#really bigg development

[choccymilllk]

in the clerb we all NOTT fam

[rocktis]

fanon my beloved vs. fanon my beloathed

beloved - zack's nicknames for cloud (spikey, sunshine, cloudy, etc) - kunsel has hacked into shinra's database and could cause massive damage to the company on a whim by tapping a few keys beloathed - "zack's so stupid lol he's such a himbo" - "cloud's just a cocky asshole who doesn't care about anything but money and himself"

[biggsodorcitystories]

The Zebules Problem

I personally really like Zebules - Zebedee x Hercules - as a pairing, but I have them paired off with others.

Zebedee had come to terms with being attracted to men and women in his early teens and was entirely comfortable with this when he arrived at Bigg City Port.

After the events of High Winds, Hercules and Zebedee formed an unexpected friendship. During this time, Hercules, who had always thought of himself as straight, began to develop feelings for the Z-Stack that made him conflicted.

Hercules was engaged to Lillie Lightship by this point and very happy with her. The confusion brought on by this new attraction made him feel guilt. Hercules' father had cheated on and left his mother, leaving her to raise him and his younger brothers. Surely, if he was attracted to someone other than his fianceè, he was no better than his father?

Zebedee had noticed the changes in Hercules' behaviour and quickly realised why. Certainly, he was truly flattered at the thought and absolutely felt his own attraction in return. But he also realised the conflict Hercules felt, and the attraction remained unspoken for some time...

[ziggyyyystardust]

I’m sorry but I hate the way people completely disregard the fact that Luke is a Jedi, like he’s literally the og Jedi?? I’ve seen a lot of people talk about how much “better” his new Jedi order would’ve been because he would’ve removed the attachment rules or whatever, and I think that that type of characterisation really disregards the essence of Luke’s character and what he stood for. People seem to cite him bringing his father back from the dark and being close with Leia but that doesn’t mean he’s attached to them in the way Jedi view attachment, he cared about his father because Luke is a caring person and wanted to help him, acting as if it’s only because Vaders his dad really disregards a lot of the character development Luke went through from a new hope till return of the Jedi.

Also it seems really odd to ignore it as he 1: shows a genuine want to become a Jedi and all that being a Jedi involves 2: (mainly rotj) cares what Yoda and Obi-Wan have to say and the advice they give him 3: says word for word “I am a Jedi” sure he may not have the training of a Jedi but it’s pretty clear that he really does care.

On a similar note - I’ve seen people talk about it but people also tend to disregard the fact that Luke was part of the rebellion?? It’s treated like “oh silly sunshine boy just wants to fly ships he doesn’t know what politics are🥰🥰” it completely infantilises his entire character, his beliefs and what he cares about. We see in ANH that he has interest in the rebellion, knows of the clone wars and vaguely of the Jedi, and in the deleted scene with Biggs they both talk about defecting to the rebellion and fighting against the empire. These scenes clearly show his political beliefs and how he was against the empire even before they killed his Aunt and Uncle. It does him a disservice to ignore who he is as a person and to treat him as if he’s just a child who likes ships, it removes any sense of agency or conviction when he’s treated that way

Point is I wish more people would treat him like a mature adult who is capable of making his own choices and is an actual Jedi who follows the code.

[astrolines]

CW:

Has Chloe changed the timeline of the canon in this book? The characters' birthdays are on different dates, and even the events don't correspond to the timeline of the first books...?

Note:

This is an addendum outside the book that I can't help but mention. The publicist — or Chloe's secretary (I really don't know what she is) — was feeding fanwars on Instagram during the launch week. Jesus, you're an adult and in a professional environment, I believe...

Lizzie: Poor girl.

I still haven't been able to write about her.

lizziegibsie:

It's so sad to read about how close they were and got on so well, and to see that being destroyed by Mark through manipulation!

The two of them really mirror each other.

I hope they soon forgive each other and rebuild the friendship they had as children.

— Thor

— Little Viper

☹️

Hughie:

I have mixed feelings about him. At the same time as I like him and he's a good boy, I just can't bring myself to like him completely — which genuinely makes me sad.

Also, I'll point out a few things that left me with conflicting thoughts.

Hughie, at the age of 12, knew better how to deal with Lizzie's bipolarity than his own therapists throughout his life. He had more maturity as a CHILD than all the adults around them.

Hugh practically moved into Lizzie's family home in his early teens and became the man of the house for the Young family at just 14/15 years old (that's actually a quote from the book, by the way). However, after the break-up, all that personality of being very mature for his age — an old soul who understands people so well — simply disappears.

Yes, I'm talking about the spoilers Chloe gave about T10 and excerpts from his Spotify playlists where, apparently, he says that Katie won't let him end the relationship, blaming her.

Like, you really want to make me believe that this Hugh from age 7 to 15 had more maturity than the adults and was open with his feelings, but after 16 this regresses and he becomes a guy who gets involved (because he wants to, by the way) with a girl knowing that he likes another, and in the end Katie is to blame for putting him in this situation?

But if I mention misogyny, we'll all be quiet, won't we?

This book kind of just proves that Chloe doesn't know how to develop characters who have no apparent trauma and just get over everything.

Hugh saves Lizzie from suicide and breaks his arm because of it — it's never mentioned again.

In fact, both Biggs brothers have only one function within their respective books: to be an undeveloped emotional support.

I'll say it: Hugh even manages a little more than Claire in this respect, but even so, he's always in the background.

Claire's life revolves around Gibsie, and Hugh's life revolves around Lizzie.

Their hobbies are left to one side, their traumas are barely touched on, and when they are, they revolve around Liz/Gibs; both fiercely defend their love interests.

In fact, we can't fail to mention how the Bot fandom only criticizes one of them for this reason, but the other is cheered on.

But if I mention misogyny, we'll all be quiet, won't we?

Hughie & Gibsie:

This book really gave me a basis for understanding the relationship between the two (something that doesn't appear in the other books). I think they're cute, and I like how Hughie loves Gerard like a brother and protects him.

In T7, we hardly see anything about this relationship — it's as if the two have grown apart, even if that doesn't seem to be the case in this book.

Gibsie always saw Hughie as a comforting person growing up, but that changed a lot after Hughie said he would stay with Lizzie.

I know he had to do it, and it was the right thing to do. Lizzie is lonely and needs someone by her side.

But I think this is the exact point where Gerard realizes that Hughie — as much as he loves him like a brother and says he'll be there for him — wouldn't be the same from then on.

In T7, Gerard hardly interacts with Hughie in any deep way, and when he needs comfort, unlike when he was a child, Gibs turns to Johnny! And I think this distancing is mainly due to Gerard constantly thinking that his friends are going to abandon him.

But he knows that would never happen with him and Johnny. Gibs has always been Johnny's number one friend from day one, and Johnny would go to war because of him.

In conclusion, about that bit between Hughie and Hughie/Gibsie, I can't get the events of T7 and Hughie's omission out of my head.

Honestly, that really got to me, and I hope the next book changes that, because I want to like Hughie.

Gibsie:

Ahh, I love him! He's definitely one of the best characters in this series. He's always been caring, funny, and protective of those he loves, and it's so nice to know that, even after growing up, none of those qualities have disappeared.

The best dancer in Ireland!!!

I have to say: it's sad that we get more character development here than in his own book.

Johnny & Gibsie:

They're everything! Every time they appeared, I was automatically happy. I love how their friendship always brings comfort and loyalty.

Johnny only caring about rugby and Gibsie? He's so real for that!

Claire:

We got more of the character here than in her own book — but it was great! It showed how she grew up surrounded by love and a lot of protection!

I think it's really cute how she doesn't let anyone walk all over her, and how, every chance she gets, she calls Mark disgusting, weird, ugly, annoying, weird, stinky.

And to think that if Hughie hadn't been there to protect her, she'd have been just another one of Mark's victims...

I love how she and Gerard have always taken each other in, comforted each other, and, above all, protected each other since they were babies!!!

Every time Mark is near Claire, Gibsie constantly checks that she's okay. In contrast, Claire is always by Gerard's side and keeps him safe. Too cute.

She's an airhead... but I love her!!!

Claire & Lizzie:Mario from my Luigi!!!

I think they're really cute, and as much as they've both failed each other at different times...

They love each other very much, despite their woes.

And yes — they both failed each other!

I know it's common in the BOT fandom to turn a blind eye to the views of other characters who aren't your favourites.

The animosity and the Jamie affair: it hurt Claire to the point where she vocalised that if Gibsie wasn't around, she was used as a punching bag.

And Claire's omission and outbursts of anger: they hurt Lizzie.

So yes, they failed each other in different ways — but they love each other, as they both make clear in their respective books and points of view.

Patrick Feely:

I loved every part he appeared in. I can't wait for his book!

In the other books, it's said that he had three sisters, but in this one, he actually has four older sisters (???).

Anyway, I really want to understand the root of his behaviour — apart from the problem with alcoholism, he appears to be hypersexual (?). It's mentioned that girls just come up and touch him, and he doesn't react, he just lets it happen.

Maybe that explains why he and Lizzie get so close after their second year at Tommen...

katiefeely:

Him blushing at the bus stop because of Katie, the new year in bcs and him in a bad mood in tommen — ahhh, give them to me soon!

Katie:

I've seen a lot of people taking the parts where she appears out of context, calling her a mean girl and desperate.

Reading the book, I didn't see any of that.

Katie is a very cute character, and her intentions with Hughie are incredible and very light-hearted. They would make great friends.

I really want to know more about her and her relationship with her father, who is clearly very distant.

Oh, and I loved that when her father didn't pay for her studies, she went and got a scholarship herself! This diva!

[daily-rayless]

AO3 Wrapped: Writer Edition

Got the idea to do this from @deemoyza

Words written this year: 25500

Works written this year: I wrote four fics this year, though two of them came pretty late and haven't been posted yet: "After the First Time" (Aerith, Final Fantasy 7), "Tenuto" (Tales of the Abyss -- I'm counting it as one fic because it's a drabble collection), "Matter Recollected" (Fate, we'll see about that title), and "Mother Paws" (Narnia, we'll also see about that title). (Other fics I posted this year had been written earlier.)

Work Most Proud of: "Matter Recollected". Most of the word count comes from that one, but it was an attempt to tell a bigg-ish story in a short-ish amount of space. I think I did pretty well establishing scenes and the characters' circumstances, then letting them stew in their own angsty juices for a while.

Work with Most Hits: Between the two that have been posted, definitely "After the First Time". FF7 is a much bigger fandom than Abyss.

Fav title: "Tenuto" gave me so much trouble, trying to find something to unite ten drabbles, so I fell back on music (appropriate for Abyss), and the fact that ten is there in the word was a bonus.

Pairing You Wrote the Most For: None of the pairings overlap, though the ArcherHakuno (technically ShirouHakuno) "Matter Recollected" is the longest, so we'll say that.

What Work was the Quickest To Write: "Mother Paws". I was thinking about Narnia while I was exercising (sure, that's a thing that happens) and ideas started leaping out of my brain; so I stopped what I was doing and hammered it out in thirty, maybe forty minutes.

What Work Took You Longest To Write: "Matter Recollected" took about a month, in forty-ish minute bursts every night. "Tenuto" also took a fair bit of time in the editing stage, getting the drabbles down to 100 words.

How Many WIPS do you have for next year: No first drafts. Things are being edited, though, right until they're posted, so we can count stuff from The Muse Trilogy there. Still wondering if I should even post the earlier Fate stuff, and I have one outstanding Abyss fic from a few years ago I might post.

Longest Work of the Year: "Matter Recollected" at 21100 words.

Shortest Work of the Year: "Tenuto" at 1000 words.

Fav character to Write: I really enjoyed dipping into different povs for "Tenuto", including characters I'd never really touched before. But if I'm honest, I love writing for Hakuno, my impression of her as a character is still developing, and she's just a lot of fun. So we'll say Hakuno.

Which work of yours have you re-read the most: Maybe "Tenuto"? Editing was all about repeated whittling.

Total Kudos this Year: 55. (Most of that is for Aerith.)

Total Hits This Year: 497. (Ditto!)

Total Bookmarks This Year: 6

Total Subscriptions This Year: 0

What Do You Listen To While Writing: I tend to listen to my music on shuffle. In most cases, having lyrics doesn't bother me, and I listen to a lot of folk and piano pop, so it tends not to be very intrusive to start with. It definitely helps mentally separate me into a writing mindset.

Fav line or passage: I don't know if I have a favorite, but I like this one: She watches Cloud walking ahead of her, turning to say something quiet to Tifa. She has to pull away from him now. But in the days that follow, she doesn't. Maybe she can't, but she suspects she merely doesn't. She did, after all, warn Cloud that the only thing she was really good at is giving up. Because she knows she'll probably die, and the Whispers still cluster around her and take from her, and the Lifestream, as beautiful as it is, doesn't have the same tenderness of being alive.

[julescant]

My little headcanons about Delilah O'Feefe and Marla Biggs (because I love them dearly)

- They met at the university art fair, where Delilah had her own booth. Marla said she really liked the colors, and in response, Delilah talked about art for 2 hours. To her surprise, Marla wasn't annoyed and even asked if she could have Delilah's email. Then they talked and talked about their favorite shows, school, and where they would like to travel when they're out of the university.

- Marla is majoring in biology and wants to study the impacts of UFO crashes on biodiversity. Delilah studies art and is big on 70s pop culture and psychedelic art. She hopes to make money by selling her art to rich people who miss hippie aesthetics and to buy a house in Mesa Flats. She really likes the desert landscapes, the culture and colorful houses of the hood.

- They're both autistic. Delilah was diagnosed as a child, and Marla didn't realize she was autistic until a year ago. Delilah suited the stereotype of an autistic child better because of her sensory sensitivities, intense interest in art and yellow color (and her bio literally says that she prefers paintings to people). Marla was just thought to be an extremely shy dreamer girl, was bullied relentlessly and learned to mask really well.

- Delilah is a demiromantic/demisexual lesbian and Marla is an allo bisexual. At first Marla was confused about Delilah's relationship with Edwin Sharpe, because it was obvious (to everyone around, not to Delilah) he was in love with her. Delilah probably had like one and a half crushes in her life and it usually took her years to develop some romantic feelings. She and Marla started to date about a year after they became friends and it's the first serious relationship for both of them (although Marla had an online boyfriend on the Jimmy Sprocket roleplay forum when she was 13).

[berrypass-de-murdler]

2 - 43 Murder on the Board

this person found me on tumblr and omg just block me already leave me aloneeeee 😭 please

Ahem

ANYWAY

look what I got!!!!!!!! I managed to get it a day earlier than expected!!! THE CARDS ARE SO SMOL BUT THE GAME IS SO BIGG! and it looks weirdly complicated. Hate board games but I'll make exception for BOXGICO

DON'T READ THE EPISODES WITHOUT READING THE BOOKS!!

Are they still in the Bahamas, or are they already back home? Seems like a pretty crucial detail. 

LOGICO: Oh, oh!! Irratino, I have an idea of something you might like. IRRATINO: You do!! Where!! LOGICO: A chess tournament!

Irratino flops to the ground like a dead inflatable tube man.

IRRATINO: Seriously? You think I’d enjoy a chess tournament? LOGICO: I love chess. IRRATINO: So?? LOGICO: You love me. It checks out.

Irratino has no choice! (They really submit to each other easily.) They head to a stadium. Yes, this is a stadium event!! The boys get front-row seats, because… not many people showed up. An announcer screams over the PA at a volume that’d damage the human ear.

PERSON: ARE YOU READY? LOGICO: I AM READY!! PERSON: ARE YOU FUCKING READY?!?!! LOGICO: YES YES I AM SO FUCKING READY!!!! PERSON: IIIIIIIT’S THE CHESS TOURNAMENT OF THE CENTURY, FEATURING THE TWO GREATEST ‘PAWN STARS’ IN THE WORLD!! FIRST UP, GRRRRRANDMASTER ROOO-OOO-OOOSE!!!

There’s a violent explosion of flames and confetti. Rose is lowered down from the ceiling on a platform. 

ROSE: I AM THE KING OF THE BOARD AND THE BAR! And soon… THE WOOOOOOOORLD!!!!

Logico screams and jumps up and down. Irratino is certain that either he or Logico is on drugs right now.

PERSON: AND THE SLICK-BACKED JOCKEY THAT’S GONNA POUND THIS MOTHERFUCKER BACK INTO HIS PLACE - GEEEEENEERAL COOOOOOFFEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

Coffee don’t need no platform - he just drops from the ceiling with a Spider-Man land. And no catchphrase either.

The only other people in the audience are a couple humans and Boss Charcoal. Irratino groans and leans back so far he falls out of his seat. How is THIS ‘logical’ while the stuff he likes is ‘dumb’?

LOGICO: Oh, Irratino, it’s all right. There’s esoteric meaning behind the moves! IRRATINO: There… is? LOGICO: Like the one that goes like this! It means… life! IRRATINO: [sigh] PERSON: BUT WHAT’S THIS? LOOKS LIKE THE REFEREE IS OUT COLD! 

Some medics come over.

PERSON: OH IT’S MORE THAN OUT COLD… THEY’RE DEAD!!!

Irratino perks up. Finally, a development!

ROSE: Really?? I was gonna… I wanted to do my chess! I would have wiped the floor with Mr. Coffee! COFFEE: Mr. Coffee is a brand name, and if you wipe the floor with it, you’ll just be making a big mess. I was the one who was apparently going to win!

Irratino is glad they get to solve a murder, but Logico isn’t. He was really looking forward to that tournament. So was Rose, who throws a chess piece out the window so hard that it explodes.

While Logico does the real work, Irratino sits with Charcoal in the stands.

CHARCOAL: So, uh… what brought you here. IRRATINO: Logico made me. CHARCOAL: Yeah… my mom told me to go to this because I need to ‘sharpen my brain’... I thought my brain was sharp enough already! [cue the usual crying fit]

Irratino looks in a flyer.

IRRATINO: It says that these tournaments can last from one to 18 hours. 

Charcoal continues sobbing. 

CHARCOAL: I should have done the murder, so I’d have an excuse to leave! LOGICO: Ah, Irratino! Have any analysis on this one?

Tino hears a ticking sound in the distance.

IRRATINO: There’s a clock over there. LOGICO: I can always count on you.

Goat Lord slams his face against a table. Logico discovers that Coffee was the culprit. The man chugs an entire mug of espresso in one gulp. He should NOT be having that much.

COFFEE: I knew I could never win unless I killed. ROSE: YES!!!! That means I win already! LOGICO: Yes, now you’re disqualified. You can’t win even though you did kill. Also how the hell would killing a referee ‘make you win’? COFFEE: By distracting that Pringles man Rose! ROSE: PRINGLES? YOU’RE THE PRINGLES MAN!! 

The mustachioed goobers weakly brawl, neither able to deal any damage.

IRRATINO: You know, I’d much rather watch this than chess anyway.

The end!

Like I've said before, even the board game will be turned into a single-episode cartoon special (that will probably be painful to read!) where silly Gico decides to 'turn murder into a game'. In a way that doesn't make him sound like a serial killer!

The power of Goat Lord compels you!

See you next time murdlers!

[krisssssssy]

would anyone read an aranea x reader story or

i've been mulling on it for a while and i have never written female character x reader before

i will in all likelihood make reader very bubbly with zero fighting skills because i feel like that would be really cute with aranea, who initially will be like "who is this insane person and why does she keep getting into trouble" and of course we'd have biggs/wedge there too.

it would be set during the Fall, probably not very long (lol i will do my best)

i just really want a badass dragoon gf to rescue me 😭

and aranea is so cool. i just loved her character development in episode prompto. sigh. she's the best. of course i wish we had more female characters in FFXV, but at least Aranea is bomb as hell

the overall theme would just be Aranea learning to actually depend on others and not be so hyperindependent/dealing with past bs. and also realizing she's into women lol.

[mamacoco12264]

Almost all other characters in FF7 - Main/NPC, has helped and/or been helping Cloud to come out of his shell from the very beginning.

From Zack To Jessie, Biggs, Wedge, Barret, Marle, Aerith, Andrea, Nanaki and Yuffie. That's character development.

But.. Cloud's real struggle is not about coming out of his shell, it's about finding his True self once again, coming to terms with his past and most of all learn to accept, trust and embrace himself for who he really is, and that is something Only Tifa can help him with 💖

[seriouslycromulent]

Leave it Star Trek to remind me how much we're worth fighting for

Note: This is a going to be a long, nerdy post. You have been warned.

So a couple of weeks ago, I purchased tix to attend the Star Trek: New Jersey fan convention scheduled to take place during the 2nd week in November. The idea at the time was that I would not only get to see some of my favorite people from my favorite fandom, but the entire event would likely have some amazing energy following the week of the US election.

But then, we had the election that we had, and ... well.

Here we are.

Thankfully, everyone was determined to make the best of the event, and the nerds in attendance were all still fairly respectful, patient and excited to be there.

Now gone are the days when I would try to do as much as possible at cons because I'm an old Trekker. For me, simply being in the space and enjoying the Q&A panels is enough. What can I say? I'm a cheap date.

However, I told myself that if I saw a souvenir that I simply had to have, I gave myself permission to buy it. But otherwise, I wanted to try to keep my spending under control.

Plus, I've already seen many of these beautiful performers at conventions past, so the pull of the autograph or photo op isn't as strong as it used to be. For example, the only members of the TNG cast I've never seen at a con (Michael Dorn and Gates McFadden) sadly weren't doing a Q&A until Sunday and I only attended on Saturday, but it was great to see them at their tables signing and talking to fans nonetheless.

OK. Enough preamble. Let's dive in while the memories are still fresh.

_______

Warning: Most of photos here are awful. But they stand as proof that I was there, so I'll take it.

If you're not a fan of a particular Trek series, feel free to skip that section. I added the names of each series the guests were associated with before their respective parts.

Deep Space 9 🌠

As I mentioned, I didn't buy any photo ops or autographs, but I sat in on a lot of panels. I really enjoyed seeing some of the ST: DS9 cast members together (Casey Biggs, Terry Farrell, Max Grodenchik, Vaughn Armstrong, and Jeffrey Combs). Max, Jeffrey and Casey talked the most, and fun was had by all.

Max and Casey seemed to have the bulk of the stories to share. Some of the stories were funny; some were just good-natured mocking of each other.

One question I remember someone asked to Terry was about shooting the DS9 episode "Trials and Tribble-ations" and the technical work involved with trying to get everything to match with the green screen and the original series plate. Farrell said they had a lot of fun shooting that episode even though everything had to be very precise.

Another fan asked about why they (the cast) thinks the character development on DS9 is so good [compared to other Trek series]. A question I loved because that's one of of the reasons DS9 is my favorite of all the Treks. The series objectively did a much better job of giving their characters realistic growth and development.

I believe Casey Biggs fielded the answer to this one though. He said that essentially because DS9 was sandwiched between TNG's ending, TNG films, and Voyager's first seasons, the studio (Paramount) didn't really pay that much attention to DS9 and forgot about them while constantly fiddling with the other two. He said one of the advantages to being the "red-headed stepchild" of the Trek universe was that it allowed the writers to tell the stories they wanted to tell without the studio constantly giving them notes on what to change. This gave executive producer Ira Steven Behr the space to develop the characters the way he wanted and tell the stories the way he planned them for each season.

Most of the remaining fan questions -- along with the detailed stories in response -- just reminded me of how I need to do a complete rewatch of DS9.

With that said, the sound in the venue was unfortunately not great, and the echo around the space was annoying. You really had to pay attention and listen with every cilia in order to focus on the responses. But overall, it was still a fun experience.

If they do this again in this area of NJ, I would recommend holding the con in a ballroom with a carpeted floor and non-metallic fixtures all over the space.

Strange New Worlds 🛸

That lovely panel was followed by our ST: SNW duo Q&A with Anson Mount and Ethan Peck, which had the single best question asked in any of the panels that took place on Saturday. A young fan who caught onto Ethan's subtle allusion to the IDIC vision of Star Trek in a previous answer, stepped up to the mic and asked Anson and Ethan the following:

[Note: I'm paraphrasing]

"If Starfleet believes in the concept of IDIC -- Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations -- and the Vulcans are one of the founding members of Starfleet, why do all the Vulcans have the same boring haircut?"

To which, both Anson and Ethan said was the absolute best question they've ever been asked at a con. Ethan then kind of dropped a wee bit of spoiler about an upcoming episode of SNW where Capt. Pike will go undercover as a Vulcan, and he interestingly will not have the standard Vulcan haircut we all know and love.

Again, sorry for the awful photos. I was in the General Admission section and the camera on my phone isn't that great from afar.

There were a few good questions in this panel, but I think the biggest takeaway for us nerds is that Anson Mount is a new pottery enthusiast and he has taken up making pottery for his fellow castmates as gifts. He originally bought the potter's wheel for his wife, but after she only used it once, he decided to give it a try and he loves it.

So now we know that the "Man of 1000 Exasperations" both likes beekeeping and throwing pots. He used to teach acting and theater classes in NYC. And his secret to great onscreen hair is to not wash it too often. (I learned that from a Hell on Wheels interview from a few years back.)

Personally, I wish I could've thought of the question that came to me after the con ended a little bit sooner, then maybe I would've had a chance to walk to the mic and ask it. Although with all the pre-fan question chatter that the MC/host engaged in, maybe not.

My question was going to be about Anson's experience working on the Dr. Strange 2: Multiverse of Madness with Sir Patrick and Cumberbatch. I know it's not ST related, but I was very happy to see him pop up in a Marvel movie (even if his demise is gruesome and awful) and it was great to see 2 Star Trek captains play superheroes on the big screen.

ST Merch Tables 💸

Moving on, after the SNW panel, I took a break to go walk around some of the merch tables before settling on the floor in the lobby area to charge my phone, share some pics with some friends & family, and people-watch all the folks in awesome cosplay.

I did stumble across a lovely souvenir to take home with me at one of the merch tables. I rationalized that it was ok because it was both geeky and practical. I bought this cute flash drive that looks like a cork to a wine bottle with Picard's vineyard logo on it. Although, to be fair, for $20 I feel like it should be more than 64 GB. But oh well. It's still cute.

After that, I headed back into the main Q&A room to watch the Costume Contest, followed by arguably biggest headliner of that day's panels (no shade at Ms. Ryan or her fanbase -- which was robust). The 3:45pm panel featured two not-so-young whippersnappers by the name of Jonathan Frakes and Brent Spiner.

But first the Costume Contest.

Costume Contest 🖖🏽

There were a lot of participants into the Costume Contest, but not so many that there weren't some clear standouts. Plus, I love the fact there were a lot of fans dressed in ST uniforms from all the different eras and styles who didn't even entire the contest. I saw everything from TOS uniforms to DSC uniforms. Plus, a number of cool nonhumans.

Not to be outdone, there were a number of Andorians at the event, and I think all of the entered the contest. And there was not a bad one in the bunch. I think my favorite was the Andorian woman with the bottle of ale hanging from her belt.

There were also a lot of creative one-offs. One couple costume entry was dressed as Shaxs and Dr. T'Ana from ST: Lower Decks. That got a big fan reaction. And there was also a family dressed as the creatures from Farpoint Station at the end of the ST: TNG premiere. It was 2 parents and their little kid, and they all were very cute.

My favorites in the contest were the woman who dressed as Jaylah from Star Trek Beyond. Her makeup and outfit were very well done. If it were up to me, she would've come in 3rd place. (Unfortunately, I didn't get a good photo of her.)

Instead, the actual 3rd place winner would've been my 2nd place choice. It was a woman dressed as the oil slick creature, Armus, from the "Skin of Evil" episode of TNG. She even had a little Riker figurine sitting on her shoulder, like he was sinking into the slime.

And 1st place went to the fan who seemed to be everyone's favorite: a mechanically accurate Borg. To be fair, not everything in his suit moved, but there was a lot detail, and clearly, a lot of work that went into that costume. And with each elimination round, he kept staying near the top, so it felt fair that he won overall.

There was also a really great Borg Queen costume as well. If it were up to me, I would've had her as my Honorable Mention. So to recap, my picks were:

Realistic Borg

Armus

Jaylah

Borg Queen

Another great costume that didn't make it into the final round, but did get an enthusiastic response from the other fans was a woman in a wheelchair who was pushed by her friend around the convention & merch hall. She carried a sign that said, "The doctor gave me a pill and I grew a new kidney!" It was so freaking adorable and made a lot of folks laugh. Eve Smith, the actress who played the roll in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, was such a delight whenever she showed up in TV and films in the 80s and 90s. I think she would've gotten a kick out of people remembering her small, but delightful performance so many years later.

Overall, it was pretty decent costume contest. Again, the sound in the space was not the best, but it seems like most people enjoyed it.

The Next Generation 🚀

Now on to the biggest -- in terms of personality -- panel of the day! Jonathan Frakes and Brent Spiner came out to huge applause, as expected. And even though the hall was pretty full already, even more people made their way inside the curtained off area as the duo were getting settled in.

Although, it's fair to say that they didn't really settle at all. Has Frakes ever settled in at any convention?

I'm not one to diagnose from the stands, but man, did Jonathan seem a wee bit "caffeinated" on stage. And I mean that in the best sense. He was funny as usual. Engaging. Silly. He came with the behind-the-scenes anecdotes and playful shots at his castmates and friends. But getting him to focus for more than 3 minutes was like watching someone try to wrangle a kindergartener on the playground after lunch.

Jonny kept asking Brent to do his Patrick Stewart impression, which he was more than happy to do throughout the Q&A, and then Jonathan became fascinated by a marquee advertisement that had all the faces of the actors who are a part of the convention tour on it, and he kept walking over to it to "complain" about the order of the faces on the marquee.

Of course, all of this was in good fun! But the man definitely did not feel like sitting still for very long, and as a result, the 2 of them only answered like 4 or 5 fan questions tops.

It didn't help that we had not 1, but 2 groups of special guests interrupt join the boys on stage during their mere 45 min-panel. First, came the always dynamic and fearless Marina Sirtis, who was quickly joined by Michael Dorn. Marina plugged a new series that she's working on, and Michael came on to just chill and make fun of Marina. (Don't read into that too much! They had a Q&A scheduled together for Sunday.)

So after Marina and Michael joked around a bit with Brent and Jonny, there were a couple more questions from fans and other shenanigans. Then, the lovely Tawny Newsome and Eugene Cordero from ST: Lower Decks came out bearing gifts of water for our power duo like lowly interns working in a megacorporation.

Their plan was to steal a little air time from the headliners, but they ended up getting invited to stay and shoot the breeze with Jonny and Brent for a large part of the Q&A. And at one point, Dawnn Lewis came out as well to join them.

I honestly don't remember any of the questions from this panel. I do remember there was a bit of singing from Jonny, Dawnn, and Tawny. And Jonny swore a lot. But if you've ever heard him on a podcast, you know he cusses like a sailor. In the end, a good time was had by all. Except maybe the poor fans who lined up to ask questions at the microphones.

Lower Decks 🌌

After our Baby Boomer duo left the stage, the "babies" of the Trek extended universe came back out to do their Q&A panel for ST: Lower Decks with Tawny, Dawnn, Eugene, and Gabrielle Ruiz. The MC/moderator came back out to guide us on our journey, and this time, even though I still thought he was a wee bit too chatty and took too long to get to the fan questions, most of what he contributed was still pretty good.

To be honest, I don't remember many of the questions during their Q&A, but I do remember that the general vibe of their panel was "silly coworkers letting us watch them be silly."

The moderator/MC had them each go down the line and answer some oddball getting-to-know-you type question before launching into anything Trek-related. Each cast member answered it in stride while also making fun of how dumb it was.

Then, they launched into different stories about shooting different episodes, and what they'll miss about the show now that the final season has began airing. Tawny and Eugene plugged an improv show in Brooklyn for later that evening, inviting anyone who didn't already have plans.

Like I said, most of the questions weren't too memorable. The only one I kind of recall was one that ticked me off a little bit. The question itself wasn't a bad one, but the guy who asked it had to get in a little dig at the Kelvin universe cast -- and I did not care for that.

Anyway, his question was: "Now that Lower Decks is coming to an end as a series, would the cast like to see a Lower Decks movie? And if so, would they want it to be live action or animated?" Every cast member pretty much loved the idea of doing a Lower Decks movie, but they're not sure in what direction it would go given what happens in the series finale that hasn't aired yet. So their answers were both positive and a wee bit cryptic.

Admittedly, it was a pretty good question, but he had to throw in some shade claiming that Trek fans would rather see a Lower Decks movie than another Kelvin universe movie. To which I say: I would love to see both! I enjoy both of these Trek iterations equally, but for very different reasons. And although it will never be the same without Anton Yelchin as Chekov, I am looking forward to seeing Karl, Chris, Simon, and John suit up one more time.

And on that note, I think I'll end this absurdly long convention report that I started over a week ago, but kept coming back to add more and more detail.

I'll also add this one last photo from the convention room floor where all the autographs were being signed. Since I wasn't getting autographs, I decided to just steal quick shots of the actors signing for other people. Again, it serves as proof that I was there, and it feeds the general fun of being a nerd in my favorite fandom of all time.

[widespot]

"No more scatmaster, just good clean dirt! And the bonus covered the whole rent! Yeah, not such a terrible day, after all."

A promotion, of course, means a party.

"Get your orders in now if you don't want 'em well-done!"

"Well, you wanna have, oh, I dunno, a soccer field. Before you build anything you need to have the soil analyzed to tell you about things like what kind of foundation it'll support and whether anything can grow in it and what you might have to do to protect the water table, that sort of thing." "Oh, I see! Yeah, there was something like that going on when we had our house built, I think."

"So have you met any nice boys, Sharla?" "Oh, Mom, they're all nice boys." "They may all seem like nice boys, but -"

"Really glad you could make it, Mom. Hey, do you know John? He's a teacher in Bigg City."

"That's quite the look you've developed there, sis!" "Style is very important in the sorority." It's a great party. Too bad Elsie couldn't make it.

[svu-bracket]

playoffs (round 4)

episode descriptions under the cut

intimidation game -> a female video game developer is harassed and threatened by a group of misogynistic cyber terrorists (imdb). gamer gate babey! liv spends the entire episode worried about noah growing up to be weird. an extremely unserious time that ends with fin murdering logan paul.

silent night, hateful night -> the squad is called in to investigate a wave of hate crimes on christmas eve. amanda catches up with an old flame (imdb). also known as, Why Do One Hate Crime When You Can Do 9? jason biggs incessantly says, “marone!” so we really get that he’s italian. honestly just some incredibly on the nose writing from mr. leight and liv does kill a guy! happy holidays!

[veebs-hates-video-games]

So I finally got around to Final Fantasy VII Remake. The short version is it's the game that convinced me to never play another Final Fantasy game again. It's less dramatic than it sounds though because that decision was based on a lot more than just my experience with this one game, and I don't even think it's a bad game or anything.

I'm someone who played the original forever ago, before FF8 was even out, who overall didn't really like the remake. Yeah, I know, there are tons of people like that. Unlike what seems like the vast majority of them I think almost everything the remake changed made it better.

I only ever thought the original was pretty good, and it was never one of my favorite games ever. I've always been kind of surprised that so many people were so superlative about it and kept demanding more spinoff games and media and an entire remake and going on about how it was one of the best games ever made. Like sure, I had a good time with it, and it was hugely influential, but really? I suppose I have weird taste sometimes.

Anyway pretty much all the changes to the story and writing improved things as far as I'm concerned, although some of that's probably because the translation of the original was pretty rough. A lot of it is because they fleshed stuff out so much more though. There's a lot more backstory and worldbuilding and explanation of people's motivations, so it's much easier to tell who's doing what and why and what their goals are, which helps the story a lot.

Even more than that though is how much better the characters are developed. Some of that is because they stretched it out into three games and have more time to spend with everyone, but a lot of it is just that the writing is better and the characters have more personality. Aerith is so much more of a gremlin than back when she was still Aeris, and it's great. Jessie and Biggs and Wedge being actual characters adds so much too. I feel like they got better development in this than most of the main party members did in the original, and I care more about their stories in this than I did about most of the main cast before.

Unfortunately dragging it out across three games also means it does a fair amount of Hobbiting, although that's mostly on the gameplay side. The story/character additions are mostly good, but the gameplay ones are...well, they just really aren't. Some of the areas really start to drag for a while, and the pacing suffers for it, just running around huge spaces fighting a bunch of random crap just to pass the time so they can justify this being three $70 games instead of the story ending after 20 hours.

And speaking of the gameplay, I don't love it. It's not terrible, and it's at least a step in the right direction after FF15, but it's still a pretty mediocre action game. I may be a little biased coming off stuff like Astral Chain a little while before this one, but come on. I don't even need it to be on that level. Trials of Mana felt much better to me, so someone at Squenix knows how to do it.

I think my biggest problem is just that a lot of animations feel way too long, so nothing's as responsive as I want it to be. It's particularly egregious running around in the world having to wait like two seconds for Cloud to smash boxes and put his sword away afterward before I can move normally again, or the 5-12 second cutscenes squeezing through tight spaces, but it affects the combat to some degree too.

And you know what? The people who made the game apparently agree with me, because Yuffie's animations for all that stuff in Episode INTERmission are all like twice as fast and feel so much better. She's absolutely delightful to play as compared to the base game, whether it's running around the world or fighting stuff. She's also just delightful in general, which definitely helps.

Anyway, the thing most "they changed it, now it sucks" people seem to hate the most is the story changes, and I'm pretty sure they're wrong because that's the best thing about it. Well, the idea behind what they were trying to do is the best thing about it. I kind of love that they took a remake people had been demanding for years and putting really high expectations on and made it into a metacommentary on retelling stories people already know and the expectations they have for it. Finally a JRPG where instead of defeating god you defeat the concept of your ability to tell a story being constrained by your audience's demands.

But as much as I like it conceptually the execution was kind of hit or miss for me. In hindsight that's to be expected, because that's happened with literally every Nomura/Nojima game I've ever played, with zero exceptions. They're great at creating characters I like (both in terms of design and personality), interesting worlds, and fascinating premises, and then at some point the story inevitably falls apart and just doesn't really do it for me overall.

In conclusion, I've instituted a new policy: I am no longer allowed to play Final Fantasy games or other things made by Nomura/Nojima, at least not if they have significant creative control (so Nomura designing a few characters in XC2 is fine, but that's about the limit of it). It'll probably be healthier for everyone in the long run because I'll get to do stuff I like more instead, and everyone else will have to suffer through less of my bitching as I try to force myself through it.

It's a shame though, because I really did like what they did with Aerith and Yuffie a lot and wouldn't mind spending more time with them. The main game struggled to keep me as engaged when Aerith wasn't around because she was so good for the group dynamic, and the side story was at its best when it was all Yuffie all the time instead of trying to tie back into the main story too directly.

Ah heck, I forgot to be a hater about a couple things. Episode INTERmission really fell apart at the end for me. I have zero investment in Dirge of Cerberus/Crisis Core, and the drastic change in tone for the last like 15% of it really ruined things for me. I was genuinely having a pretty good time up until that point for the most part, but that left me feeling much more negatively overall.

Also I have never, ever understood why Sephiroth is so popular and people have been so excited about him whenever he shows up anywhere in anything, and this did nothing to change that for me. Quite possibly the biggest gulf ever between how hyped a character is vs how uninteresting I find them. I'm absolutely baffled by people who say Jin from XC2 is bad because he's just discount Sephiroth. Yeah, he looks vaguely similar because he was designed by the same person, but I actually like Jin's design more, and I find him much more interesting as a character, especially after the Adventures of Tomboy and Sadboy DLC.

Ok I'll shut up now. I think I've gotten my very mixed feelings on Final Fantasy from the past 30 years since I first played one out of my system.

Edit: Oops, forgot one thing. The motorcycle segments are my new least favorite thing in any FF game. The first one was mildly annoying, but they had to include it because it was in the original. The second one sucked enough that if it had gone on for a minute or two longer I was ready to just force quit and uninstall the game right then and there. Chocobo breeding and racing in the original is definitely worse, but it's also completely optional, while this is required for story progression so it's more offensive to me. I was pleasantly surprised by Fort Condor being the least worst minigame in the game though, when I expected it to be the actual worst.

[theuntitledblog]

Final Fantasy VII Remake (PS4) - REVIEW

* I have only played Final Fantasy VII Remake on PS4 and have not played Intergrade or the Yuffie DLC.

I don’t think there’s a game I’ve been more nervous to play than Final Fantasy VII Remake. I avoided it for several years because I couldn’t see how it could possibly compare to the beloved original and worse still were the rumours of changes being made to the narrative that would make it, to me at least, more of a reimagining than remake. I suppose it would be fair to say that there didn’t seem to be a way for the developers to win me over; make changes and get criticised or stay the same but then it can’t possibly live up to the FFVII name. I decided to avoid altogether which then poses the question of why did I finally give in and give Remake a go? In short it came down to curiosity getting the better of me especially with the pending (at the time) arrival of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth which looked astonishing and seemed to be much more in line with what I hoped this project would be when first announced. I finally decided to give Remake a chance and I’m delighted to say that a lot of my fears have largely proven to be misplaced … but not all.

The introduction alone did a lot to win me to the cause as I didn’t anticipate just how powerful a feeling it would be to see this world and those beloved characters rendered in such stunning detail. Whatever you might think of the decision to turn this Remake project into a trilogy of games, the developers here have tried to expand the Midgar opening to be as a compelling a gaming experience as possible from what was originally a very small part of the original. Remake retains a linear structure within a limited but grand looking setting which mostly consists of Sectors 5, 6 and 7 of Midgar but at the same time there are open world characteristics that can feel sometimes feel too much like filler.  Remake is filled with side quests, combat challenges and mini games all the while it stretches out story segments as far as they can. It’s mostly successful but at times Remake does feel like it is being squeezed as tight as possible to get as much content as they can out of it which can sometimes make it feel a little thin. I also found once or twice that this approach to stretch out sections affected the pace when I felt that the story really needed some momentum especially during the Shinra attack on the Sector 7 plate support. From a storytelling perspective however, the benefits are plain to see with the expansion of the Midgar setting allowing us to see more of the city than the original and it’s given time to flesh out characters such as Biggs, Jessie, and Wedge.

What isn’t thin however is the environment, characters, and especially combat with each going a long way to compensate for whatever shortcomings Remake has. Cloud, Barrett, Tifa and especially Aerith are brought to life in stunning detail plus Nobuo Uematsu’s revamped but familiar score serves also as a strong reminder that despite Remake’s slick new look, this is still Final Fantasy VII. OK sure some of the dialogue and awkward exchanges are very cheesy and worked better in the silent original, but this is still a story I easily got sucked into. The Sectors and Slums in Midgar feel liked lived in, believable environments with plenty of NPC’s who you can purchase items, materia and weapons from, accept quests or simply interact with. All this helps to make you feel immersed and emotionally invested in the lives and fate of all these people as the threat from Shinra grows.  

The best element of Final Fantasy VII Remake is the outstanding combat system. The real time combat system introduced here has many more layers than the original and requires you to be adaptable in your strategy depending on the enemies you’re facing. Some enemies are vulnerable to certain magical and/or physical attacks while others have a resistant to certain magical and/or physical attacks and by exploiting that weakness can you put pressure on a foe which can eventually stagger them which allows you to inflict greater damage. Factor in the return of limit breaks, the ability to parry and block attacks to reduce damage taken, abilities, weapons and materia and what you have is a richly layered combat system that requires you to get your party’s balance right. It is an immensely satisfying system, so much fun and one that I never got bored of even when some combat sequences go on for much longer than anticipated. It should be noted that you have the option of switching to a turn-based combat system much like the original however I opted for the new system.

Going in I feared that Final Fantasy VII Remake could only be a lesser version of the PSOne classic, and the good news is that this isn’t the case however I can’t deny that there are elements that just don’t work for me. As mentioned above, I think it is stuffed with unnecessary filler to pad out what is essentially a tiny part of the original game and I think there are times where it shows. I also felt they were holding back when it came to equipment, materia and of course weapons which admittedly they do compensate for by having a function where you can spend experience points and upgrade your weapons which I liked a lot. But it just contributed to a general feeling that the developers significantly held back to keep this first game confined here and that feeling has only grown for me since Rebirth’s release. However, my biggest gripe is centred on a new element included exclusively for Remake; the Whispers. Visually I felt that they made the screen messy, I felt their presence at times affected the flow of the story and were a distraction. Most of all I felt it was such an unnecessary change to a game whose popularity has endured for 17 years in part because of that story. The Whispers embody for me every concern I had about a Final Fantasy VII Remake and while they don’t undermine my overall experience with the game, they are a significant blemish. With that said however, there is no denying that nostalgia and my own personal biases influence a lot of how I feel about Remake and if this was any other game, some of the elements here might annoy me a lot more.

OVERALL

Given the Final Fantasy VII name, characters, music, and story (Whispers aside), and no small amount of nostalgia, I found Remake to be exciting,  a lot of fun, emotional and most surprising of all is that  it made me appreciate the original game even more.

4/5

[foxingpeculiar]

FF7 R&R:

Alright. I'm now at the point where Cloud is about to leave Aerith's house in the night, after the Rude boss fight. I took a bunch of random notes as I went through, so this is me looking at those:

So there's the whole secret mission with Jessie. It's heartbreaking watching her blame herself for what happened at the #1 Reactor when we know it wasn't her fault. Also, I don't think I knew her last name was Raspberry, but that's kind of fun.

The stuttering Shinra officer during the warehouse raid. He's afraid of us. Just a guy doing a job. This game is doing a lot with that--the way people are responding to Shinra's news reports, the Shinra employees who kind of support the company because it's the way of life they know, but they're sort of ambivalent about it. It's doing a lot to try and hammer home the difficulty and cost of what AVALANCHE is doing. And Tifa kind of embodies that--she's clearly uncomfortable with the bombing mission, despite her commitment to the cause (and membership in what is an apparently extremist splinter cell).

I dunno what Roche's deal is. He's obviously a little unbalanced, but is he just a guy that's gonna show up from time to time, or does he fit into this somehow?

Do we know why Wutai and Midgar were fighting? I remember that being kind of there in the original, but I don't think that game went into it very much. This game seems much more oriented about creating a kind of post-war environment, and especially with Yuffie around somewhere, I wonder if we'll get more into that history there.

It's fun watching Wedge kind of poke at Cloud's defenses. With the three girls (Tifa, Aerith, Jessie), Cloud has a certain... I dunno, way about him. The various different flavors of flirtatiousness there kind of throws him off guard. But with a "bro," we see him trying to be super cool and kind of failing at it. ("Why you gotta be such a hardass all the time, bro?") I like Wedge's character for that, but we don't have much backstory on him, do we? Jessie has a whole thing (her being an actress and her dad with Mako poisoning), and we get a little bit of Biggs when we're at the Leaf House--that he used to be a teacher/founder there. But Wedge is still kind of a mystery--how does a kid like that end up on illegal bombing missions?

I think it's funny that, after they get back from Jessie's whole thing, Tifa has this moment with Cloud where he's actually willing to open up to her and she kind of dodges him, even though she's been the one pushing up to that point. Their relationship is interesting that way, the sort of dance they're doing.

So I remember that the Whispers or whatever are doing something related to like... fate, and guiding the story. And they stop attacking Sector 7 when Jessie gets injured and can't go on the mission anymore, meaning Cloud has to. But how is that connected to Aerith and Sephiroth and the Cetra and shit? I don't remember if we get an explanation of that in Remake, or if that's a lingering mystery going into Rebirth.

lol @ Barrett on the train, "we might stand out as a group." Really? The guy with the sword as big as he is and the giant dude with a gun for an arm might stand out? Ya think?

They make a big deal about what Mako smells like in the #5 Reactor. I wonder what that scent is. I like the hints its dropping when Tifa says "It takes me back."

The Whispers stop Cloud from killing Reno. He has a part to play yet. (Which, obviously... but y'know). Also, it's interesting that Aerith makes a joke about how they go for her because they're going for "the stronger prey," but she is. I can't remember how much about that she knows--who she is and what she's capable of.

Aerith's house is cool.

Rude is also cool. The moment where Cloud cracks his sunglasses and he just pulls out another pair absolutely slayed me.

But not much else has. I died to Shiva in Chadley's little VR thing ("I've done it! I've developed a new materia!" is right up there with "I've discovered a new recipe!" from 15) a couple of times, and Reno got a little touch and go for a second, but mostly it's still not too bad, difficulty-wise.

And, aside from a couple little deviations and coloring in a lot of the area and atmosphere, there's still not too much yet that really affects the story. I'm still curious how that stuff is going to stack up.