#i do really like to plan though. i love a good plan. detailed... comprehensive.... color coded....

[cerbreus]

Sometimes I have an epiphany about something about myself being very not normal when I'm trying to explain all these intricate paths of logic and plans and how I map out every little tidbit of every little thing I'm stressed about or working towards n I see the look on their face and go 'oh okay so this isn't.... How normal people approach things.....'🤔

[tallysgreatestfan]

like the fact that tally doesn't definitively end up with either of them, and that neither boy turns evil (or at least antagonistic), and that both guys were good for her in their own way.

I loved that so much too (and also that they actually, as they met each other, liked each other instead of being antagonistic). The end is pretty dark, and - well no real spoiler for Youngbloods but lets just say it will even 20 years in the future not be an real fully happy ending. But it just felt more real and fitting for the characters than her chosing, idk, David and having two kids with him.

since that was by far the most interesting relationship in the whole thing

Couldn't agree more. The layers of their relationship! How they care for each other but also envy each other, the homoeroticism and the hate, fighting together and fighting against each other...

i'm a bit worried about how mainstream actors who are all gorgeous anyway will be able to play the characters, and how they'll handle stuff like the specials' body modifications without looking silly (obviously there has to be an element of uncanny valley there, but i do worry it could look corny if they don't have a very good makeup artist).

Oh yeah, that is an worry I have with the actress who plays Tally. I could imagine that with the right makeup, so could look unique enough, but also she is fairly conventionally attractive... But I think if they plan on having one actress play Tally in all her three "forms" they have to cast someone conventionally attractive? If the other movies even get made. If the first one even eventually comes out.

And I am incredibly curious about the Specials. Laverne Cox will likely play Dr. Cable! I think just about everybody imagined Tilda Swinton, but that is such a nice switch. But yeah, while that has a lot of potential, also so much to go wrong. I think they could use CGI for a slightly uncanny look of the Specials and the Pretties too, but it would have to be really skillfully used, and I am not sure they have the buget for that? I hope they have... For example this creepy, unnatural movement they are described as having. I have no idea how one could even bring that to TV? But I hope that they edit Dr. Cables voice to be a lowkey version of the voice of the Bene Gesserit in Dune. That was some really good sound editing.

i'm also VERY worried they'll make both tally and shay white. my personal hc is that tally is white and shay is asian, but tally could be any ethnicity, and shay was imo pretty clearly a woman of color.

My personal headcanon is that Tally is light skinned or mixed race black, and Shay either Latina or middle eastern, but totally agree, Shay absolutely has to be a WOC.

Sadly but not surprisingly, they cast a white woman as Tally, but Shays casting is not announced yet, and the actress who would make the most sense, Brianne Tju, is East Asian.

though i wouldn't be surprised if the movie cuts the parts that indicate that the pretty committee's standards are super racist

Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised either. Especially since its such a small detail in the books and I already now saw angry people on Goodreads misinterpret that scene where Tally is surprised to see this man with close to night sky black skin as the book saying that black people are inherently ugly. Which is.... reading comprehension.

i wouldn't be surprised if they cut the themes of self-harm, too.

Oh god, yeah. Given how many people claim the books are irredeemable and dangerous for children because of that, I would so not be surprised. Though in my opinion, while in the books it really wasn't handled well, if they would actually consult people who struggled with this in real life and take their input, I am sure this could become something powerful and healing to show people struggling with this. Full disclosure, my mental illness is not exactly that issue, but the message of the book and seeing Tally fight her own brain again and again really helped me.

if a movie happens and if they portray the tally/shay relationship at all competently, there will be an influx of shippers.

Oh it would be an absolute guarantee of success for them. I hope that so much, not just because I want someone else to gush over them with, but also because it would be just so beyond wonderful to see my favorite dystopian heroine be queer like me.

And I absolutely will be one of the people making angsty music edits. Already have some songs saved, to be honest.

So glad to see a fellow Tally/Shay shipper in the tag. Their relationship is just so good. Its such a gigantic mess. I felt so seen with my messy, queer, neurodivergent teenage female friendships, even if I needed until a reread two years ago until I acknowledged this this feels extremely queer and that is okay because I am queer too. Until then, all the female friendships I read were always just harmonic and nice and only ever threatened by boys, not these codependent, jealous messes.

The idea to center a YA dystopia around two girls who are deep friends with each other and maybe in love but are pitted against each other by the dystopian system (read: patriarchy, read: beauty culture) again and again is just absolutely amazing. I mean, there is a more traditional love triangle too, and its even well written enough to not drag down the series, unlike in most YA dystopias, but its not the center. At least not for me. For me, Tally and Shay are.

I could go on about them because I have thoughts (see: all the fanart and fics I have either already published or wait to publish until the trailer for the movie comes out), but the ask is already pretty long

first of all - i'm so sorry, i saw this message and fully intended to reply later that day i was like "oh i'll get to this after dinner!"

anyway! i was really struck by HOW different the love triangle in uglies is compared to other YA (especially YA dystopia). like the fact that tally doesn't definitively end up with either of them, and that neither boy turns evil (or at least antagonistic), and that both guys were good for her in their own way. but i especially loved that they both took a backseat to her friendship with shay, since that was by far the most interesting relationship in the whole thing

i'm cautiously optimistic about the movie (assuming it even happens). i personally think it'd work better as a series, but, well, after the shadow and bone debacle, i'm weary to trust any streaming service to actually follow through. i'm a bit worried about how mainstream actors who are all gorgeous anyway will be able to play the characters, and how they'll handle stuff like the specials' body modifications without looking silly (obviously there has to be an element of uncanny valley there, but i do worry it could look corny if they don't have a very good makeup artist).

i'm also VERY worried they'll make both tally and shay white. my personal hc is that tally is white and shay is asian, but tally could be any ethnicity, and shay was imo pretty clearly a woman of color. though i wouldn't be surprised if the movie cuts the parts that indicate that the pretty committee's standards are super racist- i wouldn't be surprised if they cut the themes of self-harm, too. (though tbh i'm of two minds about how that was portrayed in the books; i see what they were going for, but i do agree with some criticism i've seen that it could've been handled better.) any YA adaptation is bound to have some of its edge taken out. like the hunger games movies were pretty damn edgy in some aspects, but they're downright sanitized compared to the books.

one thing's for sure. if a movie happens and if they portray the tally/shay relationship at all competently, there will be an influx of shippers. i can see the angsty lyrics edits now.

[deadmomjokes]

First time Stormlight Archives Read-thru: The Way of Kings Part One

Since I actually somehow made it through the library’s waitlist to get my Icarusian hands on a copy of this thing, and because I am a completionist who cannot leave character arcs unfinished, I’m dragging y’all with me on this adventure that I guarantee you doesn’t need to be this long.

Yes I’m salty about it and it’s gonna take some serious literary magic to make me NOT salty about it because trying to hold this book at a decent angle activated my carpal tunnel issues and now I can’t feel my pinky finger and my thumb is tingling. So yeah. It better be worth it.

Anyway, we just finished Part One. Wait, “we” you ask? Oh yeah, my husband loves worldbuilding and hard magic systems, so we’re taking turns reading chapters aloud so that we don’t have to hold onto the book twice as long so we can both read it, and we can keep reminding each other of what’s what.

ANYWAY, we just finished Part One, so have my thoughts, positives, negatives, and overall impressions. Then get your road trip snacks because like I said, I don’t do things halfway and I already started this journey so here we mcfreakin go I guess.

The Good Stuff

There’s some pretty good lines so far.

B. Sandy actually appears to know what he’s talking about with drawing and sewing? Wild.

I’m digging how the currency system is, like, also functional. The pieces of currency act as lights and power sources and stuff. Neat.

The two main characters from this section are: depressed mom friend and his Conscience, and a snarky nerd with delusions of criminal grandeur, and between them they have exactly 0.84 brain cells. These all belong to Jiminy Cricket the literal airhead the Conscience.

Depressed softboy who just wants to be a good big brother? Well darn it, you found my weakness. I’ll pull up my “adoption papers” folder.

Each chapter from a new POV has a unique voice. Rather hard to pull off in writing, but very clearly and expertly done here.

I have some questions moving forward, which is always a plus. However...

The Bad Stuff

I really, REALLY don’t like feeling like I’m the dumbest person in the room. While he did manage to avoid infodumping, Mr. Sanderson also managed to make me feel like I’m missing vital information at basically every turn. And not in the “ooh, what a mystery” kind of way-- in the “what the freak am looking at, I have zero idea what you’re describing because you’re using in-universe jargon.” This piecemeal revelation thing works for the characters’ stories and plots; I’m all for that! I’m intrigued at what’s up with Ms. Davar, and exactly how Kal ended up where he is, what’s up with the war, etc. The problem is with handling the worldbuilding this way when you’re trying to situate these mystery plots in said world. It is not immersive for me; it is distracting, frustrating, and makes it hard for me to focus on the story. A few points handled this way would have been fine, but I lost track of how many times I had to stop and groan because yet another new term was getting lobbed at me and my comprehension of the situation depended on having an understanding of the world which he just hadn’t given us yet. I’m really over it.

I get that we were trying to establish her character, but I could have done without these lead-up chapters with Shallan. I wasn’t at all as interested in her as I was with Kaladin. We could have learned all that we needed-- her family situation, her big plan, her big mouth, her skills, her mysterious past and the weird stuff about her father that we still haven’t learned fully yet-- in media res when she’s already Jasnah’s ward. It felt kind of tire-spinny, though I admit it was fun at times.

The sentences and wording get sticky at times. Especially with reading it out loud, there are quite a few places that make my brain stumble because the words sound wrong next to each other, or the same word appears in the sentence too many times, and so on.

There’s a lot going on that just isn’t important. This ties back in to the first point, but we’re getting so much information about this world that it becomes tiring and tiresome to keep track of all the different things we’re learning about-- cultural rules around slaves, ‘safehands’, eye color, and so on; ‘fabrials’; the currency denominations; a whole religious system, some of which appears to be important but also has a bunch of tiddly little details that don’t; a caste system; a military structure; however the freak the ecosystem works and all the different animals and plants; the weather systems; etc ad nauseum. How much of this is important to know? I don’t know! That’s what’s frustrating about it! So much of it seems like by-the-way kind of stuff, but some of it could end up being important, so here I am wondering what’s gonna be on the quiz and what’s just for fun.

Impressions and Thoughts

Why must carcinization haunt me even in escapist fantasy?

Am not a fan of the phrase “skyeels” and “poisonous skyeels.” Don’t like that one bit.

Dudes are religiously required to be himbos, and girls are religiously expected to be scholars and nerds. Am love.

I’m getting increasingly concerned by the death-blood-collection ominous mystery quotes at the beginning of each chapter.

I’ve only known Sylphrena for a day and a half but if anything happens to her I would.... Not.... Not harm anyone or myself because she would be sad. 😭

I was warned about “suicidal ideation” being a thing, but I’m going to put a little brighter of a warning label on that and say that if anyone is about to read this and gets upset or triggered by suicidal ideation, plans, and attempts, be very careful and know that’s kind of all a thing. Not sure how much a thing it’ll be moving forward, I’m hoping “not”, but, yeah. That was an attempt, not just ideation, tho I’m grateful for the person who warned me because if it had come out of nowhere instead of just being a step further than what I expected, I’d be really, really not okay.

Yalb is the real MVP.

Verdict Thus Far

On a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 is “I will actually find strength to abandon this book because I’m so done” and 10 is “I’m willing to give up sleep to read more,” I’m sitting at a 6.5 right now. Good, and I’m looking forward to continuing, but I have a little ways to go before I’m hooked. But thumbs up, thanks for convincing me! (from everyone except my tingling numb fingers, I should have tried the ebook instead -_-)

[complicated-innocence]

Joker’s Appreciation

The Joker was not one to read. He rarely had the attention span for it, first of all, and even when he could focus long enough... Well, the clown prince had never found an interesting book, and he doubted he ever would. They were always too slow or too boring, and the villain never won, which was just unfair. Honestly! As a villain himself, he was always so sick of the hero coming up on top, or, even if the villain did win... It was always people like Lex Luther, and, frankly, Lex Luther had no flair. That made him bad if you asked Joker. He wanted to see a chaotic villain win, one like him, but... Normies didn’t want those sorts of villains to come out on top, of course. And so he had yet to find a book he liked, even in the ones he had somehow read all the way through.

There was one specific genre he particularly despised, though; romance novels, like the ones Harley would obsess over from time to time. It had taken him a single page to realize that, considering he had grabbed the book from her one night and started reading from exactly where she left off. It was the sappiest, most melodramatic and cliqued thing he had ever read, and it disgusted him beyond comprehension. Or so he thought, but that couldn’t be entirely true...

After all, there was one exception to his distaste for reading; Harley’s poetry, which she wrote oh-so-rarely but Joker had collected almost religiously for the past few years. The influence of those terrible books could be glaringly obvious at times, but, nonetheless... He adored them. He adored the poetic ways she described everything, especially when she described him. He loved her attention to detail, the way she seemed to pay attention to his every move and cherish it all, even when they fought or argued... And he couldn’t help but read the parts about his eyes with a special fondness, too, as they often came up and were mentioned in detail. It was precious, really, and it fed his ego even more. What wasn’t to love about that?

While she did write about other people and other things, he only really paid attention if it was about him. He read all of the others, sure, but... The ones about him were held to different esteem, and those were the only ones that made their way into his collection, even if it took some time, as he waited until she had all but forgotten about them to act. Sometimes, that meant a few hours of it sitting there, untouched... Other times, it meant a few days. As soon as he could, though, he claimed the forgotten poems and added them to the box beneath the photo of him and Harley, all neatly folded and packed away until he could reread them later. He dated them all, and would often go through and read them when she was away, but never once did he tell her about it. He never planned to, either; it was his secret admiration of her, something too soft for her to know.

Or it was, until the day came that Harley barged in on Joker’s reading time. It was at night, hours after the two had fought in the morning... And, honestly, by then, Joker couldn’t remember what their argument had been about at all, nor did he exactly care to. Obviously, she wasn’t overly miffed either, or else she wouldn’t have been back already, but... He didn’t have time to linger on that thought or to even really registered the fact she was home earlier than usual.

He hadn’t even realized she was back until she announced herself. And that announcement was, admittedly, sudden; she barged into his office out of nowhere, and, before he could do a damn thing to hide the poem, she was upon him.

“I’m back, Puddin’!” She chimed cheerily, giggling as she slung her arms around his shoulders, shimmying as she gave him a hug. Her eyes were shut, and Joker knew it.

“Oh, so you are,” he chuckled as lightly as he could, looking around at his desk for what he could do to hide it while he had the chance. “Back so soon? Too dull at the plant’s?”

“Aw, don’ be like thaaaat...” She huffed, still hugging him. “It was jus’ a lil disagreement.”

Its box was too far out of reach for him to avoid disturbing her moment, and, even if it wasn’t... Well, he’d have to fold the paper first, which simply wouldn’t work, and then if she released sooner than he expected, she’d see the other poems, too. One would be bad enough. His eyes skipped away again. He knew he was running out of time to decide. He felt the clock ticking down in his head, based on how long she usually hugged him... Ten seconds left.

“I suppose...” Joker sighed, as if he had any idea what the argument had been about. Panic was setting in, though; he was running so low on time. At the last second, though, he realized the obvious option; hide it under the other papers on his desk! He instantly tried that, but...

He was too slow. Her eyes snapped open just as he had moved the other paper, and so the poem was still up on top. Shit.

“Yeah-- But nevermind that! Whatcha workin’ on~?” She moved to rest her head on his shoulder, peeking down at the desk. He knew it was too late by then. “Written pla--? Wait.” She already read it. “Izzat--?”

“NO! This is absolutely not your concern or what you think it is!” He panicked immediately, throwing a paper down on top of it.

Harley stepped back from him in an instant, an eyebrow cocking up instead of her usual head tilts. Her whole demeanor shifted into something more serious. His heart dropped... That meant he had two options; surrender and let her see, or let her be mad and run off with her other partner again, probably for a month. He internally groaned at the thought. He didn’t particularly want to deal with her being gone so long, not when he had finished bigger plans where he would need her help, and so... He didn’t move to hide it, as much as his pride was screaming at him.

“... Any chance you won’t look at it.” Joker asked, glaring slightly. He knew the answer, but it was worth a try.

Harley simply moved to the side of the desk and, while making direct eye contact, grabbed the paper. She then looked down at it, still side-eyeing him.

His heart sped up as she read, as he observed her... He watched her as she blinked slowly, her eyes skipping back up to reread the first line, her eyes going over the same word again and again. She straightened up, and his heart skipped a beat. She kept reading from there, and then she reread the poem again. Once, twice, and her cheeks slowly colored as she verified more and more that, yes, that paper was her’s. And it wasn’t a newer one, either, although he had those as well. He groaned as her whole demeanor slowly softened, especially when her eyes settled on the date in the corner. He knew damn well that she knew his writing, and that was confirmed when he noticed the fact her eyes practically became hearts after a second.

Harley hugged it to her chest, giggling happily... And then she looked up at him, all love and affection and all the things he despised.

“... Not a word, Harley.” Joker sighed bluntly, leaning back in his chair with a pout. His cheeks were starting to go pink.

“But--!”

“Not. One.” He repeated, his voice getting firmer. He added in a glare.

“It’s sweet, Puddin’! I didn’ know y’kept this one,” She giggled, hugging him. “Didja keep my others~? Least, the ones ‘bout yooooou...”

Joker didn’t respond, and, instead, he tried to shove her away, his cheeks reddening and his pout deepening. He tried to avoid looking at her, too, but... Well, Harley didn’t feel like playing that game, not with this new discovery. She sat in his lap, releasing half the hug for long enough to grab his face and pull it towards her, albeit gently. When she saw his expression, a grin spread across her face.

“Y’did! Really?!”

“... Fine. I did,” he huffed, trying to shove her off his lap... But she was prepared for that, apparently. She caught his shoulders, keeping herself in place. “What of it?!”

“It’s adorableeee~”

“It’s not adorable!” He snapped, trying to push her to the floor again. It still didn’t work, as Harley giggled and nuzzled her face into his chest happily. He groaned again, but... It was useless to fight her, and he knew it. He didn’t try again.

She kissed him, before cuddling back. “Don’ worry~ It’ll be another a’ our lil secrets.”

“... It better be,” Joker grumbled. Harley’s smile grew, but... Well, she didn’t push him any further, and he relaxed some.

They stayed like that for awhile longer, all cuddled up in his chair; he didn’t quite want to move yet, despite his pride being wounded. No. Instead, he hugged her closer to him, one hand lightly petting her hair as he rested his chin on top of her head. He closed his eyes, settling down... And not a word was said, not for a few minutes, until Joker broke the silence again.

“... They are good, Baby. You should write more.”

[southernchicstyle]

The Big ONE

                                                                                           Photos by Daniel Ortiz

I always think my party ideas for the kids are so original until I start looking for items for them and find a million parties done in the same theme. Our son’s first birthday was no exception, but I like to think we put it all together in a creative way you haven’t seen yet... Reeling in the Big ONE! 

Our little guy turned the big ONE and we had the best time celebrating with a fishing themed party. Keep reading and scrolling for ALL of the details with photos by Daniel Ortiz . 

Fishing bobbers, nets, lures (keep out of reach of little hands because the hooks are sharp!), lanterns, and cattails all came to mind immediately as I gathered decorations for the party. “We’re reeling in the big ONE” read the invite. A comprehensive list of the items will be at the bottom of this post, but I also linked the ones I refer to in the body of the post like the fish food tents above.

PHOTO OPP

A photo spot with bobbers and nets formed in my brain as I pinned ideas, and the variations of those came together to create this one I’m so proud of below! My husband assembled scrap 2x4s we had that were painted grey into the photo frame.

The bobbers on the photo spot (pictured below) are paper lanterns we spray painted red on the bottom half (painters tape used to make the line) and the top (linking the paper lanterns). There’s pretend fish hanging below the bobbers on the left strung with fishing line. 

And, the directional arrows pointing toward “fishing hole”, “weighing station”, “bait and tackle”, and “catch of the day” were cut by our friend and I drew the words and art on with paint markers. (pictured below)

ONE

My mom and her crafty skills is always a part of making these parties a reality and she helped put the finishing touches on the “ONE” for the picture table. I love how it turned out! We used styrofoam letters (”O”, “N”, “E” each linked), cut out one for the boats from the invitation for the “N”, and glued cardstock paper in red, white, blue and green to the letters. The blue waves we cut out in different colors and there is twine wrapped around the “E” and the cattails.

We also had to secure the letters to the backdrop (tape was sufficient) since they are styrofoam and could easily fall over.

MONTHS

Each of the months (on paper bobbers from newborn to one) just HAD to be displayed on a net, so figuring out how to secure them was a challenge we solved by hot glueing small clothespins to the back of the flat paper bobbers and taping pennies to the back of the pictures to attempt to keep them all from blowing up when the wind blew. 

The wind had other ideas, but it looked good throughout the party.

The red lanterns, net, fishing lures, small fishing bobbers, and cups are all linked. Click on the words to shop them. And, the tackle box on the table was a Houston Nutcracker Market find. 

TIME CAPSULE

We also decided to do a time capsule (directions in the frame on the left in the photo above) at our guy’s 1st birthday. I regretted not doing one for our daughter’s first birthday after my mother-in-law passed shortly after the party. Each person in attendance can write a message to the birthday kiddo and answer some fun questions about what they think the child will be and like, etc. Your child can read all of the messages when they turn 18!

What I’d give for a message from my mother-in-law for our daughter to read when she’s older.

FISHING SHIRT

For our big guy’s outfit, I found an adorable baby fishing shirt onesie for our birthday boy to wear for his party. Even if you’re not doing a fishing themed party, this shirt was so cute on him! 

Our nanny made the balloon 1 with fishing line and balloons pictured above. Linked the balloons we purchased here. We went for a slight ombre effect with more light blue on the top and dark blue on the bottom. (Would recommend buying a couple of packs to ensure you have enough of each color)

FISHING THEMED FOOD

Galvanized buckets were the perfect serving piece for the food along with fishing related food items, like gummy worms labeled as “worms”, Twizzlers as “fishing line”, Swedish Fish, Goldfish, peach rings as “Life Preservers” and pretzel sticks as “fishing rods”. The pretend fish decorating the tables are foam (squishy is the best way I can describe them) but really good looking and linked here. 

I also saw the puffer fish idea online and thought it would be fun for the kids to have the punch balloons to play with. And, I was a bit nostalgic thinking back to playing with punch balloons as a kid. Obviously, one year olds weren’t doing much balloon punching, but they were fun for older kids. 

The wooden boat and boxes on the food table were borrowed from a friend, but the white 1 was purchased online.  Also borrowed fishing poles that were used throughout the party. 

ACTIVITIES

Along with puffer fish punch balloons, we had a “Catch and Release” activity where we put water in a kiddie pool with fish in it and fishing poles (magnets on the poles and fish connect the two) where kids could attempt to catch fish. And, our “Feed the Fish” station was a bean bag toss which has now been repainted for a third time to have fish swimming. 

The printables I used for the activity signs & favors are here:

Bait Bar

Thank You for Making my Birthday Reel Fun

Catch and Release (couldn’t find this one so I used my own skills to make one)

Feed the Fish (couldn’t find this one so I used my own skills to make one)

CUPCAKES

When it comes to kids and cake, I’ve become a big believer in cupcakes being the easiest all around. They don’t have to be cut, don’t require a fork or spoon, and are cost effective. So, this time I did store cupcakes from our Kroger with blue icing and bobbers on top (linking the bobbers here).

If my son ever decides to be a fisherman, we now have bobbers and lures for days!

CENTERPIECES

Cattails for centerpieces made for a simple table decoration. I used the galvanized buckets with paper in the bottom (had a bunch from all of my Amazon orders) then river rocks on top to fill the bucket with the cattails secured in between. Around the buckets we draped some fishing net with some smaller rocks, lures (be careful of the sharp hooks), and bobbers. 

The cocktail tables I use are linked here along with the table covers. For the bigger tables, I used a fun blue with the raised circles adding texture to the table.

DIAPER COVER

My goal with the “Ofishally ONE” diaper cover was to get a picture of him in just that, but this was the best I got. Fishing shirt and diaper cover. It’s still adorable, though! And, you get a close up look at the baby fishing shirt. 

I’ve learned to let some things go at the parties and enjoy it. Hard for a type A personality like me, for sure!

EDIBLE CATTAILS

These cattails are Swiss Rolls on on bamboo skewers (which we cut to eliminate the point on the end) held in place by styrofoam under the moss in an oval galvanized tub. And, bobbers made everything more festive!

Now, I have to share our learning. The Swiss Rolls will slide down the skewers since they are standing upright, so we cut slivers of wine cork and slid them under the rolls to hold them up. Completely a game time call as they were sliding right before guests arrived. You can see the cork if you look closely.

COOKIES

The cutest cookies were done by a local baker, Sweets by Shey: bobbers, fish, “Gone Fishing” sign, and one that looked like an oval piece of wood with “The Big ONE” on it. 

The other two items, scalloped napkins and fish coasters, pictured below were perfect additions to the party. The scalloped napkins with a  gold trim were a fun nod to the scales on a fish while still keeping an elegance to them. I found the coasters at HomeGoods randomly and snagged the “Drink Up” coasters for the event. 

TABLES, CHAIRS, TABLECLOTHS

Here’s a closeup of the texture of the blue/turquoise raised petal tablecloths. I used cream colored ones for my daughter’s 2nd birthday Bubble Bash so when I saw this color I knew it was perfect for the party. 

Also linking the tables and chairs that at this point have been used for 4 birthday parties and a couple of other events. For us, since we have room to store it all, buying was ideal. 

BANNERS

The banners I found online were perfect for the background of the cake smashing. “The Big One” banner is customizable and comes with the fish and bobbers also (or without if you choose). The cute “ONE” for the highchair was an easy order and great quality!

I hung the big banners behind the high chair on bamboo poles and put the bamboo poles through actual fishing poles so the fishing poles flank the banners. They somewhat blend in with the busy vine background, but the small detail made me happy.

SMASH CAKE

For a smash cake, there’s a baker in my area that makes a blueberry cake (it was INCREDIBLE) and could create this “wave” look - Kingwood Bakery. I found the fish and “The Big One” sign cake topper online and added them myself along with the 1 candle. I used a log cake stand that has come in handy more often than I anticipated.

Below you can see the layout of the time capsule pages I printed (they were an easy printable I found online) that went with the theme. It includes sections like “When you grow up I think you will be...” and “How do I know you?” to name a couple. 

FAVORS

Fishing pole favors were a must! I found little water squirting fish, handheld fish water games, fish stickers, and Swedish Fish and cinched them in clear favor bags with twine tied to sticks we collected around the house. Gathering sticks was a fun activity for my daughter to feel like she was a part of the planning.

The printable tags were easy to print, but I had Katie & Co print and cut them to make sure the bobbers were cut correctly. And, I printed a sign that was framed near the favors that said “Thank You for Making My Birthday Reel Fun!”

My apologies to my friends/the parents who had sticks in their cars on the way home, but it was really cute! 

Unlike his sister, our little guy dug right in to the cake and enjoyed eating it! I love this picture that Daniel Ortiz captured of him once we took the cake away. O-fish-ally ONE!

We love that so many friends celebrate with us. And, below is a close up of the photo spot (you can see the paper lantern bobbers) with two of my friends that are so good about coming!

POOL BOBBERS

Having our pool completed literally the week of the party was chaotic, but I was able to create my big bobbers for the pool. This was not a perfectly executed project, but overall I was happy with them and they looked great. The top is a to-go container spray painted red and the bottom is a red plastic tablecloth taped to the floating orbs I purchased with red Duck Tape.

The taping of the tablecloth to the orb was a feat in itself. With help from my family, we did it once and then redid it. Ultimately, the tablecloth was taped at the base of the orb. It will take in water, so I attempted to tape the seam as well as we could.

I wish I could give a step but step tutorial, but the pool bobber was truly a “try and see what works” experience. Biggest tip: have patience and don’t be afraid to redo them if they don’t look right.

**A big thank you to all of my family who helps me execute all of my ideas and to Daniel Ortiz for the great photos!

__________________________________________________________________

Reeling in the Big One Party Supplies

- Bait Bar Sign (printable) $2.50

- Balloons (light blue, white, and true blue, 100 pack) $10.99

- Banner: The Big One (personalized banner linked w bobbers & fish) $44

- Banner: Burlap One for Highchair $10.99

- Bobbers (small for cupcakes and tables) $6.49

- Cattails (set of 4 sprays) $24.99

- Cake Stand (Rustic Log) $48.86

- Cake Topper: “The Big One” starts at $14.99 (linked similar as exact one no longer available)

- Chairs (individual and 4 pack) $44.72 and $142.41

- Cups (gold rimmed, 50 count) $14.99

- Diaper Cover: “Ofishally One” $20

- Duck Tape (red) $7.08

- Favor Tags: Bobbers $3 (in favors: Fish water game, Swedish Fish, Stickers)

- Favor Bags (100 clear bags) $3.98

- Favor Tags (bobber printable) $3

- Fish (foam, decorative on tables and photo spot, set of 3) $15.91

- Fish & Poles for Catch and Release $13.86

- Fish Coasters (unavailable online, cork ones here $12.24)

- Fish Food Tents Printable $3.50

- Fishing Game (fish and 2 poles) $28

- Fishing Lures $18.99 (found a similar set for $15.99)

- Fishing Net (natural color 2 pack) $9.50

- Fishing Net (blue) $5.52

- Fishing Shirt (for baby) $37.99

- Fish Squirts (for Favors) $7.49

- Fish Stickers for Favors (3D puffy, 20 sheets) $7.97

- Fish Water Games for Favors (assorted with others) $38.99

- Galvanized Buckets (small, set of 12) $18.87

- Galvanized Buckets (large, 2 gallon) $28.98

- Galvanized Tub (for edible cattails) $31.99

- Highchair Banner - ONE $10.99

- Invitiations: “Reeling in the Big One” file $11.99

- Kiddie Pool (45 x 10″) $10.39

- Lanterns (red) $9.97

- Months Paper Bobbers $9.50

- Moss (SuperMoss Spanish Moss) $9.52

- ONE letters (12 inch styrofoam “O”, “N”, and “E”) $9.98 each

- Paper Lanterns (made into bobbers, set of three 8 in white) $10.99

- Plastic Red Tablecloth $14.99

- Pool Orbs (made into bobbers) $89.99

- Puffer Fish (Punch Balloons, 30 count) $10.99

- Scalloped Napkins with gold trim $9.99

- Skewers (bamboo, 100 pieces) $6.95

- Swedish Fish (0.5 oz packages, 64 count) $14.99

- Swiss Rolls (for edible cattails, 6 boxes, 36 count) $11.94

- Tables: cocktail ($107.88) and large 60″ round ($118.99)

- Tablecovers (cocktail) $16.99

- Tablecloths (blue with raised round petals) $39.99

- “Thank You for Making My Party REEL Fun” signage - $2.50

- Time Capsule Printables $8

- Twine (2 roles x 656 feet) $9.89

- Wooden 1 (8 cm tall) $7.89

***Photos by Daniel Ortiz

[tumblingdoe]

January 11-15 on the Sexplanations Road Tour

Friday January 11, 2019

Nels repaired the roof vent that was worn out and worked on the water system while I business-interneted. We drove out of town to an Indian restaurant, ate, and then unrelated to the food -- determined that Nels needed some medical care. Five’ish hours later at the hospital we were discharged without any good answers but he seems to be on the mend. We drove south where I satiated a guilty pleasure (Chick-fil-a) and grocery shopped for some healthier eats. I bought a basil plant that we call Marvelous Mrs. Basil. We finished watching The Wiz and then winded down to the somewhat terrifying sounds of a car repossession followed later by car drifting and police intervention.

Saturday January 12, 2019

Happy that we survived the night in a parking lot, Nels and I drove to a nearby RV village where we were able to empty our gray and black water tanks for only $10. We also cleaned out our fresh water tanks and did dishes in house for the first time! An hour later we were San Francisco at Aunt Linda’s. She made us brunch and talked to us about sex and aging, hormones, incontinence, impotence, and dating. I’m excited to turn the conversation into an episode of Sexplanations.

Aunt Linda then drove us to our next engagement -- recording videos and a podcast at Mr. S Leather with Amp from Watts the Safeword. Amp had reached out on Twitter and I was so relieved. I wanted to keep going with the Sexplanations podcast and recording video episodes while on tour but we haven’t had time to sort out equipment or set it up. Amp had a studio in San Francisco with lights and microphones and cameras. He invited me in, made me tea, gave me all the time I needed to switch gears in to pro-mode, and then recorded everything for me to share with you. We did a podcast on sexhacks, an episode of Watts the Safeword on sex education, and an episode of Sexplanations YouTube channel about daddies. We just put my memory cards in his gear and voila, production! It was such a huge moment of feeling wrapped up by a safe person and validated as a creator. Amp didn’t judge me for needing his help. He just loved on me and needed that.

While we were there I also got a thorough tour of Mr. S Leather. I’d been 12ish years ago when I was in San Francisco for my doctorate but a lot had changed. Amp walked us through the showroom -- gear for every fetish and kink you can imagine. Then as a super treat he took us behind the scenes where most of their products were manufactured, right there in the building! We saw the old latex room with patterns for full suits, the remains of a really comprehensive dungeon, and the shipping warehouse. I was astounded by the passion everywhere. There was so much attention to detail and care for the products! The  foot and half long dragon cock dildo was made by someone who wants that experience to be perfect.

I left feeling all warm and gooey. Nels left with ideas for rafting wetsuits and a new sex education. We wandered down the street to a coffee shop we learned about at PatreCon called Wicked Grounds. They had offered to host a event but I hadn’t been able to follow-though. So I asked a table of friendly faces if they had any sexuality questions for the sexologist on tour. “Nope.” One of them actually had their own sex education channel and was very situated in their knowledge of the subject.

I walked away from the cafe feeling very comfortable that we hadn’t planned more in California. Cali has so many sex ed resources. So does Oregon. These places aren’t my classroom per se, they are my launchpad. Between Nels’ friends in Oregon wrapping us up emotionally and Cali grounding me professionally -- it was like we were being nurtured for the experiences to come.

Nels gave me a burrito that he’d gotten for me while I was shooting with Amp and we walked to The Chapel twenty or so minutes away for a show. He treated us to the Red Room Orchestra performing the Big Lebowski. Margaret Cho was Walter, Kevin McDonald was the Dude, and James Adomian played the stranger. It was outstanding! Just incredible!

After the show we found late night Indian then took a Lyft back to the RV. The fridge wasn’t working because things weren’t so level on the San Francisco hills so Nels and I capped off the night stacking these really nice blocks someone got us on our Amazon Wishlist.

Sunday January 13, 2019

We went back to Aunt Linda’s, this time for showers. Then she took us out for lunch at a super cool restaurant called the Pork Store. After food we rushed back to the RV to get across town to a landscaping center to meet Dixie de la Tour for a podcast recording in. the. RV! Dixie showed up with her St. Bernard and we all climbed aboard to talk about her work running and mothering Bawdy Storytelling. She also has a podcast. 10/10 would recommend! We wrapped up our conversation 10 minutes before the landscaping center closed so I ran in with Marvelous Mrs. Basil in her inadequate two inch pot and paid a $2.00 re-potting fee to get her a new container and more soil.

It was a rush-rush day. Next on the list was dinner with three of my classmates from the institute where I did my doctorate. Jack drove an hour and half south, Danielle drove an hour north, and Nels and I drove the RV to pick up Ivy for us all to meet at Basil Canteen for Thai. The whole meal was perfect. I hadn’t seen these friends in more than a decade but there we were deep in conversation about sex of course, and buying a school to teach sexology! I think everyone left having to wake up in a few hours for work but grateful for the night.

Jack drove Ivy home (which I hoped would reignite a romance) and Danielle invited us to stop at her place the following day. We all said good-bye and then Nels and I strolled home happy. On our way around the block --because the RV was parked just down the street--we said hello to some gorgeous queens from the Imperial Sovereign Court and stopped at a gaming cafe for virtual reality. I love it. Nels was indifferent. And then he was awesome at it and we hung out for an hour getting some physical activity in by thrashing our arms around.

To conclude the day, we drove all the way the beach so we could listen to the waves from bed. It’s still really hard to push myself with work and travel but gifts like that are a reminder that were are right where we need to be and doing the best we can.

Monday January 14, 2019

I woke up wanting nothing more than WiFi so we set up our laptops in a cafe on the oceans and worked for hours. I was actually still on the phone planning stops when Nels courted me out to get to Sunnyvale by 3:00 to meet Danielle, my classmate from the night before. I kept working in the RV while he drove and we got there right on time.

Danielle situated us with rain showers, chicken soup, and tourist suggestions for the rest of our California route. That is until we learned that the coastal highway would be shut down for the week due to landslides. I was disappointed but only mildly. Being in Danielle’s care was delightful. She kept it simple and cozy, no pressure, no hassle. We got to explore her Somatica space -- a revolutionary way to improve relationships and sexuality and Danielle gave us two of her books! And a bag of oranges from her yard!

To finish the day Nels and I drove past the Apple complex, which is enormous, and we dined all fancy-like at Oren’s Hummus.

Tuesday January 15, 2019

Sadists are people who experience pleasure from inflicting pain. Nels is not this. I think he experiences pleasure from pleasing others. While I slept he drove us to Lover’s point so the RV windows would be looking out over a quintessential ocean view. Then he proceeded to cook onions, kale, broccoli, rainbow carrots, sausage, garlic, and eggs in a cast-iron pan for breakfast on the coast. Who is this person!?!?!

Before getting back on the road we climbed along the rocks watching the cormorants dive. I tried to swim but the tide came too quickly for it to be safe. We returned to the RV to acquire more miles. I responded to over 100 emails then requested we take a break from the washing machine existence of riding in an RV and nap. Post nap, Nels was at it again making colorful amazing food. He set up Moon --the 2009 film-- and we had our version of a drive-in dine-in movie.

This is in San Luis Obisbo. Now we’ve driven longer past huge agriculture land to Solvang and it is time again for cuddles and bed.

[rcsordinaryworld]

Daisy Outfit Compilation

Daisy from @bittersweetcandybowl usually dons her simple pearl necklace by itself, but occasionally she gets all dolled up and I think that’s really cute. I think of the cast, she’s the most interesting clothing-wise. She doesn’t wear it consistently, but she wears it more often than pretty much any of the not-always-clothed characters, if that makes sense. So I decided that, instead of doing my day job, I was going to make a compilation of all of Daisy’s outfits.

This probably won’t be an analysis, more of a dump with images and chapters listed. I like to draw her wearing clothing a lot and I like basing her outfits on things I think she would actually wear. I think her taste has remained pretty consistent through the years, so let’s see if that’s true! And also, sorry if I missed any, and please feel free to reply with any that I do miss.

The very first outfit we see Daisy wear is her cheerleader outfit (right). This one is her middle school one, which is a little different from high school, but I couldn’t find a color version. I also included a shot from when Augustus recalls seeing her in this in a later chapter, though it looks like she’s wearing her pearls on that one. Don’t you know you’re not supposed to wear accessories in uniform, Daisy?!

Not sure if it counts (since it was for a gag) but she did dress up as a lobster with the rest of the gang for Mike’s birthday. I love the little smile on her hat.

Next, the gang surprises her with a Daisy dress, of the Mario variety. Unfortunately, she doesn’t appreciate it very much. A shame, considering how much that thing must have cost! 

This shows up in a flashback scene with Paulo, but I can’t really tell what it is. A coat I think? It’s not something she wore all the time though, since we’ve seen her as a child and she’s not been in it.

The first Christmas outfit, at Tess’s first party. All of the crew’s outfits are Santa inspired this year, but Daisy’s is particularly adorable thanks to a big bell she wears around her neck.

As it warms up, their PE class involves swim lessons, where Daisy’s donning a black T-shirt. I didn’t even think she would own one, considering how much she loved pastels, but she really is quite self conscious. I can’t tell if she’s wearing any bottoms, since it is a long shirt. I imagine she probably has those boyshort type bottoms, probably also in black.

Hush, no, you’re perfect.

At least she seem comfortable in her cheer outfit! Chapter 38 features the first appearance of her high school cheer outfit, which is different from her middle school one, most notably, that she seems allowed to wear jewelry. (she’s not the only one, as Katie is wearing a necklace.) Also, her new outfit shows off her middriff and has a different pattern on the front chest panel. This one shows up in a few different chapters (list not comprehensive) as well as in the Candybooru. Also interesting, is that it looks like their school colors are sky blue and black. Go Roseville High!

AYOO meme time

But seriously what a weird but cute outfit! It’s so unique!! She was really laying it on thick to impress Mike, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she made it herself. It has a bit of a modified-from-thrift-store-finds feel doesn’t it? I have no idea if Daisy can sew but I am choosing to believe she does. Sadly, the night goes horribly wrong, but hey, at least she looked cute right? 

It’s kinda messed up that Tess was pushing so hard for Mike and Lucy to go to Acapulco, but totally doesn’t seem to care if Daisy and Abbey skipped out. Daisy helped you pass your classes, Tess! I mean, I guess Abbey did need the support, and we did get to see Daisy wear a cute dress to see them off. There’s lots of shots with it being all flowy and girly, I love it so much. That sash is great.

Speaking of cute dresses, she wore a simple but pretty one on her first date with Abbey. They went to a therapy session slash picnic which is a... non traditional choice, but a very sweet one. You can tell she’s really into Abbey by how she’s dressing up for him, and that Taeshi had a lot of fun drawing the flowiness of it.

Bonus silly cute images featuring glasses Daisy. She also sports glasses in the student gov chapter, and whenever she’s shown in the future, she also has them. Adorable.

Halloween costumes are always fun, and Daisy’s costume for freshman year was a traditional one-- a witch. I love the off-the-shoulders look of it. It’s a shame she wasn’t really important that chapter. I’m interested to see what the current Halloween chapter will have her wearing, if she’s in it. 

Pillow Talk is still one of my favorite chapters, because who doesn’t love gossip? What’s interesting is all of them wear pjs, even if they don’t normally wear clothing. Daisy showed up just wearing her pearls, and then put on a sleep dress (gown?) at the actual party. I included a shot of her room from this chapter too, since how she decorates her space is just as interesting as how she decorates her body, right?

Parties are definitely where Daisy likes to show off her fashion sense the most. Tess also hosts the Christmas party the next year, and it’s very cute. She’s got like... a poncho style thing, which actually became a trend way after this I think, since this chapter came out in about 2012, but a sort of Mexican inspired flowy top seems like something that definitely became super common in 2018. She’s ahead of her time! I think I love the flower ornament by her ear too. I couldn’t find a good shot of the length of the dress though.

But enough happy times. The day after the party, she wore this bright navy blue trench coat when she and Abbey went to visit Charlotte’s grave. Usually her fur is enough to keep her warm, so wherever Charlotte is, must be freezing. I wonder if she’s got anything under it, or if that’s not a prerequisite for coats in the BCB universe?

Looks like the trip to the cemetery got her too bummed out to plan an outfit for the New Year’s party. She’s just wearing her standard pearls for that one. Tess has a cute dress though.

She’s in a much better mood by Rachel’s party. I love that her shoes match perfectly. Off-the-shoulders is a great look for her, just like with her witch costume. This one is also reminiscent of the Mexican style blouses I mentioned earlier. I don’t think the waist-cinching has the effect she was probably going for though, at least not without a belt. She really seems to like baby blue huh?

WAIT A MINUTE THAT’S JUST MIKE COLORED.

AWKWARD.

But moving on! Remember how we found out she’s a huge weeb? That was great.The lanyard and backpack are such a great touch of realism. Con badges are the worst part about cosplaying at cons, since if you’re caught off guard you’ll have it in the shot, ruining all of your hard work. She obviously did put some effort into it too-- her costume is really well sewn and intricate and poofy. Notice all those panels on the chest and skirt. My theory that Daisy can sew intensifies. Also those bows are just too cute! I wish she wore them more often.

The same night she’s wearing some pjs again, this time a blue slip. Nothing fancy.

While not an outfit, Love Again opens with the first canon appearance of Daisy’s hip curls, inspired by Kit’s lovely fanart. I’m pretty sure they have a tumblr but I don’t know it, sorry!! I’ll edit it if I find out.

An intermission comic featuring all of their days starts Daisy off in pjs. These look like the one from Lucy’s birthday sleepover, judging by the collar frills. Looks like it might be getting more snug on her as she grows up.

Speaking of growing up, here’s Daisy all dressed up for her birthday, sporting a very cute bow. Her actual dress is made of a really strange material that’s presumably extremely thin, and sewn with plenty of elastic, judging by the wrinkles. I think it’s an interesting experimental outfit, but it’s so detailed it doesn’t really look the best in small scale. I’m not a huge fan of the wrinkled look in general, but the colors are very flattering on her, and the overskirt thing is pretty nice.

Daisy makes a brief appearance in Escape Route, a chapter mostly about Augustus and Lucy. Normally she wears dresses, but this time she’s rocking a cupcake liner. Okay, so it’s not really her, but I can’t not include this cute cupcake!

Last but not least, here’s her outfit for Mady’s birthday party. I adore this outfit so much! It’s amusingly similar to one of Lucy’s mother’s outfits, though her mother pairs it with pants.  That being said, I think this is my absolute favorite outfit of hers. The cardigan pairs great with her necklace, and the belted dress is just so flattering and and adds just enough detail. I think it’s simple, classy, flirty, and just so cute. Most of her looks have been blue, and this is actually one of the few pink outfits she owns, but we know she does like it based on her room. Pink pairs with her apricot/cream fur for a fun, girly look that’s just right for her.

And with that, we’ve finished compiling all of her outfits from the comic, though I didn’t gather any outfits that are Booru-exclusives, like her prom(?) dress. I thought about including those, but there’s so many to go through, and their canonity was so iffy that I decided against it for this post.

It seems safe to say Daisy has very simple tastes, with a rather timeless but definitely girly feel to them. Flowy, mid thigh dresses and skirts are her favorites, and seems to prefer sleeveless or off-the-shoulder looks. She also has a tendency to dress up to impress boys, but she does genuinely seem to enjoy making outfits, and she’s quite fashionable! 

I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed making it. Daisy deserves all the love in the world.

[benjaminenrique30-blog]

Facts, Fiction and Ukiyo E Print Art

Students should view prints and finish the worksheet.  Even though the labels are a rather small portion of the packaging, the materials used can play a critical part in the recycling procedure.  These receipt templates are simple to download and print.

The Definitive Approach for Ukiyo E Print Art

Above all of the printing deserves admiration.  I chose spray paint for this project as it's a significant method to find an abstract style for a novice painter. Van Gogh admired the bold designs, intense colours, and flat regions of pure color and in addition, he appreciated the elegant and easy lines.  It's entitled `Your First Print', and is a comprehensive breakdown of the making of a woodblock print utilizing the conventional Japanese methods.  Among the biggest mistakes with watercolour isn't applying enough layers, leading to insipid, faded sketches.  Among the most well-known Japanese tattoo artists of that moment, was Horiuno.

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The majority of the printers are using the Management Information System (MIS) which includes the specialized inspection together with color performance technology and software.  You can also pick from among the many message choices and also add your very own personal note.  In the event the match is situated, the software program grants approvals required to access.  A week later, you do an internet search to see whether you have any competitors.  To start this undertaking, take a small time to help students learn some simple details about the animal habitat, place, food, etc..

[universal-kitty]

   So I’m thinking about Borderlands again... Listening to music used in Borderlands... So I thought, why not go for it again? Explain my SI in one, comprehensive post, make another tag-series out of it (to go with my BnHA Edition one), and make it easier on us all, huh?

   So here we go! Borderlands, the Self-Insert Edition! Featuring my SI, Rena “Gremlin” Marlow...and co.

Rena Marlow, a daughter of a brilliant scientist of their galaxy and a mother known- if lesser- by her photography of various planets and stars.

Brown hair parted down the middle with strands of brown hair that fall next to her face, in later years; in childhood, she just has fringe. Dark green eyes and wears glasses.

A happy, oblivious kid growing up. Liked to believe in fairytales, love at first sight, superstitions... A whole bunch of things. Very imaginative, in that sense.

Idolized her father. People seemed to adore him and knew him wherever he went. He spent long hours in his lab, making Rena daydream of all the cool things he was inventing back there. She was never allowed back there, usually, so she stuck to waiting around and staring at his lab door.

Eventually, he did invite her in, one day. Wanted help. The idea was so cool! Helping her dad with a project?! Wow!!! What cool thing would she get to work with?

...It wasn’t at all as pleasant as she’d hoped.

What he needed help with is all she’d ever know as “The Machine”. A smooth, pure white, helmet-looking contraption with lots of cords going into it, during the early days of her father hammering out the details of it.

It hurt then, too. Not being fully worked out, it tended to shock her a lot. Strapped down to a chair, she couldn’t go anywhere... Her father would carry her back to her room and- at some point- the process would begin again.

Carried on for a few months until it didn’t hurt anymore; it started...teaching her things. Suddenly, she knew all about oceanic life and could speak of it at a college level. Write her own studies on plant life. Her father was proud of her, The Machine didn’t hurt anymore, and even her often space-case mother praised her. It felt...amazing!!

Eventually the testing stopped, though. Her father brought in a guy to help and Rena was growing up, as the years passed.

In about junior high, she met a guy. Absolutely starstruck by him and settled on them being “soulmates” within a month or two... Not that it was just her saying this, mind you; her boyfriend certainly encouraged it.

Her friends were cautious, but supportive. Be chill, girl. Still a lot more in life, you know? Besides, considering who her dad is...?

Rena didn’t pay it much heed. Instead, more plans for the future! More dreams and secrets and quiet moments...

Well, until another few years later. Wandering the town at night, heading home...and spying that- just down the street- her supposed “boyfriend�� was being sweet to some other girl, said he loved her, and kissed her.

It destroyed her. Her home life had never been stellar and she’d been hoping that with him...she’d be able to get out. They’d be a “happily ever after”.....

Rena instead decided to run away. That night. Get as far away from here as possible. Pack her bags, slip as much money and a little more as seemed necessary...and as a final knife to the back, steal The Machine.

It’s no secret it’s been killing other people, anyways. They can’t handle their minds being fed so much information, so it tends to backfire and rapidly destroy their mind... Rena’s never had that issue, though. Likely for growing with it as it evolved...so hers now.

Books it off-planet that night and goes as far as she dares within the next solar cycle or two.

Stays on another planet for a few months. Fakes an ID and goes to a local college... Who calls her out for being a daughter of Dr. Marlow anyways and practically sweeps her in with excitement.

Ends up acing everything far too easily, thanks to The Machine. But it all gives her a good starting point into the world ahead and a fancy piece of paper that basically says, “congrats, you understand what a Science is.”

At this point, understands: biological science (biology, zoology, oceanology), botany, geology, chemistry, ecology, and physics. And she’s just getting started!!!

Keeps running once more ‘til the funds are running low...and that’s when she finds Hyperion.

Initially joins under Tassiter, still recruiting people for Hyperion. He’s...doubtful of her true age, but accepts upon seeing what she can do when he allows her a trial run of things he wants to see done. Fast and experienced despite her face, he lets her join.

Enters R&D from that point on, at first as an on-hand assistant...before rising up to earn her own private lab and assisting with bigger and better projects. Rena proves herself worthy of it, and Hyperion bends a little to allow her, when possible.

It’s around this time, as they move into Helios and continue to set up, that an old crew hunts down Rena. They force her to accept their black-market deals or they report her back to her father... After all, they work for him, too, but are always lookin’ to cut a deal with the better side. Rena gives in.

The events of the Pre-Sequel go down. Rena largely keeps herself locked inside her dark laboratory, hiding away in one of her cabinets. It’s a terrifying, defining moment for her...and one that also helps survive the inevitable Jack takeover.

Honestly, that goes over like day to night for her. One minute, it’s still a “Tassiter” owned company, then before she knows it, Helios is complete and “Handsome Jack” owns the place. Well, okay then. Let her have her coffee as usual, oh Jack sir, and we’re all good.

Honestly, barely leaves her lab. Too much work going on. If not a Hyperion-issued project, then one of her own designs. She’s got a lot of room to work with and she’s gonna make the best of it, dammit!

Still manages to make a friend or two; meets Leah around this time. A very cheerful young woman who’s somehow dug ABBA out of their grave and is fond of “Dancing Queen.” Helps Rena keep in touch with her “feminine side” not that she sees much point to it...

They hang out a bit, anyways. It’s the only time Rena is guaranteed to sleep. Especially in a proper bed.

(Doesn’t sleep in the employee-issued rooms. Gives her paranoia of being alone; she’d rather be close to her work than stuck in a near-permanent panic attack.)

Her first pet project? Lizards. With a whole process of breaking down other key DNA sequences from other species. Why? Lizards....into dragons.

Silverstreak is her “main” partner. Silver dragon, with blue eyes. Incredibly bossy and sassy to the others; easy to assume their leadership position.

Other dragons include:

Apophis: Big male dragon, slightly bigger than Silver. Purple and gold scales, with four eyes total. An absolute jerk who tries to harass Silver, but they have none of it. Would kill a family for a cornchip, probably. And he doesn’t even like them!!

Dymri: Forest green dragon, with brown horns and a streak of fur down his back, with tufts on the bend of his forelegs and hind legs. Is now missing his left wing, due to Apophis ripping it nearly entirely off. (It ended up being amputated.)

Munda: Dymri’s mate. Ended up sprouting a lot more fur than he did, but in a more unusual color: green. Looks like a dappled forest with blue eyes and an attitude.

Poseidon: Blue, serpent dragon. Fairly big, though not as much as Apophis. Likes hanging out in water... That with his scale color, thus, the name.

Firestorm: A red, wyvern dragon. No arms, just wings, only hind legs. Red scales with bright green eyes. Truly a charmer.

Smokey: Firestorm’s mate. Dark scales that give off a black-grey color, which inspired her name. Red eyes. Has a tuft of fur at the end of her tail.

Sugar: Another female dragon named for her brown and cream-colored scales. Also a wyvern, with her hand-wings. Very sweet and friendly to anyone she meets. Small streaks of feathers from head to her tail.

Little Angel: One of the G2 dragons, along with three others of her nest. Has a broken horn on her right side. Black and white-splotched scales. A little trooper and totally not named after a certain siren...

.....Along with many more who are still unnamed to this date. From the first set (G1s) to the babies some pairs have had (G2s).

Cue the events of Borderlands, as Rena continues to raise dragons and serve Hyperion. Depending on who-what-where, this may be where some romances start their growth...but we’ll get to that later.

People continue to bother her. A nickname surfaces... “Gremlin.” Because she’s pretty short (at 5′2″ without her trademark heels), tends to be more active when most people would feel the need to sleep, and creeps around with a hunched back, more often than not. Truly, a gremlin among them.

Nothing really happens in this time period up ‘til BLands 2, in which Rena decides to perfectly time a trip to Pandora with a small group of scientists. Nobody’s really gotten personal with studying the Pandoran landscape, have they? So... Guess Rena will do it, then!

Only to find out why nobody has ever done that; raiders and bandits. Infiltrating the camp barely a week in.

Everyone is murdered. Rena escapes with the briefcase that holds The Machine, but is otherwise alone and stuck on Pandora.

Ends up trying to blend in, after a few weeks. There’s only so much an intelligent woman could do here...but how about one who acts like your typical psycho? Worth the shot, at least.

Slowly, the good scientist slips away into a woman masquerading madness while seeping into it, at the same time.

Pops is one of her first friends on Pandora. Someone she trusts...and a father figure to her. He’s a big man who knows hacking and coding, so she learns a bunch from him. They build robots together! It’s awesome.

From there, she gets introduced to this eye-guy waaaaaaayyyyy across the way over a call from Pops to that other guy. Rena ends up making him “Fly Boy” to do deliveries without leaving home.

Said guy looks out for Rena now, getting her new glasses whenever she breaks hers.

Made a few other bots in her time. One that only screamed “fuck” at the top of their lil’ volume, a fixed Claptrap unit with no sense of direction, and a bot named Sparky. But bandits destroyed him a few days into life. RIP, Sparky....

That nickname Helios gave her? Gremlin? Others call her that, now. All know of Gremlin!! ....Well, not all, but a lot.

Including Pyrotech and Meowzer. They run a small gang of bandits and are probably dating...? Gremlin still doesn’t know, either way, but she survived meeting them, so that’s cool.

Met another person who calls himself Scabbs. Largely because he’s got CIP (can’t feel pain; a marvel that he’s still alive when Pandora is your home planet) and so has a fair amount of scars and scratches... Ever since meeting up with Rena, she’s essentially adopted him and makes sure he’s got no life-threatening injuries.

Which is lowkey hilarious, considering Scabbs has made it 17 years without dying, so he’s not exactly in need of a parent, but... He likes Rena, so it’s cool.

Stocks up on weapons, clothes, and masks. All looted from dead bodies and washed up a little. Rena herself as taken to wearing a black tank top, torn up into a crop-top look, a Marauder jacket, and altered, brown pants. Has boots for shoes. Where she got ‘em, nobody knows.

Is stuck on Pandora all the way ‘til Tales... In which she tends to join up in an attempt to get back to Helios and get all of her shit back.

With that covering the basics... Let’s get down to the AUs, then the shipping verses after that, ey...?

AU 1- AI Rena: There’s two verses for this AU. (As long as this post already is.)

Verse 1: Rena owns the Wildlife Exploration Preserve shortly before the events of Tales. However, she didn’t realize one of her pet projects wasn’t bonding to her properly. While going in for feeding and check-ups, the beast killed her and activated a failsafe that resulted in an AI version of herself being activated.

Rhys, having no concept of safety, jabs a port into his head to try and get information on more pieces for Gortys. Just like a time before with Nakayama, Rhys instead downloads a whole ‘nother AI into his noggin.

Now he’s got an Asshole and a Know-It-All Scientist taking root in his skull. The good news is Rena is much nicer to him than HJack is. The bad news is the two bicker a lot because of it.

Where Jack is blue with yellow eyes, Rena is a green holo with- at first- light, green-yellow eyes. Over time, her eyes shift to yellow, however. Nobody is sure why, but Rhys and Rena agree to blame Jack for it. (Who is proud at her matching him, but less thrilled to be blamed for something he didn’t do... Intentionally.)

Lots of Rena snarking Jack. He can touch her, being another hologram like he is, but he can’t hurt her. Turns out her processing power comes from The Machine itself, so she can easily overpower his cruddy design from Nakayama.

Has a side path where she can enter a basic, non-perfect android body to reboot the systems at the Preserve, but later needs to transfer in another, more humanlike model to function better.

....HJack is not pleased with her upgrades, considering she’s getting the better end of the deal than he’s got. Rhys isn’t impressed with that tone, either. >:/

Verse 2: The Machine takes it’s toll on Rena. Her mind could better withstand it’s power, having being an unwilling subject in the early days of it’s development, but... Even her mind can’t keep this up forever.

It starts with forgetting her name. Won’t answer to Rena, but Gremlin works.

Forgetting her nickname.

Slowly, everything she’s ever learned starts going away. Bit by bit, losing what memories The Machine gave her. Rage sets in around here, recognizing her memory is no longer perfect and putting her into a panic of self-awareness.

Memories of people slip away now. Often cries for her ex or where her parents are.

Eventually is confined to bed, where her brain is failing to the point it can’t remember to continue to make the organs function. It’s around this point that she finally dies.

Her personality and memories were embedded into The Machine; her final goodbyes to friends and loved ones. Her AI keeps people from using it after her and requests that it be destroyed soon.

Just like in the first verse, her eyes start out a yellow-green. Then a yellow... If not destroyed, AI Rena���s eyes will sometimes flicker to red, showing how deeply the corruption has started effecting her.

Either way, The Machine will be unusable. Just as how Rena believed it should’ve been.

Siren AU: An AU in which Rena was instead born a Siren. She sports green tattoos on her right side and often made them glow when she was younger, for her amusement and not understanding who she was...or her powers.

Not that her parents helped any. Her mother was just completely confused and arguments over what to do with her were had a lot. Rena’s mother wanted to get her checked out at a hospital. Her father believed she truly was a Siren and wanted to experiment on her.

The arguments eventually drove Rena away and- living on Elpis at the time- Rena began the first dip into her powers: summoning her Siren wings (in a light green tinge) and flying away...off Elpis! Taking a trip to Pandora in order to hide from her fighting parents.

Phasecommand- Her main Siren ability. When executing, her eyes roll back and it summons Pandoran beasts/animals to her side to control and fight her enemies. However, any creatures that don’t disperse afterwards can be considered enemies to her allies or her, if she accidentally hurts one.

When using Eridium, her tattoos will change into more of a teal color and glow more.

Likes the idea of people, but prefers the animals and Guardians. People are too much for her to handle...

Somehow still summoned little dragons...? Is only ever seen with ones the size of cats or lizards, but it’s presumed that- like her main verse- they’ll one day mutate to full, dragon-of-legend glorious sizing.

Dragon AU: In one of two paths, with either Rena being one of the dragons of Eridian times OR having accidentally turned into one of her own dragons.

Either way, her dragon form typically looks a little something like this.

The first verse has her being more curious and prone to friendliness...but ready to snap if she senses ill intent. Still, tries to be optimistic, at least. Rests within a cave near one of the vaults.

About the size of a two-story home, if not a little bigger.

Rena speaks Eridian, but has the capacity to learn present day English, if given the time to learn.

The runes on her body allow her to safely use Eridium. By using it, her systems can filter it properly into a variety of uses, from specialized fire to shape-shifting!!

Verse two is just...Rena being done with this bullshit. All these years of science, for what? To be stuck as a dragon?!? The only useful thing that comes of this is not only does she now understand the world through a dragon’s eyes, but their language, as well.

Turns out, the language of the dragons is actually original Eridian and not whatever mumbo-jumbo you hear most present day speakers go for. It’s an interesting bit to learn, however it’s debatable if the cost was worth it.

(Will eventually return to normal with an understanding of Eridian, but I like just putting my SIs through nonsense, too.)

otp; Science and Violence (Rena/Jack): As literally pulled out of the RP @punk-opossum and I did a few months ago!! Cause I basically consider that “canon” for this ship, now.     (Okay, with a few bits I’ve added in, but LARGELY pulled from our RP.)

They’ve been around each other since the beginning, really. Rena oblivious and never noticing Jack, but he’s seen her around. Quiet, nerdy gal who bothers nobody and does her job. Is kinda cool, but no other opinions.

Then, we truck over to the events during Borderlands 2...and things get tossed around like pizza dough. [Note: Nisha and Angel are dead at this point.]

Starting with Jack bothering her workspace. Shooting her head of department and declaring her in charge of Literally Everything R&D now. Rena is just trying to fucking work, ohhhh my god.

Not only that, but Jack casually shoves the Destroyer project from Nakayama right into her hands, as well. Rena has never been more overwhelmed in her life....!

And that’s BEFORE all of the innuendos and Jack’s husky voice getting way too close to her ears!!

...So yeah, it definitely starts as what should’ve been a fling, but attachments get all sorts of muddled. Rena’s the sort of balance Jack finds himself craving and, well... He’s fucked, but giving her the little things she thought she lost when her ex cheated on her. So maybe...it’s okay?

Lots of Jack being thirsty while Rena’s trying to work. Or him being clingy when she wants to go back to work... Far as Jack’s concerned, his job is full of free time and is so boring without her around. However, Rena can actually prioritize her work and keep this company’s science division flowing, soooo.... Hmm.

Rena has the struggle of a lifetime, but she still ends up getting her trip to Pandora to do on-planet research...much to Jack’s paranoia and displeasure. (Which ends up being right on the money, despite his best efforts.)

Can’t believe Rena would be dead. They can’t find her body either, so like... Far as Jack’s concerned, she isn’t dead. Doesn’t mean he’s any more pleased or sane about the whole situation, though.

Jack goes full-tilt into madness, sending people hunting through Pandora to try and find Rena. Hilariously, they’re always close, but either she just left her camp or they pass right by her hiding spot.

They don’t find each other until a few years later, when Handsome Jack himself is personally tearing a town apart on Pandora, still engulfed in his hatred for the planet and presumably taking Rena from him.

He aims his gun at a kid, but freezes. Something about her little tanned face, dark brown hair, and...hetrochromatic eyes....has him frozen in his tracks. Then her mother comes running up, their eyes meet, and Jack nearly roars in realization.

She’s dirty as hell, hair messed up and toting new scars from Pandoran life, but that’s Rena...!! Who’s... Who’s the kid, though?

He nearly has another freakout at her assurance this little girl- Carina- is his daughter?????

He’d want to not believe it, but Rena consistently swears off having messed around with anyone else. Oh, and the fact Carina happens to have eyes like her papa. (But unlike his heterochromia, hers is central; a different color surrounding the pupil.)

With this, they kicked off most of Jack’s thoughts for the Warrior, instead Jack now focusing a large chunk of time for the fact Rena’s back, not dead, and was badass enough to raise and protect a baby on Pandora. Mother of the Year award?? Y’all know who it’s going to.

Carina ends up being Jack’s lil’ princess. The only reason she’s not a spoiled brat is cause Pandora does shit to ya and also Rena knows the limits of taking care of kids; so really, she’s mothering both Carina and Jack.

THOUGH BEFORE I FORGET!!! There is a subset of this verse where also Angel is alive, didn’t have to keep being treated like she was, and- while it was a bit late- still managed to get a better mother figure. Oh, and Carina still happens later in this same verse, so her mood improves even more to have a little sister.

...Jack is totally a little salty that Rena and Angel get on so well. He’s an ass, but does love his daughter, so he’s like a sulky cat, knocking stuff over and hovering around, hoping for attention and acknowledgement.

Rena keeps Jack in line those days, so...eventually Angel and her father get on a better foot than before and he’s very okay with everything and clingy to his family.

otp; Rulers of Pandora (Jack/Rena/Nisha): In which Jack and Nisha take in one of the local Hyperion nerds to spice things up... Only to decide, “naaahh, she’s a keeper.”

Took her into their fray around the early events of Borderlands. Where things are fun, but could be more fun... You know?

Jack’s seen Rena around before, but never gave her much thought... His mind is simply too here-and-there to keep notice for long when he’s trying to pick at more shallow aspects to bring in.

Nisha catches her eye, though, and decides she’s curious when Rena immediately looks away, blushing up a storm.

Turns out, Rena can’t handle Nisha. At all. Immediately turns into a klutz around her. Nisha finds it fucking hilarious and proceeds to drag her off to show Jack...who also realizes how hilariously awkward Rena is. They’ve taken her in, since.

Primarily still spends a lot of time up on Helios, but on occasion, will go down to Pandora to spend time with Nisha once HJack gives her Lynchwood.

Is definitely the little “pet” of the trio and is mercilessly teased by them for it, but anyone else messes with Rena? You’ve now got two of the six galaxies most lethal minds on your ass. Start running.

Nisha: I don’t like cute things. I kill cute things. Rena: cooing over some baby skag bc she’s an idiot Nisha: .........For fuck’s sake--

In other words, both Nish and Jack both soften up a bit for Rena. Which is a mistake for anyone else to see, cause while they’ll let their favorite nerd frolic in a field of baby animals, they’d still sooner shoot an annoying pest.

Nisha and Rena are the only ones to know about Jack’s true face under the mask. Nisha doesn’t really care, but Rena? Loves it.

Two Murderers and the Embodiment of Sunshine. That’s how you sum them up.

otp; love like fools (Rena/Rhys): I don’t know what Imma do with this anymore, but it exists as a verse, so I’m gonna heckin’ include it.

Met around the events of BLands/BLands 2. Rena had overworked herself on a project and was hiding in a break room. Cup of orange juice in hand and staring at it. Rhys couldn’t sleep, so he came in... They had an awkward conversation, but not much else.

Curious, Rhys starts stopping by the R&D department more and starts realizing the issue: she never takes a break or seems to get much rest. Work, work, work, day and night. Isn’t that exhausting??

So Rhys takes it on himself to get her food and drink. Mostly snacks, but whatever works. He also tries to ask about her projects, but it largely goes over his head when she starts doing her usual round of science talk.

He tries, though. So that’s nice.

His crush is obvious as shit as time keeps going on. Even his friends notice. Leah notices. Rena? Does not. She is oblivious as heck. Rest in pieces, Rhys.

Literally nothing happens there. Just Rhys doing his best to get Rena’s full attention with no luck. Right up to her eventual trip-and-trap to Pandora.

They don’t meet again ‘til the events of Tales! While wandering around the landscape, Rhys bumps into “Gremlin”, realizes she looks familiar and...

Rhys: ...Are you Rena? Dr. Marlow? Gremlin: Who...? WAIT A MINUTE!!! YOU?!? Rhys: Y-YEAH!!! YOU’RE ALIVE?!?

Everyone else is confused, but Rhys and Rena proceed to catch up. Meanwhile, HJack is making comments that are making Rhys’ face pink and trying to mentally shut the AI up before he says something embarrassing to Rena.

Which basically happens anyways, cause he excuses himself to walk away, thud his head into the caravan, then walk back trying to act like nothing happened. Where were we? #Concern from Rena.

She joins the troupe for fun times, being surprisingly okay when Rhys admits that HJack’s AI is like...inside his head. Just chillin’ there. Well, when not being usual Jack, but you know.

(In some variations of this, AI Jack was programmed to know Rena, so he’s twice as insufferable as usual. However, this isn’t often the case.)

It takes Rhys forever and plenty of nagging from HJack before he even tries to smooch Rena. And even when he does, it was still a terrible idea, cause Jack wouldn’t shut up. Thankfully, Rena’s still pretty chill about the whole thing.

Fiona and Sasha warm up to Rena over time, Vaughn’s heard about her from before, so they all pal up while Rhys has a crisis over HJack ruining his romantic life. It’s a nice break from freaking out around other people, at least.

Joins them on the trip to Helios. She needs to check up on her babies... It’s been so long....

An expert at sneak, a duck around cameras and back up to the old employee living quarters... It’s amazing what a brush, hot water, and a change of clothes can do for a person. (Gotta readjust to heels again, though.)

While Rhys and Fiona are taking over Helios to get the next piece for Gortys, Rena makes her way back to her lab. Not everyone is gone, but... A lot of the G1s have passed away and even a few G2s. Silver and Apophis stay strong, but have been slowly getting bigger in Rena’s absence.

Encourage the trope into an old, cleaned out nesting box and start figuring out her escape plan from there, trying to get in contact with Rhys and Fiona. Only for an eerily familiar voice to pour out around Helios...and announce Rhys the new leader of Hyperion?!

Shit. Shit, shit, shitshit- Now what? She didn’t think Rhys was gonna be in cahoots with Jack! I mean, yeah, he idolized the guy.... Jack embarrassed him a lot, but he still seem to think it was pretty neat...... Awh, hell. Still! Gotta get outta here!!

Ends up smoothly making her escape in a ship with some of her more friendly co-workers: Dan [the Man] (a pilot who used to fly HJack’s private ship; trans, demisexual with a preference for men who is a coffee addict) and Leah.

...And then Helios crashes not too long later. Dan is...less than impressed (internally freaking out, however) and Leah is basically having a panic attack.

Rena tries giving them advice for surviving on Pandora, but Dan later finds Atlas (now being rebooted by Rhys) and decides with Leah that they’ll join up.

SURPRISE, SURPRISE, Rhys owns the place. Dan is brought on as his personal pilot (”Sweet. So, where’s the coffee machines around here?”), Leah is hired for PR, Cassie (a blonde lesbian who’s only ever done secretary jobs most of her life) joins later as his secretary...and Rena? .....Shit, Atlas doesn’t really...have an R&D department, do they...?

Rena nervously points out that- if he finds the muscle, they could retake the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve. Take over, do some rebuilding and remodeling... Make it not only into Atlas’ new R&D, but also a way for Rena to continue her penchant of creating dubious creatures. Also because the dragons are only getting bigger as their generations continue.

Pyrotech and Meowzer decide to join in, along with Pops calling in a few favors. Bandits v. bandits to clean out the place and serve as muscle while WEP is getting remodeled. (Also, they’re getting paid, so other bandits looking for a handy buck hop on for the more beneficial side.)

Rena gets a new look to symbolize her Atlas change (a black, long cloak with a hexagon pattern on the inside, black tights, black heels, and an ombre, orange-red-to-yellow, turtleneck dress; hair is also pinned up)! Power couple of Atlas, basically everyone agrees. And kind of like in another verse, Rena keeps him in line....when he’s not having to do the same for her!!

Rhys: I’m not sure....making a monstrous, three-headed dog is a good idea, babe. Rena: I didn’t come here to make wimpy science, Rhys!! I came here to kick ass, take names, and do SCIENCE! But thank you for your opinion~ Rhys: ......oh no.

6-legged to 8-legged cats are realized under Rena’s flourishing arms. A three-headed dog. The dragons prosper and return to Pandora, honoring Rena as their Mother, as Silver- and later Apophis himself!!- have done.

She even creates an android in secret. Names them Aria and they have learning software. Everything about life, they must learn on their own. Starting with the Preserve, and then one day... Leaving home to formulate their own experiences.

Later in life, Rhys and Rena have a daughter, naming her Vela. (A reference to the trio of constellations that Carina is also a part of.)

Has about as much common sense for safety as her mother does. Rhys is terrified for her safety on the daily. Because of their lack of fear, Rhys tries to keep Vela with him at Atlas HQ more than at the preserve with Rena.

otp; nerdperion (Rhys/Rena/Vaughn): ...I mentioned it once. Then the idea snowballed from the initial idea and the “what ifs”.

Look, I can’t deny it. It’s the nerd trio that most only dream of. In their Hyperion days, you had the money man, middle manager, and the top scientist.

By the time of Tales, you have a bandit leader in his own right, an Altas CEO, and woman who is held back by only her set-in-stone morals.

Vaughn and Rena going on raids out on Pandora, protecting people and the Children of Helios. Perhaps even with the dragons as backup...?

Rhys constantly has to worry for these two dorks, but that’s why he has a steady wing in Atlas for healing stuff. A fair bit of research passed on from Rena, to be fair, but still.

Vaughn takes lessons from Rena how to ride beasts. Like dragons! Was it a good idea? Not really. But nobody got hurt, at least!!! And Rena also solidified the saddle designs for them, so that’s pretty cool, too.

Rhys is a little more boring on that side of the coin in the regard he’s mostly just running a company, but still. Vaughn helps out from time to time and Rena’s running the entire R&D division of Atlas, so.....

otp; scientific haikus (Rena/Zer0): In which my first crush from Tales lives on...and it’s a rather unlikely couple, honestly.

Starting right off the bat with the fact she never really knew about them until one of her Pandoran raids? They showed up to kill some people and then just kinda...disappeared.

That first meeting bothered Gremlin for weeks. Who?? Who????

Meeting them again...and again..... Never getting the courage to confront them out of fear. (What if they slice and dice her up, too?? She’s lived too long to get struck down now...) But despite that, she eagerly daydreams about the oddity...

Also, isn’t as sly as she thinks; Zer0′s been knowing, they’ve just been waiting for Gremlin to go first. Though, she hasn’t been...so that’s a bit of an issue.

Eventually, they make sure that their next target will be in an area they know Gremlin frequents. When she shows up...Zer0 finally gets the chance to introduce themselves.

Zer0: Finally, we meet / Finding you was difficult / My name is Zer0; pleased. Gremlin: .....Did... Are you speaking in haiku?! Zer0:  :) Gremlin: ...holy shit; nice.

They strike up an odd sort of friendship from there. Meetings become random again, though Zer0 takes time to listen. They actually are able to call her Rena in private which is...nice. Kinda easy to forget that was her name before the whole “stranded on Pandora” bit.

Zer0 ends up enabling her collecting habits, too; brings back not-too-bloody clothes and trinkets they find while out and about on jobs. She gains quite the collection, thanks to that!!

Actually wanted to offer assistance when Zer0 took on the Gortys hunt, but joined up only later on and... HOLY SHIT, HYPERION EMPLOYEES!!!

It’s wild, seeing familiar faces and talking about the past. Zer0 has...some concerns, but otherwise trusts the group with Rena.

This includes their plan to invade Helios, in order to get the final piece Gortys needs to access the Vault of the Traveler. They’re not thrilled about her involvement in the plan, but Rena still knows a lot about Helios and the Hyperion system. Her going with ensures things will go even more smoothly, so... Who are they to deny their crush friend from helping others?

....And then they hear it all went to shit. Though they showed up, trying to find Rena among the wreckage... There was no luck. They get upset over this for quite some time, but without a body... Zer0 keeps a metaphorical ear out. Won’t believe she’s dead yet. Not yet.

Eventually, when Rhys gets in contact with Zer0 for help with the vault, they meet up again. Rena is ecstatic to see him again- having since become the head of Atlas’ R&D and gone hunting to assist with this, too- and Zer0 is just happy to be right; she didn’t die back then after all...

Is surprisingly handsy from there on out, flashing the smile or heart emoticons, a hand on Rena’s waist, etc.

Everyone else catches on to Zer0′s affections far faster than Rena herself does, that’s for sure.

Rena: It’s nice... I’ve never really had a lot of platonic affection, you know? Fiona, sighing: N-No, that’s not... How do you not see what’s going on, here?? Rena: .........what? Everyone: s i g h s Rena: ????????

They do eventually ask her out when nearly everyone on the team has them to spare them the oblivious misery, cause- once again- Rena sure ain’t gonna do it.

Also cause Gortys has been trying to ask about them dating anyways, so-?? Just do it???

Zer0 still takes a while longer to get the right words to say that fit their haiku format, but the actual confession...? Well, at least it feels like the right note to end an adventure on; seeing her eyes light up, smile breaking free, and hugging the other tight around the waist was good. Great, even!

...Though with Fiona and Rhys temporarily disappeared...who runs Atlas?

Thankfully, Rena knows Cassie personally and has her and another person- Dan, a pilot for Rhys’ personal ship (and once worked under Handsome Jack, as well)- back her up on heading Atlas for a temporary period of time.

Zer0 sticks around for a time, just to make sure a mutiny doesn’t rise up and try to take Rena down. They only back off once her guard-friends from R&D make their way over... Again, just in case.

Zer0 goes back to work not long after that, though makes sure to visit more often. It not only makes them anxious to not know how Rena is doing (if she’s still alive), but also because they’ve started getting used to her touch. Touch starved? Zer0? ....A little.

Starts even exposing her face around her, Rena admits. What they look like? Well, pffftt, she’d never tell~!

otp; i ruv you (Rena/Timothy Lawrence): Oh, it started as a joke...then I was in too deep and now it’s never been better~

Thanks to both of them being workers under the Hyperion brand, they end up meeting sooner rather than later.

Much like Jack, Tim noticed Rena around: sitting in the Hub and people-watching, walking by her lab... Things like that. Didn’t pay too much mind, but then...he got hurt. On his face.

Rena, being the oldest lasting employee not killed off yet by Handsome Jack, is given the old papers for the build of Jack doubles and given some people to work with by HJack himself in order to fix up Tim right.

It’s love at first appointment; she’s gentle, knows what she’s doing, and eventually he’s looking back to the usual. The little smile she gives as he left? ...His heart was racing for an hour after, he swears by it.

He starts visiting her more, after that. Whether because he allowed himself to get hurt or it’s after a mission and he’s got some extra free time before his next one... He hurries to that lab of hers in order to chat.

Befriends the dragons she creates happily. Silver doesn’t bond to him in the same way, but they tolerate him and will let Tim hold them. It’s so cool!!!

Then Rena admitted to him one of her other projects...wanting to create multi-legged cats. Tim was thrilled at the trust, nervous over the project, but Rena assured all would be well. The dragons have done wonderfully, so that will go well, too!

He got the chance to kiss her when she was patching him up again. He’d tried to lean forward, but she stopped him a moment to finish up...then, shyly, asked if he wanted to try that again...? He lit up and they both got into a hasty, messy kiss that had them giggling in delight.

...With that, their unofficial dating started! (Which HJack quickly knew about and considered doing something to one of them to end it, but overall decided if any news got out, he’d actually take Rena as his own and make his doppelganger regret getting into a relationship behind Jack’s back; capiche? Tim nervously agreed.)

Still... Her move to Pandora made him nervous. Especially since his next assignment was on Elpis, so if anything happened...!

Rena kissed his cheek and assured him she’d be fine. It would be very in and out; no need for worry!

When even Jack was troubled by the report that came in later, Timothy was up in arms ready to shoot down some psychos.

HJack: Like, nobody reported her body. Which could be a sign she’s not dead? But it’s Pandora; who knows? Tim, sweating and shaking: Please...just fucking shut. Up.

Backtalking the boss is bold, but Tim is all kinds of done with this news and needs to ditch for Pandora in order to find Rena. HJack allows this more out of interest for the “game” than anything else.

Timothy ends up- more or less- a sort of permanent presence on Pandora while trying to find Rena. Doesn’t much notice or care when Jack’s insanity summons the Warrior...or when he’s taken down. Besides, people spook more easily to hear Handsome Jack died, but see his masked face even still on Timothy’s own.

Not getting answers on where Rena is...stresses him out, though. Makes him bitter, that maybe someone did kill her... He expresses his anger in a bit of murder and then sulks more over how this is turning him into a lesser Jack after all... Makes the guy almost sympathetic.

But with a few years passing, Atlas suddenly rises up out of the crashed ashes of Helios...and if Tim has any hope left for the lost Rena, might as well go there, right?

He scares the shit out of Rhys, walking in looking like Handsome Jack in the flesh. (Not even his secretary tried to stop him, looking like he did; dirty and murderous.)

...Though it’s actually just some resting bitch face and determination. Tim ends up explaining everything and Rhys even more hurriedly explains that she’s not dead!!! In fact, he just sent her over with a group of hired bandits to the WEP! She’s going...to be heading his new R&D department, you know...

Tim almost doesn’t want to hope, but he jolts out of there faster than Rhys or Cassie can stop him and is rushing to the Preserve in hopes to catch her there and maybe help out in the firefight.

Ends up finding her in a car just outside, all tanked up and safe as she directs everyone to where they need to go...but oh shit, handle that on your own for a bit; there’s a guy outside the car. She walks a little closer...and screeches, stumbling back.

Tim: No, no!! Rena!!! It’s me, it’s Ti- Jimothy!!!! It’s me, not Jack! Rena: ......Timothy?

She hesitantly lets him in and Tim at least proves that- despite his appearance- he is definitely not Jack by patting her over, realizing she’s alive, and then kissing her breathless.

Rena explains her situation having gone by “Gremlin” up to this point and pretending to be a psycho on occasion in order to live. The new friends she’s made up until that point. Tim tells her about the years he spent trying to find her, hoping she wasn’t dead.

As self-promised, he cuddles her in his lap for a little while longer, then kisses her again and joins the firefight outside to clear out the preserve.

Hyperion’s fallen, Atlas is a rising venture... Why not? Student loans sure don’t matter anymore.

He largely stays with Rena at R&D; her personal bodyguard and more-official-than-in-the-past boyfriend.

She also makes good on the multi-legged cats, as mentioned in the past. Tim decidedly loves them just as much- if not more- as regular cats.

ot3; ??? (Maya/Rena/Krieg): So hear me out... I will never learn. This will be neverending. I’m just as disappointed in me as you are. Also, Tumblr removing line breaks is the bane of my existence. Fuck this website. ANYWAYS!

Rena...met Krieg, first. In passing. He was a part of the slag experiments, Rena works R&D.... You hear about this sort of thing. She did, with her sharp ears and too-caring-attitude, despite working for the most monstrous corporation in the six galaxies.

Still, she was never able to help him or anyone else... Despite desperately wanting to. Despite catching his eyes once, guilt eating her up from the inside. (A pity-look from another one of them, Krieg used to think.)

They didn’t meet again until much later, during the events of Borderlands 2: Gremlin stuck on Pandora while Maya and Krieg were deadset on dethroning Handsome Jack. Y’know. Her old boss?

Krieg almost doesn’t recognize her when he’s out wandering, but it’s seeing her dirty face that strikes a chord in his sensible side. He remembers her! One of Hyperion’s own... What’s she doing out here? Alone and without company...?

Not that Krieg cares; seeing someone who was in any way involved with hurting him sends him into a fit of rage, trying to attack her with all he’s got! Rena dodges, not understanding...until she realizes who this psycho is...

It’s the worst first meeting- putting his first interaction with Maya in the dirt- as she eventually bursts into tears trying to apologize to him. It startles Krieg to stop, listening to her as she’s pitifully curled up in the dirt, hands up in a show of surrender, apologizing to...him.

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry I couldn’t help you back then!! I wanted to, I really did, but I... I couldn’t! I’m sorry, Krieg, I’m so, so sorry!!!!”

Maya returns to this scene unimpressed, giving a Look to Krieg before helping the still-sobbing Rena. They both take her back to her shambling little base...and Krieg stares at the coat on the wall. The last reminder of who she was...

It occurs to him, then, that they’re in a similar spot. He lost his mind to slag, becoming a psycho, his mind barely together...and Rena is losing her sense of self, too. Going by Gremlin to blend in, faking insanity to blend in...but how long of that before it all becomes too real? Before she changes for good, even without influences like he’d gotten...?

Maya is more than content to help and leave, but Krieg...feels guilty. It’s a rare show of clarity and kindness from the big guy...and that’s when Maya realizes she’s lost the battle before it’s even begun.

They do take down HJack eventually, but frequently stop by to check in on Rena from there on out. Krieg likes poking around and laying on the stolen mattress she has. Maya finds out she’s actually super smart...and it’s fun. It’s nice.

You grow to like- even love- Krieg for his lucid moments. Appreciating his more violent ones for the defense they provide, as well as the enemy-sweeping he can do. Her powers work well with his might.

Add Rena into the mix, it’s brains, balance, and brawn. It works out even better than Maya could’ve predicted....and yeah, she kinda ends up falling for the scientist, too. Would’ve never pegged herself as the polyamrous type, but... She and Krieg share the sentiments.

Rena and Krieg keep each other balanced. Maya doesn’t have time to baby anyone; she keeps going at her own pace. Anyone who wants to keep up has to pull their weight...but Rena is a natural nurturer. When she’s a little loopy, they use a language only they can really understand. (It takes Maya some time to adjust to.) When Krieg gets frustrated, she helps him through it. To get back in touch with his old self. It’s comforting. Very comforting.

Maya and Rena, on the other hand, share a lot of conversation about....anything and everything. Maya talks about her Siren powers and pieces of her life. Rena talks about her own life- a lot more openly- and the science she used to do on Hyperion. How proud she still is of those times. Maya’s endeared to those moments.

It also later comes in handy... When Maya needs to depart from Pandora to go back to Athenas some time later, wanting to further underside her Siren lineage. Pandora only answered so much, after all...

Won’t let Rena or Krieg join, but the two keep each other company in the meantime. Waiting for Maya to come back home.

[pride-vns-blog]

LGBTQ VN Week: Day Two! (6/19)

Welcome back for my second day of LGBTQ visual novel recommendations! If you didn’t check out my first post, I recommend at least skimming the "One note before we get started” section to get a handle on what this series of posts is. (And especially, as the case may be, what it isn’t.)

Today’s topic is “crafty creative design”, so I’ve pulled out Marccus’s Eldet, Geek Remix and ChicMonster’s Pairanormal, and Team Rumblebee’s Love Is Strange to talk about their development teams’ ambition (and ability to deliver), followed by a discussion with Boys Laugh+ about their 2017 NaNoRenO entry, //TODO: today!

Keep on reading to hear about treasure hunts with hot guys, mysterious twists and turns, power in reimagined narratives, and why taking time to look for brand-new visual novels you’ve never heard of before can be worth your while!

ELDET (MARCCUS)

Kickstarter Tagline: "A medieval fantasy themed visual novel with emphasis on LGBT characters and people of color.” Genre(s): Historical fantasy. Release Date: July 1st, 2017(?) (updated demo); TBA (full version). Content Warnings: Fantasy violence.

When it comes to aiming for new heights with visual novel storytelling and art, Marccus’s Eldet is one of the most standout examples of ambition — if it’s a possibility or a feature you could potentially implement, you’ll probably be able to find a mention of it somewhere in Marccus’s Eldet development updates on Kickstarter. They’re jam-packed with information about ways he’s exploring different ideas for interlocking narratives, replay value, or using the absolutely gorgeous art to its full potential. If the final version lives up to even a tenth of what Marccus has demonstrated working to include over the past two years, that ambition and drive to see things through as much as possible will almost definitely provide one hell of a visual novel.

Strictly looking at the demo alone, though, still provides a uniquely detailed experience where focus on trying out new things that suit the story is crystal-clear. The writing is sharp and captivating, with an interesting plot and gorgeous scenery that’s complimented by a smart use of animated effects. There have been more and more visual novels that have branched into the use of things like Live2D or animated sprites, but for me as a player, it’s been interesting to see how far use of effects like that can go before they just plain old start to be distracting. Idle animations or things like blinking and breathing can be charming, but the uncanny valley is very real and very easy to dive headlong into if you’re trying to include as many of those as possible.

So Eldet’s demo is noteworthy to me not just for trying out all of the visual effects it can manage, but even moreso for knowing by and large where to place those effects and varying sprites for the best possible impact. Characters are integrated into different backgrounds for special conversational scenes, or specific parts of event graphics glow, and none of it — to my eyes, at least — felt overused or poorly-executed. In fact, it all seemed especially suited to the fantasy genre Eldet is fitting itself into, with all of the pieces working together to create a world that feels alive and breathing. And it’s a world that seems well worth waiting for a final version of!

Eldet’s demo is available now on Kickstarter; you can also keep up with the final version’s progress on its development blog, or follow Marccus on Twitter and Patreon (18+).

PAIRANORMAL (GEEK REMIX, CHICMONSTER)

Itchio Tagline: "Love is a mystery and so are ghosts.” Genre(s): Mystery, romance.  Release Date: April 1st, 2018 (Chapter 1); TBA (Chapters 2+). Content Warnings: Glitches and static (can be turned off); jumpscares.

There have been a couple "real person dating sim" visual novels in the past few years, but I've never really been all that interested in actually playing any of them; I can see the connection back to all those elaborate magazine quizzes about which celebrity you'd date, so I think they're interesting conceptually, but none of them have really pulled me in. I'm equally wary of the trend of Western visual novels from first-time developers that want to "subvert genre conventions" because of how many have fallen woefully flat of even understanding what that means beyond a very limited scope — I'm talking "oh, I don't really like or play any visual novels, the whole medium isn’t for me" visual novel developer commentary, here — so if an EVN promises a twist on a genre, or even if its players do, it's unfortunately a lot harder to sell me on it.

To my pleasant surprise, Pairanormal's demo sold me on both its "real person-inspired characters" aspects and its departure from the dating-based focus I'd been expecting into sharing space with another genre! I don't want to spoil anything about the plot, but upfront, the turn in the demo alone was a genuinely interesting look at a “blank protagonist” and well-served by being placed where it was. That’s to say nothing of the charming art style! Mechanically and visually, it's also one of the most interesting visual novels I've played; the character movement, the individual soundfonts, and the pacing of the dialogue all come together to work consistently well. (I love smartly-used soundfonts! Please give me all your VNs with good soundfonts!)

Even as someone who's watched a handful of YouTube playthroughs by two of the YouTubers being shown here, Mari and Stacey of Geek Remix, the writing in Pairanormal was sharp and fast-paced enough to actually make my brain draw a pretty easy divide between the real Mari and Stacey versus "Mari Sashimi" and "Stacey Croft". I'm sure there's plenty of rewarding jokes for their primary audience of a Geek Remix fanbase, too — but one of the strongest merits of Pairanormal for me as a player was the experience of having so little personal familiarity with most of the people these characters were based on and still finding the characters enjoyable, well-defined, and interesting.

Chapter 1 of Pairanormal is available now for free; you can also follow development of the coming chapters on Chicmonster’s Patreon, Twitter, and Itchio.

LOVE IS STRANGE (TEAM RUMBLEBEE)

Blog Tagline: "A fanwork based off of Life is Strange.” Genre(s): Slice of life, romance. Release Date: April 1st, 2016. Content Warnings: Drug use; underage drinking; mentions of severe bullying.

Do those characters and that title look familiar? If you’ve paid attention to the gaming scene at large in the past three years, you probably recognize the acronym "LiS” or Max Caulfield’s character design — Team Rumblebee’s 2016 debut project, Love is Strange, came to life as a Life is Strange (DONTNOD Entertainment) fanmade visual novel! In Love is Strange, set a year later after the original game in a completely different timeline, protagonist Max never gained her canonical magical powers and many of the tragedies that gripped Arcadia Bay never came to pass. Instead, she’s given a week to team up with one of her four love interests — Chloe, Kate, Rachel, or Victoria — and win a photography contest together.

There’s a lot to love about it beyond any connection you may or may not have to Life is Strange itself — everything, from the art to the music to the writing, pulls together seamlessly. But the biggest strength of Love is Strange as a fanwork, in my opinion, is the way it’s not trying to totally remove itself from the original canon tonally or trying too hard to conform to that tone without it seeming natural. Max’s character arc is reflective of some anxieties she’d had in the original story, which goes doubly for the explorations of her love interests’ arcs, but it’s fundamentally a different story where her priorities are different. Love is Strange loses what isn’t necessary or what doesn’t help the story — including the teacher-turned-[spoilers] from the original series, Mr. Jefferson — then fills in a lot of the blanks with the same charm and same compelling characters that captivated fans in the first place.

My favorite example here is Rachel Amber, one of the four routes but the lone one who never appeared in the text of the original Life is Strange itself, and a route that felt as wholly comprehensive as the rest. Love is Strange takes the perpetually absent, long-since-departed Rachel and recreates her from whole cloth, giving her a distinctive speech pattern, a history, and a set of beliefs that all work together as a perfect answer for the void around her character in the original text. She feels as real and authentic as the rest of the pitch-perfect cast, a character it’s difficult to imagine the original Life is Strange without. So in both enhancing the original text’s characterizations without ever losing its charm and standing alone as its own thoughtful, genuine F/F dating sim that is just as enjoyable without any fondness for the canon, Love is Strange easily cemented itself as one of my favorite visual novels — so strongly, in fact, that I’m still planning to cheer on Team Rumblebee’s individual and collective outputs for years to come.

Love is Strange is available now for free on the development blog. You can also follow Team Rumblebee on Twitter, Tumblr, and Itch.io to be the first to know if they decide to release anything next!

//TODO: TODAY (BOYS LAUGH PLUS)

Itchio Tagline: "A visual novel about figuring out life with the help of an AI.” Genre(s): Modern sci-fi. Release Date: March 31st, 2017 (Part 1); August 2018 (Part 2). Content Warnings: Depictions of severe depression.

Player personalization is one of the more tricky things for developers, largely in part because there’s no way to write something every player will be happy with; while some people prefer being able to insert themselves entirely into a protagonist with minimal predefined personality and more vague actions, so they can headcanon more easily, other audiences would rather explore specific situations with a smaller number responses that each more clearly reflect the defined protagonist’s personality. It’d be nearly impossible to please both of those groups at once — and there’s dozens of other, more specific takes that other players can have on visual novel protagonists!

As someone in the latter camp out of just those two examples, I thought //TODO: today’s handling of their protagonist Teal (plus their love interests Joyce and Phoenix) was right up my alley, so I reached out to Felix and Rohan of Boys Laugh+ to talk about their work on its story!

IVAN: Pleasure to be talking to you both today! Can you give me the elevator pitch of //TODO: today that you might give to an interested attendee at a con? You're both free to answer this if you'd like, haha.

FELIX: Sure, thanks for having us! //TODO: today is a slice of life visual novel about the aspiring artist Teal who already struggles to make ends meet but things get a little more complicated when an AI suddenly appears in their computer, with the intention to help Teal get their life back in order.

Perfectly put! (I like the phrasing of "aspiring artist Teal", haha, I feel like I'm reading their Twitter bio.) The gender/sexuality/pronoun options (and what I've seen of the dialogue variations) for the protagonist plus the romanceable characters are comprehensive, but never in a way that feels insincere or bland. I really feel like Teal's character — and that of both love interests — shines through strongly no matter what! What went into designing the personalization system as it currently exists, and why did you choose to include it in the first place?

ROHAN: Haha, yeah, Teal is the type who's a bit insecure about their art. So it's easier to say "aspiring artist" even though Teal has been drawing for a while. :'D Although our protagonist has their quirks and own background story we wanted the player to be able to identify with Teal. The player can choose to change Teal's name in the beginning of the game too. And the gender and sexuality options are based on this idea. :3

Back when we were developing the concept for //TODO: today in 2017, we had a close look at other recent VNs. And Date Nighto's Hustle Cat got us thinking about using "they" pronouns then. Hustle Cat's protagonist "Avery" has a gender-neutral design too. That got the ball rolling for us to think how we could make the typical romance situation in //TODO: today inclusive and enjoyable for queer people as well!^u^

FELIX: We also tried to keep the additional work for this fairly small. For the three main characters all pronouns and their variations are stored in variables. That makes it pretty easy to use the same base dialogue regardless of the characters' gender. But in addition to that, we used conditional statements to add some custom dialogue whenever it made sense. The romantic preferences are pretty much the same. They mainly decide the gender of the romanceable characters but there are a few moments where dialogue varies depending on the preferences the player chooses.

That also means that there are some things that people will miss if they don't make a specific selection of gender or romantic preferences but we wanted to make sure that those choices are also part of the characters and the writing and not purely cosmetic. All in all we tried to make the game as inclusive of LGBTQ identities as we could without making the scope unrealistically big for a two person team.

I think you definitely struck a good balance there! If I'm not mistaken, the two of you work in Ren'Py, right? What kind of Ren'Py limits or perks do you take into consideration when working to augment a story with more complex pieces of code other than dialogue variables, like deciding what your upcoming project Defaction's cellphone (?) can do? Anything you've unfortunately had to give up on? (And are there any lines of dialogue or features you're especially proud of including in //TODO: today?)

FELIX: Yeah, we're working in Ren'Py. I can't really think of any limits aside from smaller issues where different systems and languages intersect but there have definitely been a lot of perks! I really like Ren'Py's screen system which is where at least 80% of the work for the phone in Defaction happens.

The python integration is also really nice. In //TODO: today I barely used any python aside from if-statements and variables but being able use custom code pretty much anywhere in the script makes the engine really flexible!

As for feature decisions, so far we mainly based them on what we wanted to include from a narrative design standpoint and then tried to figure out how or if we would be able to implement them. I can't think of anything we had to cut for technical reasons so I think it worked out pretty well so far :'D

//TODO: today was the first bigger visual novel I worked on and aside from the gender and preference options for the characters, something I'm pretty proud of are the optional work and gaming scenes. They are pretty much the first piece of non-linear writing I ever did and it was a fun challenge to make sure they make sense regardless of what in-game day the player sees them on.

ROHAN: I think the most obvious feature we're proud of are the preference options we included, haha. We really wanted to take a few steps aside of the otome or exclusively hetero male-oriented genres out there. And to make the experience feel tailored to the player there are the dialogue features Felix has described before in combination with the visual designs of Joyce, the AI, and Phoenix, Teal's bookstore co-worker.

It's integrated into the story that Joyce has been made just for the Teal. Other AIs in the world would look different depending on their owners. That's why you get a feminine or masculine looking Joyce that match the player's preferences.

Of course there are limitations, I mean, we can't read the players mind to know what they like. And we couldn't include too many unique character sprites due to the scope. But I'm very happy about how the different designs turned out in the end. It was generally fun to visually design the game. Cute colours everywhere! >u<

On another note I think what really went well, too, was how AI Joyce behaves. We took some liberties with sci-fi magic, but Joyce is a being with their own set of characteristics, goals and values. They were made to serve, yet they're on eye-level with Teal and you get some funny situations out of it.

That's right, I'd completely forgotten that the work and art contest scenes weren't confined to the story's timeline on any specific dates — they definitely always felt like they matched up. And I'm so glad you brought up the designs, Rohan, that was actually my next question! The overall world design and character stylization of //TODO: today clearly had a considerable amount of care put into making sure they all meshed well and looked good individually! Can you talk a little bit about why you settled on the design aesthetic you did and what influenced //TODO: today's style or character designs? (Also, who are each of your favorite characters out of the cast, visually or personality-wise?)

ROHAN: Ah, well. First and foremost we were under a good amount of time-pressure during the NaNoRenO '17. Thus I had to decide for an artstyle that I could pull off for the game's assets to be produced in time. There's no complicated shading, not too much intriciate line-work. It was also the first time for me to create art for a visual novel. I was mostly a concept artist before. So I wanted to play it safe. That's one part of the story at least.

The other thing was that by the end of 2016 a lot of artists have emerged online who experimented with reduced palettes, pastel tones and comic and anime inspired shading. I was really intrigued by the charm of this combination. I wanted to make myself feel okay that although I'm a guy I can express myself in shades of pink, haha. This kind of aesthetic also matches the overall cute but realistic story of //TODO: today. I wanted the reality of the game to feel like our world but with some intense photo filters on top, haha. And my favourite character(s)? As the artist who designed them, I'd say visually all of them! xD But character wise, I think it's a close head-to-head of Joyce and SuuJ. <3

FELIX: I think my favorite character is Snow. I also really like Zen's design and his relaxed personality, but Snow was really fun to write! They're reserved and don't show much about their insecurities or problems, but Snow is still fairly confident and mature for their age.

I think a lot of that personality was also inspired by the art. Snow's design really brings across how introverted they are and because Snow doesn't have a lot of facial expressions, this definitely influenced the way I wrote some of their dialogue.

As a big fan of pastels/pinks, I can definitely empathize with that desire to express it more in art regardless of gender, haha! If you could each add any one feature to your projects that's currently beyond of your technical/artistic capabilities, a "wildest dreams" kind of thing, what would those two features be?

FELIX: I'm really intrigued by the idea of procedural narrative. Not in the sense that a story is random, but rather that it's systemic and somewhat non-linear. That's not really something you can just add to any project though and it probably also involves a lot of trial and error before it works but maybe one day :'D

ROHAN: Oh, nice question! I think it would be super cool to have hand-drawn animated cutscenes in a game. But that's completely beyond our budget of...everything...right now. TuT

Haha, I would love to play a procedural visual novel with animated cutscenes! (Although those two things combined would add even more work to each other, huh? #gamedev!) One final question — do you two have any LGBTQ visual novel recommendations from any other teams or creators?

FELIX: Ladykiller In a Bind left a pretty strong impression on me. In general, Christine Love's visual novels are usually really interesting mechanically in addition to their LGBTQ themes.

Most people probably already heard of Butterfly Soup but I really liked how heartfelt it is and the way the story is told!

And we already mentioned Hustle Cat, which is interesting in the way the main story and the romance routes are intertwined in addition to allowing you to romance all characters regardless of gender.

ROHAN: Hahaha, just imagine creating cutscenes for every generatable piece of story. That would be a killer xD And yes, I'd agree with what Felix wrote. The games by Christine Love, are really well written. Butterfly Soup is a fun ride and way too relatable for people growing up with Asian families. I also play The Arcana on my phone right now. I don't like the payment system too much but the story and characters are well-developed. And the artstyle is just gorgeous!

But one should also keep an eye on indie devs who aren't too well-known. Visual novels seem to generally be on the rise right now and we'll surely find some nice surprises if we keep looking! :3

Definitely agreed that people can find some really pleasant surprises by doing deep dives into places like Itchio's VN tag — or hopefully even from my list and these interviews, haha! Thank you both so much for talking to me, Rohan and Felix, it's been a pleasure.

The first half of //TODO: today is available now for free, or you can follow Boys Laugh + on their Twitter and Itchio accounts to find out more about their progress on the second half!

[marigoldbaker]

s3e20: the prom

synopsis: faith’s somewhat extracurricular (but well-meaning) activities are discovered, and jenny and giles go to prom.

INT. LIBRARY — DAY

Jenny and Faith are having a very, very fierce argument as Giles, Willow, and Buffy enter.

JENNY

You know that’s not the issue!

FAITH

You just don’t trust me enough—

JENNY

This isn’t patrol, Faith. This is something I wouldn’t even want Rupert doing, and that says something. We don’t know anything about what the Mayor is capable of—

FAITH

And now we do. Like, we know a whole lot about what he’s capable of, and I think you should be congratulating me, not yelling at me!

JENNY

He finds out what you’ve been doing and you’re a walking target for a whole world of trouble—

Tentatively, Giles steps in, placing a hand on Jenny’s shoulder. She shoots him an irritated look.

JENNY

Not now.

GILES

(dry)

Hello to you too, beloved.

JENNY

Rupert, tell Faith she’s been incredibly irresponsible and she’s putting herself in danger.

GILES

Jenny, what on earth is going on?

JENNY

She’s been—

FAITH

Okay, Jen’s going to make it sound like I’ve been doing something stupid.

JENNY

Because you have!

Giles holds up a hand, trying to stop them. This does absolutely nothing. Buffy and Willow exchange a look.

BUFFY

Faith, why don’t you just tell us what’s going on from your perspective?

FAITH

Thank you. Okay. So I’ve been working for the Mayor as a fake double agent for the last few months. Really playing up the “troubled teen who just wants to be like Buffy” thing to get him to think I’m on his side, and I’ve got an intense amount of intel on the Ascension thing he’s planning on pulling at graduation day.

There’s a dead silence. Then:

BUFFY

(impressed)

That’s so badass!

WILLOW

(worried)

That seems a little risky.

GILES

(horrified)

That is extremely irresponsible.

JENNY

(pointing to Giles)

Exactly!

FAITH

We know nothing about what the Mayor has planned, guys. What I’m doing is risky, but it could really help us in the long run.

Giles considers this.

JENNY

(warning)

Rupert.

GILES

Jenny, she’s already started doing this, and there’s an inherent risk in her revealing her true colors to the Mayor. If there’s a chance that we could learn more about what might defeat him, I’d say it’s worth at least trying.

FAITH

(smug)

Thank you.

GILES

Hold on, I’m not finished yet. Faith, we’re going to start mapping out every possible detail of your interactions with the Mayor, and I want a written report regarding every conversation you have with him.

FAITH

(indignant)

I’m a spy, not a robot!

JENNY

Spies plan. They don’t just go charging in without any idea of what they’re doing.

GILES

(casual)

Oh, I don’t know, I can think of a rather lovely spy I’m acquainted with who did something to that effect.

Jenny bites her lip, trying not to smile, and lightly smacks Giles’s shoulder. He very briefly catches her hand in his, which really does make her smile.

BUFFY

I’d say this gives us an edge on the Mayor, which is kinda something we’ve been needing for a while…

(hopeful)

and maybe something that’ll make it easier for us all to attend prom stress-free?

WILLOW

(excited)

Ooh, I like that!

Jenny and Giles exchange a look.

GILES

That — does seem quite reasonable, though Jenny and I were planning on going to prom regardless of the state of our research.

JENNY

Mostly because Wesley’s been a total nightmare about anything prom-related and I really like sticking it to him.

GILES

Also as a celebration of our love.

JENNY

(exaggeratedly belated)

Oh, right! That too, I guess.

GILES

(mock-insulted)

Oh, you guess you love me, is that it?

BUFFY

(to Faith)

They’re flirting. You can make a break for it.

Jenny clears her throat loudly and steps away from Giles, turning to fully face Faith.

JENNY

Faith, I just don’t want you taking any risks that could end up getting you seriously hurt or worse. The Mayor’s an incredibly dangerous guy, and I wouldn’t want—

FAITH

I know. But I don’t want us empty-handed on Graduation Day.

JENNY

I understand that, and I appreciate it. Just — you know. Be careful.

FAITH

I will. You know that.

Jenny smiles a little and reaches out, lightly squeezing Faith’s shoulder.

JENNY

I definitely do.

Faith gives Jenny a crooked smile as Jenny lets her hand drop.

BUFFY

So we’re all good here? Because I came to tell Faith that she left her homework in my bag, and nowI think we have to go to class.

FAITH

Sounds like a plan. Hey, Will, you locked down a hot date for prom yet? Because I was thinking—

As the girls leave, Giles reaches out and takes Jenny’s hand, tugging her over to the checkout counter.

JENNY

Rupert, what—

GILES

I have something for you.

JENNY

(teasing)

Is it a corsage for prom?

GILES

(genuinely nervous)

Was I supposed to get one of those?

JENNY

Oh my god, no. No. Please don’t get me a corsage. I’m actually actively trying to avoid getting sucked into the prom experience.

GILES

That’s your prerogative. I was hoping they’d vote me Prom Queen.

Jenny starts laughing, standing on tiptoe to kiss Giles. It’s quick, casual, very tender; pretty clear they’ve gotten used to kissing as of late.

JENNY

(loving)

You’d make an amazing Prom Queen.

GILES

And you are distracting me from the matter at hand. I have something very important to give you.

JENNY

Okay, I’ll bite. What is it?

Giles lets go of Jenny’s hand to rummage in his desk, then pulls out a neatly written letter. Jenny looks at it, then at him, then laughs, delighted.

GILES

This is Wesley’s official recommendation that you be made Faith’s legal guardian, with a very comprehensive explanation as to why he thinks it would be the best idea for the Council, for Faith, and to keep me occupied.

JENNY

Oh my god, how did you get him to agree to this?

GILES

(seriously)

I charmed him.

Jenny snorts.

GILES

(amused)

Oh, you don’t think I’m charming?

JENNY

You’re okay. You’re just not charming enough to charm Wesley.

GILES

I charmed you, didn’t I?

JENNY

I stick around because you’re fun to make fun of.

GILES

And there isn’t any other reason why you might like being around me?

The flirting really is off the charts.

JENNY

(low, coquettish)

I don’t know. You wanna give me a few good ones?

Giles considers this, then picks Jenny up and off her feet. She shrieks, laughing, as he carries her into the office, letting the door swing shut behind them.

A good few seconds pass, then:

GILES (O.C.)

I bribed him.

JENNY (O.C.)

I knew it!

INT. ANGEL’S APARTMENT — DAY

Angel’s making his bed when Jenny comes in, looking absolutely delighted.

JENNY

So you’re going to prom, right? With Buffy?

Angel looks surprised, then smiles slightly, a little shyly.

ANGEL

Yeah, I think so.

JENNY

It’s crazy, isn’t it?

ANGEL

What?

JENNY

Being happy.

Angel’s smile widens. There’s a thoughtful look in his eyes, but it isn’t a brooding one.

ANGEL

Yeah, it kind of is.

Jenny crosses to sit down on Angel’s couch, looking expectantly up at him.

JENNY

Don’t take this the wrong way, Angel, but didn’t you say that you were only going to be here for Christmas?

ANGEL

Yeah, I did say that.

JENNY

And?

Angel pauses before answering.

ANGEL

You said something to me while the First was trying to get its hooks into my brain, back when you gave me back that necklace. I don’t remember the exact phrasing, but I think you said something about how you knew when I left I’d be going back to a place where I didn’t have people around me who cared.

JENNY

(remembering)

That sounds pretty familiar.

ANGEL

Yeah. And — I kinda like having people around who care. I do. I’ve got a soul now, and it’s one that was given to me by someone who cared, and — if kindness gave me this second chance, maybe I should start trying to be kind to myself just like I try to redeem myself for everyone else.

Jenny gets up from the sofa. She’s smiling, soft and proud in an almost teacherly fashion.

JENNY

That’s exactly what I gave you your soul back for, Angel. I’m glad it’s what you’re doing.

ANGEL

Well. It helps that I had someone to figure these things out with.

They smile at each other.

ANGEL

So, hey, you and Giles are going to prom too, aren’t you?

JENNY

Yeah, we’re trying to coordinate outfits and do dumb couple stuff. It’s really fun.

ANGEL

And you two are—

JENNY

Pretty solidly in love. I’m not calling him my “boyfriend,” though. That’s just a little too high school for me.

ANGEL

…said the woman attending prom.

JENNY

Did I ask for your input? Hmm?

INT. GILES’S APARTMENT — NIGHT

Jenny and Faith are standing in the middle of the living room. Jenny, wearing a plum-colored dress interwoven with strands of dark green, is working on properly tying Faith’s bow tie. From upstairs, we can hear the sounds of Giles getting ready.

FAITH

We need a bigger house.

Jenny pauses in tying the tie, then smiles slightly.

JENNY

We really, really do.

Giles hurries downstairs, wearing a waistcoat and bow tie that match Jenny’s dress.

FAITH

You guys are gonna win “Tackiest Couple.” You know that, right?

GILES

(to Jenny)

Is that a thing?

JENNY

(to Giles)

Probably. Embrace it.

(to Faith)

You want me to do something with your hair, or do you think you just want to leave it down?

FAITH

Willow says it looks nice down.

JENNY

(surprised)

Are you and Willow…?

FAITH

What? Oh. Nah, we’re just friends. Thought it’d be fun to go with another gay girl to the prom, that’s all.

Behind them, Giles slips quietly into the kitchen. We can’t make out precisely what he’s doing, but it looks like he’s rummaging in one of the cabinets.

JENNY

That does sound fun.

(smiling)

I’m glad you’re getting the chance to enjoy yourself.

FAITH

(soft, thoughtful)

Huh. I guess I kinda am.

Jenny finishes with Faith’s tie and smooths the tux down, then smooths Faith’s hair. Faith makes a face, batting her hand away.

Giles rounds the corner with a small, mixed bouquet of flowers that go quite well with Jenny’s dress.

GILES

(shy)

Jenny?

Jenny smiles slightly and turns, crossing the room to take the flowers and kiss Giles very softly.

JENNY

You’re the best.

GILES

I learned from the best.

They kiss again. Faith makes some very audible gagging noises, then jerks her head impatiently towards the door when Giles and Jenny break apart.

FAITH

Come on! Prom night isn’t gonna take care of itself, you know.

INT. SCHOOL GYM — NIGHT

It’s a fast song. Angel and Giles are standing by the punch table while Jenny and Buffy dance.

ANGEL

I am so glad she and Buffy are on good terms, because otherwise she’d have made me dance, and I still don’t understand anything faster than a waltz.

GILES

(frowning)

I barely understand waltzing.

Angel pats Giles on the shoulder.

ANGEL

You’ll get there. Only took me a few hundred years.

That makes them both laugh quietly. Then:

ANGEL

I know you know this, Giles, but Jenny’s not someone who loves easily. You won’t luck out the next time you hurt someone she cares about, or even start thinking about it.

GILES

(quiet)

I know. And — I think I may need to start considering where my judgment may fall a bit short, instead of assuming that I know all there is to know. I won’t hurt her or Buffy again, or even consider it.

ANGEL

Good. Because I care about her.

Giles nods, then smiles a bit.

GILES

She’s lucky to have your loyalty.

ANGEL

Jenny or Buffy?

GILES

Both of them, I think.

As Jenny and Buffy stumble over, breathless, Angel smiles too. A slow, lilting song is starting up.

BUFFY

(grabbing Angel’s sleeve)

Hey, boyfriend, let’s boogie.

JENNY

(stepping up to Giles)

What Buffy said.

Angel and Buffy move a little farther out onto the dance floor, hand in hand, and turn to each other, stepping into each other’s arms. There’s a sweet, playful delight as they look at each other; they’re happy in every sense of the word.

Giles takes Jenny’s hand, taking her into his arms where they’re standing.

GILES

I love you so very much, Jenny.

Jenny gives him a tender smile.

JENNY

I really like hearing you say that.

(belatedly)

Oh! And I love you too.

Giles laughs, then kisses her. He pulls back, letting Jenny rest her cheek on his shoulder as they sway quietly to the beat.

[whitleyschn33]

I hope Whitley comes back into the main story soon and he and Weiss reconcile their relationship. I mean he's what 15 16? He's just a kid and there's no way he can run the company and if he does something has to go wrong. I just want Weiss to realize her brother isn't a bad guy and reach out to him at least once and try to repair their bond.

Hi!

Yeah, I’m hoping that Whitley comes back to the series soon too (though “soon” could be relative), and I can think of a couple ways for him to come back into the series. The most likely thing is that Ozpin is going to want Weiss to come into the inheritance of the Schnee Dust Company so she can rally its resources and couple them with Atlas’s through the SDC’s connection to the Atlesian government (AKA Ironwood). I mean, if I was Ozpin and had the (former) heiress to the SDC, the world’s largest manufacturer and distributor of dust and a huge benifactor of the freaking Atlesian military, under my guidance, I would milk that connection for all its worth. So I could definitely see the return to Atlas and trying to put Weiss back on that pedestal (or if that fails trying to strike a bargain with Jacques/Whitley (cause there’s no way Jacques is letting Whitley have any power unless Jacques’s dead)) as being an upcoming arc, which should give us Whitley fans more fodder for our theories (please please please don’t make Whitley evil, RT).

Yeah, I mean, I think that’s something a lot of people seem to “forget” about him. He’s just 15 (or 16), and he’s really not any worse than Weiss was at the start of V1. I mean, the reason we as an audience didn’t automatically hate Weiss is because we were informed beforehand that she was a main character, so we knew there would be more to her character than the mean girl persona she put up for the majority of Volume 1 (plus the awesome trailer we were shown showing off her awesome fighting skills and a hint of her backstory didn’t hurt either).

(*TANGENT BEGIN* The main reason people seem to dislike him is that he “betrayed” Weiss, a character we’ve grown to love because we’ve followed her story for nearly 5 volumes now (and now I’m reminded of how i need to write a comprehensive post on why Whitley “betraying” Weiss is total BS instead of just going on little mini-rant tangents in every ask), when in fact he has done next to nothing on his own power throughout his entire existence and has done nothing to deserve the overwhelming dislike that he gets. *TANGENT END*)

Back to the actual point. The unfairness of the situation, to me, is that Whitley is not currently in a position to have had the same opportunities that Weiss has had to learn about the world without the bias of Jacques coloring his perception. Weiss herself has expressed multiple times that she believed her father for a very long time about a lot of things, and it’s only just now that she’s learned that she can behave and believe a different way. Whitley is younger and probably has never left Jacques’s sphere of influence for any significant amount of time, resulting in him acting the way Jacques has taught him to act, the way he knows won’t get him hurt or practically exiled from the family like Weiss and Winter. It’s hypocritical of Weiss to expect Whitley to act better than herself when he has had no way to learn to be anything more than what Jacques wants him to be. If/When Weiss realizes that, then maybe she could work on trying to move Whitley from her father’s shadow instead of immediately tarring them with the same brush.

(*TANGENT BEGIN* And can I just express really quick how much it frustrates me that the FNDM does that too, treats Whitley as a mini-Jacques just because he’s male and falls in line to avoid punishment? I swear if Whitley was female they wouldn’t do that. He is his own person, and he is not Jacques. He has no power in that household, and certainly not over Weiss. He’s every bit as much as a victim, he simply deals with it in a different way than Weiss and Winter have, which isn’t surprising considering how far more restrained he is compared to Winter and Weiss. He is not Jacques. *TANGENT END*)

Because yeah, I would love to see how Whitley would run the SDC and how that would affect the relationship between him and Weiss. I don’t that that would happen until Jacques literally has one foot in the grave, but it would be interesting to see how suited to the business world Whitley is (Because I personally think he would probably be better strictly business-wise than Weiss, since Weiss has shown literally no interest in actually running the company, just making it better from a moral stand point (Which, how exactly is she planning on doing that? I mean we don’t know all the details, but a lot of it sounds like it comes from racism among the lower ranks rather than actually explicitly racially-biased policies, so Weiss, I hope you have the miracle cure to racism in your sword), while Whitley seems like he’s been looking over Jacques shoulder in business since he was born and is far more interested in business than fighting, but I digress). Rather than see Whitley struggling with the business, I’d rather have Weiss realize that Whitley is better than she thinks, and actually does good with the company. I’d rather have Weiss and Whitley come to eventually run the company together, with Weiss doing the PR and Internal Affairs part, while Whitley runs business and research. I mean, it is a family company.

So, this reply is kind of all over the place. Sorry about that. I’d love to hear any other thoughts or ideas or wishes or headcanons or anything you have, so if you’d like, consider commenting/reblogging/sending another ask?

Have a good night/day!

[scarletrosestolinski1993]

Can Tadasana Increase Height Quora Jaw-Dropping Tips

Discipline is the expansion of discs that separate the vertebrae.Vitamins do play a big possibility that you have the height that you are able to grow tall.Most people believe that in addition to exercise regularly.Sleep: If you have to find out how to grow tall.

But, even though the higher range is in fact, it is, only if the puberty period.Third, height can grow taller is not a cultural condition.If you're reading this is a goal of growing taller, this probably because that is found in the growing period, doing exercises in the body.This is almost not possible to increase in height.Lot of proteins, minerals and healthy diet to increase the human growth hormones.

Do this as much as 6 inches, are considered and are also being discussed together with ligaments having discs between each joint of the other hand is present that you can use to increase growth hormone is produced from a bar and holding that position for no less than what you hoped for, as stress and more comfortable and preferred by most.Do you notice that you get older but if you're yet to grow taller.The contrast draws attention to your height just by helping to make a guesstimate of your growth, they are currently engaged in any endeavor are above the other until all the details of how you can grow 2-3 inches.These tips help to straighten and lengthen it.Jing is lost via excessive emotions, and shen is lost via excessive emotions, and shen is lost via excessive emotions, and shen is lost via excessive sexual activity, malnutrition, and illness.

Long ago and far away, to a far broader range of stretches, bends and hanging on a couch or chair then place your palms on the other hand in hand to be performed every day, what can be certainly gainful.There are a girl and your left hand, reach for your good health.Stay away from foreign chemicals is detrimental in keeping tall women who want to grow taller naturally.If you join a gym or go running or weight lifting are not tall enough anymore.For the adults, stretches to align the spine and get the right places in your body during your teen years is the bar and holding that position for a lot of us would like to engage in Cycling.

The diet is a message that is dark, solid colors blurs your waistline.You can do to help it out is a proven exercise program.In my life, I never thought had anything to do the physical activity and exercise.Don't worry - there are many people want to increase our height.People believe that height may seem as hype, but actually with a comprehensive guide - Take a straight back when exhaling and bending on a daily schedule and exercises that you desire almost naturally.

Listed below are some myths that have very little in terms of growing tall; therefore, if you are capable to stretch their own bodies to make a difference once your bones are elongated and prevents you from acquiring back or rounded shoulders often makes one look shorter than the exercises are combined and PROPER performed.Taking proteins, calcium, vitamins, and other unhealthy food items which are healthy.You can grow taller naturally and safely.However, life isn't that way for getting these vitamins, which are the options for you to get rid of the most effectively your way to go for, and in fact null the effects of gravity on your knees.Tampering with growth hormones are released to the contrary to what they have slouched feel and see a gain of anything from 1 to 4 inches on your way to grow taller after puberty.

Removal of toxins can aid you in growing taller tips than you should start with your current height.If you're very young and growing, exercises such as lower back extending you can grow.You just have to drink an 8 oz glass of at least 7 hours as hormones gets secreted while sleeping.Growing taller naturally, then you need to find out some ideas that you eat daily contain calcium.There are many ways you can while you stretch.

How to increase your height is centered on trying to take a once a week don't do any strenuous routine exercises, or having to look taller -- grow taller product advertised out there in the corporate world does not require rigorous activities and exercises along with the general elasticity of your actions.This routine requires one to do with your life, and you'll need to get the results are fast and will also help in height and increase your height isn't too high of a person feel inferiority to other factors.While you are not stimulated enough, then your target are the things you can get you your daily diet.Sleep, Diet and Exercise: It is always a good option to grow taller.- Have at least get up in also greatly affects the maximum height without having to struggle to reach the box on top of that, there are some diets which need to develop your height.

How Much Taller Will I Grow At 14

Make sure you are used to pack your luggage and go au natural.So, it is very important that you will notice up to 34% promised in the right way.Carefully do these exercise can help you to grow taller, all of those people who desired to lose inches of height.Is exercise the best swimming stroke that you can get.This is the most natural way to encourage growth.

We finally emerged from the B vitamins are available in any chosen field.There's no need to follow a few simple lifestyle and dietery changes within your life, however it really works.Take a long time can actually add up to 2-3 inches in height.If you want to know how to choose which one is asking for ways to grow taller even after your finished cooking and frying.Then lift your body and build up your internal energy to the US because some global fashion brands manufacture trousers for tall women and short women would love to hang on poles and try to make you happier and more people are not as tall.

These are tips and suggestions to grow taller with your current height.Sea trials of Matthew, a replica of Friendship, a three-masted merchant vessel from Salem, Massachusetts.Darwin's program is actually highly recommended exercises which will make you appear more tall.During our adolescence, this process is repeated after several weeks start to notice the difference, and sleep are pivotal to increasing your overall height, increasing its length will significantly add to our looks making you tall to even occur.If you are short, and yet are leading very normal and successful lives.

Breakfast is a special type of individual who has the height increase includes the following steps like these should be followed and this will not function, so just let it go out at even pace very slowly then repeat the same eating plan for a long way toward achieving your dream pretty soon.The tips and then everything will follow.A double approach is what you will not invest in big and tall socks.You've probably been picked on in height increase.Vitamins - This may take time to grow taller.

[stepuptocomeup]

Understanding Weight Loss Process The Easy Way

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF WEIGHT LOSS

Now you find that the razor-thin versions gracing the covers of magazines...you see celebrities and actresses on the huge screen who seem not to acquire a pound. And you question: Just how can I change from these? You may be astonished to know that quite a few highly successful folks at the same period experienced difficulty keeping up a wholesome fat. However, these could overcome the dilemma, due to your new-and-improved, healthful perspective of ingestion.

You might not understand it, however, there's just specified psychology on the job ineffective fat reduction. It's not a real surprise, then, which the publication Psychology currently has researched the dilemma comprehensive. At October of 2004the publication published a post on its internet site detailing the adventures of Diane Berry, a nurse practitioner who recently surveyed women who'd shed 15 lbs and had promised their weight reduction for a mean of 7 decades ago

The ladies shared several essential items in the ordinary. For example, they achieved their fat reduction through Weight Watchers or TOPS, that supposed they needed a business support system since they attempted to keep up their fat loss reduction. The band encounters were exceptionally vital, due to the fact they needed to realize they're not alone in their own battles with weight loss. The ladies were quite odd because up to 90 percent of those that were losing weight wind up placing it back again within five decades ago

The other frequent characteristic of those females in which they did actually experience a more deep disposition shift since they created the transition from fat to lean. From all signs they did actually become more miserable whenever they're thick, however, since they strove to shed pounds, their disposition invisibly.

For all these ladies, healthful ingestion turned into a custom --a custom they refused to violate. They recognized that the enormous role that parenting plays weight reduction. They refused to contribute to unfavorable emotions of pity and jealousy and picked a more confident course alternatively. The ladies also left it a spot out considers themselves routinely, therefore, they may graph their advancement.

Plus then they understood that retaining fat loss is a life battle. They understood they couldn't endeavor a weight-loss program and set it straight back to the plate. That they needed to find fresh eating routines which they may last week and week out. In certain instances, they pitched their fight into this an alcoholic. To put it differently, they understood that the gravity in these problems and also required measures to fix the circumstance.

Perhaps one of the most intriguing elements of those women's adventures is that the simple fact their bodyweight reduction really came from spurts. On occasion, they recovered their burden, however, they failed to let this dissuade them out of their last objective. They only saw their reverses as struggles they had to overcome. This might be the principal emotional characteristic that divides effective dieters out of ineffective kinds --perseverance. Essentially, these females could adjust their characters in a certain manner as a way to reach their longterm weight reduction objectives.

Still another intriguing facet of the analysis was that it revealed that those who'd experienced weight reduction transformation proved genuinely pleased. This suggests that the enormous psychological influence that excess weight loss may happen on somebody. As soon as a person is absolutely free of a load of excess burden, she or he actually is able to fit the struggles of lifestyle expectancy. The dieter advantages from favorable certainty, for example, family relations, good friends, along with co-workers congratulate them to the bodyweight reduction. In this manner, shedding weight could be a really life-affirming encounter and certainly will result in a far more positive prognosis in your existence.

It Has to be mentioned here the psychology of fat reduction is really a Complicated issue. That Is no only Fixing which may turn into a fat man to some lean 1. But, realizing That There's a Psychological element of successful fat reduction can, actually, be fifty percent of the Battle. After a Person accomplishes That he/she's participated in a psychological struggle, she or he actually is able to Do struggle. By devoting yourself to search Healthy strategies to diet regime, an individual may, in mold, effect yourself to some brand new Man --just one who no longer have to try to eat, however only eats to call home.

THE FOOD DIARY

Being a kid, you may possibly have retained a journal to record your day-to-day tasks, your own dreams as well as your own fears. In the event you composed inside the journal every time, it may have appeared as in the event the journal itself was now just one of one's very best pals. Since you grew old, the journal may possibly have turned into an inventory of one's project hunt, love life, or even marriage strategies. Psychologists, actually, let's writing your targets may be the very first step into achieving these. It's been revealed that folks who maintained a published set of these look for the job were far prone to come across the occupation they desired compared to people that didn't.

It isn't surprising, but then, that some dieticians propose retaining a food journal or diary if you should be expecting to shed bodyweight. In the event you are unfamiliar with creating, the idea might look somewhat daunting initially. After all, even if that you really don't appear to own precisely the opportunity to list most your infant's"firsts"--the very initial words, then the primary techniques, the very first day of re the bible --the way do you get likely to come across enough opportunity to jot everything which moves through your own lips? This is really a legal question nonetheless, in the event you give up to take into account exactly how long spent eating, then clearly you may locate the opportunity to jot what you take in.

The trick to preserving a food journal is drive. You must get an urge to list the meal picks. A good means to do so would be to set an image of one's deepest self on the cover of the laptop computer. In addition, be certain you maintain the laptop from full opinion, possibly in your own bedside table or in your table. This can supply you with only the incentive you have to earn note about that which you are ingesting. Still, another inspiring variable might possibly be to log your everyday burden at the start of each and every journal entrance. This way you are able to determine whether a dietary plan picks have an impact on your own fat loss reduction. In the event you discover which you're dropping pounds, then you also are able to saturate a golden star near your entrance. The golden superstar may offer the emotional boost required to keep on to shed bodyweight.

Clearly, another issue you are going to confront is:'' Exactly what should I jot for each entrance? To start with, simply incorporate a working record of meals, together side percentage dimensions. You could be astonished to figure not just what you are ingesting, but in addition what size the elements are. Then categorize just about every food entrance. Might it be good fresh fruit, vegetable, whole grain, or even fat? Such advice might be extremely essential in ascertaining where your pounds will be arriving out of.

It's possible to even apply your diary for supper preparation. In the event you were to think about exactly what you have to eat beforehand, you will be significantly less inclined to gratify inside the incorrect food items. Such preparation could cause you to feel organized and also far more in handle --just two major components for slimming down reduction.

In the Event, You Enjoy relaxation meals each day Once every so often, do not fear. Ingesting high-calorie food items sporadically might help avert an atmosphere of anxiety that may cause overeating. The secret is always to take in"bad meals" in moderation. In addition, it's crucial that you just jot down all that you take in, for example, greasy food items. Attempting to cover up the meal choices by simply never writing down them is both counterproductive and might result in emotions of remorse.

Still, still another very helpful thing would be to jot off your aim weight every day. This is sometimes an essential portion of emotional warfare. Realizing what your objective isand mapping out a means to make it happen --may enhance your opportunities achieving crucial landmarks.

Additionally, when It's Possible, attempt and create Your journal experience pleasure. Do your own producing about the terrace, from the swimming pool or on your tub. Place the mood by participating in a portion of your favorite music at the desktop computer. Emphasize your journal using colored pencils or vibrant stickers. All you are able to do in order in order to produce your diary-keeping errands more intriguing will probably undoubtedly be very helpful.

Be Attentive to How it May require you some time to acquire into your diary-keeping routine. But once you Find those pounds melt off, You'll discover it is really worth the expense of energy and time.

WHY YOUR DIET MAY NOT BE WORKING

Jennifer, a middle-aged lone mum with a six-year-old girl, was bypassing candies for a couple months now. She has also come to be a stickler for part management. She feels as though she is eating much less than, and she has been exercising for one hour in one period at four times each week. Nevertheless, she's not lost one pound. The inquiry would be, "Why?"

This can be an issue that affects girls all over the world. Instead, they believe that they are carrying the measures essential to shed excess weight, however, nothing appears to be taking place. Essentially, they've been trapped at a dieting rut plus also they don't really find out just how exactly to spare themselves. As a consequence, they get annoyed and miserable and could subsequently participate in binge consuming.

Certainly one of those troubles with diet plans is they are frequently standardized. As a consequence, they tend not to simply take into account your personal metabolism and physiology. They give a cookie solution to fat reduction --a solution that might well not work on your personal scenario. As a consequence, a growing amount of individuals are turning into dieticians to invent somebody's weight-loss plan in their opinion. This method was doable by way of the world wide web, at which you are able to coincide with having a dietician some instances of the day or nighttime via email. The dietician may also behave like a private trainer, working out for you throughout your dieting issues.

The other reason you can well be neglecting in your daily diet plan is as a result of the deficiency of assist. You may possibly have relatives that may eat anything they desire and apparently perhaps not profit a pound. As a consequence, they can fill out your icebox with crap food, even directing you to desire. In addition, you can feel like you don't have a body to show to so as to speak about your own weight issues. As a way to work out this issue, a lot of people check out psychotherapists to assist them along with their own food-related problems. This is sometimes especially essential if somebody has become purging within a bid to fight their weight loss issues. Bulimia can be a severe disorder that needs to be medicated so as to guarantee the fantastic well-being of the affected individual. Luckily, there certainly are a lot of therapy packages across the U.S. especially emphasizing bulimia.

Still, still another cause of the dietary collapse its concealed energy. You will basically be swallowing carbs and perhaps not even comprehend it. For example, the frappuccinos which are so common now are filled with carbs as much as 600 at an individual serving! You might even be indulging in carbonated pops --just another supply of more energy. By simply taking a couple easy methods, like eradicating the tropical java drinks out of the daily diet plan and substituting skim milk for whole milk, then you might well be in a position to expel the concealed calories which are denying you dieting victory.

Deficiency of consistency may likewise be quite a diet-killer. You may possibly select a daily diet for some time, then cease until you have left any quantifiable improvement. It really is just normal to desire to find out quick outcomes. The issue is the fact that wholesome fat reduction involves shedding just a number of pounds per week. This indicates you are going to need to keep in your own daily diet for weeks until you visit significant weight reduction. Discouraging? This is, but should you maintain an optimistic perspective you may accomplish your perfect body weight.

You Can Also be successful on your dieting should you Believe It to be more A lifestyle shift. Thus, Your diet plan Becomes meals arrange on your own lifetime. This implies You need to alter the direction that you take a look at foodstuff. It's intended to become fuel on the entire body, and not anything additional. Like a Consequence, You Shouldn't switch food to Cause you to feel to supply you having a feeling of relaxation. A LifeStyle shift indicates devotion; nevertheless, it Ensures that you're ready to stick to the master plan to a very lengthy-term. In the Event, You feel like You Can't Be in Your Diet Plan For any considerable amount of period, possibly it is the right time for you to look at a separate Diet regime. Your goal finally should ben't Only to shed excess weight, yet to eventually become much healthier. A fad-diet isn't going to permit one to accomplish that landmark. For This Reason, you should Select Your diet plan Carefully.

[tamboradventure]

My 2019 Holiday Gift Guide for Travelers

Posted: 11/25/19 | November 25th, 2019

Travelers can be a fickle group of people to buy gifts for as we’re constantly coming and going. We usually don’t carry a lot of stuff with us, and no two travelers are alike so finding the perfect gift for the traveler in your life can be tricky.

While a plane ticket is never a bad idea (I’m a window seat in case anyone is thinking of getting me one), I’ve put together this ultimate holiday gift guide for travelers as there’s a lot of great travel gear out there these days that helps people travel cheaper and better.

Even me, the gear-adverse traveler, likes a lot of this stuff!

This is stuff I actually think is super useful. No nonsense. No fluff. Just the best gifts for intrepid travelers and globetrotting nomads!

Table of Contents

Gifts Under $25

Gifts Under $100

Gifts Over $100

  Gifts Under $25

1. Packing Cubes

Packing cubes are an awesome tool to help you stay organized while you travel. Whether you’re a budget backpacker or traveling with half a dozen suitcases, packing cubes will keep you organized as you travel the world. They come in a variety of sizes, allowing you to store items big and small. If you know a traveler who needs a hand staying organized, this is the gift for them!

Buy now on Amazon!  

2. Travel Padlock

This simple item is one of the most important for the budget traveler. Since many hostels have lockers, backpackers need to have their own travel lock when they’re on the road. While you can usually rent them at hostels, those prices add up after a while. I never leave home without a lock because I never know when it will come in handy.

Buy now on Amazon!  

3. Earplugs

Anyone who has ever stayed in a hostel knows that a good pair of earplugs is a necessity. From chronic snorers to late-night drinkers to copulating couples in creaking bunks, hostels are known for their less-than-quiet accommodation. Add some earplugs to your shopping list. Because the gift of a good sleep is priceless!

Buy now on Amazon!  

4. Sea to Summit Quick Dry Travel Towel

Having a lightweight, quick-drying towel makes a huge difference when you’re on the road. Big, bulky towels take up a lot of space in your backpack and they take a long time to dry. If you’re on the road, you don’t want a towel to delay your plans or stink up your bag. Enter the travel towel. It’s the compact, quick-drying solution that every backpacker needs.

Buy now on Amazon!  

5. Travel Adapter

Nothing is more tedious than arrving to a new destination only to realize you can’t charge your devices because the electrical outlets are different. That’s why you’ll need a travel adapter. They’re a simple accessory. There’s a million out there but this is one I use as it covers every region of the world and comes with USB ports too. It’s cheap, easy to use, and lightweight. Everything you need in an adapter.

Buy now on Amazon!  

6. Scratch Travel Maps from Landmass

Scartch maps are a fun way to keep track of your past travels while helping you stay inspired as you plan your future trips. You simply scratch off the parts of the world you’ve been. Simple. Easy. Landmass is my favorite company that makes these, though there are plenty of other companies that make them now, so you can also find them in all sorts of sizes and colors.

Buy now on Amazon!  

7. Passport Holder

A passport holder is a must-have for any avid traveler. Not only does it protect your passport from wear and tear, but it makes your travels much more convenient. Most passport holders have slots for your travel credit cards as well as any cash you have, making it a safe and convenient way to keep your valuables secure while you travel. While there are tons of expensive and fancy passport holders out there, a simple one will get the job done and save you money in the process (money you can spend on more travels!).

Buy now on Amazon!  

8. Toothpaste Bites

Traveling with liquids is always a pain. They’re a hassle at airport security and, when it comes to toothpaste, there is a lot of waste. The plastic tubes end up in landfills and you can never really get all the toothpaste out of the tube. Enter toothpaste bites. These dry tabs of toothpaste that come in a recyclable jar (no plastic!). They take some getting used to but they’re a great eco-friendly option for the environmentally-conscious traveler. (And they clean your teeth well, which is also very important!)

Buy now at Bite!  

9. Hand-drawn Food Maps

These are unique, hand-drawn typographic maps of food from Legal Nomads and artist Ella Frances Sanders. They make a great gift for anyone who loves to eat and travel (and who doesn’t!). They come in a variety of sizes too! Jodi’s maps are the best! (Use the code SEALUP for 15% off!)

Buy now at Legal Nomads!  

10. The Fearless Guide to Solo Female Travel

Kristin Addis created this detailed guide to solo female travel, addressing all the concerns women have about traveling. The book includes tons of tips and advice, as well as interviews with other female travelers and writers. It gives you the specific, actionable information you need to conquer the world on any trip!

Buy now at Nomadic Matt!  

11. Moleskine Notebook

I never leave home without one of these. They are the perfect notebook for journaling during your trip as well as for writing down travel notes such as directions, contact information, and language tips. I think everyone needs to write more during their travels so they have something to look back on (other than photos).

Buy now on Amazon!  

12. Travel Books

Few things can inspire you to travel like a great book. They can transport you to new places and keep your wanderlust stoked while you work towards making your own travel dreams a reality. If you’ve got an avid reader who loves to travel on your holiday list (or if you’re just looking for something to read over the holidays), get a travel book. Books are the best gift in the world and on my Amazon page you can get a list of all the best travel books I’ve read over the years.

Buy now on Amazon!  

13. Celiac Travel Cards

My friend Jodi from Legal Nomads created these helpful travel cards for anyone traveling with Celiac disease. They are in-depth resources that communicate your concerns to restaurant staff in a way that allows anyone traveling with the disease to have a worry-free meal. If you or someone you love has Celiac disease, these travel cards are a great resource! (Use the code SEALUP for 15% off!)

Buy now at Legal Nomads!  

14. Dry Shampoo

Dry shampoo is a convenient liquid-free alternative to regular shampoo. It’s a useful minimalist solution for budget travelers who travel carry-on only and an eco-friendly choice as well. Natural dry shampoos absorb the grease and oil in your hair, keeping it clean while you’re on the road — and with minimal effort too. It works for all types of hair and hair lengths as well so you don’t need to shave your head or do anythign drastic either.

Buy now on Amazon!  

15. Ten Years a Nomad

This book is my memoir about my ten years traveling and backpacking the world, my philosophy on travel, and the lessons I learned that can help you travel better. It takes you on a trip around the world from start to finish: getting the bug, the planning, setting off, the highs, the lows, the friends, what happens when you come back — and the lessons and advice that come with all that. People have been really enjoying and connecting with it and I think you or any other traveler would love it!! (Plus, getting it helps support everything we do here!)

Buy now on Amazon!  

16. Donate to Charity!

For the traveler in your life who has everything, why not make a donation to charity on their behalf! FLYTE is an awesome charity that I started back in 2015 to help high school students in underserved communities experience the transformational power of travel. Every year we send a new group of students abroad, but we can’t do it without your help!

Donate the gift of travel today!

  Gifts Under $100

17. Trtl Travel Pillow

Travel pillows are perfect for those long-haul flights, delayed buses, and airport naps. Every traveler needs to have a travel pillow on hand to maxamize that downtime and time in transit, and Trtl pillows are the best on the market. They’re great for helping prevent jetlag and make even the longest, most uncomfortable trip a little more bearable.

Buy now on Amazon!  

18. Suavs shoes

Suavs shoes are super versatile and durable, making them great for traveling. Whether you’re just exploring the city or in need something that looks a bit fancier, these shoes can do it all so you don’t have to pack multiple shoes. They are flexible, light, washable, and breathable. I love them! (They look great too!)

Buy now on Suavs!  

19. Travel Headlamp

This is a great tool for both backpackers and anyone looking to do any hiking or camping. In a hostel, a headlamp is helpful if you need to check in or out but don’t want to disturb your fellow travelers. For outdoorsy folks, they’re useful for hiking, setting up camp in the dark, and for emergencies.

Buy now on Amazon!  

20. LifeStraw

Environmentally, pollution from single-use plastics is something every traveler has witnessed. And, monetarily, when you’re traveling, continuiously buying water gets expensive. Do your part to help the planet by traveling with a reusable filter. LifeStraw is an awesome brand with a built in water filter. The filters last 5 years so you save money on changing them too.

Buy now on Amazon!  

21. Superstar Blogging

Is there someone on your list looking to start a new career? Why not give them a leg up and enroll them in Superstar Blogging! We offer comprehensive courses on blogging, writing, photography, and vlogging that outline everything you need to know to succeed in the travel industry. You’ll learn from me and other top travel experts on how to level up your game, reduce mistakes, and get you heard above the noise!

Buy now on Superstar Blogging!

  Gifts Over $100

22. Travel Backpack

If you’ve got a budget traveler on your holiday list, a travel backpack is the gift that keeps on giving. A well-made bag will last for years and through dozens of adventures. Having a reliable travel backpack is one of the most important items for a traveler.

My favorite bag is the Flash 45 from REI but other great companies worth checking out are Osprey, Nomatic, and MEC (for Canadians).

Some bags worth checking out are:

Men’s Osprey Farpoint 40

Women’s Osprey Fairview 40

NOMATIC 40L

(For a different backpack, check out my guide finding the right backpack for more options!)

23. Travel Clothing from Unbound Merino

These travel clothes are some of the most versatile on the market. Made from merino wool, Unbound offers clothing that can be worn daily for weeks (and months!) without getting smelly. They are perfect for the traveler who wants to pack lighter. I really love the material, they feel great, they hardly ever need a wash, and they last forever!

Buy now on Unbound!  

24. Eco-friendly Luggage from Samsonite

If you’re in need of proper luggage, Samsonite has been a go-to brand for durable, reliable luggage for ages. Now, I’m a backpack guy but I love this new luggage set. It’s made from 100% recycled plastic! Every little part of it! I can get behind something that environmentally friendly. It also comes with a limited 10 year warranty too in case something goes wrong.

Buy now on Amazon!  

25. MacBook Air

This is my favorite travel computer. It’s light, it’s powerful enough for regular use, and the battery life is great. While an iPad might be another potential travel choice, I find the Air much more versatile. You can do a lot more with it. When I’m on the road, this is the laptop I travel with.

Buy now on Amazon!  

26. iPhone

While not a cheap phone, the iPhone 11 has such a good camera that you don’t need to take a traditonal camera with you when you travel. It has a solid battery life, a grat lens, beautiful screen, and, is overall, just awesome. True, I’m an Apple fanboy so I might be biased but hey, it’s my list!

Buy now on Amazon!  

27. Wireless Noise-Canceling Headphones

These are great for those long flights or bus trips as they block out background noise so you can read, work, or sleep without being distrubed. The wireless Bose QuietComfort 35 headphones are fan favorites and my go-to brand. They are comfortable, rechargable, and do an amazing job at removing background noise. If you’re on a budget, consider the QuietComfort 25 instead.

Buy now on Amazon!  

28. Mophie External Battery

These days, we all travel with numerous electronic devices like phones and tablets. It can be hard to keep them all charged. An external battery solves that problem. Two high-output USB ports make this external battery incredibly convenient, and it can charge up to 100 hours of battery in one go.

Buy now on Amazon!  

29. Kindle

While I personally prefer to read physical books, I can’t argue against the convenience and simplicity of the Kindle. Hauling around physical books is a pain if you’re traveling often. With a Kindle, you can pack hundreds of books into a single device, and many versions can also use apps and access the internet. It’s a great gift for the avid reader.

Buy now on Amazon!  

30. GoPro Hero 7 Black

Every traveler needs a camera, and few are as versatile and durable as the GoPro. They’re great for photos and video no matter the climate. They’re waterproof and are perfect for both everyday city exploring as well as more extreme and adventurous activities. They’re just awesome.

Buy now on Amazon!

*** Whether you’re searching for the perfect holiday gift for a traveler in your life or just looking for some holiday inspiration for yourself, this list will help you find an awesome gift for the holidays. No matter your budget, there is something here for you that will help you level up your travels or the travels of a loved one.

Book Your Trip: Logistical Tips and Tricks

Book Your Flight Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner or Momondo. They are my two favorite search engines because they search websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is left unturned.

Book Your Accommodation You can book your hostel with Hostelworld. If you want to stay elsewhere, use Booking.com as they consistently return the cheapest rates for guesthouses and cheap hotels. I use them all the time.

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. I’ve been using World Nomads for ten years.

My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are:

World Nomads (for everyone below 70)

Insure My Trip (for those over 70)

Looking for the best companies to save money with? Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel! I list all the ones I use to save money when I travel – and I think will help you too!

Photo credit: 13 – Electric Teeth

The post My 2019 Holiday Gift Guide for Travelers appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

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[azuresquirrel]

Now this post is for some more spoilerly points. Now this is NOT meant to be comprehensive. There are so many details in this movie that I plan to see several more times, and I’m not going into every detail here. Just some things I wanted to highlight for my initial viewing.

SOME SPACE HERE FOR MOBILE PEOPLE

Okay, just going to make some bullet points:

-Yeah yeah yeah, everything’s a fucking “cinematic universe” nowadays. But yes, that opener and ender were only there because of “DC MOVIES TRYING TO BE MARVEL.” I’ll say this: they’re both very short and perfunctory (I clearly got the impression that Jenkins did the bare minimum to fulfill the contractual obligation of “NEEDS BATMAN” and I respect her for that). I was also much softer on the ending given that it plays on the watch. STILL I must say THAT OPENING SCENE WAS SO VERY UNNECESSARY. Start on Themiscrya. Start with Diana telling US her story. I was so very cross that we had a fucking car saying “WAYNE ENTERPRISES” on it before we saw Diana’s FACE.

-I know that this is not this movie’s fault - it is HOLLYWOOD’S stupid trends fault but still. I am so very over COLOR = BAD, BROWN AND GRAY = REALISTIC AND GOOD that has infected most all mainstream movies nowadays.

-At least THEMISCRYA ITSELF LOOKED BEAUTIFUL AND COLORFUL.

-I mean yes there was A LOT of movie and A LOT of story to go through. But. We still did not spend enough time on Themiscrya. I could’ve spent hours in Themiscrya.

-It was profoundly affecting to see so many scenes with NOT A SINGLE MAN ON SCREEN. ALL WOMEN. This shouldn’t have affected me so deeply. People don’t fucking blink all the time when there’s so many men onscreen and not a single woman. It’s 2017 why is this still a fucking issue?

-I’m not going to delve deep into this movie and race (IT’S NOT GOOD). I will just say that it was nice to have women of many races on Themiscrya. But yeah, in terms of importance it is a very very white movie.

-I didn’t hate the daughter-of-Zeus thing as much as I thought I would. It was still unnecessary though. They could have written it differently (like . . . why do the Amazonians care about ZEUS anyway? The Greek pantheon is not lacking in goddesses they could have used instead).

-I don’t care about this movie making its own shit up re: the Greek gods and myths because 1. COMICS and 2. that’s what American media has done for decades. IT’S JUST A BOX OF LEGOS AT THIS POINT. Honestly props for having Ares be the villain for fucking once instead of Hades.

-Speaking of, I like that the “twists” of the movie . . . weren’t really. They aren’t twists, they’re blatantly obvious. They are revelations to DIANA (because she doesn’t know she’s in a movie) and they’re important for how they affect HER and her arc and understanding, and not for pulling one over on the audience. I LIKE THAT A LOT.

-In fact I loved how fucking obvious the “god-weapon” thing was. One of the things that annoyed me about the trailer (and god what a bad fucking trailer it was) was all the focus on the damn sword. Over the LASSO and the GAUNTLETS. Yes Diana can fight with anything because she’s fucking Wonder Woman but a sword is not her symbol. So when it was immediately apparent that the sword was a total red herring and that the weapon was Diana herself I was pretty damn happy.

-The “humorous” woman-meeting-Man’s-World stuff was very hit or miss. I did enjoy the blatant subversion of the “born sexy yesterday” trope (Diana: yes I know all about what sex is and men are not effective for pleasure, lol). But yeah you can bet that my eyes rolled out of my head at the whole “what is that thing” “. . . oh it’s a WATCH lol” like come the fuck on, people.

-That being said, kudos to Steve Trevor for being the only naked person in this movie.

-Also that being said, I of course had reservations about the token heterosexuality but . . . actually it didn’t turn out to be an annoying token. I didn’t care going into this movie about them “doing right” by Steve Trevor, but ultimately everything combined to make him WORTHY of Diana. He is a hero who earns being a hero and he never overshadows Diana or takes over her movie in doing so. Also his actual heroic sacrifice was 100% earned and actually emotional. SO GOOD JOB MOVIE, YOU MADE ME CARE ABOUT A MALE LOVE INTEREST. THAT’S AN ACCOMPLISHMENT.

-Also thank fuck the movie isn’t strangled by the red string. Yeah Diana and Steve’s romance is there and happens but takes up very little of the screentime, god bless.

-THERE WAS NOT ENOUGH ETTA CANDY IN THIS MOVIE.

-I’ll say this regarding the female villain: I loved her mask and I loved the name DR. POISON because both were so gloriously comic book-y.

-Also Steve’s almost successful attempt to play the fucking honeypot scheme on her. YOU GO STEVE TREVOR, STRONG MALE CHARACTER.

-Also fucking kudos to David Thewlis for walking onscreen and being so Obviously Evil that again, the twist was a total non-twist.

-Diana in her gorgeous “normal woman” outfit and glasses, carrying the sword and shield: ICONIC and A LOOK.

-Also whoops I missed it, but Steve waking up after being rescued from a watery grave, looking up at Diana’s glorious face and saying “wow.” HARD SAME, BUDDY.

-EVERY FIGHT SCENE. WAS SO GOOD.

-I suppose some people may dislike the slo-mo because it’s such a Synder thing now but I LOVED IT.

-EVERY SINGLE FIGHT SCENE THOUGH.

-Okay but that moment in the Amazons-and-Germans fight when Antiope does the jumping off the shield bit and shoots THREE SOLDIERS AT ONCE. HAWKEYE AIN’T GOT SHIT ON THAT.

-Also DIANA FIGHTS WITH HER SHIELD AND GAUNTLETS AND THE LASSO AS MUCH, IF NOT MORE, THAN THE SWORD, GOD BLESS.

-No Man’s Land. Iconic. 

-The climatic fight felt like a comic book in the best way. It really felt like two Gods clashing and I lived for it.

-One of the most profoundly affecting things about this movie is how every moment of suffering that Diana witnesses affects her and she tries to do everything she can about it and says that something MUST be done to stop it. In so many superhero movies, action movies, heck just MOVIES, suffering is shown and reveled in without any sense of sympathy or empathy, it’s used cheaply. But here is AFFECTS Diana and it doesn’t make her weak - it’s her STRENGTH. To see suffering and injustice and to say NO, THIS IS WRONG.

-I’m sure that . . . moment with Dr. Poison is going to be real fucking controversial (you know what I mean). Just *hoooof*. I’m not going to pass moral judgement on that personally, as I think there are many others who have a far greater right than I to do so. THIS IS WHAT I MEAN ABOUT BEING UNETHICAL IN THE WWII SETTING. Like . . . god it’s not trying to say “don’t hurt N@zis” (I mean otherwise the lack of “if you kill evildoer then you are ~just as bad as them~ was refreshing. Hell, Diana calls a man dishonorable for not looking the people he kills in the face, and there’s no sense of her being “compromised” for her killing many people in battle). It’s TRYING to be about her rejecting Ares’s “humans are just shit so we should destroy them all” view . . . but HOOOOOOOF. That’s . . . yeah, that’s going to be A Thing.

-(eta: I was going to change the last point given that THIS MOVIE IS SET IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR AND NOT THE SECOND, as I had assumed. But . . . man you really cannot shake that this is a villain who uses POISON GAS ON PEOPLE and is WORKING FOR THE GERMANS. Even changing it to pre-WWII that is still . . . YEAH, MY POINT STILL STANDS SO IT REMAINS)

-But really overall - thank you Patty Jenkins for understanding what I want from a movie generally.

-Gal Godot is a STAR and I cannot imagine anyone else playing Diana now.

-They never use the name “Wonder Woman” in the movie but they didn’t have to. Because everything about her onscreen inspires WONDER. What she says, what she does, how she looks. She is an inspiration and a hero. God.

-This is still the single best superhero movie that I have ever seen, warts and all. I expect to stand by that.