and milder) this particular scene is than its animated counterpart.

- It’s weird how Katara’s narration calls Aang by name, then like a minute later (at most) we see her ask him for his name.

- Wow, is it weird to see Aasif Mandvi playing Zhao when I watched The Daily Show as a teenager.

- Exposition is always fun when it’s delivered in the form of a roast.

- “But we will let [Zuko] wear [the Fire Nation uniform] today, like a child wearing a costume.” And nobody even smiles at Zhao’s sick burn.

- Hey, at least they have Iroh drinking tea. But cartoon Iroh probably wouldn’t do that so casually while his nephew is fighting Zhao’s soldiers. And cartoon Iroh would probably smile. At some point in time.

- And movie Katara and Sokka have apparently gone all the way to the Earth Kingdom without learning that Aang is the Avatar.

- “He was bending tiny stones at us from behind a tree! It really hurt!” I gotta be honest, that’s not a bad joke. It does feel kinda out of place with the general tone of the movie thus far, but whatever. I’ll take the lighthearted fun moments where I can get them.

- I can sort of understand why they would want the Earthbenders imprisoned by the Fire Nation to have some sort of earth to bend without the Gaang going to all that trouble to get the coal. But putting them in a quarry is more than a bit overboard.

- Aang gets a big Katara moment from the cartoon. And the thing is, Katara doesn’t really get that much time to shine in this movie. She could have used a moment like this one. Heck, Aang could’ve joined in to confirm that the Avatar has returned.

But no... In this scene, Katara just shoves a Fire Nation soldier who’s being rude to Aang.

- Ah, the infamous pebble dance. And the thing is, in the cartoon, this would’ve been a joke.

Aang would go through this huge, over-the-top dance just to make a relatively small rock float slowly towards a Fire Nation soldier. At which point, Toph would make the rock move much faster before teasing Aang about what he just did.

- Ohhh, gosh, I’m half an hour into this hour-and-a-half movie, and the post already looks like... this.

- “Teachers to teach you bending.” A lot of attention gets given to another repetitive line later on in the movie, but we shouldn’t ignore this beauty.

- Weird to see Ozai in plain view. Especially considering how, later on, he will be framed in shadow.

- Agni Key... What is it with this movie and changing pronunciations? I wouldn’t even care if that was the only problem, but with how it is, it’s one of several things that make this movie feel like “Avatar but wrong”.

- “Yip yip.” Gosh, does it feel weird to hear those words in a movie that tries to be more serious than the cartoon.

- I had to stop and continue this in the morning since it was late, so I might be forgetting something... But was it established before the Blue Spirit that Zuko knew Zhao would be hunting the Avatar?

- Hard to take it seriously when Zhao looks at his soldiers, chained by their hands to the ceiling, and simply mutters “fools.”

- “You think my son is this person the soldiers are calling ‘Blue Spirit’?” *pause of at least four seconds* “...Yes.”

- “My brother and the princess became friends right away.” First off, that’s really underplaying it. But second, Sokka’s face is so blank as Katara says this that I can’t buy even that.

- Zhao really becomes a much less threatening force when it’s Ozai who tells him to kill the spirits, when it’s Ozai who starts talking about their destiny.

- “HOOOOOOOOO” lives in a pineapple under the sea?!

- Everything in the Spirit World is compressed into this one dragon. Which makes it seem a lot less like a Spirit World than just the home of this dragon.

- I would say that the whole bit of Aang trying to avoid Zuko even though he’s right behind him is more like something from the cartoon... But, the dramatic music really makes it seem like this is supposed to be a serious moment. And it just doesn’t work as one.

- Iroh’s trying to stop Zhao is nowhere near as good as it was in the cartoon.

- “He’s making fire out of nothing!” I don’t understand why they made the change that this is uncommon. The Fire Nation are the villains, they should be stronger than other benders.

- “It’s time we show the Fire Nation that we believe in our beliefs as much as they believe in theirs.” I don’t understand how anyone thought this could work as a serious line.

- Back to the whole thing of this being smaller than the cartoon, Aang doesn’t turn into Aangzilla here. He accomplishes a very impressive feat of Waterbending, but when I just watched the cartoon version last week, it feels lesser in comparison.

- I imagine this is supposed to be Aang bowing in response, since he didn’t with the monks. But it doesn’t look like bowing. It just looks like an elegant dance move.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Yeah, I still don’t like it much. But I’ll say this: Now that I’ve watched it again, I appreciate the cartoon so much more.

I appreciate the characters. I appreciate the tone, I appreciate the pacing. And I appreciate all the things that are lacking from this movie.

I can only hope that the new live-action adaptation will be better, even if I know the cartoon will still be my preferred way of experiencing the story.

#The Last Airbender #bonus post #long post #really long post #super long post #negativity #negative #Katara #Sokka #Aang #Iroh #Zuko #Zhao #pebble dance #Fire Lord Ozai #Movie

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waterparchive · 4 years

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Sex, Spongebob and sweaty hands: Inside the wild world of Waterparks fanfiction

By Marianne Eloise

Waterparks have a devout and imaginative fanbase – so asking them for fanfiction might seem like a recipe for chaos. But that's exactly what vocalist Awsten Knight has done with his podcast, Slumber Party

(May 1, 2020)

When I call Waterparks frontman Awsten Knight at 1pm, he hasn’t been awake for long. Since we spoke in February, the pandemic has changed things for everyone. Unsurprisingly, he’s a little less busy than usual.

Despite a familiar-sounding “descent into madness”, Knight’s getting through quarantine the same way as all of us: jigsaw puzzles, Animal Crossing and weighing up subscribing to streaming services. “It feels so wasteful. I was like, man, am I buying a fourth streaming thing? Per month? That seems irresponsible. Eh, fuck it. I’m home,” he laughs.

He’s also been doing DIY – namely deciding where to put his vision boards: “My place is very spacious and clean and the walls are white. I get nervous about putting too many things on the wall.”

Meanwhile, many of Waterparks' fans have been keeping themselves occupied with the latest season of Awsten’s podcast, Slumber Party. The premise is as ingenious as it is cringeworthy: Awsten and his friend Travis Riddle read out Waterparks fanfiction and rate it.

Travis, who Awsten calls a “grammar dude”, is a writer and editor with the credentials to give thorough feedback. Now in its third season, the podcast’s submissions are often erotic, making for awkward reading for its star. Even the PG ones make him shudder: “It’s literally Waterparks fanfiction. That is so gross and weird!” he laughs.

Awsten was innocent to the concept entirely until 2015, when he naively tweeted, 'I hope someday someone writes weird sexual fanfic about me and SpongeBob. That's what I want. These are my goals.'

“Someone wrote the most graphic thing about Spongebob in half an hour, and I was like – ‘never mind!’ That was my intro into fanfic,” he says.

Awsten’s fans often struggle with boundaries, and it seems counterintuitive for him to dip his toe into the murky pool of fanfic. But the idea originally came from him and Travis wanting to do something together: “The very first idea was to read the fanfiction and then talk about it and the validity of it and whether or not it could happen – which usually it couldn’t,” he laughs.

The current season was recorded last year, which Awsten is grateful for: “It’s already a struggle to keep your head right at home, he says. "If I had to read fanfiction all day, I wouldn’t be good!”

For season three, they’ve moved up in the world from Awsten’s bedroom to a set-up in a suite with a fireplace in Beverly Hills. He’s proud of the show’s quality, but ever the perfectionist, he’s looking to ramp it up: “I want to be like, on a horse in the next one,” he suggests – before adding that there’s the matter of financing a fleet of horses to think about. We brainstorm ways to get his Patreon subscribers to pay for it: “We will say your name while we’re on the horse and send you a video!”

He’s laughing, but there’s every chance he might go for it.

I ask Awsten whether he has a favourite submission. “No. Fanfic sucks, I hate it all, it’s all bad, I have no favourites,” he jokes, adding that what he does have is a handful of very least things he's received.

“There’s one where it was me but from every era with all these different colours of hair and then we all fuck each other," he says. "It was really weird. I hated that. I hate all the gross ones where they go over the top."

But his least favourite genre is slash, wherein he and his bandmates hook up: “There’s a lot of weird ones where Geoff and I are banging. I don’t like the ones where Geoff and I are banging, because he has sweaty hands in real life. If I’m getting hurt or Geoff is getting sweaty with his hands on me, then I don’t like those.”

There is something he can stand, though, which is stories with a paranormal twist. “They’ve had demonic stuff happen, there have been fairies, there have been magical horses. There have been a few possessions. They definitely get weird with it.” He adds that this season, they’re leaning into the paranormal with a spooky episode. “The ones that stick with me, the ones I like the most, are the paranormal ones. The haunted ones. There’s an episode in this season that’s not out yet where it’s all the scary ones and we turn out the lights and make it spooky”.

While some of his dedicated fans can be aggressive, many of them are creative in their adoration. Opening the floodgates to reams of fanfiction seems like a recipe for chaos. At first, Awsten and Travis sourced the stories themselves, but after creating an inbox for the podcast, they noticed a shift in the content. “In the next season when they knew they could submit stories, it was a skyrocket of insane, nasty stuff. They were just trying to be shocking so they could get on. We let a few of them go, but not all, because we didn’t want it all to be like: ‘and THEN he put his dick in a pencil sharpener!’”

In recent months, Awsten has been trying to stay offline, both to mitigate the negativity and avoid internalising too much input on his music: “If you tweeted or made songs or art or whatever for your most sensitive followers, you would have the most shitty, bland work ever,” he says. "That’s another reason to just stay away and focus on the reason they’re supposed to be there in the first place – which is what you make.

"Some people say they’ll like it either way, and I’m like, on the off chance they hate it, I want it to at least be something I really love, so I can be like, well, I like it.”

There’s one band in particular whose approach to focusing on their own goals Awsten admires: “Sometimes I wonder if certain things will get liked more in the future. Like the way when Folie à Deux, the Fall Out Boy album, came out, everyone just fucking hated it, but it’s so good,” he says. “But they don’t look back on their past like it’s their glory days, they’re moving forward and I love that. It would be so easy for them to spoon feed people Cork Tree over and over, but if they had done that, where would they be right now? It doesn’t feel trend-chasing, and I really appreciate that.”

He’s quick, however, to not draw too many comparisons: “We’re definitely not Fall Out Boy level so we’re not big enough to be hated that much,” he laughs.

Even when he’s not reading their fanfiction, Awsten has to manage his band’s relationship with a passionate fandom who often express their obsession inappropriately. When he’s so often on the receiving end of adoration, it’s easy to forget that he’s a fan himself. One upcoming episode of Slumber Party, which Awsten calls his “most difficult” to film, will feature Joel Madden of Good Charlotte.

“It’s not cute, because we always have fanfiction of the guests," he says. "It was the weirdest thing ever. I respect him so much. Trying to get him to read that, I was like...uhh.” His discomfort is genuine, and he jokes that whenever someone he admires follows him, he gets “self-conscious” and posts less dumb stuff.

It’s a gentle reminder that no matter how many fans someone has, they’re likely also a fan of someone they admire in a way that makes them feel awkward – it’s just a matter of whether they choose to log off or write fanfiction about it.

Stream Awsten and Travis’s Slumber Party podcast on Patreon

#awsten knight #awsten waterparks #awsten interview #awsten and travis slumber party #slumber podcast

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adviserbabycom · 2 years

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Owlet Dream Duo 2 & Owlet Cam 2 [ Comparison with the old model ]

If you're a parent-to-be or have a young child, you've likely heard about Owlet Baby Monitors. There are two different types of Owlet baby monitors: Owlet Dream Duo 2, and Owlet Cam 2. So, which one is right for you? In this blog post, we will compare the Dream Duo 2 and the Smart Sock to help you decide which one is best for your family! Comparison Owlet Dream Duo 2 vs Owlet Cam 2 + Old Models What's included in Owlet Dream Duo 2 What's included in Owlet Dream Duo 2 - Owlet Cam 2 (2nd Generation); - Dream Sock Sensor; - 4 Fabric Socks (fitting babies 0-18 months, 5-30 lbs); - Base Station; - Cam Mounting Kit; - Access to the Dream App with Predictive Sleep Technology & all-new video clips; Owlet Dream Duo 2 (HD Video Baby Monitor with 2nd Generation Camera & Dream Sock) Review Owlet Dream Duo (Video Baby Monitor with HD Camera & Dream Sock) Review Owlet Dream Sock Baby Monitor Review What is the difference between Owlet Dream Sock vs Smart Sock vs Sock 3? The Owlet Dream Sock baby monitor is the perfect way to keep an eye on your little one while they sleep. With this trusty technology, you can track your baby’s every nap and bedtime, including wakings, heart rate, sleep quality, and more. And if that weren't enough incentive to get some shut-eye yourself, our award-winning sleep program can help you see better slumber in just seven days! Owlet Dream Sock vs Owlet Smart Sock Plus, the built-in room temperature sensor ensures that your baby is always comfortable. You can also use the Owlet Dream Sock to track your baby’s sleep patterns. See how long they slept for each session, and identify any patterns that might need attention. With weekly parenting tips from experts, you can be sure that you’re raising a happy and healthy child. This nifty device attaches to your child's foot and monitors their heart rate and oxygen levels, sending all the data straight to the Owlet Dream App on your smartphone. Owlet Dream Sock Baby Monitor Review https://youtu.be/nJjCNhu9Kws Owlet Dream Duo Baby Monitor Review Hey guys, Andrew here, we're Dad Verb. So in this video, we're gonna be reviewing the Owlet Dream sock and cover everything that you need to know and see how it differs from their original smart sock. So as an intro love every makes stage-based play kits for newborns. Up through age four, their kits were designed by a team of researchers, academics, and specialists to help develop your child's brain at key stages to foster improved, play, learning, and growth. In those early months, the charmer play kit might be a perfect fit for your child. As it's designed to foster exploration with their mouth eyes and hands as their social awareness grows, uh, that's best for the three to the four-month range, but there are many options to explore. Owlet Dream Duo Baby Monitor Review Now, we recently got our hands on the outlet dream sock duo, and while we mostly plan on using Miku for baby number three, we really wanted to give the dream sock a go, especially in these early weeks. We'll touch on the camera a little bit later, but let's focus on the sock to start so out of the box, we're looking at the sock and sensor, uh, base station power adapter, power cable, and, uh, larger size socks. So the original outlet smart sock was an innovative piece of wearable tech known for delivering real-time heart rate and oxygen vitals on your baby. Owlet Dream Duo Baby Monitor Review And while it was really popular with a lot of parents and particular parents of, of preemies, uh, it came under fire by the FDA, which I previously made, you know, the whole video on, uh, an outlet pulled their smart sock from shelves, but they'd already been planning their dream sock. And it didn't take 'em long to pivot and switch to this guy right here. This is the dream sock. So what are the differences on the surface? The dream sock looks exactly the same as the third generation of the smart sock. It seems to mimic the dual Velcro design with one strap, looping around the ankle and securing itself on the other side, to keep a tight fit. Owlet Dream Duo Baby Monitor Review Uh, the sensor is also Velcroed on and can easily be removed and charged in the bay station, which also looks exactly the same, but where it differs is the smart sock had features notifying users based on heart rate and oxygen levels that fall outside of preset values. The dream sock no longer sends notifications based on that in asking the brand myself, they position the dream sock as quote, a sleep solution that uses a variety of sleep quality indicators, such as movement, heart rate, oxygen level wakings, et cetera, to determine your child's sleep state and sleep quality and prompt you. If your child is uncomfortable or needs your assistance to sleep more soundly, the sock is still able to read those vitals, but they use them as indicators of sleep, state, and sleep quality. When the sock is on and you open their new dream app, you'll be able to see those indicators right here, along with current movement patterns and how many wakings have been reported. Owlet Dream Duo Apps Uh, and at the top is a restfulness bar, which visually sums up everything. The sock is tracking rather than showing you second-by-second oxygen levels. It's now only showing you a 10-minute historical average of oxygen. Now, a common question is if oxygen levels get low, will it still alert you as it did before with the smart sock? Technically yes, but the alert would be for poor sleep quality, not low oxygen because it's a metric being tracked in their multifactorial sleep algorithm. If it's normally low it'll report that, you know, sleep quality is suboptimal, and it's gonna trigger a lavender alert on your base station and your phone, will it take 10 minutes to alert because it's reporting a 10-minute oxygen average? No, it'll be instantaneous looking at the other base station alerts. We most commonly get the yellow alert, uh, which means that the sock kind came loose or something. Normally you just kind of tap the base station, reset the, the sock, and, uh, it'll be good to go, but for whatever reason, we still keep getting these alerts. Uh, no matter how many times I press the bay station. So what I have to do is just put the sock on the charging pad for a beat and then pull it back off. And that's a good reset. Owlet Dream Duo Baby Monitor Review I don't know why that keeps happening, but that's just something that we've noticed now on that note, the sensor can hold a charge for up to 18 hours, but you'll need to make it a habit of charging it on the base station daily, moving on, let's explore the app and see what they've added below. The sleep indicators is a summary of your baby's sleep for the night and below. That is the status of all of your equipment in the history tab. You can go day by day to review your baby's sleep patterns. And as of now, there are no subscription fees, uh, for this, like you may see with N uh, while you can use the calendar to jump around. I think it would be helpful to have the option of an aggregated view of sleep bars. Owlet Dream Duo Baby Monitor Review Like we've seen with the Miku pro in the guide tab, they'll have general tips for you based on your baby's age to stay informed. Uh, and lastly is their dream lab tab, which will actually be sun on August 31st, 2022. It was a short-lived feature that was kind of like an in-app sleep coaching type thing. Uh, but according to the outlet, uh, it will be replaced with a new feature called predictive sleep, uh, which tells you exactly when to put your little one down. So we'll see how that kind of shakes out down the line while the sock is a star outlet, and does offer the connected monitor to see your baby as well in the past. I've hated it. Owlet Dream Duo Camera Review I I've said that a couple of times. I thought that, uh, the connection was pretty bad, but on this go, I've actually been pretty happy with it. And to a fixed camera, it seems to load fast and delivers a decent image. Overall, it's not as clean as like Cubo AI, uh, but you know, it's, it's fine. It has two-way talk. And you have the option to toggle, uh, background, and audio monitoring as well. I'd say overall, you know, surprisingly good, I guess, but, uh, let me know what your experience has been to rounded. Outlet's head on one final question. What about the old smart socks? Are they bricked? Can you still use them according to the outlet, older users do have the option to convert their smart socks into dream socks. Unfortunately, I haven't done this myself yet, uh, but I do have a link below that sheds a little bit more light on the process. Everything that I've mentioned is linked down below. Owlet Smart Sock 3 FAQ What is the difference between Owlet Smart Sock 3 vs Owlet Smart Sock 2? New design. Owlet Dream Sock has 2 dimensions, dimension 1 (up to 12 lbs) as well as size 2 (12-30 pounds). There are right and left versions in each dimension, so you have a total of four fabric socks.The Owlet Dream Sock includes cordless charging so there are no cables to plug in after a sleep session-- simply go down the Sock on the Base Station and leave!The new layout Owlet Dream Sock of the Sensor, as well as Sock, permitted us to make improvements to accuracy, specifically for oxygen analyses. These are minimal enhancements yet might result in a little different reading than what you may have seen in your sessions with the Smart Sock 2.We have actually added an ambient light notice to the Owlet Dream Sock Base Station so you no more need to manually adjust light levels from day tonight.The Base Station now only has one switch, utilized for whatever from registration, switching on as well as off track, stopping notices, as well as turning off the sock. Monitors through gentle motion - The Smart Sock 2 does not track via activity, as a result, put on hold readings and also notifications when movement happens during a session. This suggests if you left your Smart Sock 2 on throughout tasks such as baby diaper adjustments, burping, or nose cleanouts and your youngster got distressed (creating heart rate or oxygen levels to leave preset areas) we wouldn't send a notification. - With the Smart Sock, 3 may still get analyses throughout these events as well as you could get a red notification if your youngster obtains upset. - Monitoring through motion might additionally suggest you are able to get readings while your youngster is awake. Notifications - When you take the Sock off the Base Station you have 2 mins to obtain the Sock placed on your baby's foot to obtain a reading prior to a yellow alert will seem. - When the Sock comes off the foot after getting analyses a yellow notice will certainly appear in one minute. To stay clear of yellow notifications at the end of a session just shut off your Base Station prior to getting rid of the Sock. - The Smart Sock 3 allows you to stop alert audio on the Base Station with a short press or in the Owlet application as opposed to switching off the Base Station during a notification event. The noise will certainly stop briefly on the Base and also in the app for 60 seconds, or up until the circumstance has actually been fixed if quicker than one minute. Application differences - The Smart Sock 3 programs battery degrees in hours and also minutes while being used, as well as shows percent charged while charging. - With the Smart Sock 2, you can readjust yellow as well as blue notices in the app to postpone the default threshold for time to notify or to mute audio completely. The Smart Sock 3 does not have this capacity because of its far better fit and also ability to track via gentle movement. How to Get Readings Owlet Dream Sock? 1. Take the Sock off of the Base StationWhen you take the Sock off the charging port the Base Station will start jumping green, showing that the Sock is trying to find readings from your youngster. It's time to place the Sock on your kid's foot. Sock 3 Base Station 2. Choose a sizeEach box includes 4 socks (2 sizes in a left and right). Choose the ideal size Sock for either the left or appropriate foot. sock sizes owlet 3 3. Insert the sensor (If not already attached)After choosing a dimension, make sure the sensing unit is properly attached to the sock. The notch on the sensing unit must line up with the notch in the sock. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Zp5sdLNSdw 4. Position the SockLocation the notch in the Sock behind the pinky toe on the side of their foot. Position the Owlet Dream Sock Secure the velcro from the toe strap around the foot over the toes. Secure the velcro from the toe strap around the foot over the toes. Then wrap the ankle strap around the back of the ankle joint as well as safeguard it in addition to the foot. Guarantee that the ankle joint band covers the full velcro strip from the ankle to the top of the foot. Guarantee that the ankle joint band covers the full velcro strip from the ankle to the top of the foot. 5. Check the base stationWith the Sock now on the baby, check the Base Station. Once it gently pulses green that suggests that your youngster's analyses are being grabbed and are typical. 2. What are the common mistakes when using Owlet Dream Sock and 2? Leaving these problems unresolved now can bring about pain for your baby, or being notified when you are trying to sleepMismatched sockSee to it to utilize the left sock for the left foot and the ideal sock for the appropriate foot. Mismatched sock Wrong sizeIf the ankle strap velcro doesn't fit all the way on the pad, you may need to move up to the size 2 sock. Wrong size Sock too looseThe Sock and velcro straps should be snug against the foot. Sock too tightDo not cinch the Sock also limited or it could be unpleasant for your baby. Pro tip: the owl on the Sensor should always be on the outside of the pinky toe, never the big toe. Please note: the Smart Sock is intended for use during sleep, and it’s important to note various normal activities such as feeding while awake can cause notifications that you would not see with a Smart Sock 2 because of motion limitations. Help Center Owletcare Baby Foot Monitor - A Comprehensive Guide With Answers To FAQS Foot monitors function as an automated alarm system for children. These devices are often worn on a child's ankle and send a signal to the parent or caregiver when they leave a designated area, get too close to water, or if there is some other type of emergency situation that would put their safety in jeopardy (such as going through traffic). Foot monitoring devices can also be used so parents know where their kids are during playtime at school. Foot monitors typically work with an app on your phone which gives you the ability to set up zones anywhere around the perimeter of your home - these allow you to designate specific distances within this zone where the device will either notify you if it detects motion outside those parameters or notifies someone else who has been given access to the app. Foot monitors are a great and affordable way of giving parents peace of mind no matter where their child is or what they're doing. Foot monitoring devices should not be used as a replacement for looking after your child's safety yourself, but rather in addition to such measures you take when supervising them on a day-to-day basis. There may also be times during which it doesn't make sense to use this type of device - examples would include if your children need to get too close to water, or if there is some other type of emergency situation that would put their safety in jeopardy (such as going through traffic). Foot monitoring devices can also be used so parents know where their kids are during playtime or when they're napping. Foot monitors are designed to be very unobtrusive and easy for children to wear, so there's no reason your kids won't want them on their feet when you put them on in the morning (assuming that this is a good time of day for wearing these devices). In general, parents choose what times throughout the day will work best based upon where they need help keeping track of their kids - which might include before school or after school depending on whether it would interfere with bedtime routines if those were watched over by someone else without using Foot monitoring devices. Foot Monitors for babies are a great way to track the movement of your little one. Foot monitoring devices allow you to see how active they're being and can even predict when their naps or bedtime will be coming up based on this information! They also work really well with people who have chronic conditions like diabetes, so that if something changes drastically in an individual's life (like getting sick), Foot monitor data can alert loved ones right away. Foot Monitors for babies are excellent because they're designed to be very unobtrusive and easy for children to wear, so there's no reason your kids won't want them on their feet when you put them on in the morning (assuming that this is a good time of day for wearing these devices). Foot Monitors for babies are designed to be worn on the foot and work in conjunction with a small device that is attached to the baby's other hand, which collects data about their movement. Foot Monitors for babies allow parents or anyone who cares for children (such as teachers) to gain insight into what they're doing during any given time of day! Read the full article

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lunawings · 5 years

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King of Prism All Stars Prism Show Best 10! Initial thoughts/summary/review

So I’m going to be splitting this post into several sections with space in between to make it easier for people maybe to skip over spoilers they don’t want to read.

Table of contents is as below: 1.) Day 1 Greeting Show Live Viewing brief event report 2.) Weekly theatrical video (week 1) 3.)1-10 Ranking and my personal thoughts 4.) New content (intro, ending, in-betweens, etc) 5.) Shin’s new show

1.) Day 1 Greeting Show Live Viewing brief event report

They had a live viewing for one of the greeting shows in Toyko. It was attended by Junta Terashima (Shin), Masashi Igarashi (Minato), and Takuma Nagatsuka (Leo).

The day 1 greeting shows are always kinda awkward. Especially if it’s a live viewing and ESPECIALLY if it’s before the show because they aren’t allowed to give spoilers.

Masashi Igarashi seemed even MORE pumped and emotional than usual. You could tell he really wanted to talk about Minato making it into the ranking, which should be a surprise for no one because he was really high in the preliminary ranking, but he still wasn’t allowed to talk about it.

So he had to like dance all around it with wide hand gestures about how.... these ten shows.... and how amazing it was...... that these particular shows...... hahah ahhh man you could tell it was torture for him and torture to watch.

Naganyan said that if by chance Leo made it in, he wanted us all to shout IIZE! for him.

At one point the showed off kanji they wrote to symbolize the new year (a Japanese tradition). Junta said he wrote 変 I think (the first kanji in “change” but it also means strange) but he didn’t have the board with him for some reason so I wonder if he messed it up backstage and they didn’t have another one? Haha. Naganyan wrote 華 (flower). Masashi wrote 手 (hand) and he talked about how hands can symbolize a lot of things, like holding hands and “taking that first step” but then he was like “wait that’s feet....” And it was said in a way where it was difficult to tell if he only just realized that now or not. Judging from Junta and Naganyan’s reactions maybe it wasn’t on purpose hahaha. But then he doubled down on it, and as he was explaining why hands are significant he kept forcefully grabbing Junta’s hand and being like “See? Don’t you feel something??” while Junta was just kinda looking at him like “ummm”.

I love these dorks so much they’re my favorite. EVERY SINGLE TIME I see them at an event together, Masashi Igarashi just goes on this HUGE rant about something and Junta Terashima is like “...........................................what?” (And Takuma Nagatsuka, if he is there, is like slowly inching away from them.)

I CAN’T WAIT to see them for real in Nagoya next weekend AHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

2.) Weekly theatrical video (week 1)

So King of Prism movies always have rotating intro or ending videos exclusive to the theater. (The first movie had the characters appealing to be in the Prism King Cup, Pride the Hero had the regional dramas, and SSS had shorts after the credits.) Best 10 has “Prism Star Interviews”. Basically, you hear audio of one character interviewing another which plays to a static image of the characters.

Week 1 had Shin interviewing Hiro, Yu interviewing Kouji, and Taiga interviewing Kazuki. It was fairly low key. Hiro talked about getting his driver’s license, Kouji talked about sending weird food photos to Minato from abroad, and while Taiga was interviewing Kazuki someone (implied to be Kakeru) slipped him the question “Which do you prefer, tigers or dragons?” After going back and forth for a while, Kazuki ultimately says he likes them both because they are both strong. Taiga is not too happy about this.

Something to note about the intro videos is this time is they have four weeks’ worth planned, but there are only three courses of the movie. This means the course and intro video are not necessarily connected and as time goes on it will get out of sync and you won’t be sure which intro video you’ll see. I feel like this was probably done on purpose. After a while we never knew what intro videos we would get for the first movie and it was kinda exciting.

3.) 1-10 Ranking and my personal thoughts

10.) Yu / Shiny Stellar (SSS) 9.) Taiga / Fly in the sky (SSS) 8.) Shin/Shine / Platonic Sword (SSS) 7.) Yukinojo / Hyakkaryouran (SSS) 6.) Leo / Twinkle Twinkle (SSS) 5.) Kazuki / Freedom (Thunder Storm ver.) (Pride the Hero) 4.) Minato / Sailing (SSS) 3.) Kakeru / Orange Flamingo (SSS) 2.) Shiny 7 Stars [SePTENTRION] / Brilliant Oath (SSS) 1.) Hiro / pride (Prism King ver.) (Pride the Hero)

So I think the voting for this was actually pretty fair. Basically, people who bought the SSS soundtrack CD got a code which could be used to vote only once. So although it would technically be possible to buy hundreds of CDs to try and sway the vote, I kiiiinda doubt that happened? It’s not like event tickets.

First of all, I was surprised at how low Taiga ranked considering he’s always been the most popular SePTENTRION member. But then again, although I really like him too, there are several SePTENTRION member shows I would have voted for before him. I guess that’s because I would assume everyone else would vote for Taiga so he doesn’t need my help? So maybe everyone else thought that way too that’s what happened.

I’m also shocked at how high Leo is. He beat Yukinojo. HE BEAT TAIGA. After his ranking was announced the first time I actually started crying during his performance just because I hadn’t seen it in a while, and also I had literally JUST finished translating this.... so I was just like..... MY SONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN IM SO PROUD OF YOU (....dammit I forgot to yell IIZE. MY SONNNNNNNNNNNNNNN)

Platonic Sword is at 8 which is OK sure. But you know, to be honest, although I was so distressed by this show at first I’m actually kinda diggin’ it now that I’m used to it because it’s a whole lot easier to enjoy out of context (I don’t have to see Shin crying every time). But it’s just really weird to have THAT smacked right there it at number 8, right in the middle-ish. This supposedly 0 karat show.

0 karats my ass.

AND MINATO AT NUMBER 4 AHHHHHHHHHHHH

I can’t believe it. After all this time. He finally FINALLY got the recognition he deserves. The only SePTENTION member who ranked higher than him is Kakeru and I have no complaints about that because I definitely agree Kakeru deserves that number 3 spot. (You know, I wonder if this means Kakeru actually surpassed Taiga at some point to be the most popular SePTENTION boy? I’m just so used to it being Taiga, but..)

Hiro at number 1 feels right. I’m happy with it. It would be the same in-universe too. (Actually in-universe it would be like ALL Over the Rainbow but y’know.)

It’s really crazy how all of SePTENTION made it in (if you count Platonic Sword for Shin, although they did credit it as Shin/Shine which was nice). I think that’s part of what Masashi Igarashi was trying to say at the theater greeting: To think that the new cast could have come this far. To think that exactly four years ago I left the theater after seeing the first movie for the first time, and I couldn’t even remember over half their names... and look where they are now!!

Although I am certainly not unhappy with the results, and I know the SSS shows are... objectively better, it did make me a little sad that nothing made it in from the first movie at all though. Because those shows had a bigger emotional impact on me overall. I don’t regret using my vote for Minato, because I feel better having contributed to him getting the recognition he deserved than I would have if I had voted for something that didn’t stand a chance. But at the same time, Shin’s Over the Sunshine at the end of the first movie is probably the most important prism show to me, in actuality.

But they are doing different courses to show the prism shows that didn’t make it in. The first week they are showing a montage of all of Over the Rainbow’s shows. Watching them back-to-back with the SSS shows in this movie really highlighted how old they look in comparison, especially the Hiro/Kazuki Boy Meets Girl. Back when the only texture they used was for Hiro’s stomach...

But anyway, the credits revealed the other courses will show Alexander, Joji, The Shuffle, and Louis’ shows. It is also rather sad that none of the Schwarz Rose boys made it in. Especially since Alec is so popular! I wonder if Alec fangirls didn’t vote for Survival Dance in protest since Alexander has never gotten an original song. I felt the saddest about Louis though... because Shota Aoi and his voice and...... (C.... Can I just slip in the back room, cut out Platonic Sword, and edit in I know Shangri La?)

PS. I think the shows were pretty close to the same versions we saw originally. One notable change is that they added in some subtitles for cheering. Specifically “SHISHO!!!” in Yukinojo’s show and “YO! Daddy I did it!” in Kakeru’s. So I guess we were originally supposed to yell that. (Oops.) As I hoped it would be, Brilliant Oath was also stitched together without that long break in the middle, so in this version it just looks like SePTENTRION created the goddess on their own with their prism jump. But hey! It’s nice to have a complete version. Also Platonic Sword was missing the Prism Axel. (Maybe that’s another reason I could enjoy it this time around.)

As is tradition, the credits are set to a new SePTENTRION song. This one is called Love Gravity.

4.) New content (intro, ending, in-betweens, etc)

There are two new, very brief, traditionally animated segments. The first one is a cold open of SePTENTRION as power rangers fighting Alexander. What makes this even more hilarious is it basically starts right where the original Prism Show Best 10 left off. They even used the exact same background I think!? Some of the boys’ ranger costumes are... interesting... Kakeru’s (and I’m afraid this won’t translate that well to English so I might as well explain it now) is missing the entire backside. The joke is about the contrast between his two sides (business and party: lit his front vs back in Japanese). I think this segment also has the first ever anime/movie reference to Alexander being weak to Leo. (It’s referenced in Prism Rush all the time.)

The second new traditionally animated segment is at the end, and it involves SePTENTRON in the bath discussing different genres of dramas or movies they could do now that their careers have taken off. I’m pretty sure it’s a metaphor for “So much has happened in King of Prism, what now?” After all the discussion of different genres, Shin starts to get worried it means they won’t do prism shows together anymore. But they all agree that of course they will.

Then there are the Dorachi and Torachi segments. They are simplified and look as though they were animated in flash. In addition to counting down the Best 10, Dorachi and Torachi also have two language teaching sessions. First Dorachi teaches us some “useful” English phrases, i.e. Alexander’s “Go to hell!” etc. Then Torachi teaches us Aomori dialect. What makes this sequence so hilarious is how seriously they take it. Like, as seriously as you could imagine a chibi tiger and chibi dragon teaching you something would be. The Aomori dialect was pretty challenging too, and Torachi actually broke down the sentences, pointing out where the intonation was different and like.... IT WAS ACTUALLY EDUCATIONAL. LIKE..... I ACTUALLY LEARNED SOMETHING. The first two sentences we practiced in Aomori dialect were Taiga’s dad asking him if he thinks his grades can get him into high school, and that random background character saying the nebuta floats won’t be ready in time. But then we got a completely new Taiga line of him confessing to someone which needless to say was NOT in the show BUT...... the background was clearly the scene from the end of episode 3 when Taiga was trying to tell Kazuki something. Pfff.

There is also a longish short anime during the intermission done in the same style. Torachi finds Dorachi out of power, and the two get lost together trying to find a power source to charge him. Meanwhile Taiga and Alexander don’t come looking for them until after dark because they are too busy fighting. Moral of the story: Dorachi and Torachi are secret BFFs and Alexander and Taiga are terrible parents.

5.) Shin’s new show

My...... heart............................... my heart felt so full............. nnnghghhgphhhh.........

The context is that Shin is finally performing the song Yu wrote him in the costume Leo made for him at the Rose Party. So it’s taking place chronologically after SSS.

Daisuki Refrain is a very heavy audience participation song. Perhaps the most intended participation in a King of Prism song we have had so far? There is a beat to clap to, callouts, and even a dance in the middle and it’s pretty clear even during your first viewing what you’re supposed to be doing at all times.

Also, as I guessed from seeing Junta Terashima perform at the CD release event, Shin’s hat is a huge part of his choreography. What I did not guess is that it’s also a magic hat that grows and you can ride on it if it fills up with prism sparkle hahahah.

Ahhh man.............

....Okay. If you have seen it, I know you’re probably expecting me to talk about that.... one part...... So. I will. Okay. Here goes.

At one point in his performance, Shin partially obscures his right eye while his left eye shines red. W......Why is that in there WH--okay I kinda know why. I think Shin has been gaining a lot of popularity recently since the end of SSS specifically because of Platonic Sword, and because he has that edge now. So although they gave him a happy, fluffy, traditional Shin show, they still put in a little fanservice for the fans who like the edge. A little reminder that he’s still in there. While I’m like.... YOU... YOU STAY IN THERE. IM WATCHING YOU. Ahahaha.

One thing though, I could have sworn in the preview showing that Shin’s right eye (the one which would be yellow if he was Shine) was completely obscured. But when I saw it again on the premiere day, I could see it was only partially obscured and it was clearly the normal red. So. Surely I was just so surprised that they did that in the first place that I just didn’t fully register it. It’s not like they changed it in between the preview and the premiere, right..... RIGHT?

Right.

Okay moving on sorry that was too long. Haha seriously that scene is like 2 seconds and Shin’s show is SO CUTE AND SO GOOD. I really REALLY did like it and I’ve been singing the song all day.

And his new prism jump......................

I........

Nnngfdnnnphhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I really don’t want to spoil itttttttttt..... while I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you just wait and experience it for yourself firsthand like I did, at the same time.... not gonna lie... I also really want to talk about it. Because Shin. So I’m gonna end this post here but also write about it at the end anyway. So if you absolutely must know. It’s down there.

But.

Thanks for reading! READY SPARKING!

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Okay so Shin’s new prism jump. It’s called Mugen Hug Together.

And it’s basically.

A reverse Mugen Hug.

So Shin Mugen Hugs the crowd, but then the crowd reflects it back to him and he’s like AAAAUUUGH and, of course, it takes all his clothes off.

(And then there’s like an uncomfortably long black screen. Where it’s like.... did we kill Shin?)

(Did we kill him? With our love?)

(We did not.)

(I guess he needed time to get his clothes back on.)

Shin has one of his speeches where he says he’s embarrassed about how he wanted us to feel good but the opposite happened. Then the second part of the jump starts (or I guess it may technically be a second jump), part of which can be seen in the trailer. The part where you take Shin’s hand and he gets wings. Then he takes you around the world.

The end.

#king of prism #kinpri #king of prism best 10 #prism show best 10 #king of prism all stars #king of prism spoilers #kinpri spoilers

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peterstanslizzie · 5 years

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Lizzie Mcguire (2020): My Thoughts On The New Photos

25 OCT 2019: The Lizzie Mcguire fandom has had a field day today. After the release of the B+W Mcguire family dinner photo by Terri Minsky on Instagram a couple of days ago, we are treated once again with a number of photos released by the cast members themselves on their social media handles.

Photo #1: Jake Thomas as Matt Mcguire in the re-creation of the original show’s intro

- Jake confirmed on his Instagram that this photo is ‘official’. By official, I think he means that this shot was taken from the actual opening credits of the new series.

- His long-sleeved shirt looks almost identical to the one he originally wore when he was 10. There are a couple of differences. One, the tiger print on his shirt looks more orangey-gold as well as the rings that go around both his upper arms. Plus, his shirt is a zip-shirt that seems to layer over a plain, white one.

- It seems like the producers are trying to re-create the original opening credits or at least modernise it? In the original opening, Matt was busy chasing the red ball away from Lizzie and her friends or trying to steal it from them. In this photo, he is getting hit in the head by the red ball. I wonder what will the rest of them be doing?

Photo #2: The Mcguire Family Photo (in colour)

- This photo shows Hallie Todd (Jo), Jake Thomas (Matt), Hilary Duff (Lizzie) and Robert Carradine (Sam) all standing in the middle of the Mcguires’ living room, that is currently under construction. Given that the end of October marks the start of production of the new show, all the main sets are currently being built at the moment.

- In the original series, the main sets were the Mcguires’ family home, Hillridge Junior High, Hillridge Elementary and the Digital Bean. I’m curious to find out what the main locations will be for this new series.

- I also wonder if this house of theirs is the same home as the one in the original series or maybe it could be a different home that the Mcguire family had moved into? Whatever it is, the house is gonna look incredible.

- Also, notice how Hilary is holding a blue document in her left hand? I believe that’s the script for the first episode, episode #101. And if we zoom in, we are able to see that the name of the first episode is: ‘13 Going On 30′. There is no other title perfect for this episode since we already know that Lizzie is celebrating her 30th birthday in the first episode. It’s also an homage paid to the movie of the same title, which starred Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo.

- I’ve gotten a few comments on my Instagram about Robert Carradine’s hair and they were asking whether or not he is going to cut his hair short. Personally, I don’t have an opinion on how his hair should look. As long as he is in this show, I’m all good. And we also need to remember that Robert is now in his 60s. So, any mean comments about his looks should just go away.

Photo #3: Hallie’s Todd Ren-Mar Studios ID Pass

- I did some research on Ren-Mar Studios online and it’s actually the same studio in Hollywood where the original Lizzie Mcguire series was filmed and produced. So, the new 2020 show is in good hands in terms of set design and overall production.

- In comparison, Raven’s Home is produced by ‘It’s a Laugh’ productions and That’s So Raven was produced by ‘Brookwell McNamara Entertainment’, which also produced Hilary’s 2004 movie, Raise Your Voice. I made this comparison because I feel like there is a difference in production quality between That’s So Raven and Raven’s Home. But that could be due to budget allocation and things like that. Anyways, I am really happy the producers of Lizzie Mcguire decided to use the same studio again.

- Other shows that were filmed here include Ally McBeal, Seinfeld and The Golden Girls. Hilary Duff also had some of her music videos filmed in this particular studio as well!

Photo #4: Last but not least, Lalaine’s teaser of Adam Lamberg

- Lalaine seems to be one of the ones who likes to give us fans discrete clues. First of all, after the announcement of the new revival series in Disney Expo 2019 back in August, she edited her Instagram profile description and changed it to ‘Re-boot(s)’, which indicates that she’s coming back to reprise her role as Miranda Sanchez.

- And now, she posted this screenshot of her phone, which shows a message that was sent to her by Adam Lamberg (Gordo). If this doesn’t tell us that Gordo isn’t coming back, I don’t know what will. I don’t think Lalaine would tease us like that for no reason.

- I really think that they are saving a photo of Adam Lamberg till later on. I predict that a group photo of Hilary, Adam and Lalaine will surface sooner or later. We gotta keep our eyes peeled for that.

Closing Thoughts

- Basically, production has started and sets are being built for the new 2020 series. Once that is all completed, filming will start henceforth. We still haven’t gotten any sort of official statement from Disney or Disney Plus about the confirmed cast. But, getting info/updates from the cast and writers themselves on social media is good enough for me. That’s the power of being connected through social media.

- But we can pretty much guarantee that Lizzie’s brother and parents are returning. Miranda and Ethan are both hinted to be coming back as both their actors are currently being followed by Hilary Duff and the writers on Instagram. Of course, with Adam, it’s tricky because he doesn’t have Instagram but judging from the screenshot posted by Lalaine, I am 90% sure he is returning.

- That leaves us with Kate, Larry, Melina and Lanny. I have a feeling they might not be coming back, at least maybe for the first season. But there is always the possibility that they can work out some deal with Disney in the future, where they will get to guest star in later seasons.

- That’s my take on all of this. Thank you for reading this long post and have a great day ahead!

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fermented-writers-block · 5 years

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Why I think the actual Angel is Noelle Holiday

After nine months of research, procrastination, and working out the kinks, here’s a little theory of mine that’s been floating around in my head ever since the end of last November about Noelle Holiday and her potential role in the future of the series. It’s a bit of a long read, but I hope you’ll be willing to indulge me and give this crazy theory a chance.

As a forewarning, the following points I will be bringing up are simply too hefty to make a TLDR for, and it’s quite a long read, but trust me, you’re going to want to read through all of it for it to make sense in the end

Part 1: The Possible Evolution of the Delta Rune

First off, I’d like to look at the Delta Rune itself and a few easily overlooked key lines Gerson says about it:

That emblem actually predates written history.

The original meaning has been lost to time…

All we know is that the triangles symbolize us monsters below, and the winged circle above symbolizes…

Somethin' else.

The meaning and design of symbols can change over time, and it’s likely the same has happened to the way the Delta Rune is currently interpreted compared to when it first came into existence. For example, take a look at these variations of the Delta Rune:

Of these variations of the Delta Rune, these may be some of the oldest or closest iterations of the symbol to the original design, especially the ones from the intro cutscene and Gerson’s shop. The former is presumably from long before the Human-Monster War and thus the oldest version, and with Gerson’s apparent age and how he implies that he studies history, it is likely that the variation in his shop is also as close as can be to the original.

As for how these particular iterations of the Delta Rune fit into my theory, look at the design and positioning of the wings in these probably older iterations compared to likely more modern interpretations:

On the more recent interpretations, the base of the wings are placed around the same level as the center of the circle, and the wings themselves are mostly realistically designed. However, on the older interpretations, the wings are more simplified and stylized with more of an explicit arc to them, and the ‘feathers’ are more blocky with visible and sometimes significant spaces in between. Now keep that in mind when looking at these pictures:

Taking this into account, I think it is possible that - through the help of time and redesigns becoming successively more stylized - what was originally supposed to be a reindeer with antlers slowly got distorted and misremembered as a ‘winged circle.”

And maybe, something like this might even apply to Deltarune’s version of the Delta Rune as well given how several of the depictions of the Angel throughout the game look like the transition point between the older and newer designs, what with the ‘feathers’ being much rounder and closer together while still on an arc-based stylized design instead of a realistic wing-like design:

Part 2: The Origins of Modern Christmas

Now, with that established, let’s take a closer look at Noelle and her family.

Besides the obvious exception of Lancer, she has the most dialogue of all the NPCs, gets two entire scenes to herself in the hospital with her dad and outside her house to flesh out her character and crush on Susie compared to several other NPCs getting only a few lines of dialogue at most, and it is absolutely required to talk to her at the beginning of the game in order to even progress and end up in the Dark World.

As many other posts than mine have demonstrated, this suspicious level of detail has led a lot of people to theorize that Noelle will be an important character and that she might even be playable later on, a theory which has certainly been helped by Toby Fox’s original concept art of “THE FUN GANG” showing that her character has been in development for a LONG time - perhaps even from when work on Deltarune was just beginning - and that she may have been designed as a main character from the start.

However, much like how the potential origins of Undertale’s Delta Rune point towards the importance of reindeer in the series, I believe the deeper origins behind the names of the Holiday family similarly point towards Noelle’s true role in Deltarune.

Obviously, the name Rudy is a clear reference to the famous Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and Dess is most likely a reference to how Christmas is celebrated in the month of December. However, as Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer was created in 1939 for the Montgomery Ward department store chain, he is actually a relatively new addition to the list of Santa’s reindeer, whom in of themselves are early 19th Century additions to the image of Santa Claus - a figure tracing back to the 4th Century Christian bishop Saint Nicholas.

And on Jesus’ birth being on the 25th of December for Dess’ name, from what I’ve gathered with my google-fu, the event may have actually taken place less on December 25 and more during the fall or spring due to mentions of shepherds tending to their sheep in the scripture as well as from several attempts to connect the Star of Bethlehem with recorded astronomical events.

In fact, it seems likely that - in the 4th Century - the church might have actually chosen the date either because of coming to the conclusion that Jesus’ conception took place on the spring solstice - aka March 25, nine months before December 25 - or because they wanted to increase the popularity of Christianity through adopting and appropriating pagan winter solstice festivals like the Yule and Saturnalia holidays around the same time of year.

On the flipside, Noelle is a name that has a particularly distinct connection to Christmas; specifically, to the one for whom the holiday is named for in the first place rather than a recent secular addition or the general time in which said holiday is celebrated.

From what I’ve seen, Noelle as a name traces back to the French word ‘noel,’ which - alongside referring to Christmas carols - is a variant form of the word ‘Nael.’ This form comes from the noun use of the Latin adjective natalis, meaning of, or belonging to, one’s birth. The noun use (from natalis dies, day of birth) denoted a birthday, an anniversary, a commemorative festival, hence in ecclesiastical Latin the festival of the nativity of Christ, Christmas.

Basically, out of all the names of the Holiday family, Noelle’s is the one that most directly ties into the actual origins of Christmas in how the name’s origins heavily revolve around the birth of Jesus Christ, a major religious figure who was to be a sacrifice for humanity’s sins and to provide a way into heaven.

Considering Toby Fox’s attention to hidden details and deeper meanings and how angels are heavily associated with and are depicted in Christianity - particularly in relation to Jesus - there may be further significance to Toby picking a name that’s typically given to girls born around or on Christmas day. After all, even if it may or may not be the actual day of Jesus’ birth, it is widely celebrated and recognized as such.

However, as you’ll see at the end, I think there’s even another layer of meaning to Noelle Holiday’s name than just this one.

Part 3: Reindeer in Undertale

On a slightly different topic, while it’s hard to ignore how more prominently featured Christmas iconography and figures in the foreground of the series - what with the introduction of the Holiday family as well as several jokes about “Krismas” and Santa Claus in Deltarune, I believe it may also be important to pay attention to Undertale’s fair share of Christmas-themed details.

Namely, in how a significant amount of them owe their existence to one specific minor character; aka the rather unusually designed Gyftrot.

In contrast to the handful of implications that Asgore is the Underground’s Santa only being implicitly hinted at through extended dialogue and checking his bureau, Snowdin’s tradition of putting presents under decorated trees is blatantly and conspicuously out in the open.

And as Gift Bear explains if you talk to them, said tradition originated not with wherever Asgore’s Santa outfit and apparent moonlighting came from, but rather came about in the first place as a way to make Gyftrot feel better after some teens decorated his horns.

As to why I am calling Gyftrot unusually designed, it is because of his rounded head and sideways mouth - a trait only seen elsewhere in the DT Extraction Machine, Photoshop Flowey, and Sans’ Gaster Blasters.

Of all the conversations and theories I’ve seen about this strange detail, most people were only able to come up with the explanation that Toby simply liked the design and reused it for Gyftrot just for fun without any deeper meaning to it, or that Toby unintentionally gave it to Gyftrot while making Undertale.

However, a third explanation I found is that Gyftrot’s design may actually be foreshadowing for what Photoshop Flowey’s appearance looks like, what with how Gyftrot actually seems to have a second pair of eyes at the base of his antlers, and how one of the decorations he spawns with is a picture between his four eyes in a very similar position to the television screen on Photoshop Flowey.

To my knowledge, this explanation and comparison has only been made in conjunction by two people, with user u/Peridotthepie providing the explanation and and user u/pleasespellicup providing the following picture in the linked post.

While I can’t see any other possible parallels between the two to fully call this foreshadowing - especially with how the picture decoration isn’t guaranteed to show up on every playthrough and how obscure it is - I’d like to propose the idea that the DT Extraction Machine (and perhaps the Gaster Blasters by extension) may very well be based on Gyftrot or a relative with a similar design in-universe.

After all, not even boss monsters leave behind anything more than a pile of dust when they die, not even a goat-like skull that could be used as a reference, whereas Gyftrot is a living, walking example of such a design, complete with what even seems to be a SOUL-shaped hole in his mouth.

Not only that, but given how attentive to detail and deeper meanings Toby has shown himself to be as well as the increased prominence and importance of reindeer/Christmas themes in general for Deltarune, I find it incredibly unlikely that this design choice was made just for fun or as an accident.

On a bit of a side note, it is interesting that we first learned of the name “Rudy” in a post from September 17, 2017 on Undertale’s 2nd anniversary and alarm clock app.

Considering the apparent parallels between Undertale and Deltarune - for example, the potential connection between Susie and the ‘Suzy’ character mentioned by Clam Girl, who appears to have ties to Gaster - and the implications of the dialogue in that post, it’s likely that Undertale Rudy is also a reindeer just like his counterpart, and I would not be surprised if he was also related to Gyftrot as well.

As for what the exact deeper meaning or in-universe explanation behind Gyftrot could be, it’s too early to tell, but I have the feeling that it likely ties heavily into Noelle’s circumstances in Deltarune and some of the effects of the DT Extraction Machine on Undertale’s plot as detailed below.

Part 4: Determining Other Connections

To explain what I’m talking about, let’s take a closer look at a few key lab entries by Alphys, starting with this one:

ENTRY NUMBER 5: I've done it. Using the blueprints, I've extracted it from the human SOULs. I believe this is what gives their SOULs the strength to persist after death. The will to keep living... The resolve to change fate. Let's call this power... "Determination."*

While not explicitly confirmed, from the name and surrounding context, it is likely that the blueprints Alphys used were for the DT Extraction Machine and that DT stands for Determination, though it is unknown whether Alphys built the machine from the blueprints or if it was already constructed and she merely used the blueprints to operate it.

Either way, as we all know, things went horribly wrong from there. Alphys had accidentally turned those who had “fallen down” into the Amalgamates, created Flowey from the flower whose seeds Asriel had brought from the surface, and fell into a nervous downward spiral while wracked with guilt.

Now, I want to focus on just how the Amalgamates had been created, particularly with these entries:

ENTRY NUMBER 6: ASGORE asked everyone outside the city for monsters that had "fallen down." Their bodies came in today. They're still comatose... And soon, they'll all turn into dust. But what happens if I inject "determination" into them? If their SOULS persist after they perish, then... Freedom might be closer than we all thought.

ENTRY NUMBER 12: nothing is happening. i don't know what to do. i'll just keep injecting everything with "determination." i want this to work.

ENTRY NUMBER 17: monsters' physical forms can't handle "determination" like humans can. with too much determination, our bodies begin to break down. everyone's melted together…

Here, I’d like to draw your attention to a few things. Given the surrounding context, “falling down” seems to be a condition - one that potentially originates from age, injury, or some kind of illness - involving or causes monsters to enter a comatose state and eventually die.

And in Entry 17, there is the interesting wording of the line “with too much determination, our bodies begin to break down.” From how it’s phrased, it seems that, instead of melting from any amount of Determination in their systems whatsoever, monsters can handle Determination without having to fear of their bodies breaking down, though obviously there’s a cap to how much they are able to handle.

As for why I’m making this particular distinction, it’s because of Noelle’s situation with her father and how it may proceed beyond Chapter 1 in the future.

With the implication that Undertale Rudy had passed away a while ago, Deltarune Rudy’s conversations with and about Noelle, and Deltarune’s apparent theme of choices not mattering - or at least, not in the long run - it seems pretty likely that DR Rudy is suffering from a case of the foreboding coughs of death and that he may even “fall down” later on.

As such, it wouldn’t be surprising if his condition keeps worsening all the way until he ends up on his deathbed/in a coma/legitimately dead no matter what the doctors or Noelle and such do to help, and neither would it be surprising for her to be seriously affected and react in a severe way as a result.

I mean, Rudy openly talks about how everything scares her, even ironically Santa Claus, and as the classroom scene demonstrates, she has trouble mustering up the courage and confidence to assert herself to the point where even Alphys asks her to speak up.

Considering that her father openly talks about how defenseless she is and how he worries about not being able to protect her from his hospital bed, his death/apparently inevitable upcoming death would no doubt drastically impact her, especially if she attempted as much as she could to stop it to no avail.

Sometimes, one can be driven to desperation to do crazy things as a result of love and worry, and Noelle may very well do the same out of love for her father. If at least some of Undertale’s rules about SOULS and monsters also apply to the world of Deltarune, then there may only be one way - or at the very least, what she feels might be the only option left - in the end for Noelle to potentially give her father the strength to persist and the will to keep living, perhaps even after death.

Or in other words, potentially through extracting enough Determination from a human SOUL to inject into and potentially save her father/bring him back to life.

If the SOUL we the players control is or is close enough to a human SOUL to work, no other human characters/SOULS pop up later, and Noelle somehow finds out about the power of Determination and becomes resolved to use it, then there may be few - if any - things we will be able to do to dissuade her from going after Kris/wherever the SOUL we control goes.

Now, this is where what I think could be the second meaning behind Noelle’s name points would come into play, and in quite an important way.

For those that don’t know, if you enter Susie, Kris, or Noelle as the creator’s name in Deltarune’s introduction, you get the interesting following response:

“YOU ARE ABOUT TO MEET SOMEONE VERY, VERY WONDERFUL.”

With how anagrams appear to be a major theme of Deltarune in both a naming and worldbuilding sense, it's rather curious that of these three names, only two make any actually sensible anagrams. Kris and Susie can be turned into "risk" and "issue,” but Noelle oddly appears to buck the trend.

However, I think the answer for this ties back to Lab Entry 17. You see, in toxicology research terms, Alphys had injected more than “the highest dose at which there was not an observed toxic or adverse effect.”

Interestingly, this level of dosage is known as the No Observable Adverse Effect Level, or the term NOAEL for short. And sometimes, when describing and looking for an effect in general than just specifically adverse ones, the term used in toxicology reports is the No Observable Effect Level, or NOEL.

Basically, if Noelle hopes to save her father, she needs to make sure to not inject too much or too little Determination. Otherwise, she’d go below the NOEL, where Ruby would simply not have enough strength to keep living, or above the NOAEL, where Rudy would seem to be fine for a while at first before inevitably melting down.

And with that, Noelle’s strangely un-anagramable name can be reconciled with Kris and Susie’s, all three names relating to terms often used to describe something problematic in a scientific way.

In fact, one could even say that the terms their names correspond to sound like they would fit very well in a lab or experiment report, perhaps one involving interesting increases in darkness, like an imbalance in Dark Fountains…

Part 5: Conclusions

Of course, I do realize that that last bit is quite a stretch to suggest, even in comparison to the rest of my theory and particularly the latter half of the above section. As of now, there’s no real way of telling how these details actually connect in this way or if they really even connect to each other in the first place, let alone if they even operate on similar enough rules like my theory presumes.

Heck, with the shortage of clear definitive details about W.D. Gaster, the apparent differences between the worlds of Deltarune and Undertale, and how things may change or have already changed in development in between games and chapters, it’s entirely possible that the series will take a very different direction than the one laid out here.

Perhaps we haven’t even heard of the character who is the actual Angel and everything we’ve seen so far are just red herrings. Maybe Ralsei’s legend will be revealed to have been falsified and he and/or Asriel will turn out to be the Angel like commonly theorized. For all we know, the world of Deltarune might not even precede OR succeed Undertale’s, and it’ll turn out that both worlds are derived from a third, unaltered world/timeline.

But whatever it may be, at the point we currently are at now, I find that my most likely candidate for the Angel is Noelle Holiday. On their own, the details supporting my theory would be easy to disregard and aur tenuous at best when taken by themselves, but when taken together as a whole, it’s hard to deny that they VERY much look like they start to frame a pretty concerning picture about the exact role of reindeer across the entire series.

I mean, even if stuff like Determination turn out to not exist - or at least, don’t work the same way they do in Undertale at all - in Deltarune, the following general sequence of events seem likely to happen for me; that Rudy might get worse to the point of almost dying/actually dying, that Noelle might turn to something just as equally rather dangerous or desperate as extracting Determination in order to save/bring back her father, and that what she does may involve/cause her to somehow become the Angel.

Besides, like we can see from the introduction to Deltarune Chapter 1, it would be much like Toby to play with our expectations from Undertale and set us up to suspect that Ralsei or Asriel may be the Angel while he sets up the real Angel elsewhere.

After all, just about every good magic trick and literature twist relies on the art of misdirection at least in some part, subtly distracting the audience while the real clues are being built up in plain sight.

Like, for example, using the power of fluffy boys to deflect attention from the reindeer in the background.

#deltarune #undertale #deltarune theory #deltarune noelle #noelle holiday #delta rune #the angel #aka: toby’s bamboozled us again folks

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