#i'm gonna be super evasive from now on

[greatwesternway]

Traintober 1: Free Day - Duck and Diesel and Oliver and Sonny

It's a lazy Sunday so have an Engines in Sidings alternative events chat about a scene I don't plan to write for Traintober Day 1.

DJ: I was also lookin' at my Sonny chapter for Engines in Sidings and thinkin' about that point at which Duck and Diesel finally are forced to talk.

Ray: I saw that at the top of my list when I was looking at the list of docs on my phone the other day so I was wondering if you were fucking with it, lol.

DJ: And I don't think I'm gonna actually put this in because I think it's a better story if Duck never knows about how Diesel came to get bought. But supposing he asked, because he would have been curious. Diesel would tell him that Hatt thinks he let a steam engine escape his old yard. And of course Duck asks if he did, because he's hip to Diesel's evasive bullshit by now. To which Diesel would just rattle off the line again. "It was dark and we're all painted black." Which tells Duck nothing conclusive but is a very strange way to put it. And he rather thinks Diesel would outright deny it if it he hadn't. So Duck guesses at it. "So… yes?"

Which Diesel finds annoying, but at the same time, he'd not have thought Duck would even entertain the thought that he would have helped a steam engine. So he huffily elaborates. "I didn't help him escape. I just didn't stop him either." Which Duck has nothing to say to that, but he thinks quite a lot.

Tells Oliver about it later, wants to know what he thinks of that. And this is after Sonny has explained to the two of them that diesels helping him is how he made it to Sodor at all. If Diesel is telling the truth, Oliver thinks that's more than you could rightly expect of a diesel back then. Doesn't think they should be super friendly with Diesel about it or anything. Just that, assuming it's true, it's surprising.

Ray: Oliver doesn't hate Diesel the way Duck does, because he wasn't there, but he knows enough to know how Duck feels about the situation and after hearing only Duck's side of it for so long, I think he'd be a little surprised to hear this about him.

DJ: No, and Duck is a smidge annoyed because he was hoping Oliver - with his history with diesels - would validate his wish to be more uncharitable with this story. But if Oliver - and apparently Hatt - is willing to entertain it, then maybe Duck should too. Which is so funny because you'd think yourself a fool to do that otherwise.

Ray: Oliver doesn't hate diesels in specific, he's just… wary, I think. He knows he's safe on Sodor, but Duck doesn't have that kind of history with the island and also never had to run for his life. From an outside perspective, you'd assume Oliver would take his side, but it's not that simple. Oliver also has more experience with diesels in general, I think he'd know that their behavior in Diesel's story checks out.

DJ: It's because Sonny tells him about the diesels at the power plants who found coal for him. Oliver's escape would have been so much easier if diesels had been like that in his day instead of actively hunting for him. But knowing that they are apparently like that now, and this scrappy little steam engine made it all the way here after years of steam being abolished… Oliver has to imagine that diesels didn't just decide to be helpful one day.

Ray: Oliver putting 2 and 2 together to get 4 and Duck like "I'm not doing that math. I simply won't."

DJ: Will. Not! Which, to be fair to Duck, that math actually doesn't check out for Diesel in particular. That Diesel's story is as it is, that's all just happenstance. If there was some gradual change in the wind re: diesel aggression, Diesel himself was not actually a part of it.

Also, it's kinda nice for Diesel to get to say this, because he always has to spin this story for the audience, but Duck is sort of special in that Diesel assumes Duck will take whatever he says in bad faith anyway so it doesn't matter if he actually tells the story as it really happened. But it is very strange that Duck is the one party he's ever been able to tell the story straight to as well.

Ray: Lifts the burden of having to make yourself look good when you know the other party won't buy any of it. It's frank, no bullshit. Which Duck does not associate with Diesel at all.

It's a shame we can't use this because I really want to. Nobody fucking writes Oliver and Duck stuff.

DJ: Well, part of why I think I shouldn't actually go this way is because I think it takes away from Duck and Diesel just coming to an understanding in the contained sense. The overall story isn't actually about them coming to terms, but Sonny learning that not everyone has to be friendly as long as they're getting their work done. And also because functionally, this'd not be as detailed a conversation between them as all this, because they are dumbass trains.

Ray: Yeah, I know. Just mad is all.

DJ: But I told you this so that you could enjoy it, even if others will not.

Ray: I am enjoying it! :D Love our OC Oliver.

DJ: God, Sonny trying to get Diesel a second chance with Duck because he's the Second Chance engine, not realizing Diesel's actually on his fourth. And Diesel not wanting to tell him because this friendship is precarious enough as it is.

Ray: Sonny wouldn't mind. It's his Second Chance with him, which is what's important. Sonny isn't the arbiter of morals, he's only counting what he was here for.

DJ: Yeah, but Diesel doesn't know that. And also if Sonny annoys Duck enough to make him complain, it won't matter what chance he's on with Sonny. At least to Diesel's thinking. And Diesel thinks his place is also precarious.

Ray: lol

DJ: Very funny how Hatt is the villain in all these stories.

Ray: Hatt would be over the fucking moon to hear his engines are trying to work things out between them like fucking adults.

DJ: He'd be very interested and intrigued to hear that Duck and Diesel are doing anything more than avoiding each other. Not that he minds them doing that now, but it'd be interesting to hear otherwise. And if he found out the details of why, that Diesel was trying to keep Sonny out of trouble, he'd be very proud.

Ray: He loves these machines so much in his way.

DJ: I honestly love that when he comes upon the scene with Sonny and Diesel, he fuckin' bullshits them about the fish first.

Ray: It's so… Old Hatt 🥁

DJ: Like, you KNOW he saw Diesel off the tracks, Sonny haulin' him back with the chain. And it's Diesel so you also know some bullshit is a-fkn-foot here. So let's just ask about the fish first and foremost. See what these hooligans have to say for themselves.

But it would just come back around to what he says at the end of the scene. If there's one thing more important than being really Useful, it's taking care of your fellow engines. And here Diesel is, doing it. Even going so far as to try and smooth things over with Duck.

Hatt maybe didn't think he was making a good investment in buying Diesel on the basis of heresay, but he at least thought he was making an interesting one. And look, it's paid off. Even if he's the villain in the fucking story again for reasons he can never fathom. Hasn't scrapped an engine in years, nor ever sent one away and fucking yet. Dumbass trains.

What's also hilarious is Hatt probably thought to hisself "Oh no, not these two together" when he came upon that scene. Because he didn't arrange for Sonny and Diesel to end up hanging out. But it's actually been so good for both of them. Amazing. Even Hatt would never have thought.

Ray: No. I think I said it before that, if given the choice, he'd have liked to have kept them apart. But engines will literally never stop surprising him. It's why he likes them so much.

DJ: Hatt loves engine bullshit.

Ray: "Hobbits really are amazing creatures. You can learn all there is to know about their ways in a month and yet after a hundred years they can still surprise you." -Gandalf, but also replace "hobbits" with "engines" and it's Hatt.

DJ: Duck would probably also be a little proud of him despite himself. That's some Great Western activities right there. Oliver fuckin' ribbin' him about it. Imagine you try to teach this tin pot railway your Ways and this fucking guy ends up demonstrating them so astutely. Rood.

Ray: He'd be proud but he'd immediately cover it up with "Well, he didn't know that. Sir Topham Hatt told him because he's very wise and knows Our Ways. Diesel just happened to be doing what was expected of him. Unusual, but nothing to write home about."

DJ: I don't think he'd play it off. Duck's not the sort to not acknowledge when he's wrong or when he's been surprised. But he'd probably not say so much about it, which is why Oliver's poking him about it. More like Oliver's slyly commenting on how GWR this whole thing with Diesel has been, and Duck being like, "Well, I suppose even he could learn after a century."

Ray: "And Sonny, picking it up so quickly!"

DJ: Sonny's a natural. He's a fuckin' gangster too.

[darkx-the-dragon-kn1ght]

Chapter 32- Part 10

Any physical attack…any physical attack…and she's slower than Garchomp, and if Riptide can survive an Earthquake then surely Coast can too with even better Defense-

But is -3 Attack still going to be enough? I don't even know what Garchomp's other three moves are, it could still have a set-up move…but it's a gamble I'm gonna need to take.

One lone sea cucumber against the full might of a land shark dragon…what a battle. But as long as she doesn't get crit, she should survive.

All I have to do is click Counter right here, right now, and then-

Oh, it has Dragon Rush. Oh yeah, Dragon Rush does bypass Accuracy/Evasion changes and deals more damage in such cases. Huh.

Well, it doesn't matter! Because now I know this fight is possible, and I have a plan to do it!

Let's just repeat what we did last time, without lowering Garchomp's Accuracy this time-

And Riptide's still alive too, just in case! Now, this time…it's time for Counter!

Uh?? Why didn't that do more? I thought Counter inflicts twice the damage- did I underestimate how much HP this Garchomp has? Maybe!

Well, okay, Riptide's in the back, I'll just bring him in to stall for a second…

Okay, Stone Edge, that's three out of its four moves known…and of course it's one with a higher crit chance…

But let's just use the Full Restore to get Coast all the way back to full, a Super Potion isn't gonna cut it.

So let's try this again! Counter!!

Shoot, still not enough…okay, let's try this: Revive Riptide, sac Coast, bring Riptide back in.

Now Revive Coast, and then-

And then…yeah, I don't think this is going to work after all…not at that HP, no siree.

But I did get some valuable information from this. Garchomp used its fourth move during this attempt, so now I know its full moveset: Earthquake, Dragon Rush, Stone Edge, and Fire Fang. No Swords Dance, no Dragon Dance, so Glare can Intimidate with impunity. 

But what I really need is more time to heal Coast in between faints and revivals. I need one turn to use a Revive, and a second turn to use a Super Potion. And given how much damage Counter does, I need to use it…two or three times? Which means I need at least two Pokémon who can live a second Garchomp attack? I know Riptide can, but none of the others…so I need to switch out for someone in the PC. 

Out of all the Pokémon in these Boxes, the best candidate would probably be…there!

Wulfrum has Sturdy, which will allow him to not get one-shotted no matter what. Even from Earthquake! Even from crits! And that's perfect for this! I don't even need to spend time leveling him up, Sturdy is always Sturdy! I can swap out Bloom for this, that's an easy choice.

But the next thing I'm wondering is…is it better to keep Garchomp down to -3 Attack, or is it safe to be at -2 instead? Can Coast’s defenses allow for that…? Hm- I think I need to use that calculator again. I know Garchomp's deal, I know its moves and item and Ability, I can't spoil myself on anything now by looking at its actual stats. I have a plan to deal with it, I just need to know how to thread the Intimidate needle…

(One damage calculator later…)

…Got it! If I get Garchomp to -2 Attack and level Coast up to Lv. 45, she'll survive even Earthquake and Dragon Rush, even if they roll their max damage- barely, but she'll live. And the more damage she takes, the more Counter will reflect back at Garchomp! In that case, it might only take two Counters to win instead of three!

Yes, this is the true dream team! This should work this time! Solaris is going down this time, third time really will be the charm, I can feel it!

In fact, I've even mapped out how I'm gonna do this. Observe:

Start with Glare, get that first Intimidate right at the start. Then, switch her out, send in Crater to faint and send Glare back in.

With the second Intimidate done, let Glare faint to bring in Coast safely.

Now- the first Counter! Let's see what this does!

That's even better than I was expecting! And Rough Skin knocking out Coast also works, one less turn of Leftovers healing for Garchomp.

Previous

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[manasurge]

My Characters

Thought I might as well do this since I like how a few of my in-game characters turned out, so here's my roster so far (subtracting a few that are in limbo). Tried to put it in order to most to least used. I'm not one to make my in-game characters as OCs, but I still like to give them a name/aesthetic/theme that matches together (and colour-coordinated) so it sort of seems like they could (also for fashion wars reasons. Name above their respective images below). Also I like giving them singular names. (oh gosh I really hope this automatically shrinks the length of the post bc it's not giving me the "Read More" option >_>') My Main: Vespaura (Mesmer/Mirage). Crystal Bloom/Branded themed. Still waiting for proper crystal aesthetic looks lol (none available in game atm are what I'm looking for). I'm pretty much on her almost all of the time since I'm a ho for Open world and I love GS lasers, clones, portals, and evasion hax (I'm squishy so I need the survivability and sustain, and I tag almost everything, so it works well when doing metas and stuff).

Mourynn (Necromancer/Scourge) - This is the one I took my OC's name from lol, so it's funny seeing her in game bc I forget sometimes lsjflksf. I Tried to make her look like an infected/toxic/poisonous Awakened Nightmare Courtier Duchess, and the squiggly tentacles are meant to portray turning into the necrotic glider below. I really wanna get her a bunch of Mordy and Zhaitan leggies (one day~)

Ferahla (Revenant/Renegade) - I actually updated her back piece and colours a bit since this new back piece was released bc it fit her look much more. I tried to make her look gnarly (also this outfit makes her look a bit nakey, but I'm kind of okay with that tbh alsjflskdjf), and I'm trying to match her to the Chuka leggy for whenever I get around to finishing it. Renegade is also one of my favourite specs cuz I like being at ranged and having the support of Kalla and her Lesbian Warband.

Faihan (Ranger/Soulbeast) - I still adore her look and her name is one of my favourites too. I was sort of going for a pheonix/firebird Hunter (bloodborne) kinda vibe. I couldn't decide between capes so she has one for Power and one for Condi. Also it's tricky to dress for leather armour, so I like how this turned out.

Vaipaura (Mesmer/Virtuoso) - All my mesmers have similar names bc I think it's funny to headcanon they're just different AUs of each other (not gonna show Chrono here bc she's in Limbo. Her name is Vastaura). I wanted to give Vaipaura a Regal Canthan Noble Madam kinda vibe (also I just love the combo of this outfit and backpiece). She also has Exordium cuz it also matches this look too. However I still heavily prefer playing Mirage bc despite this one being great for DPS and very neat. It's just super squishy with not a lot of survivability/sustain and no clones to distract, and it feels so slow, but regardless it is still fun to play as well (I just miss spamming dodge all the time :( I also miss my clones)

Mortesque (Necromancer/Reaper) - I'm not 100% sure if this will be the final look for her or not, but I was mostly just trying to match her to Zhaitan's Bite when I finally unlocked it a little while back. As you can tell I really like greatswords (the only 3 leggies I have are GS lol)

Shroudryss (Thief/Specter) - My newest sapling. I'm stll not 100% sure about the outfit, but it'll do for now. Specter is really fun!! I really like fancy magical mobile classes. I need to play thief way more tbh since it's more of less up my alley (this one will be my first to go to)

Jadesta (Engineer/Mechanist) - Her name and look are very on the nose. HOWEVER I am proud of the name I gave to her mech: Caladborg (also I really like the Aetherblade look here and at least it's easy/fun to give her stuff for fashion wars)

Prismysta (Revenant/Herald) - I wanted to make her fit the pretty pearlescent look of Glint's facets, and I did want one light-themed cute character. Also there was just so many pretty pieces that wouldn't work with Vespaura that I thought it'd work well for her!

Hexirax (Thief/Daredevil) - I still super need to change her name bc it for sure as hell does not suit her at all lmao!! But since I still needed a pink Sylvari, I thought it would be funny to make it my Daredevil (also the weapon worked well for this so I made her Sakura themed. Her outfit is still subject to change if I find something better)

Vallotash (Guardian/Dragonhunter) - Still not sure what to do with her yet (might switch her elite spec, idk yet), but I'm still super proud of her name and I forgot I made this look on her. I like the colour combo, and I still might keep it (subject for change tho, but I don't hate it)

[feuqueerfire]

GMMTV 2024 Part 2 Showcase

GMMTV 2024 Part 1 Reaction

April 23, 2024

When I watched Part 1 I was barely into series and watched certain trailers that I thought might be interesting but this time I'm planning on watching it live and am so into watching shows again.

The actors I'm actively following right now are Fourth and Gemini, along with some Phuwin (and by extension PondPhuwin) but none of them are getting ship work. So I'm mostly just gonna be there for the stories and concepts we get (though I'm curious about the GemPrim series and what Fourth is gonna be in). I hope I'm really excited by some concept (like The Warp Effect) or a cast/ship (like a surprise one).

Anticipation Ranking:

My Top 3:

The Heart Killers (BL) [omg KhaoFirst (and Joongdunk) in a show directed by Jojo where they commit crimes and possibly are there for nefarious reasons etc]

The Ex-Morning (BL) [KristSingto + exes-to-lovers ahhhhh]

US (GL) [it seems so moody and angsty and I love Emi's face]

Okay I lied it's Top 4:

Thame-Po (BL) [love a celebrity/idol romance and the trailer is so good and also I'm suddenly invested in William/Est]

Interested, will watch if it turns out well:

Hide & Sis (ensemble, women-focus, by Snap25, dark)

Revamp (BL) [hope they do the supernatural aspect well]

The Dark Dice (ensemble) [Alice in Wonderland vibes, hope it's done well]

Only if they get glowing reviews:

Ossan's Love TH (BL)

Friendshit Forever (messy - 2 pairs)

Break-Up Service

Sweet Tooth, Good Dentist (BL)

Not Really Interested:

Leap Day

Perfect 10 Liners (BL)

Scarlet Heart TH

Trailer-by-trailer thoughts below the cut.

Ended up waking up at 5:30am while the live started at 6:20am and the first trailer released at 6:35am lol

It’s fine tho bc my semester is over, i was afraid it’d happen before im done my exam or worse, on exam day.

Oh, Yfind project which looks for plots for novels and series? and some fandom name in Thailand?

Title: Ossan’s Life trailer

Pair: Earth/Mix

Did I know about this? Yes

Thoughts: omg? I didn’t realize Earth is the one who’s being pursued by Mix and the boss character, I thought it’d be Mix! this is fun. oh, putting on someone’s shoe scene. I finally know what the show is about because of The Conversation Podcast’s episode on it yesterday and this seems in line with the Japanese version. Very comedic, so we’ll see how it goes.

Title: Leap Day

Pair: Dew/Pahn, Pond & Gun

Did I know about this? No

Thoughts: Could be interesting but I’m not super into it yet because it doesn’t seem super developed yet beyond the concept of “people around them die.”

Title: The Heart Killers

Pair: Khao/First, Joong/Dunk

Did I know about this? Yes, specifically some sort of KhaoFirst series directed by Joni

Thoughts: I’M SO EXCITED! I was watching the whole trailer while intrigued and giggling. It’s definitely something I want from KhaoFirst, something a little risqué and has some actual plot while it’s different from anything JoongDunk have done so far, so i’d be curious to see how it goes. I hope the actual plot ends up good ahh. I’ll try not to get too attached to the mock trailer bc things will probably be different but I really like it. The song was covered in My School President but the vibe is different here.

After Rewatch: I definitely understood more after the rewatch because on my first watch I was so excited that I definitely missed some scenes and dialogue there loll I'm soooo excited for criminal killer brothers Khao and Joong, tattooist First who is trying to get dirt on them to clear his own car debt record, and Dunk who has been unleashed upon Joong to distract him from KhaoFirst in exchange for a car. KhaoFirst were my pull when I first watched it and they still are because I fucking love to see them on screen but I definitely got the JoongDunk thing more in this watch. Love to see Dunk be wild (kissing Joong when he's threatening him etc) and bold and actually take action this time while Joong is the one who is evasive, a different dynamic than their usuals. I... will try to enjoy this one regardless of plot to be honest lol because people were like meh on the Only Friends storyline. I think it'll help knowing that it's a Romcom with a side of drama rather than an assassin/crime plot with side of romance. I'm also not looking forward to KhaoFirst and JoongDunk's fandoms possibly fighting based on like screentime/acting prowess/"better treatment" and favouritsm/etc. but hopefully it'll turn out okay. I actually don't mind that KhaoFirst got a 2-pair main lead instead of a solo pair show because the pairs seem very connected with each other. Seems like it's inspired by Taming of the Shrew and 10 Things I Hate About You rather than a novel. I wonder if I should watch 10TIHAY just to see what references and such they put in.

A few hours later and I just watched 10 Things I Hate About You lol I get the "date my older brother so that we can date" thing now. I suppose Dunk's character is the "wild" character who can handle his brother Joong's character.

Title: Friendshit Forever

Pair: messy

Did I know about this? No

Thoughts: Mook and Pat and New and Boun. It Could be good but idk if i’ll watch it. Pat playing a character who is a shitty friend, a la PSIHY. Title reminds me of Dead Friend Forever. I will say the best part of the trailer was the first few seconds when I was wondering if we’d get a Pat/Mook GL.

Title: Perfect 10 Liners

Pair: Force/Book, Perth/Chimon, girl too many

Did I know about this? No

Thoughts: It could be good but I don’t care about any of the actors or pairings in this. PerthChimon were the most intriguing in this though, I liked the parallel on”Are you dating anyone?” Directed by New Siwat, yeah dunno about this one tbh. bruh so many people on stage, were they all actually there in the trailer? There are a bunch of side BL couples in addition to the main 3? crazy fr. and they couldn’t throw in a side GL either?

Apparently this is gonna be 30 eps with 10 eps each of ForceBook, MarkJunior, and PerthChimon... gonna take months and months to air fr, meaning stuff could have to wait while this show keeps airing... agh. or maybe this could prevent another rerun so who knows.

Title: Us

Pair: gorgeous girls who i don’t know the names of. Emi/Bonnie

Did I know about this? I knew about a possible Emi/Bonnie GL but I didn’t know who they were. hm Us, did we expect this novel as well, I vaguely remember having seen this novel rumored to be a series.

Thoughts: GL? These GLs being about your brother/sister’s girlfriends. omg she’s the one pairing the postcards? ahhh GL KISS IN TRAILER! Oh I’m excited and also love the short haired girl’s face sooooo much. Another melodramatic GL a la Pluto, I’m looking forward to it! Is this by the same author as GAP/Pluto/Blank? People always mention how problematic her novels are and somebody mentioned they don’t like the source material for this show either but I love a little problematic romance, so we shall see. Fon is the director.

After Rewatch: Went to MDL to double-check that the girl with cropped hair is Emi (she is! beautiful!) and the rights to this were brought like 2 years ago or what? Over a year ago at least since the comments have been waiting for announcement since then. Dang the acquirement rumour was on r/GMMTV back in February last year, so I probably saw it back then. The plot is quite straightforward, seems like it's focused way more on interpersonal relationships. Love the moody, indie nature of the angsty scenes but then they're so charming and bright when they're like happy and together! Also very happy to see like passionate kissing and romantic physical affection between the women even in the trailer, I'm hoping they have great romantic chemistry in the show. Doubt we'll get this one before 2025 though since it's directed by P'Fon and she's directing High School Frenemy right now and also has Scarlet Heart TH to do. I doubt GMMTV would air 3 GLs in a year already lol, so I'm hoping at least Pluto comes out this year and US is one of the first things out last year at the latest.

Title: Hide & Sis

Pair: ensemble and messy, focused on sisters

Did I know about this? No

Thoughts: PSIHY flashbacks. Snap25 is in charge of this, which makes sense. Very vibey, eerie, hope it’s good. Focus on morally corrupt women and sisters yay. Pepper/Lookjun are dating IRL right? hehe cute

Title: Thame Po | Heart That Skips A Beat

Pair: Est/William

Did I know about this? That there is expected to be an EstWilliam

Thoughts: Oh, a BL? So many GMMTV people who I don’t know these days. Another idol BL similar to Only Boo but more mature ig? Is this EstWilliam? I’ve seen so many people excited for their BL but idk their faces lol. It’s a Parbdee project? Exciting. I like the vibes of it. I hope they do the celebrity/commoner aspect well, I like an idol romance in theory (and in fic lol) but I don't think I've yet watched one that I've enjoyed.

After Rewatch: I randomly started seeing Est and William posts start popping up on r/GMMTV a few weeks ago and then this master thread was created for it as well. I didn't know who they were (apparently a LYKN boy and a new GMMTV actor with side roles in the past) so I was just mildly curious but it's fun that this came true. When the trailer first started, I didn't know this guy was Est, so I was like oh nooo I don't wanna watch a show about not being able to find jobs and being a loser or something lol but seems like he finds his gig early enough into the show. The trailer is even better on the 2nd watch when I know what's going on lol. The background music really suits it, it stood out to be during the first watch as well. The trailer is 4 minutes and seems fairly fleshed out, I wonder... if we can hope that it's one of the first ones to film from the 2nd half? It's done by Parbdee who have a few projects this year but the director is Mui Aticha who doesn't have anything else lined up for the year since Beauty Newbie? So maybe she can work on this soon? Crazy resume though, The Gifted, F4, Girl From Nowhere, etc. I wonder how she'll do with this one though since it's a more grounded romance like Beauty Newbie (which didn't receive good feedback rip).

Thame is William and Po is Est and from the characters + how people referred to them during the conference after the trailer, seems like they're going for WilliamEst? Interesting because everybody on the subreddit was just reading calling them EstWilliam lol I enjoy them switching it up a bit to play with expectations and cast based on the characters rather than which order people think the people themselves should be. WilliamEstWilliam would've been fun too. The next day and Est has posted pictures with #WilliamEst. Funny to have William-Williamer-Williamest.

I hope the mood and vibe of it being calmer and romantic and the drama from the celebrity idol life remains true, I don't want it to become more light-hearted and comedic, nor do I want it to become Extra Angsty or anything.

Also, it's such a fascinating yet baffling choice to me to have LYKN star as Mars. You're going to have your own boy group act as the group that's getting broken up by their company and who some company exec calls "losers" except the one guy who's gonna debut in Korea? And also, it's gonna show how not being able to date or come out sucks but it's not like GMMTV is gonna change that for LYKN like group, only for Mars the fictional band in the show lol. and fans wouldn't like it if William has a partner other than Est either. hilarious idk

Side note but every time I think of the title Thame-Po, I think of the song Thaam Lo even though the pronunciation isn't the same.

WilliamEst ship: Okay it's the night of the 24th, so it's been like a day but I'm quite into the ship itself idkkk man, I get why people on the gmmtv sub were going crazy about them for the past month. The thing is they're like so shy on stage when talking about the show omg, I enjoy seeing a ship being shy and unsure when first introduced to the public and they haven't quite figured out how to work everything out yet, it's cute. I also have learned that William is a 05 liner while Est is 01 and I need them to have the same age gap in the show pleaseee, I love a younger pursuer character for real. I know Thame calls Po Phi in the trailer though, so we know William plays a younger character at least

Title: Break-Up Service

Pair: Off/Jorin

Did I know about this? No

Thoughts: Fun concept, I’ll wait to hear if it’s good before I watch.

Title: Revamp: The Undead Story

Pair: Boun/Prem

Did I know about this? Yes

Thoughts: Ah, trailer for the BounPrem vampire story and it seems more serious and sinister than the campy nature of the other vampire BL: Golden Blood. Kinda reminds me of Midnight Museum actually. It looks good, I’ll probably give it a watch.

Title: Sweet Tooth, Good Dentist

Pair: Mark/Ohm

Did I know about this? Yes (Mark was hinting at it)

Thoughts: Two BLs back to back? Uni BL with dentistry student Mark based on Jittitain novel. It’s not super intriguing based on the more exciting stories but I need a good easy-watching, cute, uni BL once in a while in between he heavier hits. So this could be that. The trailer just seems long-winded

Title: The Dark Dice

Pair: Gemini/Prim

Did I know about this? Yes

Thoughts: Ohh kinda reminds me of The Gifted and the trailer for Enigma. A high school show about them trapped in some game. Wish there were more girls in the cast though. Less romantic than I thought. I hope it’s good and not like Homeschool which has a Very Good trailer but didn’t get good reviews.

Title: The Ex-Morning

Pair: Krist/Singto

Did I know about this? Yes, KS were shooting mock trailer with P’Lit

Thoughts: girl I was already like hehe KristSingto as expected BUT THEY ATE EXES!!!!! I love exes-to-lovers and it’s kinda funny since it parallels their ship work. huhhh wtf was that random ass car accident? hah I’m excited for this too. We knew the director is P’Lit who directed SOTUS.

After Rewatch: I thought it parallels KS's journey of Singto leaving GMMTV then him coming back and doing a BL with Krist again (kinda of exes-to-lovers if you squint) while the guy-fucks-up-and-is-crucified-on-the-internet could be parallel Krist's journey and turns out P'Aof wrote the script based on Krist Singto themselves, that's wild. The university days drinking pink milk really gives me a visceral reaction. I LOVE the look on Krist's face when he looks back at Singto in the towel and then quickly turns have his face like O.O it's very cute, I giggled the first time too. They seem to show stuff toward the end like with Krist winning the award again and Singto deciding to leave and also this random ass accident (seems like people are trying to kill Krist? What with the random motorcycle guy as well). I don't tend to like too much info in a trailer (over 4 minutes?!) but maybe if it means that we'll get it as one of the earlier part 2 shows because the script is written, I'll take it. I don't know if that's the case though because Aof is overseeing/scriptwriting and he's a busy man (though Director Lit doesn't have other shows I don't think)

Title: Scarlet Heart Thailand

Pair: Tu and ?Win?

Did I know about this? no

Thoughts: Not really a trailer, as they sometimes arent with these remakes. Scot’s are all pretty big hitters, especially Tu and Win, along with some people I’m looking forward to like Fourth, Phuwin, Tay, Nanon. Directed by Fon. I don’t know what this show is about at all though.

Expectations: based on rumours I've seen mostly

GemPrim: Yes

KhaoFirst: Yes

MarkOhm: Yes

EstWilliam: Yes

KristSingto: Yes

a GL: Yes

BounPrem and Wabi Sabi updates: Yes

I'm hoping for a large ensemble cast show centering women (PSIHY and Ploy’s Yearbook to a lesser extent, both by Snap25) or some mystery/sff (Homeschool, Gifted): Yes

My expectations were basic and based on some very well-believed rumours, so I'm not surprised they're correct.

Actor Attendance

Observations:

Interesting to go from watching The Warp Effect where I knew pretty much everybody to these trailers where there are so many people whom I don’t know, including main actors for BLs and GLs (Est/William, Emi/Bonnie). Good chance to get to know them if the shows turn out well though!

On that note, it's always interesting when they choose completely new ships to be the main couple of a show, again like Us and Thame-Po. This also means a lot of the familiar main or side BL couples are in ensemble shows like Perfect 10 Liners (there were so many people in that, I couldn't even keep track of them all).

High School: 1

University: 2

Non-School: 10 (or 11 with Ossan's Love)

Very few school shows comparatively, just 3/13, less than a quarter. That's exciting, I'm especially glad that being out of school doesn't just mean office worker shows lol

The puns never end: Friendshit, Revamped, Hide & Sis, Thame-Po (Tempo - 50% pun), The Ex-Morning. Hilarious that there are more shows with puns in their names than school shows.

Overall:

More shows grabbed my interest in this round I think. It seems like a more somber/serious set of trailers than part 1, which is cool.

Also, most of the trailers seem well-made, not necessarily in terms of story because they don't have full plots and stories yet, but in terms of production/quality.

I just hope the scriptwriting for these shows are strong, especially because they're dealing with interesting concepts like idol romance and exes-to-lovers. The concepts are soooo good but bad screenwriting or a story that doesn't deal with the interesting aspects can make the show fall flat.

I'm also glad that there is a mix of old ships, new ships, and totally new faces for these BLs and GL Like we have shows with established main pairs like KhaoFirst-Joongdunk and Forcebook-PerthChimon in ensemble shows, we have interesting situations like KristSingto which is a returning main couple and BounPrem which is an old series but revamped ;) for their GMMTV debut, but then we have a ship like MarkOhm where Mark has been in multiple shows and ships but he's leading in a series with somebody completely different. Then we have Emi-Bonnie and WilliamEst who are new faces as GMMTV leads and their ships are completely brand new.

In Part 1, it was similar in that we had stuff like main roles for existing ships with OffGun - The Trainee and GeminiFourth - My Love Mix-Up, ensemble with existing ships (We Are - PondPhuwin etc), had existing actors in new ships like OhmLeng in Kidnap or JossGawin in My Golden Blood, we had new ships like GreatInn in Wandee Goodday,

All in all, a good part 2, I'm glad I watched it live, it was exciting and I'm looking forward to these shows (though I'm not holding my breath though lol because part 1 shows still gotta be released). I really like these showcases and I'm kinda glad that now it's split into 2 because I get a new one every 6-7 months instead of once a year haha

Actually no my main gripe: Where are all the women? Us, Hide & Sis, and Friendshit Forever seem to be the only shows that focus on more than one woman and the BLs basically have no women, or possibly 1 female side character. Why can't they have side GL pairings or multiple women in the same show, truly what the heck? I hope that more women are cast in the shows as they start writing scripts and such, like a side GL in Us or a side GL in Perfect 10 Liners among all the BL pairs.

[ginnyn]

Since we're having a new Donbros vs Zenkai trailer, time to scrub the thing again (Donbros part because Tumblr)

The twitter account for Super Sentai described the thing like:

"The Donbros are disbanding?! Kaito vs Zocks?! And the true identity of the Master is revealed?!"

If you asking if we gonna figure out anything about Donbros!Kaito

SO!

The joke here seems to be that Set-chan is saying "It's time! It's time" and Tarou interrupts because is the Donbros part of the trailer. I'm pretty sure someone is very proud of this joke.

Now I'm noticing, this is basically everybody at the Toei Barren Lands for some reason. I'm guessing is because something is going to happen a bit later in the trailer

Here's Tarou in his new job. I don't know this is meant to be sad, I'm guessing it is

Super mega meeting in Donbura, you can see who's against Tarou and who's in favor. I guess. And even in the show itself is not that, the trailer make it like it is.

Back at the Toei Barren lands, as you see they are trying to put this fight is the culmination of whatever is happening in the other scenes

This screens are supposed to be the life the Donbros are having now, I guess thanks of them accumulating enough Kibi points to cancel their bad luck out. Let me laugh at the fact Inuzuka's restaurant is called Amour Evasion. I don't know why that's so funny.

This screenshots have narration from Jirou over them, probably indicating he's proud of what they have accomplished as a team (I'm truly not sure) but probably its him talking about how they are happy under him and they weren't with Tarou, which is, unfair. To say the least.

Here's some repeated screenshots from the first trailer which help with the overall story they are trying to tell in the trailer. I'm putting them anyway out just for this to be complete.

The one fighting Jirou is going to be Sonoi, because Sonoi is a good boyfriend. I suppose. I love this.

I also loved the fact the last person Tarou forgot was Sonoi and probably he's the first person Tarou remembered and have been talking in the Oden Cart FOR MONTHS. I hope. Someone write this fanfic.

Here's the scene in which the Kikai-ki attacks. They are repeated from the last trailer, but the scene of Tarou fighting the monster is a bit extended. You can see the Kikai-ki has Ricky's Gatling Gun. I hope is just coincidence :D.

And the Zenkai logo is here avenging Set-chan!

Someone is super proud of this joke.

AAANNDDD, I can only put up to 30 images on a post in tumblr, so link to the Zenkai part

Or the Crossover part, why not

[all-pacas]

I’m intrigued by multiclassing my guys in bg3 but I don’t really know where to start :V how/why did you pick the second classes you did? Do you rec it at 5th, or should I do it now at 4th?

CRACKS KNUCKLES

The short answer: synergy! There are some classes that just go really well together for various reasons. Some classes also have front loaded powers and abilities and not as great high level ones, making it tempting to “double dip.”

Same with levels. Level five is actually a HUGE power spike: it’s when most melee classes get their second attack, and when casters get 3rd level spells (Fireball! Spirit Guardians!). Personally, I never multiclass any melee before level five for that reason. Magic classes are case by case: I’m playing my particular druid as a melee fighter with magic, so I don’t care as much about stronger spells.

As for synergies — each class has a primary stat, right? So for example, let’s take Astarion. He’s gonna want high DEX. He’s a rogue, so his whole thing is hitting very hard in a burst. So, what can compliment that? Gloomstalker Assassin, that’s what!

Rogues don’t get multi attack. What they do instead is hit super hard once. At level 3, Astarion can become an Assassin, which gives him extra initiative and damage to anyone behind him in turn order.

Gloomstalker Ranger, meanwhile, ALSO gives extra initiative, AND a free attack first round of combat. Pair those up, and you get Astarion at level 6 with HUGE damage on the first turn, always acting first, free first round sneak attack and a free first round extra attack. Assassins also have pretty lame high level bonuses. I mean, rogues are always fantastic, but assassins just get free disguise self. Rangers, though, get extra attack at level 5…

So, Astarion as a Ranger 5/Rogue 7 will get two attacks per turn (one sneak attack), cunning action, extra initiative, evasion, uncanny dodge, two free resistances, and on his first turn gets to go first and attack three times. Oh, and he can use ensnaring strike and Hunter’s Mark to be extra rude. Rogues and Rangers both love DEX; it’s pretty easy to bump up his Wis a bit to use ranger spells.

That’s basically multiclassing 101! Find classes that like the same stats (Warlock/Bard), or have overlap (Fighter/Paladin — Fighters don’t use CHA, but Paladins only use it for spells, so you can sacrifice it a bit). Look for fun synergies: 2 levels in Cleric gives you 1 channel divinity, Tempest Cleric gets free “maximize damage on a lightning spell,” Storm Sorcerers Exist…

But it also doesn’t have to be MinMax!! My Druid/Monk probably isn’t optimized, but I just like getting little numbers when I hit: free necrotic damage! Free fire damage from my staff! As long as any two classes share a main or secondary stat, the sky is the limit! Have fun with it!

ETA: Some combos I personally enjoy!

Gloomstalker Assassin for Astarion. LOVE this one. Level 5 Ranger to get two attacks; level 7 rogue because more Sneak Attack is always good, and so is Evasion.

Bardlock! I've done a magic build version, Bard 10/Warlock 2. Warlock 2 is fun because that's the level you get Eldritch Invocations, ie, beef up Eldritch Blast. Since it's a cantrip, it'll keep leveling up on its own. Bards don't have great cantrip damage options, so this allows them to do their thing/concentrate on a buff or debuff while still doing stupid damage. You could go higher on Warlock, but with magic classes after a while you start losing higher level spells, so it's a trade.

Melee Bardlock? I'm going to try this out in my Honor Run. Wyll really wants to be pact of the blade, but it's honestly kind of mediocre. But College of Swords Bard gets some fun buffs to their attacks, and Valor gives Wyll some better armor options. Swords/Valor get multi attack at level 6, and Blade Warlocks get one at 5; I don't think they'll stack, sadly. I'm thinking Warlock 5/Bard 7 will make him a really great debuffer.

Sorc/Cleric: I did this in my last run! Tempest Clerics get heavy armor, which does so much to keep a Sorcerer from being super squishy. And their channel divinity at level 2 means you can, once a short rest, do max damage on a spell. Tempest Clerics get lots of lightning spells and buffs to those spells. I went Sorc 10/Cleric 2, and barely buffed my WIS at all; I wasn't planning on using cleric spells, just that Channel Divinity.

Paladin/Warlock: a classic for a reason! Fun hack: Pact of Blade warlocks can attune to a weapon, meaning they use charisma as their attack stat, meaning you can ignore STR entirely and just make them tanky as hell.

[khiphop-discussions]

OK, nevermind y'all. I'm not too old. The Yonge Jaundice x Gwangil Jo beef is interesting LOL

dropthekhhtea on twitter dropped a thread on it earlier today detailing a lot of it if you want all the details (I'm just trying to make a short list for people who don't have twitter but the thread is way more detailed) but really yonge jaundice is accusing Gwangil Jo of multiple things:

(in order in which I remember)

Gwangil didn't donate all of his winnings. He only donated around 60% and then donated the rest from an advertisement/brand deal(?) with LG.

Gwangil said he wasn't leaving dippin carls for Skull's label and wasn't in secret talks about that. When he was asked by Brown tigger straight up he denied it until the end. As we all know, he recently signed with Skull's label.

Throws away fan gifts

***is allegedly trying to figure out how to dodge military service (even though military service is one reason he told dippin carls he was gonna leave the label)

implied that Gwangil Jo actually DID end up evading service

Says he did plagiarize Token's intro (this was a whole separate controversy) even though Gwangil denied it and that denial has been put on private now on some youtubers channel

said that SMTM is rigged/scripted and the winner is known since the first episode**

Said that he just wants to make music copying other rappers like token and eminem and there was a kakaotalk conversation between gwangil's gopher and gaeko. IDK who the gopher is. My mind immediately went to Code Kunst cause that's the other half of that producer team. HOWEVER, the fact that he doesn't mention the name makes me wonder if it's someone from SMTM who wasn't on TV (maybe an exec. producer or someone else in the staff) or it could be another contestant/someone else we saw on SMTM but for some reason Yonge doesn't wanna mention their name.

Outside of the diss song: he posted pictures of Gwangil's dirty office/room that Gwangil didn't clean up after they had cleaned up and left the former dippin carls building. I'm assuming this was done to humiliate gwangil by calling him dirty but also to show the selfishness and callousness that gwangil displays.

Also outside of the diss: Yonge says that Gwangil fans have started looking him up online to find his information to post online and some people have even showed up to his parents' house. Yonge says he will destroy those people who do stuff like that and Gwangil better get his fans under control or he (yonge) might tell even more stuff.

So basically he's putting all of Gwangil Jo's info on blast and I think there might be even more stuff that I forgot to include.

Gwangil basically isn't responding (SPECULATION: but I think a big reason is because he realizes Yonge has too much dirt on him but he probably has none or very little on him. Yonge can probably go way lower which is shocking to me because the military evasion accusations, the donations thing, and telling the fans he (allegedly) throws their gifts away are already SUPER low blows in my opinion). But he's thrown indirect shade about someone feeling inferior to rappers who are more popular.

** I do believe SMTM is rigged/scripted in some way BUT I don't believe it's scripted in the same way that a K-drama is. It would be too obvious cause most people have no acting background. I think they are given loose directions like many reality shows nowadays and people go along with it.

*** I do believe yonge is telling the truth especially about the military shit because I can't even lie, I'd be trying to dodge that shit too. I already have started concocting excuses for why I can't go if the US decides to start making women sign up for the selective service LOL

[troglobite]

laksjdf

sometimes it feels like my mom gives really vague answers on purpose

i walked in to ask her abt dinner bc i was gonna get up and bake to stop myself from continuing to watch attorney woo

i can tell immediately that she's not in a good mood but idk why

so i gently ask two questions

bc on the screen is the ferry system for canada

so i ask what she's doing and she says looking at ferries to canada

and i ask "can i ask why?"

and she says bc they canceled the one from here to victoria [or something]

and i'm just like

so clearly no allowed to ask for clarification

my anxiety is spiking bc this could mean someone randomly suggested another (dangerous, not covid safe) trip and she's not telling me

and that's why she's in a "bad mood" already

and that's why she's giving me non-answers that she KNOWS are not fucking answers

bc she gets like this abt ONLY THINGS LIKE THIS

where she demands to know why i want to know

when i have repeated a million times and will repeat until the day i die

i just like to have all the information. it makes me feel better. i'm not gonna do anything with that information. but having it helps. being in the loop is super crucial for me.

but no, whenever something like this comes up, she gets angry and defensive and evasive and refuses to answer my questions

and puts herself in this triggered place of "beck is trying to control my life"

i just "accepted" her non-answer and tried to have a normal conversation

and she just acted weird and wouldn't pay any attention to me and was barely listening

and then got irritated when i mentioned why i came in--bc if she's making steak for dinner, then i didn't want to be in her way baking something, so i could bake something different maybe. that i'm trying to stop watching attorney woo bc i'm now on ep 8 of 16 (in like three days flat)

so now i'm just afraid to talk to her and i'm afraid she's mad at me

and i'm just supposed to Do Nothing About It

and pretend that everything's fine bc that's what she's doing.

bc if she's not telling me explicitly that something is wrong then i can't respond to that bc it's not fair to me to have to sit here and anticipate and read between the lines and be psychic to figure out what's going on

and apparently i'm not allowed to be concerned about covid or trips or anything

i'm so tired of being treated like an idiot nuisance the SECOND anything goes wrong

meanwhile she's put off looking at counselors for us both to go to until at least may

the reasons she listed aren't like, bullshit or anything. they're legitimate.

but i emailed her about it in january and then again at the beginning of february

and she didn't do anything about it or bring it up

and i was afraid to bring it up

and then i finally did

and i get this longass email talking about all this shit happening and how busy and how she won't have any money and she can't do anything "bc it deserves [her] full attention"

but that's just. impossible. nothing will ever get her full attention. she will never have enough space to actually devote to that.

she doesn't want to do this, i'm sure.

and if she does, she just wants to blame it all on me.

i hate this.

one semi-weird interaction and i'm spiraling and want to cry.

it's just the same every time

if i walk in and she has a weird fucking vibe then we're not gonna be normal at all for the rest of the day, and that's just that.

and she'll NEVER ADMIT that she was being weird and argumentative and short w me or rude or anything. "i'm completely fine and normal, stop insinuating that something is wrong"

but something IS wrong and you're lying to me and/or yourself and it's exhausting

and this is what i live in constant fear of

just something turning on a dime and it being impossible to exist in the same room with her or have a normal conversation

i can't ask innocent questions that mean nothing, that she wouldn't have a problem with any other day

and if i DARE suggest that's out of the ordinary, then i'm being the argumentative cruel and judgmental one

i'm tired. i hate these moods. i hate these times. i hate that there's nothing i can do about them.

bc then she's just infinitely louder around the house, too, so hiding in my room doesn't do anything.

then she'll get annoyed that i'm in my room or something.

i hate this.

there is no solution to this and she won't even LOOK at counselors for another 2 months.

meanwhile they'll probably stop accepting new patients by then if they haven't already.

i'm so fucking tired and sick of this.

i'm not gonna bake i'm just gonna keep watching attorney woo and keep hiding in my room. bc fuck this.

[imwall-e]

W&TWS - Issues

Summary : He is a super-soldier of more than 100 year old, struggling to find a place in this new world. She is a young student of 23, struggling with life. But they know they can find comfort and help in each other.

Pairing : Bucky Barnes x Reader

Word Count : 1024

Warnings : non, (maybe some insecurities)

Series Masterlist

March 26th, 2021

They exchanged messages almost everyday, talking about themselves or about their day.

However, James was still a bit evasive about his past. Willow would probably be scared if she learned he used to be an assassin. Or think he's lost his mind if he told her he fought during WW2 and fall from a train, but survived to be torture, brainwashed and turned into a weapon. He wasn't ready for that even if he really wanted to trust her. 

What he didn't know was that Willow had trust issues too. She only explained that she wasn't able to go to high school for almost 2 years due to medical reasons, from her 16 to her 18. The truth was that she had depression and school phobia. She spent a year in a hospital with other teenagers. It was difficult, but nurses, psychologists and psychiatrists were very kind and attentive.

Willow started to feel something towards James, but she wanted to take things slow, to know him more. Not like before. In any case, they decided to meet again a week after they met. 

Willow closed her laptop after her last class of the day was over. She was so tired of all this and couldn't wait to join James at the park for a walk.

She talked about him to her close friends, Zephyr, Axel, Dysariel and Ophelia. She showed them a picture of him from his Instagram. Axel said that he seemed familiar, but they couldn't remember where they could have seen him.

"I think Scamp is a lucky charm so I'm gonna steal him because I want a god too in my life", joked Dysariel who continued by asking if James had a twin.

They all laughed. "Careful Willow, or he won't just steal your dog, he'll take your boyfriend too," Zephyr laughed.

"He's not my boyfriend", said Willow. "I'd like to, of course, but I don't want to repeat the same mistakes. This time, I want to be sure."

They agreed and reminded her to send messages after the "date".

✪✪✪

On his side, James did the same thing: tell his friends.

"But, you met other people during your trip around the world?" Steve asked during their video call.

"Yes, but I never gave my number or flirted with anyone. They were just people I talked to and then goodbye." James answered.

"So, you like this girl ?"

"Yes, but I don't know what to do."

"Come on, pal! That's not different. I mean, you've dated before."

"I don't think Willow is like the girls from the 40s, Steve."

There was silence for ten long seconds.

"Wait, wait, wait", Steve began, surprised. "The last time you were with a girl was almost 80 years ago ?"

"Excuse me, Hydra didn't really introduced me to people in order to flirt or have sex. Then, Shuri found a way to take the words out of my mind, but I was and I am still scared."

"You still have nightmares?" Steve was worried. Bucky used to tell him everything.

"Yes", Bucky answered, his voice shaking. He didn't want to talk about that right now. Steve was about to say something, but he interrupted him. "Sorry Steve, we'll talk another time. It's almost 3 pm and I have to meet Willow."

Steve was really happy for his best friend. He deserved some peace and happiness after all he went through. Steve also hoped he'd meet this young woman soon.

Of course, Bucky talked about Willow to his best friend and the others… but he didn't say a thing about the Avengers. They seemed less famous in Europe. He'll talk about heroes and villains and traumas, just not now. Not today. When he was with Willow, he just wanted to enjoy the present.

✪✪✪

It was the end of March, but the weather seemed more appropriate for a month of November. The sun barely appeared, and everyone was waiting for warmer days.. As Willow walked towards the park, red appeared on her cheeks due to the cold. She arrived in advance, as always because she hated being late. It made her anxious. To be honest, she was also really excited to see James again.

On his side, James almost ran to see her faster. And when he discerned her figure, a large smile appeared on his face and he slowed down to not show that he couldn’t wait to see her. When she finally turned his face to him, he waved at her and she answered.

“Hi,” he simply said when he arrived in front of her. “How was your online class ?”

“Terrible. I can’t wait for the end of May, then I’ll see if I continue or not. But I’m honestly thinking about giving up and doing something else. I don’t see myself staying one more year, or two if I fail this one.”

“I totally understand and I really hope you’ll find something you’ll love. Tell me at the end of May, okay?” He really hoped Willow would still be talking to him by then, he wasn’t thinking about leaving this country. He wanted to see where things would go with her.

“Of course, thank you, James. And what about you and your project ?”

“It’s going really well, a friend of Steve, my best friend, is helping me. It’s really nice of him because he used to hate me. Anyway, everything will be fine by the end of April. I’m scared but really excited to start something new on my own.”

“I’m really happy for you, James!” she said with enthusiasm. She also began to shake which didn’t go unnoticed by James.

“We should start walking, or even go to my hotel. We’ll drink something if you want?”, he suggested.

“I’d love to, especially if they have hot chocolate.”

“I’m sure they do.”

They began to move towards the hotel, still talking, their hands brushing against each other from time to time. It was a great feeling. They spent a great afternoon, and when time came for Willow to go home, they promised to meet again next Friday. And this time, they’ll meet at James’ hotel.

Series Masterlist || Chapter 2 || Chapter 3 || Chapter 4 || Chapter 5 || Chapter 6

[crystalelemental]

Apparently, a new goal has arisen this week, where I want to clear CS with every character I have 5+ alts of. Which is not as many as you think. I have three others after this. The goal was really just "let's see who has the easiest time of it," but this is also a bit of an excuse to test other pairs. So I guess next up is Lillie.

Vs. Hala Lodge Lillie was recently given her EX, in hopes that she'd actually shine a bit better now, and be able to explode center. I brought along Palentine's Dawn to help, since she can debuff Attack for the multiplier, and Special Defense for better damage. Jasmine came alone because I had expected that lowering attack and having Protect up as a condition would save her. If Hala uses Close Combat, it's over. Anyway. Lillie herself did great. 33k on first sync, 77k on second. Much, much better.

Vs. Acerola I decided next to test out SS Hau's initially stated purpose of supporting my other Electric types. Spoilers, he does a damn fine job of it. Electroweb isn't the best DPS without Fairy Zone active, but that isn't the biggest deal with an EX Striker like Elesa, who is able to hit for like 18k now with minimal issue. Lillie's base form was chosen just because she can help set up Elesa's offensive needs quickly, and Elesa is capable of capping her own crit just fine now.

Vs. Kahili You know what this is. This time, though, I opted to have Lillie focus on blasting center instead of a second denial. It turns out this is actually safer, because she can take out center pre-sync on DPS alone. Which is pretty great.

Vs. Olivia Yeah so it turns out Olivia buffs her defense by one stage every time she's hit, and Masked Royal was an objectively bad idea. Thankfully, Steven can filnch. Also I forgot that NY!Lillie was weak to Rock. Fortunately, evasion. Also fun fact, I initially tried SC Lillie here to support Thorton, thinking this would be a fun test. Friends, his second sync nuke hit for 6k. SECOND sync nuke, on-type, 6k. Thorton is awful at this.

Vs. Kukui So initially, I decided hey, I'm gonna try with Flint. It's stupid, yes, but I want to see what his damage looks like. It's not great. So then I went to Ethan, thinking this should be manageable. It was not manageable. So then I cracked and went straight to Anni N, who has Piercing Gaze and a buttload of DPS. That finally did it. I feel like this fight was really weird. Does Kukui just have really high special defense? I feel like he must just have really high special defense, but Anni Lillie handled him, so like...it can't be that bad, right? Anyway, SC Lillie kept missing Kukui because +1 evasion so that was super great.

Final Thoughts Being such a support-heavy character, Lillie's pretty easy to just emphasize on-type with. She has a very fast offense buffing option that works with anyone who supplies their own crit, a fast-acting crit buffer with some evasion play, and one of the very valuable special attack/crit buffers. Anni Lillie is also fine off-type with Caitlin and Cynthia backing her up. And Lodge Lillie is pretty good as a damage dealer, when EX. The main issue is that all of her supports feel kinda...lacking? Like, base Lillie is dying for an expansion that gives her something to survive off of, and NY!Lillie just has so little going for her outside of that crit rate. She's fun in Gauntlet, but not CS. Even SC Lillie, who is generally considered really good, is riddled with problems in my book. She has the same physical frailty issue as Jasmine, but a harder time with special defense given the layout of her skills. Her sync also doesn't actually do anything, while Jasmine's gives everyone goddamned Endurance, so as an EX support, Jasmine's way stronger to me. The flinch is an argument to be made, but considering her initial buffing, her Potion healing needs, and the fact that it can miss means relying on it to save yourself from eating a sync isn't consistent. I dunno, there's just...a lot that feels more limited for Lillie.

[brancadoodles]

Hey you two! Thank you for messaging me! Sorry if I won’t answer you two individually, it’s just that you two bring similar points I’d like to use to say even more stuff bc I can’t shut up, apparently.

Lady with Caribbean family whose dad plays Overwatch: that’s so cool, i tried to show my mom how to play too (she chose Mei, because chubby) but didn’t have a lot of time to try. I hope your dad is happy with Baptiste!! He seems like a very Dad character, being a defender and a healer! DAD MATERIAL Y’ALL!! THE DAD ROSTER IS GROWING!

For starters, I just wanted to make clear to everyone that I’m not a black woman - far from it, in fact - and I’m not Caribbean nor do I have many connections to the region. So any black person, especially black women, and MOST ESPECIALLY Caribbean people/people from Caribbean descent, has a deeper knowledge of what I said in that take and I do not intend to take away any place of speech. I just thought it was convenient to at least introduce my thoughts from the position of someone who clearly remembers the 2010 Haiti earthquake (many of your were too young then) and who knows game development to a higher extent than most of the OW community. Also, before I got crazy with the gamer community acting mega entitled over stuff - more on that later.

That said, I gotta say a few things under the cut:

Fans - especially fans from demographics that have little or bad representation in mainstream games - have the right to want a character that represents their image, culture, and values, and that celebrates them. But no one is entitled to such characters when the game is made and controlled by a private capitalist company. The SJW (a word I’ll use as a shorthand for people who defend diversity and respect in the community bc I personally love the idea of us being warriors) OW community is usually pretty understanding, but there are many corners that seem to demand the addition of x or y type of character in the main cast. And Blizzard is not a pizzeria: they try to cater to general cries of the community, within viable time, but game development is a freaking complicated business with lots of flaws and variables.

For instance: the Overwatch creative team at the beginning was, in its majority, male and American white. Michael Chu is of Asian descent, and I know through stories that Blizzard has many female employees and is quite accepting and chill, but it’s still a major multiplayer US-centric Triple A game, and they wanted to cater to what is perceived to be the biggest public for those: young-ish white males. That ties in with their earnestness to try and make a diverse game with a diverse and respectful cast, but their probable lack of understanding of what exactly the public wanted at the moment - or in the next year, because - and I’ll make it bold to drill this into your minds - it takes from 6 months to one year to develop a new character from scratch until they’re added to the cast. Fucking understand this once and for all - game pipelines are very complicated. Again, this is not a pizza place - they have a lot of testing and planning to do and changing the pipeline to add one character before the other is unhealthy for the production.

Therefore, what sparked the creation of Baptiste was, with almost all certainty, the claims for black Mercy as shown in the Overwatch Artbook released around mid-2018. I can’t affirm what they were thinking when they discarded that concept in favor of barbie angel Mercy (ilu blondie), but my guess is that they thought it tied better with both the Valkyrie and the Guardian Angel concepts they were developing, as well as adding a woman of “conventional European beauty” (uuugh) so girls would be represented without rippling the waters too much - remember, she was a release hero, and they had no idea how well Overwatch would fare then. BUT when the community said they would WELCOME a black man as a nurturing support figure (*cough* dad), they reimagined "Angelo” as Baptiste.

Could they have released black Mercy boy back in 2016? Maybe, but 2016 isn’t 2018, and Mercy was developed way farther back than this. They wanted the game to work first, and they probably thought a lot of what they did was already super diverse (and it was).

Which brings us to a very important and often ignored point: Brands aren’t friends. Blizzard, as much as its team tries to be inclusive, is a privately owned company and Activision-Blizzard just laid off 800 workers this month alone. Corporations, as they are conceptualized and existing in the neoliberal panorama of the 2010′s, are billion-dollar socioeconomic psychopaths. That doesn’t mean that Jeff and the OW team is inherently bad or seeking profit - honestly, game workers don’t make that much money in comparison to the administrative positions, and Jeff is very much just a designer -, but it does mean that they are held by the company straps to generate enough capital to keep the machine running, PLUS profit for the execs.

Add to that the fact that the senior members of the OW team have started working in the 1900′s/2000′s, when gAMeR CuLTuRe was being sedimented, and so a lot of the previous concepts of what should be done in a big budget game to appease to the “main audience” are still at play in their minds: simply put, they aren’t millennials, and our culture changes a lot from one year to another. When they release Baptiste, the community is already claiming for a black woman stranger than ever, but remember that it wasn’t THAT blatant in July last year before Hammond (who was a passion project in the works for 4 years) and Ashe (who was an original character for the short film the team fell in love with and decided to add) - it kinda started picking up after Moira and esp Brigitte.

Does that leave them out of the hook? No, of course not. Keep complaining. They’ve already proved they were listening with Baptiste here. I seriously believe that one of the next 3 releases will be a black woman like we are all asking, because they’re seeing that’s something the audience wants. Black people are historically entitled to fair and plentiful representation all around, especially in mainstream media, but it’ll hardly happen in current capitalist culture unless it’s proven to be profitable. No company serves its community, it serves itself using the community - the value said community draws from it is what us, consumers, consider important, but no brand is required to be loyal to us. It could be that Jeff and Michael are begging to the producers to let them add a black woman from the start, and the producers say their hands are tied because their research say black women don’t play games and players don’t care - we’ll never know. We can only tell Blizzard “Hey, Baptiste is really great, big leap you made here, next time black woman okay? We need a black woman.”

(To be completely fair, they should hire black women to the creative team just as is, and make the team even more diverse (I may be wrong but I don’t see a lot black people, not even a lot of Latino people, when the team is seen). Making diverse people part of the team doesn’t mean we’ll get so-and-so character, but it adds a flavor that American white males in their 30s and 40s don’t have. But that’s another discussion for another day)

Now, to wrap this up, a message for gamers who say “you’re complaining too much there’s no diversity are you blind half the cast is non-white” oh yea and ALL NONWHITE PEOPLE ARE THE SAME RIGHT???? WE ALL THE SAME. I’M BRAZILIAN I NECESSARILY AM FROM RIO AND PLAY FOOTBALL (it’s football) AND SAMBA. BLACK MEN ARE THE SAME AS BLACK WOMEN AND BLACK PEOPLE ARE ALL THE SAME EVERYWHERE. YES. OF COURSE. THAT’S HOW DIVERSITY WORKS THAT’S PRETTY MUCH THA go get a Viper shot up your ass in Capture the Flag it’s not my place to educate you on capital D Diversity, because diversity means there are a lot of takes in play. Diversity isn’t “nonwhite”, like white is a default. IT ISN’T.

So yea now I’m off to draw shippy art of Baptiste with everyone and family art too my God I love him so much you have no idea.

Also, brands aren’t friends, destroy the establishment, be aggressive but respectful, and the best fans are the ones who want the property getting better and make it better through their own creativity. Peace.

[cqlfeels]

Hi! I really like your blog and your takes, they're so good!!! I've been wondering, why do you think jc didn't marry? Like I have some theories regarding his character and all, but mostly, it doesn't seem to make sense in a political way? Like... He's the last one of his clan, which is one of the major clans, and which also had to be rebuild from its ashes, like shouldn't one of his first priorities be to leave a clear heir from his lineage? And maybe even to ensure another alliance with another clan besides the Jin? Like with Zewu Jun I can at least say that sizhui could be the lan heir, but jc is in his thirties and has a dangerous job. Can't wait to hear your thoughts :)

First of all, you're super nice and I hope you're having a great day 🥺

Okay so my gut feeling is to go "MXTX didn't want to write that." Which I know is an evasive answer! But the thing is.... That's not just a JC problem. Nobody seems to care about heirs in this story, istg. LXC does everything for his sect except get married and get an heir (LWJ is his heir, but he's a bad option for lots of reasons.) NMJ knows he's going to die and still doesn't try and get a kid. NHS doesn't have a heir at all, I don't think, not even like a cousin or whatever? JGY is leaving the sect to his nephew, which we the audience know the true reasons for, but the other characters don't seem to find it weird. JC can't leave his sect to JL so why isn't he trying to get married?? It's just. Nobody wants heirs istg. MXTX didn't want to create characters who'd add nothing to the story besides being someone's wife, I think. Plus, this being danmei, even het males are frequently Hot And Single™️ because genre tropes.

Barring this Doylist reasoning, what can we do in the way of a Watsonian explanation?

In general, I try to read into a text what the text tells me to read into it. So even if my gut feeling is "Wth, this is super weird!!" given how widespread this seems to be and how the characters all seem to act like that's normal, I'm gonna guess that for whatever reason, that's not that big of a deal in this universe. Maybe although MDZS cultivators aren't immortal they do live longer and so it's become a trend in the Sunshot generation to settle down later than usual because they want to focus on politics for a while? That's not usually how wars work in the real world, but this isn't real life, so it might be possible.

Now as far as JC goes, I don't think he's going to marry for love - he's going to marry to advance his sect's interests. Perhaps he feels this is a card he wants up his sleeve for as long as he can keep it, so that he plays it at a time when it's actually crucial instead of a wasted move?

And there is also JL to consider - once he has a child of his own, he cannot afford to give JL the same attention he does now. I mean. He can. But I doubt he wants JL to be the WWX to his kid's JC - "No son I don't like A-Ling better, it's just that he reminds me of someone I've lost, and also because he's not my heir I can spoil him in a way I can't spoil you"........ is not a conversation I think JC wants to have. Nor does he want to neglect JL in favor of his kid, I think, so that's a situation that'd require some finesse JC probably doesn't wanna bother with right now.

I also don't think JC likes the idea of marriage in general, but I'm pretty sure he'd put aside his preferences for the good of the sect, so again: I just don't think there's been a marriage of convenience with enough perks for it to justify him going for it, you know? What would be perks good enough for him? I honestly have no idea. I enjoy reading about politics but I don't have a good head for this kind of thing lol

I do think he's most certainly going to get married in the future, though. He's very dutiful to his family, and part of traditional Chinese filial piety is to have sons to carry your own father's legacy, and I don't think JC would be too comfortable ignoring that, even if he technically has the possibility of naming a disciple his heir.

[petitprincess1]

Ah, there y'all are. So, I'm gonna knock this out quick:

Never really said that she was doing anything wrong, but she is super suspicious and oddly protective Alan. I mean, she literally jumped so quickly into it being lies, instead of there being a possibilities.

They could be lying? Okay, so could Nightfur and Ami. Literally, we have NOTHING to go on when it comes to Ai's involvement. They literally went silent. Not even bringing it up in livestreams, from what I remember. Nothing. So, forgive me if I believe them, who gave a bit more evidence than Ami just saying didn't know them, versus Night, who is just a fan. Doesn't work for the crew at all.

Also, can we stop using the pandemic as an excuse? The pandemic wasn't existing for five fucking years only until around mid 2020, even then who knows when it hit Mexico. Also, if that's the case, then they shouldn't have been able to make the crossover or tiktok animations or the instas. Plus, it doesn't help that they don't say anything just that they're "hard at work". Sorry, in my eyes, the first season should've been near completion, at least a few eps, by the time the pilot came out. Do you not realize how bad it is that you dont have a second ep?

Finally, Alan isn't an amateur? What? I thought he was inexperienced. Suddenly, now he's not? At least you're admitting the rest of the crew is inexperienced. Granted, that's probably all that he can afford given the tax evasion. Yeah, that also could be lie, but it ain't like Alan is gonna say anything.

[manasurge]

GW2 30 Day Challenge

6. Favourite Elite spec?

(I couldn't find any fancy pics of my own to use, so instead have a couple angles of mirage cloak glitching out and turning the Mirage into an eternal swirling and glowing vortex. These are old screenshots before the Aurene mounts were released as well since I use those for my main) It's... Mirage!! (surprising to absolutely no one who knows me). I just LOVE being invulnerable and hard to hit, plus all the mobility that comes with the spec and the SUPER fast gameplay (I love very fast inputs and reactions, which makes playing slower classes difficult for me bc I'm impatient and spam click abilities lkdjflsf). Being able to jaunt/blink everywhere, shadowstep, clone+phantasm distractions, and evasion hax dodging (mirage cloak my beloved) made dodging part of my rotation, making me really dumb with a lot of other classes bc I instinctively want to dodge all the time due to muscle memory. Also fun fact: Mirage/Mesmer was the first spec that I used a 80-boost on, and I was able to learn it just fine! (and even became my favourite!) so boosting a class to learn it is totally okay in my opinion!! Just do cozy open world map comp to ease your way into it and it'll be cherry!

Granted I also don't exactly play the class as intended. While I have 3 builds for her (guess I should say my main, Vespaura), I tend to just use her power build (since Mirage is moreso meant for Condi and boons or w/e, which I have builds for and also never use lol). I think this build I like to use was originally made for the Labyrinth (tagging everything with GS), but I tweaked it a bit with other preferences since it has pretty good survivability and is an absolute monster when I attack huge groups of mobs (Greatsword lasers are the best invention and it NEVER gets old. Also the amount of laser ricochet gets me pretty high damage and looks absolutely bonkers on my side (what a lightshow!), plus my lasers are HOMING lasers, which means they will automatically hit any enemies in the vicinity around me and helps out if I don't notice them from a different angle, allowing me to re-orient myself. I also don't have to worry too too much about aim bc of this too! (oh yeah, and especially with relics being a thing now. Mabon relic has been pretty neat so far cuz I can take advantage of that boost being used to hit all those targets!). Though power GS does fall a bit against single targets, but that's fine! (I sort of have the daggers for that at least!). I also play with a trackpad, which is a funny thing to tell ppl, especially when playing a class like Mirage, lol. I just hate using a mouse and only have it for certain games that force me to use it. I just don't want carpel tunnel and my wrist is more relaxed this way (never had problems! so far at least). I just love playing at ranged with non-ranged weapons (Greatswords, daggers. Mine actually has all 3 types of blades (very lesbian of her) bc she has a sword as well. I literally gave her both of Caithe's weapons askjflfj. I'm so glad that I can give my Mirage daggers now!! much more fun than another sword/axe!). It's just so much fun, and I CAN'T WAIT to see what rifle is gonna be like!! I just love ranged classes bc stacking ALWAYS gets me killed constantly... so yeah I'm the annoying person who doesn't like stacking bc I'd rather not be dead!!!!! (I'm sorry I just HATE stacking. I can't see SHIT and it's just so much visual noise for me!! let me breathe!!) and plus I revive everyone in fights thanks to invulnerabilities allowing me to rez through attacks. You're welcome!!! (I rez so many people during metas and other fights) I also just love Mesmer in a class in general bc it's unique in comparison to a lot of other fantasy classes, and I just adore the concept and the aesthetics (flamboyant fancy dramatic magic user? HELL YEAH. Literally the gayest magic user ever and I'm eating it up). I also love the ability to make clones and all the pretty butterflies, and phantasms and all that! I know a lot of ppl don't like clones/phantasms, but they save my ass every time and I appreciate them very much.

[bourbon-ontherocks]

15 30 37 39 (for the sensitive writing asks 😉)

Aww, thank you so much for asking!! ❤️❤️

15. How you do write an original simile?

Oh wow, I don't even know if I ever wrote any? But I'm not sure it's something that I consciously decide to write, it's more like, sometimes there's a weird comparison which crosses my mind and if it makes me laugh I write it. Like barnacle Beth when she's all hangovered in It's All Coming Back To Me, or Rio saying she's a fuckable octopus in Love Of The Game (do I have a thing for comparing Beth to seafood? Should I get concerned?)

30. Has writing changed you in any ways?

Oh, so many! I think it developed my ability to unravel a story, like it sensitized me to the concepts of narrative arcs, characterization, tropes and stereotypes, and I feel like I'm more able to decipher these in other works of storytelling, whether it's a book/TV show/movie?

Also self-confidence and I have been struggling for decades at this point, and writing has been a real challenge. It played with my self-esteem, a lot, but I think that at the end of the day it helped me grow a little on that path. Very ironically, I really didn't give a shit about what people thought when I started writing, but then I felt like my "audience" started to grow at some point (or at least they commented more/left more kudos idk), and also befriending other authors kinda changed my perception of my own writing as well as belonging to this community that is the fandom (does that sound weird? Idk but I think you don't interact the same with friends as you do with total strangers). And as I grew aware of this I started to spiral, I got growingly anxious until I burnt out, and eventually I lost sight of the reason why I was doing this in the first place. I've been thinking a lot about this lately and I think that I'm now slowly detaching from granting too much importance to systematic comparisons (thank you @medievalraven for helping me realize it ❤️) and I'm starting to genuinely enjoy writing again. And I think that this whole journey within my self-confidence issues changed me, not only about my writing but in a more general way.

Ultimately, writing hopefully improved my English, which is kind of a change too?

37. Is it important to you that readers interpret your writing in the same way you do?

It used to be for sure. When I re-read older stories of mine, sometimes it feels like I'm explaining the story to a 5-year-old. I was so concerned with people's interpretation that I was over-explaining it. But then I started to be a little more subtle or evasive, I made some things implicit, and I realized through the comment that people still got it! Because guess what?? Readers aren't dumb!! I know, it's a revelation... I'm gonna give you a minute to recover. 😂😂

Anyway, the point is that I'm working on being less over-explicit, and sometimes I even get comments about things the reader saw that I!! Didn't!! Intend!! and I find it super cool and it inspires me so now I'm very okay with people interpreting my stories the fucking way they want.

39. What is something that you've learnt or figured out about writing from reading?

Due to the particular experience that is writing in English for me, I want to say vocabulary??? 😂😂

But I assume that this is not exactly what this question means, so I'll go with how to flesh out characters with backstory, little details, anecdotes, all the small things that make them more realistic humans and less two-dimensional inked words.

Very sensible writing asks

[levelrazearts]

So this was a project and a half, or two literally. SS Leader Optimus Prime with trailer, all painted up and man was he tough. To start things off, the v-mode as per usual and I started with the trailer so as to get that out of the way as soon as possible cause it was mainly just gonna be silver all over and that's annoying. And it kinda was, less though thanks to bigger brushes covering most of the area and yeh, silver. Also used gloss blue (cause I can't find any flat blue) along throughout as well as replacing the standard blue on it for a better contrast. After that, I took the jetpack piece off along with all the weapons and spray painted those in silver to help save time and it kinda did. At the least, it saved me a days worth of hand painting with just an hour or so. The sword and axe I painted the blade and edges in orange and yellow to kinda replicate the glowy look they have and I think it works kinda well. Sword also stays in a little better in the hand now cause the handle is painted. The gun I smeared some flat black on to give it the same look that the previous SS Voyager Prime has and yeh, that's that for the smaller accessories. For the jetpack, I left the inside unpainted so as to not run any off on the back when that's painted and went over the engine coverings with blue and replicated the flames with flat red which was not easy. Similar thing with the jet guns except with no flames, just blue and red. And for the base mode, I just painted the ring with flat black and left the inside unpainted to make it look not as neat and totally not cause I'm lazy. And yeh, that was it for the accessories, now for the figure himself. Starting with truck mode, the first thing was to redo the cab flames, specifically the rear and door flames, which involved replacing all blue with the new blue (except for front flames) and covering the old flames with blue as well. Then painstakingly painting on each set of flames one side at a time, which took a good two days to get right cause I had a lot of mishaps. Eventually, got that done and started on the roof flames as well, which also took a while but not as long thanks to being able to see both sides at once instead of having to rotate the figure back and forth. Then came the flames for the rear wheel guards and those are kinda simple cause idk they just are. Next was all the silver bits such as the gas tanks and the windows and mirrors, which didn't take to long. Also put in some metallic red into the Autobot logo on the grill to make it stand out. The trailer hitch I did in silver and flat black as per usual and the truck mode was pretty much done after that. Bot mode was more or less a bit of the same with replacing all the blue with the new blue, putting flames on the shoulder pads and bicep armour, silver and red throughout and flames on the insides of his legs. For the chest pieces, cause I had the original chest piece that came with Jetfire, I went over that one in flat red, and both had silver throughout with metallic red for the Autobot logo which is really just a dot lol. Also painted on the ends of the flames on the sides for each so that looks nice I think. After all that, he was pretty much done. All in all, a pretty big custom at least in recent years, that last one that was this extensive was probably the Voyager Optimus from TLK toyline with all of his flames. Maybe Evasion mode Prime from AoE. But regardless, super pleased with how he turned out, actually proud of the flames and unless the release another TLK version Optimus with the correct arms lol, I don't think I'm gonna be doing any more movie style Primes for a long time, which is kinda relieving cause I don't want to paint flames like those ever again lol. So yeh, Optimus Prime, second to last of the figures I had yet to customize. And now, to finish up the last one.