#this is not a real magazine btw. unfortunately

[rubysundaey]

The March 2024 edition of RubyLand Magazine, now in stores near you near rubyland!

(textless versions and alts versions below the cut :3)

[fallingsunflower]

Do you believe the Yan Yan rumors? I just can’t see Harry doing this - too random for him and especially not when he’s on tour? Just curious to hear your thoughts!

No love, I don't. I've been trying to purposefully remain ambiguous and annoying about it tbh. The rumors initially started almost immediately after Holivia broke up. There were rumors of Harry with someone else, female of course. Only his "close circle of friends" knew about it, so naturally that was spilled to People magazine and Us Weekly, like come on lmao then I believe the Yan Yan rumor originated from Twitter or TikTok. The tabloids and those gossip sites, who get paid when people click on their articles btw, ate that shit UP and thought they solved the case based off of nothing 🤷‍♀️ there was nothing to back it up. Yan Yan went to a show - okay, so what? So did Chris Olsen and Jennifer Aniston. Yan Yan stayed at the same hotel as Harry - yeah not at the same time if you actually looked at the time stamps. Yan Yan's following him around - can you personally confirm this because you physically see her doing so? It's all fan-driven rumors because Harry's fans latch on to whoever he's linked to, rumor or not, and then create their own narrative. They are single-handedly fueling this Yan Yan narrative and I'd bet money that if the fans stopped creating unnecessary drama and rumors, the Yan Yan story would die down. But unfortunately, a majority of Harry's fans (mainly the new ones) only care about 1) Harry's looks 2) who he's sleeping with.

Now is there a chance it's real? Absolutely. I won't sit here and pretend like my assumptions are the only correct ones. That would be stupid. But I just don't lean that way because there isn't a significant or substantial amount of evidence to suggest there's truth to it. People are trusting magazines, Deuxmoi, rumors, and social media activity which are not reliable!!! It's funny too because the same people who so adamantly denied Holivia are now the same people saying the Yan Yan rumors are real.

This is also not a knock on Yan Yan. I know nothing about her. These are just my opinions based off of what we've heard.

I'm happy to talk more if people genuinely want to know but I'm tired of the bullshit "well this must be true because of xyz". I can't keep answering asks from people who live chronically online. There are other blogs to fuel those rumors and obsessions

[atlas-affogato]

Hi! Firstly, I want to say that I really like your fanfics and headcanons. I mean, they're so profound and detailed, and your writing style is just awesome

I sent you an ask some time ago but I had some problems with Tumblr and it didn't reach you😩 btw the ghost who liked your posts, which you once made a post about, is me (I hope I don't sound like a creep)

So, I'd like to share some hcs of mine, too:

1. I see Ratso as a person who, despite looking childish outside, can be pretty serious. I imagine him wearing glasses while reading (I also think that he likes reading hard and scientific stuff). He looks like a university professor with the glasses on sitting in the armchair with a huge book about theoretical physics

2. He also may resemble a professor or a teacher sometimes. He likes helping enforcers' nephews with school assignments and homework, but he tends to explain things and wait for the boys to solve everything by themselves like a real teacher.

3. Chow definitely wore glasses when he was young. He was told to wear them by doctors when he was about 8 - 10 years old and it made him really upset. At first Chow even refused to wear them but he couldn't see anything from the blackboard at school and distinguish people around him. He didn't like glasses as he looked like a nerd with them on. Chow also got bullied for being puny and weak — so he started working out, but it didn't really help, unfortunately.

4. Finn and Ratso are extroverts while Chow is introverted. It took him some time to make their acquaintance and then become friends. Chow doesn't really communicate with other people from the Dark Hand while Finn knows everyone there. He likes small talks. Ratso is keen on chatting as well, but he's a bit shy so sometimes he feels awkward among new people. He just has an experience of people being rude towards him as they think he's acting like a child

5. It's totally not in canon, but I think Chow might have a tattoo on his upper arm. He got a tattoo right after finishing school to look cooler and have an "independent and giving no shit guy" vibe. Also he was a little bit into punk style back then, so he pierced an ear, maybe even two (I hc this not because I love punk guys, absolutely...)

Hi!! Oh my god thank you so much you have no idea what that means to me that you read and enjoy my fics 😭😭😭 thank you so so much

Yeah I only now got that other ask, which I can answer if you would still be interested! Are those numbers for the same list I answered with Finn? I can go digging for that post. Its nice to meet you little ghost 👻😉 (and you don't sound like a creep)

1. Yes yes yes 1000% agree. Ratso can be childish at heart but he's definitely capable of serious discussions, I see him as someone who enjoys the simple things in life and doesn't want to be embarrassed about liking cartoons or action figures. I think he's a total optomist, thinks the best of people and the world. And he definitely will sit and read complicated science and math books and theories and magazines and try to explain them to Finn and Chow, with little success

2. Oh yeah he's the guy to go to to get help with school work, he'll sit with his nieces and nephews and explain everything, spend hours with them to make sure they understand everything

3. Oh 1000% yeah Chow definitely got bullied for looking like a nerd and being a scrawny kid definitely did not help. He probably stated martial arts in high school with the hopes that it would help him with the bullying, which it did not, but it all worked out in the end right? 😅

4. Oh yeah, Finn is such an extrovert and Ratso definitely likes talking with and meeting new people but he can get tired of being around people too much. Chow is a total introvert, has no friends besides Finn and Ratso, and that's the way he likes it. I think Chow could go either way of either being a home body, or going out to clubs/bars pretty regularly. Anywhere where he doesn't have to make small talk. Ratso's definitely had people give him weird looks for being happy or excited about literally anything so he can be a bit more reserved about his hobbies and interests

5. Lmao I accept this headcanon 😆 he so would, wouldn't he? He would totally do that (I definitely don't want to draw him in 2000s emo get up, no definitely not)

Thank you so so much for the ask, I LOVE talking about Enforcer headcanons, I never stop thinking about them. But seriously, I can't thank you enough for reading my fics, it means so much to me that you think they're good 😭😭😭

[wainwrightjakobshammerlock]

HAIII HOW ABOUUTT ✨️🎯❤️✂️ AND 🧠 forrrr Galileusz, Lazarus and Sir Windward ? :3

Galileusz:

✨️ First name is the Polish spelling of the Italian name Galileo, meaning "Galiliean, from Galiliee". Also belonged to a famous astronomer. Picked it because it sounded cool and also because I can absolutely see this guy looking at stars to idk convert a date from 30 yrs ago from Eden time to Pandoran time. Middle name (Béla) is from Hungarian. It could mean either "white" or "guts, bowel". It's also the name of four Hungarian kings. Picked it because I wanted some sort of weird ish middle name starting with B (or more accurately my brain wanted it; OCs often just. Come into my brain somewhat fully formed and demand VIBES) and this one sounded coolio. Surname (Monroe) is Scottish, meaning "from the Mouth of the Roe". It was also the surname of an American president who pioneered the eponymous doctrine of isolationism. Fitting for this guy since he does not like being disturbed in his work lol.

🎯 Calculations (sometimes he does it too fast and eats minuses or changes a 5 to a 6. beats himself up over it. this is definitely not me projecting.), speed typing, and oddly enough origami. He's got these massive fancy ahh origami constructions strewn about his office (and if somehow you got him to chill you'd absolutely get 10000 expertly constructed paper planes thrown at you).

❤️ Marsh explicitly calling him a friend for the first time. (Gal doesn't really have many friends, both in and out of work.)

✂️ Worst memory? What worst memory? Everything's fine. He totally didn't have anything excised or erased maybe. No he doesn't know anything about that planet that starts with G. Everything is in order.

🧠 first proper cisgender man jakobs employee oc (technically Poirot was first but he's just an au). took me long enough. unfortunately he is also bisexual /SILLY

Lazarus:

✨️ I'm ngl I was thinking of The Binding of Isaac video game at the time. Only later did I realize "wow zir adoption into the family coincides with the restoration of the manor and general resurgence of the jakobs corporation. just like that bible guy who died and got resurrected. and also it keeps with the jakobs corp's biblical symbolism theme".

🎯 stealing Nothing specific. Ze's a jack of all trades master of none. Even if we're talking skilltree wise I'd imagine ze'd be equally good at mobbing and at bossing. But probably a bit more at bossing.

❤️ It's a competition between finding zir first magazine there in the dump and being found by this strange probably corporate but incognito aka LOADED guy then realizing he's really cool actually (the guy was Alistair Hammerlock hunting the Sovian Basilisk btw he just wanted someone who'd guide him through the sewers since he's not used to hunting in the concrete jungle).

✂️ NOT zir parents dying despite what you might think (ze doesn't remember that at all; it was very long ago and confusing and shit). Honestly all the worst moments in zir life happened so early they're in a haze for the most part. This includes the starvation and illness and all that. It physically hurts to recall it.

🧠 MY FIRST ACTUAL BORDERLANDS OC THEEEEE SCIMBO SCUNKY THEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE SILLY EVER. WAINLOCK FANKID. HUNT VAULTER. FUNKY EVER FOR FUCKING REAL E

Windward

✨️ I forgor </3 It's kinda sad bc his name doesn't really fit the aesthetic of Athame much anymore? Like. That place is basically Persian/Sarmatian Steampunk Magic Vaguely British Interdimensionally Connected Warsaw/Gdynia and "Sir Robert Windward" just sounds mid. (He was the first guy in that oc verse; back then it was just SUPER British and shit.) It's not even strange like Poirot's surname. But I can't just rename him so I like to think it's a "translation convention" (aka Triadic transliteration; just like Athame is actually written as Adzameh in the proper local language) of some much cooler Athamian name idk. And/or that he has a more appropriate middle name like Parvuz (invented but appropriate for the style I'm going for) or Mehr (modern Persian form of Mithra) or smth like that.

🎯 Mf just wants to consolidate his parents' quasi-legal contract empire. And when I mean consolidate I mean CONSOLIDATE they let his ass onto the city council despite his family being considered "noble" only a generation ago (Athame is quasi-oligarchic; used to be a monarchy then elective monarchy then oligarchy and now it sort of has elections and shit but not really it's got the council which essentially has authoritarian rule. It's a bit of a mess very roughly inspired by Sanation era Poland. Because I'm cringe). Also raise an adoptive heir to said empire because he is NOT getting pregnant.

❤️ Transition day. Like of course gender euphoria is cool but have you ever gotten it all at once? That or maybe the day he had his first cigar. Or piece of sugar candy.

✂️ His mother's death. She was killed by the Conspiracy (AKA the Silent Conspiracy, an organization led by Yaldab'axas, one of the Old Gods, which is exactly what it says; a conspiracy effort to snuff out the Great Engine. He doesn't know it was them) in an exceptionally brutal spir-fueled (i.e. magical; spir is magical energy in TTP) manner right in front of his eyes. His father spent the rest of his life studying and trying to uncover the Conspiracy, which led to many (though not all) of their ventures being sold. It's also the reason why Rosa wants his gay ass tower, it's chock full of records on the Conspiracy, and homegirl is DETERMINED to find and kill all these fuckers.

🧠 He's everything to me. He's my problematic fave. He's transgender. He's a manwhore. Both he and his family have committed innumerable warcrimes AND regular crimes. He's pansexual and polyamorous. Both his gender and sexuality are tied into his story but not for the reasons you think. He's canonically a DILF. He's a wizard. He's a failguy. He's immensely successful. He's a homewrecker. He's a businessman. He's a hedonist. He has soggy naturals. He's masculine in the way an orphan generating Victorian coal baron is masculine. He's in Borderlands also for some reason. He's never had a proper loving romantic relationship. He's got a moustache that covers his face. Et cetera.

[casualmaraudering]

Youtuber Sirius AU

yes i’m making a post about a yt au in the year of the lord 2020 get over it

sirius’s channel is pretty varied - he posts with no particular schedule, or theme, he just. posts whatever he wants

there’s gaming videos. there’s just chatting about stuff. song covers - electric guitar, piano, or singing. but he also does a little bit of cinematography sometimes, or live streams where he composes songs

titles including: “why is Mr Darcy the perfect man” (which is 47 minutes long btw), “properly caring for a motorbike engine (tips)”, “beach trip + getting terribly sunburnt (no, i’m not actually a vampire)” “pranking my flatmate pt 39”

james features on his channel quite a lot, usually as a victim of pranks or someone to play games with

he gets famous cause his videos are so chill, and often super funny, not to mention he has a fucking fantastic voice and his covers are some of his most viewed videos on his channel. and welp. he is good looking

known as the eye candy of youtube pretty much 

he’s got a wide fanbase and a huge instagram following, got quite a few interviews on TV and even a magazine cover

he didn’t expect to be famous, especially since he did it just cause he was bored, as a hobby more than anything, but hey, he has a great community and it works out fantastic tbh. the money is a plus, yes, but he already had a very cushy life cause of inheritance, so he donates most -if not all - of his yt income

remus isn’t famous at all. he's a student who works at a bookstore. he’s very much a Normal Person TM

he has the biggest fucking celebrity crush on sirius which is real unfortunate cause sirius has like 30mil subscribers and is pretty much a model on ig. and remus. remus is remus

he stumbled on one of his videos by accident. and sirius was gorgeous and funny and talented. and then he binged his whole channel. and the crush hit so hard 

they get together somehow i don’t know, i didn’t plan out this post too much don’t judge me, but it probably involves remus freaking the fuck out about it a lot

sirius has always been pretty nonchalant about his sexuality but when he finally makes a video about it - titled “yes i really am gay it’s not just for a twitter meme” - it’s actually a rather serious video (aside some jokes) cause he wants to be a good role model for the younger queer boys that might be watching him

when they start dating, he doesn’t mention remus that much, but he does mention A Boyfriend, and his fans pick up on that quick cause hello, that’s new

remus’s guilty pleasure is scrolling through social media and seeing memes/posts about the mystery boyfriend and how whipped sirius seems

at first, remus doesn’t appear in sirius’s videos at all, for like a good couple months

when he does start appearing, at first it’s through comments off camera - it’s also when the people learn his name

cue fanmade videos like “remus bullying sirius for 29 minutes”, “remus being sassy (compliation)” or “sirius being gay for remus part 1/2347823432″

which just get better when remus finally does agree to be on camera

“compilation of remus looking at sirius like he’s the dumbest being on earth” “sirius hearteyes black” “remus being relatable for 12 minutes and 29 seconds”

sirius loves posting photos of them being cute together just because he loves his boyfriend okay? usually they involve remus hiding his face cause he’s insecure, but that’s so adorable sirius can’t be mad

sirius starts posting an awful lot of love song covers

honestly sirius probably reads fics of them for the laughs (and sometimes sends remus the hilariously bad ones so they can laugh together)

sirius saves every fanart he sees of himself and remus or just of remus. he has to

people go badshit when sirius posts an engagement photo and sirius is so fucking happy that he gets to just gush about his fiance on twitter as if he’s a schoolboy

like honestly. sirius’s twitter? remus. so much gushing about remus

their wedding video is the most viewed video of the year, and one of the most viewed videos of all times

remus ends up tweeting like “funny how five years ago i had a celebrity crush on that one hot youtuber and yesterday i married him” he’s living the dream tbh

sirius has fucking field day with domestic videos: “giving my husband cooking instructions except i only speak french (spoiler: it’s a mess)”, “mario kart with my husband” “reacting to memes of me and my husband”

a couple months after they’re married sirius has a chill live stream where all he does is literally just. talk about remus and how fucking happy he is in his life. it’s so gay. and so wholesome

there’s an ongoing meme within the community that everyone likes remus more than sirius. sirius runs with it and loves it cause he loves people raising his baby’s confidence. generally posts about remus? 10/10, reblog/retweet, saves them, sirius is his no.1 stan

there’s people hating on them, of course. people who shipped sirius with james. homophobes. people who are just jealous of remus. at first that hits remus a lot, like, he’s not used to getting hate DMs, so that sucks extra hard. but sirius always tries his best to cheer him up and hey, it doesn’t matter what the people say, cause sirius would drop his career immediately if remus as much as asked

another fandom favourite meme: sirius being a simp for remus. sirius never denies it 

[whindsor]

the trials of online dating, part 2

hey @witchofinterest you’re still inspiring me btw

Swipe left, swipe left, swipe left-

Mika thought, with all the options available to her, that online dating in NYC would be a breeze. In truth, it didn’t even have to be dating. She just needed friends that weren’t her sister or her sister’s boyfriend.

Swipe left, swipe left, swipe - oh, hold on.

Mika furrowed her brow, glad that the handsome man on the screen couldn’t see the double chin she sported as she curled up on the couch. James Bucky Barnes. She’d heard that name before. Where had she heard it before?

A quick google search reminded her, making her sit up and stare down at her phone. Now when she looked at his picture, she remembered how sad he looked during the trial, how tired he was when he took the stand to talk about all the things that happened to him. TIME magazine ran article after article about the years he lost.

And now he was trying online dating? Good for him.

Mika stared long and hard at the screen. He was cute, and he also probably felt a little misplaced here in New York. Or, this was a fake account, and she would be disappointed. Again.

Hiking. Technology. Reading. Well, they had two out of three things in common.

Fuck it.

She swiped right before she could think too hard about it, going through a few more profiles before deciding that no one was going to strike her interest until she figured this James Bucky Barnes situation out. So she put her phone down and went about her afternoon, baking some bread for the week and cleaning the fridge out. She hated cleaning the fridge out, but since she was currently mooching of her sister in the studio apartment, she needed to do a little extra work.

She wasn’t surprised when her phone dinged later. She was surprised to find that it was James Bucky Barnes, accepting her match.

Interesting.

Her stomach did a flip. She wasn’t cool enough to match with the former Captain America’s best friend, and definitely didn’t expect him to go for the Romanian girl.

Had to be a catfish.

Mika: Is this really Mr. Barnes?

She was going to get to the bottom of this. If he messaged her back, then she could get on the web app and trace his IP address and see where it was registered. She wasn’t positive on the legality of that action, but safety came first. Her phone dinged again. A message!

James: Unfortunately.

The response made her laugh out loud, any thought of tracing his whereabouts fading. A catfish wouldn’t respond like that.

Mika: Deciding to try online dating? You’re becoming a real modern man, James! James: My therapist made me.

Ouch, okay, so maybe he wasn’t into the dating part. Mika was about to switch her tactics when he messaged again.

James: Sorry, that was short. Still getting the hang of this. James: You can call me Bucky. James: If you want.

Mika smiled down at her phone. There was something magical about the guy not caring about sending multiple texts in a row. Any girls she dated didn’t mind it, but men were always wanting to look all stoic. Mika found that the less they talked, the more desperate they were.

Mika: Nice to meet you, Bucky. I’m Mika. James: Nice to meet you, Mika. James: I saw you’re from Romania. Have you lived in New York long? Mika: Just a couple months. Moved here after the Blip. James: Oh, I’m sorry. That must be tough. Mika: Could be worse. I’m staying with my baby sister who is now, technically, older than me. Mika: How is it being back here?

Well if he didn’t think she was a creepy stalker, he did now!

James: Weird. So many things are different. James: But even weirder, some things are the same.

When Mika blipped back, it was hard enough to figure out everything that changed in five years. If the TIME articles were correct, Bucky was back in New York after leaving eighty years ago. She couldn’t even imagine how weird everything felt for him. And how lonely he must be.

Mika: So what’s the most important thing for me to check out? Mika: You know, since you’re a true New Yorker.

That was a safe enough topic, right? She hoped so. Centenarian or not, he was the first person to message her that didn’t ask for pictures, and she was in desperate need of someone chill. It took a while for Bucky to respond, long enough that she was utterly convinced that she’d said something wrong.

James: Totonno’s is where we used to go for pizza all the time. If you want good cheesecake, Junior’s is the best. Mika: Oh, I like both of those things!

She paused, hoping that the next message would be him asking her out. Of course, it couldn’t be that easy.

James: Let me know if you like them. James: If it’s any consolation, they still taste the exact same. Mika: Good to know. I’ve also been on the hunt for a Romanian place. Mika: Know of any? James: Not right off hand, but I can do some research. James: I spent some time there, before the Blip. Mika: Really?? Where?? James: Bucharest. Mika: No shit! I lived there! Mika: I was on the south side, in Rahova. James: …so was I. Mika: What apartments? I was Bloc 70 B.

The dots hovered, then disappeared, then hovered again, then disappeared again. Mika held her breath, but couldn’t maintain it long enough before having to take in a gulp of air. Bucky still didn’t respond. Was that too intimate a question? God, she hated this online thing sometimes.

Finally, her phone lit up again.

James: Did someone send you. Mika: What? No. Mika: I’m sorry, did I say something wrong? Mika: I know they weren’t the fanciest apartments, but…

Another ten agonizing minutes, then,

James: I’m sorry. I lived in those apartments too. James: I get spooked pretty easily nowadays.

Mika let out a huge breath of relief. Okay, good, so she wasn’t some inconsiderate asshole. Her and Bucky just had the weirdest coincidences.

Mika: That’s fair! Mika: How do I know you’re not the one following me?

Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

James: I don’t do that anymore. James: That…probably didn’t help my case.

Oh thank God, he was just as awkward as she was. And at least he had the excuses.

Mika: Meh, not the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to me. James: Same. James: Wish I could even say getting blipped was.

Don’t do it, don’t ask it, don’t say it -

Mika: What’s the weirdest thing then?

Fuck.

James: When Steve tripled in size. James: Thought I was hallucinating. Mika: Oh God, I can’t imagine! Mika: It’s weird enough that Nicoletta is a year older now Mika: At least she’s the same size James: Do you have other siblings?

Mika tapped the edge of her phone. She never did figure out how to word this without eliciting a pity party. But hey, Bucky of all people would probably understand.

Mika: We had an older sister. She passed away. James: I’m sorry to hear that. Mika: Thank you. James: My sister passed away about 20 years ago. James: Obviously, I was not there. Mika: Have you visited her grave? James: Yea, in the first couple weeks I was here. James: Will you think I’m an asshole if I say it was anticlimactic? Mika: Not at all. Mika: Last time I visited Raisa I called her a selfish bitch so Mika: You’re in good company

Too much information, that was too much information.

Bucky sent back…a laughing emoji.

James: That’s how you know you were close. James: My mother got mad at me because Rebecca thought her name was “Stupid Baby” for a long time. Mika: Aw, you were much nicer to your sister than I was haha James: Well, it was the ’20’s. James: Things were a little different. Mika: Were you a flapper? Mika: Don’t lie. James: I would never. James: Lie, that is. James: I was definitely a flapper. James: The cutest damn toddler flapper you’d ever see. Mika: Pics or it didn’t happen. James: I don’t know what that means. Mika: It means I want photographic evidence. James: Cameras weren’t invented yet. Sorry.

Man alive, James Bucky Barnes was funny.

They kept going back and forth, attempting a more normal conversation. It was, Mika found, a very nice conversation. He was someone she liked talking to, and he seemed to enjoy talking to her too. Or at least he was really good at faking it. 

“Why are you smiling so much at your phone?” Nicoletta asked later, giving her an odd look from her easel. Her boyfriend had already gone to bed, leaving them to watch whatever they wanted on Netflix. Of course that meant they put on a baking show and proceeded to do anything but watch it.

“Huh? I’m not smiling at my phone.” she said, tucking said phone into her lap.

“Don’t be dumb.” Nicoletta said, brandishing her paint brush like a knife. “Who are you talking to? You better not say-“

“Ew, no, not him.” Mika said, cutting her off before she could utter the name of her ex. “Just…someone I met on HiLove.”

“I thought we talked about those dating apps.”

“I’m lonely! I need friends.” she said. “He passed the background check.”

“Let me see a picture.” Nicoletta said, coming over. Mika sighed, thumbing through the app to find Bucky’s profile, and the one picture he had. She hoped her sister didn’t notice the two unread messages in the corner. “Hmm. Okay, he’s handsome.”

“Yes.” Mika agreed. In fact, he was becoming more handsome as the afternoon went on. “And he’s funny too. And smart.”

“Ok, calm down. You just started talking to him.”

“I know! I’m not like, proposing marriage.” Mika said, rolling her eyes. “I just like talking to him so far. That’s all.”

“Uh huh. I know how it goes with you ‘talking’ to good looking people.”

“About as well as it does with you.” she pointed out. “Pre Steve, of course.”

“Of course.” Nicoletta said. “Have you discussed future plans? Deepest fears? Favorite sexual positions?”

“I hate you.”

“These are important questions!”

“I’m going to bed.”

“No phone sex on the first day!”

“I really hate you!” Mika sang, pulling the curtain around the little area in the studio apartment that counted as her room. It was late, and she probably should go to bed anyways. But Bucky was still up, and they were currently discussing movies. Turned out, he was way behind.

Mika: Star Wars? James: Nope. It’s on the list. Mika: Star Trek? James: Also on the list. Mika: Pride and Prejudice? James: Isn’t that a book? Mika: And a movie! My favorite one. James: Guess I’ll move that to the top of the list then.

Was he…flirting? Mika couldn’t deny the smile on her face now, even as her eyes struggled to stay open. Nicoletta went to bed, and with the light off, staying conscious was becoming a struggle.

Mika: Good answer. James: Ever seen Wizard of Oz? Mika: …no. A little before my time. James: Ouch.

Despite the humor and the fun conversation, she could feel the fatigue setting in. She was so afraid to stop talking, afraid that tomorrow he would change his mind, or find someone cooler than her. But she couldn’t stay up all night anymore, she wasn’t in her 20’s.

Mika: Unfortunately, I think I need to sleep. James: I understand. It is really late.

She paused, tapping the edge of her phone. What was the worst he could say? No?

Mika: Talk to you tomorrow?

Apparently it was his turn to pause, long enough that she nearly fell asleep before her phone buzzed again.

James: I’m looking forward to it. James: Goodnight, Mika. Mika: Goodnight, Bucky.

She went to sleep with a smile.

[lizacstuff]

Merhaba friends - SCK episode 35 asks

(Fragman 36 ask at the end)

Apologies to those of you who sent asks for last week’s episode and I didn’t answer them. The week got away from me and then suddenly it was show day, the episode aired, and the asks were no longer relevant. Even if I didn’t answer I appreciate you reaching out!

Anonymous said: I’m dying to know what you thought.

While my ego would like to think that there are a variety of subjects that people might seek out my thoughts on, I’m going to guess you want to know what I thought of episode 35. 

I had a mixed reaction. I liked a lot of things, loved a lot of things, there were some things I found disappointing, and a few characters I wanted to strangle. So let’s explore from that perspective. 

Liked:

Romcom feel was back. It felt lighter and was easier to watch than a lot of eps in this arc.

Aydan, Ayfer and Seyfi working together to unite the kids. They were actually funny and trying to do the right thing, even if their methods were a bit morally gray. 

Serkan and Eda’s photo on outdoor advertising and on the cover of magazines. We’ll ignore how quick the turnaround was to get those photos up, it was just plain fun to watch Serkan see himself on his drive into work and be embarrassed and aggravated by the whole thing, while there was also a little spark of excitement from him in being linked to Eda like that. That was enjoyable.

Melo is always the best bestie and Ayfer didn’t suck as an aunt!

LOVED:

Most every individual Edser scene. 

Serkan out-of-his head with worry, planning to jump into the frigid sea, even though he wouldn’t have any shot of saving her that way. That’s my ride-or-die, protective romantic robot! 

Serkan making faces as Eda plans her wedding. Excellent work from Kerem here. 

Eda buttoning up Serkan’s shirt. That was hot. It was also hot that he just let her. 

Sekan buttoning up Eda’s dress (get a room kids and start going the other way... unbuttoning, UNBUTTON) This scene was emotional and the sexual tension! 

Serkan clutching his chest. The poor boy was about to have a panic attack right there. Follow through, writers, give him the full fledged panic attack!  

The hair caught in the button (There’s that button again!) sequence. it was funny and sexy and made Selin into a foolish, immature third wheel. I’m all for it. 

Serkan apologizing to Eda for Selin, that was big because up til now he hasn’t really recognized how awful Selin is in most situations. He has blinders when it comes to her, mostly because he doesn’t pay attention, so it was satisfying to see him acknowledge her bad behavior.

EVERY MOMENT AT THE BOLAT HOUSE. That was a great sequence, and IMO we mostly have Hande and Kerem to thank for it and not the writers. They brought it to life and obviously a lot of it was on them to just figure out what to do in the scene.  I loved that Serkan saw Eda amongst the flowers in that painting. Swoon!  their conversation about how they were both hungry was hilarious. Every moment with them fixing the sandwiches was gold and then it just got better from there. With him being willing to share food, to the throwback “mesala” conversation to her listening to his heart. All so... so... good. 

However, while we definitely deserved those nice, long, funny, heartwarming scenes, I must say the writers didn’t use them to their fullest potential. How did the night end? How did they part? Why was no progress made after spending the night that way?  If the writers were even half decent at their job they would have had Serkan confess some feelings while high, but not remember in the morning thus giving us the parallel with episode 11 when he was sick. Eda would have felt defeated when he didn’t remember, again, and it would have made more sense why she thought the fake wedding was her last shot at getting through to him. 

Characters I’m mad at:

Ceren knows the whole episode that Deniz loves Eda, she knows he’s being weird about it, she makes up with Eda, and stills says nothing? WTF?

Engin makes it to the wedding, he knows Serkan has his memories back and he doesn’t stop the wedding to let Eda know before she says yes? WTF?

Ferit allegedly has the photos and he thinks the wedding is real, but he doesn’t show Eda the photos so she has a better idea of what she’s getting into? WTF?      (though through that whole Ferit/Selin scene I wondered if Ferit was just playing along with Selin, trying to get info out of her and he’s not really the one who has the photos. Time will tell. )

Selin/Deniz- Obvious, psychos, I need them freaking gone. How Deniz can claim to love Eda, but sit there and watch her look devastated and cry her eyes out at the thought of fake marrying him, while knowing he’s about to pull a disgusting trick is unfathomable. He needs to be committed.

Disappointing:

To be clear, I no longer care, but I can’t believe how badly they flubbed this storyline. That? That was the payoff for the hell we’ve been put through for 7 weeks? Wow talk about not worth it and anti-climactic. I’m not going to go on about all the ways they failed, but I could. 

While I fully believe that Serkan fell back in love with Eda before he got his memories back (see this post) he should have confessed to Eda before he got them back. That was the whole point of this entire storyline and they carried that the entire time, but then fumbled the ball at the 1 yard line. Good grief, these writers are bad. 

Serkan gets his memories back, he knows time is of the essence, and he still is torn and has to think about it? WHAT? Just no. Ridiculous. I realize they did it for maximum suspense, but they shouldn’t have. They really shouldn’t have.

That was their reunion after all we’ve been through? Come on, writers, step it up. I realize we no longer have the writers that gave us his love declaration in 11 or Eda’s and Serkan’s proposals, or their make up scene in 28 or their goodbye scene in 28, but this was lackluster. 

So, in summation, there was a lot that I really enjoyed, I thought the episode flowed better than some of the others in this arc, and lots of great individual Edser moments, it’s just the way they flubbed the whole storyline. I’m just so glad the amnesia is over, that thankfully I don't really care.

Anonymous said: when pushed by engin and aydan multiple times in the episode he never denies he ISN'T in love with her and rather skirts around the issue and deflects with "she's marrying deniz!" which should be proof enough he fell in love with her especially considering in 29 he was telling eda that "there was no such thing as love" between them. it was almost reminiscent of eda in 10/11 where she doesn't tell him her feelings bc she believes he wants selin, this time in reverse bc he believes she's moved on.

This came in response to this ask, and yes I agree. I should have hit that point harder, that Engin and Aydan ask him and he never denies it. When this arc started he would have denied it in a flat second. 

He fell in love with her again, full stop. It’s just a shame that they didn’t make it the entire crux of his love confession, we deserved to see that. Just one of the many ways the writers dropped the ball with this storyline. 

Anonymous said: The whiplash we got going from 26-28 to the drag of 29-35 though. 🤦🏼‍♀️ and you really could cut out that entire storyline and you wouldn’t be missing anything because really nothing happened. They didn’t even have Serkan stopping Eda before he got his memories back to fulfill a basic assumed foreshadowing. Like....huh?

I don’t want to be negative, but it’s crazy to me that they sped through wedding prep at a lightning pace and then went through this painful amnesia storyline at a snail’s pace. They should have had at least 5 episodes of wedding prep, doing just one pre-wedding activity per episode, but kept Babaanne around to create the drama. I wanted at least one episode of them back together, but keeping it secret so they could work against her. We were robbed of that!

Anonymous said: I know we’ve been hating a lot on the new writers but the showrunner still has to sign off on these scenes right? And it’s been the same one this whole time. What has she been thinking? Maybe the writers didn’t do their homework but surely she can tell that scenes being very out of character wouldn’t make sense?

Bold of you to assume there’s a showrunner as we know them on a Hollywood show. I assume you’re talking about Asena, but I always think of her more of a cross between an EP and a network exec. A bit more removed than a showrunner.  I have no idea who the guiding light of this show is since Ayse left. The production timelines are so tight, I don’t think there’s time to review scripts and reject them. Sometime I think it’s a wonder anything makes sense at all. 

Anonymous said: I see you've giffed some of the edser "questionable positions" bookshelf scene. (Awesome gifs btw). Honestly, that entire scene was really funny, with the rest of the art life crew jumping in. Even Selin made me laugh when she came in there and said "how did her hair get stuck?!" and Serkan very sarcastically replied with something like "I wound it up in there, what do you think??" Not to mention all the very close face talking that was going on!

Great scene! Here’s the gif set you’re referring to.  I suppose the writers proved they could do fun, and romantically comedic scenes if they want to. More like this, please. 

Anonymous said:

With these past 5 (?) episodes with these last set of writers, I truly believe that they did not go back to watch SCK at all before writing. Any past references were probably given to them on a checklist or something. Like I don't know if they even watched episode 28 with how they ended up doing away with the memory loss. Its kind of astounding how much they dropped the ball. Hopefully the rumors of new writers are true and they get enough episodes to give us a good ending to this story!

This came in right after the episode, but unfortunately, we learned today that we are apparently not getting new writers, at least not for episode 36.I was fully convinced we were since Sefkat (the production company twitter admin) liked Yasin’s post when he said we’d be getting all new writers for 36. Normally I don’t believe anything Yasin says because he has lied so many times that any info he actually has just comes across as a clock being right twice a day.  However, when she liked it, I found that convincing.  Also the way they cancelled shooting on Saturday and H/K were in for a meeting on Friday. Seemed like it was all adding up. We’ll see, maybe there will be new ones for 37??

As for not watching what came before, it certainly feels like they only skimmed and watched certain scenes and didn’t do a deep dive on the series. Watching all the eps in full should be a requirement before they start the job. I always feel they are  just off with Serkan’s characterization, they don’t quite get him and they turn him a bit into a cardboard cutout of early Serkan. It’s like the character sketch outline of Serkan, but with no depth. 

Anonymous said: When I saw the character description of the new cast member added to the show I was like "great, another possible screen space filler in regards to Aydan" but after watching the episode, I was actually really intrigued by his character. I know there's a bunch of theories out there that Serkan is actually his son, which I don't really buy into right now, but nevertheless he was a real potential to be a father figure in Serkan's life... and maybe the only guest character to not be a villain lol.

I’ll tell you this, that casting makes it seem like they at least want us to think he’s Serkan’s father.  He’s way better looking that Alptekin and he just looks like he could genetically be responsible for the magnificence that is Serkan. 

We’ll see what they do. I think it could be interesting, just because until Serkan met Eda he was so invested in being “Serkan Bolat” that having his identity shaken like this would be seismic for him. It could create some really good drama for him in all his relationships without tearing apart Edser. Also, if Alptekin knew it would go along way in explaining that relationship. Alptekin always demanding perfection and the cold way he sent him away to boarding school. It would explain why he could never earn his father’s love or approval, and that knowledge might give him some peace. 

In addition, and a big plus, it would mean that his biological father was NOT responsible for the deaths of Eda’s parents. 

Anonymous said: 1/ everyone for weeks was waxing poetic and had super detailed headcannons of how serkan would remember in really specific ways when he realized he was in love, something that ayfer kinda poked fun of at the beginning of the ep talking about the fake wedding, but i was genuinely laughing out loud at serkan and engin accidently getting into a fight and him yelling throughout it that he remembers and engin pushing him in front going "can you give him one good hit?!" lmaoo

2/ getting a good hit to the end to unscramble your brain that is already giving you flashbacks is more actually more realistic than the usual fairytale way.. sure, less romantic, but definitely more realistic. the man was already in love with her, super confused on what to do since he genuinely thought she was marrying deniz, and was already having flashes, all he really needed was good hit in the head lol. maybe eda should've kept going when they were boxing 😂

I like your take on it.

Anonymous said: i think they saw the fandom complaining week after week that there was too much heaviness/drama in their romcom and said "so you guys want romcom? here i'll give you full on romcom" which is what i thought this episode was! and i really appreciated such a fun ep overall to watch to bring this otherwise really sad and emotion heavy memory loss plot to an end.

Yes, the episode was a lot more fun than most that had come before it. If only they could have tied it all together. 

Anonymous said: Something that just occurred to me that's so crazy in addition to wrapping an episode days before it airs, is that in Turkish television, a series has like 1 permanent director and a small writing team that writes ALL of the episodes. In US TV, that's pretty much unheard of - different writers rotate owning each episode and the same director will shoot maybe 2-3 episodes at most a season. The production turnaround time is so short that it's insane that we don't hear of more last-minute delays

I know, I think about this all the time. It’s crazy to me that there’s only one director. Which is why there’s not a lot of added layers to this show.  When a director just has one episode on their plate and they spend a couple of weeks prepping to direct, every shot, every angle, every bit of set dressing can be meaningful. This show doesn’t have that kind of visual depth.  On the other hand you do get a director that knows the actors and crew inside and out and they all have a short hand which allows them to get to what they want faster and easier. That can’t be replicated with directors who come in for one episode. 

Anonymous said: Over the past month or so, I’ve been seeing so many people cancel Serkan and wanting Eda to leave him forever and move away, but she really never gave up on him and she might finally get him back this week 😭 in fact, Eda and Melo are the only people we’ve seen who have tried to help get his memories back! Everyone who has been friendly to Selin can disinvite themselves to the Edser wedding

I’m glad I didn’t see a bunch of this nonsense myself.  But, honestly, anyone who wants Eda to leave and not end up with Serkan... why are they watching this show to begin with? Did they take a wrong turn somewhere? How did they last this long watching it? We’re 35 episode in and this entire show is their love story, beyond that story and it being a vehicle to showcase Hande and Kerem’s awesome chemistry, it really doesn’t offer many other reasons to watch. 

And yes to jettisoning anyone who was friendly with Selin. PIRIL I’M LOOKING AT YOU. I sure hope Piril finds out exactly how low Selin will sink. She needs to feel ashamed for welcoming her back without question. 

Anonymous said: That fragman for ep 36...part of me wants to hope that it will all be solved pretty soon, since we got edser separated for so long we deserved them together now. But part of me also knows these writers suck so I’m expecting the worst. I just wanted edser together again 😭

I know. When I saw the full fragman my initial reaction was to yell “WHY CAN’T WE HAVE NICE THINGS!!!!!!!”  But I’ve calmed down now. 

It seems to me that we have Serkan and Eda together and working together to figure this mess out, which is good. we have romantic walks on the pier, and Eda spending the night at his place and a sweet breakfast setting with Eda in jammies. All good.  

But then we also have Selin and Deniz refusing to quit.  Selin comes up with the plan that if Deniz doesn’t sign the papers in time, then they will have to get a divorce which means Eda can’t marry for 300 days. So then, what? Deniz steals Serkan’s car and goes on the run? 

What they hope to accomplish with this, I don’t know. Because even if they succeed and Serkan and Eda can’t get married right away, it’s not like they’ll just magically decide that they want to be with those two psychos instead.  I can see Selin doing it just for revenge so she can make them miserable, but what’s Deniz’ motivation? The further psycho he goes, the worse Eda will think of him. Bizarre. 

As for the pregnancy thing. It sounds like Eda must hear that from someone. My money is on Deniz. That’s his Hail Mary to try and drive a wedge between Serkan and Eda. Because seemingly when Eda brings it up, Selin asks where did you hear that. Also, phew, Eda says right away that if its true that Sekan deserves to know, which hopefully will clear things up (because the writers showed us over and over and over again that they weren’t sleeping in the same bed) and it will show Serkan just what kind of crazy he’s dealing with. 

Anonymous said: I was pretty excited after watching the fragman, but surprised when I went on twitter and saw that almost everyone was really upset by it. I’m sure most people know Selin isn’t actually pregnant, but they all still somehow hate the storyline (possibly bc they think it’ll drive edser apart?) idk am I crazy for thinking that we’ll still get good edser moments and them staying together and fighting together? I guess the show needs drama to continue but I’m not mad because I think good edser will outweigh bad/miscommunication edser.

I’m sure we’ll get good Edser moments, but I can’t really fault anyone for being extremely annoyed by this fragman. I think this little plot point will end up not being a big deal at all, however, I can see how it feels like a kick in the face after what we’ve been through the last 7 episodes. It’s like can we get one happy episode? Just one?

Also it’s just very uncomfortable. I’m in the camp that currently thinks it’s impossible for her to be pregnant because they haven’t slept together. He was too fragile and injured before they came back to Istanbul (sleeping on the couch with his PTSD) and after he was too confused and consumed by Eda and just uninterested in Selin. I have to believe they kept showing us them not spending the night in the same place for a reason. 

However, if they were to have had sex, it’s very unsettling because it’s a little too close to him not being able to give consent. It’s Rape by Deception. He had a brain injury, amnesia, was suffering a myriad of traumas and was not in his right mind. He did not have the full set of facts on where their relationship stood, but she did (she knew he wanted nothing to do with her and told her he never loved her and didn’t even want to be friends) and instead of being honest she abused him. She lied to him. She didn’t tell him the truth about what had happened. She isolated him from anyone who could tell him the truth and manipulated him into thinking that she was the only person in the world he could trust and the person he loved and trusted most was untrustworthy and an enemy. 

However, as the audience we know the things she’d done in the past to abuse his trust, and we know for certain if he remembered, he would never consent to sleep with her. Never. So even beyond the cheating and the romance it would rob us of if they did have sex, it’s ICKY and GROSS and none of us want to even think of it.  I don’t expect TV writers in Turkey to be on the forefront of thought when it comes to issues of consent, so I’d rather this door just not be opened at all. 

But here we are, they opened it. Now all we can do it hope that it is a device to hear Serkan say that it isn’t impossible and for Selin to be fully exposed as completely unbalanced and a lying, manipulator.

Anonymous said: the fandom by use of sheer will forced this selin plot line into existence LOL. i swear since the beginning of the memory plot in 29, the "selin will lie to eda she's pregnant" rumor has been constantly making rounds, and i guess it's time to cash in. i will say that i've seen ppl thinking know that somehow serkan and her were intimate even though she's clearly lying.. guys, if there was even a POSSIBILITY she would've used this way back before now and would have told everyone, including serkan.

I agree with this. If this was a card she could play with Serkan, she’d play it. She’s been getting more and more desperate. And in the fragman there she is coming up with ways for Deniz to run away so he can’t sign the papers. If there was something she could hold over Serkan, she would, She’s not because then the con would be up, we’ll just have to wait and see how big of a lie she’s willing to tell. 

Anonymous said: I wonder if Selin was a spy when she was younger! That woman is always watching everything from her car! Even in the new trailer.

Ha! Let’s hope that in the end she’s not a very good spy and they finally get one over on her. Oh please oh please oh please let the stable boy be the one who has the photos and let him have more on her. I want there to be tons of photos of her in her car spying on them. That would be so humiliating for her. 

Seriously, though, who knows what happened to Selin to make her the way she is. Frankly, I don’t think my assessment of her has really changed (most of my old posts on her are tagged with “anti Selin”) She’s just a spoiled, selfish, entitled brat who thinks she should get anything and everything she wants. If she wants Serkan, she should have him, doesn’t matter what he wants or who she hurts, she’ll do whatever she has to do to make that happen. She was probably never told no as a child. So when she’s thwarted she thinks she’s entitled to whatever reaction she wants to have, if that’s ruining other people’s lives, so be it.  No one can be happy if she’s not. 

[typinggently]

More about Feral/Thot Bruce and his relationship with his villains, please~ <3

Ahhhhh yes of course!!!!! ❣️❣️ I’ve taken this to just brainstorm a little, so it’s a bit messy! (sorry 🌹)

I have to say, for quite a while I had this strict division in my mind between Thotty Bruce and Feral Bruce but I’ve come to realise - “crazy and perverse”, right?! So??!! I really think Feral Bruce would have every reason to start something with his villains. Good for him, honestly. (And we KNOW he likes bad girls so you can’t tell me that he doesn’t like bad boys too. You can’t. It’s practically canon that he’s into it)

But all my justifications for horny bs aside -

Firstly I once again have to bring up Lil Kim? How many Licks?! The fact that “startin’ fights in your yard” wasn’t just her ego talking but, according to genius, there was a problem in the 90s with inmates legit starting fights over who got to jerk off to her magazine shoot?! I- Hello?! That’s the energy we want for the villains.

(That got me thinking whether the Gotham underground is as hot for Brucie as they are for The Bat, considering Brucie is much more...out there. But I think that wouldn’t be very public since it’s known that Harvey Dent will hurt you if you talk badly about Brucie)

Now. What’s Bruce into?

For one, there are people he genuinely has connections with in real life and who he just genuinely crushes on - which is basically just Harvey, isn’t it? Those two have a very complicated relationship, there’s a lot of angst and all that, of course. But we can’t deny the fact that back in the day they had incredible chemistry. I still really like the whole Matthew McConaughey idea for Harvey, which would mean he’s a whole 10 years older than Bruce, but...man that’s sizzling?! 20somerhing Bruce at the beginning of his HottieThottie Brucie phase making absolute moon eyes at this serious-friendly lawyer?! I could talk about it for ages. If we go with the idea that Harvey knows who he is (which just seems very likely to me), I wonder how that translates into their villain-Bat relationship. There’s a LOT to be explored here.

So. There’s another group with villains who Bruce most definitely could (or did) fuck around with, such as Slade, Bane or Croc. Mr Freeze, too, for that matter. Also I’m putting Ra’s into this category. :). Powerful people who have a relationship with him that goes beyond schemes and fights, or who are intelligent and mayhaps compassionate at times, who Bruce may not agree with but nonetheless respects. And who are hot!!!! I have to say it!!!! Bruce has to sit in his cave and listen to recordings of Bane’s speeches or watch Croc in confinement just tear through metal and ??!!! He’s just?! Not supposed to drool all over that?!

Absolutely ridiculous to expect that of him. Instead, we should all applaud him that he manages to keep his cool and actually fight those people?! Most of them can definitely tell that there’s chemistry there (And by that I mean anyone but Bane honestly. I love him and I love the “what do you MEAN ‘suck my cock’ I’m here to crush your skull” vibe for him so much).

Just like good guys can get a bit hot for the bad guys, bad guys can have a very intense reaction to guys who’re just...good. You’re going to try to stop me? You think you can just put on your tight little suit and punch me? Oh that’s cute, that’s hot

Additionally, The Bat has something very irresistible about him. It’s the feral energy, it’s the black outfit, the sexy claws, the weirdly acrobatic fighting style. Even people like Penguin and Mad Hatter, Scarecrow and Riddler aren’t really immune to it. It’s not like they would actively pursue anything like Slade might, but they can feel a certain pull. The Bat to them is what those sexy villanelles and femme fatales are to detectives. Danger, someone you want to avoid, but also incredibly appealing.

So when I say that The Bat’s got their dick’s hard, starting fights in their yard, I don’t just mean that Croc and Slade get into an argument about wether the other is lying about making the Bat come untouched (neither of them is lying btw), or Harvey breaking some crook’s nose because he said The Bat is nothing but a guy in a slutty costume. I mean that when someone brings that guy up, there’s an immediate tension. Silence falls.

Unfortunately, there’s no photo shoot with Bat in an aqua green wig, playing around in a foam-filled bathtub, but the memories of a rough voice, sharp nails, a flash of a trim waist are MORE than enough to have the villains foaming at the mouth.

[princess-of-the-corner]

Feel free to ignore, but what do you think would change if Adrien was a girl with optional boy Marinette? (Trans or cis, your preference)

Let's make them both trans just for fun! I'll use the typical gender swap names of Marin and Adrienne. (Also, slight warning: I'm half-asleep and also dumb, so I might accidentally use their Canon names/genders. I'm not trying to be an asshole I'm just dumb and tired)

So both transitioned pre-series. However. There's differences on who knows.

Marin: Other than his parents, its mostly old friends like Nino and Kim remember Marin pre-transition. They still sometimes call him "Nette"/"Nettie" as a nickname, but Marin doesn't mind because it doesn't immediately out him. Rose and Juleka also know because Juleka and Marin both got trans vibes off each other and came out to one another. Other than that, most of the class only remembers Marin as a boy and he doesn't feel the need to tell everyone outright. Some people guess because Marin is very LGBT+ involved, so they know he's somewhere in that.

As for Adrienne, she's unfortunately out to everyone because the Agrestes are well known. Adrienne made her modeling debut modeling boys clothes, but after coming out to her parents she was switched to modeling female clothes(because Gabriel might be a fuck but at least he's not a transphobe!). It was kind of a big PR thing when it happened, and she still sometimes gets misgendered in magazines, but that's what the lawyers are for! As I said though, Adrienne doesn't have quite as much privacy on who she can tell because of that. Though the class doesn't immediately know because they weren't paying attention to the Agrestes before meeting Adrienne, they do find out through articles about her now that they're paying attention.

Onto some changes, let's start with Chloé! She still sees Adrienne as her best friend/almost sibling, and is very protective/possessive of her. But it doesn't come across as a romantic crush because Chloé can't use Adrienne as a "let me pretend I'm straight" crush. She will fight anyone who misgenders Adrienne though. The fact that Chloé can be friends with someone as sweet and kind as Adrienne without any 'crush' to explain her interest gets people looking at her in a new light. Like a "huh. Maybe she's not a total bitch?", and everyone decides to subtly work with her/give her a chance to be nicer.

Marin still befriends Alya in Origins but doesn't come out to her immediately. Adrienne also befriends Nino too.

Marin also still develops a crush on Adrienne. While he didn't pay attention to Agreste Family Drama before, he is aware that Adrienne is trans so that's not an issue in his anxieties.

On the flip side: Ladynoir. Or Lordnoire.

Lordbug and Chat Noire are Paris's Heroes. And they're dynamic is pretty much the same, except Chat Noire is less open in her flirting at the beginning.

The reason for that is because she doesn't know if Lordbug will like her if he finds out she's trans, so she doesn't quite get her hopes up until later. Because Chat Noire tells Marin during a "Marichat Moment", so next "Lordnoire" moment, Lordbug drops a "btw I'm trans" into the conversation.

So a lot of the plots don't change. But some of the crush drama does. Let's start:

Nathaniel in Evilustrator: Nath still has a crush on Marin. Chloé doesn't tease the crush as much in this version because she might be a bitch but outing someone like that is a line she doesn't cross. Nathaniel kind of ends up outing himself because Evilustrator takes Marin on the date and everyone connects those dots.

Nino in Animan: Nino still has a crush on Marin but is having more of a LGBT-related debate within himself. He's like "I have a crush on Marin, which should mean I'm not straight because he is a guy. But as he is my first guy crush will he see it as me being not-straight or will he think I'm still straight but not accepting him? And even worse, is that what I'm subconsciously doing???" By the end, DJWifi still happens and Nino can tell Marin "so I'm not straight and I did have a crush on you but also I now have a crush on Alya and we're dating!". The power of being locked in a panther cage.

Théo in Copycat: Because he's straight, Théo's crush is on Chat Noire instead. She rejects him for several reasons, the biggest being that she's in love with Lordbug. Théo ends up as a Copybug instead, jealous that Lordbug has captured the heart of his crush. Lordbug thinks it was because he didn't come to the statue thing, but after he's defeated he apologizes to Chat Noire about how he reacted to her rejection. Lordbug'a just standing there like "wait, if you were upset she rejected you, why'd you turn into fake me???". Chat Noire helps dodge that by pointing out that they're about to detransform.

Kagami: I'm debating on this. Tbh I want to set it up for my usual polyship as endgame, but That's not the debate. The debate is whether Kagami has a crush on Adrienne and the "oh no I'm gay!" Panic, or Kagami gets the crush on Marin first. Either way, she ends up having a friendship with Marin earlier.

Luka: while I could switch the crushes like I did with Kagami, Luka initially interacts with Marin more than Adrienne. Polyship is endgame like usual, but it's lining up as more of a Mariharem. On the other hand, Adrienne might have a closer friendship to Juleka because transgirl solidarity, which would give Adrienne an excuse to be over more and in the process get to known Luka more too.

Now for the real fun plot: Lila.

Because of Lila's manipulative nature, I wouldn't put it past her to pretend to be gay to get the money/power that would come with seducing Adrienne. Especially because while she would pretend to be accepting, she wouldn't see Adrienne as a 'girl'.

However, let's have a twist in the AU and point out that Lila has other options for her 'meal ticket'. After all, everyone in every salt fic has pointed out how Canon!Mari has the same connections that Lila attempts to lie about!

So, Lila decides to try seducing Marin instead. She doesn't know that Marin is trans and that'll be an issue later but for now it's her plan.

Marin still clocks Lila as a liar because while Lila did enough research to avoid telling lies Marin can easily disprove(like the Jagged's cat one), she still did the 'Lordbug's my bff!' Thing. He gives the half-truth to Lila of "Lordbug was upset you would lie about him and is looking for you to tell you to stop".

Volpina happens as in Canon. Except her Illusion at the Eiffel Tower is Marin instead of Adrien. Though the book plot is slightly different. Marin saw Adrienne with the book, Tikki said "we need to get that!", so Marin managed to start a conversation to try and borrow it. Lila stole it because Marin was interested. Marin does manage to get it back and that goes the same.

Lila then disappears for Season 2, so let's jump to her return in Season 3.

As Marin is her target, she tries to get someone else sent to the back. It ends up being Adrienne, because she's nice even if she thinks Lila's a liar(she can't tell anyone "I know she's a liar because I'm Chat Noire"), and offered to give up her seat for someone who needs it for a disability.(and she was actually asked instead of shoved back there without her input).

Marin tries to call Lila out, but he has less proof than in Canon. As I said, since seducing Marin with lies was Lila's plan, she avoided lies he could disprove. So even without the "jealousy", it's easy to write Marin off as just overly paranoid.

Still, Marin refuses to sit by Lila, and instead goes to the back with Adrienne because she looks lonely. Which pisses Lila off.

Later, Lila decides to threaten both Marin and Adrienne. Though separately, of course.

She tells Marin that she already has his friends under her spell, and it would be so easy to turn them against him if he didn't comply. Not to mention that it'd be hard to convince them that he's not interested. After all, as far as they know, Lila is such a sweet and wonderful girl! She's their friend! Even if Marin is into someone else, why would he be so upset about someone like Lila showing interest?

Marin believes in his friends. But he still panics at the threat.

With Adrienne, Lila tries to play nicer because she thinks that she can manipulate her. Lila plays the "I don't want to let a boy get between us", already planning on painting Adrienne as jealous. When Adrienne tries the nicer "I know you're lying but I think you're doing it because you want friends and I'll be your friend if you stop lying. Also what was that about a boy coming between us because idk what you're talking about?!".

Lila lied and told Adrien she'd try, but of course has no intention of doing that.

The Akuma fight goes about the same.

Afterward, Adrienne talks to Marin about her conversation with Lila. Marin is a little more confident in telling Adrienne about Lila's threats. Adrienne is pissed, and tries to stand up for Marin, but is brushed off because Lila already painted her as jealous.

So neither are believed. For Marin, they believe his suspicions of Lila are tunnel vision of his crush on Adrienne combined with insecurity of "if someone likes me it must be for ulterior motives". Meanwhile, everyone knows that Adrienne likes Marin but is denying it with 'he's just a friend!', and think she's jealous of Lila's interest.

How the turntables.

This would change other Lila-centric episodes like Oni-chan and Ladybug, but I'm too tired to deal with that rn.

[spaceorphan18]

The Lion King

Nostalgic memory: I remember the merchandising more than watching the actual film.  It was everywhere.  Constantly.  To the point where I kind of got annoyed with the film because it was everywhere all the time.  Also, as a side tangent - Jonathan Taylor Thomas, who voiced young Simba, was kind of a big deal back in the day -- where he was always on the front of the Teeny Bopper magazines.  I kept a poster of him on my wall for about six months, not because I was that invested, but I felt like I had to.  

So, it’s the Lion King - what some might consider the apex of Disney.  It is, I believe, the most successful Disney film of all time - which is it keeps ending up at the top of all the Best of Disney lists.  (Pinocchio does too, btw, which is fine for animation as an art form, but I’m still traumatized.)  I’ll be honest - The Lion King is not a favorite of mine, but that doesn’t mean I discount how phenomenal of a film it is.  

First of all, let’s talk about Elton John, Tim Rice, and a Hans Zimmer score.  It’s noticeably different than the string of Menken and Ashmen films -- which I’m learning really lean in on the creative lyrics and snappy showtunes.  But I think this film is just as (rightfully) known for its music.  The music is used in an epic manner, and I think bigger-than-life is used here more than any film up until this point, which I think does the film a lot of favors.  The opening scene has got to be one of the best things Disney has ever produced, and the music a as a whole is iconic and worth all the fuss it usually gets. 

(Interestingly, as a side tangent, I think the love ballads of these films have been my least favorites - maybe I’m just more in the mood for the upbeat stuff.)  

The plot, of course, is inspired by Hamlet - though I want to say loosely.  I mean, although there’s some Shakespearean drama going on, it’s still a Disney film.  It has, though, all those themes of life and death and what it means to grow up and what it means to be step up to your responsibility.  This is another one of those Disney films that can lead to deeper conversations to have with kids.  

So.  Here’s my thing.  It’s been a long time since I’ve seen this one - a long, long time, so I had been looking forward to figuring out whether I would enjoy it more not being a kid who’s annoyed by all the Lion King madness going on everywhere.  

The first half of the film is really, really good.  It’s got that epic feel, it’s a lot of fun, there’s a lot of humor in there that I hadn’t remembered at all -- specifically between Simba and Scar.  And of course, the tragedy of Scar’s plot against Mufasa.  It’s all much better than I remembered, so I’m glad for that!  

The second half, however, doesn’t do as much for me though, and I’m afraid to say, had me a little bored.  The story goes through the checklist of things it needs to have done - the romance ballad, the deep and meaningful convo with the dead loved one, the inspiration for growth, and the final conflict.  Timon and Pumba are there to inject the comedy, but since a lot of it is so low brow, I’m ‘meh’ on it.  Also, I was kind of surprised the final showdown between Simba and Scar wasn’t more involved.  I feel like the middle section was a bit more tense.  

Anyway, the voice acting across the board was pretty strong (though I’m a little surprised by the lack of black actors doing these roles, which is unfortunate).  The style of the film being influenced by various African cultures is a good look, and the animation is pretty strong making the film look pretty good.  The Lions are awesome, you can tell they definitely studied real animals, which is a really nice touch.  I think technically, everything is spot on to where it needs to be.  

I suppose it’s just personal preference liking one thing over the other - because as a whole, this is pretty on par with Beauty and the Beast.  

I don’t really have much more to add -- other than Rafiki is my favorite character.  Gotta appreciate the crazy weirdo that he is.  

Final Thoughts: It’s good - Disney continues to dazzle during the 90s.  The story feels a little paint by numbers for me, and the first half is much better than the second half, but kids aren’t going to care, and will probably have a good time throughout.  

[serenagaywaterford]

I am reading up on Phyllis Schlafly, really infuriating stuff. Definitely seeing a lot of her in Serena (on the show only), right down to even her looks... so I can see why people hate her so much. I don’t know without Yvonne’s nuanced performance, I would’ve had much sympathy and empathy. Or maybe I am just a slut for Yvonne. Oh well... Btw, any interest in Mrs America? It’s got a great cast, although for some reason, I get a sense you aren’t a big Cate fan? Or I got it all wrong?

Well, Schlafly was one of the prominent anti-feminists Atwood based Serena Joy off of so it’s only natural to see the similarities! (The other was Tammy Fay Baker. Amongst, I’m sure, many other women of that ilk during the time period Atwood was writing.) They did strip basically the entire Tammy Fay aspect of Serena out of the TV!Serena. (Which is a shame in some ways, but sort of understandable in others. Book!Serena was a lot to translate, and yet strangely less developed somehow than the show version. Or am I crazy?) I have read some of these women’s essays and such, originally not voluntarily lol but part of a feminism course at uni and the prof thought it was absolutely necessary to read the other wide’s views in order to understand the entire scope of the issues. 

I think it’s pretty much majority opinion that without Yvonne’s specific acting choices and skill (and I suppose–let’s admit the director’s get some credit too lol) for bringing Serena to the screen, most of us wouldn’t find the character so fascinating. And I am not going to pretend to even lie, her looks help too. ;)

Of course I’m interested in Mrs. America. The content of this series is exactly up my alley. I love shit like this. And I have a gross little fascination with cults/terrible social movements and terrible conservative women and why they are so fucking awful lol. (Which leads into my slight preoccupation about how to change their minds so they can be feminists too. So many of them are intelligent, driven women who… my God. If they just could break that patriarchal bullshit mindset… Although admittedly, some seem to be just plain horrible to their bones. And I’ll admit it’s more appealing in fiction, than reality cos in real life people don’t change as easily or dramatically.) 

I’ll tell everyone here a little secret:

I know I probably give off a different vibe lol, but I don’t choose TV shows to watch based on who the actors are. (Subjective opinion time: If I did, I probably wouldn’t have watched THT cos I don’t like Fiennes, Bledel, or Moss all that much. Well, Moss as an actor has grown on me in time, lbr. Fiennes has always bothered me, so he’s perfect for Fred then lol but I still don’t think he’s an excellent actor, and Bledel is such a one-note actor imo. I know, sacrilege. Throw me to the lions, or whatever. Which is why I was pleasantly surprised by some of her scenes in THT, and not shocked when she didn’t deliver in other ones. And, I will fully admit, I didn’t care who the fuck Yvonne Strahovski was prior to her becoming Serena. I’d seen her in Dexter and she never really left an impression. So, based on casting alone, THT would not have been something I particularly cared about. Ann Dowd is about the only actor in THT that I had positive thoughts about cos she is stellar and always is, but she is hardly a main character in THT lol.) 

So, disliking an actor isn’t really an issue unless I particularly loathe one and know I wouldn’t be able to stand watching them under any circumstances. (This is rare.) Yes, sometimes I’ll give something a shot I otherwise wouldn’t cos I love a specific actor in it, but that doesn’t mean I will stick with it even if it sucks or say it’s great when it’s clearly not. I’m not one of those completists that must watch everything a certain person has been in. (Not anymore, anyway lol. When I had time and money in my youth, that was a different story. You bet I watched everything I could that had Natalie Portman, Laura Linney, Olivia Wilde, or Amy Adams in it lol.)

About Cate Blanchett. Um. I don’t dislike her? I actually enjoy her work as an actor… mostly, from what I’ve seen. (I very much disliked Carol, which is perhaps where you’re getting my dislike of her from? I thought it was a slow, boring, underwhelming movie. And I hated the age gap. But that’s not Cate’s fault. I also dislike Rooney Mara…so, yeah.) 

I’ve watched quite a few other films with Blanchett. Some were great, some sucked. As most actors have in their filmography. I adamantly don’t follow the tumblr/twitter lesbian trend of mooning over Cate because I am firmly and obstinately opposed to stanning straight people as “lesbian icons uwu” or “honorary lesbians” (See also: Hozier, Taylor Swift, Rachel Weisz, Harry Styles, etc etc.). I hate it (esp when it’s straight MEN) and I will not join in, even if they are outspoken activists for gay rights. Which none of them are. That just makes them a decent person, not a gay icon/honorary gay.

“Rather, I mention it as a reminder to myself, and to you, of an unfortunate yet undeniable fact: Heterosexuality is an overwhelmingly common trait for our so-called gay icons.

Celebrity fandom is really just a bizarro reflection of ourselves: who we are, what we value, who we want to be, and, sometimes, who we want to fuck. Our faves are us, basically, just in that creepy sexy lady Snapchat filter. And as fans, we invest in the celebrities we love. We help their interview clips go viral; we see their movies in theaters then stream them at home; we loudly cheer their awards season campaigns on social media. The celebrities we choose to uplift reap our time and our attention and our clicks and our money. They accumulate both our cultural and literal capital; they gain buzz and caché and glossy magazine profiles; they get bigger roles and bigger paychecks.” [this article is a basic explanation, but doesn’t get nearly as nasty as I would if I wrote it, lol.]

That doesn’t mean I don’t like Blanchett. It just means I don’t have the energy to waste on gushing over her cos she wears suits really well, goes to a drag brunch, and has played a lesbian once (that I know of, like, I’ll admit I don’t follow her career lol). She’s good. She’s done good roles. She’s not gay and shouldn’t be a lesbian icon, nor is she my fav ever. So, meh. She’s fine. I do appreciate her… energy? If that’s a thing. It’s a very self-assured, self-sufficient female energy that she emanates in her acting, and offscreen I would argue. It’s refreshing. I love confidence without arrogance or egoism. (Altho, lbr, all famous actors are egoists. It’s basically a pre-req. Some are just excellent at not letting it show.) But if I want to talk about an otherworldly tall lanky blonde actress, I’d prolly lean towards Tilda Swinton lol.

I’m looking forward to her in Stateless and Mrs America. I think she has potential to do both roles quite well. Although… I will say her American accent often leaves a lot to be desired lol. But it’s getting better. If I’m going to gush over any “lesbian icon” in Mrs. America, it’ll be Sarah Paulson. 

[templehill]

What’s gone wrong with Beecham House?

Warning – contains spoilers

Trying to work out why Beecham House, ITV’s BIG drama that was meant to replace Downton Abbey at least in viewer size if not in exact tone, is doing so badly. A TON of publicity was thrown at it with the cast appearing on everything from The One Show to This Morning to BBC Breakfast as well as a features in newspapers and magazines. It’s the brainchild of Gurinda Chadha OBE who directed Bend it Like Beckham and the Viceroy’s House and is of Indian heritage, and the cast contains a mix of British and Indian actors some of whom will be familiar from other period dramas e.g. Tom Bateman (vanity fair), Leo Suter (Victoria) and Lesley Nichol (Downton Abbey)

Despite all this though, the opening episode only had 2.6 million viewers making it ITVs smallest 9pm Sunday drama premiere audience since 2015. Since then figures have dropped further with episode 3 dropping below 2 million. Why has it gone so horribly wrong? Yes its up against Gentleman Jack and you’d assume that the audience for the two shows would be very similar but that doesn’t explain the lack of catch up audience i.e. people watching on ITV hub

The sets are amazing, the costumes fantastic, the storyline has potential but it’s just not working.

I should say btw that Im enjoying it but possibly for the wrong reasons. Anyway my twopenneth on what’s going wrong

1.       John Beecham is very very dull. Sorry but he is. The entire show centres around him and his mysterious past and why he is the father of a mixed heritage baby. We should really care about John and what has happened to him but somehow we don’t. Possibly because the script is dire but also because he comes across as ‘earnest hipster who has been on a gap year trip to India and is now going to Indiasplain everything to everyone even the locals’. It was a mistake to try and sell Tom Bateman as the new Aiden Turner with a topless gardening scene because he just isn’t and bluntly you’ve also got Leo Suter there with HIS chest carved by angels. For some reason John is also striding around in an overcoat in the heat of Dehli and wearing Indiana Jones’ hat which is weird plus he also seems to be a bit dim. His best friend Samuel is so obviously a traitor, in fact we know he is, but dear old John cant see it even though his younger brother Daniel clocks it immediately. Which brings us on too

2.       Daniel Beecham is 100 times the more interesting brother. Daniel, as is telegraphed at us from space in the publicity what with the sprawling around, legs akimbo, grasping a hookah pipe as a penis substitute between his thighs photos, is meant to be the caddish contrast to the saintly John. Abandoned by John who left without a word, he’s fighting for the East India Company the series bad guys (where John was also a soldier). We meet him in a brothel and its obvious we’re meant to disapprove of him and yet..... He calls out his mother for her racism in changing the servants Indian names to English ones, points out the sensibleness of adopting Indian dress and customs while living there, cottons on immediately that Samuel is not to be trusted, has a fun relationship with Violet and offers to learn the sarod to please Chanchal the babies nursemaid who he wants to bang. The one area where he does fall down is with Chanchal who is as hot for him as he is for her but she wants love and marriage and he just sees her as a diversion until he goes back to the army. When he tells her this, she is of course devastated and he is called out by his mother for his behaviour in breaking her heart to which he replies he doesnt know what love is. Daniel is far more rounded and complex than John and we care more about him as a consequence plus lbr he’s hot af too.

3.       None of the Indian characters get a decent storyline. They float in and out of the story, a servant here, an ‘exotic’ princess there, a wholly enlightened next door neighbour but there’s no substance to any of them. Chandrika whose initial entrance we stanned totally as she took charge of baby August and ordered around the English women with an arched eyebrow of disdain has become ‘one of the three women fighting over John’ and just no. Chandrika doesn’t fight for a man people! She takes one if she wants and anyway they’d fight for her because she’s stunning. Chanchal is the only other Indian character with anything like a real storyline and its very predictable though Im still hoping that come the end of the series Daniel will ask her to marry him and she’ll tell him to shove it and go off with Baadal. For a drama that was sold as the British and India characters getting equal space and investment it really isn’t coming across that way at all.

4.       The miscasting of Lesley Nichol as John’s mother. She just isn’t good in the role and unfortunately her link to Downton was what ‘sold’ it to a lot pf people ‘oooh look Mrs Patmore goes upstairs’. Unfortunately it’s highlighting that in period dramas at least, she cant pull off middle class which is a shame.

5.       But the thing that is destroying it more than anything is the script. Oh dear lord its baaaaaaad. No cliché is left unsaid, no trope unused as the actors grapple with stilted dialogue and conversations breaking off where literally no one, NO ONE, would stop talking. Its not that they are talking in the language of the time, it’s a period drama you expect that, its just beyond clunky. The first two episodes were full of characters basically explaining the historical and political situation laughably shoehorned into conversation. A brief precis of text at the beginning of episode is all it would have taken “its 1795, The East India Company and the French are fighting each other and the rulers of India for its wealth. The East India Company are taking more and more territory while the French with turmoil raging in France are cut off from their chain of command and operating increasingly to their own rules. The Indian Princes do not trust the French or the British or each other” 

I could go on a lot more but I wont. I just think its a real shame when there is, buried away in the terrible writing, a good idea but it feels like its been fed through a mangle and just come out all wrong....I cant see it being renewed for a second season at this rate 

[attract-mode-collective]

Not An April Fools Gag; That’s A Game Boy Advance With A GameCube Stick Affixed For Reals

What you're seeing is a modded GBA that I spotted on eBay. It's a real thing! Though it doesn't magically grant analogue control to all the digital input only games on the system, which is all of them for the record (sorry). Then again, it could be argued that the controls in WarioWare Twisted is technically analogue...

That aside aside, welcome to yet another recap of stuff posted over at the Attract Mode Twitter! Though this time it's gonna be a bit on the short side, relatively speaking; even I know covering two entire whole weeks has led to hard to handle Tumblr posts, so I'm going to try concentrating on just one week at a time/attempt weekly updates.

Let's see how well that goes...

Hey, it's SF2 IRL thanks to ARKit (via prostheticknowledge)...

At the time, when I first tweeted about it, there were only three left of Amanda Visell’s Player One Mario; no idea how many there are now...

When you can make a decision regarding lunch (via @Mechazawa)....

If you appreciate both the ease of slip-on sneakers and the taste of ghosts, then Games Glorious has something for you (via miki800.com)...

As a connoisseur of video games on the printed page, it is my goal to one day own a copy of Namco's newsletter that was distributed in game centers during the 80s & 90s, NG (via miki800)...

Remember that time Namco got someone from Yellow Magic Orchestra to hawk their wares (via namcomuseum)...

Both in print and on TV…

The YMO member in question, Haruomi Hosono, also did a Xevious remix album, which longtime readers of the blog will hopefully recall.

Sticking with Namco CMs, there’s a pair of longtime faves that I could have sworn I’ve already posted as well, yet cannot find. Though as noted, many times already, the search functionality here is broken.

So here’s a boy playing with his Famicom in the middle of the woods...

And here’s a girl playing with his Famicom in the middle of the woods...

Back to the subject of print, can’t seem to find any info on the Futabasha Fantasy Novel Series, which (I think) was a line of video game novelizations; this one appears to be written by the creator of Xevious himself (via shmups)...

The focus here is supposed to be the Lawson’s reward card with Kirby on it, but I am all about that Space Invaders whatever the heck it is (via miki800)...

Spent MANY hours at Japanese bookstores during my college years, flipping through Sega Saturn Magazine; seeing these VF Kids ads again makes me feel all warm & fuzzy (via thesegasource)...

This (what I believe to be a) farewell image of the face of the Saturn from the very first issue of Dreamcast Magazine, also gives me the feels (via oldgamemags)...

BTW, everyone knows the identity of Saturn's pitchman (Segata Sanshiro), but what about the Mega Drive's? (via yokosuka87)...

Back to the Saturn; I love how Sega want from Segata Sanshiro to Hidekazu Yukawa for the Dreamcast. This launch edition of the console, btw, was spotted at VideoGamesNewYork...

It's also where they Kira Kira Star Night DX for twice the asking price, as @gamespite)...

Speaking of music, to fully enjoy this animated gif of Eggman running…

… you need to have this song playing (via lunaticobscurity).

And to fully enjoy this image of Eggman on the sax…

... you need to have this song playing (via very-territorial-oak).

@ondoruragitan sez: "whoever designed that clown lady in ace attorney is probably the most horny artist to ever exist" (it's funny cuz it's true)...

So the big news these past few weeks, especially among video game folk my age, has been the end of the Toys R Us. Many have been sharing artifacts from the glory days, with my fave example being these old flyers, with the obvious highlight seeing all the original MSRP prices (via retrogamerblog)...

Oh, and don’t forget the gifs (via nintendroid)...

The following are more appropriate for my way, way overdue batch of game culture snapshots, but since we're on the subject of retail anyway; I recently stumbled across Nintendo's collab with Bloomingdale's that I had no idea even existed...

Took a bunch of pics, but unfortunately, due to the harsh lighting at the SoHo store, it was impossible to capture the women’s section, hence the abundance of men’s wear...

These women's sweatshirts are the best example of the line's overall design sensibilities, or lack thereof; it’s just a bunch of random Nintendo sprites on attire that is available at Bloomingdale's, period. That's all it aspires to be, nothing more...

... And that's a real shame, cuz aside from the quality of the clothing itself being high, some of the ho-hum looking designs could be really engaging with a few minor tweaks, like this b&w women's jacket with a very random assortment of b&w Super Mario World sprites...

In addition to clothing, you had accessories, like iPhone cases...

Plus sunglasses, which revealed Super Mario World playing on what appears to the naked eye to be a blank, white screen....

Speaking of Super Mario World, here's a hamster enjoying the game (via @kousuke_teppei)...

The lil guy also owns an original Famicom, and here we is playing Solomon's Key (thanks to @Topherocious for helping me to identify the game)...

Being that friend who is REALLY into video games means I'm asked a wide variety of questions from folks who are not, like why @beesmygod  is "freaking out" over a Sonic & Garfield two pack for the PC...

... I'll be honest, I don't really understand why either.

Here we have a mockup for an ad blocker that replaces banners with GBA screenshots, which I really want to see happen (via @tinycartridge)...

I also really want to see this happen too (via @truongasm)...

Back to Tiny Cart; that's where I found out that you no longer have to play emulated Tiger handheld games sans backgrounds...

Nothing beats a pic of a dimly lit arcade, especially when it's shot on ACTUAL film (via mendelpalace)...

As for this particular arcade show, @kappuru theorizes "it looks like cinestill film, or a filter designed to mimic it." (via parkerwoods)...

"WHO IS THIS NUN?! WHY DOES SHE LOOK SO SINISTER?" is a great KOF related question (via vice-s-assistant)...

And "BOWL BEFORE ME" is a great KOF related gag (via brondeef)...

"this is the best cosplay i’ve ever seen" is a a great costume play related observation made by lunaticobscurity...

"how to get away with playing super mario odyssey in class" is the caption given by retrogamerblog...

"Stardew Valley gave me 500 characters to use as my farm name, so I put down an entire 1-star amazon review for an Independence Day DVD" is the explanation given by @NoahHafford...

Hey, you never know, maybe one day a homebrew dev might make “Shinjuku-Nichome Gay District Serial Murders” a reality? (via mendelpalace)

When you’ve got one copy of Melee with two boxes, and one copy of Air Ride with zero boxes… just gotta improvise (via stellatuna)...

When you’ve got a killer Game Genie code but no paper to write it down on... and then you discover the code does something totally different (via theassortment)...

And when I asked what this 4koma featuring a Dreamcast VMU was all about, @JonahD was kind enough to explain: "VMUs are playing hide and seek, Black is seeking. One VMU thinks hiding in the controller would be good but it makes a bunch of noise and they’re found immediately" (via posthumanwanderings)...

Whereas I have yet to find out what all these Sonics are doing at a German airport (via sonicthehedgeblog)...

I normally don’t let the weather get to me, yet the constant cold weather in NYC over the past few weeks began taking its toll, to the point that I’m starting to resemble an upside down Super Famicom/European SNES (via sixteen-bit)...

I also really wish I could have checked out Sakura-Con, and not just cuz the weather is so much nicer in Seattle, but to pick up @alexisparade's Monster Factory zine...

I stared at gif illustrating the wacky perspective-related behavior of Super Mario 64’s trees for an entire day, no joke (via suppermariobroth)...

Here we have the rarely seen alternate angle of the internet famous "LAN party gamer duct-taped to the ceiling" photo (via reddit.com)...

Turning the clock back even further, here's yet another kind of party, one that doesn’t involve first person shooters but shoot ‘em ups; it’s the 1986 Hudson Caravan (via videogamesdensetsu)...

Recently, a modded NES Max controller showed up on Kotaku, in which the cycloid nub has been replaced with an analogue stick...

... Which actually appeared the day after I spotted that modded GBA at the very top of this page. I am also willing to admit the disappointment over my tweet not catching on as expected/hoped it would, hence why I'm sharing another pic...

At any rate, I was also reminded of my buddy Nick Santaniello's modded Jaguar controller, which allows for arcade perfect Tempest 2000 controls...

... Which in turned led to me republishing the post from which it hails from originally, my recap of Nick's Shmup Appreciation Night, for Medium (and also sharing additional pics on Twitter)...

BTW, for those wondering, based upon the last round of tweets; the kitchen isn’t just for playing old Mega Drive & PC Engine shmups… you can also play old Naomi fighting games (via internetflexin)...

Guess that's it for now? Sorry, but it finally feels like spring in NYC, and I feel the need to step away from the computer & enjoy weather! Just like Mega Man (via arcadequartermaster)...

[rosegolddm]

Intro from your lovely DM! My history with D&D:

Hi friends! I have decided to start a blog documenting my experiences as a DM running Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition. I actually haven't been a tabletop gamer for very long, but D&D has been something of which I have been aware for a long time.

I think I've always been into the fantasy genre, going back to a love of fairy tales and mythology from a very early age. I liked being read to and learning to read came just as naturally to me as a result. My dad also had an ongoing series of stories about Prince Garbanzo and Princess Goldie-lips that he'd improv for my siblings and me as bedtime stories. As a young gay child, princesses and mermaids in particular always caught my interest. I remember attending renaissance faires and coming home with wooden swords and shields - no princess hats, but that would have been THE LOOK at 5 years old for sure.

My history with role playing started with console JRPGs. These of course owe a lot to D&D when it comes to monsters, settings and other genre conventions we assume have just always been there. The original Legend of Zelda is the first RPG I can remember watching someone else play. Final Fantasy IV was the first I played on my own, back when it was called Final Fantasy II and fans in the US weren't even aware there were two games in between that (at the time) were destined to languish in Japan. Several more games would follow, many still retaining those D&D roots of which I was at the time unaware.

Shortly thereafter, my sister had a high school boyfriend who gave me several books in the Dragonlance series. This was my first true exposure to Dungeons and Dragons. I tore through these novels under the age of 10 - some of the content admittedly went over my head (probably for the best), but I read them cover to cover. I also remember reading The Hobbit around this time - I even did a book report about it!

I don't think I necessarily made the connection that the Dragonlance novels were based on an actual game until around the time Eye of the Beholder was ported from PC to current consoles of the time. I distinctly remember renting the SNES version and would later go on to own the Sega CD port. Video game magazines gave me some familiarity with the rules and monsters, but overall they were more cool games to play, nothing I wanted to research further than that. At some point I also rented the NES Dragonlance game, but that one's also notoriously crappy. Perhaps the less said about it, the better.

The Capcom D&D arcade games, probably the furthest from playing traditional D&D, were what really piqued my interest in the tabletop game from which all these video game spinoffs derived. Among other things, they included a mechanic that sort of emulated rolling dice to make a saving throw - you had to move the joystick back and forth to get out of various status effects. For whatever reason, this stuck with me. The inclusion of several iconic monsters and spells probably didn't hurt. I was sold on all of it!

After having played a few video games using D&D rules (or at least the settings), I finally decided it was time to give playing the real thing a try. My mom wasn't about to take me to some hobby store to play with a bunch of old grognards - nor did I even know that was an option at the time! Instead, I was allowed to order my first D&D module - Menzoberranzan. I don't think I had any sort of description of what I was ordering other than it being a D&D product - I was going in practically blind. Without any other manuals and just what we knew from the various games we'd played, my brother and I guessed our way through, mostly just throwing random dice around and deciding arbitrarily whether or not we'd killed one of the many drow provided in the modules. Despite a ton of interesting setting information, we both lost interest pretty quickly. Menzoberranzan was either given away during a move to a new house or lost in a flood. We resumed playing the occasional D&D video game, eventually having our options widened through both emulation and PC gaming.

As I got older, I made more friends with similar interests. Some of them had played actual D&D (2E) campaigns - I was so jealous! I managed to rope one friend into acting as DM for me and another friend. We made it through about one session during a lunchtime period at school. I don't recall doing much in the way of rolling dice or anything one typically associates with playing a tabletop RPG. It's probably for the best that it didn't pan out. The DM loved pulling dick moves on PCs and had an arsenal of DMPCs to get out of any and every jam, all of whom were ostensibly cooler and more competent than either of us players could possibly muster. I don't think dealing with any of that at length would have left me with a very good impression of the game.

The release of the third edition of D&D was an exciting time! I ended up picking up the player's manual, DM guide, and monster manual. Later on I even got the Complete Psionics. I would use these to formulate several characters and come up with all sorts of cool ideas in my head, but none of it ever translated into a regular game. At the time I certainly didn't feel confident enough to act as a DM, especially with a system as rule-heavy and numbers-heavy as 3E tended to be. There was also a brief attempt to get a game of Vampire: The Masquerade going in high school, but again it never really got off the ground.

Tabletop gaming fell off the radar for me for many years following that. I was aware of the 4th edition release, but unsure of what to make of it and not really willing to spend my money on a whole new set of manuals. It was a drastic change, to be sure, and I was probably more focused on dudes or partying or clothing. Every now and then, I'd get curious about a particular setting's lore and read up on that, but it wouldn't ever get further than that. I even went so far as to download a Pathfinder app that contained a huge amount of compiled information - being close in spirit to 3E didn't hurt!

It wouldn't be until a friend from Tumblr started doing artwork for the campaign he was running that my interest was again sparked in actually playing a sit-down game of D&D. I knew bits and pieces about the newest edition and it all sounded good to me. The party needed an arcane caster, I chose a Warlock, and I was immediately hooked. What really sealed the deal was having both an accommodating, engaging DM in addition to a great group of players. Over the course of about a year, we played through Lost Mine of Phandelver, adding lots of our own personal touches to the material through our characters.

What followed were some attempts at new 5E games, unfortunately hampered by the scheduling conflicts that often arise when you're trying to get 5-6 20-40somethings with jobs living in different boroughs of NYC to appear at the same place at the same time. Some folks moved away, some got bogged down in personal life stuff, but I never lost interest. If anything it made me more determined to get the right crew together for a really great campaign.

I am currently part of a mostly homebrew 5e campaign on hiatus best described as a mix of both Avatar series, Steven Universe, and a lot of interesting parallels to the currently running Not Another D&D Podcast (which I highly recommend btw). Kevin has been a great DM and we often spitball ideas that eventually make it into the campaign off each other.

During downtime from my main 5e game (we typically play about once a month and are currently taking a longer break), I started looking into Adventurer's League games for Kevin and I to try to give us both more opportunities to try different characters (and in Kevin's case, not being stuck as DM!). That didn't quite pan out, but in my search I DID randomly find a tabletop gaming channel on Slack at my job. I found a few mentions of D&D and decided to throw my hat in the ring with helping to organize a game. This was interpreted as me volunteering to be DM.

Honestly, I'd never considered it before and was a bit intimidated by the prospect. After stewing over it for a bit, however, I realized I could run Lost Mine of Phandelver, having familiarity with the material as a player. Once I had the books in my hands and the planning started, it all sort of clicked. Using tips from my friends who'd run games before and a variety of resources available online, I've gotten really into the whole process!

So that leads us to where we are now. In about a week, I'll be meeting with my players (2 experienced, 3 totally new to D&D) for session 0 to go over rules, expectations, and character creation. Coming up with characters is one of my favorite parts, so I'm very excited! I'll be using this space to discuss my own experiences running games, resources I enjoy, and other aspects of tabletop gaming. There's plenty more to come!

[aniciwrites]

The queer perspective to a “ perfect world”

When you look at a fashion magazine you see exactly what you see . What you pay for , for the 15 monthly leaves you broke and wondering why you crave to see a different world that unfortunately you can’t be apart of … fast forward to 2021 where the queer is the norm and women … real world women are becoming the muses to society . A body that is laser , plucked, injected is becoming somewhat .. boring . The only shock factor that will impress us men and women are the people who keep it real. But what happens after the real is really unreal ? What happens when are imperfections as a society become the saught after look . What if are belly rolls , freckles , stretch marks and under eye bags become something to purchase . Because you are not imperfect enough ?

Should we live in a society where the worlds are seperated or should we allow ourselves to be acknowledged for the time being .

All I know is I might have to wear sweatpants from Walmart all my life because the XL in a brand size doesnt fit my imperfect body

Btw…. The XL is actually a medium with the wrong tag

By Anissa Ciara Hopson

[prorevenge]

Director stealing credit for intern's work? Enjoy unemployment and €250,000 personal debt.

Brace yourselves, it's a bit of a long one, but it's a prime example of a single sentence can go a long way. (tl:dr at the end)

So one summer at university I took a job in the marketing department of a small manufacturing company, ostensibly creating foreign language advertising material and safety texts, as well as all the social media stuff for their upcoming move into Europe.

It quickly became clear a large element of sales was involved but I didn't mind - I was young and wanted lots of big wins for my résumé. The department consisted of myself, another guy for another European language, and one hugely underpaid 16-year-old 'junior' intern. We all worked for an absolute bandit (hereafter 'the boss') who basically had no relevant experience or competencies but was a smooth talker and had ensnared the company owner with some kind of evil wizardry. This boss spent most of his time running a side business off his iPhone, only stopping to literally throw things at us whilst we were on the phone (banter), to randomly paint the inside of our office jet black (ceiling included) or make inane demands like trying to force a supplier to give us a 40% discount based on our tiny firms 'potential'.

This was all fine and kind of funny, and gave us something to laugh about at KFC during lunch, but the real pain in the arse was that whenever anyone made any real headway (sealed a deal with a supplier or vendor, completed negotiations with government agencies, secured a good rate for marketing, found a new opportunity etc.) he would steal the credit. The owner never caught on and genuinely thought the guy was a one-man powerhouse, despite us occasionally leaving evidence or outright telling the owner when we'd done the work, catching the boss out in some blatant lies. It was all just 'miscommunication' in the owner's eyes.

This went on for months. We were all on minimum wage or lower as "interns" whilst basically doing the boss' job for him as he repeatedly told us how great he was and how little we understood. We spent the summer confusing the hell out of European CEOs and Purchasing Directors who wondered why this mad little English company was using interns for all its international business.

The other marketing guy got tired and quit, leaving just me and the junior intern, at which point I was told I had been 'promoted' to lead the project for both countries. At this point I was now, on part-time minimum wage, entrusted with planning and executing a foreign market invasion for two different countries solo, whilst the boss sold dildos on his iPhone (oh btw his side business was a sex shop).

Even that would have been alright by me if the boss hadn't kept trying to steal credit. At one point he jumped in in a foreign language phone call I was making to a well-circulated magazine and, in English, said "I'll take over, Anpassungburo isn't really that important" before promptly realising the other party was about 60 years old, partially deaf, and spoke about 4 words of English. He handed the phone back to me then went off to tell the owner he'd just landed a great rate on some ad space.

Public episodes like this meant our potential vendors scented weakness and ultimately proposed a lopsided contract which basically stated that if our products didn't sell a certain volume, we would be liable to pay the vendor pure cash for the remainder. The 'certain volume' was €250000 (net profit, not even gross sales) in the first twelve months. I'd never heard of such a proposal before, and even at 19 I knew it was all kinds of shady. This was the first thing I was perfectly happy to let the boss take credit for. There was no way we'd make that quota, but the clueless boss was so thrilled to have a 'big' number to throw around he printed the contract there and then. It had been mailed to me but he instantly claimed HE had brokered it, the absolute turnip. Now for the Pro Revenge; he asked what I thought of the contract and whether we could achieve it. What I did not say was that only a world champion village idiot would sign this contract. I did not say that only an absolute dildo vendor would go ahead with this blatantly disastrous contract without consulting the owner. As the boss had made very clear, he was the marketing god and I was a lowly intern whose opinion was no more use than a chocolate teapot, so rather than warning him that this contract was so horrible we should burn the paper it was printed on and have the office exorcised to be safe, I instead said simply;

"you're the boss - the numbers are all in the project book if you want to read it over but if it looks good to you the post office closes in 15."

I knew without a shadow of a doubt he wouldn't bother with my boring paperwork, not when I had dangled the chance for him to get his big win dispatched by the end of business, and sure enough he said there was no need to see my figures as he had 'done the sums himself' and was certain it was solid gold. Funnily enough, the project book quite clearly showed that I had estimated (as best I could with no analytical experience) that our gross first year sales might top 20k if we were lucky, but anything written by me wasn't worth reading, not with the post office closing in 15, so he signed the contract and sent me running off to post it. I made copies and mailed it off to our lucky new vendors. I then took a copy straight to the owner, told the owner the project book was in the boss' office if he wanted to check he numbers, and then went to HR next door to regretfully hand in my notice before shifting it out of there before the fireworks started.

Bang on opening the next day, the boss was called to a meeting with the owner. Yelling was heard. About an hour later the boss is walked off the property and a hastily typed email is sent out reminding people that only the owner and HR are Signing Authorized on behalf of the firm. Unfortunately the contract was still apparently valid as the boss' title (marketing director) gave him implied authority or something.

I'm not a lawyer and all I did during my final week (with no boss and our project in tatters) was to hang out at KFC with the other surviving intern. I wasn't at any board meetings, shockingly, but the company lawyer was there every day that week and last I heard the ex-boss was being sued by the company for the damages they had to fork out to the European vendor, which were potentially over €250k. I doubt that his dildo dealership made enough to cover his legal fees.

TL;DR - lazy boss/shady sex toy salesman steals credit for year's worth of work, has no idea what is going on and signs nonsense contract he has no authority to sign. Company fires him and takes him to court for damages. I eat KFC throughout

(source) (story by anpassungburo)