#i was under the impression that these mostly happened in like gen 4 but here we are. i've been surprised multiple times

[front-facing-pokemon]

[zaptap]

ive made a few of these bingo sheets and theyre fun so i decided to make one not just for e3 but also JUST for splatoon 3 (not just for e3 but for like the whole lifetime of the game). also heres my updated list of characters id like to see in smash, ordered generally by which id like more and/or think are the most realistic

since min min got in i took out helix, and since i couldnt decide whether to add in waluigi or madeline i added another row (realistically i dont think any indies are getting in but i threw some in anyway). also i was like “oh yeah maybe theyd put in a gen viii pokemon” so i threw in hatterene since thats one of my favorites.

also as for waluigi (and shovel knight for that matter) i think it would be nice to see an assist trophy get in just to break that rule. also i remember being super surprised he wasnt in brawl (back then i thought he and wario were equally important) and even though that was based on a wrong impression ive still felt like he should be in there ever since

notes about the bingos under the cut

really is about time for those n64 games, especially now that mario is dead so theyre free to release sm64 on it. game boy games would be nice sometime too

would also make sense to include banjo-kazooie in that, nintendos had a good relationship with microsoft lately and the total absence of anything banjo-kazooie on the switch is odd since it’s a dlc character (every other one has a game on switch they can use for cross-marketing, even if joker’s took a while) and i think the best explanation for that would be that theyre holding off for the nso n64 app (this is easiest from a technical standpoint because all they have to do is make a deal to use the roms)

when are they putting octolings in mk8d

xenoblade chronicles x is one of the only wii u games left that they could port (aside from ones that wouldnt make much sense like splatoon and ssb4) so i guess that might as well happen sometime. also monolith soft might be doing something else besides helping with splatoon 3

im not ready for metroid prime 4 (im over halfway through mp2 and therefore the trilogy as a whole) but it’s been a while, they might show it and it could even come out this year

hal apparently recently hinted at a new kirby game or something

the upgraded switch is obviously going to be called the Nintendo Switch ͥ  since they already did the ds lite so theyre clearly naming everything in the family after the ds family, theres absolutely no flaw in this logic. idk if theyre showing it, but unlike 2019 they didnt say they werent showing new hardware (just that they were showing software, which could be taken as denying rumors, but they sometimes specify when certain things arent being shown)

metroid prime trilogy also might come this year. would make sense to release it before mp4 since not everyone is going to buy a wii u to get it (and at this point that doesnt get nintendo any money since they stopped making them)

where is detective pikachu 2. i hope it has the blue pikachu from that first tease they gave us in like 2014 (2013? that was a loooong time ago idk)

they said this was MOSTLY 2021 so i am absolutely getting my hopes up for splatoon 2

the two sinnoh games could likely be there

would be super cool if oddity came to switch. and almost as ironic as megalovania getting into smash

we havent seen the botw sequel for a couple years so we’re kind of due for an update on that

it’s ace attorney’s 20th anniversary this year so maybe theyre doing something. theyre already porting those games though so idk. maybe he’s getting in smash

whats with that watermelon mario render

i held off on watching a playthrough for ndrv3 on the off chance it came to switch and i could play a dangan ronpa game for real for once but it’s now been 4 years and we just passed the 10th anniversary of the series (albeit during a pandemic when i wouldnt expect them to have done anything) so it would be cool to see the series come to switch. i think if it still doesnt after this though i’ll just watch the playthrough, 4 years is long enough. amazed ive avoided spoilers this long, i still know next to nothing about the game

im about done with acnh but im still waiting on those splatoon items. and i ran out of storage in february so i need more of that too

nintendo did stuff for zelda’s 30th anniversary so i doubt theyre forgetting the 35th. maybe wwhd/tphd ports, idk

been a couple years since fire emblem, intelligent systems is probably up to something besides planning yet another paper mario spinoff

miyamoto forgot pikmin 4 in the oven 6 years ago and it got burnt to a crisp and thats why it hasnt come out yet because he had to start over

and splatoon

the inklings scared daft punk into quitting so now that theres no competition in the robot musician scene they should have a daft punk style group

i waited and waited and neither of my top two splatoon stages (flounder and d’alfonsino) came back in splatoon 2 so i hope just because splatoon 3 isnt in inkopolis doesnt mean they still wont return

would be sick as hell if there was a real hide and seek mode instead of just sticking to your own rules in private battles. havent played that since 2015 but it was super fun

show us the effects of the chaos world

i wanted mc craig to have a song in octo expansion and they didnt deliver. heres another chance

splatnet 3 baby

cant wait for nogami to do a funny 3 pose

abxy came back for splatoon 2.... am i gonna be that lucky again...?

salmon run doesnt make sense if youre friends with a smallfry but they could either change the story context (you just fight “evil” salmonids?) or replace it with an equally fun co-op mode

amiibo!!! i think i said this before but they should label them by weapons if these cephalopods dont have genders, would make more sense (the gendered ones had different weapons anyway)

returning characters!!!! would like to see everyone have a role of some kind

maybe #GearForAll wasnt successful in getting the emperor/spy/mecha gear, but perhaps theyll at least consider not making that stuff exclusive this time around

squid girl gear should be back. and they should call it a dress instead of a tunic because its a dress. and theres no gender now anyway

as ive said before... TRIPLIES!! you hold one in each hand and another in your mouth. and you can spin around like the tasmanian devil

remove splatfest tee annoyances: you should have a prompt at the end of a splatfest to pay to scrub your tee (to make sure you get the chunks) also it should be on a neutral brand so you dont end up with an overabundance of ink resistance up (or whatever else)

better online and cloud saves would certainly justify having a second splatoon game on the same console, as much as im loving that it exists

hopefully theres a global testfire again

sooner or later the workers will rise up and kill mr grizz

remember in splatoon 1 where if you had squid beatz (via the amiibo) you could “play” it in the lobby and change the music? then you were stuck listening to only bubble bath in splatoon 2? why did they take that option away they should bring it back

looking at those apartment buildings in the trailer i think it would be cool if you had your own room and could decorate it

an octavio redemption arc would be fun to see. in the manga he stole the zapfish because the octarians had an energy crisis, and in the end they worked out a deal to share the electricity

[littlebookreader]

Lunae lumen ipsum

This has two parts: Information and the fic itself. For slightly easier accessibility, I will put both in this post itself.

Some information first:

Summary: Olwin Keller receives a distress call, mush to Margaret’s chagrin. (For the Wednesday prompt ‘Favourite Relationship’ of the Victoriocity Appreciation Week 2021. Takes place a week after ‘SMS Brandenburg’, a day after Ego ne hic quidem.)

Fandoms: Victoriocity(Podcast)

Rating: Teen and Above Audiences

Relationships: F/M, Gen 

Word count: 666 words(yes, I know)

Characters: Chief Inspector Olwin Keller/ Margaret Keller,  Chief Inspector Olwin Keller,  Margaret Keller, Mrs. Pomligan, Timmy Keller, Inspector Archibald Fleet(mentioned).

Additional Tags: Domestic, established relationship, realistically married couple, absolutely adore these two, ghosts aren’t real(are they?), crack treated seriously as crack, can’t really think of much else, author regrets everything, no beta we shout like Mrs. Pomligan, here you go

@victoriocity-appreciation for the Favourite Relationship.

Part 4 of Love, Actually.

This was the information. For the rest of the fic, it’s all under the cut.

Fic:

A locution glass can be a powerful, useful thing, carrying all sorts of messages across while loosely maintaining your facial features, helping to convey the expression of the message. Right then, the Kellers only saw them as a menace, ruining their night’s sleep, which was, already, a rare occurrence.

“Olwin, could you please turn it off?”

“Can’t, Margaret, duty calls.”

“And what about your family?”

“Oh, again with this? I told you-”

As one might expect, the late-night calls grew both in length and in frequency, mostly civilians calling in to claim they’d found a member of the spy network loitering around nearby or ‘watching them’, whatever the hell that was supposed to mean.

The latest one reported a sighting near the coffeehouse, by the owner herself, Mrs. Pomligan, who for whatever godforsaken reason, insisted on staying up the whole night. Well, it wasn’t that he COULDN’t tell what her reasons were, though keeping awake to ‘look for ghosts loitering about near the place that poor man was killed’ wasn’t exactly what he would call ‘a plausible statement’.

“I’ve seen ‘im again, Inspector, and you KNOW that he’s real.”

Keller could tell that Margaret had had just about enough of all this and snarked, “That’s what coffee does to you brain, it does.”

“Could be the stale ‘Archie buns’ they serve too, who knows?” He muttered.

“I will have you know, good sir, my buns are NOT stale!”

He sighed. “Couldn’t you just report your observations to the nearest available constabulary?”

“Inspector-“

“That’s CHIEF Inspector to you, Mrs. Pomligan-“

In the pale, not-quite-accurate image of the glass, it’s looked like she was dismissing it. Keller shrugged, it could just as easily have been a trick of the light. “Right, right. Could you please look into it? He’s scaring off my customers, and you know how much they love my coffee, the poor dears.”

He narrowed his eyes at her, while Margaret remarked: “I’m sure it isn’t the spectre that’s scaring them off, Mrs. Pomligan.”

Keller respected few people, and feared even fewer. Mrs. Pomligan, to no one’s surprise, fell in the latter category, with her booming voice and sudden exclamations. Part of him just wanted to run away screeching like a little girl, and hide under the covers, though whether it was to protect his ear drums, or his dignity, he wasn’t quite sure.

“Very well, but does it have to be done NOW?”

The face in the mercury faltered. “Well, no….But it would be appreciated if you could. There was also something else, though I think little Archie would want to tell you about it.”

“Come morning, I mean, when the sun rises, I mean, I will send my best to look into it.”

“Thank you, Inspector!” With that, the liquid settled back into its traditionally inert stance, while Margaret mimicked. “Thank you, inspector, you know how much they love my coffee, inspector. Ugh, doesn’t she realise the stuff is inedible?”

Keller stood by, lost in thought as his wife rambled. Something else? Ask Fleet about it? Why would she say THAT in the end? Margaret seemed to notice this, as she joked, “I know my impressions aren’t the best, Olwin, but surely they’d get a laugh?”

“You’re absolutely right, dear,” he muttered, still lost in his reverie. What happened at that coffeehouse?

“Olwin, is something the matter?”

“Yes, yes, I’m sorry, it’s just something she said.”

“Ah, yes, about Fleet. You should talk to him, try to find out exactly what she was insinuating.”

“Margaret-”

“But not now. Now, just go back to sleep. Whatever it is, I’m sure it can wait.”

Despite his general mood and growing desire to get back to sleep, Keller knew that it couldn’t be further from the truth. They walked back to their bedroom, only stopping by Timmy’s room once, only to find him sleeping there peacefully.

They smiled at each other, briefly forgetting all their concerns. After all, whatever it was could wait till morning. 

Couldn’t it?

[aziraphales-library]

Hey!!! I’m kinda new, and I’d like to know if you can recommend me some good GO fics? My only request it’s that they should mostly be Teen Up or Gen s fics... and maybe some good AUs (I’m in love with those)

Okay, here we go!! I went a little all out on this post because it’s more about personal preference, but I still stand by it :D

An Angel who did not so much Fall In Love as Settle Into It Gradually by TheLadyZephyr - 7.5k - Rated T

Crowley was standing in the middle of the room, hands in his pockets, looking a little lost. Aziraphale eyed the distance between them. Five steps. Five steps, and six thousand years, and a battlefield spanning an eternity.

The story of the little moments over the millennia that shape an angel’s regard for a demon, and the way he slowly, with great reluctance but inevitable surety, falls in love.

I simply adore this fic. It’s one of those fics that follows them through the ages and its just done so well. I don’t even know what else to say, just that you should go read it, and the fanart is also gorgeous!

Something So Magic by apliddell - 3.9k - Rated G

Crowley gets stuck in his serpent form, and Aziraphale tries his best to help.

This fic is simple, yet adorable, and I cannot get enough of it. 

How Much To Give, How Much To Take by thechemicalgirl - 3k - Rated G

“It’s like…’ he paused, trying to calm down. ‘It’s like after I came back from Heaven and we switched our bodies back, something has happened. I can’t use my power anymore, not even to start the Bentley.”

Crowley loses his demonic abilities and Aziraphale tries to help him cope with it, but things get much more complicated than that.

Angsty, but also soft, and just a great execution of a favourite premise.

In Peace I Will Both Lie Down and Sleep by fizzybiscuits - 5.6k - Rated G

Aziraphale starts having nightmares. For some reason, he doesn’t talk to Crowley about this right away.

Title is from Psalms 4:8. “In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.”

This fic just has everything. It’s a stellar example of an established relationship fic and is cavity-inducingly fluffy.

Be All My Sins Remembered by CloversDreams - 43.4k - Rated T

“The trial,” Beelzebub continued loudly, “will consist of seven tests.”

“Seven…” Aziraphale muttered under his breath. He had a bad feeling about this and it showed. He twiddled his thumbs nervously as he waited for more details.

Crowley scrunched his face and shook his head. “Oh you don’t mean–”

“Correct. The Sins have been charged with the task,” Beelzebub interjected.

“Crap.” Crowley groaned. He slapped his hands onto his face and dragged them downward slowly. This was just what they didn’t need.

Gabriel nodded. He had a rather unpleasant grin on his face as he said, “Don’t know much about them, myself, but they can be a pretty gnarly group of high-class demons from what I’ve heard. On par with the archangels back home. Wouldn’t want to… what’s that delightful human phrase? Oh, right. Wouldn’t want to cock this up.”

Listen, in my opinion, this fic is massively underrated. I unintentionally binged it all in one go because it was so gripping. The angst in some chapters had me practically screaming, and the whole idea is a brilliant take on the seven deadly sins. The pining is magnificent, and I live for the Husbands drama. 

Let Sleeping Snakes Lie by Blue_Sparkle - 2.6k - Rated G

Aziraphale confesses his love for Crowley when he can contain it no longer. Oh, not to the demon himself of course. To a sleeping snake.

Another fic featuring Snake!Crowley, this one is magnificently soft, and I adore the scene in Stardust it’s inspired by. Just can’t stop coming back to read, 10/10 recommend!

Serpent of Eden, Original Tempter by noodlefrog - 33.4k - Rated T

During Crowley’s trial, the agents of Hell present evidence that the demon has been fraternizing with the enemy. Careful to protect Crowley’s pride (and his own concealed feelings), Aziraphale turns on the saunter and leans into his friend’s reputation as a tempter to spin their relationship into something that looks more demonic than lunch dates and feeding the ducks.

This fic combines Pining, Misunderstandings, and a fantastic ‘what if?’ for the execution scenes, and I am here for it. The Original Characters are written fantastically well, and I loved the bonus chapter!

What They Say About Assumptions by DragonGirl - 7.9k - Rated T

While it’s true that God bestowed upon the angels the divine power to sense love of all kinds, that does not mean they were given the ability to sense exactly who or what that love is directed at. A minor design flaw that hasn’t been much of an issue. Until now.

Or:

Aziraphale has known that Crowley loved someone since the beginning. He’s also spent most of that time believing that someone was a demon.

Aziraphale’s obliviousness in this fic was so ridiculous it felt plausible. It was hilarious but also heartwarming, and has one of my fave love confessions. It was angsty as hell in the best way, and I just implore that you read it!

Futile Devices by ticketybye - 3.2k - Rated G

Crowley pretends to sleep. Aziraphale talks.

Just adorable. Cavity inducing fluff and love confessions are my favourite things and god does this deliver on that.

Foolish Principality by seashadows and WikdSushi - 6.6k - Rated M

Upon moving into a South Downs cottage, Crowley gets left alone while Aziraphale rushes to help the new proprietors of his bookshop. Thanks to a miracle gone wrong, Crowley discovers Aziraphale's greatest material secret, and a few things neither of them could ever fully face.

Is rated M but in my opinion there’s nothing too bad in here, though you should judge for yourself. The poetry is beautiful, horrifying masterpieces, and it is honestly fantastically funny and sweet.

——

Y’all know by now that I adore anything by Arinia, but this fic is one of my faves:

Just This Once by Arinia - 2.7k - Rated T

An idea came, slowly at first, before filling up his heart, setting every nerve alight. It might be another decade, another century even, before he saw Crowley again. No one had come to rescue him from Above. No one had chastised Crowley for wasting a miracle from Below. Perhaps, just this once…

The streets of Paris are soaked with blood, and Aziraphale realizes just how much he owes Crowley for saving his life.

It’s freaking adorable, the kissing is fantastic, and I have a secret love of the French Revolution that made me love the fic all the more. Read it, I beg you.

——

As for AUs, I don’t read loads, but I do have some faves!

Neighborly Affection by Thestarlitrose - 4.6k - Rated T - Human AU

Anthony J Crowley was four years old the first time he met the tiny Ezra A Fell; he wasn’t impressed.

He was forty-six when he found him again in a bookshop in Soho.

The Childhood Friends, Flower Shop, Christmas, Friends to Lovers fic nobody asked for in the middle of October.

This fic is a complete tangle of tropes, and it’s also incredibly sweet. Perfect for the fast approaching holiday season!

a book elegantly bound by AwkwardPotatoChild - 6.5k - Rated G - Library AU

Two idiots. One book series.

or alternatively, Aziraphale and Crowley are united over their common love of books and the scheming of one Miss Anathema Device

This fic manages to be both very funny and incredibly endearing at the same time. The book names were hilarious, and I adored Anathema’s matchmaking.

A Jaunt Or Two by sonicsora - 3.1k - Rated T - Human AU

They meet by happenstance twice over, only to end up quite woven into one anothers lives. It’s all quite accidental, but sticks.

Crowley realizes a bit belated he’s quite attached to this man who freely uses the word jaunt and wears cream-colored suits.

This fic is just adorable. It’s sweet, fluffy, and exactly my kind of thing. Also Gabriel’s a dick in the comedic way, which is fun to see.

Restoration by arealshitwizard (gaiusgallus) - 2.6k - Rated G - Human AU

Ok I had this idea in my head and it wouldn’t go away so here is Aziraphale as a painting restorer and Crowley as a flash stock broker… There’s just one chapter sorry for my sins

This is a really unique fic (I know I keep saying that, but it’s true!), and featured such fun interpretations of their characters!

——-

I’m aware that 90% of this list is very specific to my preferences, and that it got a little out of hand, but I hope y’all enjoy the recs anyway! XD

Does the blog have any favourites they’d like to share?

~ Mod B

[vulcan-highblood]

(Blue) Spirited Away

Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender Pairing(s): Gen Chapter: 5/? Words: 3.5k

Summary:  Prince Zuko wasn’t able to escape the Northern Water Tribe after the disastrous conclusion to the Siege of the North. However, Aang is more than happy to invite his old pal, the Blue Spirit, to join him and his friends on the first leg of their journey to the Earth Kingdom.

(An AU where Aang never learned the true identity of the Blue Spirit, Zuko is desperate, and Spirits enjoy interfering in the lives of mortals)

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4

Read it on AO3

 Chapter 5: Persuasion and Evasion

So things were really not going Zuko’s way. A somewhat cynical part of him wondered how that was any different from the usual. He’d been careful, of course, creeping around the back of the Waterbending Master’s house, straining his ears to try and make sure whatever window he chose to peek in through wouldn’t also be a window into the room where the Avatar and his hangers-on were deep in conversation.

And it had been working, too! He’d found Uncle!! That hadn’t even been the weird part, the weird part was when Uncle recognized him in his Blue Spirit getup. All right, all right, he should have expected that Uncle probably figured out early on why his dao swords needed regular sharpening and he might have spotted Zuko sneaking off before music night and put two and two together, but it still felt a little embarrassing to have his alter ego just casually ignored as Uncle looked up, spotted his mask, and instantly charged across what looked like a bedroom to wrap Zuko in a bear hug. This proved largely unsuccessful, since the window was a bit too small to fit Zuko’s shoulders, and definitely wasn't built for Uncle’s girth. Still, he was glad for the fumbling arm-hug because it meant he’d finally found Uncle!

“Uncle,” Zuko hissed, “We need to go!” 

“Yes, we do,” Uncle agreed, “But this kind man has offered us a raft and enough supplies to get us to the Earth Kingdom port of Onsenzakura. We should wait here until nightfall.”

Zuko just stared blankly at Uncle for a long second, momentarily struck mute by the inane thing that Uncle Iroh just suggested. “The man you are staying with is a master waterbender!” he hissed, “He was coordinating the prisoners they took! He is not someone who’s going to just hand over an escape raft!” he added in a sharp whisper, fighting to keep his voice low and only mostly succeeding.

“Prince Zuko, we are of no value to these people, and I promised this man that I would leave peacefully. He recognized the wisdom in bidding farewell to the Dragon of the West, rather than trying to take me down.” 

That didn’t even make sense, Uncle was an incredibly valuable prisoner! “Who wouldn’t want you as a prisoner?” Zuko demanded.

Uncle gave Zuko one of his sad I have tried to tell you this before looks, before answering. “I am a failure, prince Zuko, and the Fire Lord - your father - does not tolerate failure. I am worthless as a political prisoner, and am an army officer, not Navy, and thus have little relevant information to share regarding fleet movements.” 

“But this was Zhao’s invasion!” Zuko protested. “Surely father wouldn’t blame you for this!”

“Were Admiral Zhao with us, I am sure he too would carry a portion of the blame,” Uncle answered simply. “But remember, Prince Zuko - after Ba Sing Se, this assault on the water tribes is my second failure. Ozai will not tolerate a third.” 

“You’re wrong!” Zuko insisted hotly, unwilling to hear such a thing. If two failures were enough to ruin Uncle’s worth in the eyes of his father, how would the Fire Lord feel about Zuko’s own repeated failure to capture the Avatar? He refused to think about it. Father wanted him back. Wanted Uncle back. They didn’t need to rely on some barbarian to give them an escape route, they could flee on their own! 

“Let’s just go now, Uncle!” Zuko urged, “I’m sure together we could-”

“Hey! You there!! Stop!” 

Zuko froze, turning to look at a duo of blue-fur wearing barbarians, brandishing spears. This was really not his day. 

“It’s the masked intruder!” the one shouted, which was probably obvious to the other two, but Zuko wasn’t going to waste valuable time criticising his choice to state the obvious. “Get him!”

“Master Pakku! The masked man!” the other yelled, and Zuko knew he had seconds to get clear before some real nasty bending went down. He ran straight for the trio, only to leap up, kick off of a window frame, and soar over the trio, heading back for the main street, mentally scolding himself for losing focus and allowing himself to be discovered. 

Skidding into the main street, he drew up at the spear pointed in his direction. Agni curse him, he hadn’t expected backup so soon! He turned to run the other way, but the two from the alley had made it out, approaching him from the other direction.

Sighing internally at the mess he’d found himself in, Zuko drew his swords.

And then the Avatar was standing in front of him, babbling about whatever and dragging him over to “meet his friends” (precisely what Zuko had been hoping to avoid) and also stare down the master waterbender who was hiding Uncle in his bedroom.  

After a few spirits-cursed minutes of frantically gesturing and resisting the urge to hit his head against something hard (or better yet, hit the Avatar’s head against something hard), they finally seemed to establish that Zuko was looking for Uncle. Hopefully this would convince the waterbending master to just let them go, now that he knew that Zuko knew Uncle Iroh’s whereabouts. 

But apparently he hadn’t thought this plan through, either, because the next thing the master waterbender said was, “Well, you’d better come inside, then.” 

Zuko didn’t have much of a choice after that, seeing as the Avatar immediately latched back onto his arm like he was afraid Zuko would run away again (not likely, unless the three city guards were willing to give him a head start). Sighing softly, Zuko resigned himself to following the Avatar’s entourage into the icy hut. 

It was warm inside , and with Zuko’s parka still being somewhat soggy, the heat felt amazing. Part of him wanted to curl up and go to sleep the minute they stepped inside, and he had to mentally shake himself because this was a bad time to be thinking about sleep. 

“Hey, Master Pakku!” the Avatar was saying in a voice that was far too cheerful, at least by Zuko’s estimation, “Do you have anything to write with?” he paused then, turning to Zuko with an exaggerated gasp. “You can write, can’t you?”

Zuko nodded. It didn’t seem fair to be insulted by such a question. After all, in some of the more far-flung villages of the Earth Kingdom, literacy wasn’t always considered as essential as putting food on the table, and scrolls could be incredibly difficult to come by. He felt a little insulted anyway, because, well, of course he could write! 

Master Pakku simply sighed gustily. “I hope you know that precious commodities like ink and paper are not to be wasted on light matters.”

“They aren’t?” Aang looked surprised by this. “Why not?”

“There’s not many trees that we can cut down, and making paper by hand is a long process,” Boomerang boy answered. 

“Well what do you use then?” Aang asked. “Slate and chalk?”

Master Pakku raised a skeptical eyebrow, gesturing expansively. “Oh yes, with all the varieties of stone we have around here, I’m sure sourcing something like that would be no trouble at all.”

“We use charcoal,” the water tribe brother explained, “and parchment.”

Ah yes, animal skins did seem to be quite the commodity around here, so that made sense to Zuko. Charcoal would serve dual purposes, too, and could be used as either fuel or writing tool. As the water tribes were known for an oral tradition rather than vast libraries, Zuko suspected that these writing tools were also fairly scarce, likely intended for trade with those outside the tribe and to learn the writing system outsiders used, rather than as a significant part of their education. Part of him was jealous, as he’d hated practicing his brushwork for hours on end when he’d been a kid. He’d never had a steady enough hand to impress his calligraphy teacher.

“Lucky for you,” Master Pakku shot a look of irritation in Zuko’s direction, “I happen to have some handy.” He started across the room, saw them all standing awkwardly in the middle of the floor and sighed. “Go ahead and have a seat,” he said, “I imagine this might take awhile.”

~~*~~

Masky seemed on edge, which was surprising to Aang. He still wasn’t sure why the guy had run away before, but hearing that he’d been looking for Zuko and his uncle made him curious. “So why are you looking for Zuko?” Aang asked, turning to fully look at Masky.

The pale-blue clad figure stiffened a little under his focused attention, like he wasn’t sure what to do with Aang’s stare. Finally, he shrugged. Which, to be fair, was about all he could do since the gesturing he’d done earlier hadn’t been clear enough to Aang, Sokka, or Katara. 

“How do you even know about those guys?” Sokka demanded, leaning forward, a suspicious look on his face. Aang was always impressed by how quickly Sokka picked up on inconsistencies, even if he did have a somewhat annoying habit of refusing to acknowledge the mystical when it confronted him. Then again, maybe that was more about expressing irritation, since Sokka did seem to always end up with trouble whenever they were dealing with spirits. That made Aang start thinking about Yue, which made him sad. Masky, however, was already gesturing again.

He lifted his hand up over his eye and wiggled it again. 

“Okay, Zuko,” Sokka acknowledged, since they’d apparently established this gesture already. 

Masky made a few punching motions, a sort of sweeping hand gesture, and then a few more sharp striking motions. For a minute, Aang worried that he was trying to attack Sokka, except he sure wasn’t trying very hard. 

“Punch?” Aang guessed. “You want to punch Zuko?”

Masky slapped an open palm to his forehead. He shook his head, made the ‘Zuko’ gesture again, then punched halfway with one hand, while his other hand moved beside it. When the first punch stopped halfway, the second hand kept going, splaying out the fingers. 

“Uh,” Aang frowned.

“Firebending!” Sokka shouted, pointing a finger.

“Where?” Katara demanded, moving like she was about to start waterbending in the middle of Pakku’s house. 

“No, that’s the gesture,” Sokka told her. “Right?” he asked Masky.

Masky nodded. 

“Zuko. Firebending.” Sokka ticked off the two words on his fingers.

Masky tapped the cheeks of his mask with open palms, then did the punch-palm thing again. 

“Cheek… bending?” Sokka guessed hesitantly.

Masky shook his head, puffed up and moved his shoulders like he was marching, then repeated the gesture, touching the sides of his face again. Then, he pointed at Aang. 

“Me?” Aang asked. “Walking?”

Maky slapped his palm to his face again. If he kept that up, it was probably going to leave a bruise. He shook his head sharply, then wrapped a hand around his wrist and repeated the gesture with the other wrist. He pointed to Aang again, imitated nocking an arrow and drawing it back, pointed to himself, then clapped his open palms to the sides of his face again. 

“Aang… bracelets, archer, mask, cheeks,” Sokka said thoughtfully. “Aang? Do you have bracelets?”

“No,” Aang answered, but Masky was already waving his hands to try and stop whatever they were saying, so apparently they were still on the wrong track.

He clapped his hands to his face twice.

“Cheeks.”

Masky shook his head.

“Face.”

Masky shook his head.

“Is it a thing?” Katara asked suddenly, “Or a person?”

Masky pointed at her and nodded. 

“A thing?” Sokka repeated.

Masky shook his head.

“A person,” Aang said.

Masky pointed and nodded.

“Ok, a person with cheeks…” Sokka muttered, rubbing his chin as he thought. 

Masky slapped an open palm to his face again. Zuko. Firebend. Cheeks. Firebend.

“Wait, were Cheeks and Zuko fighting?” Katara asked. 

Masky nodded hard.

“Is cheeks one of us?” Aang asked, sweeping his arm to indicate himself, Sokka, and Katara.

Masky turned to him in a way that seemed to say he was running out of patience, which was impressive, since his face was still covered. Very slowly, as if he was gesturing to someone who was having a difficult time understanding, he gestured Firebend again. 

“Oh, so cheeks is a firebender,” Aang said. “Zuko and another firebender were fighting…” he paused, thinking about that. “Why would Zuko fight another firebender?”

“He did chase down Zhao after the… uh… spirit oasis,” Katara said, stumbling over her words and glancing over at Sokka, a worried look on her face.

Masky had gone tense, pointing at Katara now, clapping his cheeks and then pointing again.

“Wait, is Cheeks Zhao?” Sokka asked, turning to Masky.

Masky nodded vigorously. He pointed to his own chest, made a “look” gesture. Zuko. Firebend. Zhao.

“You saw Zuko and Zhao fighting,” Sokka said. 

Masky looked like he was ready to hug Sokka for a minute, nodding enthusiastically. It was around this time that Master Pakku returned to the main room from his bedroom, looking almost more irritated than he had when he’d left. “Parchment. Charcoal,” he said, depositing the materials in Masky’s lap and moving to another seat near the fire. “So you saw Zuko and Zhao fight,” he said. “That doesn’t explain how you came here.”

Masky picked up the charcoal and parchment, scribbling in tiny characters at the very top of the sheet. It took Aang a moment to realize why - Master Pakku had said that the supplies were valuable and limited. Masky was trying to show respect by using as little space as possible. That was nice of him! He kept writing for a few moments, then set the charcoal aside gently, looking around the room.

Sokka snatched the parchment from his hands, and for a minute it looked like Masky was going to lunge after it, but he pulled himself back, took a deep breath, and waited for Sokka to read his response aloud. 

“I stowed away on a Fire Navy vessel -” Sokka stopped, turning to stare at Masky. “What, really? How’d you manage that?”

“Sokka, could you finish reading before you start asking more questions?” Katara demanded, craning her neck to try and see what Masky had written. 

Sokka immediately jerked the parchment away, concealing the words. “I’m getting there!” he said. “Just hold on - ahem - I stowed away on a Fire Navy vessel because I heard the attack was being led by Zhao. Hold on, wait, how did you hear that?” he turned to stare at Masky.

Masky shrugged, then made an “I’m listening” gesture with one hand. 

“Yeah, we’ll talk more about that later,” Sokka said, obviously dissatisfied with the answer.  “Anyway. I have no love for Zhao and want to ruin his plans - same, buddy,” here Sokka lifted his eyes to grin at Masky, “So I followed him here. That doesn’t explain why you want Zuko and his uncle,” he pointed out.

Masky made a grabby gesture at the parchment, and after a moment’s hesitation, Sokka handed it over. “And tell me more about how you found out about the mission and stowed away on a Fire Navy vessel.”

The scribbling took a bit longer this time, and Aang could see that Masky had written little numbers down before certain parts of the writing. The parchment was handed back to Sokka, who continued his dramatic reading. “One, I want to know why Zhao tried to have Zuko killed - wait, he did what?”  

Masky glanced between Sokka, Aang, and Katara, pointedly avoiding Master Pakku’s suspicious stare, which had yet to let up since the man had returned with the parchment. As he realized that the waterbending Master seemed more agitated than normal, Aang found himself hoping that everything was all right. He wasn’t sure why Master Pakku was so worried. Masky had helped him once before, and he’d come to help them this time, too! Master Pakku would see that for himself eventually, Aang was sure of it.

“Okay, we will definitely be circling back to attempted murder, but moving on - Two, Fire Nation Sailors like to spend shore leave in taverns. They drink a lot and talk too loudly. Three, Sometimes, drunk Fire Nation Sailors lose their uniforms. They don’t waste a lot of time looking for them, and rarely tell anyone what happened because they’d get in trouble. People don’t usually count the grunts on a large Fire Navy vessel. If you keep your armor on and head down, no one questions you. It can’t be that simple!” Sokka protested, looking up from the parchment. 

In response, Masky simply shrugged as if to say, “I’m here, aren’t I?” 

The amount of emoting he was capable of in a mask was actually really impressive, Aang wished he could communicate so well without his voice. “So why do you hate Zhao so much?” he asked. “Did he do something to you?”

For this, Masky just nodded, but he didn’t make a move to grab the parchment. 

“Do you not want to talk about it?” Katara asked softly, seeing something that Aang must have missed. 

Masky nodded again.

“Okay, well, I’d still like to know about this murder plot, especially considering Zuko was somehow not dead and managed to also find his way to the North Pole.” Sokka considered his own statement with a scowl. “How does he keep finding us, anyway?”

Masky shrugged a little, but reached for the parchment a moment later. Sokka handed it over.

~~*~~

Masky was hiding something. Well, okay, a lot of things, including his face. Which was… yeah. Not really something that made Sokka feel inclined to trust him. Plus, the guy acted like he’d been able to take out Fire Nation soldiers, steal their armor, stow away on a ship, and did it all just to come and mess up Zhao’s plans? Why? What could possibly motivate him to go to that extreme? Of course Sokka thought Zhao was a creep and he’d killed the moon, which put him on a whole new level of creep that Sokka hadn’t even realized existed, but still. This was weird.  “No seriously though,” he said, “You did all this just to mess with Zhao?”

“Sokka!” Katara hissed, “He doesn’t want to talk about it!”

“But there have to be easier ways to mess with Zhao,” Sokka protested, “Why come all the way to the North Pole?”

Masky, who had been scribbling away at his paper, stopped, sighed, and started a new line beneath where he’d been writing. One he’d finished the second line, he went back to the first line. Once he’d finished writing, he handed the parchment back to Sokka.

Which was another thing. The way he wrote looked like someone who wasn’t accustomed to handling charcoal. Which, if he was from the Earth Kingdom, that made some sense, since they largely used brushwork. But his strokes were incredibly neat and even, almost calligraphic. That smacked of nobility to Sokka, and he couldn’t figure out why some noble from the Earth Kingdom would be chasing after Zhao, of all people! As he glanced at the parchment, though, a few answers fell into place.

“I heard he hired pirates to blow up Zuko’s ship.” Sokka stared at the words for a few seconds. “Wow, that sounds like overkill,” he managed after a moment. “How did Zuko survive something like that?”  

Masky shrugged in answer, which was fair. Sokka couldn’t figure out how someone could survive that either. But he apparently had survived, and made it all the way to the North Pole, too. So he’d either gotten really lucky, or he’d somehow figured out Zhao’s plot in advance and faked his death. Considering Zuko’s record, Sokka was going to go with lucky, because the guy managed to stumble across them constantly. That had to be luck. As much as he hated to wish death on someone, he sort of wished that Zuko hadn’t made it out of the explosion unscathed. Maybe if he’d been off recovering somewhere…

…but Zuko hadn’t been the one to kill the moon, and he’d gone after Zhao while his uncle had gone after all the other fire benders. They hadn’t seemed like they were fighting with Zhao, at least. Which made sense, if Zhao really had been trying to assassinate the angry ponytail guy.

“Is that all?” Katara asked, leaning over to look at the parchment, reminding Sokka that he’d lost track of what he was supposed to be doing.

“I’m getting to it!” Sokka glanced back down at the parchment. Oh. He swallowed hard, then read the second sentence. “Zhao… destroyed my home. And… separated me from the only family I had left.” He looked up at Masky, then read the last line he’d written. “That’s why I broke into his stronghold to free the Avatar, and it’s why I followed him here. I wanted revenge.”

[nuclearmu5hroom]

I saw this floating around and I decided to pick it up for funsies idk

FALLOUT OC INTERVIEW

Rules:

1) Choose an OC

2) Answer questions as that OC

3) Tag 5 people to do the same

1) What is your name? Dr. Drake Fenring, Director of the New Institute.

(more under the cut)

2) How old are you? You’ll have to get more specific than that. I suppose biologically you could say I’m approximately 44 years old, though I was born in 2052. I doubt you’ll be able to understand the circumstances that brought me to this era.

3) What do you look like? I’m 5′7″, 140 lbs. Blonde hair, brown eyes its right there in the picture, what more do I have to explain? If you’re wanting to know what kind of clothing I prefer I am generally wearing my lab coat, or my uniform. I keep clean, bathe regularly (unlike the rest of these cretins) and prefer to stay as healthy as I can. 

4) Where are you from? Where do you live now? Originally I’m from Boston, out near Concord area. At this particular time, my current residence is classified; I’m sure there are many people who would love to know where I sleep.

5) What was your childhood like? Nothing of note. I am an only child, my mother’s name was Marie and father was Anthony. I received high marks in school, particularly in math and science. Socially, I suppose you could say I was even well liked, but my peers were simple and could be impressed by balloon animals so that doesn't quite count for much. I was more than content on my own.

6) What groups are you friendly with? Are you allied with any factions? *rolls eyes* ah yes, the factions...before my sudden voyage here I supported the US Government; I was even on the short list by invite of General Chase to reside on an oil rig just off the coast in the even of War. I didn't quite make it there, if you hadn't guessed. They called themselves the Enclave after the bomb dropped, so you can say I align with them as an original member. Its my plan to combine my former employer with my current organization which is all that is left of what used to be the Institute. Occasionally, I have been known to employ a few talented Gunners to run security from time to time as well.

7) Tell me about your best friend. I--I don’t have one...well, um. No. I have an associate that I’ve worked closely with however ‘friend’ is not the word I would choose, lets not be silly. 

8) Do you have a family? Tell me about them! They’re dead. They’ve been dead for 200 some years now, honestly I don't think much about them. However, if you must know more detail I guess I was closer to my mother growing up. My father didn't quite approve of certain aspects of myself as I got older but I never needed his approval for anything anyway. 

9) What about a partner or partners? UM.....well. That is also a complicated area of life. I’ve just recently started to realize I had....interesting emotions...come up as of late and I’m not quite sure what to make of it. I don't like this question....MOVING ON.

10) Who are your enemies, and why? Oh darling, who aren’t my enemies? Let’s see....the Railroad and the Minutemen are my current opposition, and won’t they be surprised when they find out what I have in store for them...I find the Children of Atom to be completely infantile with their “mysticism” *tch* please, give me a break. 

11) Have you ever heard of The Brotherhood of Steel? What do you think about them? The Brotherhood could have had potential but in the end they lacked the full scope of their own vision. Not surprised, considering they thought that dirty neckbearded child they called Elder could lead them to whatever victory they thought to achieve. 

12) What about The Enclave? Ah yes, my Enclave. We’ve suffered setbacks, yet no one can quite get rid of us, eh? Mark my words, I will spend my last breath in the pursuit of their return. There is so much that the Enclave and the Institute could share together. A thing of orchestrated beauty.

13) How do you feel about Super Mutants? Fascinating, if anything. As a biologist, the FEV virus was an absolute joy to work with, despite the difficult process to stabilize it. Unfortunately, like all works in progress it was not viable to continue and since they’ve become a menace to our own operations extermination is required on site. It is nice to capture one alive and run some tests...for old times sake.

14) What’s the craziest fight you’ve ever been in? I prefer not to fight, but escaping the Institute during its destruction was probably the most intense combat I've faced since Anchorage. 

15) Have you ever fought a Deathclaw? Yes. I do NOT recommend it. Only a fool would consider it.

16) Do you like fighting? It depends. I like a good struggle, especially as I watch them lose consciousness. Its amusing to watch them squirm when they wake up restrained. I am not above taking certain advantages in a fight.

17) What’s your weapon of choice? I am quite partial to my quad gauss rifle, I also have a soft spot for my bat. There’s nothing like beating a man’s skull in with nothing but a solid piece of wood.

18) How do you survive? Your wits, your charm, your skills, brute force, some combination? (a.k.a. what’s your S.P.E.C.I.A.L?) I can be very persuasive when it comes to getting what I want, when I want it. Its not hard to read the intentions of these wastelanders out here. I would be lying if I said that I didn't have a bit of luck on my side as well; things fell into place almost as soon as I arrived in this century. 

19) Have you ever been in a vault? What do you think about them? HAHAH the Vaults....right. Yes. They’re fun little games, aren't they? Some of my research even made its way into a few of the programs Vault Tec used. It was a pet project, however I still thought it was unnecessary. Waste of good resources on average people.

20) How do you beat all the radiation around here? Has it affected you? Hazmat suits, lackeys, decontamination arches, general avoidance. Its not like I’m some dumb vault dweller who decided to play hero and soak up a lethal dose like some kind of idiot. 

21) What’s your favorite wasteland critter? Critter? What kind of descriptor is that, you backwater hick? Local fauna has become too contaminated to be considered a ‘favorite’, they’re all mostly disgusting creatures. 

22) What’s your least favorite wasteland critter? Bloatflies. Hands down.

23) How do you feel about robots? Useful, to a degree. Not quite what a Gen 3 Synth is capable of....or even a Gen 1 Synth but for disposable use I find them agreeable.

24) How many caps do you have on you right now? Why? Is this a pitiful attempt to set me up to rob me after this interview? I have plenty of caps at my residence. I don't carry currency on me. 

25) Nuka Cola or Sunset Sarsaparilla? Ugh, I’d rather swallow Abraxo cleaner than drink either one of those.

26) Do you do chems?  I make chems, I don't do them. Chems are for the weak

27) Do you ever think about the Pre-War world? Often. I....miss the music.

28) What’s your deepest regret? What would you do differently? If I would have known that that Holoway girl was going to destroy everything I worked for I would have shot her back in Anchorage. I also....have some regrets over how I viewed my previous partnership. 

29) What’s your biggest achievement? Or what do you hope to achieve? My biggest achievement is my own survival. My goal is to purge the Commonwealth of all that is impure to pave the way for a more advanced group of individuals. My legacy will be to ensure that whatever’s left of humanity comes from only the best genetic stock.

30) What do you want for the future? For yourself? Your friends? The world? I want to be able to look upon the world that I have created and say “I made this happen.”

tagging: @vkm11, @catastrotaffy @coffeecogs @red-king-4, @radiationgroove, @mininuked   @theartofblossoming (only if you want to)

[audiogrizzly]

Top 5 Games of 2019

It was a little tricky to construct a top 5 for this year, though there have been a couple of surprises.  I wasn’t expecting the year to be a bit crap as we are no w on the cusp once more of a new generation.  But 2012 wasn’t all that bad of a year (PS4 and Xbox One would release in 2013) and at the moment, everyone is doing alright.  PS4 has sold through over 100 million systems, Nintendo are definitely on an “on” generation with Switch, Xbox has been able to get back into peoples good books with things like Game Pass (on both Console and PC, their PC side they seem to really be turning around), there’s even interesting things happening in the mobile space with Apple Arcade.

This won’t be the last year where my top 5 games are full of current gen titles, I am expecting the new systems to drop in around November, last time it was hard to find a top 5 specific to PS4 (as I listed each platform separately back then).  It IS however, another list of mostly AAA tier games.  If you want to know what smaller more “interesting” games I have been playing, check out my honourable mentions at the end.

Also, follow me on Melee.  It’s this new image blogging service from Imgur which you can download now on the IOS App Store (its just on iPhone at the moment) and it has seemingly been built to help people share gaming related clips and images off of places like Twitter and Instagram (and err, here on Tumblr).  I posted a couple of daft clips of me failing in Modern Warfare and Destiny 2 and it didn’t take long for them to amass a few likes and comments.

That sounded like a sponsored advert but ain’t nobody paying me for this.  Let’s get into my top 5

5. Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order

I was about to select Gears 5 to be my number 5 until I saw sense and cast my memory back to when I started playing Jedi (all the way back in November.  I was impressed by its intense action, impressive visuals and great characters.  I especially enjoyed the 4 armed pilot who always complains.  I did feel that towards the end I got sick of managing large groups of enemies so I dropped the difficulty to get through it, but I still haven’t achieved 100% of activities on all planets so I can still go back to it one day.

4. Borderlands 3

We all knew this was coming but not even I had any idea that we would have been actually playing it in 2019 way back at the start of the year.  For me, I look at the game.  I don’t care about weird magicians or their insane sounding legal woes, all I’m interested in is the work of a team who deserved better for their last title, but am still glad returned to what they do best, looting and shooting.  I enjoyed rejoining these characters I have followed over the last 10 years, all the referenced to older games, cameos from characters from Tales From the Borderlands and The Pre Sequel and was sad to see some people go.  I still have about a year of extra content to go through and I really appreciate the efforts they have made to make the game last longer than just one playthrough through in the Proving Grounds, Circle of Slaughter and Mayhem modes.  Though I have always tended to stick to Borderlands games and create builds for each and every vault hunter, so I will be doing that.

3. Mortal Kombat 11

It’s been a while since I last put a fighting game into my end of year round up.  And I HAVE fallen off MK11 a little bit, but this entry reminded me of how impressive it is for Nether Realms to pack their fighting games with some many things to do and keep people playing outside of just going into matchmaking and fighting others.  The Vault this year is basically another little adventure full of exploration and puzzle solving and the Towers of Time give you plenty of challenge and direction of many months to come.  You also have to give the developer credit for never backing down on the brutality of the game, they must have all got their heads together after DC Universe vs. and vowed never again to make watered down versions of Fatalities.  It is a game that keeps getting better and better.

2. Call of Duty Modern Warfare

I was debating whether or not to include this years CoD.  I always get the same type of enjoyment out of it each year, people complain that it never changes but I’m glad it sticks to a formula.  Of course they are not identikit games, there are new maps, new modes, new ways of building your loadout and new touches, like how in this year you can snap to edges to stay in cover while you shoot, there’s the new special equipment system where you can drop ammo or reduce your footstep noise.  Having doors you can either peek through or smash open adds another level of strategy, there have been times where I have been able to escape being under fire by closing a door, re-positioning and then wasting whoever just wanders in.

The campaign this year, good to see it back, but whatever, the co-op mode is Spec Ops again, like it was back in MW2 and 3 but on a much larger scale, I have yet to complete one of these btw.  But as always, it’s the multiplayer that does it for me and Modern Warfare deserves credit for being what must be the first AAA game to feature cross platform play, not just launch with it.  I know that games like Fortnite are popular, but I don’t see that as a AAA title, it doesn’t have the full package, it’s just a mode and it started off small.  Call of Duty is expected to be big each year, has a lot riding on it and allowing for cross play is a big step.  I especially appreciate being able to play with a keyboard and mouse on PS4 and being able to matchmake only with people playing with controllers on PC, in fact, I have never really given the game much of a shot on PC before as I know people just fall of it, there has often been low player numbers reported on the PC versions of CoD and it looks like it won’t have that problem this time round due to cross play.

Modern Warfare still has to contend with Destiny 2 and Overwatch for my time as my main multiplayer game but it’s still as fun as ever.

1. Control

Put this down as my main “surprise” game of 2019.  A game which was not on my watch list, though I was aware of it as you can’t ignore a game from the makers of Max Payne (I did skip Alan Wake and didn’t care much for Quantum break though).  Bought it at the last minute before its release, downloaded it and was wowed by the sinister nature of the environment you run around in.  This weird fictitious US government agency which looks into paranormal activity which you seem to have become in charge of because you picked up a mysterious weapon from the deceased Director while searching for your brother.  What then follows is about 12 hours of wacky powers and odd video clips as you unearth what has been going on in this strange ever morphing building.

I especially loved how the game never holds your hand too much, the map of each floor is vague enough that you also have to rely on in-game signposting to move around, as well as a bit of memory work.  There is also great humour involved too in some of the PSA posters on a lot of the walls, the antics of the caretaker and the videos you find of Dr. Darling throughout the game.

I did have a few weird technical issues with the game throughout playing, but still found it to be visually pleasing, there was this weird hitch that used to appear after coming out of the pause screen that always threw me, it would be followed by a few moments of low performance before getting back into the smooth action.  But this didn’t stop me from having a great time with Control.  Perhaps the game that will be the most prominent in my head when I think of 2019.

So there you have it, control is my best game of 2019.  But let’s look at the other new games I played throughout the year in my honourable mentions:

Gears 5

The Outer Worlds

Days Gone

Apex Legends

Far Cry New Dawn

Trover Saves the Universe

Concrete Genie

Devil May Cry 5

Tom Clancy's The Division 2

And also a special mention to these old games that were rereleased/remastered/repackaged etc in 2019:

Borderlands Game of the Year Edition Remastered

Halo Reach

And now, a look at the games I have on my watchlist for 2020:

Cyberpunk 2077

Last of Us Part 2

Ghost of Tsushima

Halo: Infinite

Watch Dogs Legion

Phantasy Star Online 2

Gods & Monsters

Doom Eternal

Overwatch 2

Diablo IV

Minecraft dungeons

Marvel's Avengers

Carrion

Streets of Rage 4

Will they all even come out?  Let’s find out, happy new year!

[lumina-chronicles]

The Lumina Chronicles (A Writeblr Intro-Post Thingy)

Okay so, I love character asks/tag games and interracting with the writeblr community, but I realized I only sporadically talk about my work and my characters. I figured it was high time I compile everything in one easily accessible post. 

I’m not entirely sure the best way to go about this so I’ll try my best. Have mercy on me and please feel free to ask any questions you may have! 

This is going to be a stream of conscious BEAST so I appologize in advance for any and all typos, and for all the times I’ll no doubt bounce around and probably forget things. In order to not clutter up dashes and make everyone hate me, everything will be under the cut :) 

_____________

THE STORY

(credit to the amaaaazingly talented mari_gdraws on instagram for this stunning cover. Go commission her, its worth it.)

First thing’s first, this is a Portal Fantasy. If you don’t know what that means, think Alice in Wonderland, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Wizard of Oz, any story where someone from our world gets transported by magical means (usually by accident but not always) to a fantasy world. 

Second, I have been working on different variations of this series for over a decade. I started writing the first itteration of this concept when I was a 13 year old weirdo who thought I was the greatest thing to ever happen to writing. (Hint: I wasn’t. I still am not, but at least I’ve grown enough to recognize that.) I may share snippets of the original 2009 draft sometime, but be warned its steaming hot garbage. Good for a laugh though. tl;dr, I’ve been working on this story for too long, but these characters are my babies and I refuse to quit until I give them the story they deserve. 

ELEVATOR PITCH 

MAGGIE is a college girl who just wants to paint, stuck in a fantasy world with more ties to her life than she realizes. KINDLE is a wayward dragon dealing with PTSD, an obsessive fairy queen, and a stalling rebellion. ELLE, who wants nothing more than to find her missing best friend, is stuck babysitting (not literally) an angel (literally.)

^^^^^This is the really bad summary I have up on wattpad. The story is so much more than this but I’ve never been good at simplifying, hence 100k+ words of novel. 

WHAT THE STORY ACTUALLY IS

Blood vs Bonds. (What really makes a family?) 

A central cast who were children during a massive, life-altering war, now trying to pick up the pieces. 

Found Family goodness out the wahzoo. (There is a mermaid adopting you as we speak. Her name is Faye and she’s your mom now, welcome to the family.) 

A fox and a tree dating. They’re lesbians. I love them.

Not at all thinnly veiled bashing of imperialism, nationalism, and racism.

A few heavy concepts that I feel don’t get enough attention in media (pm me if you’d like to know since I don’t feel comfortable elaborating here, I’ll provide trigger warnings before explaining anything in-depth.)

The greatest bromance of all time, between a tired gen-Z nerd and a literal angel who doesn’t know how electricity works. 

Said literal angel becoming obsessed with pokemon. 

A moody dragon who loves to bake, and his ghost bff judging your every move. 

A dozen angsty conversations masquerading as a fantasy novel.

On the subject of masquerades, one of those happens too. What can I say, I’m weak. 

The slowest of slow burn ships. 

Time travel shenanigans.

Me, pouring all of my love and tears and blood into one singular project for over a decade, unabashedly celebrating every trope I love and telling the story teen me needed. 

_____________

THE WORLD

So this is the map of the “known world” for the planet I refer to as Ragilora. This name is never used in the canon of my stories and it stems from an inside joke, but its a lot easier to say than “*gestures vaguely* The Planet.” 

I am one of those authors who writes several unconnected series all set in the same fictional world, but for now, since I’m only talking about the Lumina Chronicles, we’re focusing on thiiiiiis chunk of the map right here: 

This chunk of land (which 13-year-old-me dubbed “The Shadow Realm,” 18-year-old-me expanded to the “’much more impressive’ Realm Under Twin Shadows,” and 22-year-old-me just refers to as “The SR”) is the only location we pay any attention to in the Lumina Chronicles, which (surprise, surprise) focuses on the conflicts between Lumina and the territories surrounding it. 

Important side note, Ragilora has two moons, hence the “twin shadows” thing. The moons come up a lot over the course of the story, especially since one of the cultures (Nox) believes their queen is a reincarnation of one of those moons. 

MOST IMPORTANT LOCATIONS

LUMINA

The human kingdom ruled by the Lousvar family. Self-important racist a-holes who took over most of the realm during the Orphaner’s War nine years ago. King Jareth Lousvar (the aformentioned Orphaner) hasn’t been seen in years, so who’s really running the nation? Your guess is as good as mine. That’s a lie, of course I know. 

IGNUS

Once the private, gorgeous desert home of the dragons, ruled by the Danthragnir clan. They were the main targets of the Orphaner’s War, and now Ignus sits as mostly unoccupied ruins. The dragons who surived the seige now live in hiding or are enslaved in Lumina. Their religion is my favorite of all the cultures in the story, and I’ll talk to you about it if you want, but I don’t wanna ramble here lol. 

NOX

The queendom of the fairies, not rules by any particular family. The current queen in Lydia D’Norse, Queen Lydianna Chrysanthus D’Norse, Mother of Her People, the Moon Made Flesh. This is the territory of magical moon-worshipping lesbians. Fairies are great, they’re my favorite race in the Lumina Chronicles. 

SPECIES/RACES

Human- Just your standard, magic-free human. Identifiable by their brown eyes. Any skintone/haircolor that can be found in nature. (A rare few have other colors for eyes, but that just means they aren’t fully human and will probably be shamed for this fact.) They hail from Lumina. Average height 5′9″.  Average lifespan 70-80yrs.

Dragon- Generally dark skinned with dark hair, identifiable by their Firestone (a comination of red/orange/gold/black that shifts and flickers like flames) eyes. Basically firebenders who can transform into the giant, winged lizards you think of when you imagine dragons. Almost all dragons have black scales in dragon form, though some have dark red or a sandy brown. From Ignus. Average height 6′6″, Average lifespan 80-90yrs. 

Angel- Generally pale skinned with either black or blonde hair, identifiable by their blue eyes and the fan of feathers behind their ears. Angels are a highly intelligent, long-lived species with massive feathered wings (either irridecent black if they have black hair, or white if they have blonde hair.) All angels have perfect recall and photographic memories, which is helpful for their self-imposed job as the Realm’s unbiased recordkeepers. They soulbond (explained in more detail further down.) From Aeterna. Average height 6′, Average lifespan 180-200yrs. 

Merfolk- All varieties of skintone and hair color, identifiable by the colorful scales around their green eyes (and the eyes themselves if living in a situation where scales ahve been forcibly removed.) While preferring to live out the majority of their lives underwater, merfolk must travel to land to reproduce. While on land, they have legs. As soon as their feet come in contact with water, they go back to having a tail. All merfolk wear skirts on land regardless of gender (could you imagine wearing jeans and accidentally stepping in a puddle and then your legs try to form into a tail with the fabric between them? Ouch.) From Siaboras and the surrounding waters. Average height 5′4″, Average lifespan 70-80yrs. 

Fairy- Generally pale skinned, all fairies have long pointed years, silver hair, and violet eyes. While they no longer posess wings, all fairies have the ability to produce a mind-altering magic known as “venom.” This venom is administered to a target through contact with the fairy’s skin, and can produce results ranging from euphoria and hallucinations to severe pain, memory alteration, and even death. Results depend on the specific fairy and the dosage of venom. A pregnant female fairy can produce a hazy purple cloud of venom outside their body to better protect themselves and their unborn child. Use of fairy venom as a recreational drug is outlawed (doesn’t stop fairy dens from popping up all over Lumina’s slums though.) From Nox.  Average height 4′9″, Average lifespan 45-50yrs. 

Shifter- All varieties of skintone and hair color, some that may not occur in humans. Identifiable by their golden eyes. While dragons mostly occupy their human form and can shift into giant lizards, Shifters are animals who can take human form. Their human form in some way resembles their animal form. Most prefer to be in their animal form and only take human form for the purpose of hunting larger prey or communicating with other species/variants of shifter. Others have chosen to completely integrate themselves into non-Shifter society and spend the majority of their time in human form. From the Wildlands. Average height 5′9″, Average lifespan 70-80yrs. 

Dryad- All dryads have brown/bark-colored skin and leaves for hair. Depending on the type of tree they come from, the length/thickness/color/style of this leaf-hair can vary. When a tree has fed off the magic of the realm for long enough, they develop the ability to take on a human form, and can shift between that and their tree form. They can feel emotion and learn language just as all other species/races, but they tend to be slightly more detached by default. From the Wildlands. Average height (in human form) 6′, Average lifespan uknown. A dryad will live as long as their grove lives. If their human form in destroyed, they can be replanted and will eventually regrow. 

OTHER IMPORTANT INFO

A few notes, mostly on sexuality in the Shadow Realm: 

- Bisexuality is considered to be “the default” just as heterosexuality is treated in our society. There are still people with preferences for one gender or another, but most just assume that if you don’t specify otherwise, you’re bi. 

- All angels are some variation of Ace/Demi/Gray-sexual. They mate for life in a process known as “soulbonding” to the first person they are sexually intimate with, literally joining their lifespans and spirits forever. 

- Soulbonded partners can communicate telepathically and access a shared memory-bank, including access to skills and languages. 

- It is perfectly valid for an angel to choose never to soulbond, and some choose to soulbond with a beloved friend rather than a romantic partner. 

- Dryads have no sex organs and are genderless by default. Some choose to present as feminine/masculine or use pronouns, but that’s a matter of preference and not neccessity. 

- All species can interbreed, but there are no “mixed-breeds.” Meaning if a dragon and a mermaid were to reproduce, the results wouldn’t be a mer-dragon  with the abilites/traits of both parents, the resulting child would be either a full-dragon or full-merfolk depending on the sex of the parents. 

Expanding on the above point, each species is either male or female dominant, with dominant meaning which sex of parent determines the species of their child with interbreeding. Dragons, Shifters, and Humans are male dominant. Angels, Merfolk, and Fairies are female dominant. Examples: 

Male Human + Female Dragon = human child (with red-tinted brown eyes) 

Female Human + Male Dragon = dragon child (with slightly duller firestone eyes)

Female Human + Male Fairy = coin-toss child (because humans are male dominant and fairies are female dominant, this duo would cancel each other out and the child would either be a fairy or a human.) 

_____________

THE CHARACTERS (aka the real reason I made this masterpost) 

all character art by needlessly_cryptic

NARRATORS

The three protagonists of the series. Maggie is our portal-hopper, having travelled from our present day world to the fantasy world of the SR. Kindle is one of the few surviving dragons and has never known any world but the SR. Elle, also from our world, spends the whole book in our world trying to figure out wtf happened to Maggie, while also dealing with Marc (an angel from the SR who came to our world around the same time Maggie vanished.) 

^ Magdalyn, she/her, Human, 20yrs old. Heterosexual. ^

^ Kindle, he/him, Dragon, 22yrs old. Asexual. ^

^ Estelle, she/her, Human, 19yrs old. Bisexual. ^ 

ELLE’S PARTNER IN CRIME 

Formerly of the Abandoned Order, now trapped in our world with no idea what to do or how to get back. He gets his own segment because I can’t really put him anywhere else. (Those are feathers behind his ears.) 

^ Marcellus, he/him, Angel, 20yrs old. Biromantic Asexual. ^

THE ABANDONED ORDER 

A ragtag group of former war-orphans and child-soldiers trying to pick up the pieces after the war’s end, and finding the strength in each other to take back their stolen home lands from the oppressive kingdom of Lumina. Kindle’s family. Maggie’s... well she’s not quite sure. 

ALLIES

^ Faye, she/her, Mermaid, 26yrs old. Bisexual. Soulbonded to Seraphim.^ 

^ Carlyle, he/him or they/them, Ghost (former human), forever 20yrs old. Biromantic Asexual. ^

(A note on Carlyle: they can only be seen/heard by Kindle and later Maggie.) 

^ Pina, She/her, Mermaid, 17yrs old. Lesbian. ^

^ Em, She/her, Dryad, ???yrs old. Lesbian. Married to Inari. ^

^ Rhiannon, She/her, Angel, 24yrs old. Biromantic Demisexual. Soulbonded to Isidor. ^

^ Izzy, He/him (trans), Fairy, 23yrs old. Heterosexual. Soulbonded to Rhiannon.^

ENEMIES(?)

^ Lydia, she/her, Fairy, 18yrs old. Bisexual. “Soulbonded” to Seraphim. ^ 

^Ser, he/him, Angel, 25yrs old. Biromantic Asexual. Soulbonded to Faye Lydia.^

^ Jakoby, he/him, Shifter(snake), 27yrs old. Lydia-sexual. ^ 

^ Nar, she/her, Shifter(fox), 23yrs old. Lesbian. Married to Emrys. ^ 

LUMINA

The children of the victors. Are they all as bad as their parents, or will they become part of the change and strive towards a better future? *shrug* 

^ Cas, he/him, Human, 20yrs old. Bisexual. My son. ^ 

^ Rainette, she/her, Human, 17yrs old. Heterosexual. Betrothed to Favaro. ^ 

^ Juju, he/him, Human, 24 yrs old. Gay. Bodyguard to Prince Cas. ^

^ Tobi, he/him, Human, 18yrs old. Bisexual. Bodyguard and boyfriend to Princess Raini. ^  

^ Ander, he/him, Human, 21yrs old. Gay especially for Julian. ^ 

^ Favaro, he/him, Human, 22yrs old. Asexual and Aromantic. Betrothed to Princess Raini. ^

PRECIOUS CHILD WHO ISN’T INTRODUCED UNTIL BOOK TWO

^ Khatalanya, she/her, Dragon, 16yrs old. Lesbian. In love with VENGEANCE. ^

_______________

IN CONCLUSION

this really was a dumpster fire lol. If you would like to know more about specific characters or races or aspects of my world, feel free to ask! I’m gonna link this to an easily accessible part of my profile somehow. But yeah, mostly just admire my children. I love them all, even the horrible ones. 

[sireneia-a]

this happens every time i pull up the love growths and the jealousy rates in genealogy so i’m unpacking that too but for all my fe4 muses. going in roster order for this. why am i doing this?? cause i love storytelling via game mechanics and think more games should do it. not necessarily in relation to romance though, like leif’s arc is pretty amazingly displayed through mechanics in both his game appearances but i can ramble about that another time.

for the record, i’m assuming a love growth of +2 as what a “normal” pace for falling in love is since it’s the most common growth rate in the game. the format that this reads as is 0+2 then which translates to “a love base of zero, a love growth of two.” 

under the cut cause i still have no idea how to be succinct and also i’m talking about eight characters so yknow

lene: 

almost every guy has 0+2 for her. she doesn’t have any particular attraction to any guy as a result, though she’s open to falling in love with any of them with no biases. the only exception to this trend is ares who is set at 300+1. this is one of the highest love bases in the entire game if not THE highest. 

even disregarding their canon dialogue making me believe they are in a “more than friends, less than lovers” situation, this love base alone hints towards that too. 300 love points makes the game register the two as having taken a fancy to one another, 400 points is when they’re officially “well and truly in love” with one another, and 500 is when they’re literally married.

the fact that lene’s growth is at +1 with ares makes me think that although she has a high love base with him, she’s slow to realize her own feelings for him and would take a while to actually transition into being ACTUAL lovers. she would take a while to believe she should make a move. this is supported by the fact that she is at the low end of ares’s jealousy spectrum. she just doesn’t easily get jealous over other girls spending time with him.

interestingly enough, the people that she’s more easy to become jealous over are ced, oifey, and iucharba. 

leif: 

leif has a 0+2 for everyone except julia, nanna, jeanne, tine and linda. julia is set at 0+0 for everyone except seliph so that’s why there. nanna and jeanne both are set to 100+2 which means he has yet to even think about either of them in a romantic way. 

200 points is when the characters are thinking more frequently about the person for reference. however, leif’s shared childhood with nanna and jeanne undeniably has a foundation for him to see either of them in a romantic light and them growing up together is likely the reason behind his falling in love eventually. despite this, he goes at a normal pace with either of them still. 

the interesting thing is that he is set to 0+3 with tine and linda. whilst he has no foundation with either of them, this tells me that he is quicker to fall in love with them and his relationship might be likened more to a whirlwind romance. it’s also interesting to me because linda and tine are... nothing like nanna and jeanne KGHFKFHKFS 

i guess leif’s taste in women might be more like linda and tine but he’s just got more backstory with nanna and jeanne to build upon. either that or leif probably interacts more with tine and linda then and has more opportunity to fall in love with either of them mid-war. 

leif also has an equal jealousy rate with all girls which just means nobody ever gets jealous over him. Ever. what that means?? hell if i know how to dissect that

dew: 

hi token first gen! he has a more unique spread, so i’ll just write it down first here.

edain 0+2 / ayra 0+2 / lachesis 50+2 / erinys 50+2 / silvia 0+3 / brigid 50+2 / tailtiu 120+3

due to his backstory and how he didn’t know any of these people until the war, i’m going to interpret a higher love base to mean he’s more strongly attracted to those characters upon a first impression.

but... why those four? that’s a tricky one. i can’t just say he likes women who can kick his ass cause ayra isn’t included. i was going to say it’s strong-willed women, but again ayra would’ve been included. i can’t say he’s just attracted to longer hair cause all of them have long hair, and i can’t say it’s that he thinks lighter colored hair is gorgeous because erinys with her trademark silessian green hair is there. 

i might still say though he’s attracted to women who he immediately understands their convictions and motivations. by the time he meets ayra, presumably he would not be able to witness her devotion to shannan as strongly as, say, sigurd would have. but lachesis he’d see her desire to be strong for her brother, erinys her love for her homeland and proper strict attitude, brigid her backstory as a rare female captain amongst pirates, and tailtiu her desire to follow claud no matter where. he’s less certain with ayra for reasons explained, edain because he just meets her in jail and his mind is fixated solely on getting out, and silvia because he only interprets her as a dancer and probably doesn’t immediately catch onto her attraction to lewyn.

tailtiu is the highest, so i’m going to interpret that as him either thinking thunder magic is extremely intimidating and awesome or because he just likes girls in ponytails. him having a higher growth with silvia and tailtiu tells me he gets along better with girls who are upbeat but have a sadness underneath it, and he might just naturally feel more for them as time goes on.

his jealousy rates are complicated cause genealogy separates priority for first gen hardcore based on whether or not you’ve turned your console on and off again yet. a shared theme between the two versions though is that edain and ayra more easily get jealous over dew. also interesting is that dew’s jealousy rates post-resetting are identical to jamke’s -- a fact i choose to believe because dew and jamke likely hang out a lot around one another in the game, solidified by their ch5 convo having dew getting uncharacteristically sentimental on the archer prince before running off.

iuchar:

iuchar’s rates are mostly 0+2 so standard fare but the unique stuff comes to predictably larcei and more unpredictably tine. 

larcei is set to 200+2 which i think makes sense considering he literally gets recruited under the pretense that he’s so in love with larcei that he’s willing to betray his family for her. i know the rate is set lower because he’s recruited in the first chapter of the first gen, but i want to believe that it’s a nod to the fact that he’s not as head over heels for larcei as he claims to be. again, 200 means he’s thinking about her but not necessarily in love with her. the fact that they have a growth of 2 points per turn makes me believe that them developing a romantic relationship would be at a normal pace, just in general normal and not affected by his supposed affections for her. he wouldn’t be pushing things aggressively as a result, but also neither of them are necessarily extremely opposed to it.

tine is set to 0+3. this... i’m going to unpack when i get to her because i thought at first this was something specific to leif since leif and tine are predestined lovers ( a fancy term used to describe pairings the game recommends or otherwise they have conversations with one another ) but i’m beginning to realize there’s something else here. 

i can’t analyze iuchar’s jealousy rates because i can only see iucharba’s, and although the two have identical love growths and bases with one another, i don’t feel right just assuming their jealousy rates are the same. if they ARE though, it’s a wild time cause it’s:

nanna > larcei > fee > tine > lene > lana > patty > altena

tine:

i promised to deliver on analyzing iuchar’s rate with her here and yeah. 

tine’s set to 0+3 with EVERYONE. EVERYONE. NO EXCEPTIONS. thank you for consistency for starters but oh boy.

so since i’m running on the idea that +2 is normal for love growths, i have no choice but to recognize that tine just falls in love really quickly. a +4 growth DOES exist though it’s basically for brigid only. the only other weirdly high love growth rate to be featured in game is finn who has a +10 with brigid and tailtiu because finn has only 50 turns to fall in love with either of those two so good luck and hope those jealousy rates don’t kill you if that’s your aim. regardless, all of tine’s romances edge on whirlwind romances. but why?

well, i have a feeling it ties into the fact that tine is supposed to be the second gen deirdre equivalent. this is showcased by her lover’s convo with seliph where she remarks that she doesn’t want to end up just like deirdre. this does not happen in any other lovers convo with seliph, so i’m pretty sure that’s just her role. her having silver hair, being associated with purple, a mage, and also a sheltered girl also helps the connections further.

tine’s fast rates ensure that no matter whom she falls in love with, it’ll be fast-paced in a way similar to how deirdre’s relationship with sigurd went. there’s nothing to make someone fall in love at first sight with tine, but she’s quick to fall in love with and reciprocate.

her jealousy rates are a bit more complicated to look at, but a general note is that she’s the girl that gets the most jealous easily over ced hinting at her own preference to him. behind that, in order, are ulster, diarmuid, oifey and iucharba equally, shannan and ares equally, and then every other guy. i don’t really know how to interpret that except that barring ced, i guess she just. favors the tirnanog gang i guess???

febail:

febail apparently ALSO HAS A 0+3 WITH EVERYONE except julia and lene. i have literally no explanation for this the way i did tine, but i’m going to try.

i’m going to interpret this to mean that febail falls in love easier than he lets on. this might be a byproduct of him being a sensitive person at heart, something shown and exemplified by how he serves as a father figure to all the orphans in conote. hell, he even has a card where they’re all crying as they’re rushing to hug him.

febail indiscriminately falls in love, and perhaps him being kind of bad at hiding how sentimental and compassionate he is towards the orphans is what helps others fall in love with him quickly too. 

except lene and julia. lmao. i get why julia is the exception, but i just think it’s really funny that lene also isn’t falling for this dude easily either. which might just say something about lene’s maturity and inability to just recklessly develop affections for others.

febail has the MOST confusing jealousy rates in my opinion because his is just. altena > everybody else. the reason why it’s weird that altena gets jealous over him easily is because altena shouldn’t be falling in love with anyone. it’s not even like julia’s case where julia is 0+0 for everyone except seliph. altena has NO rates or bases. 

febail how did you do it,

coirpre:

i already kinda talked about his love growths and bases in this post but i’ll talk more about it cause there’s definitely stuff i missed.

coirpre’s spread is like this:

julia 0+0 / lana 220+3 / muirne 220+3 / larcei 0+2 / creidne 0+2 / nanna 0+2 / jeanne 0+0 / fee 0+2 / hermina 0+2 / patty 200+3 / daisy 0+3 i think / tine 0+3 / linda 0+3

him being lategame can help explain some of these but i don’t think that’s the right assumption to make? mostly because his bases and growths aren’t all across the board like how tailtiu’s are, and she’s in your army for around the same amount of time that coirpre is in yours. but they also still let him fall in love unlike altena who, as said before, should logically not fall in love but also you can rig jealousy rates i guess.

it’s also interesting because coirpre is one of the few instances where he differentiates between substitutes considering he will express absolute zero interest in jeanne no matter what but he’s open to falling in love with nanna.

there’s not really much of a common thread between all of the notable rates here, but minus tine and linda, you could say he’s taken a bias towards other characters seen as support units in a way. lana, muirne, patty, and daisy are not intended to be frontline soldiers. however, nanna and jeanne are out of the running for this, so it’s not a hard-pressed rule for him. it still makes sense that he probably hangs out more with other support units considering he himself is one.

his dynamic with patty and his dynamic with lana would probably be extremely different since lana is the more soft-spoken and sweet character whilst patty openly bickers with him. hence why i can’t say it’s a personality thing tying him to any biases.

coirpre has some of the highest bases in the game because of his being 200 or more with some of the characters. this implies he’s definitely taken a fancy to lana, muirne and patty upon first meeting them. if it weren’t muirne and nanna, i’d just say he has a preference for blondes and be done with it but of course things are Complicated.

coirpre has jealousy rates too, with his being patty > lana > altena > other girls. this gives insight to how girls feel about HIM and he’s not actually the least complicated scale, his having more people ranked than lester, febail, seliph and leif. he’s more attracted to lana at first sight but patty is more likely to feel things for him.

also altena is there for some reason. i’m DOUBLY confused on account of her not supposed to be falling in love and also the fact that coirpre sees her as a mother figure.

deimne:

deimne’s rates are identical to lester’s, not really surprising considering that he serves as lester’s substitute but only a bit surprising to me considering he has different lover’s conversations. regardless, his are pretty lackluster too, being 0+2 for everyone except julia, tine and linda.

tine and linda are at 0+3 again and julia is at 0+0. i don’t have much to add besides what’s already been said in tine’s section, but these bases DO reflect his lack of desire to interact with the nobles. doesn’t really apply that way to the substitutes though but eh. he’s still not really rejecting anyone though since he’s at +2 as opposed to +1 or +0.

i’m going to assume deimne’s jealousy rates are also identical to lester’s which means his is patty and daisy > altena > other girls. daisy and patty definitely makes sense to me since he has lover convos with them. altena is once again a wild card crashing in out of nowhere.

cause why avoid hanging out with nobles when you can have a princess of TWO houses getting jealous over you i guess.

only other notable thing is that deimne has an arc that i find sweet with his childhood friend karen who is not playable. it’s implied that she has feelings for him but he doesn’t really notice. this isn’t reflected in mechanics, but it’s a tangentially related subject.

[lunebinnie]

(1/14)I am so sorry for taking so long! (I also had to spend a lot of time studying this week bc I had my first exam for my Anatomy Lab on Wednesday... And then we had our first exam for *Lecture* Thursday (which also was the day I had a bunch of powerpoints due for my very intimidating adviser...) and then I had to substitute teach all day Friday (and then I meant to respond sooner but I got so busy 😭) so yeah I completely understand about school getting in the way no worries abt it!)

And also sleeping in on a day off when you’ve been busy studying lately is completely valid hon 👌 I hope that your midterms go well and that you’re able to stay healthy and take care of yourself in the midst of preparing! (not that you wouldn’t, I just have a bad habit of neglecting things like healthy sleeping and eating habits when I get caught up studying, so hopefully you’re not like me in that way) And yeah me too! I mean on the one hand I understand *why* they have that limit

3)If u could just send as many as u want there would be so much more spam and ppl would definitely abuse that. But also?? Um? I have a chronic condition called ‘Can'tShuttheFuckUp-itis’? 🤷 This policy is so discriminatory towards people like me who suffer from this crippling condition! I feel oppressed honestly 🙄 tumblr rlly has something against ppl just trying to get to know each other huh? Lol, but at least now we know why it eats them I’ll be sure to try to prevent that in the future

4)And oh my gosh that’s so cool! I’m super jealous!! 😮 lol. I wish they hosted kpop nights at my local bar! 😭😭 But no, I’m here at my little state college in a little 2 mi2 town just under pop 5500 (and idek if that’s before or after counting college students) in the middle of the 'farm zone’ of my state. All we get is country night @Riley’s 😩 RIP. But ya I wish I had more ppl around me who were into kpop! So far I’ve only met 3 ppl who listen to it. One was that roommate I told you about

5)One is just a casual listener who isn’t really into 3rd gen groups and mostly just listens to Girl’s Generation but that’s valid, and one isn’t even rlly a fan of any groups in particular, she just puts the kpop station on when she studies bc she says she needs music but if it’s in English she gets distracted, lol And omg that is insane! $500?? And 5 copies of the same album? 😲 (Says the girl who’s been a Monbebe for a hot 2 months and has already bought three (3??) Monsta X T-shirts… 😂

6)in my defense tho one of them was only $10 bc it was Black Friday? And u can’t blame me, Hot Topic is my krypotonite lmao) but yeah I already feel guilty about spending 30+ dollars on one copy of an album (thx international shipping) That’s so wild. And yeah I don’t get why ppl feel the need go out of their way just to insult other ppl’s music taste. I’m also pretty self conscious abt sharing my music taste and obviously the way everyone around me talks abt kpop has made me even moreso now 🙃

7) I haven’t gotten into too many groups yet bc I’m trying to go slowly and focus on getting into one group at a time but I do have a long list of groups I plan on getting into eventually! NU'EST is one that I’ve heard some of their songs on my Spotify based on my listening history and they’re on the list haha 😂 And omg I feel really similarly about Got7! I tried to get into them after I got into Monsta X and right before I got into Astro and although I did really like some of their songs

8)I haven’t really been able to get into their music as much as MX and Astro’s yet. I do think they seem like a really fun group in terms of personality though. As for the comeback I know right?? I mean I know a lot of ppl were freaking out abt the comeback being a 'sexy’ and how it wasn’t gonna be the same cute Astro we all love anymore. But they filled the MV with flowers and glitter and still managed to make it sexy as fuck! This album has a very different vibe but it still felt like them

9) They managed to pull off a more mature and sexy concept while still staying true to themselves and I’m so here for it! I don’t know if I could really pick a favorite era because I love them all! I mean Spring Up was an excellent era and every era since then has been great. They really don’t know how to have any bad concepts or make any bad songs huh? Lol. Since I’m still pretty new I really love the title tracks since I’ve heard them the most. (I have listened to their full discography

10)But I haven’t listened to their Bsides enough to pick out my favorites from those) I also really love Again though! The first time I saw the dance practice I was super into it and then I looked up the lyrics and was like 'this is supposed to be sad/regretful song it has no reason to be this much of a BOP?!’ 😂 I have such a hard time picking favorites though. Since All Light is new though I actually have listened to it enough times to pick some 'non-title song favorites’ from there haha

11) Other than All Night (which is great, obvi) I also really like Starry Sky, Moonwalk and Role Play 😂 and Bloom is so pretty oh my god! 😭😭 the album is great and has no bad songs but those are the ones I particularly like. I feel u about the dances honestly. I think that’s actually what drew me to kpop initially. I mean I like listening to the songs ofc but it wasn’t until after I actually watched an MV/saw the choreography that I actually was like… Oh shit I’m gonna have to be a fan now

12) It was the visual aspect that really made me want to be a kpop fan bc I haven’t really seen that level of performance with any western music. Which isn’t to say I think all western music is bad but I think it’s really impressive to watch kpop groups singing and also doing really impressive choreography and performing at the same time. Plus that’s the part I can show my family and say 'even if you don’t like the music because of the language barrier you have to admit they’re talented dancers’

13)And yes! With Astro especially I think the dance practices rlly succinctly capture the reason why I love them so much. They are *super* talented but they also have such great chemistry and u can rlly tell that they just love each other and have so much fun together! I love a family of six hardworking dorks! 🤧💗 lol. And yeah it’s too bad that neither of are able to see them this cb ☹️ (I also did the 'hypothetically…’ research but it wouldn’t have worked out 😒) I hope you’re right though!

14)Hopefully the success of this comeback is the catalyst to Astro getting more of the attention they deserve and there will be many more opportunities to see them in the future! (Although it is too bad we won’t be able to see live performances from this cb, since it’s so pretty 😭 tho with their track record I’m sure future cb’s will be just as good lol) But what about you? Do you have any favorite songs from this cb in particular? Talk again soon! (I’ll try 2 b better @ responding 😭) -AHA

FUCKKK okay so after like a million years of midterms + 2 days straight of sleeping ya girl is BACK to answer these asks after getting through the hurdle of copying and pasting and italicizing 14 asks onto one response on my phone. Did I perhaps fail at least 3 of my midterms? Quite probably. Do I have the energy to care atm? No. Did I need to get away from everything and fly to Boston to visit my friend for reading week? Yes.

How did all your exams go? That sounds crazy though! I hope you got through everything ok!

Tbh I have the same unhealthy habits too, I essentially became nocturnal and lived on like one meal a day + snacks and coffee 😭 fr, I would be writing my midterm from 11:30-1:30, go home to eat, sleep from 4-7pm, then wake up to study all night for the next one, and repeat,,,,, I’m like an actual mess tbh

Honestly as much as I’ve enjoyed the Aroha secret admirer thing (it was sooo nice getting to meet new people) rn I’m just so glad that post-reveal we don’t have to deal with tumblr ask limits and writing entire essay responses all in one go.

Honestly 3 shirts isn’t even THAT bad especially if they weren’t all like ordered from overseas so they wouldn’t have been that expensive. When I went to the Myeongdong underground shopping centre I went craaaazy with Kpop merch despite stanning (at that point, pretty much only) BTS for a whole 3 weeks, so I ended up coming back with 2 albums, a bunch of stickers, a photocard pack (also bonus: got an Astro one too) and like a BUNCH of bt21 stuff. Speaking of, my All Light album finally came in!! I ended up getting a Moonbin, MJ, Jinjin, and Sanha photocard plus the a Rocky lyric booklet and ik I basically got THE best set for someone who loves all of them w my whole heart 😩✊ but I’m still sad I didn’t get any Eunwoo cards since he was my first Astro bias 😭 it’s soooooo pretty I love it sm and like lowkey I’ll probably end up buying more of their albums anyway oopsss

Speaking of Monsta X btw, I heard their new song and I thought it was really good! What did you think of it?

Regarding favourite songs, I swear my moods change so much, so it’s pretty common for me to not love a song at first and sort of rediscover it months later, and tbh that’s kind of what happened with Innocent Love, Baby, and Again. In this album though, I’d say my favourite Bsides are probably be Bloom, 1 in a Million, and Heart Brew Love.

And I toootally agree with the performance aspect of kpop being the thing to attract me it, even before I got really into it I’d sometime like to watch dance practices (and lowkey even learned a bunch of choreos a with my friend last term just bc we had access to a frequently empty dance studio). It’s just super impressive to see people singing and dancing at the same time mostly live, and for the same reasons I’m also super into musicals as well, which isn’t so say I think like lip syncing or just dancing/singing is bad, it’s just refreshing to see it done all at once, you know?

Also side story it turns out that I actually DO know another Astro fan irl!! Her older sister (who I’m closer to bc we’re closer in age) is the one who bought the million got7 albums. Even though she’s been a fan of Astro since before debut, her sister doesn’t even know she listens to kpop since she was afraid of getting roasted at first, but now she’s in too deep to say anything. I’d mentioned liking Astro to her before, but she didn’t say anything bc she didn’t want to expose herself in front of her sister but on Friday I saw her while her sister was out and she was like “oh btw here’s a secret I went to the Toronto fanmeet last year but my sister doesn’t know” I was SHOOK but tbh I’m just super glad now to have someone to talk about it and go to concerts with (I’m banking on the fact that they’re coming back)

Anyway, THANK YOU SO MUCH for waiting 2747287482 million years for my response, and it was so great to finally (officially) meet you Kjersten!

@kaptain-k-pop

[bruhhemianrhapsody]

jasper’s ultimate mcu fic rec! (pt.2)

shuri’s harem:

★ undertow *incomplete by lilithenaltum

Words: 44,454, Rating: Explicit

I've been baptized by your voice that screams

From deep beneath the cold black water that's

Half as high as heaven

Half as clear as reason

part I: riptide (Chapters 1-5)

On the long list of bad decisions that Tony has made in his life, seducing the young queen of Wakanda might very well be the worst. It takes two to tango, though, and the rules never did apply to Shuri.

part II: hightide (Chapters 6-10)

Tony and Shuri live with the consequences of their actions and try to carve out some sort of happiness even in spite of the hell that they’ve made. Somehow, they manage to make do with the cards they’ve been dealt.

Set post Infinity War.

-

serendipity by lilthenaltum

Words: 5,589, Rating: T

Loki recovers from his fight with Thanos in Wakanda and finds love with not one, but two, beautiful people.

-

family portrait *incomplete by oopswakanda

Words: 10,441, Rating: T

Bucky remembers one rugby training weeks ago when he nearly went out of his mind because his teammates kept thirsting after his foster sister, including the team captain Steve Rogers. Pietro wondered how it would feel to spin Shuri in the air since she's so lithe. Bucky is also reminded of Sam's comment about Shuri being marriage material. Or Thor praising the way she radiates love and light and fun. To this day, this is the most dangerous comment to him because the blonde hearthrob said it with a longing that mirrored his own.

-

darling, i died for the sun rays *incomplete by rxinventlove (disclaimer! this one of my fics, and the only one that will ever be on this list.)

Words: 2,395, Rating: M

Natasha’s got nothing left, both SHIELD and the Red Room have long since fallen, and James is nothing but dust at her feet. What’s left of the Avengers are trying to pick up the pieces in the aftermath of Thanos’ destruction. Taking refuge in Wakanda, Natasha agrees to help in whatever way she can, but falling in love with the newly crowned Queen doesn’t seem to be helping anyone; least of all Natasha herself.

While Shuri struggles to balance an entire kingdom on her shoulders and desperately tries to bring her brother back, she finds safety in the arms of the infamous Black Widow. Secret meetings and stolen moments in quiet corners slowly become more than just a coping mechanism, but when Shuri’s sure the final tendrils of grief are fading Natasha starts to pull away from her. As the last of Earth’s mightiest heroes finally start making headway in reversing the snap, Shuri must deal with the return of Bucky Barnes—both of the girls former lover—and a steadily retreating Natasha.

—

winterhawk (clint/bucky):

★ lost and found by mariana_oconner

Words: 89,972, Rating: M

Clint Barton’s got a bag full of stolen money and a burning desire to stay under the radar. His old friends in the Carnival will be looking for him and they sure as hell won’t be happy. In a desperate attempt to stay off their radar, he ends up in Timely, a small town so far off the beaten track he’s surprised he even found it, and waits for Barney to comes and get him. Because Barney will be coming. Clint knows he will.

But there’s something about the town. Maybe it’s the strange wolf that watches him from the trees, and the way people finish conversations when he enters a room. Or it could be the bartender, Bucky, who decided to hate him on sight. Something’s going on in this small town, and Clint’s not sure if he’s jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire.

-

love pitch by bookdancer

Words: 21,980, Rating: T

Clint is a starting pitcher for the Manhattan Avengers, Bucky Barnes is a rival pitching for the St. Petersburg Hydras. Any sort of relationship should be impossible… too bad nobody told them that. Winterhawk MLB AU.

-

★ historic features by flawedamythyst

Words: 19,254, Rating: T

“Electrical surges with no source, and music coming from the air, and that damn baseball game no one was watching, and I swear I sometimes hear voices right on the edge of hearing when I should be alone,” said Tony. “What does that sound like to you?”

“Sounds like-” said Steve, then hesitated. Tony gave him a pointed look. “Sounds like a haunting,” he finished, reluctantly.

“Oh no,” said Clint, in tones of mock-horror. “Ghosts!”

Bucky laughed and kissed him. “Man, I hope they’re friendly.”

Clint and Bucky are haunting the new apartment that Tony bought in Brooklyn to try and impress Steve.

—

★ nobody lost, nobody found *incomplete by claraxbarton

Words: 73,342, Rating: E

“Look, dude, I get it. You’re fucked-up. HYDRA fucked you up. I’ve been there. But you’re my fucking Soul Mate!”

“I can kill you. I could kill you without even realizing what I was doing. I’m not fucked-up, I’m a monster. I’m a nightmare. You can’t be here. You can’t- All the people I’ve killed- I will not murder my Soul Mate too. Not after everything else I’ve-”

Clint worked his left hand between their bodies and managed to land a punch to the man’s right side, forcing him to shift his weight, and Clint brought his right hand down on the place where the man’s metal arm met his torso - hidden by the shirt he wore, but on full display in the video Clint had watched.

The man released Clint with a grunt of pain, and Clint pressed his advantage, landing another punch to his abdomen, backing him up against the opposite side of the RV and then pressing the kitchen knife he had pocketed while cleaning up earlier to the man’s throat.

“Like I said, I’m not a Boy Scout. I’m plenty dangerous myself. We clear on that?”

OR:

This looks bad, because it is.

OR:

How Clint Barton met his Soul Mate

—

miscellaneous:

★ loki is sorry cakes by anno_hreog (gen)

Words: 3,427, Rating: T

Years later, as penance for leading the Chitauri to attack New York City, Loki bakes cupcakes. Coffeeshop/bakery AU, without the AU, and mostly an excuse for fluffy crack.

-

★ the lewis rule (MARRY, FUCK, KILL) *series by sevenfoxes (darcy lewis/steve rogers, darcy lewis/steve rogers/bucky barnes)

Words: 15,374, Works: 2, Complete: Yes, Rating: M

The ladies of SHIELD play a mass game of MARRY FUCK KILL, Avengers edition.

Wherein everyone marries Steve, kills Tony, Jane betrays science and Darcy hypothetically turns Thor into a llama.

-

on each other’s team by audreyii_fic (jane foster/loki)

Words: 27,110, Rating: E

Jane Foster, college student on a semester abroad in London, fights her way through Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics, dates a golden boy, and gets tutored by a compulsive liar. Which situation is most unsustainable is a matter of opinion. (College!AU. The author regrets everything.)

-

is that what they listen to in missouri? by poorwendy (peter quill/thor)

Words: 12,017, Rating: E

The thing is, Peter always kind of thought he'd visit Terra again to find his family, retrace his lineage. Something like that.

But here he is, in a dirty, smelly basement, nowhere near Missouri, watching a three-piece rock band play way too loud. Even if they are kind of awesome.

-

of blood and kisses by celyan (chris hemsworth/tom hiddleston)

Words: 4,134, Rating: T

Tom does not believe in vampires.

—— The vampire walks towards him, slow and purposeful, and Tom backs away against a conveniently located wall of a building that has spat out its diligent workers hours ago, only to be left cold and dark and empty just for them. He keeps his eyes trained on the vampire even when one of his hands comes up to touch the side of his neck, finding the two tiny puncture marks that are his souvenirs from that fateful evening two weeks ago.

-

how we swallow the sun by voices_in_my_head (loki/stephen strange)

Words: 25,558, Rating: T

“I was hoping I wouldn’t see you back so soon,” Strange said just as Loki had crossed the threshold. He was standing in the middle of the entrance and Loki could feel power in him, but it was different from that which he was used to. More… raw, perhaps.

“I do live to disappoint,” Loki said with a smile.

Or: After deciding to stay on Earth, Loki is forced to come to terms with his actions while trying to deal with the people in his life, old and new.

-

★ oral sorcery by inetrabang (peter quil/gamora)

Words: 3,900, Rating: E

During a mission for Nova Corps, Peter starts whispering naughty things to Gamora, only to act like nothing happened. Fortunately for him, she likes it.

-

takes from a supply closet *series by catrinasl (bucky barnes/darcy lewis/loki)

Words: 7,049, Works: 4, Complete: No, Rating: E

A collection of Darcy/Bucky/Loki fics set in the same universe. Not necessarily in chronological order.

-

★ mokusatsu by shadesfalcon (clint barton/bucky barnes/steve rogers)

Words: 125,474, Rating: E

Clint Barton has been strung along from abusive relationship to abusive relationship all his life. Not that he would use the word “abusive”. He would argue that, as a sub, he was born to take whatever it is his dom feels like throwing at him.

But even with that attitude, he’s nervous about his current situation. Trapped in a bureaucratically mandated relationship with not one but two doms is going to be difficult and dangerous. Especially since these two doms are both members of the Avengers themselves.

He hopes that whenever he disappoints them, they’ll have at least a little pity on him, even though he knows he won’t deserve it.

[victroia21]

3rd Gen Mitsubishi Montero

VS.

3rd Gen Toyota 4Runner

There’s three days to go as I’m writing this blog article and its safe to say I’m starting to feel a little nervous. I decided to sell two of my SUV’s, no reserve, on two different auction sites, at the same time. Why you may ask? Well for one I have too many vehicles, seven to be exact. But mostly because I have financial goals. Owning seven cars as a single male with no kids isn’t quite pragmatic. Especially when you’re trying to purchase a condo in downtown San Diego that only comes with one parking spot. I chose two of the top auction sites on the internet. Bring a Trailer which has been a popular place for car enthusiasts to buy and sell collector cars. Cars and Bids has only been around for less than a year and already has closed some impressive auction results. So here we are, three days to go and my 4Runner on BaT has a $800 lead on my Montero on C&B.

Although both vehicles are 3rd Generation models of their kind, that’s pretty much all they have in common. The 2001 Toyota 4Runner is 2WD, the 2002 Mitsubishi Montero is 4WD with a center locking and limited slip differential. The 4Runner fits five passengers, the Montero fits seven. The 4Runner has 193K miles on the odometer, the Montero has 139K. The 4Runner has cloth seats you manually adjust, the Montero has power seats, leather, sunroof and a premium sound system. On paper its obvious that the Montero with all its features will fetch more money than its counterpart. But what the Montero boasts on paper doesn’t necessarily translate to value. I predict the 4Runner will sell for a lot more than the Montero. A lot more than $800 that’s for sure. And even though comments on the site for the 4Runner have mostly been about it lacking 4x4 capability. The 4Runner has something that the Montero doesn’t. Brand recognition. All 4Runners are known for their reliability and durability. Especially the 3rd Gen 4Runner, manufactured between 1996-2002. You will see more 3rd gen 4runners on the road than any General Motors product built between 2003-2010. Now that’s just an educated guess but I am confident enough to make that presumption knowing how terrible most GM cars were in the 2000’s. Most car enthusiasts know Toyota’s in general are reliable vehicles. There’s no question about it, their reputation is well known around the world. Mitsubishi may have a good reputation in parts of the world, perhaps in countries where they continued manufacturing reliable cars. However in the United States, Mitsubishi has been falling down a slippery slope of failed Japanese imports such as Suzuki, Daihatsu and Isuzu. As mentioned in my last article, the Montero left the US in 2006. And even though they were always known for being reliable and durable like the 4Runner. The Montero has been gone long enough, that an entire generation of enthusiasts have grown up and forgot about it. The Montero lost its luster and was never able to maintain a stronghold in the U.S. While the Montero was conquering rugged terrain in Southeast Asia the last 15 years, people in the U.S were buying 4runners and Land Cruisers.

As an owner of both vehicles, I believe my Montero is worth way more than my 4Runner. There’s no question about it, even if they both shared the same miles. The Montero boasts a fully capable 4WD system that can go up against the best off road vehicles manufactured today. We’ll see in three days if my prediction is correct. Until then I’ll nervously watch my two auctions go toe to toe with one another. At the end of the day one Japanese SUV will be victorious.

To be continued...

The results are in. And I was wrong.

The 2WD 4runner did not surpass the 4WD Montero. My Cars & Bids auction for the Montero ended at $5,700, three hundred dollars more than the $5,400 final bid for the 4runner on Bring a Trailer. However there’s a big asterisk next to that $5,700 figure. The winning bidder flaked. And the second to next bidder (@ $5,400) wasn’t interested anymore. So what happens next? Well according to Cars & Bids I had two options. I can either ask the third to next bidder if they’re still interested at $4,850 or take 50% of the winning bidders buyers fee as compensation. I wasn’t selling my Montero for under 5 grand, so I accepted the latter and posted my Montero for sale locally.

And after a month or so of dealing with flaky Californians, I sold it, for $5,500. One hundred dollars more than the 4runner (which sold very smoothly). So again, I was wrong. The Montero sold for more than the 4runner. And even though it was only for a measly $100, it still proved me wrong. And in hindsight maybe I should’ve sold the 4runner locally as well. Very few people on Bring a Trailer were excited to see a “2runner” as they called it on the website. Some even went as far as to say that I must have been a relative of the website’s owner for them to allow a 2WD 4runner on the site. Nevertheless, I still believe a local Californian would’ve paid more than $5,400 for such a clean 3rd gen 4runner. I could’ve probably waited it out and got more, but time is money and I can’t deal with flaky people. At the end of the day I’m glad the Montero sold for more. It shows that the market on all 4WD capable Japanese SUV’s are on the rise. And followers of Cars & Bids were excited to see a Montero featured on the site. I am sad to see it go, and down the road I’ll probably regret selling it for just $5,500. As for the 4runner, even though I am bummed that it sold for less than I expected. I still have another one, and it’s 4WD so those trolls on Bring a Trailer can’t say anything. And this one I’m going to keep for a little bit. I mean, money comes and goes, but collector cars that make you feel a certain way. They don’t come around so often.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1998-toyota-4runner-29/

https://carsandbids.com/auctions/9XDb5XmO/2002-mitsubishi-montero-limited-4wd?c=all?utm_source=transactional&utm_medium=email

[johnboothus]

VinePair Podcast: What Happens When Cocktails and TikTok Collide?

TikTok has been everywhere in 2020. It’s not often that a social networking app becomes the subject of international intrigue, but when President Trump announced that he planned to ban the app (and then walked those plans back), it brought new attention to what had previously been thought of as a predominantly Gen Z platform. As that generation reaches legal drinking age and begins to shape the culture and industry around drinking, the creativity and exploration in the drinks space on TokTok is fascinating.

On this week’s episode of the VinePair Podcast, Adam Teeter, Erica Duecy, and Zach Geballe discuss what drinks culture currently looks like on TikTok, how brands, bartenders, and others can look to use the platform to grow their audiences, and why combining TikTok’s extremely powerful algorithm with an online marketplace could create massive opportunities.

Listen Online

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Listen on Spotify

Or check out our conversation here

Adam: From Brooklyn, New York, I’m Adam Teeter

Erica: In Jersey City, I’m Erica Duecy.

Zach: And in Seattle, Washington, I’m Zach Geballe.

A: And this is the VinePair Podcast. Before we get into today’s hot topic, which is TikTok — and if you’re not on TikTok we’re going to teach you everything you need to know about TikTok, because you’ve probably heard a lot about TikTok in the past few months — a word from our sponsor. This podcast is sponsored by Goslings Family Reserve Old Rum. Goslings Family Reserve Old Rum is crafted from the same incomparable Bermuda blend as the renowned Black Seal Rum. But it’s barrel aged even longer, until it acquires an extra luscious nuance, complexity, much like a rare Scotch or Cognac. Each bottle is hand-numbered, hand-labeled, and dipped in black sealing wax, the same way Goslings first bottled rum in the early 1900s. Consider it the ultimate sipping rum, because we do. So does the Caribbean Journal who named it the No. 1 aged rum in the world. Find this rare rum on reservebar.com where, for a limited time, you’ll save $15 off your order with the code “VinePair.” And now to our show. We’re going to start a new segment here on the VinePair Podcast, before we get into witty banter, which I always enjoy with the two of you, what we’re drinking this week. We’ve had a lot of listeners email in and ask us what we are drinking so that we can help them discover some of the things they should be drinking. As brief as possible, let’s talk about some of the stuff we’re drinking this week. Erica, why don’t you kick us off, what are you drinking this week?

E: In the past couple of weeks, I have moved into my fall bourbon drinking, and how I like to drink my bourbon is in a Manhattan. And, the thing I’ve been doing, which I think is an amazing trick for people, is mini Manhattans. Instead of making a full Manhattan, I just make a half recipe so it’s like a little tiny guy. Sometimes I just don’t want the calories or the sugar or the alcohol of a full Manhattan, but I’m still getting my fix every night, which I really enjoy. The bourbon that is fueling my Manhattan this week is the Woodford Reserve Distiller’s Select. It’s a bottle that I think provides a really good price to value. I think you can find it from $33 to $36, depending on where you’re trying to buy it, but it’s really an awesome bourbon. So I recommend it.

A: That’s awesome. Zach, what about you?

Z: Well, first of all, Erica, I’m impressed that you can apparently settle for a mini Manhattan. I definitely need at least a regular Manhattan, sometimes a maxi Manhattan, whatever the opposite is. I know we’ve talked about this before but I felt compelled the last couple of days, and again will tonight, to drink some Napa wine. What’s going on in Napa right now is really, really devastating losses to some absolute institutions there. And unfortunately the fires there, as of a recording time, are still nowhere near under control, so it’s possible that sadly the toll will be much greater. And, for me, this specific wine that I’m thinking of is from Cain, which is one of my favorite wineries there on Spring Mountain. Unfortunately it was really, really badly damaged the last couple of days. I think all of the 2019 and 2020 vintages were lost. I think the vineyards mostly seemed to be OK as of now, but again, getting details is still tricky. I’m going to have a bottle of Cain Five, which is their flagship wine, tonight. It’s a very classic Bordeaux blend using the five principle Bordeaux varieties. It’s delicious, it’s a bit of a splurge, but I have a couple of bottles in my collection and it just feels like the right thing to do. Chris Howell, the winemaker, is a really lovely guy. I got the opportunity to have dinner with him last year and he did something that winemakers rarely do, that I love, which is he mostly poured other people’s wine. I actually had to coax out of him his own wine. That’s a kind of modesty that maybe I don’t share, but I appreciate, so that’s what I’m drinking.

A: Cain’s amazing, they were on our Top 50 Wines of the Year a few years ago. They were No. 4 for Cain Five. That wine is really amazing, it’s a huge bummer that everyone’s going through that. Thanks for taking us down, Zach, but it was necessary. I don’t know if I’ve talked about this yet on the podcast. At the VinePair picnic a few weeks ago, I brought it out for the first time and now I have one in my fridge, which is St. Agrestis. It’s a distillery in New York, they started making Negronis in these beautiful bottles, RTDs (ready to drink), a few years ago, and this year they had the brilliant idea of putting them in a box. So they’re boxed Negronis like boxed wine. There’s 20 Negronis in the box for $60. And I have to say $3 and a Negroni is a pretty sweet deal. It has really great gin in it from Greenhook Ginsmiths. It’s awesome, more people should be buying this. I know you can get it at Astor so if you live around the country and you want to go to Astor Wines, I know you can buy it there, and I think they shipped to 40 states around the country. But this thing is just awesome to have in the fridge. At the end of the day, if I don’t feel like making a cocktail, I can easily just open the fridge, put an ice cube in my rocks glass, if I want to add some citrus I will — I usually do, and you just have a great, well-made Negroni. Naomi loves it too. I think they’re claiming that it will last for a year. It’s definitely not going to last for a year in my fridge because I’m going to finish it. But that it could last for a year I think is awesome, and I can’t believe that they’re the only people that have done this. More people should be doing it, I think it’s so cool to have a box of cocktails in my fridge. So that’s what I’m drinking.

Z: And it gives you that really beautiful ease of service, you just pour it.

A: Yeah. It’s awesome. I’m not dirtying my mixology equipment, I’m not worried now about if I have enough Campari still on my bar — or some other bitter liqueur, or how fresh is my vermouth, I’m not worried about any of that stuff at this point. And now it allows me to play with other cocktails. I felt like a lot of times I would just default to a Negroni at home when I was making cocktails, and now I figure I’ll default to other things and just have this in the fridge at all times. It’s awesome.

Z: Frankly, I want more things in my life in a bag or in a box. I used to be like a lot of wine people, turn my nose up at the idea, but the more I’ve been around it, it’s such a great solution for a lot of things. It’s easy, it lasts, the space it takes up is very small, which is great. Bottles on a bar can be clunky, and not that the bottles for a Negroni are usually that difficult to fit in there, but I want more things in a bag and box please.

A: It’s funny, when I went away for Naomi’s parents’ 40th anniversary two weekends ago, we brought up a box of white wine from Sokol Blosser, the producer in Oregon who makes, I think, pretty solid Pinot for the price and pretty solid Chardonnay. And they just had a white blend. And I put it in the box and it was the perfect thing for the weekend because people didn’t have to ask me — you guys are probably in the same situation when you’re with family or friends, I’ll always get, “What should we open next? Can you open something? I’m not sure what’s open. There’s all this stuff on the counter.” And now there’s white wine in the fridge. It’s three o’clock in the afternoon, if you wanted to have a white wine and go sit down by the lake or go have a white wine, and people loved it. And I think you’re right, Zach, there’s a convenience thing there. And I think more people should do it and get creative with it. That’s why I love this cocktail thing. This is just so stupidly obvious yet also so creative.

E: And I think that’s why we’re seeing the huge explosion of RTD cocktails right now. I just received a whole shipment last night of cans that are Crafthouse Cocktails from Charles Joly. They’ve made 10 different craft cocktails that are in these little aluminum bottles, and I can’t wait to try them. Tim, one of our staff writers, and I we’re just talking about how we need to do a huge roundup and tasting of all of these RTDs — we should probably do it on the podcast, too — and take people through what are the biggest ones, what are the best ones you can buy, and where can you buy them online.

A: For those of us who are ignorant, who’s Charles Joly?

E: He has won all sorts of top bartender of the year awards for every award. He has won all the awards for best bartender. He was out of Chicago, I’m not sure where he’s located right now, but fantastic talent. I’m super excited to try the mixtures that they have put into the bottle, how they’ve done the citrus stabilization. I can’t wait to dive into those.

A: That’s awesome.

Z: Erica, maybe you need your own Manhattan in a bag or box; that way it’s even easier to make yourself a Manhattan.

E: Yeah, I’m going to have to get myself one of those little cute barrels and a little barrel aged one on the counter.

A: So guys, today’s topic is the thing we’ve all been waiting to talk about: TikTok and alcohol. So before we jump too much into this topic, I want to be very clear to anyone listening who’s in the business, there is no way right now in TikTok to guarantee that if you are on there making drinks you are able to age-verify whether you are talking to people over 21 or not. So please bear that in mind with everything we’re discussing. If you’re a brand thinking about getting on TikTok, and spending money, and you are worried about being compliant, again, nothing that we’re discussing right now should be taken as advice because there is no way, again, just like with the Snap platform at this moment, that you can truly guarantee whether or not the people that you’re posting your videos to are 21. With that being said, I think TikTok is one of the most exciting platforms right now for what is happening in the alcohol space. I think there is a ton of creativity happening on the platform. I’m going to say it is mostly in spirits. I’m not seeing it as much in wine and beer, but TikTok is amazing. I also lost my entire life on TikTok recently. I think I turned it on at seven in the evening and all of a sudden Naomi came out to the couch and it was 3 a.m., and she said, “Are you coming to bed?” I said, “What? Oh my God, I’ve just been on TikTok.” That’s because the algorithm is so good. And I’m talking so good. I’ve never seen another tech platform that had an algorithm that learned this quickly and is this smart about the things you like. I can go down crazy rabbit holes where I’m learning how to bake bread by a ton of people, and now I’m obviously in drinks TikTok. That’s why I’m curious what you guys’ experiences are. I told you guys a few weeks ago I wanted to do a TikTok podcast and both of you said, “OK, fine. We’ll freaking download it.” So before I talk about everything TikTok and sort of give the whole history of TikTok, I’d love to hear, what are your impressions of it now? You both have been on the platform. What do you think?

E: From my perspective, I know why the algorithm is so good. It’s because they’re using AI. And so they are able to tag all of the objects in a video and then that helps them serve up content similar to the things that you were looking at in the prior videos or in the videos that you’ve watched the most. And I do think that the algorithm is amazing. I went down the rabbit hole of looking at flair bartending, and then it was actually hard to move away from that. Flair bartending is having more than a moment, it is dominant on that platform and booming. And a lot of the videos that are being posted are from Russia, from throughout Europe, from Asia, most of the cocktails that you’re seeing are in metric measurements, they’re not in the States. And the amount of creativity, I agree, is pretty fascinating. There’s just a lot happening there, but there’s also a lot of junk to get through. I looked pretty hard for wine, it’s really hard to find wine content, and I did not find very much that I found super compelling. So it definitely seems to be a place for cocktails and flair bartending. But I’m curious to hear what you guys have found.

A: Zach?

Z: So I think it’s really interesting that you guys both really talked about how effective the algorithm was because my impression has been that it’s actually the effectiveness of the algorithm that, to this point, kind of exposes to me the limitations of the platform. And by that I mean that when you have such a tight correlation between what you’ve previously watched and what you are going to be served up in the future, I think it creates a real homogeneity. And that’s the thing that I was surprised by, and I think it’s born out not just in the drink space but with this TikTok challenge, so much of the platform seems to be around recreating someone else’s popular video and doing it yourself. And I can certainly understand how for a lot of the user base, which let’s be honest skews a lot younger than us, typically. That’s a hugely important thing. We all went through a phase in our teens or 20s where we wanted to be just like someone else, we wanted to copy their style, their mannerisms, their vocabulary — whether that was someone we knew, or someone on TV.

A: I think you’re taking the really old man position right now. And I’m going to say that everything you’re saying is completely incorrect, but I will correct it after you make your point. But yes, I think you’re definitely taking the crotchety old man position right now.

Z: But here’s the thing, I think there’s a fundamental challenge, and it’s a challenge that the drinks industry faced, in some ways, with Instagram as well. Although I think there’s a little bit of a difference there, and it’s that a lot of the things that I think people typically find appealing about alcohol are pretty difficult to translate to that medium. And we’ve seen that, that’s been an issue with wine and beer, and to a lesser extent, cocktails. There’s more of a visual aspect to those, it’s hard to translate those into compelling visual content. One of the reasons, Erica, I think you don’t see a lot of great wine content is, what exactly does a great 15 second wine video look like? I know at VinePair we’ve certainly tried to produce that, and I think some of the stuff we’ve done has been really good. But it is very hard to make a compelling piece of video and audio content about something that is deeply experiential. And so I think that’s why you see flair bartending so big because it looks cool. It’s fun to watch people do that. I certainly watched plenty of videos of people making crazy a** concoctions but I also, and again, crotchety old man or not, I also looked at a lot of those things and thought I would never, ever, ever want to drink that. I left those drinks behind 15 years ago. And so if you’re 21 and 22 and especially if you’re in a place where you can go out to bars safer than another part of the world or whatever, f*** it, have fun with it. Enjoy these crazy a** drop shots that people are coming up with where the drink changes color. But I don’t know, that’s not compelling content to me, personally. I’m still kind of at a loss to figure out how that translates into a platform that I’m going to rely on regularly.

A: I’m not seeing much flair bartending, so that’s interesting that the two of you are. And that’s what I think is actually interesting about TikTok. So, TikTok isn’t just about copying. There’s a little bit of that in the pure form of it, but it’s a lot about having fun and being creative and being your own person. What I think is very interesting about TikTok is some of the largest influencers on the platform I’ve never seen before. I don’t know if when you guys were watching you ever saw the Sway Boys, or you saw Hype House, saw some of these massive celebrities that have tens of millions of followers, I certainly haven’t. The only exposure I’ve ever had is reading Taylor Lorenz, the very well known New York Times style report. I saw a little bit of flair bartending in the beginning but now I’m seeing a lot of very serious mixology. And I’m seeing a lot of those personalities. And I think what’s interesting about it is it really is allowing those that are more entertaining, those that are providing a service for people are getting more views. But what’s cool about TikTok is it’s not just about who you follow, unlike Instagram. So it’s not about creating this profile where you’re pushing people over and over “Follow me, follow me, follow me, follow me. I’ll follow you. You follow me,” that kind of thing. That’s not how TikTok works. TikTok just rewards good content. And I think that that’s what makes the platform so exciting to so many people, and I think it is really exciting, especially for the spirit space. If you are a bartender who is engaging, and that is really great at making drinks, and that can tell a story while you make those drinks, and can show you a beautiful cocktail at the end, it doesn’t matter if you are a bartender who owns a really well known bar in Manhattan or you’re a bartender that is making drinks somewhere else in the middle of the country and you’re not the bar owner but you just know how to make a great cocktail, you can have a platform on TikTok and really build a name for yourself. And I think in that regard, the platform is very exciting and very different from anything else that’s existed before it. I mean, look, you saw Vine tried to create this and they weren’t able to because the algorithm was s***. Instagram has tried to mimic it, they can’t. So it says a lot about what the technology is. Also why China is never going to allow it to be sold to the United States, because the algorithm is so valuable. But it’s really actually, I think, a very fascinating place to learn how to make drinks, if you can find those right people. And then yes, you could start following them. But what I think is cool is that there are little niches in everything. You are both right, there doesn’t really seem to be any wine TikTok. But I think that’s because it’s very hard to make engaging wine content. In general, like you said, Zach, it’s very difficult. The stuff I’ve seen on Instagram is pretty bad. I think we do a very good job with Keith’s 15 second wine reviews. We’ve brought them over to TikTok, some of them are doing well, some of them not as much. Our explainer videos are doing incredibly well, people looking for knowledge on what to do and how to understand the platform. But wine content as a whole on social media is pretty difficult. If you post a bottle shot on Instagram, I don’t know necessarily that that moves mountains for that winery and will cause that winery to sell out. Same with beer Instagram, I’m not really sure. But cocktails, there’s a real opportunity to make those cocktails and also be entertaining at the same time, and that is why I do think flair bartending has taken off in these certain circles, but why there’s a lot of other kinds of bartending that are also finding a moment, as well as just people who are being silly. People who are just saying, “Oh, here’s how I’m mixing my Truly today.” But I think that alcohol does have this really interesting space there and people are being playful with it. And I like it because it embodies what we’ve always said at VinePair that there’s all these ways to experience drinks and there’s all these different ways to learn about drinks and people are being really open and honest with the drinks they like and are showing. It’s a great place to understand what people are interested in right now, regardless of age, I think.

E: From my perspective, I think what is interesting about TikTok right now is that if you do have really good content, you can rack up a ton of views. You can have far more reach on that platform than you can on many others, if the content resonates, and there’s a variety of ways to do that. But I think that brands, if they are looking to get into the space, there’s a couple things to consider. First, as the platform develops here in the States, I do think that they probably will allow some sort of age gating. And I think that day is probably coming soon. So the Chinese version, Douyin, has links in the videos to purchase products and to tip creators like they do on the Twitch platform. And that functionality is expected to come out on the U.S. version sometime soon. So when the monetization becomes a reality on TikTok, which could be six months, who knows, then I think they’re going to see that that’s the way to make money for the platform as well, and start age gating so that we can have more regulated products that are able to be shown to viewers who are the right age. But in the meantime, I’d say for brands that are looking to get into the platform and start to build an audience, I’d say any of that portrait view, Instagram stories — repurpose them, just repost them, reuse that content, and then you’ll start to build an audience. And then, at some point, there’s going to be the tools for brands to monetize. You might as well start now with the type of content that is engaging but definitely doesn’t show young people, any young people imbibing at all. I was reading that TikTok in the past six months removed 49 million videos for content that depicted regulated goods with minors. And, for context, the number of video views per day on the platform is over a billion, so that’s a small percentage, but the ability for brands to use this platform more effectively is going to change and it’s going to change soon.

A: All you have to do is look at Walmart getting a piece, or potentially getting a piece, of this deal and realize that they’re going to start using that algorithm to make sure that, “Oh, all of a sudden Zach’s been looking at a lot of cocktail videos and a lot of those videos also included really nice aged rums, only he lives in a state, let’s say L.A., where we actually can sell alcohol through Walmart. And he has a Walmart account, why don’t we have one of those show up at his house and he can return it if he wants, or if he keeps it and he likes it then we’re going to charge him.” I think there’s a huge opportunity of that coming very fast with how powerful this algorithm is. I think, for me, it’s really interesting because — I’m obviously the TikTok fan here, I’ve spent a lot of time on the platform — of the ways people can create personalities for themselves. There’s this woman I’ve been following, she’s ThirstyLA, and all of her cocktail videos she’s dressed up in sort of ’50s attire, ’50s music in the background, it’s all very atmospheric. And then you have a guy like Thirsty Whale, and he’s in his apartment with a very ridiculous bar, let’s be clear a way more ridiculous bar than you can think of. The only person, I think, who has a bigger bar is probably Aaron Goldfarb. Very heavily stocked, making drinks, and it looks like he’s in a professional bar. And I think people have figured things out and they’re creating their own personas, and I just think it’s awesome.

Z: Here’s my question that I have that comes out of this, which is, I think one thing that you guys have both talked about that really intrigues me is at some point is TikTok more an entertainment platform or a commerce platform? And it isn’t to say that you can’t necessarily be both, but I think about a lot of the examples that you’ve given and I think the person who might watch some guy with an elaborate home bar make really fancy elaborate cocktails, that might be entertaining for you, and for lots of people. It might be entertaining for me, but I don’t know that it’s going to then cause me to go out and spend any money. I might go, “Wow, that guy has a bunch of cool bottles,” but I’m not going to buy some obscure black walnut liqueur just because I saw this guy make a drink with it. I’m going to go, “Huh. Interesting. Cool.” And if I went out to a bar maybe I’d see if they have it and maybe I’d ask them to make it.

A: Zach, you clearly don’t understand influencers because, with all due respect, there’s a ton of people that already are buying what these people are pushing. One of the biggest gins that I’ve seen a lot, and clearly this must be a campaign, I don’t know if you both are familiar with Empress Gin?

Z: Oh yeah, but they’ve been doing this all over platforms.

A: I guarantee you, people are buying it because that’s what these people are using.

Z: That’s a great question. Let’s pull the Nielsen data. I don’t know. You could be right.

A: They wouldn’t do it if it didn’t.

Z: Adam, I read a lot of stories about Instagram influencers who people gave lots of money to and it turned out that they didn’t do s*** for brands.

A: From what I’ve looked at, for the brands that do it a lot, it works or they wouldn’t keep doing it, for brands that actually aren’t just dipping their toe in it. Haus, whose co-founders I interviewed, is a perfect example. They figured out the influencer model and they’re 10x sales right now on platforms. A brand like that who is doing it has figured it out and also knows who to go to. If the influencer has a very loyal following. That’s going to be the issue: How many people are actually following the person? You’re right, I don’t think an influencer that has 3,000 followers is moving something for anyone. But I think certain influencers with very loyal communities absolutely do move products. Look, I’m the first person to pooh-pooh influencers. I’d think, “Oh, why are we paying attention to all these different influencers?” But at the end of the day, a lot of them who are good and who have really engaging content and who are shouting out this one product over and over and over again, especially when it’s not really clear that it’s being paid for, do move products. They just do. And, again, you can argue it all you want for some of the small people, but there would not be a lot of these brands who do it over and over and over again if it didn’t work. These marketing people are paid way too much money to get it wrong.

E: Yeah, I agree with that. I think that if you look at the brands right now that are on Instagram spending a lot of money for influencer marketing, those are the brands that are soon going to be transitioning over to TikTok. Those are the ones that have realized if these campaigns are working for them, and I know a lot of these campaigns do work, that TikTok is going to be the next platform, and they’re probably already experimenting.

A: I think the problem why we don’t have a really clear answer is because a lot of the brands that are big, like the Hendricks of the world or anything owned by, let’s say, the Pernos, the Camparia, the Diageos, they’re not going to take the risk because they are very, very, very, very, very strict about having to make sure that at least 70 percent viewability, 90 percent of any platform — whether it’s Instagram, our site, whatever — is 21-plus. And TikTok can’t guarantee that yet. Whereas a company like Empress Gin, I don’t know who owns them, may not care yet. So you’re going to have some of these smaller craft brands take the risks and they’re going to play much more than someone else would because they’re not as worried. Aviation was the same way. There’s a lot of ads that they got away with because they were a smaller brand, even though they were owned by Ryan Reynolds, to some extent that a Diageo never would have done. Now that Diageos bought them, Ryan will not be allowed to do an ad making fun of Peloton and encouraging you to drink after an exercise. But at the time, they could get away with it because they were smaller, and it’s all self-policing anyways. So that I think it’s going to be really interesting to see. But as a whole, I think the platform is really interesting. I think that people who play with it and figure it out are going to be pretty successful. Again, I don’t know if that’s going to translate to success in other things, but I think you might see some bartenders build profiles, get book deals, whatever off of TikTok, for sure.

Z: I think the one point you made, which I think is the best one, is that a platform, especially a relatively new one, at least to American audiences, always affords opportunities for new people to make a name for themselves. It was true on Instagram. It’s true on Twitch, not so much for our industry but for lots of other ones, and so I agree. You know, if you are able to create a presence, if you’re able to be engaging in the forum TikTok promotes, then yeah, you can have real success and you can have lots of views. And we know that in our culture views translate into influence and influence translates into product moved, according to Adam, and so I think there’s the possibility there. I was a little late to Instagram. I’m cool with that, too, but I look forward to seeing what comes out of it. I think you’re right, there’s some really interesting ways to convey drinks to people and convey drinks culture, and I look forward to my life two years from now.

A: I think what makes the platform so interesting — I realize I’ve talked on a large majority of this podcast — I’ve never made a single TikTok. I just like going on and seeing what’s going on. And there’s different platforms for different people. We talked about this before we jumped on to record: Erica is back on Twitter tweeting a lot more. Zach, you’re on Twitter a lot. I’m not the biggest Twitter fan, and I don’t really go on ever. I don’t even go on to view. Twitter is not my platform. And that was an older platform. I’m into commerce and pushing things, I’ve never seen anything get pushed through Twitter. I’ve seen massive people tweet out stories, and no one clicks. That’s not what Twitter is. Twitter is all about the feed. Earlier on, when I was really interested in building VinePair, we weren’t interested in people just knowing about the article. I’m interested in people actually reading them. And so we were finding much more success on platforms like Pinterest and Facebook, so I was drawn to them. And now really Instagram. What I think is cool about TikTok, in terms of cocktails, too, is I think Instagram has really rewarded a different kind of cocktail maker. It’s someone who’s really good at making cocktails and also photographing them, and TikTok actually rewards, a little bit, the opposite. It rewards someone with a really good personality. There’s a lot of drinkstagramers who I think could never translate to TikTok, and probably vice versa. There’s a lot of people who are becoming really big in the drink space on TikTok that probably don’t take the best photo. Or don’t take as good a photo as some of the other people. And it would take them a very long time to build that same audience, but they are really engaging, and they seem like a really fun person that you’d love to grab a drink with, and they seem super accessible when they make the cocktail and they tell you a story. And so they grow pretty quickly. I think that’s what makes each interesting for different people, and why everyone has to play around with whatever platforms they’re on to figure out what they like.

E: My takeaway from it is there are now social platforms for all personality types. Some of them are more monetizable than others. Brands will wait to see which ones are going to end up being the most monetizable. They’re changing all the time. But then again, you’ve got to watch the Social Dilemma, if you haven’t watched already, and you’re going to delete them all.

A: It’s Social Network’s 10th anniversary.

E: If you have not watched Social Dilemma already, that’s something that everyone should watch, especially you, Zach, with kids. You’ll never let your kids download any social platform ever. I promise.

A: With that said, let us know what you think of the podcast. If you’re on TikTok I’d love to hear what you think, and what you think about the platform. Email us at podcast@vinepair.com. If you’re a marketer that plays around with working with employers, we’d also love to have your perspective and proof that I’m right. That would also be something that you could send an email to podcast@vinepair.com. One more word from Goslings Family Reserve Old Rum. Goslings Family Reserve Old Rum is crafted from the same incomparable Bermuda blend and as the renowned Black Seal Rum. But it’s barrel aged even longer, until it acquires an extra luscious nuance, complexity, much like a rare Scotch or Cognac. Each bottle is hand-numbered, hand-labeled, and dipped in black sealing wax, the same way Goslings first bottled rum in the early 1900s. Consider it the ultimate sipping rum, because we do. So does the Caribbean Journal, who named it the No. 1 aged rum in the world. Find this rare rum on reservebar.com where, for a limited time, you’ll save $15 off your order with the code VinePair. Again, that’s reservebar.com, use the code “VinePair,” and buy a bottle of Family Reserve from Goslings. Zach, Erica, I’ll talk to you next week.

E: See you then.

Z: Sounds great.

A: Thanks so much for listening to the VinePair Podcast. If you enjoy listening to us every week, please leave us a review or rating on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever it is that you get your podcasts. It really helps everyone else discover the show. Now, for the credits. VinePair is produced and hosted by Zach Geballe, Erica Duecy, and me, Adam Teeter. Our engineer is Nick Patri and Keith Beavers. I’d also like to give a special shout-out to my VinePair co-founder Josh Malin and the rest of the VinePair team for their support. Thanks so much for listening and we’ll see you again right here next week.

Ed. note: This episode has been edited for length and clarity.

The article VinePair Podcast: What Happens When Cocktails and TikTok Collide? appeared first on VinePair.

Via https://vinepair.com/articles/podcast-cocktails-tiktok/

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[wineanddinosaur]

VinePair Podcast: What Happens When Cocktails and TikTok Collide?

TikTok has been everywhere in 2020. It’s not often that a social networking app becomes the subject of international intrigue, but when President Trump announced that he planned to ban the app (and then walked those plans back), it brought new attention to what had previously been thought of as a predominantly Gen Z platform. As that generation reaches legal drinking age and begins to shape the culture and industry around drinking, the creativity and exploration in the drinks space on TokTok is fascinating.

On this week’s episode of the VinePair Podcast, Adam Teeter, Erica Duecy, and Zach Geballe discuss what drinks culture currently looks like on TikTok, how brands, bartenders, and others can look to use the platform to grow their audiences, and why combining TikTok’s extremely powerful algorithm with an online marketplace could create massive opportunities.

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Adam: From Brooklyn, New York, I’m Adam Teeter

Erica: In Jersey City, I’m Erica Duecy.

Zach: And in Seattle, Washington, I’m Zach Geballe.

A: And this is the VinePair Podcast. Before we get into today’s hot topic, which is TikTok — and if you’re not on TikTok we’re going to teach you everything you need to know about TikTok, because you’ve probably heard a lot about TikTok in the past few months — a word from our sponsor. This podcast is sponsored by Goslings Family Reserve Old Rum. Goslings Family Reserve Old Rum is crafted from the same incomparable Bermuda blend as the renowned Black Seal Rum. But it’s barrel aged even longer, until it acquires an extra luscious nuance, complexity, much like a rare Scotch or Cognac. Each bottle is hand-numbered, hand-labeled, and dipped in black sealing wax, the same way Goslings first bottled rum in the early 1900s. Consider it the ultimate sipping rum, because we do. So does the Caribbean Journal who named it the No. 1 aged rum in the world. Find this rare rum on reservebar.com where, for a limited time, you’ll save $15 off your order with the code “VinePair.” And now to our show. We’re going to start a new segment here on the VinePair Podcast, before we get into witty banter, which I always enjoy with the two of you, what we’re drinking this week. We’ve had a lot of listeners email in and ask us what we are drinking so that we can help them discover some of the things they should be drinking. As brief as possible, let’s talk about some of the stuff we’re drinking this week. Erica, why don’t you kick us off, what are you drinking this week?

E: In the past couple of weeks, I have moved into my fall bourbon drinking, and how I like to drink my bourbon is in a Manhattan. And, the thing I’ve been doing, which I think is an amazing trick for people, is mini Manhattans. Instead of making a full Manhattan, I just make a half recipe so it’s like a little tiny guy. Sometimes I just don’t want the calories or the sugar or the alcohol of a full Manhattan, but I’m still getting my fix every night, which I really enjoy. The bourbon that is fueling my Manhattan this week is the Woodford Reserve Distiller’s Select. It’s a bottle that I think provides a really good price to value. I think you can find it from $33 to $36, depending on where you’re trying to buy it, but it’s really an awesome bourbon. So I recommend it.

A: That’s awesome. Zach, what about you?

Z: Well, first of all, Erica, I’m impressed that you can apparently settle for a mini Manhattan. I definitely need at least a regular Manhattan, sometimes a maxi Manhattan, whatever the opposite is. I know we’ve talked about this before but I felt compelled the last couple of days, and again will tonight, to drink some Napa wine. What’s going on in Napa right now is really, really devastating losses to some absolute institutions there. And unfortunately the fires there, as of a recording time, are still nowhere near under control, so it’s possible that sadly the toll will be much greater. And, for me, this specific wine that I’m thinking of is from Cain, which is one of my favorite wineries there on Spring Mountain. Unfortunately it was really, really badly damaged the last couple of days. I think all of the 2019 and 2020 vintages were lost. I think the vineyards mostly seemed to be OK as of now, but again, getting details is still tricky. I’m going to have a bottle of Cain Five, which is their flagship wine, tonight. It’s a very classic Bordeaux blend using the five principle Bordeaux varieties. It’s delicious, it’s a bit of a splurge, but I have a couple of bottles in my collection and it just feels like the right thing to do. Chris Howell, the winemaker, is a really lovely guy. I got the opportunity to have dinner with him last year and he did something that winemakers rarely do, that I love, which is he mostly poured other people’s wine. I actually had to coax out of him his own wine. That’s a kind of modesty that maybe I don’t share, but I appreciate, so that’s what I’m drinking.

A: Cain’s amazing, they were on our Top 50 Wines of the Year a few years ago. They were No. 4 for Cain Five. That wine is really amazing, it’s a huge bummer that everyone’s going through that. Thanks for taking us down, Zach, but it was necessary. I don’t know if I’ve talked about this yet on the podcast. At the VinePair picnic a few weeks ago, I brought it out for the first time and now I have one in my fridge, which is St. Agrestis. It’s a distillery in New York, they started making Negronis in these beautiful bottles, RTDs (ready to drink), a few years ago, and this year they had the brilliant idea of putting them in a box. So they’re boxed Negronis like boxed wine. There’s 20 Negronis in the box for $60. And I have to say $3 and a Negroni is a pretty sweet deal. It has really great gin in it from Greenhook Ginsmiths. It’s awesome, more people should be buying this. I know you can get it at Astor so if you live around the country and you want to go to Astor Wines, I know you can buy it there, and I think they shipped to 40 states around the country. But this thing is just awesome to have in the fridge. At the end of the day, if I don’t feel like making a cocktail, I can easily just open the fridge, put an ice cube in my rocks glass, if I want to add some citrus I will — I usually do, and you just have a great, well-made Negroni. Naomi loves it too. I think they’re claiming that it will last for a year. It’s definitely not going to last for a year in my fridge because I’m going to finish it. But that it could last for a year I think is awesome, and I can’t believe that they’re the only people that have done this. More people should be doing it, I think it’s so cool to have a box of cocktails in my fridge. So that’s what I’m drinking.

Z: And it gives you that really beautiful ease of service, you just pour it.

A: Yeah. It’s awesome. I’m not dirtying my mixology equipment, I’m not worried now about if I have enough Campari still on my bar — or some other bitter liqueur, or how fresh is my vermouth, I’m not worried about any of that stuff at this point. And now it allows me to play with other cocktails. I felt like a lot of times I would just default to a Negroni at home when I was making cocktails, and now I figure I’ll default to other things and just have this in the fridge at all times. It’s awesome.

Z: Frankly, I want more things in my life in a bag or in a box. I used to be like a lot of wine people, turn my nose up at the idea, but the more I’ve been around it, it’s such a great solution for a lot of things. It’s easy, it lasts, the space it takes up is very small, which is great. Bottles on a bar can be clunky, and not that the bottles for a Negroni are usually that difficult to fit in there, but I want more things in a bag and box please.

A: It’s funny, when I went away for Naomi’s parents’ 40th anniversary two weekends ago, we brought up a box of white wine from Sokol Blosser, the producer in Oregon who makes, I think, pretty solid Pinot for the price and pretty solid Chardonnay. And they just had a white blend. And I put it in the box and it was the perfect thing for the weekend because people didn’t have to ask me — you guys are probably in the same situation when you’re with family or friends, I’ll always get, “What should we open next? Can you open something? I’m not sure what’s open. There’s all this stuff on the counter.” And now there’s white wine in the fridge. It’s three o’clock in the afternoon, if you wanted to have a white wine and go sit down by the lake or go have a white wine, and people loved it. And I think you’re right, Zach, there’s a convenience thing there. And I think more people should do it and get creative with it. That’s why I love this cocktail thing. This is just so stupidly obvious yet also so creative.

E: And I think that’s why we’re seeing the huge explosion of RTD cocktails right now. I just received a whole shipment last night of cans that are Crafthouse Cocktails from Charles Joly. They’ve made 10 different craft cocktails that are in these little aluminum bottles, and I can’t wait to try them. Tim, one of our staff writers, and I we’re just talking about how we need to do a huge roundup and tasting of all of these RTDs — we should probably do it on the podcast, too — and take people through what are the biggest ones, what are the best ones you can buy, and where can you buy them online.

A: For those of us who are ignorant, who’s Charles Joly?

E: He has won all sorts of top bartender of the year awards for every award. He has won all the awards for best bartender. He was out of Chicago, I’m not sure where he’s located right now, but fantastic talent. I’m super excited to try the mixtures that they have put into the bottle, how they’ve done the citrus stabilization. I can’t wait to dive into those.

A: That’s awesome.

Z: Erica, maybe you need your own Manhattan in a bag or box; that way it’s even easier to make yourself a Manhattan.

E: Yeah, I’m going to have to get myself one of those little cute barrels and a little barrel aged one on the counter.

A: So guys, today’s topic is the thing we’ve all been waiting to talk about: TikTok and alcohol. So before we jump too much into this topic, I want to be very clear to anyone listening who’s in the business, there is no way right now in TikTok to guarantee that if you are on there making drinks you are able to age-verify whether you are talking to people over 21 or not. So please bear that in mind with everything we’re discussing. If you’re a brand thinking about getting on TikTok, and spending money, and you are worried about being compliant, again, nothing that we’re discussing right now should be taken as advice because there is no way, again, just like with the Snap platform at this moment, that you can truly guarantee whether or not the people that you’re posting your videos to are 21. With that being said, I think TikTok is one of the most exciting platforms right now for what is happening in the alcohol space. I think there is a ton of creativity happening on the platform. I’m going to say it is mostly in spirits. I’m not seeing it as much in wine and beer, but TikTok is amazing. I also lost my entire life on TikTok recently. I think I turned it on at seven in the evening and all of a sudden Naomi came out to the couch and it was 3 a.m., and she said, “Are you coming to bed?” I said, “What? Oh my God, I’ve just been on TikTok.” That’s because the algorithm is so good. And I’m talking so good. I’ve never seen another tech platform that had an algorithm that learned this quickly and is this smart about the things you like. I can go down crazy rabbit holes where I’m learning how to bake bread by a ton of people, and now I’m obviously in drinks TikTok. That’s why I’m curious what you guys’ experiences are. I told you guys a few weeks ago I wanted to do a TikTok podcast and both of you said, “OK, fine. We’ll freaking download it.” So before I talk about everything TikTok and sort of give the whole history of TikTok, I’d love to hear, what are your impressions of it now? You both have been on the platform. What do you think?

E: From my perspective, I know why the algorithm is so good. It’s because they’re using AI. And so they are able to tag all of the objects in a video and then that helps them serve up content similar to the things that you were looking at in the prior videos or in the videos that you’ve watched the most. And I do think that the algorithm is amazing. I went down the rabbit hole of looking at flair bartending, and then it was actually hard to move away from that. Flair bartending is having more than a moment, it is dominant on that platform and booming. And a lot of the videos that are being posted are from Russia, from throughout Europe, from Asia, most of the cocktails that you’re seeing are in metric measurements, they’re not in the States. And the amount of creativity, I agree, is pretty fascinating. There’s just a lot happening there, but there’s also a lot of junk to get through. I looked pretty hard for wine, it’s really hard to find wine content, and I did not find very much that I found super compelling. So it definitely seems to be a place for cocktails and flair bartending. But I’m curious to hear what you guys have found.

A: Zach?

Z: So I think it’s really interesting that you guys both really talked about how effective the algorithm was because my impression has been that it’s actually the effectiveness of the algorithm that, to this point, kind of exposes to me the limitations of the platform. And by that I mean that when you have such a tight correlation between what you’ve previously watched and what you are going to be served up in the future, I think it creates a real homogeneity. And that’s the thing that I was surprised by, and I think it’s born out not just in the drink space but with this TikTok challenge, so much of the platform seems to be around recreating someone else’s popular video and doing it yourself. And I can certainly understand how for a lot of the user base, which let’s be honest skews a lot younger than us, typically. That’s a hugely important thing. We all went through a phase in our teens or 20s where we wanted to be just like someone else, we wanted to copy their style, their mannerisms, their vocabulary — whether that was someone we knew, or someone on TV.

A: I think you’re taking the really old man position right now. And I’m going to say that everything you’re saying is completely incorrect, but I will correct it after you make your point. But yes, I think you’re definitely taking the crotchety old man position right now.

Z: But here’s the thing, I think there’s a fundamental challenge, and it’s a challenge that the drinks industry faced, in some ways, with Instagram as well. Although I think there’s a little bit of a difference there, and it’s that a lot of the things that I think people typically find appealing about alcohol are pretty difficult to translate to that medium. And we’ve seen that, that’s been an issue with wine and beer, and to a lesser extent, cocktails. There’s more of a visual aspect to those, it’s hard to translate those into compelling visual content. One of the reasons, Erica, I think you don’t see a lot of great wine content is, what exactly does a great 15 second wine video look like? I know at VinePair we’ve certainly tried to produce that, and I think some of the stuff we’ve done has been really good. But it is very hard to make a compelling piece of video and audio content about something that is deeply experiential. And so I think that’s why you see flair bartending so big because it looks cool. It’s fun to watch people do that. I certainly watched plenty of videos of people making crazy a** concoctions but I also, and again, crotchety old man or not, I also looked at a lot of those things and thought I would never, ever, ever want to drink that. I left those drinks behind 15 years ago. And so if you’re 21 and 22 and especially if you’re in a place where you can go out to bars safer than another part of the world or whatever, f*** it, have fun with it. Enjoy these crazy a** drop shots that people are coming up with where the drink changes color. But I don’t know, that’s not compelling content to me, personally. I’m still kind of at a loss to figure out how that translates into a platform that I’m going to rely on regularly.

A: I’m not seeing much flair bartending, so that’s interesting that the two of you are. And that’s what I think is actually interesting about TikTok. So, TikTok isn’t just about copying. There’s a little bit of that in the pure form of it, but it’s a lot about having fun and being creative and being your own person. What I think is very interesting about TikTok is some of the largest influencers on the platform I’ve never seen before. I don’t know if when you guys were watching you ever saw the Sway Boys, or you saw Hype House, saw some of these massive celebrities that have tens of millions of followers, I certainly haven’t. The only exposure I’ve ever had is reading Taylor Lorenz, the very well known New York Times style report. I saw a little bit of flair bartending in the beginning but now I’m seeing a lot of very serious mixology. And I’m seeing a lot of those personalities. And I think what’s interesting about it is it really is allowing those that are more entertaining, those that are providing a service for people are getting more views. But what’s cool about TikTok is it’s not just about who you follow, unlike Instagram. So it’s not about creating this profile where you’re pushing people over and over “Follow me, follow me, follow me, follow me. I’ll follow you. You follow me,” that kind of thing. That’s not how TikTok works. TikTok just rewards good content. And I think that that’s what makes the platform so exciting to so many people, and I think it is really exciting, especially for the spirit space. If you are a bartender who is engaging, and that is really great at making drinks, and that can tell a story while you make those drinks, and can show you a beautiful cocktail at the end, it doesn’t matter if you are a bartender who owns a really well known bar in Manhattan or you’re a bartender that is making drinks somewhere else in the middle of the country and you’re not the bar owner but you just know how to make a great cocktail, you can have a platform on TikTok and really build a name for yourself. And I think in that regard, the platform is very exciting and very different from anything else that’s existed before it. I mean, look, you saw Vine tried to create this and they weren’t able to because the algorithm was s***. Instagram has tried to mimic it, they can’t. So it says a lot about what the technology is. Also why China is never going to allow it to be sold to the United States, because the algorithm is so valuable. But it’s really actually, I think, a very fascinating place to learn how to make drinks, if you can find those right people. And then yes, you could start following them. But what I think is cool is that there are little niches in everything. You are both right, there doesn’t really seem to be any wine TikTok. But I think that’s because it’s very hard to make engaging wine content. In general, like you said, Zach, it’s very difficult. The stuff I’ve seen on Instagram is pretty bad. I think we do a very good job with Keith’s 15 second wine reviews. We’ve brought them over to TikTok, some of them are doing well, some of them not as much. Our explainer videos are doing incredibly well, people looking for knowledge on what to do and how to understand the platform. But wine content as a whole on social media is pretty difficult. If you post a bottle shot on Instagram, I don’t know necessarily that that moves mountains for that winery and will cause that winery to sell out. Same with beer Instagram, I’m not really sure. But cocktails, there’s a real opportunity to make those cocktails and also be entertaining at the same time, and that is why I do think flair bartending has taken off in these certain circles, but why there’s a lot of other kinds of bartending that are also finding a moment, as well as just people who are being silly. People who are just saying, “Oh, here’s how I’m mixing my Truly today.” But I think that alcohol does have this really interesting space there and people are being playful with it. And I like it because it embodies what we’ve always said at VinePair that there’s all these ways to experience drinks and there’s all these different ways to learn about drinks and people are being really open and honest with the drinks they like and are showing. It’s a great place to understand what people are interested in right now, regardless of age, I think.

E: From my perspective, I think what is interesting about TikTok right now is that if you do have really good content, you can rack up a ton of views. You can have far more reach on that platform than you can on many others, if the content resonates, and there’s a variety of ways to do that. But I think that brands, if they are looking to get into the space, there’s a couple things to consider. First, as the platform develops here in the States, I do think that they probably will allow some sort of age gating. And I think that day is probably coming soon. So the Chinese version, Douyin, has links in the videos to purchase products and to tip creators like they do on the Twitch platform. And that functionality is expected to come out on the U.S. version sometime soon. So when the monetization becomes a reality on TikTok, which could be six months, who knows, then I think they’re going to see that that’s the way to make money for the platform as well, and start age gating so that we can have more regulated products that are able to be shown to viewers who are the right age. But in the meantime, I’d say for brands that are looking to get into the platform and start to build an audience, I’d say any of that portrait view, Instagram stories — repurpose them, just repost them, reuse that content, and then you’ll start to build an audience. And then, at some point, there’s going to be the tools for brands to monetize. You might as well start now with the type of content that is engaging but definitely doesn’t show young people, any young people imbibing at all. I was reading that TikTok in the past six months removed 49 million videos for content that depicted regulated goods with minors. And, for context, the number of video views per day on the platform is over a billion, so that’s a small percentage, but the ability for brands to use this platform more effectively is going to change and it’s going to change soon.

A: All you have to do is look at Walmart getting a piece, or potentially getting a piece, of this deal and realize that they’re going to start using that algorithm to make sure that, “Oh, all of a sudden Zach’s been looking at a lot of cocktail videos and a lot of those videos also included really nice aged rums, only he lives in a state, let’s say L.A., where we actually can sell alcohol through Walmart. And he has a Walmart account, why don’t we have one of those show up at his house and he can return it if he wants, or if he keeps it and he likes it then we’re going to charge him.” I think there’s a huge opportunity of that coming very fast with how powerful this algorithm is. I think, for me, it’s really interesting because — I’m obviously the TikTok fan here, I’ve spent a lot of time on the platform — of the ways people can create personalities for themselves. There’s this woman I’ve been following, she’s ThirstyLA, and all of her cocktail videos she’s dressed up in sort of ’50s attire, ’50s music in the background, it’s all very atmospheric. And then you have a guy like Thirsty Whale, and he’s in his apartment with a very ridiculous bar, let’s be clear a way more ridiculous bar than you can think of. The only person, I think, who has a bigger bar is probably Aaron Goldfarb. Very heavily stocked, making drinks, and it looks like he’s in a professional bar. And I think people have figured things out and they’re creating their own personas, and I just think it’s awesome.

Z: Here’s my question that I have that comes out of this, which is, I think one thing that you guys have both talked about that really intrigues me is at some point is TikTok more an entertainment platform or a commerce platform? And it isn’t to say that you can’t necessarily be both, but I think about a lot of the examples that you’ve given and I think the person who might watch some guy with an elaborate home bar make really fancy elaborate cocktails, that might be entertaining for you, and for lots of people. It might be entertaining for me, but I don’t know that it’s going to then cause me to go out and spend any money. I might go, “Wow, that guy has a bunch of cool bottles,” but I’m not going to buy some obscure black walnut liqueur just because I saw this guy make a drink with it. I’m going to go, “Huh. Interesting. Cool.” And if I went out to a bar maybe I’d see if they have it and maybe I’d ask them to make it.

A: Zach, you clearly don’t understand influencers because, with all due respect, there’s a ton of people that already are buying what these people are pushing. One of the biggest gins that I’ve seen a lot, and clearly this must be a campaign, I don’t know if you both are familiar with Empress Gin?

Z: Oh yeah, but they’ve been doing this all over platforms.

A: I guarantee you, people are buying it because that’s what these people are using.

Z: That’s a great question. Let’s pull the Nielsen data. I don’t know. You could be right.

A: They wouldn’t do it if it didn’t.

Z: Adam, I read a lot of stories about Instagram influencers who people gave lots of money to and it turned out that they didn’t do s*** for brands.

A: From what I’ve looked at, for the brands that do it a lot, it works or they wouldn’t keep doing it, for brands that actually aren’t just dipping their toe in it. Haus, whose co-founders I interviewed, is a perfect example. They figured out the influencer model and they’re 10x sales right now on platforms. A brand like that who is doing it has figured it out and also knows who to go to. If the influencer has a very loyal following. That’s going to be the issue: How many people are actually following the person? You’re right, I don’t think an influencer that has 3,000 followers is moving something for anyone. But I think certain influencers with very loyal communities absolutely do move products. Look, I’m the first person to pooh-pooh influencers. I’d think, “Oh, why are we paying attention to all these different influencers?” But at the end of the day, a lot of them who are good and who have really engaging content and who are shouting out this one product over and over and over again, especially when it’s not really clear that it’s being paid for, do move products. They just do. And, again, you can argue it all you want for some of the small people, but there would not be a lot of these brands who do it over and over and over again if it didn’t work. These marketing people are paid way too much money to get it wrong.

E: Yeah, I agree with that. I think that if you look at the brands right now that are on Instagram spending a lot of money for influencer marketing, those are the brands that are soon going to be transitioning over to TikTok. Those are the ones that have realized if these campaigns are working for them, and I know a lot of these campaigns do work, that TikTok is going to be the next platform, and they’re probably already experimenting.

A: I think the problem why we don’t have a really clear answer is because a lot of the brands that are big, like the Hendricks of the world or anything owned by, let’s say, the Pernos, the Camparia, the Diageos, they’re not going to take the risk because they are very, very, very, very, very strict about having to make sure that at least 70 percent viewability, 90 percent of any platform — whether it’s Instagram, our site, whatever — is 21-plus. And TikTok can’t guarantee that yet. Whereas a company like Empress Gin, I don’t know who owns them, may not care yet. So you’re going to have some of these smaller craft brands take the risks and they’re going to play much more than someone else would because they’re not as worried. Aviation was the same way. There’s a lot of ads that they got away with because they were a smaller brand, even though they were owned by Ryan Reynolds, to some extent that a Diageo never would have done. Now that Diageos bought them, Ryan will not be allowed to do an ad making fun of Peloton and encouraging you to drink after an exercise. But at the time, they could get away with it because they were smaller, and it’s all self-policing anyways. So that I think it’s going to be really interesting to see. But as a whole, I think the platform is really interesting. I think that people who play with it and figure it out are going to be pretty successful. Again, I don’t know if that’s going to translate to success in other things, but I think you might see some bartenders build profiles, get book deals, whatever off of TikTok, for sure.

Z: I think the one point you made, which I think is the best one, is that a platform, especially a relatively new one, at least to American audiences, always affords opportunities for new people to make a name for themselves. It was true on Instagram. It’s true on Twitch, not so much for our industry but for lots of other ones, and so I agree. You know, if you are able to create a presence, if you’re able to be engaging in the forum TikTok promotes, then yeah, you can have real success and you can have lots of views. And we know that in our culture views translate into influence and influence translates into product moved, according to Adam, and so I think there’s the possibility there. I was a little late to Instagram. I’m cool with that, too, but I look forward to seeing what comes out of it. I think you’re right, there’s some really interesting ways to convey drinks to people and convey drinks culture, and I look forward to my life two years from now.

A: I think what makes the platform so interesting — I realize I’ve talked on a large majority of this podcast — I’ve never made a single TikTok. I just like going on and seeing what’s going on. And there’s different platforms for different people. We talked about this before we jumped on to record: Erica is back on Twitter tweeting a lot more. Zach, you’re on Twitter a lot. I’m not the biggest Twitter fan, and I don’t really go on ever. I don’t even go on to view. Twitter is not my platform. And that was an older platform. I’m into commerce and pushing things, I’ve never seen anything get pushed through Twitter. I’ve seen massive people tweet out stories, and no one clicks. That’s not what Twitter is. Twitter is all about the feed. Earlier on, when I was really interested in building VinePair, we weren’t interested in people just knowing about the article. I’m interested in people actually reading them. And so we were finding much more success on platforms like Pinterest and Facebook, so I was drawn to them. And now really Instagram. What I think is cool about TikTok, in terms of cocktails, too, is I think Instagram has really rewarded a different kind of cocktail maker. It’s someone who’s really good at making cocktails and also photographing them, and TikTok actually rewards, a little bit, the opposite. It rewards someone with a really good personality. There’s a lot of drinkstagramers who I think could never translate to TikTok, and probably vice versa. There’s a lot of people who are becoming really big in the drink space on TikTok that probably don’t take the best photo. Or don’t take as good a photo as some of the other people. And it would take them a very long time to build that same audience, but they are really engaging, and they seem like a really fun person that you’d love to grab a drink with, and they seem super accessible when they make the cocktail and they tell you a story. And so they grow pretty quickly. I think that’s what makes each interesting for different people, and why everyone has to play around with whatever platforms they’re on to figure out what they like.

E: My takeaway from it is there are now social platforms for all personality types. Some of them are more monetizable than others. Brands will wait to see which ones are going to end up being the most monetizable. They’re changing all the time. But then again, you’ve got to watch the Social Dilemma, if you haven’t watched already, and you’re going to delete them all.

A: It’s Social Network’s 10th anniversary.

E: If you have not watched Social Dilemma already, that’s something that everyone should watch, especially you, Zach, with kids. You’ll never let your kids download any social platform ever. I promise.

A: With that said, let us know what you think of the podcast. If you’re on TikTok I’d love to hear what you think, and what you think about the platform. Email us at podcast@vinepair.com. If you’re a marketer that plays around with working with employers, we’d also love to have your perspective and proof that I’m right. That would also be something that you could send an email to podcast@vinepair.com. One more word from Goslings Family Reserve Old Rum. Goslings Family Reserve Old Rum is crafted from the same incomparable Bermuda blend and as the renowned Black Seal Rum. But it’s barrel aged even longer, until it acquires an extra luscious nuance, complexity, much like a rare Scotch or Cognac. Each bottle is hand-numbered, hand-labeled, and dipped in black sealing wax, the same way Goslings first bottled rum in the early 1900s. Consider it the ultimate sipping rum, because we do. So does the Caribbean Journal, who named it the No. 1 aged rum in the world. Find this rare rum on reservebar.com where, for a limited time, you’ll save $15 off your order with the code VinePair. Again, that’s reservebar.com, use the code “VinePair,” and buy a bottle of Family Reserve from Goslings. Zach, Erica, I’ll talk to you next week.

E: See you then.

Z: Sounds great.

A: Thanks so much for listening to the VinePair Podcast. If you enjoy listening to us every week, please leave us a review or rating on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever it is that you get your podcasts. It really helps everyone else discover the show. Now, for the credits. VinePair is produced and hosted by Zach Geballe, Erica Duecy, and me, Adam Teeter. Our engineer is Nick Patri and Keith Beavers. I’d also like to give a special shout-out to my VinePair co-founder Josh Malin and the rest of the VinePair team for their support. Thanks so much for listening and we’ll see you again right here next week.

Ed. note: This episode has been edited for length and clarity.

The article VinePair Podcast: What Happens When Cocktails and TikTok Collide? appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/podcast-cocktails-tiktok/

[notwhelmedyet]

IDW Character + Relationship Spectacular (1/2) - tf fanfic census 2017 (pt 5)

Okay. Oh boy. This is a big one. Are you a person who’s ever wondered how much fanfic there is about various IDW characters or pairings? Because if so, this post (and part 2 once I finish it) is the thing for you.

(So so many graphs ahead)

Initial Caveats

If you have a hard time reading any graphs, there’s a separate image post of just the graphs: pt 1 & pt 2

I can only query what people have tagged on ao3, not what they’ve actually written! So throughout this piece I’ll be given counts of works tagged with a character or a relationship that also are tagged with ‘IDW Generation One’. There may well be more of that relationship/character that aren’t under the IDW fandom tag, but I can’t distinguish them from works for other series.

Also, like, I found all this data by searching the database and sometimes counting works by hand. Numbers may be wrong and characters/pairings may be missed. Sorry if I forgot about your favorites!

Who Shows Up

Okay, so I tried to find the number of works that tagged each character...but there are too many characters. So instead we’re going to look at any characters tagged in >50 works. (Sorry to Nightbeat (47), Pipes (30), Lug (10) etc.)

I’m sure there’s something in here to surprise everyone and I don’t want to belabor the point by bothering you with all my observations but:

Drift : Wow.

Swerve : Is listed before Optimus Prime, which is impressive

Somebody needs to go and write some more fics about Anode and Lug, they’ve only got 10 each and it’s sad. :(

What stood out to you?

So...What Kind of Fics Did People Write About Them?

Gathering full ratings breakdowns for all of these folks would have been really time consuming. Instead, I found you the percentage of fics that are explicit (to find the percentage of works that are probably smut) and the percent that are Gen (the category, not the rating. Thus, works that do and do not have relationships).

There are a heckin lot of characters and that makes for crowded graphs, so let’s look at the outliers. In aggregate, 29% of IDW fic is rated explicit. Purple is percent explicit, red is percent otherwise.

Well, I guess evil is sexy, y’all.

And being married (or a cat) (or a dinosaur) (or a gangly bird with claws) is less sexy.

Okay, now let’s look at Gen (theoretically works with no relationships) versus non-Gen works. This isn’t going to tell us who’s more likely to be in a relationship precisely - it might tell us who’s more likely to be a background character in shipping versus nonshipping works. But interesting nonetheless. In aggregate, 19% of IDW works are Gen and 81% are otherwise.

Let’s look at who’s most likely to be in a fic with shipping. Red is Gen, purple is otherwise.

...this is not a very surprising chart, on the most part. Or maybe I’ve looked at too many ao3 tags while data gathering and I’ve lost all capacity to be surprised.

Looking at the outliers on the other end, there’s a lot of the same names as bots who were infrequently in E rated fics. We’ve lost some of the romantics, though: Rewind, Chromedome, Chromia and Skids were all low in E rated fics but are higher in Gen works.

Okay. But I’m Here for the Relationships.

cool, cool, that’s fair. Let’s start out by looking at the ‘top 10′ most popular relationships, the ones AO3 lists in the side bar.

Far and away, there’s more Dratchet fic than any other pairing. Which is a surprise is probably nobody. Let’s see how the ratings shake out for these ten. (I’ve swapped some pairs to abbreviations because they were getting cut off otherwise)

Here we can see that Cyclonus/Tailgate and Chromedome/Rewind are the only pairings that have more than 50% gen or teen works. On the other hand, Megatron/Optimus and Drift/Rodimus are both about 47% explicit.

If we look at median fic length we get some really weird data. Specifically, Megatron/Optimus and Jazz/Prowl are both twice as long on average than any of the other top ten pairings.

But maybe you’re curious about the outliers - what’s the longest/most popular fic focusing on each of these pairings? I’ve excluded from this search works that don’t list the pairing first and any sort of short story collection. Numbers are rounded to the nearest 50.

Well, um, there’s a bit of an outlier in our outliers chart here. Simpatico has the shortest longest fic, at under 25K, while MegOp’s longest fic is over 300K words.

But when we look by hits, that extra length for MegOp and Jazz/Prowl doesn’t seem to have made much of a difference. (The longest, most hits and most kudos fics may or may not be the same story, I honestly didn’t write it down and don’t know)

This chart is just weird as heck, honestly. CDRW is very popular in terms of number of stories and number of hits, but is the bottom of the kudos list when we look at top fics. We could theorize but I generally try not to get too deep into trying to psychoanalyze readers as a collective. (tis a dangerous road)

Let’s instead take a sharp right turn and look at when these fics were posted. If you find the median update time for a pairing, you’ll know the date which divides the most recent 50% of fics from the older 50% of fics. From here we can see which pairings gained popularity relatively recently.

...and probably nobody can read that timeline cause it’s tiny. Let’s look at the left half first.

These are the pairings that gained popularity fairly early - 50% of all Drift/Wind, Drift/Perceptor and Chromedome/Rewind fics were published before June ~15 of 2015. Those mostly make sense, but I admit I was surprised that Cygate, Simpatico and Drift/Rodimus had their halfway points so early.

On the other hand we’ve got the median dates that are relatively later. Megatron/Rodimus is apparently a fairly recently popular ship - 50% of fics were updated after October of 2016. Drift/Ratchet is similarly recently popular. Megatron/Optimus is kinda middling, falling about in the center of the chart.

Prowl/Jazz is a weird one. I’m told that Prowl/Jazz shippers are often folks who’ve come from other iterations still holding onto that ship, but in that case I’d have expected the median date to be earlier? But y’all do your thing, Prowl/Jazz shippers.

Okay, but what if Lynn (me) was really stupid and counted how many writers wrote each individual pairing? What kind of data would we get out of that?

Well, if that stupid eventuality were to come to pass we might see that...

There are a ton of people writing Dratchet, Cygate and CDRW (you know, for a tiny community. 100 is relatively large.) On the other hand, Megatron/Rodimus is a real niche writing crowd. Numbers may be slightly off! I literally counted these by hand!

But, of course, the top three have a lot more fics. So, if every writer had written an equal number of stories, how many would each have had to write? Well, in the case of Drift/Wing, Drift/Percy and Megatron/Rodimus, more than 3. Dratchet is also up there.

But, probably that’s not what happened. Probably most people wrote one or two fics and a very select few people wrote a hecking ton of them. So...how much of each pairing was written by the most prolific writer in the pairing?

The height of the bars indicates the count, the number indicates the percentage and holy Primus some of y’all are devoted as fuck. (of course, many of these fics are very short blahblahblah, we’re looking at numbers I can quantify, there’s no easy way to add up word count for individual writers)

Okay, that’s going to be it for today. Next up we’re going to look at every pairing (with more than 10 fics) involving a character with more than 50 fics. But this post is already way super long, so we had to split it up.

Other Census Posts

Pt. 1 - Quantifying TF Fanfiction between Adaptations

Pt. 2 - Relationship Scoreboard (All Series) - A Quick Look at the Most Popular Pairings

Pt. 3 - Quantifying Properties of IDW TF Fanfiction

Pt. 4 - IDW Reader Response

Pt. 5 - this post!

Pt. 6 - IDW Relationship Spectacular (2/2)

[comebackwhen]

All of them for the Rescue verse?

I actually laughed out loud when I saw this. In a good way. Nonnies love the Rescue Verse, I guess! Thank you for submitting this.

I did it, but it’s longish so I’ll put it under the cut. All the Rescue Verse love below!

1: What inspired you to write the fic this way?

I’m pretty sure this was the first time an nonnie wandered into my ask box and just dropped random awesome for me to build off of. To this day, I have no idea who to thank for starting the Rescue Verse, but I love them anyway.

2: What scene did you first put down?

I had never intended to flesh it out into multiple stories. I made up a vague, “things happened and now boyfriends!” sort of background and then just jumped in right at the first line of Rescue. Things went out of control from there.

3: What’s your favorite line of narration?

Let’s go fic by fic for funzies!

Rescue: It’s more a paragraph than a line, but this section is still my favorite.

As he walked, he drew on traits from the men he had grown to love. He pretended he had Angeal’s unflappable composure, the confidence Genesis exuded with every step, and Zack’s friendly cheerful nature. He used those things to take on a persona much like Genesis had. He became a bright eyed, eager Third who had just spotted a beautiful woman.

I liked the idea of Cloud taking things he admired about the others and putting them to use in his own way. It’s also a bit of a play on Cloud thinking he was Zack for part of the OG.

A Lil’ Head Injury: Zack’s hugs might be the most enthusiastic, but Angeal’s were the warmest.

Mission Start: Cloud put on a burst of speed and rushed to cover Sephiroth’s back. Cloud could feel the heat of him along his spine and caught a whiff of vanilla and rose from Sephiroth’s hair as it whipped in the breeze.

I’m a sucker for Cloud and Sephiroth fighting together.

Uncanny Luck - One: He leaned against a wall with his eyes shut, looking for all the world like he was napping at the edge of a battlefield. A few Troopers were eyeing him, unsure if they should attempt to wake him or not.

I love it when Genesis is being a shit. Firaga runs and wild stories about how he burns Troopers alive are all well and good, but I think he would actually be a little more subtle about it.

Uncanny Luck - Two: To the surprise of everyone who was not Zack, Seventh Heaven was quite pleasant.

Dunno. There’s just something about that line that I like, even now.

Unrequited: Angeal thought that the moment should feel more significant, but somehow everything seemed ordinary.

That’s seriously my ASGZC aesthetic. It should be complicated and weird edges all crammed together, and yet it all just happens and it’s good.

Adjustment Phase: Cloud loved and hated the way Sephiroth said his name. It was practically a caress and Cloud always felt it as keenly as he would if Sephiroth were actually touching him. A small part of him wished Sephiroth were actually touching him.

Cloud really struggles with his inner monologue during this fic. I feel like this line really showed that.

Gen/Ang Sickness fic: Even if he pretended that he was above their country roots, Angeal knew Genesis occasionally liked to be reminded of home.

Genesis and Angeal alone together was the easiest to write. Angeal knows Genesis too well to be impressed by his BS. Genesis knows Angeal really knows him and enjoys not being on display for a change.

4: What’s your favorite line of dialogue?

Rescue: Oooh… that’s tougher. Hm. I’ve always been proud of Genesis calling his admirer an “odious little pervert.” I also really liked Cloud and Zack’s “It wasn’t like that.”/”It was exactly like that.” exchange. My favorite though is probably Sephiroth’s line: “In fact, I believe you will be joining me for every public appearance I have for the rest of my life.”

A Lil’ Head Injury: “He came here almost immediately after leaving you to talk to me because he believed he was unfaithful to me. Either that’s love or a complete lack of self-preservation.”

Mission Start: “You’ll stay?”

There’s just something great about how vulnerable Sephiroth is in that moment without really saying anything at all. Though the innuendo at the end about Sephiroth calling Cloud sir is pretty great too.

Uncanny Luck - One: I really like the exchange near the end that’s a callback to the original fic. I was pretty proud of it:

“Are you sure that was him? He seemed kinda, I dunno, innocent-like to be the guy Natalia was talking about.”

“I’m sure. Short for a Solider, blonde spikey hair and blue eyes… always with the Soldier leaders. I saw him fight with the General and then talk with Commander Fair for a little bit. It has to be him.”

“Obviously Natalia was lying about what happened when she tried to flirt with Commander Hewley. I bet she never even talked to him. She was just trying to play it up by saying a Soldier tried to pick her up. Now we both look like idiots for panting over that Third.”

Uncanny Luck - Two: “Besides, I’m pretty sure burning down the building was Sephiroth’s plan for his next night out.”

Unrequited: “I will tell you the same as I told the brute in the kitchen. If you are going to reward me with kisses, that will make me want to quote Loveless more often, not less.”

This line is just so Genesis that I can’t believe I wrote it.

Adjustment Phase: It’s a straight toss up between, “He washes up, just like the rest of us… only with way more shampoo.” and “Hey  there, sexy pants.”/”I’m not even wearing pants.”

Gen/Angeal Sickness fic: It’s no wonder you’re tired, dear, you’re wound so tightly that you can’t even have fun in my imaginary scenarios where we sneak off to a town in the ass end of nowhere to annoy our little trooper friend.”

I can picture Genesis planning elaborate scenarios in his mind when he daydreams and having the more pragmatic Angeal and Sephiroth shoot them down with logic.

5: What part was hardest to write?

The little sexy bits. Zack talking about Genesis’s little game and Sephiroth talking to Cloud near the end of Rescue. Some parts of A Lil’ Head Injury too. I always feel like it reads as awkward as it feels when I write it. Of course, I have no idea if it’s true or not because I’m viewing it through my own awkward filter...

6: What makes this fic special or different from all your other fics?

Honestly, it was the fact that someone asked me to write it. I’ve been in the fandom a while under another penname. When I decided to come back, I scrapped the old stuff that was from when I first started writing and opened a fresh page under a new name. Even when I wrote before, no one came to me for content. They enjoyed it if I created it and put it out there, but they didn’t ask for it. Having someone want me specifically to give their idea life was a really awesome feeling.

7: Where did the title come from?

Zack’s line: “Tonight you learn something new about our relationship. I like to call it the rescue.“

It fit with the prompt too, but that was the line that made it work for me  as a title.

8: Did any real people or events inspire any part of it?

Mostly in the Uncanny Luck follow up stories. I’m definitely that Cloud. I’ve had friendly, fantastic conversations with strangers only for my friends to tease me after for breaking the guy’s heart.

9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?

No real alternate versions, but I scrapped a plan where I was going to write a bunch of prompts using various mixings of ASGZC and post one a day for a month. I had the first three or four done but I wanted to post them so badly that I just went for it.

I guess you could say that Cloud’s B-Day fics from 2015 are a kind of alternate timeline. I was going to try and make them Rescue Verse stories but they never quite fit the world in my mind.

10: Why did you choose this pairing for this particular story?

Besides it being part of the request, ASGZC was my go to happy place at that point. I had just gone through a rough break up and liked to imagine people being happy together.

11: What do you like best about this fic?

It’s kind of uncomplicated. Whenever I find a prompt I want to use for the boys, I don’t have to worry about fabricating a back story to justify why they’re together. They just are… and it’s awesome!

12: What do you like least about this fic?

By not planning it out, I occasionally write myself into a corner. Once I had a few stories written I wanted to go back and clean it up. There were events I had already alluded to and then had to write around. The more I add to the verse, the more of that I have to work around. It’s also occasionally a struggle to figure out where in the timeline things fit.

13: What music did you listen to, if any, to get in the mood for writing this story? Or if you didn’t listen to anything, what do you think readers should listen to to accompany us while reading?

It’s been so long, I don’t know what I did throw on to write to, but I would guess OC Remix’s Voices of the Lifestream album. It’s usually my go to when I write FFVII fics… if I’m not listening to the original soundtrack.

Particularly fond of Daydreaming Again and Sleep My Sephy.

14: Is there anything you wanted readers to learn from reading this fic?

Not learn, exactly. I more hoped that it would inspire other writers to get into the pairing. I enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.

15: What did you learn from writing this fic?

It was a good, “you can’t plan for everything” kind of story. I wouldn’t say I plan everything before I write, but I like to know the basic plot before I set fingers to keyboard. This was an exercise in “fuck it, let’s just do the thing!”