#boxing day hype. sale

[iaaronscottposts]

Dive into HYPE's Exclusive Boxing Day Sale and Unwrap the Biggest Xmas Deals! 🎁

The holiday season is in full swing, and if you're a true fashion enthusiast, you won't want to miss out on the excitement at HYPE. The brand renowned for its trendsetting styles and urban flair has unleashed its exclusive Boxing Day Sale, and it's nothing short of a fashion frenzy!

🌟 Boxing Day Sale Extravaganza: HYPE's Boxing Day Sale is the ultimate treat for fashion-forward individuals seeking to revamp their wardrobes. From street-smart hoodies to vibrant accessories, the sale features a curated selection of HYPE's hottest items at unbeatable prices. Whether you're looking to elevate your street style or find the perfect gift for a fashion-savvy friend, HYPE has you covered.

🎄 Biggest Xmas Sale Highlights: But that's not all – let's rewind a bit to the Biggest Xmas Sale by HYPE. The festive season kicked off with a bang as HYPE showered its fans with jaw-dropping discounts on a wide array of products. It was a shopping spree filled with merry surprises and the chance to snag those wishlist items.

🛍️ Why You Shouldn't Miss Out: What sets HYPE apart is not just the quality of its products but also the way it blends urban coolness with unbeatable deals. The Boxing Day Sale is a golden opportunity to snag those statement pieces you've been eyeing all year. Don't miss out on the chance to strut into the new year with a wardrobe that screams style.

🕒 Limited-Time Offers: As with any HYPE sale, time is of the essence. The Boxing Day Sale is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it kind of event. So, grab your devices, head to the HYPE website, and start filling your cart with the coolest gear before it's too late.

📅 Save the Date: Visit HYPE's Boxing Day Sale now to explore the fantastic deals and make this holiday season one to remember. This is your chance to snag HYPE's signature styles at prices that won't break the bank. Happy shopping, and here's to a stylish new year! 🎉✨

[bakuhatsufallinlove]

Let's talk about Jump GIGA

Jump GIGA covers, 2016-2024. Volumes are published (left to right per row) as Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn releases, with 2018 and 2019 briefly breaking the pattern by having three Winter and three Summer volumes each. 2023 has an Early Spring volume in addition to the standard four.

So, people have pointed out that the 2024 Spring cover is, uh, not like other covers.

But I've only seen comparisons to other MHA GIGA covers and MHA Weekly Shonen Jump covers. Out of curiosity for what GIGA's typical marketing aesthetics might be, I put together a comparison between all of Jump GIGA's covers to date.

And, um. Some things stand out, to say the least.

First, let me clarify what Jump GIGA even is: it is a seasonal magazine from Shonen Jump, published separate from Weekly Shonen Jump. SJ is an absolutely massive brand and they have a number of magazines serialized outside of the most well-known weekly magazine.

The content of Jump GIGA is primarily made up of one-shots and spin-offs. From the beginning, a lot of the appeal has been the cool cover illustrations which showcase special merchandise that comes with the purchase of GIGA. Usually the cover also promotes big things going on related to the WSJ series, like movie events, new games, or special figurines for sale.

The marketing aesthetic has been clear from the start: the cover consists of one core illustration and a number of ads surrounding it. Most often you get a cover illustration of a protagonist, and then ads and merch for other series, e.g. Food Wars protagonist cover with One Piece film promotion and Haikyuu!! merch.

The purpose of this marketing direction is pretty obvious. Spin-offs and one-shots are not likely to generate a ton of interest consistently, so they lure people in with the cool covers and tempting limited edition merchandise of the series they already know and love. In this way, highlighting one series with the cover and different series with the merch makes sense, because maybe somebody doesn't care about Food Wars, but they definitely want those Haikyuu!! stickers, stuff like that.

Starting from 2020's Autumn volume, you can see a shift. For the first time, basically all of the merchandise is for the cover series. The Demon Slayer manga had already ended five months earlier in May, but a two-chapter spin-off was scheduled for release in WSJ during October. This GIGA was released exactly one day before the second chapter was published and it capitalizes on the hype.

After this point, only MHA and Jujutsu Kaisen dominate the cover and the merch in quite this way, with Black Clover getting attention last volume as a way to highlight the fact that it actually switched syndication from WSJ to GIGA.

Anyway, most commonly the cover illustration is a solo shot of a core cast member (usually but not always the protagonist), and if it's not a solo, it's a big cast illustration.

Only a few covers focus on two characters, and usually it's a crossover as opposed to characters from same series sharing the limelight.

Here we've got Food Wars' protagonist with the main characters from Dr. Stone and Act-Age.

The two covers most similar to the Izuku & Kacchan cover are 2022 Winter and 2023 Autumn.

Winter depicts the main trio of Blue Box in a seasonally-appropriate aesthetic. Not gonna lie, this one kinda makes me laugh--Blue Box is a romance and sports manga, and even though Christmas has a romantic air to it in Japan, instead of depicting any sort of like, hesitant but hopeful romantic energy between the heterosexual couple that actually get together later in the series, they focus primarily on the two girls being cute with the guy is a wee footnote? I mean, all right.

Meanwhile, Autumn depicts one of the protagonists with the series antagonist with a typical cool action style. I'm not very familiar with JJK, but I hear these two have got Some Drama going on, so, there's that.

The merch itself has also evolved over the years. Stickers and posters were present early on, but they have since expanded to decorative folders and now acrylic stands and coasters. 2021 Summer sees the first time the cover illustration is marketed as merch, with the Jujutsu Kaisen cover included as a decorative folder.

Right after that, the Kacchan cover of 2021 Autumn is included as a poster alongside earlier covers featuring Todoroki and Izuku.

2023 Summer's cover is a huge, wrap-around MHA cast illustration and it was published three days after chapter 396 came out, strategically timed to highlight the big shift in the final battle as Ochako vs Toga ends and All Might vs. AFO begins. Merch includes a decorative folder of the wrap-around cover and character motif stickers.

And then we get this!?

A duo cover illustration where the cover art itself has been merchandised to hell and back!?!?

Acrylic stand and pin set!?

Double-sided coaster showing bkdk greatest hits!? With volume 29's river scene cover!?

There's also a double-sided poster featuring the Spring cover with the ninth popularity poll art and a decorative bag with the anniversary art. The cover art itself is plastered all over the volume, front, back, and spine, apparently a total of 19 times.

I honestly don't know what to say about this. It feels wild that this is actually what the cover is. Obviously it is a huge marketing push in anticipation of season 7, and Izuku and Katsuki are the most popular characters, but. it just feels... unique.

In the course of Jump GIGA's publication, this direction is kind of unprecedented. Genuinely no one could have expected this. This seems to be the first time there's been this much merch for a cover. And it was a solid fucking move, marketing-wise--it's sold out basically everywhere, everyone is talking about it. And even people who don't follow the series or ship these two can't help but comment on how strikingly romantic it looks!?

I don't know how much say Horikoshi had in what the cover was, but damn it sure feels like he drew this with immense affection. I kind of wonder if he personally pushed for it to be these two, rather than the typical solo shot, cast shot, or even a protagonist vs. antagonist shot.

I'm KO'd, man. idek if this post is useful to anybody I'm just on my hands and knees here.

Everybody knows what we're all here for, and it's these cute boys finally getting their happy ending.

EDIT NOTE: I gathered much of the information and many, many of the images in this post from a fan-made Jump Database. I neglected to say it properly when I first posted this, but special thanks to the very dedicated people who maintain that website!

[thebearer]

ok but on a very real and very serious note...

carmen's first valentine's day with you.

i'm going to share some thoughts, feel free to add:

carmen has always hated valentine's day since he was in elementary school. he hated the everyone make a valentine thing because people would go out of their way to be an asshole and not give him one.

he bought one of those flower-grams in middle school to give to the girl he had a crush on, and she didn't even acknowledge it and he was so embarrassed he never did it again.

carmen hates valentine's day. has always worked on every valentine's day because he would rather and he's never had a serious relationship.

until this year with you.

it's new-ish. one of the bigger milestones. and he's torn. does he do something? does he not?

"are you out of your mind? yes, carmen, you do something on valentine's day." sugar scoffs like it's obvious.

"yeah... you should definitely do something." sydney adds.

but what? what does one do? carmen's not sure.

"just take her somewhere nice. get her some flowers, a little somethin'- not too much, though, alright? you gotta be able to top it, so don't hit your peak. just somethin' small." richie tells him.

so carmen makes some calls, gets reservations, asks you out- you agree, of course, and for once, carmen berzatto has valentine's day plans.

he buys you a tiffany necklace, which makes both sugar and richie a little confused.

"i said small, cousin."

"no, it is. it is. it's just, it's just like a normal one. no diamonds." carmen is now very nervous because, fuck, he thought it was a good gift!!! "the sales lady said it would be perfect. that-that she'd like it."

"she's not wrong." sugar shrugs. "she will like it, it's just... y'know."

"it's a lot? fuck, it's a lot."

"she'll like it, carmen." sugar tries to stop his spiral. "promise, she'll like it."

and you do. you love it, squeal and gasp over it, give carmen the biggest hug and kiss in the restaurant. he's blushing under the low light in the booth.

"i feel... i got you something, but-but it's not like this..." you're a little embarrassed and suddenly carmen's heart is racing because he didn't even think about you getting him something??? now he looks like a jagoff trying to show off.

"you didn't- you really didn't have to get me anything."

"no, but i wanted to." you smile, reaching for your own little bag. "it's just... it's not a lot. not like this."

and to carmen, it's better. a little 'emergency kit', you'd called it. first aid, deodorant, note pads, a little pocket agenda, sharpies- so many sharpies. carmen had been complaining about always forgetting things in the office, so consumed with the kitchen, and you'd listened. you'd heard him, and remembered it, and put this together for him. in a cutesy little tackle box, decorated with fruit and vegetable stickers he found adorable.

"wow," carmen is swallowing back tears. "this is..."

"i'm sorry." you cringe. "i didn't- i should've got you a real gift-"

"-what? no, no this is." carmen nods, looking up at you. "you remembered."

you blink at him. "well, yeah. you said you were always forgetting and-and i figured it would be useful-"

"-it is. it's... thank you." carmen beams, the wave of emotions that hit him startle him a little, make him a little unsure. "thank you for this." then he's leaning in to kiss you, cradling your jaw in the dark lit restaurant.

as you're sharing your meal, pressed side by side, giggling and whispering to each other sweetly, a wave of clarity washes over carmen. he kinda gets the hype around valentine's day, for once.

[creativewritersposts]

concert ticket - Lando Norris

summary; Lando Norris x reader

You're hyped to get concert tickets for Taylor Swift - the Eras tour until everything is sold out and you're very upset about it. Lando gets very creative to cheer you up!

warning(s); none, little bit angst, fluff, maybe grammar errors

author's note; hi ✨ hope you enjoy this one!

Quickly reminder my request box is always open 💞

--------------------------------------------------------------

"hey babe, Taylor Swift is going on tour!", a squeak escapes your mouth, too excited since you heard the news. Lando huffs, rolling his eyes, "I'll not go with you!". It's not like he hates the singer, he likes her songs but for two or three hours nonstop?

You blink twice, "why not?". You put on your begging face which lando never could resist. He crosses his arms in front of his chest, "I'm not a fan of songs like "Stopp you're losing meee", he imitates the lyrics with dramatic body gestures. "You cry over her songs like you're lovesick and you're in a happy relationship with me!", he argues.

You can feel how your mouth changes into a small, thin line. "don't you dare to talk about this masterpiece like that, Lando Norris!". When it comes to Taylor, you're ready to fight. He bites on his nails, if it makes you happy, he would go with you.

"One deal, you have to organize these tickets and I'll go with you", he smiles apologizing. Here you are, one month later in front of your laptop since thee hours.

It's frustrating. You're not the only one with the plan to buy tickets and you need to wait. "argh!", you smash your hand on the keyboard, it could be such a happy day.

When you click to the main page, the worst nightmare came true; no tickets available. Sold out.

Of course you didn't call Lando - he would throw a party just not going to this. But for you it meant the world.

After three days Lando is worried, he was away for promotion and you were awkwardly quiet. Too quiet.

He knows the ticket sale started, you talked nonstop about it for one month straight. He's sure you got tickets, that's why he didn't bought any.

He was sure you'll get some.

Unlocking the door he steps in, ready to say hello to you with a big hug, kisses and good food.

"Hey darling", Lando steps in the kitchen and kisses your neck from behind, because you're cooking. "Hm", you mumble under anger about the world.

"Someone is in a bad mood, huh?", jokes Lando in love. You look so cute when you're grumpy.

"Shut up", you hiss in his direction under tears, bad mood is no explanation for your feelings. All hopes are gone.

"What happened?!", Lando got big eyes, shocked about your reaction. It's atypical for you. "We're not going to the Eras tour", you sob whilst holding the pan. Cooking his favorite meal. With his favorite tv show. And you're not even allowed to see your favorite artist, your biggest idol.

"I'm so sorry ", Lando steps closer and hugs you tight, "you're not!", you sob even more in his chest.

"I am", he lays his chin on your head, thinking about what he can do. He can't help with concert tickets but he can help you.

He kisses your hair, asking you randomly, "you're free thursday night?", you just nod. After this you sit down and eat the dinner without more conversations about this. But he has ideas.

Four days to get the ideas to your best night ever. He goes to shops, asks his friend to help him and learns Taylor Swift song lyrics. He ordered fan merch. It's not hard to hide from you because you have a busy time schedule at work so you're not coming home until 8pm.

"Lan-oooh!", you see glitter on the floor inside his apartment. "Lando?", you look through the open door, where you can see ballons, more glitter, different colors, colored snacks and letters on the ceiling, 'eras tour' on it. "aww how cute!", you can't believe he did it for you. A Taylor Swift themed night.

"Change into your fanciest, most glamorous dress because we're having the best night ever with Taylor", he dances like a goofball in the living room. Before you walk into your wardrobe, you walk back to Lando and kiss his lips, "i love you", thankful to have this man in your life.

He wouldn't say it loud but maybe he got two tickets. But that's a surprise for later.

[ovaryacted]

Autumn Delight

Pairing: DI!Leon x fem!reader

Summary: As you cook to welcome the change in season, your daughter plays grocery shopping with her father.

WC: 2.1k

Notes: After reading @cinnarette write for girl dad!Leon, I wanted to add on to the hype and do some fluff because that man deserves it and I want him happy. Also I know I said Death Island Leon for this one, but I imagine him older. Anyways, enjoy, I had a lot of fun writing this one. Reblogs & comments are always appreciated.

The sun shined through the window as you hummed to yourself, the pot in front of you blowing off steam and filling the kitchen with the aroma of sweet tomatoes and fresh herbs. The scent felt nostalgic, like a soft weighted blanket that reminded you of what your mom would make for dinner after you came home from school.

The season was slowly transitioning into autumn now, a more prominent breeze shaking the leaves as they began to change color from their vibrant greens to shades of orange and dark red. Warm air now starting to cool down every passing day, tank tops and shorts exchanged for sweat pants and cotton crew necks. Soon enough, it’ll be time to go apple picking and welcome all things pumpkin, you mostly looked forward to having apple cider come back in stock at your local grocery store. 

A loaf of fresh sourdough bread rested in front of you, already knowing the cheese you needed for this meal was cooling in the fridge, ready to be melted to your heart’s delight. Grilled cheese and tomato soup were on the menu tonight, a nice hearty meal to welcome the first day of fall. You covered the pot of tomato soup, letting it simmer for a while longer. As you were ready to step to the side and tend to other tasks, you heard rambling on the upper floor of your townhouse, already knowing where the source of the noise was coming from.

Stepping out of the kitchen entirely, you went up the stairs, careful not to be too loud as your slippers moved over the hardwood steps. Walking down the hallway of the second floor, you continued until you were met with the white door to your left, wide open for you to take in the view inside.

Your husband was on his knees, surrounded by pastel green walls and soft carpet. Toys were all over the floor, a Barbie dollhouse in one corner of the room and a plastic play kitchen in the other. You leaned against the doorway and let out a snort, trying not to draw attention to the 3-year-old who walked around her bedroom with purpose. The man’s eyes were drawn to yours at the sound of your laughing, vibrant blues paired with soft wrinkles on the rounded corners of his gaze. A pearly white grin came your way, one that drew you to him all those years ago.

“You know, this place is quite small. Limited options”, Leon said, pushing a toy shopping cart that was comically small against him and skimming the shelf in front of him. He tilted his head to the side, finger on his chin as he thought heavily about what to grab next. Of course, he took this decision seriously, looking at the plastic toys resembling different foods from fake cereal boxes to ketchup bottles and eggs.

He reached forward and took a can of tuna, putting it in the cart and moving along. The cart was already full of a few things, plastic fruits and vegetables that were completely necessary. You watched him move around, going to the mini-kitchen that was set up on one side of the room.

“A drumstick in the sink? This is such a safety hazard for a grocery store”, Leon grumbled, knowing his daughter was right behind him, watching him diligently like a good sales associate. Her matching dirty blonde hair and blue eyes looked over him as he reached for the misplaced doll currently folded in the tiny microwave. He tried his hardest not to laugh, putting the doll back where he found it and gave you a glance.

Leon continued to shift around the room, finding plastic cookies on the floor and throwing them in the buggy with dramatic flare. He leaned down on the ground and found more toys littering around him. Grapes were underneath the toddler bed, toy crackers were in the hot tub in the dollhouse, and singular hot dog sausages were thrown in every nook and cranny imaginable.

Just looking at the room was stress-inducing, but the agent didn’t have the heart to be mad or irritated. If anything he was glad to have a mess like this to deal with in the first place. Had someone told him years ago he’d be happily married in a townhouse he bought with a three year old daughter that was his carbon copy, he’d laugh in their face. The image of having a loving family was a dream he had thrown away after the horrors he witnessed at 21. Being exposed to such monstrosities almost fully turned him away from ever thinking of having something more in his life besides fighting manmade monsters. He never thought he’d be able to have a life worth living outside of survival.

That was until miraculously, he bumped into you when he went to try a new cafe that opened in town. Years later having regained that dream he buried deep in his subconscious, he gets to be in a home full of love he never thought he’d get to experience. He has a reason to wake up every day, something and someone to fight for, and he wouldn’t take that for granted.

Leon shook his head and blinked at the sound of your voice, your eyes looking over him once or twice already knowing what happened. He zones out less as he gets older, but it still happens from time to time. Before, his memories used to haunt him, the traumas and burdens he carried would make his nervous system go haywire and put him in a constant state of paranoia. Now, he has moments where he’s reminiscing about his past and feels gratitude instead of self-hatred or fear. You didn’t mind, you accepted all parts of Leon with open arms, even the parts he couldn’t accept himself, and if it weren’t for your support lord knows where he’d be now.

“Hm?”, he hummed, giving you a look and silently admiring you like he often did, as if you were his guardian angel sent to ground him to this current reality.

“I asked if you could pick up some ice cream on your shopping trip”, you told him softly, your daughter now distracted and leaving her post at her fake cash register to collect all of the individual chip pieces she could find.

“Thanks for reminding me hun”, Leon said now returning to the present, shuffling to another part of the room to look for the ice cream pieces. He could only find the plastic waffle cone, not the strawberry ice cream scoop. With a shrug, he put it in the shopping cart as you held in your giggle with a bite of your lip.

Finally facing his daughter, he pushed the cart towards where she stood. Out of the kindness of his heart, he helped the toddler scan and swipe the toys, her small grabby hands reaching for whatever food item he gave her. It was moments like this you enjoyed the most, seeing just how much Leon loves the child you both created and how he treats her like the center of his universe. She’ll never fully understand just how much her dad cares for her, pure unconditional love if you ever saw it.

You couldn’t be more proud to see Leon become the father he never had, and the man he’s always wanted to be.

Leon now started to talk with his mini-twin, giving her sassy remarks as her tiny fingers threw the things she scanned back into his cart rather aimlessly.

“What? No bag? You’ve got to be kidding me”, he teased, playing the part of an angry customer all too well for your child to realize. She wagged a finger at him and pressed the button of the scanner towards his face, a beep sounding through the room as she did. She responded to him with an equal amount of sass, making you snicker under your breath and Leon had to bite his tongue so he didn’t follow you. Not only did your child inherit her father’s most noticeable features, she also got his corniness and attitude.

She continued to scan and beep all of the items until there was nothing left to pass, looking up at Leon with her hand out and demanding him to give the money for his groceries.

“Do you have change for a 20?”, Leon spoke, making you shake your head in disbelief at how dedicated he was in playing his role. He had a fake $20 bill he borrowed from the monopoly board sitting on the coffee table of your living room.

“Mine”, his daughter nodded with a bubbly giggle. She snatched the bill from Leon’s hand with enthusiasm, pressing some buttons on her cash register before the drawer opened with a ding. She pushed the bill inside and closed the drawer with no change in her hand. Leon only gave her a raised eyebrow.

“Wow. Is this how you treat your customers? You know what, I’m just going to go to Trader Joe’s down the block”, Leon playfully threw a hissy fit, making the 3-year-old laugh as she waved at her father and mumbled bye bye.

The blonde got up from his knees with a grunt, walking up towards you and pulling you in by the hips with a smile. Leaning down he kissed you on the cheek, then on the tip of your nose, and finally on your lips as you hummed against him, putting a hand on his chest and the other rubbing the back of his neck. It was an occurring routine of kissing he started years ago when you were still dating, all beginning the day he asked you to officially be his partner.

“You know our daughter is really starting to be more like you every time I see her. I’m getting scared, one of you is enough”, you taunted him, making him chuckle. You couldn’t help but stroke his stubbled cheek, loving the feel of the coarse hairs against your fingers.

“C’mon, you know you can’t get enough of me. I’m not that bad”, he grinned, offering you a corny wink that made you roll your eyes.

“Yeah yeah, whatever helps you sleep at night”

“I sleep just fine knowing you’re right next to me sweetheart”, he openly flirted with you, a sneaky hand coming towards your rear and giving you a playful tap. “You’re cooking aren’t you?”

“Mhm, grilled cheese and tomato soup, all from scratch”, you told him, noticing how his ears perked up at the sound of cooked food. You learned early on in your relationship that Leon was a foodie and preferred home-cooked dishes above anything else. So you made sure to get your clutches on him by making him some Tuscan chicken pasta, aka marry me pasta, on your 7th dinner date together. Safe to say, he hasn’t left since.

“God I love you”, he declared so frankly and so often that you knew he meant it. You never questioned his devotion to you, and you can tell from the way he says it as if it’ll be the last time that it’s always sincere. 

“I know, you would go hungry without me. I love you too”, giving him another kiss on his lips and letting him savor it.

You heard a tiny voice coming towards you both, something yanking on Leon’s jeans by the shin and forcing him to pull away from you for a minute. He looked down at the smaller blonde, cerulean eyes matching his own like a reflection of himself.

“Yeah sweet pea, what’s up?”, he turned towards her, reaching down to pick her up in his strong arms like he usually did. “You want some of mommy’s food too?”

“Yes! Sammi!”, it slipped out of her mouth, clapping to herself as she got excited at the mere idea of eating whatever was being made. She was always eager to eat, finding joy in the way she gripped her small spork and made a mess of herself with crumbs on her soft cheeks.

A passionate food lover, just like him.

“Hell yeah. Grilled cheese sammi and tomato soup. Let’s go help mommy cook”, Leon said, carrying his baby girl in his arms and marching down the stairs, allowing you to hear her laugh intertwining with his own. You followed them down the steps, watching your husband tickle your daughter’s tummy, beaming from ear to ear.

A warmth fluttered in your chest, silently watching the way they’d talk and interact with one another that would have anyone think they were the same person. You smiled again, going to the stove to stir the pot of tomato soup before you started on the grilled cheese sandwiches. 

You don’t know how you got here to have all that you did in your life, but you wouldn’t change an absolute thing.

©️ ovaryacted 2023. Please don’t repost, copy, translate, or feed into any AI. Support your fellow creators by reblogging, commenting, and liking!

[lollytea]

Delighted myself thinking about the witch kids again, specifically their various attempts to build a replacement portal during the Summer. I'm picturing lots of brainstorm sessions that stretch late into the night and when they get tired enough, they devolve into arguing over who gets the last piece of pizza or playing truth or dare or whatever.

Hunter is feeling really proud of himself for having helped Belos rebuild a portal before. He has experience! He can make himself super useful! And then Amity 'Woman in STEM' Blight is also aiming for the same thing. She's an inventor's daughter. Her Dad's main area of expertise is using magic to power technology. She has plenty of opinions on the mechanical side of things.

Hunter and Amity either click extremely well and are plotting away at a prototype immediately or they disagree on every trivial detail and cannot go five minutes without arguing about it. There's no real resentment here. They're both just used to doing everything themselves and struggle to work as a team.

I don't think the project would get off the ground without Luz. She keeps everybody from wasting time with dud ideas because she's already spent tons of time in the Boiling Isles attempting to build a portal home. She knows exactly what WONT work cuz she's already tried it. She's also got a knack for thinking outside of the box and knows that even though glyphs are rendered useless in this realm, they can still be utilized. If she draws just the right glyph combo and finds a bit of magic for the glyphs to soak up, she's pretty sure they can light this portal's engine up.

Vee reminds them that she's still got a supply of Hexes Holdem cards, which have been working pretty well for keeping her human form. Luz, who had forgotten those things existed, nearly hits the roof in excitement.

Vee doesn't contribute much to the whole construction process, but while she does supervise. She did a health and safety course while at Summer Camp and is diligently making sure nobody is getting their asses blown up.

Portal Building is not Willow's strong suit. She does not have Luz and Hunter's experience, Amity's engineering knowledge or Gus' enthusiasm for tinkering with human technology. So she does what she does best and offers support. She hypes her smart friends up. And when they start doubting that they're actually making any progress, Willow swoops in to encourage them that if ANYBODY can build a portal, her best friends can!! Once the team realizes that they're gonna need something super strong to hold the portal upright, Willow beams. Her vines!! Her vines are tough as hell!! She can do that!!

Gus falls behind a little at first. He might be a prodigy but his skills are quite dependent on the existence of actual magic, so he struggles a bit to find his purpose here. He's very eager to work with human technology but Luz knows more about them than he does. He's smart enough to offer ideas but Hunter and Amity always come up with them before he does because they're both annoyingly STEM brained and have gotten a bit competitive about it. Gus is given the task of gathering equipment for the portal with Vee and he tries not to pout about it. After they managed to track down a half busted TV at a lawn sale, Vee takes him to a petstore to cheer him up. Gus gloomily stares at the hamsters running in their little wheels. He idly thinks about an article he read in one of his human magazines. About how hamsters in wheels can create energy. Unfortunately, hamsters aren't magic.

Cut to 2 days later when the team realizes that the Hexes Holdem cards just aren't gonna cut it. They don't possess nearly enough magic to power up a portal. It's not gonna work. All the time they've spent on this, and it's not even gonna work. They need something else. Anything else.

Luz looks like she's gonna burst into tears. Amity is pacing back and forth. Hunter is like this close 🤏 to slamming his head against the wall in an effort to rattle a genius idea out of his brain. Willow is making a valiant effort to keep everybody from having a full blown meltdown.

Gus is staring intently at Flapjack who is pecking away at the floorboards again. Then he's like "Hey....hear me out....what if-?"

[felassan]

in this video on how correlation is not causation (& biases and fallacies to do with this), Mark Darrah talks about an example of this on Dragon Age II in the section called ''Preorders CAUSE Sales or NOT''. he says:

"One of sillier 'correlation not equal causation' things that I've experienced was the pre-orders on Dragon Age II. At the time, during the marketing of DA2, EA had noticed a strong correlation between number of pre-orders and total sales of the game. It makes sense for a bunch of different reasons. If you have a lot of pre-orders, that's usually an indication of hype. If you have a lot of hype, you probably sell better. Makes sense that these are fairly tightly correlated. And you can kinda talk yourself into it being at least partially causal. If you have a lot of pre-orders, then the retail stores see that, because most of the pre-orders at the time at least, were happening through the retail stores. They see a game getting lots of pre-orders, they think, 'oh, okay, this is a game with a lot of buzz, so therefore, we should put more effort behind this, maybe we'll do a window display, maybe we will put an end-cap up with a bunch of copies of the box to try and encourage additional sales, both for pre-orders, and for day one purchase'. So you can see that there might be at least a small causal relationship between pre-order numbers and final sales. Or, at least, larger numbers of pre-orders might be able to increase the total number of sales to some degree. The problem that happened on DAII was because of this correlation, a lot of effort was put into juice the pre-order numbers, make the pre-order numbers as large as possible, and what happened, very quickly, is that correlation basically just broke apart. If you jam the channel with a tonne of pre-orders, all those little small bits of causation that were there can start to break, if it's clear to the retail store that the only reason you have a large number of pre-orders is because you're giving away this extra free stuff, then they're not going to get excited because you have large numbers of pre-orders, and they're not gonna do a window display, and they're not gonna encourage people to pre-order more, because they know you're playing with the numbers. So something that might have had a small causal effect quickly has no effect at all. So why did this happen on DAII? Well, at the time, pre-order numbers were used as a metric to determine how much marketing a game was going to get. So, if you had more pre-orders you got more marketing money, and if you want a causal relationship, marketing money, marketing spend, has a fairly strong effect on your final sales of the game, so if you can get more marketing dollars, you will sell more copies, strengthening that correlation. So if you can juice your pre-order numbers, the idea was you get more marketing money and therefore you would get more sales. But, EA, as well, smart enough to know that that was happening, DAII didn't get more marketing money, so it didn't actually do anything."

[source]

[johannestevans]

a bunch of new ebooks are now available on smashwords and amazon, including Gellert's New Job and Daddy's boy

i have about 25 shorts from approx 7k-20k that i'll be making available everywhere, which are fantasy, crime, romance, and/or horror, and then about 20 erotic shorts, about 5, maybe 8, will be able to go on amazon, and the majority will only be able to go on smashwords bc they contain The Taboo, mostly because of knotting

i'm hype bc it's just. so many short stories and already my sales have improved a lot for people who are just more used to buying individual ebooks than reading short stories in online format or want them as ebooks

and of course i will be making a lot of these available as small paperbacks later on, especially ones like gellert's new job and daddy's boy

in the meantime i'm doing one or two every few days and setting them to publish, just so i'm not spamming EVERYTHING at once

but especially to publish those 30-40 ebooks over the next few months is going to be really good, and given that a lot of the WIPs i have are longer ones, i'm hoping that by the time i'm done i can just get into the habit of publishing them soon after publishing online

hank you so much to people who have been immediately reviewing on goodreads and thestorygraph and so forth, as well as people who have been not just buying them but reccing them in subreddits and discords etc! it means a LOT and is so helpful

and honestly like. just the fact that i'm gonna have a MUCH bigger back catalogue by the time december rolls around, i'll make sure to be doing offers etc for people doing christmas gifts and so on

especially bc i know that like. a lot of the excitement around my work for people is being able to immediately recommend a trans man whose work features a lot of trans characters, and obviously uh. i have that box checked lmao

esp bc with lashton taken into account i have quite a good split between romance of various flavours, whether sweeter and gentler or nastier and rougher, to a lot of crime and more fucked-up psychological dynamics

[hellfirexhoe]

Death of Me: Chapter 14 - Prime Real Estate

Chapter 14 | Series Masterlist

3,663 words

Author's note: I bet you'd thought you'd seen the last of me! In all seriousness thank you for being so patient with me while I was too tired and burnt out from work to want to write, and then I got Covid which pushed this chapter back further! I hope you enjoy this hot mess, and as always comments are adored by this author.

Warnings: 18+ content, minors DNI, pregnancy, tooth rotting fluff, smut.

The van comes to a slow stop and Eddie turns to you, a cheshire cat grin on his face as he produces a small box from his pocket, after a brief struggle with his tight jeans,

“Here goes…” He takes a deep breath, as if to hype himself up. You know where this is going.

“Will you… Move into our home with me today?” Eddie opens the box with a flourish so over the top that it makes your eyes roll as you see the silver key resting on the velvet inside.

“You mean, the house we’re parked up outside? That I’ve visited with you multiple times? The house that we’ve bought?” You raise an eyebrow, gesturing at the garage doors he has parked in front and he snorts, an impish smile spreading across his face.

“Yeah that would be the one, happy birthday!” 

“Yep, best birthday ever, lugging boxes into an empty house.  Where’s Steve? He was supposed to meet us here after collecting the crib from the furniture store.” You look around out the windows, concerned by the fact you and Eddie are the first ones here and Eddie shrugs,

“Sure he’ll be here soon, probably got distracted by a pretty sales clerk and is spinning them a yarn about how he’s a single dad. And hey! You won’t be lugging boxes, you know you’re on pillows and other light weight things, I’m your lugger.” Eddie hops out and comes around your side to open your door and help you down, the smile never leaving his face as he wraps his arms around you, pulling you in for a close hug as you both look up at the house before you. You walk together with your hands interlocked to the rear van doors, sighing a little when you see just how packed the van is with boxes. True to his word, Eddie passes you a box so light you’re certain it’s empty while his knuckles turn white under the weight of his own box.

“Okay you’re gonna have to unlock the door,” Eddie outstretches his pinky to you, the keyring dangling off of it.

“What? No carrying me over the threshold?” You wink and Eddie manages a brief bark of a laugh, watching you balance your box on the trashcan next to the door,

“Yeah sure, let me just lift you up real quick, not like you’re heavily pregnant or anything.” You unlock the door and push it open with your foot, turning to collect your box and catching the tight lipped smile on Eddie’s face that can only mean he’s up to something,

“What? What have you done?” He shakes his head at your interrogation and readjusts his box on his knee, “Just… go in.” 

You turn back to the hallway before you and frown slightly at a rug you know wasn’t there at the final viewing. You turn back to Eddie, who now looks like he’s going to explode if you don’t find what he’s hiding in the house.

You step through, heading to the living room at the end of the hall, where you find Steve and Robin trying to level a shelf in the fully furnished room. You put the box down and turn back to Eddie, confused, and not just by the fact Steve is allowing Robin to handle a drill. 

“I might have paid these guys to help me move most of our stuff over the last couple of days. Wanted this place to be perfect for you from day one.” Eddie shrugs, a little shy now. 

You glance around the room, a smile creeping onto your features as you see how much work has gone into the last few days. You’d be lying if you said Eddie’s sudden distance and inability to answer the phone hadn’t made you worried that he was getting second thoughts about everything.

“Plus, it's your birthday. I didn’t want you to spend such an important day having to direct all of us fools around.” Your chest squeezes at the thoughtfulness of this gesture. 

“I really, really appreciate this.” You pull him in for a close hug, “Thank you.” This is directed at the rest of the room, though slightly muffled by Eddie’s shoulder in front of your mouth.

“It's no problem, he was paying!” Robin chirps as she turns to look at you, mid drill.

“Hey! You have to look where you’re drilling!” Steve clicks his fingers as his other hand holds the shelf in place. “It’s fine, if I didn’t get that sofa bed out of my basement I was going to have to burn it anyway.” Steve points at the familiar furniture with a look of disgust.

“Oh and, your box literally has a single cushion in it.” Eddie grins, “Mine was the last box that needed to come in.”

“Hang on… Does that mean you had us up at 7am loading the van full of empty boxes?” You frown slightly as the realisation dawns on you, not annoyed, just confused. Eddie nods affirmatively, clearly satisfied with himself and the commitment he had to the bit.

“Let me know if you’re not happy with anything and we can move it around. Wanna see?” You nod eagerly, suspecting that Eddie might actually know you better than he lets on, and having faith that you might be happy with how he's arranged everything.

The house isn’t over the top, you both knew it would draw attention if Eddie ‘The Freak’ Munson suddenly purchased a 6 bedroom Harrington level monstrosity out of literally nowhere. So you had chosen a small 2 bedroom home, “perfect for couples just getting started” the realtor had joked, gesturing at your bump. You had both laughed politely along with her but shared an eye roll when her back turned for a second. You had been to multiple houses and she'd made the same comment in every one. It was painful really, but she was holding onto that joke like a life preserver. Every viewing you had been to before this one had felt like you were walking around someone else's home, as though you were unwelcome. But this one had been different, you had glanced at each other as you stepped into the hallway, both hit with a sense of "this is meant to be our home".

There were adjustments you both wanted to make to the house over time, some of it small changes like repainting a lime green bathroom were easily done, and to his credit Eddie had even sorted out some of the larger changes. Eddie had been looking into getting soundproofing for the garage so he could provide the space for band practice without disturbing you or the baby, which was already booked for the following week. 

You follow Eddie into the kitchen/dining room, noting Eddie’s D&D boxes stacked against one side of the wall and a flatpack cabinet still waiting to be built to store everything.

“You sure you guys will have enough space here for you to run campaigns? Nancy said she’s more than happy for you to borrow their basement.”

“Maybe for the Halloween campaign we’ll cram into the Wheeler’s basement, but I’m happy with this space. If you're happy that is.” Eddie wraps an arm around your shoulder, squeezing you close and planting a kiss on the top of your head. “Okay, I do actually have a couple of presents for you, one needs to wait until Stobin downstairs are gone -”

“Eddie, your dick is not a birthday present.” 

“Well now I’m offended.” You giggle in unison as Eddie leads you up the stairs, taking you first to the nursery, you smile at the initial ‘O’ on the door and look around the room contentedly, unconsciously rubbing your bump as you wander in, taking a seat in the rocker in the corner and sinking back into the cushioned padding,

“Comfy right? Had to try that bad boy out to make sure it was safe.” 

“I might never leave this chair honestly.” 

“Okay but then you’re missing out on one of your presents.” Eddie shrugs sadly and backs out of the room dejectedly, playing up to entertain you. You manage to haul yourself out of the chair, pausing on your way out of the room to turn the mobile that hangs over the crib, smiling at the soft tune it emits.

“This is so perfect.” 

“Really? You’re happy with where everything is and the colour?” You glance around, smiling at the soft tan colours on the walls that make the room feel so cosy,

“It’s perfect, he’s going to love it.” Eddie’s face lights up with a smile as he follows your gaze.

“Kinda wild we’re having a kid right?”

“Oh its absolutely fucking crazy of us. Whatever will people say?" Your last sentence takes on a mocking tone, making Eddie smirk. 

“Okay, present time," Eddie beckons you into the master bedroom, you stop and stare for a second then glance back at him, a little stunned,

“I know you said you didn’t want this one, but I thought you were just saying that because of the cost.”

“That’s exactly why I said no!” You look between the solid wood framed bed that could probably fit four people on it and Eddie who has a satisfied grin on his face, “Eddie this was so expensive.”

“Ah, but as new parents you can’t put a price on a good night’s sleep. Besides, now that I have the money to do so, is it so bad that I want to spoil you a little?” You take a seat on the edge of the bed, so conscious of its cost that you are concerned about breaking it. Eddie leans on the doorframe,

“Just lay back, you are not going to break this bed. You think I’m going to spend that kind of money on a bed we’re gonna turn to kindling after you’re cleared for active duty after the little guy arrives?”

“Active duty?” You frown, unsure of his meaning, then it dawns on you, “And they say romance is dead, are you seriously calling our sex life ‘active duty’?” You lay back tentatively, then relax as you feel the softness of the mattress, 

“Okay this might be money well spent.” You wriggle to get under the sheets and sigh happily.

A few more hours of Robin and Steve building the dining room cabinet with Eddie pass, you offer to help but Eddie waves you off, insisting that you can go relax. So you head back upstairs and take a nap in the softest sheets you’ve ever felt.

You’re woken by Eddie knocking on the door and peering around,

“Hey birthday girl, we’re getting takeout. Your pick, I’m paying.” You stretch out and rub your eyes, 

“Pizza?”

“As you wish, your usual?” You nod, and sit up, pulling the sheets up to your chest,

“Thank you.” 

“Bed that comfy huh?” Eddie comes over to kiss your forehead and you shake your head,

“No for being so thoughtful. You’re wonderful.” 

“Aw, shucks, you’re gonna make me blush. You are absolutely worth it.” Eddie’s hand strokes your face, and he leans in, a fond smile on his face as he brushes his lips against yours, your hands quickly finding their way to his face, holding him closer, 

“Simmer down. We have company.” Eddie comes away from the kiss first, breathless and trying to keep his cool. “Or I can kick them out right now?” You laugh and shake your head,

“We can’t be that rude, not if you’ve promised them dinner.” Eddie groans and kisses your forehead again, then kisses your bump.

“Coming downstairs?” You nod, stroking his hair before he stands up, holding out a hand to you to help you up.

“Thanks again guys, we really appreciate it.” Eddie stands at the front door, to the house, your house, waving his friends off with his arm wrapped around your waist the best he can. As the beamer’s lights fade away into the night Eddie turns to you, pulling you back into the house and closing the door,

“Okay, can you give me like 20 minutes before jumping my bones?” You twist your mouth to the side, pretending that this is a difficult concept to grasp.

“I suppose I can manage.” You swat his shoulder and he grins as he practically flies up the stairs. You can hear the occasional stomp around the room and the sound of tape pulled off of boxes. You decide to busy yourself by taking out the empty pizza boxes out to the trash cans and cleaning up after dinner until Eddie calls you up the stairs,

“Close your eyes though!”

“Eddie… I don’t know how to say this but I’m not about to walk up the stairs with my eyes shut.”

“Yeah, that’s fair.” 

You take the stairs one at a time and as you ascend lit tea lights come into view, lining the hallway and leading into your bedroom. You follow the path, heart pounding, you hear Eddie take a breath as you step into the room. You don’t see him at first, you're busy looking at the rose petals on the bed that smell out two words, or rather a question. You turn to him, tears rimming your eyes as you see him on his knee, similar tears in his own eyes,

“Shit. I really should have planned out what I wanted to say before I did this.”

You choke out a laugh-sob, “Can’t believe you just said shit as part of your proposal.” 

“Oh is that what you think is happening?” Eddie jokes, the wobble in his voice making it obvious how nervous he is, he takes a breath, hoping to steady his shot nerves, “What I meant to say is, oh fuck, I love you with all of my heart, I never thought I could fall so hard for someone, or that someone could love me as fiercely as you love me. You’ve saved me, made me feel whole when I felt broken. Reassured me that I am worthy of your love. You are beyond anything I could have ever imagined in my wildest dreams and I am so grateful that I’ve been able to be loved by you. So now, I want to ask you to spend the rest of your life with me.”

Tears are rolling freely down your cheeks as you listen to him, and you only manage to sob out a strangled noise and nod when Eddie opens the small velvet box in his hands. 

“Yes?” Eddie is sure you meant yes, but he can’t imagine a worse situation than you having actually said no, and crying because you’re actually horrified and then he, misreading it, slips the ring onto your finger.

“Yes! Yes you idiot!” You nod frantically and Eddie lets a breath go that he’d been holding as he takes your left hand in his, slipping the ring onto your finger, relieved when it fits.

You lift your hand up to see the ring better, it is beautiful. A silver band, on which rests a cluster of diamonds, in alternating patterns, that surround a single star-shaped diamond. 

“Eddie…” 

“Is it okay? If you don’t like it I will buy you something else.”

You shake your head, “It's so gorgeous, I love it so much. You did so well finding this.”

“Well, technically Wayne found it.” You tip your head, confused, as he stands up, dusting off his knees slightly, “It’s my mom’s. It got misplaced over the years. Never thought I’d need it, or want it.” 

“Oh.” You smile as you look down at the ring then back up at Eddie, “It’s perfect. I’m honoured that you wanted to give this to me.” Eddie holds your hand in his, admiring the way your hand looks adorned with the new jewellery.

“I adore you.” He says softly, looking up from your hand to your face,

“I adore you more.” Eddie’s hand cups your chin, tilting your face to give him easier access to kiss you, the other holding you close by the small of your back and guiding you to the bed in tandem with him, he makes short work off the trousers and shirt you’re wearing, a practically rips your underwear off with the speed at which he goes., and guides you to sit, pausing to admire you in like a predator looking at its prey, making your cheeks redden and smirking once his gaze has had the desired effect. Eddie sheds his clothes quickly, no longer shy about the scars on his body, a result of the many kisses you had laid upon them. 

“Okay, I know last time was uncomfortable so I wanted to try something different.” 

“Eddie, have you been reading my pregnancy magazines again?” 

“Yes and I refuse to feel weird about that, I want to make sure that you’re enjoying yourself.” You sink back into the pillows, still slightly propped up with a pillow behind your back, 

“What did you have in mind?” 

Eddie pulls one of his pillows out from behind his back and places it to your side, 

“Roll over so you’re facing away from me.” You do as he asks, earning a playful slap to your now exposed ass. “Good girl.” 

Eddie runs a ringed hand slowly down your thigh, making the skin tingle in his path before he hooks a hand under your thigh, lifting it up slightly, “Think you can hold this leg up?” He asks sweetly, kissing your shoulder, you nod and hold the limb up as Eddie’s hand runs back down your thigh at a torturously slow speed until his fingers are barely brushing past your clit with a featherlight touch that makes your hips twitch,

“Comfy?” You nod and Eddie sinks his middle finger into you slowly, drawing out a soft whine as you lean back into him, relishing in the feeling of his calloused fingertip massaging over your g-spot with an intense pressure, he pulls his finger out slightly to add another, returning to the slow, intense assault on your g-spot, only speeding up when you’re on the verge of crying for it. You can feel and hear how much wetter you are getting, and the sound is almost humiliating, making you want to moan louder to cover it up,

“Be as loud as you like, this is our house.” Eddie whispers hoarsely as his thumb finds your clit, toying relentlessly until you’re begging please don't stop. And he doesn’t, he doubles down on his efforts until a mindless flurry of curse words are leaving your lips and your walls are clamping down on his fingers as your first orgasm of the night wracks through you. Eddie slowly pulls his fingers out, loving the disgruntled noise that leaves you once you’re empty of him,

“Think you’re ready to take my cock?” Eddie asks, kissing at your neck, nipping when you take longer than a second to answer, 

“Yes. Fuck, yes please.” Eddie smirks and guides his cock between your slick soaked folds, rubbing the head of his cock against your clit and letting himself get soaked in you before slowly guiding himself inside. He hooks his arm under your thigh and lowers it slightly, letting the ache in your leg fade.

The angle is different than usual but Eddie, ever the fast learner, has his hips tilted at just the right angle to make sure his cock is rubbing ceaselessly against your g-spot with every slow roll of his hips. 

“Feels so good Eddie.” You whimper as he pushes himself deeper,

“Good, just lay there and enjoy how good it feels being filled up by your fiance.” Eddie kisses along your shoulder, grunting as he picks up the pace and feels your body tightening in anticipation. You feel his hand tighten as he grips your thigh, as though he’s holding on for life itself, that, and the sensation of dizzying pleasure emanating from your g-spot and spreading all over you were the only things your mind was capable of focusing on, your mind going blank from the pleasure. You arch your back against his chest as a particularly hard thrust hits just right. 

“That feel good, baby?” There’s a smugness in his voice that normally you’d be rolling your eyes at him for, but shit he’s right, it does feel good. 

“So good.” You whine in between low moans and sharp gasps of breath that only increase as he pushes your further towards your orgasm, until you’re teetering on the edge, and he can feel it from the vice like grip your pussy has around his cock, so he slips his hand down from your thigh, and rubs your clit slowly, knowing you would be sensitive and not wanting to immediately overstimulate you. 

“Fuck! Shit, fuck!” Your body shakes as you finally come down from the high he pushed you to. You lean back into him, closing any gap created by your back arching, and feel him pick up the pace, lifting your thigh again to enable him to thrust faster, chase his own high. You’ve barely recovered from the aftershocks when the sensation of him pounding into you is pushing you to another orgasm, this time squirting with the intensity of it, Eddie curses and finishes inside you with a deep groan as he feels you dripping down his thighs.

“Shit.” Eddie pants, pressing his sweaty forehead to your back and wrapping an arm around you tight as he pulls out.

You nod breathlessly.

“So that’s definitely a position we’ll be doing again.” Eddie laughs breathlessly.

“I love you, Eddie.”

“I love you more, Mrs Munson.”

“Not legally, not yet.”

“Shit, after that I’ll drive down to city hall and make you Mrs Munson right now.”

“Eddie it is -” You pause, glancing at the clock on your bedside table, “11pm, I don’t think they’re going to be open for that.”

Taglist: @hellomothermoon @tlclick73 @likedovesinthewnd @bebe0701 @wheaty-melon @thegirlwhohides @munsonsgirl71 @sammararaven @joejoequinnquinn @hellfire-puppet @micheledawn1975 @averagemisfit03 @edsforehead @thehuntresswolf @a-hopeless-fan @sister-cirice @boomhauer @quinndjarin @tayhar811 @sidthedollface2 @callmeloverr @manda-panda-monium @afs1 @3rriberri @eddiesbabe95 @trashmouth-richie

[cinamun]

no shade to the devs of the new pack pack, but wth i literally keep forgetting that it’s coming out and now it 3 days away. i’m gonna forget it again, i just know it. this is the first time this has ever happened to me with an expansion pack. i’m usually oozing with excitement, hardly containing myself waiting for the release date. but rn i’m mostly just like ??? 😯🫨??? maybe cause i don’t see a lot of ppl talking about it except for on twitter but idk lmao i think i’m gonna wait til the pack goes on sale to get it tbh

Friend, look..... there have been some EGREGIOUS fuck ups by the dev team in the past on launch so FULL SHADE from me. I think aside from the barbie x horses hype (which is warranted) most of us are holding our breath wondering what the fuck they're going to break with this pack. People have had squished teeth, children losing teeth and turning into demons, bugs life face, and all kinda weird shit happen. The HSY save issue? Like why did that happen to me after I waited MONTHS to get the pack? I thought the save problem was fixed?

Let me get off this soap box, I will not be near my PC this weekend so I will be watching y'all from afar (literally).

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

Why Can't They Get TRON Right?

Perhaps we fans of the 1982 Steve Lisberger-directed sci-fi adventure TRON were lucky to even get a belated sequel in the first place...

TRON: LEGACY was greenlit by Disney after many years of the original film garnering a massive cult following after its so-so box office run during a summer where E.T. ruled the roost. Contrary to popular belief, TRON was not really a "flop". It just wasn't the blockbuster Disney had wanted it to be, its okay $50m gross against a $17m budget did not put it in the echelon of STAR WARS and RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. Its many video game spin-offs, such as the arcade game from Bally Midway, fared way better... As did the home video sales over the years. The film got a fantastic 2-disc DVD in 2002, followed by a new game called TRON 2.0. A second life well-lived, so far...

Disney got Joseph Kosinski, who had directed multiple video game commercials including those for HALO 3 and GEARS OF WAR, to helm the picture, and brought back Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner from the original. After a whole 2 1/2 years of hyping this picture up, beginning all the way back in 2008 at San Diego Comic Con (that "TR2N" teaser that was later slightly redone as the film's theatrical teaser in late 2009), TRON: LEGACY bowed in Christmas 2010 to mixed reviews but fairly impressive box office.

I mean, impressive for a movie that was a belated sequel to a cult classic sci-fi movie that wasn't for everybody! I mean, really, $400m worldwide for that kind of thing is nothing to scoff. But for Disney, it wasn't enough. An animated series called TRON: UPRISING debuted on Disney's various channels - namely Disney XD - to solid ratings, but then Disney moved the show to a timeslot where few could stay up and watch it. They straight up murdered it, ratings sunk, no second season...

But, it still seemed like a third movie could happen, after an executive shake-up or two. Kosinski would be back, along with Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, and LEGACY newcomers Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, and Cillian Murphy. By spring 2015, TRON: ASCENSION was locked and ready to go for a fall shoot... But Disney got cold feet, after the release of a similarly big-budget sci-fi film of theirs - Brad Bird's TOMORROWLAND - bombed at the box office. Typical capitalist nonsense, a slightly similar movie fails? Boom, your project's dead. TRON: ASCENSION did not move forward...

Shortly thereafter, Disney began developing a spin-off film called TRON: ARES. A TRON movie in name only, if you ask me, starring Jared Leto. Said to be a creep that somehow dodged Me Too, and also... Uh, his erratic behavior? All that "method acting"? And his resume hasn't been too hot, either... And yet, the years have gone by, Disney keeps trying to make Fetch, I mean- TRON: ARES happen. Even after proposing and then shelving a Disney+ series based on the property.

By 2020, it seemed to be going full speed ahead with a director attached, Garth Davis. He exited the project a little while ago, now it has KON-TIKI, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 5, and MALEFICENT 2 director Joachim Ronning as director. It was supposed to shoot this month... But because The Walt Disney Company and all the other big studios just can't pay actors and writers what they need to keep roofs over their heads... Production has stalled...

And the other day, you had Ronning saying, "This is Hollywood. We close deals for breakfast. Why do we suddenly have all the time in the world when every day is so precious? These tactics are extremely frustrating. It’s time for diplomacy so we can get back to work – under conditions that are fair to everybody"...

Really? Like... Really??

It's like this TRON spin-off is cursed, infected with a virus if you will:

Stalled and stalled for years, went through more than one director, evolved out of a cancelled true sequel to the previous TRON film (which will turn 13 in December), has freakin' Jared Leto super-glued to this thing (as lead actor and producer, like what's his stake in TRON?), and now its director is being a dingus about the strikes...

And here I am, saying... Disney, you could've just greenlit TRON 3 from director Joseph Kosinski, filmed it in 2015, released it in 2017/18-ish... And called it a day.

Hell, you could've landed Kosinski after he went and directed 2022's megablockbuster juggernaut TOP GUN: MAVERICK! But ya didn't!

Disney just doesn't know what to do with TRON, it seems. They seem to keep going back to it for aesthetic reasons, but can't somehow make the story itself work in order to get Marvel movie grosses out of it. (Not that it should be doing that in the first place, it's freakin' TRON.) As a friend of mine put it, Disney looks at it and says, "The one with the highlighter bikes, yeah let's do that!" The story itself really isn't out of reach in a post-MATRIX world anyways.

Ex out TRON: LEGACY's budget and how Disney bean counters expected it to do, and you have a movie that quite a few people went to go see in a theater! $170m+ domestically, $400m worldwide. Again, that was fantastic for a TRON sequel! Reportedly, Disney hoped that this December 2010 release would be the next AVATAR, which was a December 2009 release. They hoped that the digital world spectacle and 3D would be their ticket to having a piece of that pie, but they guessed wrong... They missed the forest for the trees. Plus, the 3D craze evaporated at the speed of sound after AVATAR came out. And that was because a ton of movies that didn't do what James Cameron did to deliver a truly immersive experience soured audiences on 3D. Most of the time, you essentially paid to watch a movie with sunglasses on.

But all those TRON woes go back to their difficulties making sci-fi pictures that become hits, or franchises. All the way back to 1979's ill-fated THE BLACK HOLE, and plenty more, from ATLANTIS: THE LOST EMPIRE to JOHN CARTER OF MARS to TOMORROWLAND to LIGHTYEAR to STRANGE WORLD.

It's especially strange to me because science fiction and futurism and space travel are a big part of Disney... I mean, Tomorrowland itself in the Disney theme parks, it was there since the day Disneyland itself opened in 1955. Walt Disney's DISNEYLAND anthology TV series had whole programs dedicated to space and the cosmos: MAN IN SPACE, MARS AND BEYOND, etc. And of course, the big one... EPCOT! Both EPCOT the city concept and EPCOT Center/Epcot, the theme park in Walt Disney World.

I should shut up, probably, and just be happy that Disney is doing *anything* with TRON in the film world. We have the two rollercoasters, yes, the one in WDW Florida and the one in Shanghai. I'd love to ride it, but Florida ain't the place for a person like me at the moment, so that's gonna have to wait.

Anyways, I've been very iffy about this TRON-without-Tron movie since we started hearing about it right around this time in 2016... I just find it kind of fascinating that it has stalled for so long, and right as it was about to get shootin'... The strikes happened (and of course had to/needed to). The reports say that it's still on once the studio heads stop being dinguses, but we shall see...

But for me personally? I just want the actual TRON 3... Maybe, if this movie happens first and does okay for itself... Then we get TRON 3? A sort-of two mainline movies, a spin-off, and a threequel situation? I'll take whatever I can get.

End of line.

[richardsphere]

Leverage Log:The Toy Job

And now for the series original run's second-to-last episode. Title-based prediction: Corporate Mandated Christmas special and/or beanie baby speculative market based episode. --- Amateur thief tries to steal from a research department. (company name seems to be poggio, which, im fairly certain based on the shows original runyears is a reference to the OG POG's. Not the later return of POG as a slang term.)

Christmas tree in the brewpub cause it is the christmas episode. Toy is a choking hazard, cant be allowed to get on the market.

mark is a former armsdealer (also his name is "hazlit" which I think is meant to be a sound-alike to HAS-bro). This means he knows how to set up competent security. The raports are on a drive thast in a safe in a double-walled room, and its a safe good enough that Parker says drill it rather then going for a finger-feel. (we need a distraction, and we need it loud enough to overcrowd the sound of a drill)

--- they're arguing christmas gift protocols. (must be hard deciding a reasonable limit when you're all billionaires). Sophie suggests limiting the spending budget, and Nate negotiates her down to $50 per person. (which probably means, per person per gift, everyone gifting everyone 1 gift. So $200 total) which would be more likely to work if you werent all thieves. Like we all understand the punchline here... None of you are gonna spend a cent on each others gifts.(and im shocked as hell that Hardison spent money on that motorcycle for Parker.) --- He forged the paperwork, but its nice to see an episode where we acknowledge that most of the times (off screen) their jobs end up with a simple "Parker gets in, gets out and the billionare cries in prison". Its kind of like the Anthropic principle. "the only realities humans can observe are those whose fundamental principles allow for observation by humans" also known in media as "Johny bravo gets laid all the time, those stories just dont make good episodes". But its always nice to have a show allude to the "boring" adventures that are its shows day-to-day. --- "we're gonna steal christmass" boo Chaos already pulled that line in season 3! --- Nate does not like the "whirly-glee-glee" as a name. And we're about to steal toys from children in underdeveloped countries.

Parker sees the whirly box, and a box labeled "Baby Joy Rage" and makes an executive decision. (i think she's right, kids need a toy with at least some edge or personality to get truly hyped about)

--- Sophie's on the radar, Hardison did some stats on neighbourhoods that have historic trend-setter influencer potential. Elliot is giving the dolls away for free (ultimate move in loss-leader strategies) Sophie puts it in the bag of a child-star, Hardison does a paparazzi photo, and I absolutely hate how simple yet plausible this entire endeavour is. --- Sophie's actors are being brought in to call-center mode. (I like Zachary) Cant con a 6 year old, but you can con the parents. (love the little joke about "get on the mommies")

Nate hates "baby feels a lot" more then he ever hated Whirly-glee-glee. He's also the episodes obligatory "christmas sceptic".

Hardison sees a picture of a bloggermom and is suddenly a lot more interested in operation "get on the moms". Like Elliot suddenly has a Sophie level of depth for his con-character prepared.

Dead mom, single father, slighlty outdated sense of childrens gender identity but clearly demonstrated potential for growth. Man Elliots Dad-sona is just putting on the schmaltz. --- Elliot trying to keep Hardisons stories realistic, Nate stuck between the two. Back to Sophie and this Gil is signing this deal memo without looking at it. He's too busy socialising to actually watch what he's signing. Around Sophie you might as welll be signing your own death-warrant. --- Oh most of the data is in online pre-sales nowadays? Reservations on the internet, that a hacker with a botnet could rig? Like taking candy from a baby. --- Sophie makes VP at Poggio Parker gloating about her executive decision. Fake a gas-warning to clear out the factory for Nate --- Nate putting a final stretch on the sale of the trojan horse make the mark feel FOMO. Sophie is absolutely repulsed by this man (unfortunately he does not feel mutual) --- Oh the mark has counterplayed them by making a knock-off product. Well this guy just went full on Narcissus --- Oh, thats funny. Not only does this Gil guy who owns the shelves not watch what he's signing, Look who also doesnt pay attention to that stuff. --- Client gets a new job, Nate owns a boat? (i mean its not a shock that he owns a boat, its not out of character just dont think it was ever properly established, i've never seen him on a boat and the only time he was near a boat was saying goodbye to his father in the Three Card Monte job).

Introducing the character who's spent the last season ominously leering at retirement as a boat-owner in the second to last episode feels like maybe he wont die, in that it introduces a prospect of retirement as a thing he's thought about. But also it introduces "one day to retirement" as well so i dont actually know if his survival chances went up or down just now. But the reminder of Sam's sickness itself (a sickness that is still ominously vague, nameless and nebulous) in the second-to-last episode... I know i was wrong when i said it seasons ago, but is Nate dying? Also peaking at the name of the next episode... (long goodbye), yeah thats ominous. Im gonna say, next episode features a health scare, Him and Sophie retire for his health and he passes the torch. (to the 3 collectively in general, Parker in specific) and I think he will die between series and sequel but not in the finale itself. His death between the series and sequel puts Sophie back in the game, which then opens up space for the "lawyer" to slot into the sequel series without bloating the cast to a rather unwieldy 6. --- Good episode and unintrusive as holiday specials are concerned.

[salmankhanholics]

★ Top Laxmi Pooja Day Box Office: Salman Khan looks to do the unthinkable with Tiger 3; Eyes Diwali Day record!

Nov 5, 2023

The Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif-led Tiger 3 is set to be the first event spectacle in the last 10 years to see a theatrical release on the day of Diwali. The decision has been strategically taken by YRF with the hope of getting a strong word of mouth in place before getting into the extended holiday period from Monday. Historically, Diwali Day has proved to be a weak day for the box office with Laxmi Pooja impacting the business prospects after the noon shows in North India.

Tiger 3 is ready to set a new record on Diwali Day

The record of the biggest collection on Laxmi Pooja to date stands with the Hrithik Roshan-led Krrish 3 (2013), which clocked Rs 15 crore on Diwali day. One must note that Krrish 3 was a pre-Diwali Friday release with Laxmi Pooja on Sunday and has held the record for 10 long years, showing its hype back in the day. Several other films have faced Diwali through its weekend right from Ra. One to Housefull 4, Jab Tak Hai, Son of Sardaar, Shivaay, and Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. 2012 saw a box office clash between Jab Tak Hai Jaan and Son Of Sardaar and the two films put together clocked Rs 22 crore on Diwali Day, which is a record aggregate number for the day. Come 2023, and Tiger 3 team has taken the bold decision of a Sunday release, and the early trends indicate that the decision will reap big returns by the day of release. It also proves that the YRF team has made a well-informed decision, knowing better than most others of what's the best for their product.

While a record Laxmi Pooja Day was always expected, Tiger 3 is headed to score new benchmarks on the day, and probably score a Diwali Day number that could stand tall in the history of record books for a while now. Salmania has started to grip the nation as the tickets are selling at a quick pace across the board – be it single screens or the national multiplex chains. India's leading national chain, PVRInox has sold almost 37,000 tickets for the opening day alone in less than 21 hours (as off 3 PM on Sunday), and there is already a movement in ticket sales for Monday & Tuesday. What’s encouraging is the fact that there are sales in evening and night shows too for Sunday, which is the earliest signal of something special happening on Sunday, though we are still a long way away. The strong markets of Salman Khan often come on board a feature film in big numbers on Sunday and expectedly so, these areas are showing great early signs.

The exhibitors from single screens are saying that the mass on-ground fan following of Salman Khan alongside the craze of Tiger Franchise & Spy Universe could eclipse the Diwali Impact to a certain extent, however, the biggest numbers will come in from Monday, when the holiday impact seeps in. The advance booking trend has indicated the arrival of a hot film during the Diwali period, which conventionally in the 90s and 2000s was the OG period of the film business, and what better than the OG Spy Tiger to bring back the light in the glorious festive period.

If everything goes as per the expectations, the advance booking of Tiger 3 for the Laxmi Pooja Day should be a record in itself as far as the film business on Laxmi Pooja is concerned.

[thelonesomequeen]

I think people vastly overstate how important a "fandom" is. His movies during his peak/Cap days/when he wasn't dating still didn't bring in huge numbers, so clearly his fandom wasn't doing much for him anyway. Sure, maybe less people reblog gifsets or whatever, but what does that actually do for his career?

If we look at a lot of the movies/shows that did super well this past year, a lot if not most were filled with people who were never internet boy/girlfriends or have that sort of fanbase. For someone like Margot Robbie who kind of does, Amsterdam and Babylon still did poorly, and it was Barbie that was memed and had its own hype that did well, independent of her. Succession, Beef, etc were all big but no one in those casts had a "fandom" the way we think of it prior to the shows.

Fandom is something I think that matters more for musical artists because their music is a far more direct link to them as individuals. We've been shown time and time again fanbase size doesn't translate into box office sales for movies in recent years.

[yuandgames]

I want to thank Larian.

Above all of the great things they’ve done for the industry, they still can surprise us, the very sophisticated players. And they do care.

And here’s what I mean by that. (Long post ahead).

Short introduction: I was introduced to classic role-play games pretty late. While everyone spent their youth playing DnD with friends, I came to this being almost 30. I didn’t even think of that before (and I know that’s just me, not blaming anyone).

The idea itself made (and still making) me so excited, like you are completely free in your decisions and the only thing that limits you is your own creativity. Whoa. What a concept.

I never actually played a full campaign irl. That’s when I found Larian games (again, very late, just a couple of years ago). Me and my partner were playing split screen co-op like crazy for 10 hours straight (good old times at home during pandemic). And I couldn’t be happier.

I wasn’t expecting Baldur’s Gate 3 as much as I expected other games (for example, I was more hyped about Hogwarts Legacy, counting days until the release, but that’s different story). I also never played BG and BG 2. So I was a complete tabula rasa.

And now we proceed to the main part.

1. CRPG is not a niche genre. Not anymore.

I’ve read Sven Winke interview where he said that in the beginning they were really concerned about ‘not making the game too geeky’ referring to dice rolls. Even at Larian they thought of this. But, hey, look at BG3 sales. And it’s been less than 3 months actually. This is what makes me think of other developers: now that they see that CRPG is a thing, maybe we, as players, happen to get more of this genre. Standards are high, but that’s exactly the point.

2. Creativity is the key.

You can build a wall between you and opponents using boxes. You can take small opponent and use. Them. As. A. Weapon.

I mean I am still to explore all of the possibilities but whoa! Really? This level of love to the source and treating it with so much respect is not the thing you meet really often. If anything is possible in, say, DnD campaign, anything is possible in BG3.

3. Everything is better with a pinch of humor.

I cried in joy when found a dead pig and Astarion was trying to cover it up. I screamed when Lae’zel aggressively asked to taste Tav’s lips and neck. I don’t know if I even need to list all of the things as they’re so many and they are so good.

4. Team is the only thing you need in adventure.

I may be too emotional (who’s perfect anyways) but I am already too attached to my team. I treat them as if they were real people (hey, they are!). All of the inner jokes, these rich personalities and unique reactions. Priceless. In any other game I’m not very much interested in side stories (I do my best, but never get upset about missed cutscene). While here, I’m fully immersed: how do I fix Karlach’s heart? How break Wyll’s contract? Weave in Gale’s chest??

I’ve already said A LOT. I just can’t stop.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is giving me experience I never knew I needed. And it’s not being bitten by a hot ass vampire (well, not in the first place). And I couldn’t be more excited and grateful for this.

[struggle-but-its-all-ocean-floor]

I know all of this has been said before, but I'll just say my piece about the JK situation. There are two bad takes I keep seeing - one is petty, the other too absurd to comprehend.

1. Jungkook is getting preferential treatment and Jimin was screwed over.

Two points: 1. Regardless of the fact that we don't know how many radio spins Seven will get, people are seriously forgetting that Scooter Braun isn't just "involved". He literally claimed the song as his project. He tagged "sbproject" on his IG post of himself, Jungkook, Bang PD and another producer in a recording studio in LA, plus his team produced the song, not BH. He also hyped up the song recently saying we had no idea what was coming. Now, does he seem like the type of man to hype up songs only for them to flop? Especially since he must know Jungkook can't rely on album sales this time? Ariana, Bieber and Taylor are incredibly successful artists. This wasn't just a case of him celebrating the achievements of an artist under a sibling label (like his post about Jimin's BB achievements). He's all but claiming responsibility for the song's success and giving us the SB guarantee that it will be a hit. I don't know if he hypes anything up, if he lies, etc., but all of this shows Seven is being released under different circumstances. When it comes to promo, maybe BH's in charge, but in the West, it seems SB is handling, or exerting his influence in, some aspects. My point is, this is not BH Labels's doing imo. They're not choosing to do payola or whatever for Jungkook and not Jimin. And, 2. This may be beside the point, but fans claiming LC had huge radio potential... I'm not sure it did? If more people listened to it, it would've performed even better, of course, but I'm not sure it had the potential to perform like the English trilogy. LC is The Weekend-esque, but his tts are lighter, more digestible, sexier and have simpler and catchier choruses or hooks. LC is actually a rather heavy song and more of a grower than addictive from the beginning imo. I'm assuming that Seven is straight up pop, and much more accessible.

2. I can't believe there are people claiming Seven is about fucking 7 days a week and that's why Sohee is going to be in the MV. Some people are saying JK will make out with her in the MV??? Are you all high?? He can't even take his shirt off all the way yet. Even Jimin censured himself somewhat with LC. You think JK will make out with an actress on camera? You think he'd be comfortable with that, or that the label would even accept it? You think he's even interested in doing it? It's so awkward to kiss people on camera, even if you want to kiss them in real life. There are so many artists who literally get naked for an MV but still don't kiss anyone lmao. Knowing JK, he saw Sohee in My Name, thought she was so cool because she apparently boxes there and Jungkook loves boxing, and decided she could be in his MV. What her role is, I don't know. She could play a friend, she could be a love interest to a male interest that isn't Jungkook, she could be Army, she could represent Jungkook, she could be part of a bigger cast. Sure, she could also play Jungkook's love interest, but that's not the only, or most mostly likely, option. Jungkook doesn't hate women. Can't he cast women in a platonic way? It's very cliche, sexist and heteronormative to reduce women to love interests and Jungkook is none of those things. Anyway, I don't know what Seven is about. It's essentially a Western pop song, and I doubt Jungkook wrote the lyrics since I bet they're in English, so it's not farfetched to assume that the lyrics are romantic and even indirectly sexual in nature. However, if the lyrics truly are sexual (there's an Explicit version but it could just be so he can say fuck, as a curse, once or twice), odds are the MV will downplay that because Jungkook is still an idol (and probably doesn't want to do an Unholy type of MV just yet). Also, people seem to think the Seven promo is hinting at something sexual, but Jungkook just wanted to do a sexy concept and the song is probably more Watermelon Sugar High (yes, the lyrics are sexual lmao, but coy, and the song is bright, not sexy) and less Unholy (didn't Jungkook work with one of the Unholy producers? What if this whole thing started with his cover lmao?).

Anyway, stop being weird about Jungkook - even in a professional context he gets shipped with any woman he meets. And, also, stop hating on Jungkook for the extra radio push he's getting. It's out of his hands, and, quite frankly, it's probably out of BH's hand too. They don't have the power to make any song a radio hit on their own without it truly doing well, but I don't know if they couldn't have pushed their US distributors or whatever, to help LC. Regardless, Jungkook won't have the advantage of sales so he needs all the help he can get, and a win for Jungkook is a win for BTS - don't forget that.