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dogcopter · 5 years

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Rose is Lion Theory

Before Steven Universe Future ends, a consolidation of sprawling Rose Quartz endgame speculation into one post. Structured for story sense, but pulling from all points of canon throughout for context:

Mechanics/powers

Lion: secrets and behaviors

Suspicious characters, dreams and stuff

Future/speculation and arc implications

TL;DR: Maybe if she has the same abilities Steven does, Rose Quartz gave up her physical form to Steven, but did not die in the sense that her personality still exists somehow. Using the same sort of astral projection powers Steven has demonstrated, Rose has continued to watch over her son in secret after changing her identity, like she did when staging Pink Diamond’s shattering.

Image and text heavy. Potential spoilers for Steven Universe Future up to Bismuth Casual - This is long and I may add a few things to it.

Lion’s introduction in Steven’s Lion.

After they meet in the desert, Lion follows Steven home.

Lion approaches Steven after he lifted up his shirt, exposing his gem, so it’s possible he recognized Rose Quartz’s son. However, the Gems had never met Lion, and didn’t know he was connected to Rose.

From Steven’s Lion:

Steven: Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl are coming. Quick, put my head in your mouth! Pearl: Steven! What is that? What are you doing?

From Rose’s Scabbard:

Pearl: Does Lion have something to do with Rose? Amethyst: Ohh, of course! That’s why he’s pink!

...

Pearl: No, Rose didn’t have a lion, because if Rose had a lion I would have known about it!

How does Lion know where the Crystal Gems live? Where they’d take a corrupted Gem after destroying its physical form?

Lion doesn’t know where to find Steven/the Pink Diamond gem innately. In Jungle Moon, Stevonnie has to call Lars in order for him to find them, and Lars and Lion have identical powers from their pink revival.

Lars: Keep searching! We're not giving up on them, no matter what! Stevonnie: Lars! Hey Lars! Hey! Lars: There you are! We've been looking all over for you!

And Lars and Lion have the same magic abilities. Per SU podcast “The Fantasy of Steven Universe”

Anything Lion can do, Lars can do.

It’s possible Rose told Lion about the Gems and how to get to Beach City and where they live, but it’s likely he has never been there if they had no clue about him. He warps straight to the Temple.

The generally accepted explanation for Lion’s behavior is that Rose masterminded Lion’s knowledge and prepared for him to tell Steven everything, or at least told him her life story in enough detail, perhaps confiding in him, that his level of knowledge would make sense.

Almost anything Lion does can be explained that way, but Lion being Rose makes more sense as an explanation. After all, she was known for being secretive.

From A Single Pale Rose:

Rose: No one can ever find out we did this. I never want to look back.

From Now We’re Only Falling Apart:

Sapphire: She lied to us! She lied about everything!

From Rose’s Scabbard:

Garnet: Rose kept many things secret, even from us.

From Steven’s Dream:

Greg: There were some things your mom didn't like to talk about. I never pressed her for details.

Mechanics

How is it possible for Rose to be Lion? Steven’s mysterious extra OP astral projection/dream/possession spirit powers that came up again in In Dreams.

Rose’s absence is consistently described as “giving up her physical form”.

Body swap: Steven controls other organic beings in Super Watermelon Island, The New Lars, and Escapism.

Dream travel, lucid dreaming, and dream TV: Steven is able to travel in his dreams and talk to others in Chille Tid (Lapis while fused in Malachite), affect the content of other people’s dreams Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service (Kiki’s recurring nightmare), change his own dreams and broadcast and record them in In Dreams (Camp Pining Hearts fanfiction)

Astral projection/”psychic ghost thing”: In addition to astral projecting in the above forms, Steven travels from Homeworld to Earth via astral projection in Escapism, and confronts the Diamonds via astral projection in Reunited. They can’t see him, but can perceive an “aura”.

If Steven can do this, and this ability was familiar to the Diamonds, Rose may be able to do these things as well. Steven’s ability to take over organic bodies explains Rose using Lion’s body because they’re related powers, which is made clear in Escapism when Steven astral projects to find Earth and ends up in a Watermelon Steven body far from home.

When does Lion act like Rose?

Secrets

The following section are things Lion knows that only Rose, or only Rose and Pearl know, including locations related to Rose Quartz and Pink Diamond.

Secret: Lion

Went over this above. Gems didn’t know about Lion himself.

Secret: Armory

Pearl: You must be thinking of someplace else. I’m the only other Crystal Gem that’s witnessed the Armory’s magnificence before now. Steven: Nuh-uh, Lion showed me.

On one of their first adventures together, Lion brings Connie and Steven to a place only Pearl and Rose knew about.

He also seems to know how the Armory works; he encourages Steven to activate the controls and doesn’t let the kids bail on training. Pearl had to climb a cliff to bring Steven there.

Secret: Mane

Lion’s mane contained Bismuth, Rose’s Crystal Gem keepsakes, including the sword that Pearl hadn’t seen. and keepsakes from Greg.

When Steven finally unbubbles Bismuth in Bismuth and frees her from the mane, Lion immediately looks at the Crystal Gems’ reaction.

The mane also held the tape “For Steven”; “For Nora” was abandoned in the desert. Rose gave up her physical form before she could have known the baby’s sex, as Greg explains in Lion 4: Alternate Ending.

Greg: When you have a kid, you have no idea who they’re gonna be. Even Garnet couldn’t predict it. That’s what was so exciting to your mom, that life is full of so many possibilities, and you would get to explore them for yourself. I mean, you could be Steven or Nora or anyone else. And you can always change your name; hey, I did.

Lion is able to remove the sword from his mane in Lion 2: The Movie, meaning he may have had both tapes in the mane at one point, ejecting the Nora tape after meeting Steven. Not necessarily something he’d have to be Rose to do.

Secret: Scabbard & Battlefield

Lion finds Rose’s scabbard immediately at the battlefield. From Rose’s Scabbard:

Pearl: That’s the scabbard for Rose’s sword!

Lion also knows where to find Pearl when she gets upset; the battlefield where the scabbard was abandoned. Even though Pearl introduces the location like this:

Pearl: This was the site of a historic battle. Every weapon here was left by a Gem over 5,000 years ago. I don’t like to disturb it, but Garnet said we can’t just leave these lying around.

Later, when Pearl is upset, Steven asks Lion:

Steven: Do you know where she went? Lion: growl Steven: I’m going to assume that means you do.

...then he warps Steven to the battlefield. After Steven chases her to a floating island, Pearl then says:

Pearl: Do you remember this place? Do you have any of her memories? We were right here, over 5,000 years ago.

Pearl recreates the moment she and Rose chose to stay on Earth forever. Another location specific to Rose and Pearl.

Secret: Moon Base

Lion warps Steven to the Moon Base in both It Could’ve Been Great and in Can’t Go Back. The Galaxy Warp was destroyed pre-corruption, so unless Rose wanted to visit and gave excellent warp directions, Lion could not have visited it before. But Rose spent some time there as Pink Diamond!

Secret: Landfill/Pink Diamond

Lion brings Steven to the landfill in Lion 4: Alternate Ending, when Steven is paranoid about his magical destiny.

He was excited to get Steven into the mane in Lion 3, but in Lion 4 he’s reluctant to answer Steven’s questions, and acts much more subdued and serious than usual when they get there.

He brings Steven to Greg to have his questions about “For Nora” answered, but leaves before Greg sees him.

One other thing that’s slightly different between “For Steven” and “For Nora” is Rose’s monologue in the tape. Two sections are slightly different. One of them is this:

“For Steven”:

Steven, we can’t both exist.

“For Nora”:

Nora, we can’t both exist, but I won’t be gone.

The other revelation in the landfill is Pink Diamond’s ship. Its location was known only to Rose, Pearl didn’t know there was still a working ship on the planet. From Space Race:

Pearl: It’s fine. I’ll always have my memories of other worlds. But now I’m here. On Earth. Forever.

Rose’s identity as Pink Diamond was a secret. In Legs From Here to Homeworld all it takes to activate the ship is an incidental touch from Steven:

Lion must have known bringing Steven to look for answers here would risk Steven discovering Rose’s secret identity?

Behaviors

Rose is not necessarily Lion full-time; Lion is a revived lion with the same powers as Lars.

Lion’s relationship to Connie or Steven isn’t in this post, although it’s significant to both of them; Connie, Steven, and Lion have closely related character arcs, but in terms of the theory I’m sticking to characters Lion would have known as Rose or as Pink. I do have this brief post about Connie knowing Lion and Steven well enough to figure out Rose is Lion.

Garnet is also missing from this post because Lion has spent suspiciously little time around Garnet, presumably because Rose knows how her future vision works.

Lion’s interactions with other characters:

Behavior: Amethyst

Lion seems to like Amethyst! He’s particularly affectionate with her, and she’s affectionate with him. They’re shown in the background being cuddly a few times. Amethyst feels an instant connection.

(Is this a family photo?)

Lion also keeps an eye on Amethyst's reaction during Cry For Help, while Steven is distracted by Sardonyx’s whimsy;

Behavior: Pearl

Notable Pearl and Lion scenes. In Lion 3 they watch Steven sleep together.

In Scabbard they interact a lot and it’s interesting. He’s amused by Pearl taking the scabbard from him and annoyed at being shooed away.

Then he’s mad at her for trying to get into his mane.

We don’t get to see his face once when Pearl gets upset in the living room, but when Steven asks where Pearl went...

Lion knows exactly where to take him, and feels strongly about it.

He lets Pearl put the sword in his mane and ride on his back at the end of the episode.

He has some reactions in the movie, like after Pearl sings her incredible verse about moving on from Rose, Lion wakes up with this look on his face

He also hangs around Greg and rejuvenated Pearl, although his face isn’t shown much.

Behavior: Greg

Lion loves hanging out with Greg!

Lion’s notable scenes with Greg include: that time he took Steven back to fight with the Crystal Gems in The Return, and then hid before Greg could see him in Full Disclosure.

Is this a family photo?

And at the very end of the series, the time he shows up to face Greg with a badly injured Watermelon Steven.

Greg greets him with a smile before he sees Steven - maybe Lion’s shown up to spend time with him before?

Character development. And of course in the movie, Lion gives Greg a little kiss in a Crystal Gem groupshot. Very cute!

Behavior: Diamonds

Lion has a visible reaction to the Diamonds and seems to understand their power, even though he would never have encountered them before.

In Reunited, Lion tries his hardest and he’s the first to charge Blue Diamond after a teamwork.

Makes sense for Rose to be angry with Blue

Also in Reunited, Lion is the only character who keeps an eye out for Yellow Diamond after the Cluster knocks down her ship.

In Legs From Here to Homeworld, Lion is making a face for most of the episode. He is not happy about this new development (asking White Diamond to help with corruption)

In Escapism, when Steven asks for help against White Diamond, Lion looks unusually worried.

He looks a little judgy when the Diamonds and Spinel sing in the movie.

Behavior: Spinel

Lion allows Spinel to ride around on his back, but he also shoots her dirty looks,

and leaves her behind at the Sadie Killer concert.

If Rose is Lion, oof. But hey, still in character based on past behavior!

Behavior: Jasper

We don’t know the nature of Rose and Jasper’s relationship, and Lion doesn’t interact with her much, but Lion is there to witness Malachite’s fusion.

In Crack the Whip we get a few Jasper clues. He reacts to mention of Jasper’s name at the beginning.

He also seems big mad at Jasper, who spends the whole time aggressing at Steven under the impression he’s Rose.

Curious to see if this comes back when we get to hear Jasper’s story in Future.

Unresolved Mysteries

Some things about Lion and about Rose that still lack answers and could affect this:

What Lion and Rose’s relationship looked like

how he died and was revived by Rose’s abilities.

Desert Glass gem.

The lizards he eats

Whether or how it’s even possible Rose gave up her gem to Steven while continuing to exist as a separate entity on the astral plane like this.

Suspicious Characters, Dreams & Stuff

Galaxy brain: if Rose is Lion, what’s to say she doesn’t have the other abilities Steven has?

Steven has Pink Diamond dreams when he needs the information in the dream. When animal sidekicks appear they lead him to his goals. If Lion is a mysterious animal sidekick who appeared just to be Steven’s friend, and he’s secretly Rose, what other convenient animal sidekicks are suspect?

If he doesn’t have a magical destiny, but does have a magical, secretive mom who can astral project and hijack organic bodies, maybe she’s been lending him a hand here and there.

The only time the mask slips is in Storm in the Room.

Steven: And that’s why I’m here, isn’t it? Did you just make me so you wouldn’t have to deal with your mistakes? Is that all I’m here for?

Rose: Steven, you know that isn’t true. In the tape I left you, I told you how much I wanted to have you and let you exist.

Ghosts

There are a few characters I call “suspicious ghosts” who aid Steven along his journey. They only exist to be convenient to Steven, even though Steven doesn’t have a magical destiny, and might be Rose:

Tiny Floating Whale: Has Susan Egan’s voice and appears before Steven hears her voice in Lion 3

Baby Melon: Is friends with Steven, punches Steven to draw the ire of the other melons and sacrifice himself.

Dream Dogcopter: Leads Steven to Lapis when he’s looking for Malachite. Tells Steven to “take a deep breath” when Lion is trying to get him in his mane.

Melon Dogs: Shows Steven Malachite is near Mask Island. Tries to distract and entertain Steven when he’s trapped in Pink Diamond’s tower.

Maybe Pink Steven? Maybe Cactus Steven? (They could be more Rose ghosts, given the way they behave, but could also be exactly what they appear to be)

Dreams & Memories

Like Lion, Steven’s dreams also seem to help him out with information his mom would have.

Steven’s Dream: Steven asks Greg if his mom ever talked about Pink Diamond, Greg tells Steven that Rose didn’t tell him about her past. Steven has a dream of crying in front of the palanquin, prompting him to search for answers there.

Jungle Moon: Stevonnie is stranded on one of Yellow Diamond’s Moon Bases and has a dream that is partially a memory of Pink Diamond’s. Using the code they see in the dream, they are able to unlock YD’s console and call for help.

Can’t Go Back: Steven dreams of Pink Diamond trying to save Earth and Pearl with Rose’s sword, prompting him to speak to Pearl and uncover her secret.

Masterpost of suspicious ghosts that goes into slightly more detail.

Rose’s Characterization

From Storm in the Room:

Steven: I finally know the truth. I know what you are! You’re a liar! I thought you’d never want to hurt anyone, but you hurt everyone! How could you just leave Garnet and Amethyst and Pearl and Dad? They don’t know what to do without you! Maybe they didn’t matter to you as much as hiding the mess you made!

My read of Rose choosing to be Lion but not tell the others is because she cared about them, but like other things she’s done, that doesn’t change the fallout.

The good news: If Rose is Lion, and she is still around in some fashion, if she can only overcome this pattern of behavior and face the truth... then, like everyone else in Steven Universe, she has a chance to change!

But...

Lion is pink because he’s like Lars: Yes. See above. I’m not claiming there’s an alternate explanation for Lion’s appearance or abilities, or contradicting his behaviors. It’s just that Rose is using his body.

Lion knows everything because Rose told him: I don’t think this makes sense given what we know of Rose. I don’t mind being wrong if there’s a better explanation.

Rose is dead My only response to this objection is yea, as far as we know, but there’s enough supporting detail not explained in other ways that I believe the theory has merit. It’s not like SU hasn’t misdirected us before.

Future Speculation

In the Steven Universe Future premiere, although Steven really doesn’t want to think about what she did anymore (and who could blame him?) we get a little bit of new Rose lore. Shy Rose Quartz.

I think this is Rose. I don’t know how she managed it, but I think we’ll learn soon. With the possibility Rose is Lion, and can inhabit other bodies, the whole vibe of Rose Buds changes. Here is a post dedicated to that: Shy Rose is Steven’s Mom. That’s all. From A Single Pale Rose:

Rose: Convincing? Pearl: Very much so, my DIamond. Rose: Soon it will be just Rose.

In Volleyball it’s also explained that she traumatized her former Pearl, and that Rose changed her behavior so much that it’s like Pearl and Volleyball knew two different people.

One last thing: Steven’s arc.

From I Am My Mom:

I get it now. I’m the only one who can stop what she started. I can stop all of it!

From Reunited:

Now all that’s left of her exists in me, and I think that we can all agree: that is a little bit upsetting. I’d rather think about a wedding!

From Storm in the Room:

No, I’m sure you meant it. I get it. I know you didn’t want me to deal with your problems. You’re a part of me now. I have to deal with what you left behind.

From “Happily Ever After”:

Once upon a time, I thought I’d always be in my mother’s shadow Answering for her crimes, I thought I’d always be in an endless battle

From the end of the movie:

There’s no such thing as happily ever after. I’ll always have more work to do.

Steven has a tough relationship with his mom by now.

Like when she said “We can’t both exist,” recently called back in Rose Buds.

From Storm in the Room:

In the tape I left you, I told you how much I wanted to have you and let you exist. Do you think what I said to you in the tape was a lie?

If you entertain this theory as plausible given the lore, the implications change; what if Rose isn’t gone? What if she’s not half of him? What if at least part of that tape was just another lie?

And I need you to know that every moment you love being yourself, that’s me, loving you and loving being you. Because you’re going to be something extraordinary; you’re going to be a human being.

Steven has internalized a lot from when he was young. His best friend Lion has been there for him. We’re also seeing the ways his childhood trauma has manifested in coping behaviors and automatic reactions from his gem, not unlike his mom before him.

Right now, in Future, mid-breakdown - how would Steven react to such a paradigm shift?

Thank you for reading! I know this is a lot.

#rose is lion 2020 #rosedemption 2020 #steven universe theory

78 notes · View notes

lumiereswig · 6 years

Note

Do you have any crossovers with/AUs inspired by "Moulin Rouge!"? I know there's a fics list page but my wifi is so stupid slow it never loads so I can never tell.

nope! srry

since u can’t load the fics page im gonna give it all to you right here boo

Lumiere discovers something new, post-curse: Matches

Plumette/Lumiere, pre-curse. Plumette growing up and Lumiere growing close. Lit By The Sun

Plumette/Lumiere, immediately after being cursed: Fire and Feathers

Lumiere meets the prince for the first time: A Showman Through and Through

Plumette/Lumiere as college kids: Modern AU that is not super great but eh i tried

plumiere in love: it’s right here for now (at least until I edit it and make it better)

here’s Scotland

“a maid that has a crush on Lumiere faking being Plumette and trying to seduce him”: hahaha this one still makes me laugh

abandoned ‘kidnapped’ fic—here

lumiere finding out plumette is pregnant: Here.

lumiere sees the baby for the first time: Here. Aww.

“a one shot in which plumette and lumiere go on a romantic tryst about the castle in the days following their wedding 💕”: poor cogsworth

Lumiere is the sexiest sandwich in the palace. Here.

Plumette gets sick, it’s really sad: Right over here, pal.

More plumiere falling in love here.

Tale as old as time, older than that guy, Beauty and Maurice.

garderenza backstory? here it is

So, like: what if Mulan showed up.

“can i please have a crack-shippy fic where everybody is in love with the wrong people.” Here.

figuring out how to be human again. here

lumiere/plumette body swap HERE.

“Movie night at the castle!” As you wish.

a bunch of other maids have a crush on lumiere and try to get his attention: a short fic about trapezes

“A group of poor motherless ducklings imprint on Plumette” QUACK QUACK.

“please expand on that night when Plumette and co. got drunk because of Chapeau’s brandy + wine idea…” I don’t know why I like writing drunk!staff so much but i DO

1991, MEET 2017!

What happened to Gaston? The only Gaston fic I’ll ever write, probably. Here.

He is nineteen. She is younger. Lumiere tells Plumette a fairytale. Lit by the Moon.

“How about a fic were the staff play light as a feather stiff as a board with Plumette as the board.“ what the fuck even is this game i am still confused but on y va, i guess

ATTRACTIVE FARMER MAN AND HIS TWO WIVES

Plumette’s last seconds before the curse takes hold. Laughing Still.

Forgotten. [Ongoing]

Plumiere in the rain. Quick mini-fic. I’ve Seen Fire and Rain

“quick question : how often does lumiere get sick?” Here.

“What if the day the curse was broken the staff go batshit crazy over being able to eat again so they eat until their stomachs hurt. Then Chip starts a food fight by throwing a bread roll at Cogsworth.” THIS HAPPENED?

“A dragon comes to try and eat Plumette” Lumiere is a fire-bender

“crack fic where they somehow discover theyre fictional” this one was so fun to write, lumiere picks up ewan’s scottish accent and hates it

“What about a really cute fic were Lumiere and Plumette fake being sick so they don’t have to work and get to spend the whole day together” poor cogsworth part 2

“Who gets the weird nightmares and who consoles the other at two in the morning because they’re in tears.” Me, because I just want my OTP to have nice things. Here.

”coffeeshop au but its still set in the 18th century“ BUT WHAT DO YOU THINK OF ROUSSEAU, THO??

“Can you write about Lumiere throwing Plumette a surprise birthday party for her?” hey

“Chip wants to be maître d’ someday and follows Lumière around the castle as his little protégé” he’s going to be a better one than lumiere here

“don’t think about how painful the transformation must have been for the servants" do i ever think of anything else. [the answer is no]

“*Whispers in your ear* AMNESIAC LUMIERE” FUCK. HOW’D YOU KNOW I LOVE AMNESIA FICS?? FUCK. ultimately one of my favorite fics. holy fuck

“*Whispers in your ear* AMNESIAC LUMIERE” part TWO, motherfuckers

“Maybe one during the curse where they can suddenly hear the soundtrack around them?“ poor cadenza

“What if somebody after the curse was broken just out of nowhere started playing the Aria. I NEED FEELS” have you thought about horrible things yet today

“The castle has to order in pizza” adam would like to register a complaint.

“Ewan McGregor and Lumiere switching universes" here

”A water balloon fight that gets out of hand?“ SPLASH.

Les Miserabeauty and the Beast. Here.

“Can you do where everyone is turn into a baby” ANGST

STANFOU ROMANCE

“Nutcracker AU?!” aw fuck here

“I Never Really Knew You”—Cadenza & Adam

“He Must Loathe Me”—Chapeau & Plumette

“The Sound of Her Weeping”—Garderobe & Lumiere

“Her Little Satin Slippers”—Cogsworth & Plumette

“Home”—Mrs. Potts & Plumette

“Chapeau’s Charade”—Belle & Chapeau

“Lullaby”—Garderobe & Plumette

“Cake in the Sun”—Lumiere & Stanley

“Like You Used To”—Adam & Garderobe

“Why The Beast Eats Like….That”—Chip & The Beast

“The Boy’s Hand”—Chip & Adam

“The Pink Vest”—Garderobe & Cogsworth

“Draw”—Maurice & Adam

“They’ll Never Meet Again”—Plumette & Garderobe.

“Her Beautiful Maman”—Garderobe & Plumette, in the parents AU. Also: Lumiere & Frou-Frou. Woof.

“have Belle and Adam watch batb 2017?” sure.

“I would love to see their reaction to singing in the rain! It’s my all time favorite movies!! ❤️❤️" 🌧🌧🌧🌧SAME 🌧🌧🌧🌧

“consider the coconut” MOANA CRACK.

“Plumiere goes to Paris?” Prequel fic! [oh là là]

“thy crackest crack of all - batb but adam/belle and lumiere/plumette swap places” lumiere turns into a dragon

“so. um. amnesiac adam?“ FUCK. FUCK.FUCK.

”Mary Poppins would be practically perfect in every way!” Feed the fucking birds

“I should have told you a long time ago.” Plumette wakes up, after their first night together. Fits into the “Lit by the Sun” story.

“This is why we can’t have nice things/you don’t see me”—right after the curse, Plumiere cope with their new forms. Angst?

“Prove It/You’re Drunk.” Lumiere had….a night of it. Poor Cogsworth, the Continuing Saga

“great comet” fic: the candle in the mirror

“I’ve been waiting a long time.” finally a happy!cogsworth fic. Tic toc.

“Batb and Frozen crossover pls“—it’s garbage

The whole palace body swaps. here

“What happens when Lumiere’s family wakes up and realizes they have a son at the palace?” well SHIT ! there’s a prompt

“Chapeau having to relearn and figure out how to play the violin once he’s turned into a coatrack.” Shh.

a cuisinier fic! this fandom doesn’t deserve him

“Batb and Robin Hood crossover!!!!!” fuck

“how about the castle residents plays a giant game of live clue.” Adam would like to register another complaint

Lit by the Stars. Plumette and Lumiere meet for the first time.

“belle catches a cold?” i’m allergic to fluff

“how about amnesiac belle this time?” FUCK

w o w this one’s about plumette & belle sharing plague stories

“Can you do where Lumiere and Plumette babysit Chip while Mrs. Potts is working” cute? ??

Wedding Cake: it’s huge

“lightly read fanfiction.” RIGHT?!

“You should let them watch the classic movie Beauty and the Beast” here

“ plumette x lumière modern spies AU” here.

“cogsworth angst” YOU GOT IT dude

“Hi, could you do some fluff and angst headcanons for Madame de Garderobe and Cadenza please xx” the honeymooners

“Shalalalalala my oh my, looks like the boy’s too shy, ain’t gonna kiss the girl” has lumiere ever been shy in his life ?

“Would you care to write a drabble of the castle redoing Mrs. and Mr. Potts’s wedding because Chip found his mother’s wedding dress and was bummed that he missed it?“ oh hey unrelated: i never dated a christmas ornament

“imagine plumiere first met AFTER they were turned into objects” um: FUCK YES.

“Batb characters in the titanic” too soon, people. too soon.

“Plumiere prompt: A whole new world! new fantastic point of view. No one to tell us no. Or where to go. Or say we’re only dreaming.” ok

“a touring theatre group comes to perform at the castle” this is more like a headcanon but it’s long as fuck so it ended up here

“cogsworth discovers he can fly” this is so wrong, this is so right

“Card Tricks”—Lumiere & Chip

“Coffee & Tea”—Lefou & Mrs. Potts

“Lion’s Mane”—Cuisiner & Plumette & Adam

“the characters read some of your fics and their reactions” o fuck. crack.

“Ok, but what about someone slipping Lumiere a love potion meant for Plumette??” kisses

Plumette stargazes; Lumiere dates someone else. Veronique

“ding dong we need more cogsworth- can we have something with him and mrs. potts bonding over all of their dumb kids” ding dong yes yes yes we do!

the villagers get cursed. a trash fic!!!![[[[ongoing]]]

Seating Arrangementsare! important! here.

“cogsworth sharing plumette’s first dance with her at her wedding, and…” I don’t dance.

poly garderenza/belle. i love this bullshit. i ship this

“Bonjour you wrote a fic about Luimere taking care of Plumette when she’s sick, can you write one about Plumette taking care of Lumiere? 💛💛” cough!

The First Untethered Hot Air Balloon Flight: oh, fuck.

garderenza content FEELS

“amnesiac belle?” COMPLETED, BITCHES. fucking ga w w d

“Can we have cogsworth headcanons?? Pretty please mon ami??” Dulce et decorum est.

“Eclipse”—Lumiere & Chip

what if the servants came awake again, in modern days? Here

‘do you remember when we were human?’ Plumiere shit.

A history lesson w/Cogs and Lums. Beware the dust. Album.

GARDERENZA HIGH SCHOOL AU !!!

“Woof”— Belle & Frou-Frou

“Fireworks”—Adam & Plumette

“Amnesiac Mrs. Potts?” Eh.

“a midsummer night’s dream au?” welcome to CRACK CITY [x]

“Plumette has a tragic, existential moment.” Pouf-pouf.

“a touring theatre group comes to perform at the castle. like some kind of magic, they can perform shows that don’t even exist yet” [x]

“I would love if you wrote when Plumette and Lumiere came up with Be Our Guest” BE! OUR! GUEST

“The castle adopts a pet? but not like a cat or anything, like they get a pet komodo dragon or something” welcome to the zoo

garderenza’s glory [x]

“Flicker In, Flicker Out.” The curse takes its toll.

“Who would be into divination? the Supernatural? Spooky Shit™?” HEY THERE DEMONS, IT’S YA BOI.

“If each of the servants could write a book, what would they be about?” The Villeneuve Catalog of Literature, fresh off the presses. [x]

“Cogsworth + Lumiere switch personalities?” i fuckin love a good crack prompt. showgirls!

“Socks”—Pere Robert & Mrs. Potts

adam and belle meet as tiny kids

COLLEGE FACULTY AU FIC

sad maurice fic: :)))))))))

“What do the servants do when they can’t sleep?” Shhhh.

Chip being in town when the curse strikes, here [ongoing!]

Belle gets used to the staff being, well.….human again. “New.”

“Have you ever done a role-swap where Belle was the princess and Adam was the boy from the village?“ CHIP. DON’T FUCK WITH THE TIME TRAVEL. Here.

The useless energy of haunted things. “Freaks of Furniture.” Thanks, JSTOR.

@batbobsession collab w/me called “One Moment”—their part is here, my part is there. The servants and the staff take a minute, right before the battle, to face what they’ve become.

“spooky prompt: What If the castle was haunted the year after belle breaks the spell…sadder prompt: What If the ghost was Adams mom…Worse prompt: or his father” THIS IS NOT THE FUN GHOST-HUNTING I ASKED FOR.

“Everyone says that Adam was under the spell ages, so what if the spell went on for 300+ years or whatever, and a woman hiking through the woods kind of went through what Maurice did with the tree being knocked over…” Fucking!!!! Granola bars!!!!!!!!!!!![x] [Ongoing.]

How desperate I became. To erase. To unmake my mouth, my pulse. / To unlive. “The Writing-Desk.”

“So Very Different”—Cuisinier & Garderobe

“how would the staff and Belle and Adam react to some little kids from the village showing up trick-or-treating?“ Something like this, I imagine.

“Amnesiac Cadenza?” i do fucking love an amnesia ask

“During the curse, Adam begins to see ghostly apparitions of the servants’ human forms.” Dead men walking.

“Spooky prompt: A haunted house in Villeneuve.” i just want to talk to the demons!

“These Two Need More Love”—Chapeau & Cuisinier

“A piece inspired by the song, “A Shoulder to Cry On,” aka, ‘80S MUSIC FICS

“Adam, Belle + staff go to pick out/chop down their own Christmas tree……” Yule fic by me + other people! ho ho ho.

way down in hadestown

The fandom-spanning fic, involving Star Wars, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Doctor Who, and Tulio and Miguel.

“Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said.” Evermore. Thanks Ray Bradbury.

“idk how she got there but Garderobe rules the world.” ❤️

“Oh! How about a story or headcannons of Shane and Ryan doing a Buzzfeed Unsolved Video at the enchanted castle in BatB?” [wheeze] (a FAVE)

“Words”—Garderobe & LeFou.

“what if someone confused the servants with the royals, cuz they dress better than adam and belle?” This happens regularly.

“Pere Robert somehow comes across a Time Turner” ⏳tick-tock⌛️

“Crackfic prompt: Belle is messing around with magic books (AGAIN) and somehow summons dinosaurs.” that’s , uh, that’s chaos theory

plumiere SNUGGLING FOR WARMTH TROPE????

“The BATB characters stumble into The Great Comet” EVERYBODY RAISE A GLASS

“So I’m reading the Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater…..” Here.

“Please give me more singing hair brush!” the fucking hairbrush. Here.

“Please can I have a bunch of adorable hcs where Garderenza are prepping Bassette for their first concert with her singing in it too” that is a hairbrush

arrrrGGHHHH, mateys, that thar be a magical pirates fic, shiver me timbers

“lumiere gets a sunburn” ouCh

“for adelle: maybe the Official Proposal?” Here.

“ what if. an amnesia fic. where they. ALL. Got. A m n e s I a�� —MY BRAND~

“Headcanons for Belle and Adam being the world’s greatest grandparents?” also known as “be a bear, grandpa!”

“Garderenza prompt: ‘You saved my life!’” oh how divine

belle keeps playing with magic and getting everybody fucked

this collab fic with @theteaisaddictive is done! “agathe gets amnesia”

“Whisky and Red Wine”—Lumiere and Belle have a night in.

“AU idea: As belle is leaving the second time, something stops her and she turns and whispers ‘I love you’ before running off.” Can you say “two idiots”?

“ have you ever done any asks about what you think maurice/belle’s mum’s life was like before they had belle???” I AM ALWAYS HERE FOR THE MAURICE SAD!FICS [x]

“something sweet with adam and the plumiere child.” sweet as stolen breakfasts.

“Belle messing with magic again finds one that puts the universe into reverse” this one is straight crack i hope you like it

chip is the middle man for some major lumiworth action

“A traveller stops by for directions […] by coincidence, he’s one of Belle’s *very favorite* authors.” Wow I wonder if the world’s biggest book nerd is going to handle this in a responsible manner [x]

“a man attending a ball at the palace spots plumette, and falls in love with her beauty. she receives an anonymous present of heart-shaped chocolates on her bedside the next day, and assuming they are a present from her dear lover, eats them without a thought. moments later…..” Not exactly this trope but uhhhh it’s a love potion fic babyyyyyyy

#PLEASE REBLOG THIS POST #beauty and the beast #batb #batb 2017 #it's shorter than the other rlly long one #but also uhhhhh h u h looks like i wrote 2 many fics #ooOOps #fire hands candle hands trashdelabra stans #its lumiereswig b i t c h

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avidbeader · 7 years

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Voltron fanfic: “Scattered” Ch. 20

Rated T. Genfic/no ships. S2 AU. You can begin at the beginning here or read it on FF-Net and AO3.

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Keith hung back as Shiro’s parents pulled him into the sitting room and started hugging him. They were talking non-stop in Japanese and a lot of it was going over Keith’s head. His mastery of the language was intermediate at best and it had been a long time since the Garrison, the last place he had used it with any frequency. He and Shiro had picked up where they left off, having conversations in Japanese about random things when it was mostly just the two of them on the Castle-ship.

He wandered around the edge of the room, taking it in, trying to give Shiro as much uninterrupted time as possible with his parents. His mother was in tears and Shiro was trying to soothe her—the Galra arm was the current topic of discussion.

Keith looked away again, glancing at the collection of photos on a side table, and froze at seeing the frame in a place of honor near the center.

It was a posed family shot with everyone dressed neatly in formal attire. Shiro’s mother was to the left, his father to the right, both leaning in. A pre-teen Shiro was between them, his arms around his parents, and grinning delightedly at the camera.

And in front of Shiro, behind the clasped hands of Shiro’s parents, was Keith.

He remembered that day: being dressed up in a new suit, Daichi helping both boys with their ties by leaning over them from behind. Then there was the train ride and a promise of ice cream later if they would behave themselves. The photographer had said the wrong thing, encouraging a shy Keith to think of the upcoming summer break and spending more time with his family.

At the time he had been with the Shiroganes for all of five weeks. He knew from experience that he would be somewhere else by the time summer rolled around. They seemed nice, but soon enough they would get tired of dealing with his nightmares or his picky eating habits because his stomach just would not calm down. They would lose patience with his struggles in school, owing to the constant moves. Or if they didn’t, their son, Takashi, would get jealous and start acting out.

Something always happened. He had learned that by now, two years into the foster system.

Something always happened.

Ha hadn’t begun to believe at the time of the photo. The best the photographer could get out of a seven-year-old Keith was a quiet curve of the lips, his eyes solemn. The photo wouldn’t make a difference—they could always take another and throw this one away, after Keith was back at the group home or in yet another foster placement. Taking a photo meant nothing.

It took until his birthday in the fall for him to start believing. When one of the packages he unwrapped had the adoption application inside.

After that they were all counting the days until the yearlong foster period was over and they could begin formal adoption proceedings. Shiro was just beginning his plan to apply for the Garrison and Keith was finally up to an acceptable weight, his appetite back, his nightmares almost gone, his grades improving.

And then Shiro’s grandfather suffered a heart attack back in Japan. His dad began making arrangements to transfer his job back to Nagano because there was no other family to support him.

And the director of the foster program refused to overlook it when they sent in one of the dozens of forms two days late.

“Keith!”

He jumped, jolted out of the memories, and turned to see Sayuri holding out her arms to him.

He reached out and took her hands, letting her pull him in. He was surprised to find that she was as small as Pidge; he had to lean his head down to press his cheek into her hair.

“My darling, we have missed you so much.”

“I missed you.”

Daichi embraced both of them and Keith shifted to get one arm around his neck. “I understand we have you to thank for getting Takashi away from the Garrison.”

“I didn’t know it was him until I got inside—I was just chasing whatever arrived. But yeah.”

Shiro’s mother pulled his head down and kissed his cheek. “Why didn’t you get in touch with us after Takashi d—disappeared?”

Keith noticed her stutter and the shadow that crossed Shiro’s face said he had also noticed. She was still adjusting to the fact that her son was alive. Shiro moved over and laid his flesh hand on her shoulder.

“I’m sorry, kaa-chan, I couldn’t, at first.” Keith used the Japanese address without thinking. “By the time I had pulled enough money together to replace the tablet the Garrison issued me, I’d found that energy signature from the Blue Lion and was sort of obsessing over searching for the source.”

Shiro’s father put a hand to Keith’s head and turned his gaze to face him. “From now on, you come to us. Any time you need anything, you come to us. All right?”

Keith nodded. “Yes, sir.”

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Colleen pulled the van inside the garage while the rest of the Holts crouched down to avoid being seen through the front window. A couple of people from the media crews tried to block her path in, but she laid one hand on the horn and let it sound in a prolonged blast to get her point across.

Once inside, the four of them came together in a group hug that lasted several minutes. Pidge couldn’t keep the tears in, but a sniffle somewhere told her she wasn’t the only one. Finally Colleen pulled back slightly to kiss each of her children on the cheek before throwing herself into Sam’s arms to kiss him soundly.

Pidge and Matt traded slightly embarrassed glances, then she moved into the living room and began clearing off the coffee table. Matt started to follow her, but Pidge waved him away. “Go take your shower or hug Mom again. I’ve only been gone a few weeks—she needs you and Dad more. I’ll get these communicators started.”

One corner of Matt’s mouth quirked up in a sardonic smile. “Yes, ma’am.”

Pidge began working the case of Matt’s phone open. She was pretty sure that her plan would work and Hunk would be available to consult through the group chat if she needed help.

Speaking of which…

She looked around for her mother’s tablet and grabbed it.

Holt family reporting in. Did everyone make it home OK?

After a pause, the replies began coming:

Yes – Lance is still talking to our parents upstairs.

Hunk here. Yeah, no trouble.

Everyone is accounted for. See you all back at the Castle.

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Hunk noticed his mother smiling as he took yet another slice of mango and popped it into his mouth, savoring the flavor. She and his aunt were at the counter, putting the finishing touches on a large spread of sandwiches and fruit. The scent of the cookies in the oven wafted through the kitchen.

Noni finished her side and wiped her hands. “I’ll go ask Mara to pass the word. We’ll rotate everyone through, a house or two at a time, so those news people won’t get suspicious.” She paused at the door to slip on her sandals and exited.

Iolana finished her side and moved to check the oven.

“Give them a couple more minutes,” Hunk advised, and she grinned at him.

“I’m glad your cooking instincts haven’t suffered in all this,” she quipped.

He beamed. “I know how I sounded like a total whiner earlier, but when we do have the chance to explore a planet, it can be really cool. I think my favorite thing so far was something that looked like blue apples, same texture, but tasted like the best sweet tea ever.”

Iolana laughed at that. “That does sound interesting. Did they have a name?”

“Yeah, but not one that my mouth could pronounce. Too much hissing.”

She laughed again and Hunk relaxed a bit. All his life she had worked so hard to give him opportunities but shield him from what she saw as others taking advantage of his easygoing nature. To her, he was Tsuyoshi, mechanical genius and talented cook. But when he was around his friends, he was satisfied with being Hunk, the guy who helped get things done. No one else among the kids he played with had a nickname that was not a shortened version of their real name and he chose to look at the positives of it, being the bigger and stronger kid in the group. When he had met Lance during orientation for the Garrison, Lance had balked at calling him “Yoshi” because of some old-school videogame character and Hunk had shared the nickname. Lance’s enthusiasm for it had been contagious and by the end of first term all the students were calling him “Hunk.”

“Tell me more. What has been your biggest success so far with cooking these alien things?”

Hunk was describing his adventures in chemistry as he tried to figure out baking a cake in space when Noni returned with a couple of families from the street.

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As big as the family was, Lance still ran out of people to hug. He tried to delay some more by picking up Lydia to entertain her, but his father took the toddler and handed her off to a cousin.

“We need to talk, son.”

Lance gulped but followed him into his office. His dad closed the door and waved at Lance to sit on the chair across from the desk. Lance shook his head—he had picked up from watching Shiro and Allura that standing was better for keeping one-on-one negotiations short. His father frowned and remained standing as well, instead of sitting behind the desk.

“You need to make arrangements to leave this team and stay here.”

Lance barely avoided jumping out of his skin when Blue snarled in his mind. “I can’t, Dad. The Blue Lion chose me. I’m the only one who can pilot her.”

Seamus waved one hand in dismissal. “It can choose someone else.”

Intellectually, Lance knew this was a possibility. But his heart cried out in denial. Blue was his lion, they were partners. Her presence swelled within him, purring in approval and contentment.

“That’s not how it works, Dad. The lions can’t just swap in and out—there has to be a match in our life forces.” He tried to remember how Allura had put it weeks ago as she described the different qualities each pilot must possess…

…and he had interrupted her. He had no clue what qualities defined the Blue Lion’s pilot. Keith and Red were instinct and fire, Hunk and Yellow were caring and support, Pidge and Green were intellect and curiosity, Shiro and Black were leadership. What was left for him?

Blue’s presence grew stronger, telling him, It doesn’t matter, I chose you. Lance straightened his shoulders. “I know it doesn’t feel good, knowing I’m out there fighting a war, but you knew something like this would happen when I joined the Garrison to become a fighter pilot. You knew I’d be flying into space or into combat.”

His father flinched at those words and Lance was suddenly on the alert.

“Dad? You knew, right?”

Seamus McClain licked his lips nervously. “No, I didn’t. You were classified as a cargo pilot after the first round. The counselor your mother and I talked with predicted that you would end up in cargo class. That was the only reason we went along with you applying to the Garrison.”

Lance felt as if his father had punched him in the gut. “You expected me to fail?”

“Not fail, son! We were fine with you learning to fly! But we didn’t want you in the fighter class, we didn’t want the possibility of you going to war!”

“You didn’t think I was good enough!”

His father’s expression hardened. “Not for fighter class, no. All the pretests and the counselors made it clear that you would be a cargo pilot at the Garrison or a passenger pilot in the private sector. And we were happy with that because it meant you were safer. Having Jeremy decide on police work was bad enough.”

“You didn’t think I was good enough,” Lance repeated dully.

I think you’re more than good enough, my paladin! Blue’s sentiment echoed in him and the hurtful realization that his parents had been humoring his dreams instead of supporting them began to ebb.

He looked up at his father. “Well, it turns out I was good enough. And now I’m part of the most elite team of pilots in the universe. And yeah, it’s dangerous. But if I don’t fight, then it’s almost certain that the Galra will take over Earth just like they have a thousand other planets. I’m going back, Dad. With or without your approval. Now, if that’s all you wanted to say, I’d rather spend the rest of my visit catching up with everyone.”

He turned and left the room.

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“Coran, how involved were you in setting up the artificial intelligence for my father?”

The adviser turned from his fiddling at his station and looked at her warily. “Not very. I knew they had planned for it, but remember, I entered cryo-sleep not long after you did. I absolutely can’t do anything to restore it.”

“I realize that. I wanted to know if you could use the equipment to record someone’s memories for presenting to others.”

“Not really, but I expect Number Five could figure it out. Why?”

Allura wet her lips with her tongue. She knew it was the right thing to do and she felt reasonably certain that Shiro and the other paladins could convince Keith if he were reluctant. But she wasn’t sure how Coran would react.

“I want to use the technology to provide evidence against the official who attacked Keith. If the group judging him is able to witness it—”

“Princess, that’s interfering with a planet’s sovereignty.”

“He tried to kill Keith! I know this planet is still distant from the Galra Empire, but if we let this pass and word spreads, it will make us look weak! And I have to protect the paladins! They are my responsibility! Keith needs to know, they all need to know that I would do anything in my power to punish an act against them!”

Coran backed up as her words grew more heated and she paused to take a deep breath and try and calm down.

“I’m sorry, Coran. But I feel that this is something that must be pursued to its end.”

“No, princess, I should apologize. You have very strong points. It’s just that…you reminded me—”

“Of my father?”

“No, actually. Of your mother.”

That startled a laugh out of Allura and she smiled. “Really?”

“Yes. Every physical attack against the paladins, every verbal insult…she met them all with passion. Sometimes I think she would have been a perfect Red Paladin herself. She and Alfor made a good team: her fervor and his consideration.”

“I want to hear more sometime. But for now, let’s see if we can strengthen the particle barrier while we wait.”

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Pidge snapped the case shut on the converted phone and blew her hair out of her face. “That’s the last bit. Time to test this baby!”

The others watched as she thumbed the icon showing a stylized lion’s face. It brought up a menu with six color blocks: black, red, blue, green, yellow, and purple. She pressed the purple block.

A series of tones sounded, then Coran’s voice came through. “Hello? Which one is this?”

“It’s Pidge! Just testing our new communicators. How far away are you?”

“We landed on a moon next to this huge gas planet. It’s got this amazing section of red in its southern hemisphere—”

“Jupiter. Yeah, we know. Well, you’re coming in loud and clear, so I think these will work. Let me try one more time and see if I can leave a message. If that works, I think we’ve got it! I’ll just need to do the others and run them to the rest of the families in Green.”

“All right, Number Five. Has your family decided what they’re going to do yet?”

Pidge glanced up at Matt, who was curled up in a chair near her and listening in rather than reading the tablet in his hand. Their parents were still upstairs. “Not yet. But we’ll have a decision before it’s time to leave.”

“Very good. Oh, I’ll need your help. Allura has a project involving the AI projection room and I don’t know enough about its design to make it happen.”

“I can probably do that. Do you need me to come on back now?”

“No, no. It can wait. Enjoy your family time.”

“Okay. Good night!”

She ended the transmission and looked at Matt. “Is it decision time, o brother mine?”

He stretched and set the tablet on the coffee table. “There’s no decision about it. I want to go with you all. But I get the feeling that it’s all up to Mom whether she and Dad come with us or stay here.”

“And if they stay?”

“I can hang here for a little while. I do need to get new glasses…or bite the bullet and do the surgery thing. Getting a checkup in general is probably a good idea. But if I do that I want you to promise that you guys will come back for me soon.”

Pidge nodded and held out her fist, the little finger extended.

Matt stared for a second, then chuckled and linked his pinky with hers.

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Shiro stirred, wondering briefly where he was. The bed was much bigger than normal, the light soft instead of the harsh blue-white of the Castle-ship. He jerked when someone’s hand ran through his hair.

“Takashi?”

His mother. Shiro relaxed back into the pillows and tried to calm his pounding heart. He opened his eyes to see her sitting next to him on the bed. Sunlight streamed through thin gauze curtains. It was probably around seven in the morning.

“How long did I sleep?” He could never count on more than three hours at a time these days, between the nightmares and the emergencies.

“At least six hours. You clearly needed it.”

Shiro propped himself up on one elbow. “I wish you hadn’t let me sleep for so long. The point of coming was to spend time with you.”

Sayuri smiled. “I have been perfectly content. Seeing you, knowing you’re alive, that’s enough for me. But why aren’t you sleeping well?”

Shiro looked away at that. He felt a wave of guilt over not being able to keep it together. He was supposed to be the team’s leader, the one they could count on.

His mother put a hand to his chin and turned his gaze back to her. “Takashi. Talk to me.”

“I…it’s…” Words failed. How could he explain to his mother everything that had happened? The terror of the capture, the months in the gladiator ring or Haggar’s laboratory, the struggle to forge a team out of a random group of kids. The fears that he would make a mistake that couldn’t be fixed; that he would get them all killed due to some error in his judgment; that, without them standing in the way, Earth and the rest of the known universe would fall to the empire.

His throat was closing up, making breathing impossible. His heart rate was accelerating again. He could hear Sendak’s taunts: You’ve been broken and reformed.

Sayuri slid over and pulled him to her, his head resting on her chest. Her arm circled his shoulders, holding him close, and her other hand began stroking his hair. She began humming and Shiro recognized the tune: one of his favorite lullabies as a young child. Sayuri would hum or sing it to him well into his teens whenever he was sick or had a nightmare.

He concentrated on her sound and touch, his pulse slowing to match hers and his lungs taking in air again. Finally, she broke the silence.

“You’ll tell us when you can. Just remember, no matter what happens, we love you. We will always love you.”

Shiro nodded and slid his arms around her to return the embrace. She kissed the top of his head and resumed running her fingers through his hair.

Neither of them noticed when Keith glanced into the room in search of them and quietly retreated.

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Thanks for reading! More to come!

#voltron #voltron legendary defender #scattered by avidbeader #fanfic: voltron #voltron fanfic

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sheminecrafts · 4 years

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Quibi is the anti-TikTok (that’s a bad thing)

It takes either audacious self-confidence or reckless hubris to build a completely asocial video app in 2020. You can decide which best describes Quibi, Hollywood’s $1.75 billion-funded attempt at a mobile-only Netflix of six to 10-minute micro-TV show episodes. Quibi manages to miss every trend and tactic that could help make its app popular. The company seems to believe it can succeed on only its content (mediocre) and marketing dollars (fewer than it needs).

I appreciate that Quibi is doing something audaciously different than most startups. Rather than iterating toward product-market fit, it spent a fortune developing its slick app and buying fancy content in secret so it could launch with a bang.

Yet Quibi’s bold business strategy is muted by a misguided allegiance to the golden age of television before the internet permeated every entertainment medium. It’s unshareable, prescriptive, sluggish, cumbersome and unfriendly. Quibi’s unwillingness to borrow anything from social networks makes the app feel cold and isolated, like watching reality shows in the vacuum of space.

In that sense, Quibi is the inverse of TikTok, which feels fiercely alive. TikTok is designed to immediately immerse you in crowd-vetted content that grabs your attention and inspires you to spread your take on it to friends. That’s why TikTok has almost 2 billion downloads to date, while Quibi picked up just 300,000 on the day of its big splash into market.

Here’s a breakdown of the major missteps by Quibi, why TikTok does it better and how this new streaming app can get with the times.

What Hollywood thinks we want

Quibi feels like some off-brand cable channel, with a mix of convoluted reality shows, scripted dramas and news briefs. Imagine MTV at noon in the mid-2000s. Nothing seemed must-see. There’s no Game of Thrones or Mandalorian here. While the production value is better than what you’ll find on YouTube, the show concepts feel slapdash with novelty that quickly fades.

Chrissy Teigen as a small claims court judge? The tear-jerking “Thanks A Million” does skillfully multiply the “OMG” gratitude moment from makeover programs to happen 4X per episode. But a cooking show where blindfolded chefs have to guess what food was just exploded in their faces…(sigh)

The catalog feels like the product of TV writers being told they have 10 seconds to come up with an idea. “What would those idiots watch?” The shows remind me of old VR games that are barely more than demos, or an app built in a garage without ever asking prospective users what they need. Co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg may have produced The Lion King and Shrek, but the app’s content feels like it was greenlit by, well, Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s leader Meg Whitman, who indeed is Quibi’s CEO.

Quibi CEO Meg Whitman

Despite being built for a touch-screen interface, there’s little Bandersnatch-style interactive content so far, nor are the creators doing anything special with the six to 10-minute format. The shows feel more like condensed TV programs with episodes ending when there would be a commercial break. There’s no onboarding process that could ask which popular TV shows or genres you’re into. As the catalog expands, that makes it less likely you’ll find something appealing within a few taps.

TikTok comes from the opposite direction. Instead of what Hollywood thinks we want, its content comes straight from its consumers. People record what they think would make them and their friends laugh, surprised or enticed. The result is that with low to zero production budget, random kids and influencers alike make things with millions of Likes. And as elder millennials, Gen Xers and beyond get hooked, they’re creating videos for their peers, as well. The algorithm monitors what you’re hovering over and rapidly adapts its recommendations to your style.

TikTok is fundamentally interactive. Each clip’s audio can be borrowed to produce remixes that personalize a meme for a different demographic or subculture. And because its stars are internet natives, they’re in constant communication with their fan base to tune content to what they want. There’s something for everyone. No niche is too small.

TikTok screenshots

The Fix: Quibi should take a hint from Brat TV, the Disney Channel for the YouTube generation that gives tween social media stars their own premium shows about being a grade school kid to create content with a built-in fan base. [Disclosure: My cousin Darren Lachtman is a Brat co-founder.)

Take the Chrissy’s Court model, and shift it to stars who are 20 years younger. Give TikTok phenoms like Charli D’Amelio or Chase Hudson Quibi shows and let them help conceptualize the content, and they’ll bring their legions of fans. Double-down on choose-your-own-adventures and fan voting game shows that leverage the phone’s interactivity. Fund creators that will differentiate Quibi by making it look like anything other than daytime TV. And ask users directly what they want to see right when they download the app.

No screenshots

This is frankly insane. Screenshots of Quibi appear as a blank black screen. That means no memes. If people can’t turn Quibi scenes into jokes they’ll share elsewhere, its shows won’t ever become fixtures of the cultural zeitgeist like Netflix’s Tiger King has. Yes, other mobile streaming apps like Netflix and Disney+ also block screenshots, but they have web versions where you can snap and share what you want. Quibi never should have structured its deals to license content from producers in a way that prevented any way to riff on or even let friends preview its content.

TikTok, on the other hand, defaults to letting you download any video and share it wherever you please — with the app’s watermark attached. That’s fueled TikTok’s stellar growth as clips get posted to Twitter and Instagram — and drive viewers back to the app. It has spawned TikTok compilations on YouTube, and a whole culture of remixing that expands and prolongs the popularity of trending jokes and dances.

The Fix: Quibi should allow screenshots. There’s little risk of spoilers or piracy. If its deals prohibit that, then it should offer pre-approved screenshots and video clips/trailers of each episode that you can download and share. Think of it like an in-app press kit. Even if we’re not allowed to set up the perfect screenshot for making a meme, at least then we could coherently discuss the shows on other social networks.

‘Content network effect’ makes TikTok tough to copy

Sluggish pacing

On mobile, you’re always just a swipe away from something more interesting. It’s like if you watched TV with your finger permanently hovering over the change channel button. Ever noticed how movie trailers now often start with a fast-forward collage of their most eye-catching scenes? Quibi seems intent on communicating prestige with its slow-building dramas like The Most Dangerous Game and Survive, which both had me bored and fast-forwarding. And that’s watching Quibi at home on the couch. While on the go, where it was designed to be consumed, slow pacing could push users with a minute or two to spare to open Instagram or TikTok instead.

None of this is helped by Quibi not auto-playing a trailer or the first episode the moment you scroll past a show on the home screen. Instead, you see a static title card for two seconds before it starts playing you an excerpt of the program. That makes it more cumbersome to discover new shows.

Where TikTok wins is in immediacy. Creators know users will swipe right past their video if it’s not immediately entertaining or obviously revving up to a big reveal. They grab you in the first second with smiles, costumes, bold captions or crazy situations. That also makes it easy for viewers to dismiss what’s irrelevant to them and teach the TikTok algorithm what they really want. Plus, you know that you can score a dopamine hit of joy even if you only have 30 seconds. TikTok makes Quick Bites feel like an understaffed sit-down restaurant.

The Fix: Quibi needs to teach creators to hook viewers instantly by previewing why they should want to watch. Since tapping a show’s card on the Quibi homepage instantly plays it, those teasers need to be built into the first episode. Otherwise, Quibi needs a button to view a trailer from its buried dedicated show pages to the preview card most people interact with on the home screen. Otherwise, users may never discover what Quibi shows resonate with them and teach it which to show and make more of.

Anti-social video club

Quibi neglects all its second-screen potential. No screenshotting makes it tough to discuss shows elsewhere, yet there’s no built-in comments or messaging to discuss or spread them in-app. Pasting an episode link into Twitter doesn’t even display the show’s name in the preview box. Nor do shows have their own social accounts to follow to remind you to keep watching.

There’s no way for friends to follow what you’re watching or see your recommendations. No leaderboards of top shows. Certainly no time-stamped, live-stream style crowd annotations. No synced-up co-watching with friends, despite a lack of TV apps preventing you from watching with anyone else in person unless you crowd around one phone.

It all feels like Quibi figured advertising would be enough. It could run contests where winners get a Cameo-esque message or chat with their favorite stars. Quibi could let you share scenes with your face swapped onto actors’ heads, deepfake-style like Snapchat’s (confusingly named) Cameos feature. It could host in-app roundtables with the casts where users could submit questions. It’s like if Web 2.0 never happened.

TikTok, meanwhile, harnesses every conceivable social feature. Follow, Like, comment, message, go Live, duet, remix or download and share any video. It beckons viewers to participate in trending challenges. And even when users aren’t itching to return to TikTok, notifications from these social features will drag them back in, or watermarked clips will follow them to other networks. Every part of the app is designed to make its content the center of popular culture.

The Fix: Quibi needs to understand that just because we’re watching on mobile, doesn’t make video a solo experience. At first, it should add social content discovery options so you can see which friends opt in to share that they’re watching or view a leaderboard of the top programs. Shows, especially ones dripping out new episodes, are more fun when you have someone to chat about them with.

Eventually, Quibi should layer on in-app second-screen features. Create a way to share comments at the end of each episode that people read during the credits so they feel like they’re in a viewing community.

Can Quibi be more?

What’s most disappointing about Quibi is that it has the potential to be something fresh, merging classically produced premium content with the modern ways we use our phones. Yet beyond shows being shot in two widths so you can switch between watching in landscape or portrait mode at any time, it really is just a random cable channel shrunk down.

Youths act in front of a mobile phone camera while making a TikTok video on the terrace of their residence in Hyderabad on February 14, 2020 (Photo by NOAH SEELAM / AFP) (Photo by NOAH SEELAM/AFP via Getty Images)

One of the few redeeming opportunities for Quibi is using the daily episode release schedule to serialize content that benefits from suspense, as Ryan Vinnicombe aka InternetRyan notes. Bingeing via traditional streaming services can burn through thrillers before they can properly build up suspense and fan theories or let late-comers catch up while a show is still in the zeitgeist. Cliffhangers with just a day instead of a week to wait could be Quibi’s killer feature.

Suspense is also one thing TikTok fails at. Within a single video, they’re actually often all about suspense, waiting through build up for a gag or non-sequitur to play out. But creators try to rope in followers by making a multi-minute video and splitting it into parts so people subscribe to them to see the next part. Yet since TikTok doesn’t always show timestamps and surfaces old videos on its home screen, it can often be a chore to find the Part Two, and there’s no good way for creators to link them together. TikTok could stand to learn about multi-episode content from Quibi.

But today, Quibi feels like a minitiaturized and degraded version of what we already get for free on the web or pay for with Netflix. Quibi charging $4.99 per month with ads or $7.99 without seems like a steep ask without delivering any truly must-see shows, novel interactive experience or memory-making social moments.

Quibi’s success may simply be a test of how bad people are at cancelling 90-day free trials (hint: they’re bad at it!). The bull case is that absentminded subscribers among the 300,000 first-day downloads and some diehard fans of the celebs it’s given shows will bring Quibi enough traction to raise more cash and survive long enough to socialize its product and teach creators to exploit the format’s opportunities.

But the bear case is already emerging in Quibi’s rapidly declining App Store rank, which fell from No. 4 overall when it launched Monday to No. 21 yesterday after just 830,000 total downloads according to Sensor Tower. Lackluster content and no virality means it might never become the talk of the town, leading top content producers to slink away or half-ass their contributions, leaving us to dine on short video elsewhere.

Zuckerberg misunderstands the huge threat of TikTok

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technicalsolutions88 · 4 years

Link

Here’s a breakdown of the major missteps by Quibi, why TikTok does it better and how this new streaming app can get with the times.

What Hollywood thinks we want

Quibi CEO Meg Whitman

TikTok screenshots

No screenshots

‘Content network effect’ makes TikTok tough to copy

Sluggish pacing

Anti-social video club

Can Quibi be more?

One of the few redeeming opportunities for Quibi is using the daily episode release schedule to serialize content that benefits from suspense, as InternetRyan notes. Bingeing via traditional streaming services can burn through thrillers before they can properly build up suspense and fan theories or let late-comers catch up while a show is still in the zeitgeist. Cliffhangers with just a day instead of a week to wait could be Quibi’s killer feature.

Suspense is also one thing TikTok fails at. Within a single video, they’re actually often all about suspense, waiting through build up for a gag or non-sequitur to play out. But creators try to rope in followers by making a multi-minute video and splitting it into parts so people subscribe to them to see the next part. Yet since TikTok doesn’t always show timestamps and surfaces old videos on its homescreen, it can often be a chore to find the part two, and there’s no good way for creators to link them together. TikTok could stand to learn about multi-episode content from Quibi.

Quibi’s success may simply be a test of how bad people are at cancelling 90-day free trials (hint: they’re bad at it!). The bull case is that absent-minded subscribers amongst the 300,000 first-day downloads and some diehard fans of the celebs it’s given shows will bring Quibi enough traction to raise more cash and survive long enough to socialize its product and teach creators to exploit the format’s opportunities. But the bear case is already emerging in Quibi’s rapidly declining App Store rank, that fell from #4 overall when it launched Monday to #21 yesterday. Lackluster content and no virality means it might never become the talk of the town, leading top content producers to slink away or half-ass their contributions, leaving us to dine on short video elsewhere.

Zuckerberg misunderstands the huge threat of TikTok

from Social – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/2yIK9kl Original Content From: https://techcrunch.com

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magzoso-tech · 4 years

Text

Quibi is the anti-TikTok (that’s a bad thing)

New Post has been published on https://magzoso.com/tech/quibi-is-the-anti-tiktok-thats-a-bad-thing/

Quibi is the anti-TikTok (that’s a bad thing)

Here’s a breakdown of the major missteps by Quibi, why TikTok does it better and how this new streaming app can get with the times.

What Hollywood thinks we want

Quibi CEO Meg Whitman

TikTok screenshots

No screenshots

Sluggish pacing

Anti-social video club

Can Quibi be more?

#Miscellaneous

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krakowergroup · 6 years

Text

PR: FIFA 19 The Journey: Champions Soundtrack

ELECTRONIC ARTS AND LAKESHORE RECORDS ANNOUNCE RELEASE OF FIFA 19 THE JOURNEY: CHAMPIONS – OFFICIAL VIDEO GAME SOUNDTRACK

With Original Score by Oscar®-winner Hans Zimmer & Lorne Balfe

(September 27, 2018 – Los Angeles, CA) – Lakeshore Records is excited to announce a new title in its partnership with Electronic Arts with the release of FIFA 19: THE JOURNEY: CHAMPIONS – Official Video Game Soundtrack. The release will feature composing legend Hans Zimmer (Oscar® and Golden Globe for Best Original Score) and composer Lorne Balfe’s (4 ASCAP Film and Television Awards for Top Box Office Films) soundtrack to The Journey: Champions, the story driven mode within FIFA 19 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC*, available worldwide now.

The Journey, which debuted in FIFA 17, was the first of its kind. Powered by both user choice and actual match gameplay, the story driven mode focused on a single character’s career. Thanks to powerfully-rendered cinematics of the Frostbite™ engine on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC versions of the game, players follow Alex Hunter as he rises to the pinnacle of world football after taking the Premier League by storm. Continued in FIFA 18 with The Journey: Hunter Returns, players return to win the MLS Cup with the LA Galaxy before heading to Europe to lead Hunter’s club to a domestic league and cup double. Reaching its dramatic conclusion in FIFA 19 with The Journey: Champions, Hunter now joins Real Madrid in the dramatic finale to chase UEFA Champions League glory with his favored number 29 shirt.

“Lakeshore Records is incredibly excited to be working with EA to release some of the absolute very best soundtracks by some of the very best composers working in visual media today,” said President of Lakeshore Records, Brian McNelis. “It is an honor to be invited to work with such talented people on such great projects and we hope working with EA will continue to elevate the awareness and status of game music while providing the best possible services to the community.”

In addition to releasing new soundtracks for upcoming EA titles, Lakeshore Records will also be releasing soundtracks from the vast EA catalog, including first ever soundtrack releases and reissues of out-of-print recordings. In the next few weeks, Lakeshore will be announcing releases of catalog titles including the soundtracks for top-selling EA franchises that include Dragon Age™, Battlefield™, Mass Effect™, Need For Speed™, Command & Conquer™, Titanfall™, Medal Of Honor™, and The Sims™.

“Lakeshore has proven themselves to be at the next level of marketing and streaming for the very best film and television music being created today,” says Electronic Arts Worldwide Executive of Music Steve Schnur. “And because they appreciate and understand the medium and its fans like no other label, we’re proud to be their first-ever video game partners. EA's composers, among the top talents in movies, television and games, are equally excited about the skill and fervor Lakeshore brings to the table.”

# # #

*FROSTBITE GAME ENGINE AND THE JOURNEY: CHAMPIONS ARE AVAILABLE ON XBOX ONE, PLAYSTATION 4 AND PC PLATFORM VERSIONS ONLY. UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE CONTENT AVAILABLE ON XBOX ONE, PLAYSTATION 4, PC AND NINTENDO SWITCH VERSIONS ONLY. PLEASE VISIT https://www.easports.com/fifa/features FOR MORE DETAILS ON WHAT FEATURES ARE AVAILABLE ON EACH PLATFORM.

ABOUT HANS ZIMMER

German-born composer Hans Zimmer is recognized as one of Hollywood’s most innovative musical talents‚ having first enjoyed success in the world of pop music as a member of The Buggles. The group’s single Video Killed the Radio Star became a worldwide hit and helped usher in a new era of global entertainment as the first music video to be aired on MTV. Zimmer entered the world of film music in London during a long collaboration with famed composer and mentor Stanley Myers‚ which included the film MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE. He soon began work on several successful solo projects‚ including the critically acclaimed A World Apart‚ and during these years Zimmer pioneered the use of combining old and new musical technologies. Today‚ this work has earned him the reputation of being the father of integrating the electronic musical world with traditional orchestral arrangements. A turning point in Zimmer’s career came in 1988 when he was asked to score RAIN MAN for director Barry Levinson. The film went on to win the Oscar for Best Picture of the Year and earned Zimmer his first Academy Award Nomination for Best Original Score. The next year‚ Zimmer composed the score for another Best Picture Oscar recipient‚ DRIVING MISS DAISY‚ starring Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman. Having already scored two Best Picture winners‚ in the early ’90s Zimmer cemented his position as a pre-eminent talent with the award-winning score for THE LION KING. The soundtrack has sold over 15 million copies to date and earned him an Academy Award for Best Original Score‚ a Golden Globe‚ an American Music Award‚ a Tony and two Grammy Awards. In total‚ Zimmer’s work has been nominated for 7 Golden Globes‚ 7 Grammys and seven Oscars for RAINMAN‚ GLADIATOR‚ THE LION KING‚ AS GOOD AS IT GETS‚ THE PREACHERS WIFE‚ THE THIN RED LINE‚ THE PRINCE OF EGYPT and THE LAST SAMURAI. With his career in full swing‚ Zimmer was anxious to replicate the mentoring experience he had benefited from under Stanley Myers’ guidance. With state-of-the-art technology and a supportive creative environment‚ Zimmer was able to offer film-scoring opportunities to young composers at his Santa Monica-based musical ’think tank.’ This approach helped launch the careers of such notable composers as Mark Mancina‚ John Powell‚ Harry Gregson-Williams‚ Nick Glennie-Smith and Klaus Badelt. In 2000 Zimmer scored the music for GLADIATOR‚ for which he received an Oscar nomination‚ in addition to Golden Globe and Broadcast Film Critics Awards for his epic score. It sold more than three million copies worldwide and spawned a second album “Gladiator: More Music From The Motion Picture‚” released on the Universal Classics/Decca label. Zimmer’s other scores that year included MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 2‚ THE ROAD TO EL DORADO and AN EVERLASTING PIECE‚ directed by Barry Levinson. Some of his other impressive scores include PEARL HARBOR‚ THE RING‚4 films directed by Ridley Scott; MATCHSTICK MEN‚ HANNIBAL‚ BLACK HAWK DOWN and THELMA & LOUISE‚ Penny Marshall’s RIDING IN CARS WITH BOYS AND A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN‚ Quentin Tarantino’s TRUE ROMANCE‚ TEARS OF THE SUN‚ Ron Howard’s BACKDRAFT‚ DAYS OF THUNDER‚ Smilla’s SENSE OF SNOW and the animated SPIRIT: STALLION OF THE CIMARRON for which he also co-wrote four of the songs with Bryan Adams‚ including the Golden Globe nominated “Here I Am.” At the 27th annual Flanders International Film Festival‚ Zimmer performed live for the first time in concert with a 100-piece orchestra and a 100-piece choir. Choosing selections from his impressive body of work‚ Zimmer performed newly orchestrated concert versions of GLADIATOR‚ MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 2‚ RAIN MAN‚ THE LION KING‚ and THE THIN RED LINE. The concert was recorded by Decca and released as a concert album entitled "The Wings Of A Film: The Music Of Hans Zimmer." In 2003‚ Zimmer completed his 100th film score for the film THE LAST SAMURAI‚ starring Tom Cruise‚ for which he received both a Golden Globe and a Broadcast Film Critics nomination. Over the past year‚ Zimmer has scored Nancy Meyers’ comedy SOMETHING’S GOTTA GIVE‚ the animated Dreamworks film‚ A SHARK’S TALE (featuring voices of Will Smith‚ Renee Zellweger‚ Robert De Niro‚ Jack Black and Martin Scorsese)‚ and most recently‚ Jim Brooks’ SPANGLISH starring Adam Sandler and Tea Leoni (for which he also received a Golden Globe nomination). His projects also include Paramount’s WEATHERMAN starring Nicolas Cage‚ Dreamworks’ MADAGASCAR and Warner Bros.’ BATMAN BEGINS. Zimmer’s additional honors and awards include the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award in Film Composition from the National Board of Review‚ and the Frederick Loewe Award in 2003 at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. He has also received ASCAP’s Henry Mancini Award for Lifetime Achievement.

ABOUT LORNE BALFE

Lorne Balfe [THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE, CHURCHILL] is a Grammy Award-winning, EMMY and BAFTA nominated composer from Inverness, Scotland. He has scored in virtually all genres and in all visual media with projects ranging from major studio to independent films, tentpole video game franchises, beloved animated feature films, critically acclaimed television series, and documentary features.

Lorne Balfe recently received an Emmy-nomination for “Outstanding Main Title theme” along with Hans Zimmer for GENIUS (National Geographic), the Ron Howard produced TV series about Albert Einstein. His most current film and TV credits include CHURCHILL (Head Gear Films); THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE (Warner Bros.); MARCELLA (Buccaneer Media); other credits include TERMINATOR GENISYS” (Paramount Pictures); 13 HOURS: THE SECRET SOLDIERS OF BENGHAZI (Paramount Pictures). He also served as score producer for DUNKIRK. His upcoming projects include the Dean Devlin sci-fi thriller GEOSTORM.

Balfe big break came when he scored his first major feature film, MEGAMIND, which he co-composed with Hans Zimmer. Within a year, he expanded his scoring talents into video games, composing alongside Jesper Kyd on ASSASSIN’S CREED: REVELATIONS, which received a BAFTA nomination for Best Original Music. His video game credits now include CRYSIS 2, four titles in the SKYLANDERS series (SPYRO’S ADVENTURE, GIANTS, SWAP FORCE, and TRAP TEAM), ASSASSIN’S CREED III, ASSASIN’S CREED III: THE TYRANNY OF KING WASHINGTON, CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 2, and BEYOND: TWO SOULS.

Lorne Balfe continues to receive critical acclaim and accolades for his work in all visual media including the animated features HOME and PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR, based on the beloved British TV series, THE SWEENEY, the historical epic IRONCLAD, the Gloria Trevi-biopic GLORIA, acclaimed documentaries MANNY (about the life of Manny Pacquiao), SALINGER (about JD Salinger) and THE LAST MAN ON THE MOON (Apollo astronaut Gene Cernan). His television work includes the epic mini-series THE BIBLE (co-composed with Hans Zimmer) and SONS OF LIBERTY. In 2012, Lorne Balfe earned his first EMMY nomination for the mini-series RESTLESS.

ABOUT LAKESHORE RECORDS

Lakeshore Records is the four-time Grammy Nominated independent music division of Lakeshore Entertainment, producers of such films as The Age Of Adaline, The Lincoln Lawyer, The Ugly Truth, The Exorcism Of Emily Rose, The Underworld franchise, and Million Dollar Baby winner of Four Academy Awards including Best Picture.

Lakeshore Records has released popular and classic soundtracks to such films as Drive, Stranger Things, Moonlight, Lady Bird, The Walking Dead, Star Trek Discovery, Little Miss Sunshine, The Hurt Locker, Napoleon Dynamite and many, many more.

Lakeshore Records has released score albums from composers such as Jonny Greenwood, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Nick Cave and Warrren Ellis, Danny Elfman, Clint Mansell, Cliff Martinez, James Horner, Thomas Newman, John Powell, Mark Isham, Graeme Revell, Rolfe Kent, Gustavo Santoalalla, Philip Glass, Dario Marianelli, Mark Mothersbaugh, Christophe Beck, Christopher Young, Rachel Portman, and Marco Beltrami.

ABOUT ELECTRONIC ARTS

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA) is a global leader in digital interactive entertainment. The Company develops and delivers games, content and online services for Internet-connected consoles, mobile devices and personal computers. EA has more than 300 million registered players around the world.

In fiscal year 2018, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $5.15 billion. Headquartered in Redwood City, California, EA is recognized for a portfolio of critically acclaimed, high-quality brands such as The Sims™, Madden NFL, EA SPORTS™ FIFA, Battlefield™, Need for Speed™, Dragon Age™ and Plants vs. Zombies™. More information about EA is available at www.ea.com/news.

EA SPORTS, Ultimate Team, Battlefield, The Sims, Need for Speed, Dragon Age, and Plants vs. Zombies are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. NBA, UFC, NHL, and FIFA are the property of their respective owner and used with permission.

http://www.lakeshorerecords.com

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#video game #videogame #video games #video games soundtracks #new music

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harrington42forrest-blog · 6 years

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Destiny 2 News (@theDestinyBlog) On Twitter

The most recent This Week at Bungie newsletter has been published to assessment all of the newest Destiny two happenings. Issue solved, or so you'd think. As it turns out, the additional content material plans have also backfired. Right after releasing the initial Destiny two expansion Curse of Osiris”, an in-game weapon recognized as the Prometheus Lens appeared. Sadly Destiny 2 PC Download, it was terribly overpowered, ploughing through anybody standing in its path. Bungie addressed the problem by stating that the weapon's look was a bug and removed it from the game. Even so, Destiny's exotic weapons seller Xur had started selling it and so it was nonetheless wildly offered for those who wanted to capitalise upon the exploit. According to Kotaku , there is a large stress to release "Destiny 2" this year. The report suggests that if Bungie fails to release the "Destiny" sequel this year, Activision will be awarded a massive chunk of the game developer's stock. 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Now all eyes are on the Destiny 2 DLCs, the initial of which - Curse of Osiris - is due in December.

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sheminecrafts · 4 years

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Quibi is the anti-TikTok (that’s a bad thing)

Here’s a breakdown of the major missteps by Quibi, why TikTok does it better and how this new streaming app can get with the times.

What Hollywood thinks we want

Quibi CEO Meg Whitman

TikTok screenshots

No screenshots

‘Content network effect’ makes TikTok tough to copy

Sluggish pacing

Anti-social video club

Can Quibi be more?

Zuckerberg misunderstands the huge threat of TikTok

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technicalsolutions88 · 4 years

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It takes either audacious self-confidence or reckless hubris to build a completely asocial video app in 2020. You can decide which best describes Quibi, Hollywood’s $1.75 billion-funded attempt at a mobile-only Netflix of 6 to 10 minutes micro-TV show episodes. Quibi manages to miss every trend and tactic that could help make it app popular. The company seems to believe it can succeed on only its content (mediocre) and marketing dollars (fewer than it needs).

I appreciate that Quibi is doing something audaciously different than most startups. Rather than iterating towards product-market fit, it spent a fortune developing its slick app and buying fancy content in secret so it could launch with a bang.

Yet Quibi’s bold business strategy is muted by a misguided allegiance to the golden age of television before the Internet permeated every entertainment medium. It’s unshareable, prescriptive, sluggish, cumbersome, and unfriendly. Quibi’s unwillingness to borrow anything from social networks makes the app feel cold and isolated, like watching reality shows in the vacuum of space.

In that sense, Quibi is the inverse of TikTok, which feels fiercely alive. TikTok is designed to immediately immerse you in crowd-vetted content that grabs your attention and inspires you to spread your take on it to friends. That’s why TikTok has almost 2 billion downloads to date while Quibi picked up just 300,000 on the day of its big splash into market.

Here’s a breakdown of the major missteps by Quibi, why TikTok does it better, and how this new streaming app can get with the times.

What Hollywood Thinks We Want

Quibi feels like some off-brand cable channel, with a mix of convoluted reality shows, scripted dramas, and news briefs. Imagine MTV at noon in the mid-2000s. Nothing seemed must-see. There’s no Game Of Thrones or Mandalorian here. While the production value is better than what you’ll find on YouTube, the show concepts feel slapdash with novelty that quickly fades. Chrissy Teigen as a small claims court judge and a cooking show where blindfolded chefs have to guess what food was just exploded in their faces…

Quibi CEO Meg Whitman

Despite being built for a touch-screen interface, there’s little Bandersnatch-style interactive content so far, nor are the creators doing anything special with the 6 to 10 minute format. The shows feel more like condensed TV programs with episodes ending when there would be a commercial break. There’s no onboarding process that could ask what popular TV shows or genres you’re into. As the catalog expands, that makes it less likely you’ll find something appealing within a few taps.

TikTok comes from the opposite direction. Instead of what Hollywood thinks we want, its content come straight from its consumers. People record what they think would make them and their friends laugh, surprised, or enticed. The result is that with low to zero production budget, random kids and influencers alike make things with millions of Likes. And as elder millenials, Gen X, and beyond get hooked, they’re creating videos for their peers as well. The algorithm monitors what you’re hovering over and rapidly adapts its recommendations to your style.

TikTok is fundamentally interactive. Each clip’s audio can borrowed to produce remixes that personalize a meme for a different demographic or subculture. And since its stars are internet natives, they’re in constant communication with their fan base to tune content to what they want. There’s something for everyone. No niche is too small.

TikTok Screenshots

Take the Chrissy’s Court model, and shift it to stars who are 20 years younger. Give TikTok phenoms like Charli D’Amelio or Chase Hudson Quibi shows and let them help conceptualize the content, and they’ll bring their legions of fans. Double-down on choose-your-own-adventures and fan voting gameshows that leverage the phone’s interactivity. Fund creators that will differentiate Quibi by making it look like anything other than daytime TV. And ask users directly what they want to see right when they download the app.

No Screenshots

TikTok on the other hand defaults to letting you download any video and share it wherever you please — with the app’s watermark attached. That’s fueled TikTok’s stellar growth as clips get posted to Twitter and Instagram, and drive viewers back to the app. It’s spawned TikTok compilations on YouTube, and a whole culture of remixing that expands and prolongs the popularity of trending jokes and dances.

‘Content network effect’ makes TikTok tough to copy

Sluggish Pacing

On mobile, you’re always just a swipe away from something more interesting. It’s like if you watched TV with your finger permanently hovering over the change channel button. Ever noticed how movie trailers now often start with a fast-forward collage of their most eye-catching scenes? Quibi seems intent on communicating prestige with its slow-building dramas like The Most Dangerous Game and Survive, which both had me bored and fast-forwarding. And that’s watching Quibi at home on the couch. While on the go where it was designed to be consumed, slow pacing could push users with a minute or two to spare to open Instagram or TikTok instead.

None of this is helped by Quibi not auto-playing a trailer or the first episode the moment you scroll past a show on the homescreen. Instead, you see a static title card for two seconds before it starts playing you an excerpt of the program. That makes it more cumbersome to discover new shows.

Where TikTok wins is in immediacy. Creators know users will swipe right past their video if it’s not immediately entertaining or obviously revving up to a big reveal. They grab you in the first second with smiles, costumes, bold captions, or crazy situations. That also makes it easy for viewers to dismiss what’s irrelevant to them and teach the TikTok algorithm what they really want. Plus, you know that you can score a dopamine hit of joy even if you only have 30 seconds. TikTok makes Quick Bites feel like an understaffed sit-down restaurant.

The Fix: Quibi needs to teach creators to hook viewers instantly by previewing why they should want to watch. Since tapping a show’s card on the Quibi homepage instantly plays it, those teasers need to be built into the first episode. Otherwise, Quibi needs to a button to view a trailer from its buried dedicated show pages to the preview card most people interact with on the homescreen. Otherwise, users may never discover what Quibi shows resonate with them and teach it what to show and make more of.

Anti-Social Video Club

Quibi neglects all its second-screen potential. No screenshotting makes it tough to discuss shows elsewhere, yet there’s no built-in comments or messaging to discuss or spread them in app. Pasting an episode link into Twitter doesn’t even display the show’s name in the preview box. Nor do shows have their own social accounts to follow to remind you to keep watching.

There’s no way for friends to follow what you’re watching or see your recommendations. No leaderboards of top shows. Certainly no time-stamped, livestream style crowd annotations. No synced-up co-watching with friends, despite a lack of TV apps preventing you from watching with anyone else in person unless you crowd around one phone.

It all feels like Quibi figured advertising would be enough. It could run contests where winners get a Cameo-esque message or chat with their favorite stars. Quibi could let you share scenes with your face swapped onto actors’ heads, Deepfake-style like Snapchat’s (confusingly named) Cameos feature. It could host in-app roundtables with the casts where users could submit questions. It’s like if web 2.0 never happened.

TikTok meanwhile harnesses every conceivable social feature. Follow, Like, comment, message, go Live, duet, remix, or download and share any video. It beckons viewers to participate in trending challenges. And even when users aren’t itching to return to TikTok, notifications from these social features will drag them back in, or watermarked clips will follow them to other networks. Every part of the app is designed to make its content the center of popular culture.

The Fix: Quibi needs to understand that just because we’re watching on mobile, doesn’t make video a solo experience. At first, it should add social content discovery options so you can see what friends opt in to share that they’re watching or view a leaderboard of the top programs. Shows, especially ones dripping out new episodes, are more fun when you have someone to chat about them with.

Eventually, Quibi should layer on in-app second screen features. Create a way to share comments at the end of each episode that people read during the credits so they feel like they’re in a viewing community.

Can Quibi Be More?

Youths act in front of a mobile phone camera while making a TikTok video on the terrace of their residence in Hyderabad on February 14, 2020. (Photo by NOAH SEELAM / AFP) (Photo by NOAH SEELAM/AFP via Getty Images)

One of the few redeeming opportunities for Quibi is using the daily episode release schedule to serialize content that benefits from suspense, as InternetRyan notes. Binging via traditional streaming services can burn through thrillers before they can properly build up suspense and fan theories or let late-comers catch up while a show is still in the zeitgeist. Cliffhangers with just a day instead of a week to wait could be Quibi’s killer feature.

Suspense is also one thing TikTok fails at. Within a single video, they’re actually often all about suspense, waiting through build up for a gag or non-sequitur to play out. But creators try to rope in followers by making a multi-minute video and splitting it into parts so people subscribe to them to see the next part. Yet since TikTok doesn’t always show timestamps and surfaces old videos on its homescreen, it can often be a chore to find the part two, and there’s no good way for creators to link them together. TikTok could stand to learn about multi-episode content from Quibi.

Zuckerberg misunderstands the huge threat of TikTok

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