#we haven't seen them this connected since season 1!!

[loveandthings11]

Optimistic and sober Kendall, focused and confident Roman, connected and open Shiv, I love them together so much 🥹

[ponytailzuko]

writing down my overall thoughts on the live action

first of all, i walked into my step dad watching it of his own free will - and then me and my entire family sat down to watch it. both my step dad and mom had never seen the cartoon in their life, so this was a first time viewing for them. they enjoyed it. my mom even asked where season 2 was. so i think the live action served its main purpose - get new people who haven't watched or wouldn't have watched the cartoon into the franchise. they did it! yippee.

anyways, my own thoughts have an inherent bias due to having seen and loved the cartoon. i believe my parents when they say that from their perspective, it holds up on its own. obviously, i don't think it was ever going to be better than the cartoon, but wanted to write my opinions what i liked, changes i enjoyed and changes i didn't, etc.

putting it under a read more because this sucker is long:

i don't know anything about film making - set design, props, fashion, cgi, etc. nothing particularly stood out to me in a way that ruined the show, and i only really pay attention to it when it serves the story. so i'm just not going to comment on it for the most part. most of this is about writing choices i liked or disliked. anyways here we go.

the good:

aang was a highlight for me. i know some people have problems with moving his backstory to the very beginning of the story, but i liked it. it immediately made me get in aang's shoes and feel his connection with his people, his home, and gyatso - and made it very easy to connect with his grief when he woke up from the iceberg. live action really emphasizes the last airbender part of the title throughout, and how aang feels isolated in his duty as the avatar, as the last airbender preserving his culture, and by being from another world - lost in time.

i liked how he sought out his past lives so often. really makes him feel like a child who doesn't know what he's doing and had the rug pulled out from under him by losing gyatso too soon. he's looking for adult guidance, and kyoshi, roku, and kuruk are all there telling aang THEIR version of how to be the avatar. feels like good set up for later when aang gets to define HIS version of the avatar, and how he wants to bring peace to the world. we already see it with their versions of the avatar feeding into aang's feelings of guilt and self-isolation - that he needs to do things on his own. it gets concluded with katara and sokka declaring him family, and they won't leave no matter what.

in that nature: adding more emphasis on katara's grief as well, since it was APPARENTLY not enough for people watching the cartoon and called her whiny for mentioning it. in general, it feels weird that katara's flashback to her backstory happened in season 3 of the cartoon when there was a whole episode dedicated to aang and zuko's backstory all the way in season 1, another one for zuko's backstory in season 2, and then bato of the water tribe elaborated on sokka being left by hakoda. glad to get katara backstory earlier. love you katara <3

and from that: sokka and katara's conflict being about if she should waterbend. feels very natural and something they would fight over. it is a vital aspect to their culture, but also if word gets out there is a waterbender in the village, there could be another raid.

aang stealing zuko's notebook is another highlight. it is both such a petty kid thing to steal and be upset about someone reading your diary, but also it actually serves a purpose in giving aang a guide for his avatar journey. the show sacrificed paralleling aang and zuko's backstories like the storm, but they still intertwine aang and zuko's story through this notebook and the connection aang makes with zuko through it. very sweet.

in that note: the set design adding little things such as those little statues in zuko's room. feels like it really was lived in by someone obsessed with finding the avatar for 3 years. i really liked details like that they put throughout the show

suki extrapolation with her mother and her conflict of being duty-bound to her village but wanting to see the world, and how this relates to sokka. made me genuinely invested in their relationship in a way i wasn't from the cartoon. i also loved the actress' portrayal of suki, she's so awkward and i love it. need to see more of her.

iroh in season 1 of the cartoon feels less like his own fleshed out character and more of a comedic relief expansion of zuko's b plot. he's made to make zuko's slice of the show more fit for a fun kids show by giving him someone to talk to and be funny with. he's a fun tea-loving uncle, but it's hard to parse what he really feels until later. live action iroh keeps that fun tea-loving aspect, but he has his own baggage and its GREAT. i think i genuinely enjoyed live action iroh more than the cartoon. he has so much more growing to do. could talk about this version of iroh (and his relationship with zuko) forever. i need season 2 just for him.

iroh and aang's prison arc together.

making zuko's crew have issues with him earlier and making them 41st division was nice. i really liked that change.

secret tunnel with familial love between katara and sokka was so cute. enjoyed it.

the ???:

azula and ozai's addition is a 50/50 to me. i think the sick power plays ozai is doing between his two children are genuinely interesting. the change in how ozai doles out praise and the dynamics between azula and zuko is also interesting and i enjoyed it. but i also find their screen time unnecessary. could be used to further the dynamic between the main protagonists, or they could be saved for season 2 or 3. did like how azula used zhao to thwart zuko and it fucked zuko up immensely in the head. very nice. also not sure how i feel about azula being good at archery, feels like getting good at a nonbending discipline isn't something that meshes well with her character for me, but that's a nitpick.

combining plotlines such as jet and the mechanist in omashu + the change with bumi was... fine? it served its purpose. liked some aspects and didn't like others.

the spirit world stuff was really cool and i enjoyed how koh preys on people lost in the fog. very interesting concepts that got us to be able to experience katara and sokka's backstory first hand. felt immersive to me. but also wtf, wan shi tong? katara and sokka being gone from the plot for so long? come backkkkkk! COME BACK! DO WE HAVE TIME FOR YOU TO BE IN SPIRIT JAIL WHEN I HAVEN"T SEEN YOU GUYS INTERACT ENOUGH? i did like yue being in the spirit world and interacting with sokka. that was cute as hell.

northern water tribe and yuekka had parts i liked and parts i didn't. they kept the sexism and arranged marriage but also yue opted out? feels detrimental to yue and sokka's relationship and how they connect to each other out of their sense of duty. did really like hahn being nice, it would have been really interesting to see how yue felt stifled with an arranged marriage even if hahn was perfect. also liked yue being able to waterbend and the little scene with yue and sokka making dessert, so cute. yue freezing sokka to the ground before sacrificing herself.... didn't like that. wish they let sokka let her go, understanding it was her choice.

katara in the nwt as well. katara fighting master pakku and losing, but everyone watching thought she was SO COOL. loved the guy asking how she did the ice disks and she has to teach him. but confused on the fact that pakku doesn't take her as a student, and we don't see her being taught but people still refer to her as a master. i'm going to assume she learned waterbending by learning from her fanclub and also teaching them her moves.

why did they almost kill momo?

the bad:

everyone and their mother has said the exposition is bad so i won't hammer it home too much. this isn't actually much of a problem for me because it was actually necessary to get the point home to my mom who was watching it for the first time. i was also told that screen test audiences asked for the exposition to be added in the first episode after production, so i don't have much to say there.

aang's decision to leave home not being running away but due to the fact that he was stepping out to get a breather. this felt like a weird change to me, since the rest of the show hammers in about aang running away from his problems and his duties in a way the cartoon doesn't. would have felt WAY more heartwrenching to see the temples under attack while aang runs away from being the avatar and it would have hit harder when gyatso tells aang to let go of that guilt and pain... that it wasn't his fault. it was harder to feel the root of aang's guilt when i know that he didn't even plan to leave for very long. alas!

continuing from that point about aang's attribute of 'running away': lack of episodic plotlines. everyone and their mother has also hammered home about the lack of them from cartoon. i don't actually hate the change, but i do think it does some disservice to aang's character that they didn't adjust for. i'm being told that aang runs away, but i haven't been shown aang doing so. i've been seeing aang do his duty as the avatar and research it every episode. give me a reason to believe why this is a character flaw that aang needs to face.

similarly, i think this does a detriment to katara's role in book 1. since aang is more focused on what he needs to do as the avatar, katara becomes more his partner in finding out more about what it means to be the avatar instead of pushing him to be more motivated into doing so. (ex: 'we need to continue on our journey and not stay on kyoshi island' or 'we need to help haru in this village')

aang, katara, and sokka get separate plotlines so much that they don't feel like a solid dynamic. again, detriment of the lack of the smaller episodic plots. does make more sense that katara says aang is family at the end of season 1 instead of the beginning for this reason, though.

katara feels like one of the weakest aspects of the show to me. katara doesn't get the narration. katara isn't the first thing when aang gets out of the ice. and katara's rage just feels lost. i think a simple script or direction change in ep 1-2 to make katara's actress play her with more of that rage during her arguments with sokka would've worked wonders. katara has this feeling of anger at injustice that motivates her throughout the cartoon and i don't feel it here. also miss some of her sass - katara should've hit aang in the head with an acorn.

sokka's weird engineer arc? he's a warrior. why are you saying it's okay to not be a warrior when he is - what is up with setting up sokka as a disappointment to hakoda? HELLO? DOES ANYONE HEAR ME? i'm confused where they're going with this, please tell me that sokka has misinterpreted and created that memory due to insecurity. this is where my bias is totally coming in. this worked fine for my parents who hadn't ever seen it. BUT WHERE ARE THEY HEADING WITH THIS?

kinda wish information about zuko's situation was dropped more subtly throughout instead of zuko being like "my father banished me and i need the avatar to get back" like episode 1. like ok give me a moment to just be like "ugh this zuko kid is a fucking BITCH" before i have to feel for him, damn.

also zuko going straight to barbecuing feels weird to his character when they're also trying to tell us that zuko's capable of kindness and also has a strict honor code? zuko is against using bounty hunters in a way he's not in the cartoon. he talks down on the terrorism in omashu since its not 'honorable', but he also was about to burn katara who was down on the ground. of course, realistically if you're throwing fire around, you are going to burn people. but there was a suspension of disbelief in the animated version that isn't in the live action. zuko does things such as immediately resorting to fire instead of hand to hand in his fight with sokka. in the live action, i'd expect zuko to use MORE hand to hand in comparison to fire, not less. plus the fact they took out moments such as zuko not burning zhao in the agni kai or holding his hand out to save him during the north. weird dissonance at points with his character for me.

[lucianalight]

Hi! I'm back :) after another long hiatus😅 I have missed all of you❤️

First of all a huge thank you to everyone who were worried and asked about my health and how I was doing. I wasn't doing well tbh. I'm one of those people who had the misfortune of never quite recovering from covid. I already had one chronic illness that was messing up my life and health. Having another on top of that takes a lot of physical, emotional and mental toll and limits my energy greatly. So I needed time to get used to my new reality and condition and learn to how manage it and live with it. It's still a work in progress and doctor appointments are seeming endless but at least some meds are helping. So there's that.

You probably already know the second reason why I wasn't doing well. I've seen terrible things…And you need time to process them. To grieve, to deal with trauma and survivor's guilt, and nurture your anger and keep fighting, keep resisting…

And well, internet connection still sucks so using social media is kind of an ordeal :D

There were a lot of times that I wanted to come back on tumblr but every time some issue would come up and take my motivation and energy. Then two weeks ago, after I couldn't crush the little ray of hope that maybe this time I'm going to see sth I like, I started watching season 2 of Loki. I watched it while promising myself that I'm not going to care anymore if it's bad, reminding myself that I might see sth as bad as season 1. Still I was surprised that I didn't hate it. On the contrary there were moments that were entertaining and even enjoyable. And those moments were more than the ones I dislike. It was better than season 1 and admittedly that's a low bar since I consider S1 one of the worst tv shows I've ever seen, but there were noticeable changes in pace and tone of the narrative and characterization in S2. Some issues in S1 was addressed. Loki was actually the main character of his series and got to do badass magic stuff :D The characters were flesh out and three dimensional and likable(I love OB so much :D). There was no romance. The ending was great.

There were of course things I didn't like. Removing Loki's backstory and his issues with his family from the story is one of them. How some of his moments in past was addressed. The episodes at times got boring or very predictable. There were times that Loki was ooc or comedic moments that weren't delivered well.

It wasn't perfect but at least acceptable. And probably the best Loki content we got since TDW. And I liked the ending a lot. I found myself keep going back to rewatch some scenes. I found myself analyzing the content happily. I had things to say. So here I am :D basically I'm 100% back to my Loki bs and I'm making it everyone's problem :P

Whether you loved the series or hated it, you're welcome on my blog and you're welcome to send me your opinions and engage with me in discussions and metas. I will tag posts accordingly in case you want to avoid certain content(tbh I still don't know what the new tags will be because I haven't written anything yet but I will make a post when I do).

There will be posts of some new fandoms so block their tags if you don't want to see those posts. The new fandoms are Sandman tv show(I haven't finished the comics so plz don't spoil them for me), Wednesday, My Hero Academia, Shadow and Bone, and The Bifrost Incident.

As I mentioned above I'm dealing with multiple chronic illnesses and have a limited energy each day. I will try to answer your messages, comments and asks as soon as I can but it might take a long time. Sry about that.

And finally a warm welcome to all the new followers and thanks to everyone who are still following me❤️

[bloodyshadow1]

the ratgrinders are a fascinating antagonist because right now they are just antagonists, they aren't the Bad Kids' enemies or even the bad guys of the campaign. Sure Kipperlilly, Ruben, and Ivy seem like genuinely unpleasant people, but that doesn't mean they're evil, just jerks right now. Oisin is sort of neutral, he seems to be nice, and maybe has a crush on Adaine, but that's all we know since he was in 1 episode. Mary-Ann is similar because she doesn't seem pleasant, she just seems very neutral about everything so who knows. Buddy seems like a tool, but in the same way that Kristen was before she left the church of helio so who knows if he's going to be her dark mirror or someone for her to save.

It's just that they're definitely a presence in Junior year, but we also know so little about them. Are they actually malicious or are they just jerks? Are they even friends/family with each other like the Bad Kids are or are they just acquaintances that they go to school with and are forced into an adventuring party with? Do the Ratgrinders have a beef against the Bad Kids or is it just Kipperlily, does she even have anything against them or is she just a preppy rich kid who acts better than everyone else and this is just the first time the bad kids experience it? If they are the bad guys of this season, how much are they in control, because there are gods dying and forgotten deities that might be summoned again, and while there is a connection to the Ratgrinders, how much of one? Are they going after the bad kids, or has everything the Bad Kids have gone through just because Solace is a weird place to live in Spyre?

They're just really interesting as antagonists because currently, they haven't done anything to the Bad Kids technically. It's possible Ruben and Ivy were trying to get them kicked out by tricking them into taking drugs, but it's also possible that they are just teens who do drugs and offered other teens. Like sure Ruben was under a disguise but it's possible that he wasn't trying to trick them into taking drugs seeing as he partook in the drugs himself.

It's just interesting because it's possible they are just the annoying bad guys you have to fight, it's possible that they're just jerks and not evil at all. It's also possible that they're monstrously evil, I've seen a lot of theories that they are the ones who killed Lucy in the first place. It isn't like we haven't seen teens be horrific, Penelope in Freshman year helped 7 teenage girls, including her best friend who lived with her, get kidnapped so she could be prom queen.

[ben-talks-art]

Having to win vs. Wanting to win, the appeal of Hero vs. Villain interaction, and building a bigger sense of rivalry

Something that I was wondering about for a while now was why between the two Spiderverse movies, the second one appealed to me so much more than the first

The first one is a more complete story, has a very solid beginning, middle, and end, while the second one feels like half of two movies pieced together with the Spot storyline and the Spider Society storyline which even together still don't even make a full movie...

And yet, I just find myself enjoying the second one a lot more and re-watching it a lot more often. 🤔

And the reason for it is probably because I'm just drawn more by the way this movie handles character interaction and banter, particularly between the protagonists and antagonists and how they establish connections with each other.

Spiderverse 1 is a great movie, but when it comes down to it, Miles only really has meaningful interactions with his parents and with Peter.

He doesn't really have a big heart to heart moment with Gwen or the other Spiders that much, and more importantly, he really doesn't have that big of a connection with the villains, Kingpin and Dock Ock. He does get a little with the Prowler, but that's really it, just a little.

Meanwhile, in Spiderverse 2, Miles gets to talk A LOT with everyone. With Gwen, with Pav, with Hobbie, with Miguel, and with Spot. There's just a bigger focus on having these characters not just interact but actually connect with one another.

When Miles fights Kingpin at the end of the first movie, I just don't feel that big of an investment cause these two barely talked with each other, so they have nearly no rivalry. While in the second movie, there's a huge rivalry born between Miles and Miguel because we see that both of them are fighting due to their conflicting ideologies, and we also see their relationship changing as the story progresses, as Miguel goes from being hostile to Miles, to trying to be understanding, to being frustrated, to back to hostile again.

This made me notice how much I rely on characters actually interacting and giving a sense that they're connecting with one another for me to feel invested in their confrontations.

It's one of the reasons why Kung Fu Panda 2 stands out so much compared to the other 2 to me.

The fact that we actually see the hero and the villain meeting each other early on in the story, talking, learning about one another, growing as they get to know one another, comparing their experiences, and giving a true sense of connection... We don't really get that in the first or third movie.

Po doesn't even meet Tai Lung or until the climax of the first movie, and his first conversation with Kai in the third is mostly just done for laughs.

It's also a small problem I had with the Castlevania show in seasons 1 through 4 (haven't seen Nocturnal yet).

In this series, characters don't really talk when they fight, and they don't really meet the people they're going to fight until they're fighting them. So a lot of times you're just watching people with nearly zero history between them trying to tear each other apart.

They feel like soldiers, fighting because they have to, not because they want to.

I think the biggest exceptions are the fight with Dracula at the end of season 2 and Death in season 4, because Dracula does have a history with Alucard since they're father and son, and Trevor does try talk a little with Death since he sees a lot of himself in it as both of them are like entities who only know how to kill things. But aside from that, a lot of the fights feel like Power Rangers battles where the heroes are just fighting the enemies of the week out of duty.

The show does its best to give each character the necessary amount of depth, motivation, conflict, personality, and history, but it kinda sucks in building the sense of rivalry between these people.

I think the biggest rivalry in the show is probably Hector and Camilla, which... are honestly two characters I care very little about since they have so little to do with the actual protagonists.

Frankly, I really wish I could have seen Trevor, Alucard, or Sipha actually talking with these two, or any of the other villains for that matter, to see how their interactions would go, but most of the villains just talk with each other.

Much like Spiderverse 1, and Kung Fu Panda 1, the heroes and the villains just feel like they're so distant from one another and only truly meet when the story is already about to end... And that feels like such a waste.

I wanted to see the main trio talking with Hector, Camilla, Issac, and Lenore. I wanted to see Po talking more with Tai Lung or Kai, trying to learn what makes them tick. I wanted to see Miles talking with Kingpin or Dock Ock, or heck, the Prowler.

Miles and Prowler interact so much in the comics and in the games, but in the movies there is so little of them.

I remember having similar thoughts with the Rick Riordan books.

The heroes in it usually have great banter with the smaller villains, like Ares, Seth, or the giants, but when it comes to the big villains like Chronos, Apophis, or Gaea, the confrontation with them is so brief and the way they're defeated is so simple, and more importantly, the connection between them and the protagonists is so thin, that it kinda feels anticlimactic.

The books try to build up the rivalry by having the characters see each other through dreams or visions, but they don't really talk much during the actual battles, and most of their exchanges prior to these battles are just generic stuff like "I'm gonna kill you! No, You won't! Yes, I will! No, you won't!"

Another example of the importance of interactions, Sonic Frontiers.

You get a ton of chances to talk with Sage as you go through the islands, and by the time you reach the third one, she kinda turns into a viewer excited about seeing how Sonic will defy the odds once again.

She's changing as they exchange words. Imagine how lame it would have been if she hardly ever talked to him, kinda like how it happened with Infinite where they just meet briefly before a fight and have the most generic banter ever.

Similarly, why does everyone love Superman vs. the Elite so much? Because the whole movie is about Supes butting heads with these guys who try to get him to test and provoke his ideals and beliefs.

This isn't just a hero fighting villains of the week to save the day or stop them from conquering the world. These people are trying to prove a point and they're using each other to do it.

Their interactions are causing them to develop an antagonism between each other that makes it even more exciting to see when they do eventually clash in the climax, because we followed their history and know where each is coming from, what they're fighting for.

Same reason people love Batman and Joker. Their interactions are always like that.

And then we have Kingpin in Daredevil.

That whole show's biggest selling point is just these two being constantly at each other's throats because they each represent something the other absolutely hates.

Anytime they're in a room together you just get a goldmine in writing quality because they have such amazing interactions and so much good chemistry.

Same case with Killgrave in Jessica Jones.

A lot of people often ask "Why do Marvel movie villains suck so much?" because they don't actually build this sense of animosity with the heroes. They're just things to be dealt with, not things the heroes personally want to deal with.

Ironman had to deal with Ironmonger, Thor had to deal with the dark elf, Captain America had to deal with Red Skull, but DD wanted to deal with Fisk and Jess wanted to deal with Purple Man.

This contrast of "want to" vs. "have to" does so much to increase the investment in a character for me.

Aquaman did that really well by making you feel like both villains really wanted a piece of the protagonist for very petty and selfish reasons.

It makes them feel more shallow, yes, but it also makes them feel more real, and it makes their fight more personal.

Mind you, I don't necessarily need a Hero X Villain banter all the time. There are many cases where I get really invested even if the characters don't talk.

The best example probably being Rock Lee vs Gaara, which is mostly a silent fight just like the ones from Castlevania, but unlike those where it feels like characters are fighting because they have to win, this one feels like they fight because they want to win.

There is no banter, but you still sense their motivations and ideals clashing through their fighting methods and expressions.

Same thing with Thanos vs. the Avengers. They don't exchange many lines, most of it is just Thanos' monologuing (which I kinda feel it's a wasted opportunity because I think Cap and Thanos could have had some really good exchanges), but you still get the sense that this fight is personal for all of them. They don't just have to win, they want to win.

The final battle of Chainsaw Man part 1. Same deal. Very minimal talk, but just enough talk to let us know that these are people fighting for personal reasons.

Avatar, The Last Airbender, lots of quiet fights, but the heroes do get to meet most of the villains before facing them and do build a rivalry before exchanging punches.

My favorite fight in My Hero Academia is, again, a battle of ideals, a fight of "I want to win", not just "I have to win," a fight where there is a lot of banter with their personalities shining through their words and actions and bouncing well off each other.

They make it more personal, more selfish, and thus, more interesting.

I love feeling this sense of connection when I watch or read heroes fighting villains in stories, and I really wish more series would try harder to develop this feeling so I can enjoy it more often.

I want to get more of this sense of "This fight is personal. I'm fighting for myself! I want to win!" and all that stuff.

[dragoonkirby]

Here's all the issues that still needs to be fixed in MK1 on Switch

Note: I've been playing MK1 on Switch since release, and I'm really grateful by how much work the devs have made to fix the mess it was at launch (did they not learn their mistakes with MK11?). Still, a lot of issues still need to be addressed. This is only from what I'm seeing myself, I'm sure there's some stuff to fix for characters I don't play or play that much.

So here's the list:

Server issues: disconnected from the server happens often while playing towers or any mode that requires online connection (which is most of them)

Invasions: in all maps, there's always some objects or obstacles that the characters clips through when they walk between nodes. In the Rampart Mesa, there's a section that misaligns the player with the stairs, making them climb them through the wall instead.

End of round weapon glitch: anyone piece of gear/weapon/hat/whatnot will float in midair when a match ends without a brutality.

Loading times: Although they are a million times better than what they were at launch (like a good 30-40 seconds to like maybe 10-15 now) I'm sure there's a way to make everything load even faster. We'll see when season 4 will drop. I'm guessing this could also be why we don't see the characters walk in by the side before the character select screen shows up.

Texture issues: for some reason, the longer you play, the higher the chance that higher quality textures will just, stop loading in, which ends up giving both the characters and stage a very low-res appearance. IIRC, this wasn't the case before (don't quote me on this) and seems to only start when playing online or on the Hourglass stage

Fatalities oversights: a lot of fatalities (mostly the second ones) have odd visual issues. Some duplicate the head which causes an ugly clipping of the models, some characters have specific parts of their model stay visible during dismemberment like Sindel's hair for example. Second Fatalities will sometimes cause the clothes of either one or both characters to T-Pose in place (just the outfits not the character itself) and sometimes not show the facial expressions either

Facial movement during fights: Either during taunts, end-of-round taunts and brutalities (both giving and receiving), characters have no facial animations

Burn marks graphical glitch: whenever a move causes a burn mark on the ground, a black square replaces it instead

-Sindel: Although mostly fixed, there's still a few issues that haven't been patched yet for some reason: Fatality #1 still doesn't show the hair grabbing the arms, a few taunts involving her hair doesn't animate it at all.

Reptile: a few fatalities still show red blood instead of green blood when performed on him. Also, an issue that I've only seen online that affects both of his fatalites will have Reptile's model become off-center during the whole duration of them, showing normally unseen parts of it (the swallowing part for #1 and the head crush for #2)

Li Mei: her facial animations seem off, not completely animating the eyes and making her look stiff. Her lantern can sometimes teleport to the ground when it moves off-screen. Some animations that have fireworks effects will sometimes show that effect at the wrong spot, mostly off-screen. Her Deception costume lacks hair under her bandana.

Raiden: his brutality pose with one hand up holding a lightning bolt has said bolt misplaced to the right at waist height. Two of Raiden's UoL skin recolor (Arcs And Sparks and Smoldering Embers) have a clipping issue under he belt; it doesn't happen with other recolors.

Mileena: EX Ball Roll brutality is glitched with new update, removing the tongue and sometime getting the victim in a loop of getting their face eaten with a copy of their head and right arm behind them. During the intro with her mouth open, the "appendages" on each side of her mouth do not open wide enough like other versions of the game

Scorpion: Deception skin is missing most of the fire on his head.

Ashrah: OoD Skin has her hair clip through her hat

Havik: on of his gear (the one with long hair) still doesn't appear correctly, floats next to his head.

Kitana: although the gray hair issue and missing hair was fixed on her UoL skin, new recolors still show the unfixed gray hair clashing with the added black bangs.

Rain: his staff sometimes appear horizontally instead of the correct vertical; Doesn't happen to opponent for some reason. His UoL mask clips through his nose

Nitara: her OoD skin's hair appear a lot brighter and unfinshed

General Shao: appears to be the glitchiest when he's the receiver of brutalities i.e. floating head during uppercut brutality

Baraka: OoD skin has the outfit stuck in a T-pose and stretches abnormally during fights

Quan Chi: the notification for his tower ending video doesn't disappear

Kenshi: no matter the outfit, his bandanna clips through his face.

Subzero: two pieces or gear (Iced Down and Yeti Master) are identical with the OoD costume. Game crash when viewing the gear. His Deception skin lacks the new blue eyes.

Shang Tsung: his older form will default back to his yellow color scheme during brutalities

All Kameos: During intros, Fatal Blows and the Tower ending fight, any kameo will lose parts of the model (i.e. hair, straps, etc.)

Kameo Scorpion: He doesn't remove his mask or face during his second brutality but keeps the flames

Kameo Sonya: Throw brutality glitch, either the head floats in midair or falls through the ground. Leg Grab brutality glitch, the lower part of the opponent will stop animating and either fall to its side or clip through the floor.

Kameo Cyrax: during the fatality, the sound for the explosion is delayed by a few seconds.

I'll add more when i'll find them and add if some issues are fixed as well

[whovianwatchingstartrek]

A Whovian Watches Star Trek for the First Time: Part 096 - Return of the Klingons

Star Trek: Discovery - Season 1 Episode 1 - The Vulcan Hello

We open this new chapter in my Star Trek Journey with a Klingon talking about reuniting the Klingon empire, which begs the question: What happened to it in the last Hundred years? It seemed pretty united when we last saw it in Enterprise. Corrupt and biased in favour of one Caste, but definitely united. Later in the episode we find out Klingons haven't been seen in Federation space since the Time of Enterprise either, so something big must have happened.

We're then introduced to two of our new characters, a Captain Georgiou and a Commander called Michael Burnham. The pair are on a mission the desert to release some water for some locals, which they do easily, but they can't transport out because of an incoming storm, but with some clever thinking from Georgiou they get out easily.

Then we get a new intro. I liked it, the kind of blueprint sketchbook aesthetic for the intro was great. The Music didn't quite get me as hyped for exploration as Faith of the Heart did though

After the intro, we're off to fix some damaged satellites on the edge of the Federation's borders, and introduced to another member of our crew: Lieutenant Saru, our Kelpien friend from that short trek! Apparently friction between Saru and Michael is common on this bridge, and from what I've seen from these two so far, I love their dynamic of just constantly trying to one up eachother in front of the captain.

Michael ends up volunteering to taking a solo space flight to investigate a strange object, which turns out to be a really old ancient structure. She lands on it, and the structure unfolds to reveal that it's a Klingon ship. An inhabited Klingon Ship, and she ends up in a brief fight, then with her helmet cracked and her unconscious, drifting through space.

We're then treated to a flashback to her childhood, specifically her education. Apparently she was educated by Vulcans, who tried to push her towards their whole emotional-control logic thing, but the way they went that is absolutely wild, they just straight up just kept asking her questions about a Klingon attack on a Science Outpost that seems to be connected to some trauma, then failing her for having an emotional response, then just straight up calling her "human heart" the problem. Lovely to see the Vulcans haven't changed that much.

After the flashback, Michael pushes herself out of sickbay to warn the crew about the Klingons, and the ship goes to Red Alert. Meanwhile, the Klingons start talking about some kind of Prophecy. The Klingons in Enterprise didn't seem this religious, so I'm assuming this is some new group of Klingons. They seem to worship something called the Kahless, I'm curious to learn more about.

Eventually, both ships end up calling for backup, but a firefight doesn't start just yet. Michael returns to her quarters to call her old Vulcan Teacher, Sarek, for advice. Apparently, the Vulcans recommend engaging the Klingons in battle, but Georgiou shuts the idea down. However, Michael Burnham takes the decision to mutiny, and we're left on a cliff-hanger of a standown on the bridge while the Klingon fleet arrives ready for battle

Commander Burnham is a fascinating character for me here. I love that she acts rashly and impulsively, and I can't wait to find out more about her, and see what being raised by Vulcans does to a person. Saru and Captain Georgiou were also great, but I don't have much of a vibe on them yet. No one else in the crew has left much of an impression on me, but as introductory episode, this was good!

[tdciago]

Fargo: To Wit(t)...

(Originally posted as a reply on Reddit on 1/16/24)

I was also puzzled over how boring Witt seemed in comparison to other characters. So I went back and looked at his official character description.

"'North Dakota Deputy Witt Farr,' portrayed by Lamorne Morris, is the guy when you look up the word 'reliable' in the dictionary, you see his picture. He splits the check down to the cent, not because he’s cheap but because he’s fair. He’s dogged, earnest and Minnesota Nice."

A couple of things stand out. First, the dictionary definition of "reliable," along with the term "Minnesota Nice."

Witt isn't even from Minnesota, as far as we know, but this season began with a dictionary definition of Minnesota Nice. We also had a narrator introduced briefly in episode 5 (Chapter 5), then that idea was dropped immediately. If the word "reliable" is referring to a "reliable narrator," this may be suggesting that Witt is telling this story. That's not my favorite theory, and in fact the narrator has been quite unreliable, because the story has been filled with inconsistencies. But this may be something to consider in the finale.

The part about splitting the check down to the cent, as I've mentioned before, seems to be directly connected to the argument between Gaear and Carl in Fargo the movie. Carl wants to take the tan Ciera, but Gaear insists that they split it evenly.

Carl asks how you split a car - with a chainsaw? - and Gaear replies that one of them pays the other for half. When Carl refuses, that's when he gets the axe.

If we go back to the first episode, we see that Witt had a partner, which seems unusual for a trooper. We haven't seen him with one since, even though he was injured and shouldn't have been on patrol duty alone.

The patrol car is evenly split, in the following sense. Witt Farr means White Bull and his partner is "Iron" Mike Ox. So we've got a bull on one side and an ox on the other. The word FARRier comes from the Latin word for "iron," so there's an iron reference on both sides as well.

Munch, like Gaear, is extemely concerned with fair compensation. It's not even necessarily about money, but what is fair, such as a trade for protection in exchange for room and board. So we have an echo of the movie that relates to Witt and Munch. Munch even shoots Witt in the leg, a callback to Gaear getting shot in the leg by Marge Gunderson.

Witt also represents the answer to the Sphinx's riddle, which Oedipus answered. What creature walks on 4 legs in the morning, then 2 legs at midday, then 3 legs in the evening? The answer is man, who crawls, then walks, then uses a cane. We've seen Witt on crutches (4 legs), walking without aid (2 legs), and with a cane (3 legs).

Since a FARRier shoes horses, I have to wonder if Witt is the upside-down horseshoe with Gator's name on it that brings bad luck to Gator.

I also wonder about a couple of football expressions. Lorraine says no daughter of hers is going down on the one-yard line. Gator tells Witt that someone who looked like Witt blindsided him and tackled him when he was playing high school football. Will Witt make that move in the finale?

[we-pay-for-everything]

And to add to insult, it was already a bit surprised the show be renew, so the odds of getting yet another season were really low. So or the Nancy drew writes didn't even really wanted to go there but to please the fans went there the most superficial way just to get over or they thought not giving the fans a really nice last season of them together would maybe have the fans do a #savenancydrew, which it was a bet that they lost, because the show was never a super hit, also the state of cw and tv as a whole. Sucks when writes just don't care enough to end on a high because somehow most of them think angst, separations, other LI, will they won't they, will sell more that. As audience I think all that just water down what supposed to be great love history. Like you said does Nance even love him? They mess up the golden rule of televison, don't tell me something, show me

Yes, the last season should've been more impactful and a homage to the fans and to what the show did best. We love the show because of the characters and their relationships. We didn't need a last season that completely undermined some of these dynamics and was so heavy on new relationships and characters we don't care about. It's bad enough that we lost The Claw lmao.

Nancy and Ace absolutely had the chance to be an epic love story but their relationship is so underdeveloped that it will only ever be a very shippable ship with potential and outlines of greatness. The way Ace and Nancy's friendship developed in seasons 1 and 2, especially in late season 1 and early season 2, was beautiful, but even season 3 was a misstep imo. Park's introduction and the lack of good Nace content in some ways brought their relationship to a halt, especially after Nancy's big revelation in the season 2 finale. The writers also needed to develop their relationship in other fronts. Romance isn't just about jealousy, insecurity, and the revealing and confessing of feelings, and Nace's relationship should've deepened in other ways. More than Nancy relying on Ace, we should've seen Ace rely on Nancy - and Ace actually reaching out for help, or learning how to -, or Nancy being more in tune with Ace. But Ace's insecurities weren't really solved then and certainly won't be solved now, and Nancy was just as distracted by other stuff in season 3 as usual, and we even had an episode of Ace being in trouble and Nancy being clueless about it (because Ace didn't ask for help and she ignored his random request to solve a riddle that in the end took only two seconds to solve). Ace establishing a connection with Nancy by tapping on her shoulder in Morse code was not proof of the strength of their bond lmao. We needed their relationship, both romantic and otherwise, to be developed, so it was less unbalanced and limited to solving cases.

We also deserved an actual relationship between them, which now we won't ever get because the writers wasted the final season on bullshit love triangles and forbidden love stories. We deserved to see how badass Nace really are together, how they can manage their differences and make each other better (since we haven't seen much of that lately), and how Ace can overcome his insecurities and Nancy her fear of commitment and intimacy. A healthy, loving, supportive, equal romantic partnership between is what would elevate their relationship to legendary status - not this forbidden love, possible literal soulmates whatever, angle.

Nace could've been something so beautiful, but the writers are clearly stubborn and uninterested in maturing Nancy. She's forever the girl who can't see past her need to solve cases, or been on a real relationship where she has to compromise, let someone else in, and not just do everything her way. She's the cliché detective type... Usually shows care too much about romance, but in this case it's less about romance and more about how a real romantic relationship would be great for Nancy's growth and character development, but sadly that won't happen.

Nancy may love Ace but truly her immaturity and poor writing make it seem like she doesn't, or like Ace isn't really a priority most of the time - not unless he's in danger and especially not when she feels rejected. *Sigh*

Thanks for the ask!

[syrinsappho]

I'm going to say something slightly controversial about 13 and Yazmin...

I had recently watched a video essay about how Thasmin (the 13th doctor and Yasmin Kahn) was queerbating, and I have some of my own strong opinions on the topic. Spoilers ahead:

Firstly, Yaz isn't the first queer character in the series, nor the first queer companion. I can only speak on New Who since I haven't seen all of the classic stuff yet, but that goes to Jack. You could argue Jack wasn't a companion perse, but even then, Bill was literally the season before 13's meeting with Yaz.

Secondly, just because something seems retroactive doesn't mean it is, was, or is bad even if it was. Yaz's build up to obsession over the doctor is very much apparent throughout her second season, and only grows stronger throughout all of Flux. The way people show emotion and compassion are different for everyone, so while some people may pick up on things immediately, others may miss them entirely. Though I saw it coming from earlier on then others, not everyone did see it coming, but that's not a bad thing either.

"If this was straight..." is an argument heard a lot, and for me personally it's a stupid one (more about that later), but if you look at their relationship from the perspective of a straight one, it wouldn't be as shocking, and no one would say anything about this being left field. Queer people can have a "straight" attraction to someone of the same gender. (See *1)

The shortcomings from their relationship is common amongst LGNTQIA+ relationships, and expected amongst any relationship with the doctor. Internal rejection is very much something a lot of queer people face, myself included. Especially queer people on the ace spectrum, which many people believe the doctor to be on. And while the doctor admits to having those feelings, she is scared of losing her. That fear is not something she gets over. She let's it take over and they end off with a bittersweet goodbye.

I don't argue that who had used queer baiting in the past, but I do argue that this arc is very much NOT queer baiting. The connection feels genuine and worried about from both sides. The doctor even questions what they are in one of the earlier episodes (Arachnids in the UK anyone?) 13 has always been closed off, when she gets emotional she pushes away. She knows that about herself, and also knows that she will change. She knows that she's lost people in the past, and will continue to do so in the future. Her backing away, even though she loves Yaz, is the most expected outcome in their connection, because if she didn't it would only result in them both being hurt in the long term. The worst part about the doctor will always be regeneration. (See *2)

As a person on the aro/ace spectrum, this is the kind of representation I love in queer media. The kind where it is "baiting" by being replaceable, because it's still a love story. I like representation where the heavy words are the love story, and the queer is just an adjective. Stories where queer people are just people are just as good representation as stories where queer people are overly queer.

Oh and, most importantly... YAZ SAYS SHE LOVES THE DOCTOR. And the doctor is also non-gendered, galifrey doesn't really use gender like we do anyways.

There is a sort of understood difference between loving someone in a "gay way" and loving someone. It's a hard explain, but it's one you understand if you do. People love in different ways, and the way that love gets shown is often times decided to be based on whatever type of relationship they're in, but people can also break those standards. I think we shouldn't call it gay way and love because that's semi homophobic, but pure love breaks gender, doesn't care about anything. And it feels like that love for the doctor is pure, obsessive, but pure. As Clara would put it, the doctor is an addiction.

The doctor can't always grow from past mistakes. Because of how regeneration works, a character arc doesn't mean the character will stay that way *coughs* Missy anyone? *coughs* Regeneration will always change the doctor, and its not just physically. So the doctor often times has to relearn emotions and how to process them. We see this most notably with Capaldi and Clara. Regeneration is a renewal, and sometimes renewing something means pulling out the old cpu for a non outdated one. Change is good, but the doctor can't always keep effort they put into one regeneration to the next. They can hope they will, but hope isn't the same as knowing.

Either way, I personally believe it isn't queer baiting, though I can understand how people do see it that way. Not meaning to invalidate anyone's opinion on the matter, I'm just stating my own point of view on it. I think their relationship is toxic and harmful and poorly timed, but I also think it's real. Which makes the bittersweet even more bitter. I would love to hear others opinions on this though!

[alilich]

Examining Fyodor Vitin's "Mask" post

This collects various notes written while trying to analyse the post by Vitin from May 26th, 2023, where Vitin showed us the photo of an Executor mask and shared an interesting, but untranslated phrase from the Steppe language.

I wasn't able to arrive at any conclusions that, I think, would be able to move the ARG - to get that out of the way - but I thought to share the gathered material anyways, for anyone interested. Due to its sheer length, the entire thing is under the cut.

The Doomed City

We have since found out that the ARG contains parallels to the novel The Doomed City by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky.

In the book, the main character is Andrei Voronin, an astronomer from Leningrad.

Andrei Voronin was the solution to Zimin's "riddle," where we were required to find out the only person who was authorised by Vitin to speak on his behalf. Someone "A." was the answer.

Back then, we initially assumed Katzman to be the right answer due to 1) Vitin referring to him as "my good friend and colleague" 2) Zimin's initials, A.V., were assumed to make him a parallel to Andrei Voronin, therefore Vitin's friend would be Katzman… presumably? (Turned out to be wrong..)

In the novel, Voronin lives in the titular Doomed City, which is surrounded by a swamp and a desert. Eventually, he and his sceptical friend, Izya (Izia) Katzman lead an expedition to explore the desert. The expedition ends tragically, with Katzman and Voronin being the last survivors; however, they find out that the desert contained many ruins of Earth cultures, showing that this mysterious world of the City is actually very old and was previously inhabited by humans. On the border of the world, Andrei apparently dies by trying to shoot at his double; however, he suddenly returns to Leningrad, where the person who recruited him into this mysterious world tells him that he passed the first circle, but "there are many of them ahead". The themes of a ruined world and potential timeloops seem to be ever-present in Pathologic 2.

Dosoo ba beshē tēēhēē

According to Vitin, this is the name of "a seasonal festival of the central region's steppe people".

This phrase is probably, at least partially, based on Buryat language. (If you speak Buryat, please hit me up!)

I've seen around a lot of people interpreting it as having something to do with the number seven. I wasn't able to find the source of these claims, or figure out the connection. If you know more about what was this theory, let me know!

All meanings of the words are referenced from this dictionary: Burlang.Toli

"Dosoo" might be equivalent to "досоо", which could mean: 1) Insides, internal organs; 2) Soul (metaphorical); 3) Other contextual meanings related to being inside of something

"ba" is probably "ба", which means "and"

"beshē" is used in Pathologic 2 in context of "no," "not," disagreement: 1) from Pathologic Wiki: "Ime beshe (Имэ бэшэ) — it's not that, it's not like that"; 2) From conversations with Taya Tycheek: Taya: I'll be the Mistress of Bulls. Haruspex: How about "Mistress of the Kin," instead? Taya: Beshe, beshe… And who will you be?

"beshē" is also, of course, similar to the word "бэшэ" from Buryat, which means: 1) Other, different, the rest. Example: "бэшэ нүхэдшни хаанаб?" - "where are your other friends?"; 2) A grammatical particle reverting the meaning of a word or a sentence, usually in context of two things opposing each other. Example: "Мэдээжэ ба мэдээжэ бэшэ" - "Known and unknown"

"tēēhēē" is a tough one, as I haven't been able to find any transliteration that would get me anything out of the Buryat dictionary, and this word has seemingly never been spoken in Pathologic 1 or 2. Most similar I've found were "тэхэ" - a goat; "тиихэ", same as "тиигэхэ", which is a default form of a word with many meanings, related to "to do something the implied way": for example, has such forms as "тиигүүжэм" - "I will do something in this way"; "тиигэ" - "Do it, let's do it", expressing agreement; "нүхэр болохоёо тиигэнэ гүш?" - "You wish to become a friend?"

A crude translation then could either be: "inside and other tēēhēē" (meaning or related to inside and outside???); or, "Inside and not (tēēhēē)" (or non-tēēhēē, un-tēēhēē etc). The second option is closer to the usage of "бэшэ" in Pathologic, however, in the real Buryat, the grammatical particle "бэшэ" only has the "reverse the meaning of the word next to it" effect when the word it reverses is before бэшэ (ex.: "мэдээжэ" - known, "мэдээжэ бэшэ" - unknown). This could potentially (highlighting doubt in this theory) mean that in the Pathologic's Steppe Language, "бэшэ" cancels the word after it, unlike in Buryat. However, the known Steppe phrase "Ime beshe", meaning "it's not that", in my opinion contradicts this conclusion..? (Ime or имэ is not a real Buryat word, as far as I can tell.)

Interesting but unrelated example from Buryat language: "муу бэшэ" - "not bad, satisfying", бэшэ here reversing the meaning of муу, as per one of the meanings of that word listed in the paragraph above.

And now, for a smoother transition into the next part, let's also examine the Wicked Bird mentioned in the same post, Muu Shubuun: "муу" (muu) is the Buryat word for bad, evil, wicked; "шубуу(н)" means a bird or related to birds. Literally, the bad bird.

The Wicked Bird and Suok

We don't actually get a lot of information about Muu Shubuun from Patho2, the most extensive mention of it being this exchange between Mark Immortel and Artemy Burakh: Immortell: We have a ton of steppe theatre costumes in the storeroom. Especially those wicked birds, Muu Shubuun. The ones that symbolize death. Do steppe people like the play with death? Haruspex: Muu Shubuun is not a mask of death. It's actually more about life.

The meaning of that isn't clear - an executor, wearing the Muu Shubuun mask, appears in the Marble Nest frequently, trying to convince the Bachelor to accept death.

Muu Shubuun is not mentioned in Pathologic 1.

In Pathologic 2, "types" of Townsfolk are named after various birds: Crows, Nightjars, Pigeons, Doves, Finches, Geese etc.

Back to Vitin's "Mask" post: Inside was a massive bone mask in the shape of a bird's skull. This particular fétiche was probably carved in the likeness of Muu Shubuun, the Wicked Bird. The first known mention of it is associated with the dosoo ba beshē tēēhēē, a seasonal festival of the central region's steppe people. The image itself is presumed to be much older, tracing back to one of the oldest creation myths.

So the festival, the name of which we've tried to piece together, could potentially be related to the Baur Meges, the Steppe religion's world-creation legend.

Per Baur Meges, Bos Turokh has existed before the universe did, but at some point, Suok, the personifiction of evil, has appeared up from abyss, "filling the world with herself." She devoured all the stars and the light, for which Bos Turokh has devoured her. Since then, Suok remains to be inside Bos Turokh, "trying in vain to consume him from within his tight embrace." This event has also led to the creation of the Universe, Wheel (so that all be destined to return to the beginning), Law (to shut Suok to eternal imprisoment?), Fear (to exgorge his pain), and Time.

We don't really know of Muu Shubuun's place in Baur Meges and other Steppe mythology. We could assume the Shubuun, or an "older" version of it, is somehow related to one of the two characters in Baur Meges, in which case it's likely to be Suok, the evil.

Suok is also associated with the Sand Pest, and the other way around: the Sand Pest is treated as a living creature.

The Sand Pest manifests as a person in the theatre's Muu Shubuuk costume.

Although the specifics of the Steppe mythology on the topic aren't known, either way, we can conclude there is a rather strong connection between Muu Shubuuk and Suok.

Tying everything together

Per Baur Meges, Suok is now entrapped inside the World Bull. I suspect the name of the festival includes the word with the meaning of or related to "inside": "dosoo".

Muu Shubuun(?) / Executor / Beakhead speaks to the Bachelor at the conclusion of each day in The Marble Nest. The Bachelor is famously trapped in a loop, potentially not unlikely Andrei Voronin from The Doomed City.

At the same time, one Mr. Katzman has recently returned from an expedition, drawing an another parallel to the events of The Doomed City. This might imply that Pathologic's Katzman has avoided entering any sort of a time/narrative loop?, but an another character might've moved on to the next "circle".

A., in reference to Andrei Voronin, is the "correct" ARG player's name, to which Zimin had responded in ways that advanced the plot. What does this mean that the player is associated with someone entering time loops, while also playing through time loops in The Marble Nest?

Further research can be done into:

Connections of bird-named Townsfolk, Muu Shubuun, Suok, the Plague;

The role of the "Mentor", the person who has recruited Andrei Voronin into the mysterious world of The Doomed City, and parallels with Muu Shubuun? (Have not read the full text of the book tbh.)

Examining Suok's role, looking for potential meanings of "Dosoo ba beshē tēēhēē" festival in Herb Bribes' actions and dialogue due to their connection to Suok.

"Muu Shubuun is not a mask of death. It's actually more about life." Why?

Feedback greatly appreciated. It doesn't seem like we're getting a lot of actual progress from the ARG now, but at least the crumbs of lore still seem to be there. :]

[antigonewinchester]

hiya, since you said you were watching You... what do you think of it? i'm a big fan of the books, but haven't seen the show. not sure i trust them to adapt it with any kind of nuance, but i was intrigued to see that sera is involved. how is it?

Thanks for asking anon! :)

You're the opposite of me, in that I've only seen the show (just finished season 1; I'm a slow watcher) and never read the books. I found S1 to be pretty good overall, with a few minor quibbles.

I'm fond of stories picking apart The Ideals of Romance, so Gamble describing S1 as needing to be both a love and a horror story in every scene rang true. It's a cliche but a ton of romantic tropes are, if taken more realistically, pretty creepy, and I'm right there with the show in terms of noble fairy-tale princes hiding secret horrors underneath. The use of voice-over for what Joe says versus what he was actually thinks worked very well, could've been cheesy but it's not. Joe's voice is very strong thru the whole season. The show walks a tough line with Joe as the main character, because he's such an unreliable narrator, but imo they did a great job. In the last ep, Beck screams at Joe and calls him a sociopath but, at least in S1, he really didn't read that way to me; it's much more than Joe's understanding of love and what love means is very very messed up. He's an incredibly self-deluding character with very warped perceptions, so while I never bought into his charm, he and that dissonance remained compelling to me throughout the show, who Joe thinks he is vs. what he actually does (and then how much he judges other people too, like he's so much better). It's also his humor, and the show's humor, that's the final ingredient, I think. The show can be quite funny! Then quite horrifying, and sometimes funnily horrifying. The writing uses bathos particularly well, which is a form of humor I don't always like (thanks Marvel movies...) but the undercutting of Joe's obsessions or idealizations or the romantic moments really works. Overall, its balancing of tones from lighthearted to horrifying to funny is quite deft, and I enjoyed its range.

For what worked less well, I found some of the social media stuff a bit dated (altho Facebook stalking and all that was more relevant at the time). While I think the writing of the various female characters was better than what I've seen of Gamble's past shows (particularly SPN), her bias towards male characters was definitely still at play. Say, it took me a bit to figure out what the writing was doing with Peach, but eventually Peach as Joe's female foil -- the woman who's secretly in love and obsessed with Beck, who will manipulate and gaslight her, and who's implied to also have grown up in an emotionally abusive and homophobic household -- worked... except it felt like it came pretty late in the season, and I would've liked more hints earlier on. Maybe it’s more obvious on rewatch, tho.

The other part is a bit tricky, because I'm still not quite sure how I feel about it. As far as I can tell, both of these elements are unique to the TV show: first, Mr. Mooney being physically abusive in raising Joe; and second, Claudia and her son Paco as Joe's neighbors and her boyfriend, Ron, being emotionally and physically abusive. Thru flashbacks over the season, we see Mooney abuse Joe, including locking him in the book cage as a kid and manipulating him into thinking he was doing it for Joe’s own good, out of love, and Joe then reenacting that hurt on later people, most obviously Beck: in the last ep, there's literally a match cut from Joe as a kid in the book cage to Beck as an adult. We also see Ron's abuse of Claudia and Paco thru the season, with Joe's care for Paco clearly connected to his own hurt and trauma, and ultimately leading up to Joe killing Ron to protect Paco. If, as I understand, none of this is in the books, I could see someone not liking these additions, or seeing them as a way to humanize Joe and make him more sympathetic in light his stalking, kidnapping, murder, etc.

In terms of Gamble as a creator, it was striking to see her return to such distinct ideas around men, masculinity, and violence -- she's talked about how she likes writing male characters because she can get into their heads and figure out what makes them tick, but it seems to me she's particularly interested in men who've been abused/traumatized (esp by fathers/father figures) and how they react to, and reenact, that violence. Do Gamble & her writers use nuance and thoughtfulness in dealing with abuse & its consequences? That's a tougher question to answer, and depends on the person watching, tbh. I've read some pretty harsh critiques of Gamble’s writing around this topic, and understand where it's coming from, but what makes me a little more generous with Gamble is how it feels she wants to understand, and that she's working through something in continually returning to these ideas in her work.

[fayevalcntine]

Taking aside whether everything we've seen is fully true or not (though I subtly doubt that since the writers have mentioned they will revisit a lot of the previous past scenes in season 2), the way Louis narrates is limiting on its own for both Lestat and Claudia. Omitting entire years' worth of time and only giving Daniel (and us) the barebones information through vital moments still leaves me with a lot of questions regarding Claudia in particular. Because sure, Daniel HAS the diaries, but who's to say they haven't been tampered with more than Louis even lets on? And specifically, when it comes to the 10 years overall after Claudia comes back, we see no diary in Daniel's vicinity. The only time we do see some is at the end of episode 7, of which one contains Lestat's final words, the other is about their trip to Europe after the murder. That leaves us with only Louis as the main source of information for this time period, but Louis isn't above solely giving Daniel scenarios in order to place Claudia or Lestat in specific roles through how he experienced them in the past.

Case in point, episode 6 has no killings from Claudia. We don't see her hunt, not even to go after a man or stalk him, we definitely don't see her kill, despite all episodes before or after that containing some explicit killings with her. I say this because to Louis, Claudia was his nurse/knight/protector/sister during this particular period of time. And even subconsciously, he ends up painting her as such to the point where we also don't even get much information about Claudia and how she even traveled in episode 5? We only get one piece of information about it with the train scene, but we still get absolutely nothing about how: 1) she even came to reading about vampires, 2) how she managed during her 7 years alone, 3) any basic information about her plans beyond her catching a train for going outside of New Orleans, or even about how she learned languages. The only information we even get specifically is regarding her horrible encounter with Bruce, but again, this later ends up serving more as an apparent parallel to Louis' later situation with Lestat than it is even about Claudia, who suffered through an assault.

I would also argue the same thing in regards to the 6 years they spent alone together, as well. Louis wants Daniel to think of Claudia in a better light, he makes her out to be his savior and the only person that seems to want better for him, yet at the same time leaves out any further details about the years they lived with each other (and not with Lestat) in Rue Royale after he recuperated? Why? And this isn't even to argue that Claudia may not have been as perfect, rather that Louis cuts out so much context as to how they were like with each other after she came back that I end up getting only so much information about Claudia solely when it comes to how it affected or was connected to Louis.

Louis is telling the story here, and even with Claudia's diaries (which Daniel now knows Louis has tampered with), we only end up seeing what Louis wants us to see. This is why I hope season 2 changes some of this because I would really like to just know more about Claudia and her own feelings regarding all the later situations with her and Louis.

[stick-named-figure]

hang on im watching s2 and im throwing up and crying about lucky blocks. like i haven't given s2 my real attention because i kinda hated how long long lucky blocks is but there's actually a lot of things i really like about it. there's no specific conclusions in here, just kinda a list of things i noticed and like about the episode.

like just whatever the hell the lucky blocks uhh... sprite actually is. it's in the minecraft mysteries book and it's also apparently... imprisonment in the lucky block dimension. whatever that is.

red and blue fighting over the gold just Cause [1].

and whatever this is, where orange is laying... like that while watching blue go ham with the netherwart stick. and crafting a bow and arrow. what did they mean by that btw.

the more... world implications (?) related thoughts I have about this start here. yellow's cell very much is reminiscent of eyes. it implies a lot of things about how the lucky block traps entities, and how the sticks are connected to each other [2].

the strange ambiance, the scan lines and the fact that yellow is viewing the whole desktop like a screen is... really fucking interesting but i don't have any solid conclusions i'm drawing about it right now.

it's also interesting to me that the lucky block is not only trying to possess the other sticks, it wants to kinda... torment them at the same time! like this is sadistic. entirely.

(also blue's glance back at orange while they're smacking yellow with the netherwart stick is everything. like "i mean i guess it's working! do i just keep doing this??")

the lucky block also learns from the sticks' behavior. it uses orange's terraria-ass sword after destroying it, and it copies red's wings. it definitely adapts to the body it's given as well, seeing that when the lucky block is fighting red, it gives green a trident and blue summons skeletons and the fire charge weapon.

something else i noticed[4] is that this episode directly contrasts with the end of the original animation vs minecraft, since red is on their own fighting off their friends who are possessed. in diamond armor, which is the last time we see full armor for the sticks.

this also made me notice that red is REALLY fast at reacting. some people have already made various posts on red and how they react to things, but this really emphasizes to me that red is very fast at thinking [5]. like there is a LOT of things they had to process very quickly.

there's also this, where the mobs spawned go after their respective bodies. which is just kinda cute to me ngl.

idk if there was any one "point" i wanted to make here, i just don't think about lucky blocks very often but there's definitely a lot to notice and see in here. they call me the noticer.

---

red and blue punch each other a lot in this season. for example, red punches blue in redstone academy, for which blue trips them in return.

we don't ever see how the cells change when red is possessed, since a pig is immediately decked out as soon as red is in the lucky block, but it certainly says something about how the stick's, say, brains[3] are connected to each other.

i don't think that the sticks have brains in a way that's comparable to humans btw. it's something i need to think more about exactly how i interpret their lives.

it's totally possible i've seen a post on this before. i don't recall seeing one but if you know of one then let me know, because it might've settled in my brain because of that.

it's also rule of cool of course. bullet time

[sunskate]

i have some down time so rewatching the VM reality show - haven't seen this in a while, and lol what's jumping out now -

episode 1: VO: to succeed, they'll need to build on their unique, indefinable connection with each other

Scott: the questions that we always get - are we dating, are we together, it's hard to explain

🤦🏻‍♀️ how is it hard? if it's no (since you clearly had a gf then) then just say no. that's one syllable lol the only other answers are, it's not clearly no, or you're shipbaiting 😂 (and of course there's the quote they never put in context: "i don't think she realizes she keeps me alive")

the first competition they show is in Laval, before they go to High Performance Camp, and it isn't listed in skating scores or on wiki - but luckily there was a record of it -- it's Championnats d'Ete, which was held August 8-13, 2013. they scored 76.51 in their short dance and withdrew before the FD

every time i see this show, it's not the show itself i think about most, it's all the footage that didn't get used - everything that was filmed that we never saw. and the skating is a huge part of that. this performance is nowhere that i can find except the snippets in the episode. so the crew sat there with their fancy cameras, filmed the whole thing, and it's sitting somewhere on a hard drive 😭

they say they were still choreographing (in August) - connections, transitions, that the lifts weren't comfortable. that's late for most teams to still be making programs, especially in an Olympic year? but they probably toured that year after Worlds, and idk what state her legs were in, if they needed a decent sized break after the season for recovery. he's huffing and puffing and saying he's disappointed in himself how exhausted he was after the SD

the scoring system was kinda different, how each program component is weighted differently. but 10s for a program they're saying is unfinished and feeling foreign to them-- they were 22 pts ahead of 2nd place in the SD. they show a medal ceremony, but it must be small medals? bc they didn't skate the 2nd day

[rivertalesien]

I want to ramble about Picard season 3, episode 1, The Next Generation. Spoilers ahead.

The Wrath of Khan soundtrack and starfield/opening title ("In the 25th Century...") wasn't really necessary to lay on how thick it is referencing that film, which is odd, because it wasn't a Next Generation film. It sort of reaches back to the Old Glory Days and it's a little ill-fitting. Fun, but ill-fitting.

Because I'm not sure we needed Beverly Crusher's story to be, once again, all about a man.

In this case, her "son," whom we meet in the final moments of the episode.

And who is this young man, exactly? I'm hoping it's a red herring and that he's not her actual biological child (not that older parents aren't unheard of, but is the show saying Beverly went off and had a kid by herself at age 50+?), but maybe a plot thread left over from Nemesis: namely, another Romulan-created clone of Picard?

Since we learn Beverly cut off from her old crew mates just after the events of that film, this might be a logical direction and suggestive of the story she is currently dealing with, being chased by unknown (Romulan? Borg? I believe Jack mentions their faces kept changing?) villains who clearly have some kind of score to settle.

Has Beverly been on some decades-long secret mission (she seems to be flying around in a Starfleet vessel, interestingly named Eleos...after the ancient Greek goddess of mercy and compassion -- or angel of mercy -- suggesting this is/was a medical ship with a specific mission), or did she leave Starfleet and venture out on her own into some kind of major trouble? Does it have anything to do with Raffi's investigation into "The Red Lady" and the horrific attack on that Starfleet outpost?

Interestingly, "The Red Lady" turns out to be a reference to a statue of Rachel Garrett, Captain of the Enterprise-C, a ship that followed a rift in time and met with the Enterprise-D crew in the classic "Yesterday's Enterprise." In that episode, Tasha Yar lived through the alternate timeline created by that rift, only to join Garrett's crew and go back in time, and later, to Romulus. Couldn't be a coincidence, huh?

In Wrath of Khan, if you haven't seen it, Kirk is a haunted character: first by his own aging self, wandering aimlessly into retirement. Second, by the return of a lost love, embroiled in the creation of a great scientific invention that, unfortunately, is turned into a terrible weapon. He's also haunted by an old enemy, who just happens to get his hands on this weapon.

And in the midst of the story, Kirk meets the son he never knew (but clearly knew about).

Along the way, he loses his closest friend, mentor to a talented trainee of logic and skill, but lacking some experience.

In this episode, Picard is playing both Kirk and Spock, insomuch as he mentored Seven (their Borg connection making them almost familial), hasn't seen Beverly in years and there's clearly an enemy out there gunning after Starfleet and maybe it's using something Beverly made or found or tried to hide from them.

As for Beverly's "son," Picard is clearly surprised by the revelation. If he and Beverly ever had intimate relations (when asked by Laris if he and Beverly had been lovers, he only said "they tried"), and she got pregnant, why would she have kept it from him? Doesn't sound like their relationship at all. Beverly was, above all, a compassionate person and I doubt would have kept a child they had together from him.

Unless...the child would be in danger somehow? Did Beverly worry she'd have another Wesley who would turn out to be some higher being and disappear? There's a few possibilities, each one a little convoluted, but I can't picture her keeping this a secret, even if it were someone else's child. In any event, she named him Jack, presumably after her late husband (which is also the name of Gates McFadden's real-life son).

But the show is clearly setting us up to believe he is Picard's, (unlikely English accent and all), and maybe he is, but maybe not in the way we think. If he's another Romulan clone, that might make a little more sense: Shinzon had a similar accent, but he was also damaged goods, dying from his faulty RNA (he needed a blood transfusion from Picard in order to survive). Does Beverly's son have the same issue? If he is a clone, is there still a Romulan plot out there to destroy the Federation? Revenge for Shinzon's death, perhaps?

Who is Amanda Plummer's character? We know her name is Vadic, which sounds a little Romulan or Vulcan (didn't notice any pointed ears though), her ship looks much like the Romulan mining vessel the Narada from the rebooted Star Trek film (2009). Is she another Picard clone?

Or, if keeping with the themes of this series, a former Borg? Will this wind up being *The* Borg origin story? The new "queen," Agnes Jurati, warned of a major threat last season: looping this all around would make sense.

After all, why was Beverly playing Picard's logs from during TBOBW part 1? Trying to remember something? A detail missed that might help her?

She was clearly prioritizing saving her son during the attack on their ship: not just a mother's role, but maybe for a very specific reason. Is Jack wanted by the enemy? A new Locutus? She certainly made sure her enemies were DEAD (absolutely vaporized, and, therefore, unable to come back like some Borg have done).

What role do Moriarty and Lore play in all of this? Denise Crosby is back, but as Tasha or Sela, her Romulan daughter? With the Garrett mention, perhaps even her story ties into Borg origins.

In Wrath of Khan, Spock winds up sacrificing himself so the Enterprise can warp away from the soon-to-detonate Genesis device; in this first episode, Picard mentions he is not a man who needs a legacy, suggesting he has one he doesn't know about, or, maybe, comparing him to the egoless Spock, who felt his own legacy secure in his chosen student, Saavik.

In any event, someone is out to destroy the Federation (leftover plot element from Nemesis) and we have more questions: who is Raffi's secret boss (Sela? Moriarity? Lore? Some as-yet-unknown figure I've got a sawbuck on Worf, especially after the "You're a warrior" reference)? Is her cover now blown since she announced herself to the Starfleet base? How does an obvious bigot like Shaw get to be a Starfleet captain? Did season 2's alternate universe/time travel silliness create a whole new parallel universe? What's going on in the Riker-Troi marriage? How is the Enterprise's former Chief Engineer now a museum curator? Was Worf cut off from Beverly too or has he got some deets?

Anyone else glad Riker and LaForge had daughters because it seems like no one in this universe ever has them (Data had to build his own)?

Anyone else think Picard is going to sacrifice himself in the end? Maybe while helming his favorite love, now possibly housed in, oh, a museum, say?

Just as he was about to embark on a new adventure with Laris, his story comes full circle and, maybe, to an end.

Or maybe it all finishes with one line:

"Computer: end program."