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maddie-grove · 3 years

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Little Book Review: Slam Book

Author: Ann M. Martin.

Publication Date: 1987.

Genre: Contemporary YA.

Premise: Anna, a high school freshman, is desperate to be popular at her new school. After learning about slam books (i.e., notebooks that get passed around the school so people can anonymously write gossip and what they think of each other), she becomes convinced that they're the key. Her idea works; she and her friends become the center of attention, and she lands herself a boyfriend after slam book drama breaks up his old relationship. Unfortunately, her success sparks a feud with her nasty rich friend Paige, who also likes the boy. What carnage will this vendetta wreak? More than you'd think! Like, a lot more! This is an upsetting book!

Thoughts: This book wasn't on my radar as a kid. Born in 1990, I caught the tail end of the Baby-Sitters Club era. (Claudia was my favorite, but I had the heavy burden of identifying with Mallory.) I read a few of her newer books--cute stories about sentient dolls and more somber novels set in the 1960s--plus one excitingly trashy pre-BSC kidnapping thriller, Missing Since Monday. I didn't hear about Slam Book until I was in college and hanging around in bsc-snark, a LiveJournal community devoted to semi-affectionately mocking BSC novels. There, it had a certain notoriety for its graphic, insensitive portrayal of suicide and its arguably sociopathic heroine.

I don't know what made me want to check it out after so many years--morbid curiosity? misdirected nostalgia for the LJ days?--but it was free and easy to do so. Having read it, I think bsc-snark was wrong about one thing: Anna isn’t a sociopath. She comes across as a fourteen-year-old who’s fairly below average in terms of maturity, empathy, and understanding of the world around her. In theory, this is kind of neat. YA protagonists are usually at least of average maturity; even if they’re deficient in one area (i.e., they’re naive or have poor impulse control) they’re above-average in other ways. A girl like Anna would usually be the disappointing best friend of the put-upon protagonist, or the queen bee’s easily led sidekick. She’s Heather from Speak, or an irritating Gretchen-Karen hybrid.

Unfortunately, Martin is no Judy Blume, and Anna is no Jill Brenner. (Blubber has its flaws, but it’s sharply written and captures the cruelty of young tweens.) There’s nothing really wrong with Anna, in the end. She’s just a nice girl who made mistakes because she wanted popularity too much. She never expands her perspective to think more about the inner (or, hell, the outer) lives of Paige, her black friend Randy, her friend Jessi who has family troubles, her romantic rival Casey, or Cheryl, the poor girl who kills herself. There’s little sense that she should. Most gallingly, Anna’s parents, the voice of reason, assure her that her bullying of Cheryl wasn’t a big deal and that the suicide was inevitable because Cheryl was so disturbed. This is a tricky subject. I don’t think that Anna is responsible for Cheryl’s suicide; there are very rare instances where I’d ever say that someone drove another person to kill themself, and Anna tricking Cheryl into thinking that Paige was her friend and that a boy liked her doesn’t rise to that level. Yet it’s still a cruel thing to do to anyone, and crueler still because Cheryl is so obviously pitiful. The narrative could’ve pointed out the limits of Anna’s responsibility without downplaying the seriousness of the bullying. The extremely simple style of the novel doesn’t help with the screwed-up message, either. I respect the need for hi-lo YA, but there’s something ghoulish about telling this kind of story at a sixth-grade reading level.

Goodreads Hot Take: Blubber, Heathers, and Thirteen Reasons Why all come up with some frequency. That’s another thing about Slam Book; it constantly reminds you that you could be reading or watching something better. Yes, I’m including Thirteen Reasons Why. Like Slam Book, both novel and show perpetuate a simplistic understanding of suicide—people kill themselves because their lives are bad—but they kind of take an opposite tack. Instead of “don’t worry about how your actions affect others; if their mental health suffers, that’s their problem,” we get “do worry about how your actions affect others; if you’re even a little mean to them, their suicide is on your head.” Which is still horrible, but at least it’s anti-bullying instead of pro? What a tiebreaker.

#little book review #slam book #ann m. martin #tw suicide #tw bullying

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magpiemorality · 4 years

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Freudian Sides, A Very Long Meta Theory Post

This is a rewrite of a rambling post with my imagining of fitting the Sides into the Freudian Personality Theory of the id, ego and superego. I have never studied psychology but enjoyed researching this a bit! It’s edited and added-to to be more readable and understandable, and mainly to collect all of my own thoughts in one place for me to come back to later. If you’re interested then read on, warning that it’s a long one, full of rambling opinions from this one thinker here, but hopefully some of it is interesting. If you agree with me let me know, if you disagree with me also let me know, but I should point out that this is just one theory I’ve applied to the series and characters and there are probably loads out there that fit!

Let’s get to it~

Warnings: mention of infection, very long post, badly researched psychology!

AO3

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The Freudian Personality Theory

Summarised from this article

The theory that Freud presented is that the psyche/personality can be separated into three distinct parts; the ID, the EGO and the SUPEREGO. These are not physical parts but aspects of the psyche that influence the personality of a person.

The id is the most basic instincts, deep in the subconscious, things like eating, seeking pleasure (in the sense of good feelings for the person), and survival instinct; things that won’t change as you age because they are so intrinsic (apart from the development of the reproduction instinct in those it presents itself in). The superego is the conscience and the ‘ideal self’, your most socially affected part that dictates morality and outward self you want to project into the world. It’s the bit that makes you choose to do stuff for others and follow laws and social rules, and gives you the desire to be better and improve, as well as being a source of guilt or pride if you succeed or fail at those things. The ego balances the two, trying to find the best outcome by appeasing the id while following the code of the superego. It uses rational thinking and grounds decisions in reality while still working to seek a positive overall outcome for the person. It doesn’t have the sense of right or wrong that the superego has, and failing to control the id can result in feelings such as guilt or anxiety, which it may try to unconsciously defend the psyche against as a coping mechanism. It is concerned primarily with helping the personality feel good in a socially acceptable way.

Sides as aspects of the Personality Theory

So I found that this theory fit rather well with the sides, better than the dark sides/light sides, left brain/right brain, each side has an opposite, disorders vs productive aspects, conscious vs unconscious aspects, all theories which are interesting but never quite rang true for me. The way the theory presents the aspects as independent workers that influence the personality of the person lines up very well against the personified Sides, affecting Character Thomas as he utilises them.

In that regard I see the sides we see during the series more as entities brought to life and assigned personifications semi-consciously by Character Thomas rather than the aspects of the psyche brought to life, or the sides of his personality brought to life, because I believe that a) he has changed them prior to and during the series by interacting with them consciously and semi or subconsciously assigning them personifications, and b) they all perform multiple roles and duties beyond what their named ‘role’ in the series is, so just sticking to that doesn’t fit, or would require a whole host of other characters that we don’t know about to exist, which I personally don’t see working well within the series (Orange notwithstanding; that’s a discussion for another time!).

In order to reconcile those things my thoughts were to place each side within the Freudian theory and then explain why they might not entirely fit using points a and b as supporting evidence.

Firstly, Virgil and Remus would be the id, the instincts and base functions, easily able to disrupt and overwhelm the main psyche if left unchecked. Too much attention paid to these can result in feelings of guilt or anxiety, influenced by the Superego, and overall I think the id is a mess of conflict of instincts as well as survival wars with curiosity and impulse. So, Remus is pure impulse and represents several base instincts such as sexual and morbid.

The ego is of course Logan and Janus, with their logic and rational thinking and defense of Character Thomas over everything else, which adhering to social values and concepts. They are very much the self control sides and do exactly that, working together not only to keep Virgil and Remus satisfied and not overwhelming, but to do the same for the superego sides. They don’t bother themselves with wrong or right, but prioritise Character Thomas’ well-being, sometimes over the superego as well, keeping that in check just as easily as they keep the id in check. Logan is a notable foil for Remus and often Virgil, and Janus has proven his own desire to act in this way. Perhaps while the superego was essentially in charge this is why the id sides became disordered; because Janus was only able to do half of his role and overcompensated by forcing the id down entirely rather than offering compromise along with Logan and keeping the superego in check at the same time. The feelings of guilt that catalysed that must have been fairly great, which matches up well with Character Thomas’ religious upbringing and how that would have interacted with puberty and his growing sense of self.

That leaves Roman and Patton as the superego, which just fits!! Patton is the conscience and morality side but in many ways so is Roman. He also firmly believes in the code of right and wrong, perhaps recently shown to be influenced by Patton or perhaps he simply feels it more strongly than Patton. We certainly know him to be a product of that way of thinking, with the half of creativity concept. And as Character Thomas’ career aspirations it is interesting to look at him because had there been another career of choice he would perhaps have been entirely different, or if you prefer to look at it the other way; Character Thomas may have chosen to pursue a career in performance because his superego and ideal self is incredibly theatrical and performance orientated. They also both strive to be the best people they can be, more so than any other sides holding themselves to lofty standards and their own account in the model of ‘best’ that society has taught them! The religious influence can’t be downplayed here. And they do influence Thomas's negativity over first Virgil- with Roman’s constant animosity towards the side before the acceptance- and then Remus- from Roman and Patton as well, while Logan the ego is more concerned with neutralising the threat Remus poses instead of fearing him. It could be said that Patton even influences Virgil's reaction to Remus, turning the id on itself by guilting survival instinct into attacking the other instincts as dangerous. Finally, if left unchecked themselves by the ego they also get out of hand and become neurotic and overwhelm the psyche too. Patton caused the distinction between light and dark and is responsible for many feelings of guilt and poor conscience for Character Thomas, while Roman often feels insecure and unsuccessful because his ideal self is too out of reach for reality. They need the ego to stay in touch with reality and to function best for Character Thomas, in cohesion with the other sides.

Keep reading for the final part of my 'analysis';

How Character Thomas muddled things up

To me, this feels right for how the sides were all formed, with the added caveat that I think the choices Character Thomas made of assigning them personality traits has skewed the picture somewhat. For example as mentioned above; I don't think Remus was initially ‘Creativity’ at all, but that the impulsive thoughts he brought to the table were labelled that way because of the superego's guilt and influence not being held in check by the ego during formative years for the psyche.

Now the main problem in the Sanders Sides canon is that the sides, well, exist. The fact that Character Thomas sees them consciously and has subconsciously personified them has influenced and changed facets of each one in a very interesting way, character-wise. The superego’s control over everything has inspired Character Thomas to demonise certain aspects that would otherwise have been perfectly natural and safe, albeit in controlled doses. Instead we have the entire id forced subconscious and then breaking out to bring Virgil to the conscious fore; But let’s look at this more on a character by character basis (because I apparently need to write it this way!).

Remus, who would have just been base instincts but also due to suppression has become disordered as intrusive thoughts, but thanks to Character Thomas’ conscious personification of Roman, was subconsciously remodeled as ‘dark creativity’, even though the two function in completely different ways in the show, and in this theory. Roman’s creativity, aka the imagination, is a conscious choice that Character Thomas chooses to use, and he actively chooses not to think ‘dark’ thoughts in his imagination. Remus is more impulsive and base and subconscious, uncontrolled and not so much creativity as original thought coming from those instincts and, mainly (I’ll keep on at this thread forever I swear) impulse. Interestingly in the Vines, if they exist within the same universe, then Remus’ impulses have in fact been regularly satisfied through (as mentioned many times before) jumping out of a car, setting things on fire, all the butt selfies, etc. His Intrusive Thoughts title could therefore stem from mainly the repression of his aspect of the psyche; by forcing the baser instincts down on the principle of them being ‘wrong in the eyes of society’ the superego and Character Thomas unwittingly created a sort of malformation where impulse becomes more negative and unwelcome because there is no outlet, like an infected wound, trying to lash out and instead of being cowed by the moral conscience only forming harder around that idea (that society would view them as bad) in order to do the lashing out. Think of it as a mental association of base instincts and those thoughts and impulses with ‘don’t think this’ and ‘bad for you and for society’. The pink elephant thought experiment is incredibly relevant here. The more repressed instincts are, the more they wildly act out and become disordered.

Virgil as the more survival instinct side of the id had a similar experience; through some means, probably overinfluence of the superego he became disordered as well, his survival instinct shifting from physical danger to more often social danger, and his expression as Anxiety was a malformed way of working his role for Character Thomas and responding to the control and repression the superego exerted over him. The intrusive thoughts and anxiety disorders that Character Thomas experiences I would theorise came from the id trying to balance an overzealous superego- and the impact of the superego imposing societal concerns on an aspect of the psyche that should never deal with the outside world- with the ego overwhelmed by the superego as well. It’s intriguing that when he was accepted/became a ‘light side’ his name was not changed from Anxiety to something more reflective of his job, however I suppose there’s a case to be made that once an aspect has become disordered, leading to mental health issues, it’s probably incredibly hard for it to turn back and ameliorating the symptoms is often the best solution. Accepting Anxiety in this case was the best thing they could have done, and accepting Intrusive Thoughts will hopefully come along soon as well.

Logan is fairly simply personified and distinguished and luckily mostly saved from the complications of personification, but not of the peronification of the others. They all have to function to keep themselves in check now as conscious beings, removing some of the responsibility from the ego as Character Thomas and the sides have started to think rationally for themselves. This has resulted somewhat in Logan becoming less relevant and useful and not being listened to as much, which we have seen in the show recently. He's still needed of course but his function has lessened with the development of the sides as personalities, and is perhaps going to be the next side to have to come back into balance as the rest of the psyche learn they need his guidance as well as their own (and I think it would be interesting to see Janus have to fill his shoes and struggle to do all the work, requiring him to come back full force).

Janus has suffered from the personification in much the same way Remus has; through demonisations. But I think mainly this resulted in Janus being unable to do his own role as a balancer of both sides because he was overwhelmed by the guilt of giving in to instinct and therefore put even more effort into forcing down the id, mainly Remus, and abandoned his ‘put yourself first’ role for Character Thomas, which Logan struggled to fill in a way Character Thomas can relate to. Seeing them work together and playing to their strengths would be wonderful, and the latest video demonstrated some of that ability to tag in, although Logan was a little sidelined by the situation.

The superego is where things get really messy, and it’s emblematic of the power and preference Character Thomas has given the superego in the past that they’ve developed so much and have so much to them. But just as their opinions and concepts haven’t really developed past his childhood developmental stage, their personifications haven’t either. Instead they’re quite a mishmash of traits Character Thomas most valued in his authority figures and his ideal self at that same age, not quite fully developed or cohesive characters.

Roman is first up. Ah, Roman. We know that he represents, to Character Thomas, his creativity, passion, romance and femininity. That’s a lot of things for one side to cover, even in the Sanders Sides universe way of explaining things where most sides have just one ‘job’. Add them together though and you can easily end up with the superego, or at least a part of it. Roman is, in my eyes, inarguably the aspect of ideal self. He is the most reflective of the outward personality of Character Thomas, and fulfills the role of his career driver and general motivation in life. He, perhaps in conjunction with Patton although in some respects more than Patton, drives the feelings of success and failure and the pride or guilt at attaining or not attaining the standards the superego as a whole set for Character Thomas to reach. He’s the role model, the person Character Thomas most wants to be (albeit exaggerated), and most idealises and idolises from the media he consumed as a child. Again; undeveloped past that age. He also deals quite literally in the control of the id’s impulses; he is a Disney prince ready to fight the Bad GuyTM. Patton may be the driver of that decision but Roman will carry it out no problem. In fact, the entire Accepting Anxiety arc was fascinating for showing how the ego and psyche as a whole needed to correct the superego’s behaviour primarily in order to lessen the negative effects of the id, rather than the way they’d gone about things before of just fighting against the id directly and suffering the backlash. It’s why the most recent episodes with Patton and Janus were also so interesting; a well-functioning ego can exert enough control to tame the superego and thereby control the id as well (but that second part I think we have yet to see, with the purging of the ‘dark sides’ narrative from Roman to come, no doubt).

And Patton, poor Patton. Morality AND childishness AND the dad side AND The Heart? Morality and being the dad side fit the superego aspect perfectly as moral authority figure types and duties, and I’ll admit right now that this theory renders most of my characterisation of him as a chaotic good fairly redundant in favour of the authority figure lawful good/neutral (but fanon is fanon and canon is canon and we only draw from the latter for the former’s pleasure right?). The Heart also makes sense. I’ve seen it characterised as the emotional side, feeling all emotions, which was a train I was fully on until recently! I think his title of The Heart makes more sense in line with the superego’s outward looking conscience; he is the primary aspect responsible for gifting the psyche with that magical pride, or chastising it with the ever-feared guilt. He feels good, or bad, there’s not a lot of nuance there, and indeed in the series he rarely displays emotions other than those two, and those emotions affect the other sides often more than him himself. Nostalgia might be one other emotion you could cite, but that’s not unique to him and is more a facet of Character Thomas’ being a person. I suppose it could be rationalised as something the superego wants to think about or aspire to because it inspires the psyche to be better, or because it was a time when the psyche was better, pushing the ideal self onwards while simultaneously backwards to retrieve and recreate those wonderful moments. There weren’t really many bad memories in the nostalgia episode that I can remember, certainly. And the fact that the superego controls the nostalgia is interesting as well. But the childishness... well it’s far more of an id thing to be childish. In fact it really suits the fact that the id develops at birth and then does not change with age! It’s a thing that I’ve noticed changes a lot in characterisations of Patton everywhere, even somewhat within the series itself as it doesn’t quite mesh with the rest of his character apart from being a nice sort of gimmick or front. It doesn’t quite feel genuine, although the naivete of his being unable to understand many jokes or adult concepts fits absolutely spot on with my own theory that Character Thomas’ superego stopped developing after forming when he was young. Childhood is also when the religious influence would have started and impressed a huge amount of morality on Character Thomas right when the superego was formed and along with Roman’s very black & white/disneyesque thinking and personification this supports my theory, only further supported by the fact that the main development in the series recently has been when the childishness or childish concepts have been left behind more for responsibility and culpability and shades of grey thinking. It all feels a lot like a late bloom into adulthood. Patton has started to accept his role in the psyche and learn how to control it; primarily by not trying to control everything else and leaving that to the professionals of the ego. His part in the latest video was the least childish his characterisation has been, and I doubt it’s a coincidence that it felt more genuine than he has done previously. Character Thomas’ aspects are finally growing up!

So in conclusion; by making each side more conscious of their role CT has both helped and hindered them, taking them from their original roles in the psyche and warping them a bit, but now allowing them to return to a stable, balanced and organised structure, which is also their original and healthiest one, conforming to the Freudian Personality Theory.

That was a really long way of explaining why I think this theory really lines up against the Sanders Sides characters as a great framework for their existence and functions. This will absolutely be informing my own interpretations of them in canon-setting fic going forwards, and I’m intrigued to see what anyone else thinks!

If you made it this far; well done, go have a cookie or two on me, you’ve earned it!!!

#ts sanders sides #ts sanders sides headcanons #ts sanders sides theories #sanders sides #sanders sides theories #sanders sides meta #freud #meta #long post

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betweentheheavesofstorm · 4 years

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the thing about having poor impulse control and a bad memory for names is that you will innocently click on your ao3 history to see if the author of that fic from the other day wrote anything else

and immediately be kneecapped by a range of horrible things you clicked on out of morbid curiosity

#ONE day i will see something that horrifies me and not go any further

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notasapleasure · 4 years

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SORRY meant to ask multiple! Jerott, Oonagh, Marthe, Philippa & because I’m being evil today Gabriel

Ok…I’m going to split my answers because this got. Long.

JEROTT

How I feel about this character: It MAY shOCK yOu tO hEAr thIS bUT I LOVE MY TRASH SON

It was love at first sight! Someone with access to Lymond’s past! Someone who took a melodramatic, life-changing decision because they were so hurt by their love dying. Someone who remembers Lymond with interest and ends up caught in an awful tug of war between his own better instincts, his own worst instincts (PUT THE ROCK DOWN JEROTT), the machinations of a narcissistic sociopath and the desperate need to win approval from whoever he’s hero-worshipping at any given time. I saw that fucker and I said MINE from the first page.

Then he spent three books progressively disappointing me and also breaking my heart, so. Great. It’s fine. I’m fine.

No but I love him and all his pomposity and flaws, like the scene where Gabriel gives him Oonagh’s letter to deliver and he can’t resist reading it, and then finds he just…can’t lie to Lymond about having read it. How his journey goes from morbid curiosity through to absolute faith (and love, don’t even try to tell me it’s not), how we get so much of his POV, unreliable though it often is, that there’s this gulf between how much he thinks what’s going on is about him and how it ultimately never is (thinking Lymond was having *him* followed in DK, forgetting that he *volunteered* to follow Francis in PiF and complaining about being dragged along, and wanting, always, in CM to help, but not seeing that what helps him isn’t what Francis needs).

I. Uh. I could go on a while, anyway.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: Francis. Always Francis. But never at the expense of Francis/Philippa, so it usually just ends up with me sobbing over an incomplete document wishing Jerott could have nice things.* I’m a sucker for the care Jerott shows over him in CM, for the way he just. Sticks around in PiF. I like shipping the smart, surprisingly vulnerable one with the fighty, oblivious one.

*Or writing horrible Gabriel slash, or inventing a clutch of OCs for him.

My non-romantic OTP for this character: BROTP Jerott and Adam, Jerott and Danny, I’d love to see more Jerott and Richard and Jerott and Philippa interactions. I obviously also thoroughly enjoy his interactions with Francis in a non-shippy way, but can it ever really be non-shippy when one party is clearly in love with the other?

My unpopular opinion about this character: I….do think the way his story ends in CM detracts from the overall happiness we’re meant to feel at the close of the series (I think it’s not the fault of the way it’s written so much as the way I read it as an ensemble piece and not just as Lymond’s journey thoughout). I think it’s swept away too quickly. I think it makes him into a tool of fate to be discarded, and I know the book’s long enough already and

But. But it hurts so so much.

And I don’t think it’s unpopular, but the more I think about it, the more I feel set in only shipping Jerott with men. He has poor impulse control and too much of a sense of entitlement around social norms of masculinity and my brain just screams whenever he’s around Marthe or any other women tbh. He wants to be loved and praised the way he adores Marthe, but so often he doesn’t see how he hurts her and it’s horrible - I think he’d be less unthinkingly confident and presumptuous in a mlm relationship and that being less confident about things would be good for him - to learn something about himself and be willing to listen to and learn from another.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: Just one? That he never married Marthe. It never makes a jot of sense to me that she would agree to it unless she had some motive based on La Dame’s plans, in which case I just rage about the unequal expectations they have going into that relationship. Marthe finds a kind of peace with Lymond at the end of PiF, and it’s like she agrees to look after Jerott as a favour to Lymond. I hate it so much.

#asks #unpopular opinions

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gumdropsandjelloshots · 7 years

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👀

Fine fine, because both of you want to be nosy, I’m going to be blunt! I like drinking motor oil, and it’s a thousand times better than alcohol. No burn, and a great high (despite the fact that it kills just about any chance of moving for the next ten hours). Besides, it gets me into a working mood in smaller doses. And before you ask, no, I didn’t find this out on accident. It was more morbid curiosity in a hideous relationship with poor impulse control after a half-baked dare.

#((IC))#((muse memes))#gigaon

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rosecocoas · 7 years

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okay okay i picked a few questions of the 100 OC asks thing but they are a LOT so if they are too many feel free to skip any c: 3, 5, 7, 14, 15, 31, 32, 37, 42, 47, 56, 57, 63, 65, 68, 69, 81, 84

I cannot thank you enough leaaaaaaa!!!!!!! This’ll really help developy children ;v; (also I switched the chatracters I’ll be using to Jaspar, Glen, and Tessa, because they’re my least rounded out people!) Also sorry idk how to do the under the cut thing on mobile,,,,

3. Biggest motivator?

Jaspar’s motivation in life is equality and/or justice! Glen’s is just morbid curiosity, he lives to do things just to see what the effect would be. Tessa is motivated largely by happiness, and the satisfaction of finishing/starting/doing something.

5. How do they deal/react with pain?

Hm. Physical or emotional pain? Because Jaspar would hide both tbh, and check on others before seeing that he is okay. Glen will just get super pissed off either way, and will probably break something to get out his pain. Tessa will isolate herself if she’s emotionally hurting, but if she gets physically injured she will just go into panic mode and hyperventilate, she’ll try her best to fix it on her own before going for help.

7. Which of their relationships have impacted them most positively?

Jaspar’s friendship with Emery made him feel strangely… alive. He’d been watching this boy from afar for 17 years, learning about Emery and yearning to form any kind of bond with him. When he finally does, he just wants to gush to him about everything! (Emery doesn’t stop him, despite not knowing him as long as Jaspar had known him.) Glen was really positively changed when Jaspar was introduced into his life. Someone to control the self-destructive impulses that Glen harbors in a nonviolent way (he’s very used to people in his life telling him what to do and using violence to enforce it), and to offer emotional support even if he can’t really convey his problems in words. Tessa’s life changed for the better when she met Chris, honestly? Originally she’d only seen him in the premonitions she would get, and in those he was shown doing… Bad Things. But he seemed like a whole different person when they ran into each other officially? He was aloof and didnt seem to sweat the small stuff, and (even though he didnt try to), he taught Tessa to not stress about things as much and just let life carry you sometimes, which she really needed 😊

14. How do they react to/deal with betrayal?

Jaspar will just softly grieve, and maybe disappear for a couple weeks to figure out what the logical thing he should do next is? (Because he’d be in utter shock, reasoning it out will be the only thing to help). Glen will make it a point to show people that he wasn’t affected by it, but he finds himself randomly spacing off and thinking about the person that betrayed him, he’d probably try to justify what they did and blame himself. Tessa would be a MESS. She’d feel lost and adrift. because she forms bonds with people fast and easily grows attatched to people, it’d just utterly break her entire being.

5. What is their greatest achievement?

Tbh it’s hard to say for Jaspar and Glen, bc their lives got cut short? Butttt I guess Jaspar’s greatest achievement (when alive) was raising $200 (this is 1850s-ish money, so it would currently be around $6,000?)for his family-run restaurant that was going under. Glen’s was getting his band a gig in the most famous venue in his state! Tessa’s was getting awards for three of her works in her colleg’s art contest (she submitted almost several pieces)

31. Are they more organized or messy?

Jaspar: Very. Very. Organized. Glen: sorta inbetween, he prefers organization but doesn’t want to deal with cleaning. Tessa cannot function unless there are papers strewn about absolutely everywhere in her room!

32. Pet peeves?

Jaspar hates when people grind their teeth, and also when people fish for attention. Glen HATES being told to calm down or be quiet, or seeing someone else being stifled. Tessa hates when people randomly interrupt conversations, and also when people click their pens (which Glen does A LOT.)

37. Last time they cried?

Jaspar cries at least once every week. Glen cries once every blue moon. Tessa, bless her, cries almost every other day… usually it’s stress.

42. Do they have any bad habbits?

Jaspar hums when he is thinking deeply, and shakes his leg when he’s sitting down. Glen, as said previously, WILL click a pen rapidly if he can get his hands on one (sometimes he steals them just so he can have something to do with his hands), he also chews on the inside of his cheek a lot which leads to really scarred up inside cheeks. Tessa picks at split ends and bites her nails!

47. Romantically interested in anyone?

Jaspar: YES. very much so. It’s Emery. Hardcore loves that boy. Would die for him. Glen: honestly he prefers friendships, he’s afraid of commitment. Tessa: sadly she still has feelings for Rocky, this ass dude who cheated on her, but she’s slowly getting over it!!!!

56. Hogwarts house?

Jaspar: Ravenclaw, Glen: Slytherin/Gryffindor , Tessa: Hufflepuff … or maybe Ravenclaw

57. D&D alignment?

Jaspar: Lawful good (?) , Glen: Chaotic Good. Tessa: Neutral good

63. Do they have an accent?

Jaspar just has the normal american accent. GlEN HOWEVER. HAS A VERRY THICK AUSTRALIAN ACCENT. WHY HASNT HE LOST IT YET??? Tessa has a slight sweet Minnesotan accent that refuses to leave her even though it’s been years since she lived in Minnesota.

65. If they knew they were going to die, what would they do/say?

Jaspar would leave and go on a road trip to all the places he wanted to visit, after saying goodbye to his family and friends.. Glen would not go down quietly, and cause havoc by committing a string of crimes. Tessa would probably get a lot quieter, she’d stop going to school too. Her dads would stay at home with her to keep her from thinking about it too much.

68. Do they become squeamish at the sight of blood?

It’d be funny if Jaspar didn’t like blood lol. Glen enjoys it. TESSA, she PAINTS with the stuff, so she isn’t made uncomfortable by it.

69. Anything they find really gross?

Jaspar- backwashed water. Glen-all bugs. Like, even butterflies. Tessa- moldy food. She barfs a bit in her mouth every time she sees it.

81. Do they try to hide their emotions? Are they successful?

Jaspar TRIES to, but he just can’t help it. When he’s feeling something he will tell people. Glen actually hides what he’s feeling really well. Poor guy is usually very overwhelmed with everything, but he doesn’t show it at all. Tessa wears her emotions on her sleeves.

84. What are some physical features they find attractive on people?

Jaspar is a sucker for freckles. Glen thinks blonde hair is really cute. He really has a thing for blondes. Tessa doesn’t think appearance matters much, but she’s enthralled by people with deep green eyes.

Gosh, again, thank you !!!! Some of these really made me have to think a little bit, and I loved the challenge!! I should’ve brought Ravi into this too tho :c Next Time!!! (I just hope they don’t sound boring/generic??? My only worry.)

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questlogpodcast · 6 years

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A Review From the Vault: Two Worlds

Today while doing some virtual house cleaning, I found an old review I’d written for Two Worlds some 10 years ago. It has the distinction of being the worst game I’ve ever finished. It was enjoyable in a MST3K sense. It’s a complete and total failure, and yet I look back on it with fondness. It released a little over a year after Oblivion, clearly trying to be One of Those. Spoilers: it wasn’t.

Ah, Two Worlds. Memorable for a number of reasons. For one thing, it made me not want to visit a certain Gamestop anymore. We have 2 stores close to my home: one which has friendly, knowledgable employees I can talk to like they're my friends, and one that has employees who pretend to be friendly to try and sell me stuff. One day at the latter shop, I casually mentioned Two Worlds before it came out and he tried to get me to preorder - annoying, but it's his job so no problem. I mentioned that the PC version was already out in Europe and it was getting so-so reviews. His response was that while the PC version reviews were poor, the 360 version was getting GREAT reviews. The 360 version wasn't out anywhere yet at this time. I do all of my preorders and business with the other Gamestop in town and tell my friends to do the same. This is what happens when you lie to people who know your trade better than you do.

Whoo! Anyhow, I did eventually pick up Two Worlds despite reading some not-so-good reviews for it. I had finished Oblivion awhile prior and I was lusting for another good 360 RPG, so this ended up being an impulse buy. It looked like Oblivion and the box declared Oblivion as an inspiration, so I crossed my fingers and bought it. Two Worlds has the dubious distinction of being the worst game I've ever completed. Without going into specifics yet, let it suffice to say that Two Worlds is a massive failure on almost every level, yet something compelled me to keep going. Maybe it's that the basic formula works on some level, even when it's poorly executed. A huge, sprawling, free-roaming open world RPG is fun at its core.

Where to start? Graphically, Two Worlds looks like a high quality last-gen offering - this would have been right at home on the original Xbox. It's not a terrible-looking game, but it's definitely not up to par for the Xbox 360. Everything just looks boxy, and there's not much variety to the landscape. Or enemies. Character animations are stilted, the combat is clumsy, and the story is instant deja vu. Your sister has been kidnapped by a mysterious evil guy and you have to rescue her before he sacrifices her and summons some demon! The already iffy controls become an absolute nightmare as soon as you get on a horse. And the dialogue and voice acting is the worst I've ever heard in a video game. The dialogue switches in and out of Shakespearean tone, sounds flat, stiff and comes off as unintentionally hilarious. Have at you, knave!

Add to this a mess of an inventory system and a counterintuitive quest log and you have a steaming pile of garbage. Throw it in a Hefty bag, put it out by the curb and wave as it goes off to the big landfill in the sky. But still, the game was so shockingly, audaciously bad that I had to keep playing it. This is the same pathology that keeps me from turning the station immediately when I hear Gwen Stefani or The Black Eyed Peas on the radio. The fact that someone made something this hideous, decided it was good, got approval to have it unleashed on humans and that people actually like it just boggles my mind. Two Worlds had an odd sort of charm, like a 3 legged dog or Timmy's retarded chicken on South Park. You're not too stupid to be loved, Two Worlds. I'll love you. I'll give you a home. But no one else will.

The good: - skill system is kind of fun and well-implemented. - huge, open world can be freely explored

The bad: - graphics - voice acting and dialogue - gameplay - box art

The bottom line: - Two Worlds is a shameless ripoff of Oblivion, missing all the parts that made that game a classic. This game is a pile, and should only be played out of morbid curiosity.

Score 3/10

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