#i just think it'd be epic ok

[bloodsoaked-rainbows]

i don't have many ideal fancasts for upcoming seasons of the percy jackson show. but hear me out.

aabria iyengar as athena. do you see my vision.

[wereh0gz]

I think Amy should come out as aroace and realize her chasing sonic was just comphet this entire time I think that'd be so epic and cool and awesome

[foxstens]

but heck i can’t not play them as soon as i finish this one

[honeybuns-bb]

My Bad Batch Season 3 Predictions

Ok listen. I am NOT a critical thinker or predictor when it comes to my comfort media, and this show falls into that category, BUT in honor of Bad Batch Eve I thought it'd be fun to try my hand at making some theories anyway just so that if any of them happen I can brag that I predicted it. So let's try this out.

Thing I think will happen by the end of the series:

Phee dies

Cody shows up + Cody dies

Pabu is destroyed(I saw someone say they thought the Zillo Beast would be the one to destroy it and tbh I agree)

Wolffe comes back. He sighs dramatically about something. Perhaps even incorporating an eye roll. And if we're REALLY lucky, he'll even cross his arms.

CX-2 is Tech

DARTH VADER APPEARANCE

Things I WANT to happen by the end of the series:

Quinlan shows up(I will accept a name drop but NOTHING LESS. Give me his FACE or give me his NAME. No vague references)

Ahsoka pleeeeeease!!!

At least one (1) group hug with TBB

Ventress shanks a bitch

Crosshair gets a new outfit/armor. Someone help this outdated fashion disaster of a man.

emerie picks up hemlock and dunks him into the garbage. fucking obliterated(i saw someone ship them once. i want that person to know: im going to kill you)

Omega gets a lightsaber. As a treat. She deserves it.

DARTH VADER APPEARANCE. I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH.

Things I think will happen in the finale specifically:

Crosshair, Echo, Wrecker, Hunter all die

Omega lives

Those three itty bitty clones(Mox, etc.) go with Rex

Cid pulls a Lando and tries to make up for her betrayal

Howzer dies and i die too

Crosshair momentarily overcomes his hand trembling to make a heroic and epic shot that saves someone's life(Rex/Wolffe/Gregor?). The music swells dramatically. The sun comes out. Omega wipes a tear from her eye. He will immediately die after this.

CX-2(Tech?) kills one of the bad batch

Then Omega/someone will be in danger and CX-2(Tech??) will overcome his reprogramming or whatever to save her life. He will also immediately die after this.

I haven't decided if I think Batcher will live and stay with Omega(symbolic of the rest of TBB still being with Omega metaphorically despite their deaths) or will die before the rest of them in a sooner episode(foreshadowing that they're all going to fkcing die)

I unfortunately don't think Hemlock will die. I have never hoped to be wrong about something as much as I hope to be wrong about this.

DARTH. VADER. APPEARANCE.

Welp. That's it. Happy Bad Batch Eve. See you all tomorrow if we're all still alive.

[wait----------what]

OK so for the time being I'll be doin epic mickey 2 since my wii has declared that it likes one area of haunted Manor so much that its trapped me there, glitchin out anytime I try to progress

Anyways let's get into this shit

- ooooooh yen sides back

Oh wow that openings just as pretty as the first game

-OSWALD!! OH MY GODS YOU CAN TALK!! and you sound like Fred Jones?

- . . . annnnnnd their singing- why are they singing?? Meh I can get behind this i geuss

- Os, buddy, pls don't follow the guy thay has tries to kill you MULTIPLE TIMES

- idk why but gus sounds exactly like i was picturing, same with orentisa, idk much about her but I hope she stick around for a bit

- ooooooh their really layin it on thick about the paint/thinner thing this time aren't they? hope it actually changes something this time

- the only gripe I have so far is the change to the health display, I loved the lil 2d sprit changin expression n the paper sound effect that went with it its a shame its just the same model for mickey as what you play

- aooooh I love that art style for the cut scenes!! I'm glad they kept it along for this one it was such a cool part of the og

- ok so I heard about what happens with oswald if you dont have a second player goin in n I didnt think it'd be that bad but im not so sure like if that fire work thing was anythin to go by its gonna be a pain in the arse to deal with if I can't convince someone to play with me

- aaaaaaawwwww oswald n ortensia are so cute! they're so sweet on each other its given me tooth rot<3

- pffft os's face when the mad doctor gets him to sing with him he's like 50% done with his bull shit already lmao

Welp- thats all from me so hopefully I'll be able to finish the old one before the remaster comes out but im not too hopeful meh if that dosent work I can atleast get that cosplay ready to go for my next con

[random-dragon-exe]

OK hot take, (probably) but I think that Adrian Graye is actually a powerful witch just like the rest of the covenheads.

I say this because there's a lot of people who think that Adrian is a lot weaker than the rest of the Covenheads because of Gus beating him in Labyrinth Runners.

I will say that granted, his magic is illusions and yeah illusions have no physical aspect to them, but there's two things I'd like to add here:

Even though illusions aren't a physical magic, they're more about deceptive measures and at most psychological in nature.

Adrian finds a way around the lack of the physical aspect by hiding the scouts he has under his illusions to have them interact with people. (So when you think about it, he's quite clever for doing that since he could focus on keeping up the illusion and keeping himself safe)

Technically a third but when you think about it, if Gus can make it look like a witch's powers aren't working, as shown in Through the Looking Glass Ruins:

Then, Adrian could do that too however, with way more ease than Gus as he said it took him a lot of concentration to maintain it.

Of course, since Gus has the ability to force people to see their worst memories, so can Adrian.

If we want to go further with it, Adrian can totally make an entire illusion labyrinth just like Gus too but it'd be more controlled since he's more experienced than Gus.

Yes there's the scene where he asks Gus "how" is he making the labyrinth, but this could just be him being surprised that an illusion that powerful is coming from a 12 year old as younger witches shouldn't be able to make complicated spells. (Gus is an extreme outlier in this)

(Not only that but Gus’s labyrinth was induced by his emotions getting out of hand and was therefore accidental)

Also real fast, I'm pretty sure being forced to see your worst/darkest memories would render anyone in the state that we see Adrian in last. So I don't think it's just "a him" thing.

Moving on and going further with this, Adrian could go full on Mysterio on his enemies asses. Anyone seen Spider-Man: Far From Home?

From tricking the target to using the real (unillusioned) environment against them:

To using psychological horror and using their emotions against them about a beloved person's death:

To faking his own death:

To making it look like someone close to the target is in danger:

To altering the entire perception of the playing field at a massive scale:

The person won't be able to figure out what's an illusion and what's reality until it's too late:

This is also not to mention the other post I have about the extensions of illusion magic and its effects (which I think both Gus and Adrian can do to varying extents based on their experience with illusions).

What I'm getting at is that Adrian is definitely powerful in his own right at illusion magic (and can very well do these things).

It's just that we don't get to see the full potential because of how the writing favored Gus's powers over Adrian's in Labyrinth Runners due to the shortening.

I'm not trying to diminish Gus’s abilities as an illusionist, I'm just saying both of them are powerful in their own ways (Gus having raw power for his age, yet needs to refine and control his powers and Adrian having experience and control with his magic yet his ego gets the best of him and he underestimates his opponents)

Not to mention his vague feedback to the scouts often works against him unknowingly.

Like honestly, if the show wasn't shortened there'd be more time allowed for him to be a more terrifying threat in Labyrinth Runners or other episodes with him.

TLDR: Ya'll are sleeping on what could've been an even more epic version of Labyrinth Runners and Adrian's powers. Like yes, we can still make fun of him being beaten by Gus, but let's just acknowledge that it would've been really cool to see two skilled illusionists fighting 1v1.

[imthepunchlord]

How do you feel about the new Indigo Disk mons? Personally I think Hydrapple is sick as fuck.

Sorry for the wait! Was at work all day.

This answer will be under cut due to spoilers as it came out today.

I'm going to get these guys out of the way real quick cause I don't have a lot to say about them. In general, I am not a fan of robots/mechas, and Violet's Paradox pokemon, to me, are boring as it's the same mon but robot. Actually seeing them go robotic is what had me decide to get Scarlet over Violet. Only thing that tempted me was that Miraidon looked better for bike lizard, but the majority of the Paradox mons I just didn't like. I think only other I liked was Iron Thorns, but not enough to get it.

Of the... Iron Justice Trio (?), I actually like Iron Crown and Leaves the most.

Of the Justice Trio, Virizion is the one I liked the most. Iron Leaves doesn't do much to improve them, but I kinda like it cause I like Virizion the most of the trio.

Iron Crown for me actually improves Cobalion for me. In some shots in the trailer, it actually looks majestic and fierce. I think with this, they were just able to polish the design better cause Cobalion to me just... always looked awkward. Like, it has blocky noodle legs. I don't like it. And by the lighting it looks like it's wearing a skintight jumpsuit and I don't like that. So, yeah, Iron Crown really improves and polishes up Cobalion's design. At least for me.

Iron Boulder is just... meh. I don't really care for Terakion (similar issue to Cobalion in that it's just kinda awkward) and I wasn't expecting too much.

Walking Wake I actually wasn't too crazy about initially.

I will say, a big part of it was that I was salty we didn't get that sketch. I really liked the look of this thing. It looks like something you would ride into battle and it'd be epic.

And then we got Walking Wake and it's like, oh.... ok.

But WW has grown on me, but if I had to pick between it or Suicune, I'd go with Suicune. It's not my favorite of the Paradox Beast Trio. Maybe it's making that shift of going onto two legs that throws me while the other two stay on four, so it's not so jarring? Idk.

Raging Bolt I liked more than Walking Wake, I think it's just so silly I can't help but kinda love it. It may be my fav of the trio.

I do wish they picked a color to stick with. It's kinda messy with the red and the blue, and there are others in agreement. Some artist even go with blue over the red.

Gouging Fire, initially, I want to say I like what I see.

But it's also kinda busy, so I'm in that spot where I kinda like it but I'm also unsure. Maybe I just need to see them in the game and how they move.

Duraladon I didn't really like, so Archaludon does nothing for me. When I first saw it, I wasn't even sure what I was looking at or knew where to rest my eye. So it's a mon I'm never going to use.

By leaks and rumors, Hydrapple was a pokemon I was excited to see, and I gotta say, I do like it. In general, I love the Applin line, it's such a cute punny pokemon.

It makes me wish Flapple and Appletun got an evo too, cause they feel like 2nd stage pokemon and could go further. Like, Appletun could've gone draconic turtle apple pie thing, and Flapple could've gone farther as a wyvern. Maybe one day.

Honestly, only thing that's disappointing is that it turns out those rumors were wrong and it's not our first Bug/Dragon. So, not yet sadly. But I am looking forward to trying it one day.

Terapagos was the legendary I was most intrigued with. And then I saw the apparent true form in the anime.

Yeah I'm... I'm not crazy about it. My interest kinda dropped a little. The head is cute, but the rest of the body makes it look like some weird poodle. I like this form much more and I rather they stuck with it as the true form.

I also saw that Terapagos has another Tera form, which so far, I can't find an image of it to share but I have caught glimpses, and atm, until I can get a good look, I have no idea what I'm really looking at. There's a lot of visual noise with that Tera form so I haven't really processed it yet in the bit I've seen.

Lastly, Pecharunt, I can't quite tell what I'm looking at yet. A butterfly??? I'm not sure. Supposedly this corrupted the "Loyal" Three, and is the true mastermind, or so I've heard. But of what I see doesn't impress me or interest me as much. It may be a matter I just need to look at it when there's better quality images and footage out.

So for me, with the Indigo Disk, new mon wise is probably a positive but mixed bag. There are some I like, and some I don't.

[eighthdoctor]

this is kinda a wordbuild-y question: do u think that elves would go for the long homeric epic-style poems? i think there is a compelling case for a long-lived race like elves to go for oral histories etc. and while maybe they transitioned away from that over time, I just think it'd be neat if jaina is reading the, like, elven Iliad reads aloud a bit like 'Muse, sing to me of the cataclysmic rage of Amisara' and about ten pages of gore in, sylvanas is like 'oh yeah that's my great-grandmother lol'. I just think that the elves would fucking love homeric similes. this is also a transparent ploy to smear my current hyperfixation on other interests sorry.

after some pondering i do not but that's ok bc i do have epic style poems for u in spades, just not from elfs.

the thing is, like, i think it's more likely that they'd rapidly move to externalize their memories, assuming that they don't have a radically different mental structure, there comes a point where you just do not want to remember any more things. you can use poetic structure all you want, but there are just too many things to remember.

the other point here is that oral history is 'uncivilized', which yes is a racist colonialist concept but this is the 'race war' planet. (PLEASE PLEASE note that oral history is just as reliable as any other form of record keeping, these are not MY opinions but. azeroth.) i firmly think elves (esp quel'dorei and shaldorei) would invent/adopt writing and run with it, disavowing oral history as Not Reliable Enough--both in terms of how their societies are structured and the real world references being made, we're not looking at cultures with a huge respect for spoken history.

however.

trolls.

especially outside zandalar, trolls have been displaced and overthrown and generally fucked around with so much that why write things down, you can lose a written text, you can't lose that long-form poem that contains the last thousand years of king names.

(also jungles Do Not like paper. and carving everything in stone is haarrrrdddd so only SOME things go in stone and everything else? oral.)

there are poems which are histories. there are poems which are family records. there are poems that are dramatizing that one time resk stole a bunch of goats from the shatterspear and spent 3 weeks hiding in the forests about it. there are poems that are tragedies to get everyone all weepy.

there are poetry improv contests that have very real social consequences, and a good poet can leverage her reputation into changing tribes or moving across continents if she so chooses.

quel'thalas has a poetry scene and for sure there are homeric epithets although i would need to shift my brain a bit to find sylvanas's, but i don't think epic poems/oral history weaves through their social fabric in the same way it did for archaic greece or pre-christian/early christian norse.

[transgods]

91, 90, 67, 64, 61, 48, 38, 25, 23, 11, 10

10. any unusual fears?

i don't have that many fears at awl in general i think but i get so anxious i can't sleep if i have to share a bed w someone i don't like trust aha also i used to be deathly afraid of stingrays as a kid like to the point where vaguely stingray shaped things like. the pool cleaners used to scare me. like id swim in a pool and if i saw this thing

under me i would literally just exit the pool and refuse to get back in until it was removed. idk if im still scared of rays now tho

11. favorite myth?

collapses to my KNEES.... if no one got me the epic of gilgamesh got me. its The story. to me

23. what's popular with the people around you that you can't seem to get behind?

irl its kpop... all my friends r into kpop but i am just not rockin with any of the songs ive heard so far but im honestly ok with this. the ticket prices...... i will stay listening to my established range ty DGFGHJHJK and hmmmmmm i think online it'd be like. dnd or in an extension of that bg3 like im sorry but i just. maybe its not for me

25. do you collect anything?

YES the uhh nano/petit/mini bricks/blocks theyre basically mini legos and way cheaper than lego. ive gotten pretty much every aquatic animal from petit bricks theyre sitting on my shelf i love them :') extremely good activity to do when my hands get twitchy

38. what is your love language?

its definitely physical affection i am thee cuddly bitch of all time. second is words of affirmation tho. why are u asking me this u gay or smth?

48. you get to give a one-sentence note to yourself from a decade ago. what does it say?

kill yourself NOW! im kidding but idkkkkkkkk it might be surprise that i made it another decade or smth. not sure. past me is a bit of a mystery

61. do you believe in/follow any superstitions?

AWAAHHH off the top of my head im blanking bad but i dont eat bananas on lunar new years. or when theres like an exam. neither does the rest of my family. idk why

64. what's the best thing you can cook?

oh wow i love thematic continuation. its banana bread LMFAOO it might just be my favourite thing i can cook though

67. what's your favorite obscure piece of media?

HM i do not consider this obscure but ive literally never met someone else whos into this but the graphic novel/comic series called saga..... literally excellent idk

90. weirdest habit?

hmmmm i don't know whether this counts as a habit but i paint my nails just to pick off the polish otherwise i would probably ruin them altogether. hands need enrichment

91. what's a common misconception people have about you?

at this point i dont even know anymore i got too much stuff im juggling to work out exactly who is perceiving what.. i do think ppl think im smarter than i actually am tho eek

[chirpsythismorning]

What makes me not be on board with Will and El being twins and Hopper and Joyce's biological kids theory is that it'd ruin the aspect I love the most about the Hopper-Byers family: found family.

Hop, a divorced man, adopted a girl and found love again with a divorced woman who escaped a toxic relationship and her two sons. It shows that a straight romantic relationship doesn't need to generate descendents to be valid. I also like the idea of an "alpha-male" like Hopper ending up not passing his genes forward and being ok with the idea of not having biological children.

So, I still think it's more probable Will and El being Lonnie's kids. Anyway, I'm looking forward to find out what the writers prepared for us.

I totally get that! And that's how I felt about it too! So no hard feelings at all.

I think for me it sort of got to a point where I had to put aside my feelings and what I had grown comfortable with for so long, based on my interpretation as the series was happening, and how there is evidence going against our assumptions we've had up to this point, going back to the beginning (same applies to byler as well).

I would also argue that found family is equally as epic as estranged family finding their way back to each other in every universe, despite all of the obstacles in their way. Though, not many things are equally as beautiful as found family, so the standards are very high.

I do want to make it clear that I agree completely about the found family side of why the instinct is to sort of not want to consider this.

Found family is beautiful, and I think it's wonderful that more stories these days are working to de-stigmatize our societies idea of what a family even is, because it's not this cookie cutter concept we've all grown to believe it is. Family comes in many forms and it doesn't have to be blood-related.

It just so happens that in this case, there are too many unanswered questions, going back to the very first episode, all tying these characters to each other.

Hopper more than anyone has so much crypticness revolving around his character (he gives off dad deja vu constantly in s1, like it's actually terrifying), and not only that, but David has alluded to unknowns surrounding his character for years. He's talked about how the truth behind Sarah is more complicated than it seems and that she could have connections to the lab. He even went as far as to say that there were easter eggs in s1 that fans wont get until the end, and that it will make the end of the story beautiful. Assuming he was talking about revelations related to his character, it fits very well with a lot of the evidence hiding in the details connecting all of these characters.

This is also a supernatural show dealing with time-fuckery implications and repressed memories going back to s1. Like just rewatch 1x01 by itself and you'll see what I mean. There is a lot of stuff fitting a little too conveniently to not all be connected.

If this was a regular show then of course I would chalk it up as found family bc there obviously couldn't be anything else to it. But it's not and we're dealing with revelations in s5 that have apparently been hiding in the details all along and are beautiful...

I just don't see anything beautiful about revealing Lonnie is their bio dad, when Hopper is right there with heavy hints surrounding him connecting him to Will/El...

You could say that found family is this thing they've been hinting at this whole time and that's all there is to it, but I would argue that we've already got that vibe by the end of s1, and so, where is the beautiful surprise in that revelation happening in s5? Technically found family isn't even a revelation seeing as it's something we subconsciously recognize as being obvious as time goes on. With s5 said to hold answers to questions unanswered since the beginning, while I do think found family is beautiful, I don't think it's the surprise at this point that connects all of these characters.

The good news is, if this theory does play out, they would explain things. It wouldn't just come out out of nowhere, in the sense that there is evidence pointing to it from the beginning (just like byler).

The main thing that makes this theory beautiful to me, is the light that is constantly being associated with Hopper/Will. Like it happens A LOT. One of the most mysterious scenes to this day is the scene in 1x01, of Hopper in the shed with the lights flickering. That has never been explained (nor has Will being able to contact Joyce through the UD been explained) and we all kind of just went along with it back then, but I think it ties into a lot of repetition we're seeing with these characters in reference to light.

Here are just some of my favorites from s1:

This next one is one of my favorites, where we're given Lonnie's priorities after Will's body is found:

And this is Hopper's, in the scene (literal first shot) directly after that scene with Lonnie:

And this:

Is followed by, this:

Same episode. Deer portraits in both Joyce and Hopper's houses as they're freaking out over lights and their kid(s) going missing, while being watched by the lab...

One of the most incriminating though has to be Hoppers' memories of Sarah kicking in at points in moments directly connected to Will:

I'm just going to jump to s4 because this is hilarious to me that this trend carrys out throughout the entire series:

We all joke about Will being Jesus, but idk if it's a joke anymore...

Not saying he is Jesus like literally, we're talking about a show that pulls inspiration from a bajillion different things, but, like... there is definitely some lighting emphasis being applied to Will along with the word Jesus... And the events of s4 happening around easter and this whole resurrection storyline going on with Hopper in s4.

El also has a role in this. The whole time in s1 we're seeing them look for Will, leading to Hopper saying 'What if all this time I've been after the wrong kid?'. How he starts s1 saying that when a kid goes missing 99 times out of 100 they're with a parent or a relative: El and Hopper in s2 just chillin'...

Again, I would agree with you fully if there weren't the supernatural implications at play. If this was just a regular story, I would be eating up the found family storyline like I always do.

However, we're dealing with a show that enjoys hiding the truth in plain sight, and has the capacity to pull this off tremendously, with a lot of the evidence to back it up. If it can do that, why not?

I won't pressure people to believe it if they don't want to! TBH I'm at a point where I'm confident enough in it, like byler, where it's just a matter of waiting for s5 atp to find out for sure. Seeing people's surprise after the fact is going to be more rewarding than convincing them beforehand. So it's like, it is what it is!

It's something that people aren't going to be able to say came out of nowhere, bc pretty much the entire show hints at it along the way. And so same with byler, post s5 anyone can try argue they don't like it for xyz, but it isn't going to take away from the fact that there was in fact evidence pointing to it.

Just going back and looking for stuff to reference in this ask, I found a shit ton more, like... This revelation does seriously make the show rewatch value skyrocket bc you're seeing these characters all be SO close to the truth, yet so far away. Like it is legit beautiful.

[thetwelfthcrow]

Top 5 F1 ships

this is tougher to answer than i thought it'd be, solely bc i'm soooo focused on two ships that i can barely think of anything else. anyway! here's a top two+ three-pretty-ok-ships:

1. obviously, 4433 | lewis hamilton / max verstappen

it's got everything you ever need in a ship. rivalry, looking up to each other, being genuinely impressed, dumb jokes, heart eyes, always together on the podium (for a looong time), always greeting each other with a failed fistbump or a hug... this is a complicated ship due to the age gap, the negativities (the media drama), the constant fighting, but there's nothing more special than going through the epic highs and lows together, always finding the other guy waiting for you, breathing down your neck and then you're the one breathing down his neck. that push and pull, that cat and mouse game? unreal. this is a ship for connoisseurs and if you do not understand it, i can't blame you.

i could've easlily cheated my way through and put 3344 right under this one since i'm literally uncaring when it comes to who's top and who's bottom or who's dom and who's sub. that goes for any of the ships, btw. i'm too old for top/bottom discourse and since i swing both ways, everyone i write swings both ways.

2. nortrell | lando norris / max fewtrell

it may just be the complete opposite of 4433 in literally every way. but it's got that familiarity, that feeling of home they find in each other. but also the pain! the pain of lando living the dream that max would kill for to have. but also the acceptance, the compelte lack of jealousy. max does not want to be in lando's place, he wants to be beside lando. he doesn't want to have what lando has, because that'd mean lando doesn't have it. he wants to have it too. and this doesn't even touch on the codependency, the cutting meat for each other, the taking care of each other, the living together. max knowing when to talk about what with lando and when to not mention something. to defend lando on his stream, to vocalise the boundaries that lando doesn't say but does have. and also the ribbing, the not taking each other too seriously, the bullying -- they're just a safe haven for each other. a place where lando isn't mclaren's f1 driver lando norris, but just bob. a place where max isn't a streamer with a failed racing career hanging like a dark cloud above him, but just max. a place where they can be themselves, truly themselves. once again, a place where they can be home.

we're into pretty ok ships territory! these are ships i do not actively read and or write for, but when i see them together i go awww now hold hands!

3. norstappen | lando norris / max verstappen

a ship that never misses. great friends off grid, no tension between them, love to joke around, suuuuper supportive of each other (i didn't expct mclaren to be there, i always expect lando to be high). max likes to surround himself with people that don't admire him, that don't try to rub his ego, and lando would never. they don't take each other seriously! and also, whenever lando calls max, max answers and takes his time for him (like on stream multiple times). lando hops on whatever max is doing, like iracing, even after leaving redline. it's just good vibes all around!

4. piarles | pierre gasly / charles leclerc

tough one since i don't know all too much about either driver other than what i see other people talk about when it's in relation to drivers i do know a lot about. but! this is a cute ship. these guys always find each other, at a basketball game, on vacation, wrapping their arm around each other. good stuff, i love seeing homosexuality on main. it makes me happy that they're utilising their mediterranean nature to full gay extent! love seeing it.

5. maxiel | max verstappen / daniel ricciardo

i only mention this one bc i have a complicated relationship with maxiel. i like the guys, i like seeing them hang around each other and joke, i think daniel brings out the true comedian that max is more than he shows naturally. i just. i don't. i find it a bit of a lazy ship. of course you ship them! they hug, they joke, they laugh together, max shows his crinkly eyes and genuine joy and surprise, daniel ribbs him just to get that rise ouf of him, knows what cards to play and what buttons to press. it's easy with them, which is nice. and there used to be tension, sure! but the fics have basically been writing themselves and i like a challenge.

sorry it took so long anon! but here you have a breakdown of ships. other ships that deserve an honorary mention are dando (fully due to nadia ngl), yukierre, charlos, versainz, and probably some more but tbh i've been wayy too obsessed with nortrell and 4433 to think about anyone else. cheers babes!

[wereh0gz]

Issue 62 good

[cassiesdevblog]

Pyo as... Adaptation? Homage? Clone? Thing?

Hey paisanos! I've been doin a lot of work lately helping @zombielesbean finish up their project Grey Area, and I wanna write up a big post about my contributions (including a really big exciting secret one!) once that's done, but the original warioware just hit the switch and with that comes Pyoro >:3

If you don't know about Pyoro, you can get the gist by watching a little bit of this epic video:

Of course, Pyoro on switch means I've got my game Pyo on the mind too. I mean, they are...

...similar games... 'w';

So similar that sometimes I worry Wario is gonna come to my house and beat the tar outta me. Wario, if you're reading this, I can explain

In 2020, when I finally found out you could download DSiware games on the 3DS--not for long tho :')--I immediately remembered a game I had on my DSi as a kid: Bird & Beans, a standalone version of Pyoro (and Pyoro 2!) with 50% more floor space to maneuver in. I bought it and absolutely fell in love with it! It became a sort of hyperfixation of mine for a little while, and so naturally, as one does, I started thinking "alright, but what if this was a platformer?"

See, I think arcade games and platformers mix really well. Platforming is often fun to do all on its own, and a lot of arcade games have sort of non-linear goals. It's a great combination if you wanna break platforming gameplay out of the usual get-from-A-to-B design, which is something I'm always wanting to do. Shoutout to any good boss in a platformer btw

One thing leading to another

So my immediate thought was like, what if you could just jump up there and pop the beans yourself? You could bounce off of them and get a combo going!

And so, if the beans themselves hitting your head is no longer a hazard, naturally the pits they create should be how you lose the game. In Pyoro they're functionally walls, but in a platformer that doesn't even make sense

But wait, if you pop beans just by touching them, can't you stand in one place forever and the ground under your feet will be safe for eternity? Ok, there'll be a special, extra dangerous flavor of bean that sends explosions left and right when it hits the bottom of the screen

As you can see, a lot of the game's design just flowed naturally from solving the problems caused by turning it into a platformer. Just by changing these few things, the game is already pretty distinct from its inspiration, but I took it a little further

Taking advantage of the genre

Beyond just patching holes in the design caused by that one change, I wanted to change other things in order to better take advantage of the focus on platforming

This is where @bisthefairy comes in. While ground in Pyoro is restored by eating a white bean to summon an angel to fill in nearby holes for you, I wanted to encourage the player to use platforming to get high up on the screen. I also wanted ground to be stackable, because that could spice up the platforming and even lead to unique, creative strategies

This led to the idea of having something like the angels from Pyoro flying around up high, so you'd have to bounce up there to get them to drop their block, pit or no pit. I gave the role to my friend Bis since they're small and they fly around

This desire to get the player to bounce up high also led to the creation of the worst feature in the game, the "clear line," which was quickly cut. As you'd rack up a big combo, a horizontal line would start rising up from the bottom of the screen. If you fell below it, it'd kill your combo and clear all the beans off the screen. 0/10. Having to play on half the screen and barely having time to react to incoming beans suckssss

Seriously. One of the worst aspects of Pyoro is that you get huge score for nabbing a bean right as it comes onscreen, so the best strat is to just keep spamming your tongue out hoping to get lucky. No idea why I thought making you play near the top was wise. The best interactions happen near the ground anyway, where you can skid and bonk into blocks

Also, stripes!

Not sure if this counts as a connection between the two games, but I feel like it's also worth mentioning a very indirect source of inspiration: the color banding on the sky in Pyoro. See, in Pyoro, the screen is divided into horizontal slices, and eating a bean from a higher slice gets you more points. I remember thinking the color banding on the sky should indicate the different slices, but it just doesn't! I think that put the idea of stripes conveying information in my head though, and that's probably unconsciously where Pyo's distinctive pit-indicating stripes come from

So, will Wario harm me?

Well, I got pretty bold using a bird and some "beans" in my game. I could have used the classic trope of a horse and some babies. Honestly, I used a bird and beans because I was sketching up ideas for the game and really liked Margie as soon as I drew her, and I liked the beans too much not to use them

"What about the name?" I hear you say, complaining you've not been able to tell which game I'm talking about this whole time. Well, I found the "Pyo" part of "Pyoro" really satisfying to say, so I put it in as a placeholder name, intending to change it later. Then I decided the sound of that syllable was so satisfying that Margie should say it every time she pops a bean, and by then it had grown on me so much I, once again, couldn't resist. It's all ok though, because baby chickens say "pío" in Spanish, and Margie is a chicken!

Well, I've baited some mouse traps with garlic just to be safe, but honestly, I think Pyo stands on its own two talons

Its inspiration is extremely obvious, but I think everyone agrees that, after the first passing glance, it has an identity all its own, in terms of both gameplay and presentation. I might even say it surpasses Pyoro in a few aspec--Oh fuck guys he's here

[findafight]

here is the spotify link to Robin and Steve's Epic Platonic Soulmate Mixtape (vol.1) I'm going to say they made this version in the early spring of 1985. fic link

track list and explanations under the cut!!

Side A--the queer side

Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler: I'm gonna take a wild guess and say y'all know why this is here

Rainbow Connection by Kermit: also self explanatory. and a bop. AND about rainbows. what more could you want?

Bangkok/One Night in Bangkok by Murray Head (Original Chess Recording version): 1) a banger. 2) from a whole musical written by the Bs of ABBA 3) Steve likes to listen to musical while vacuuming his pool :) 4) queer vibes. "the queens we use would not excite you" "i get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine" also to note they DID probably shave off the first minute of instrumental, but not all of it. I used this version and not the radio edit because in my heart of hearts I believe Steve picked up the Chess concept album in the fall of 1984, vibed with it, (I've answered an ask about stobin and the musical chess where I talk more) and that's the version he has.

Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy by Queen: tbh always sounded gay to me, and it's such a fun song, I think they'd vibe with it and agreed it's a silly little nod to steve's previous rep.

Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard by Paul Simon: GAY GAY VERY GAY SONG "it's against the law...what their mama saw/it was against the law" HMM also it's catchy and has so much potential to be an angsty queer ballad too. (also Robin's dad is 100% a Simon and Garfunkle stan that's just. a fact to me.)

I'm Coiming Out by Diana Ross: iconic song claimed by the gays. for the obvious reasons. bit on the nose but this is for THEM.

Sunshine (Go Away Today) by Jonathan Edwards: About not letting someone control your life. It's catchy and heartfelt, dreams about the future. Steve's Vecna Song for me.

You Can't Hurry Love by The Supremes: stobin are losers in the love department, and it's a great and hopeful song about not rushing into things. The Supremes Version because Robin is influenced by her former Hippie parents, and Steve by his Aunt Evelyn and her love of 50's and 60's music. They have appreciation for the Oldie Goldies.

Lady Marmalade by LaBelle: Disco baby. I also feel this was a song for us queer folk. maybe because I'm queer and I like it. it's great, and robin loves hearing women sing about having sex.

Holding Out for a Hero by Bonnie Tyler: throwback to the first song on the mixtape Steve gave Robin at the very beginning! now with the Upside Down between them it means more too. it's also SO FUN to belt in the car. frantic and with a good beat. I don't think I need to justify this one haha

Believe it or Not (theme from Greatest American Hero) by Joey Scarbury: Robin LOVES this stupid show about a cringe fail teacher with his cringe fail life getting a super suit from aliens and then losing the instruction manual. It just feels like a show she'd like even though it's so silly. The theme song is actually great tho. I think it'd really tickle the part of Robin that feels overly average and a bit trapped in Hawkins, but feels those confines lessen when she's with Steve and getting to feel like there's more out there for her. Personally, I first heard it on cassette of top 100 tv themes (along with MASH, Law and Order, Hawaii Five-oh, Andy Griffith etc) sitting in a booster seat in the front seat of my family's motor home on a long summer road trip in the early 2000's, as my dad drove and told me what show each song was from. (Steve buddy I understand your dream so much ok. There's nothing quite like being a kid and going on a roadtrip with your family. magical.)

Side B--The Besties side

You're My Best Friend by Queen: Love song for your best friend me thinks yes :)

Stuck With You by Huey Lewis and the News: the only anachronistic song on the playlist, but I couldn't NOT put it on. lavender marriage stobin REAL. They're stuck with each other :) also look at Steve. He is a guy who listens to Huey Lewis. We know this. He heard this song a year before it came out and was like robin :') it's us....I'm stuck with you...I'm so Happy about it :))

Stoned Soul Picnic by The 5th Dimension: Robin's parents are former hippies. This song is fantastic. Pure vibes. Steve and Robin are going to get rescue cats that are bonded together and name them Sassafras and Moonshine for this song.

Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles: Bop and a half. Sing along song.

Both Sides Now by Judy Collins: 1)gorgeous song originally by Joni Mitchel but this version is a bit faster 2) Robin's former Hippie parents influencing her taste strike AGAIN 3) she tries to convince Steve it's about being "queer like him" and he doesn't buy it but "I've looked at love from both sides now/.../I really don't know love at all" and "Oh, but now old friends they're acting strange/ And they shake their heads and they tell me that I've changed/ Well something's lost, but something's gained" hit different for him

Only the Good Die Young by Billy Joel: I chose this billy joel song because it's 1) catchy as all hell 2) about having sex 3) mentions dying and stobin are like We didn't die!! hell yeah! Steve's a pianist and tbh he loves billy joel. who doesn't. it was between this one and piano man i guess, tho i love many Billy Joel songs that are "deeper cuts" ha. and "I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints/the sinners are much more fun" line is like. what are they gonna do. not be an emotional queer teen about it?

Raspberry Beret by Prince: it's catchy, and whilst originally I had put La La Love You By Don McLean here, I like this one better. Robin is definitely a Prince fan. and a beret fan. happy coincidink. and its a fun song! about loosing your virginity to a hot girl in a barn!

Indiana Wants Me by R. Dean Taylor: okay originally I'll admit I put this on the masterplaylist because. obviously post-s4 Eddie running away angst song even if it's more folk-rock than metal. I think Steve and Robin would listen to it and really vibe with wanting to go home but not being able to. even if it's not literally. also they live in Indiana and like. you've gotta respect a song about where you live. ALSO the cop sounds in it. so good.

Born in the USA by Bruce Springsteen: a song? about being disillusioned with the American dream after seeing the institutional failures of the government??? very Steve. the whole album is great, and I know I've reblogged a post about Steve and the album (My Hometown hits different). It's angry, frustrated, passionate. Being queer in a small town where the government covers up it's human experimentation and alternate dimensions probably makes you feel a lot of things. All with the veneer of Americana.

Where Do You Go To (My Lovely) by Peter Starstedt: purely self indulgent of me. I adore this song. I think Steve heard it, and thought of Robin. The remembering, the deep knowledge of another person, the longing. When he told Robin that it's a song he always associates with her she tears up a bit, because it's so tender and loving, and a bit silly. Like. Steve knows she'll be amazing and can't comprehend anyone not seeing it. It's sooo tender.

Thank You for Being a Friend by Andrew Gold: Golden Girls didn't air their first episode until fall 1985, and obviously when it does Stobin are loyal viewers, (Steve is in love with Bea Arthur. as is right) but this song came out in the 70's. It's fun and cute and catchy! They love each other and are so, incomprehensibly grateful that they found each other.

[makerofmadness]

ok I've been working on a self-imposed challenge for a while (forgot if I ever posted about it publicly) but today I can official announce:

It is officially possible to beat every single level of Gingerbrave's Tale with Alchemist Cookie and Energy Scale

This took literal months (probably because I didn't always pay for ticket refills and sometimes I just. Took a while of not playing-) (also I did it on Master difficulty for Extra Challenge and falling into pits was a death sentence-) but I can at last say that, with the right treasure set-up, you can beat every single level with 3 stars.

...I'm definitely gonna try doing this with the other story things but for now I hope this is interesting for some people. She's definitely not the only character you could solo with but epic/legendary cookies feel kinda obvious (like "duh of course they could beat every level, they're good enough"), but I'm not entirely sure about how the other rare cookies would do. i know for Alchemist and her combi pet it's pretty easy to guarantee that you at least clear the level itself since Energy Scale revives you with a crap ton of energy if you have enough coins, so all that remains if figuring out what treasures you need to get enough points. (Though some levels I think were exceptions? I remember having to use I think the red egg of resurrection at least once)

as for common cookies: I'm not touching that stuff, that's too hard even for me, if someone manages to beat every level 3-stars with just Gingerbrave I will have infinite respect for them 'Cus if its even possible it'd have to take like IMMENSE mastery and knowledge of the game's mechanics and quirks and whatever else can be exploited

(btw the reason I chose Alchemist specifically is because she's one of my favorite characters and I wanted an excuse to run with her in something outside of her trial sksmdmsmsddm)

[zalrb]

the bear s2 was so good! 2x06 was AWFUL to watch, sugar’s storyline particularly got to me like that moment when she asks her mom if she’s okay and everyone at the table sighs??? seeing the way carmy’s family treats him was also great like that for real is the youngest child experience. i LOVED sydney’s storyline with trying out new food and her struggling with creating new dishes and them not turning out like she wants them to (showing us how she visualizes the dishes was very interesting also). marcus in copenhagen was such a beautiful episode. i do wish we had spent more time on tina and ebraheim though. and then ending the season on richie and carmy’s fight where richie tells carmy that he’s becoming his mom?? so good. it’s so cool when tv actually makes you feel something 😭

2x06 was an epic somewhat triggering episode for me and I'm still processing it for that reason because in different contexts, I've had the "I make things beautiful for everyone but no one makes things beautiful for me" conversations and the "no one will miss me" conversations and as an only child have been a cross between Carmy and Natalie so I just sat there like

I've said this before, but one of my writing profs told me that he couldn't watch The Sopranos because the family dinner scenes were too good and stressed him out and was like, "I left home for a reason!" and while the tension in The Sopranos is so incredibly realistic it makes me giggle whenever I watch it but this episode had me like, OK this is what he meant.

I also really love the story behind Sugar as a nickname for Natalie because it could be just a cute story that they lovingly refer to but knowing who their mother is and the context of how we learn the story behind Sugar, we can infer that she probably flew off the handle when she tasted how sweet that gravy and now that nickname is like a constant reminder of a stress point for their mother (and therefore for Natalie) and it follows her everywhere.

I also just love how in that episode, you always hear someone yelling in the background, it's such a great detail to me because it's constant, like constant, there's never any downtime, it never felt like someone was yelling for the purpose of the plot where it'd be silent for a moment and then suddenly someone's yelling, there's constant shouting in the background (except for upstairs in the bedroom and the quiet is spoken about because it's a rare thing) and the house kind of feels like a kitchen because of the constant noise and so it's another way that cooking and the kitchen can be linked to familial trauma for Carmy because the noises are similar.

One of my favourite scenes in the episode is when Richie and Michael tell Carmy about Claire because of the way they were talking over each other and not letting the other speak, like the realism of a) how that scene would go b) the script and how they acted it, oh *chef's kiss*.

It's definitely an episode I need to watch again to dissect.

I also like that 2x06 went to the past and was an insight into why Carmy is Carmy and what food and cooking can mean for him and why he struggles with answering why he does what he does -- he loves cooking but it's not fun etc. and 2x07 is back to the present and went to Richie finding his purpose and it was a very serious episode for his arc but I appreciated the levity in it and how delivering a deep dish pizza was treated like mission impossible (even if the point was serious, I think they had a lot of unserious fun with that shot) because of what we went through in 2x06 but I worked in a kitchen in a hotel (where I lived, not in the hotel but the staff block in the back) in the UK and that time of my life was actually one of the lowest points of my life (also when I joined tumblr!) so when he started polishing silver, I had like a flashback to me after dinner service polishing cutlery and not being able to eat dinner until everything was done, which means not eating until about 1:30 AM and being like holy SHIT I remember doing that. THIS SEASON IS BRINGING UP A LOT OF THINGS FOR ME. Of course, Richie begins to find his purpose and starts drinking the kool-aid by the end of the episode and adapts it to his own style for The Bear, which is nice. (I never did that lmao).

I also LOVED the way Carmy's lack of focus also epitomized itself in the handle for the fridge and the way that came back with him locking himself in the fridge, i.e. the physical manifestation of his indecision where has to sit with everything he's been avoiding or deflecting or transferring, just so, so good.

I liked seeing Sydney with her dad and getting to know that relationship more and their conversations were also extremely realistic, like when they have that little tiff at her mom's birthday and she's just like, "I don't see why you have to bring that up!" I was like HA, yes, I know that reaction. And seeing Sydney's mounting panic and anxiety about opening a restaurant in a pandemic and seeing her connections in this world more and getting to know these people in a very quick and short period of time and through what they cook so that when you see things like I think the name was Verandah shut down with a flashback to that chef, it does make you feel for that person and also for Sydney? Excellent.

It's such a small detail but I loved when one of the older cooks possibly a mentor is like "You'll be fine" *head tilt* when Sydney tells him that she's opening a restaurant with a partner because I can't explain it, but that's what a mentor or more experienced person sounds and looks like when they see one of their pupils or a somewhat green up-and-comer do something that requires a lot of risk and has a huge potential for failure or for being a waste of time. I once saw an author I'd admired do a reading and they went off on how much they hated MFA programs and how they were a waste of time and cash cows and how you shouldn't go to one straight out of undergrad and I sat there in the front row, right out of undergrad in an MFA program and when I got to speak to them after their talk, I was like so I'm a first year MFA student straight out of undergrad and they did the exact same thing they were like "Oh, you'll be fiiiiiiiiiiine" *head tilt* haha so I was like THAT IS HOW THAT LOOKS AND SOUNDS.

I will say that in season 1 my biggest issue was that it was a story with white main characters set against a backdrop of a [great] Black/poc supporting cast who were given little interiority and I liked that this season expanded on them more, particularly (going in order for expansion) Sydney (though she wasn't supporting in season 1 but still, less interiority than Carmy and Richie) and then Marcus and then Tina and then Ebrahiem but while it was really great seeing Sydney go to different restaurants to test her palate and struggle with finding a menu -- and I agree that seeing how she visualized food was very interesting and cool to watch -- and while seeing Marcus flourish in Copenhagen was great and heartwarming, I was like none of the foods that they eat or learn from are like soul food or Haitian food or Jamaican food or Ethiopian food or Nigerian food etc. etc. and it bothers me that they're left out of the conversation because while that's not the food that they're cooking, they're learning from all of these different contexts and yet none of those contexts are Black/predominately Black countries and leaving them out of the exploration when they have a fairly big Black cast rubs me the wrong way and I think also contributes to these cuisines being left out of explorations/conversations about high calibre cooking.

I knew Marcus' mother was going to die or her health was going to turn for the worst so I was waiting for that shoe to drop (lol) but I was still very sad when it did especially how it did and again, I love that him knocking the phone off the counter came back later. Just so many great details. I'm definitely going to rewatch the season.