#went from 0 to 100 except it was over 5 seasons

[ty-isnt-there]

[ponysongbracket]

MLP Song Tournament: Results of Round 1

Warning: Very long post. So many stats

Of the three biggest landslides, two of them were This Day Aria, with the reprise winning with 93.04% and the original winning with 95.85%.

The reprise's sweep is extra impressive considering that it went up against an actual song rather than a joke songlet.

The number one sweep, The Smile Song, won with a whopping 98.15%!!!

For context, this is a bigger sweep than Discord (Remix) [which eventually won] vs Discord's Puppet. This is bigger than Chris Pine vs Chris Pratt. This is bigger than the assassination of Julius Caesar. This is even bigger than Oscar Wilde vs Oscar de la Renta, the previous record holder for sweeps in my tournaments (and because that matchup and the Smile Song ended at around the same time, that record stood for about 10 minutes)

Now, going from the biggest sweep to the biggest opposite of a sweep: we had another tie! We Got This Together vs So Many Wonders.

This one got more votes than this blog's previous tie (Earnest vs On Wings of Moonlight)*

*If you remove my vote, the win margin for We Got This Together becomes 50.21%, which is still more than Rainbow Factory got against Anthropology and The Moon Rises.

The two next closest matches were Friendship Bound vs The Goof-Off (51.41%) and Pinkie's Singing Telegram Song vs Off to See the World (53.125%)

Speaking of the Singing Telegram, that was the only song that was originally put in the "Okay" Tier (fifth tier from the top, or second from the bottom), thus making it's defeat of Off to See the World (which was second tier from the top on a Movie song tier list) the biggest upset of the round. There were 9 upsets in total this round*

*technically Glass of Water beating Friends Are Always There For You was an upset too, but I am not counting it, as they were both in the tier "Wonderful Songs" (third from top) and it was entirely random that FaATfY was one seed above GoW. Since they really had the same ranking, I don't count it as an upset

One matchup wasn't a massive sweep, nor was it close, but it is interesting for a third reason. That being, the third option. B.B.B.F.F. vs The Heart Carol was the matchup that got the most Show results votes.

This was because it was reblogged by @todayontumblr, and as such was shown to a lot of people who don't care about MLP but do like pressing buttons.

Below is how many songs from each season entered the tournament, how many remain, and the percentage that moved on.

Season 1: 18 | 7 (39%) Season 2: 14 | 9 (64%) Season 3: 12 | 8 (67%) Season 4: 19 |13 (68%) Season 5: 14 | 8 (57%) Season 6: 14 | 5 (36%) Season 7: 6 | 3 (50%) Movie : 7 | 6 (85%) Season 8: 7 | 2 (29%) Season 9: 7 | 3 (43%) Promos : 3 | 1 (33%) Comics : 2 | 0 (0%) Other* : 7 | 2 (29%)

*Other refers to songs from Best Gift Ever, Rainbow Roadtrip, the Theme Song, and the song A Pony Kind of Christmas

Of the 131 songs, 67 moved on, or just over half. Seasons 2-5 all performed better than this, while season 1, the later seasons and most other media performed worse. I would guess this is due to Season 1 being full of songlets, and the later seasons and other media being less familiar. The exception to this is the Movie, which impressively won all but one match-up (and even then it was the third closest match)

Here is the above, but with specific episodes with a lot of songs

Magical Mystery Cure : 7 | 5 (71%) Pinkie Pride : 6 | 4 (67%) A Canterlot Wedding : 5 | 4 (80%) A Hearth's Warming Tail : 5 | 4 (80%) Crusaders of the Lost Mark: 4 | 3 (75%) The Mane Attraction : 3 | 3 (100%) Filli Vanilli : 3 | 2 (67%) The Crystal Empire : 3 | 1 (33%) Rainbow Roadtrip : 3 | 0 (0%)

Aside from Rainbow Roadtrip and The Crystal Empire, musical episodes all performed better than half

Now here is the above, but with the character singing the song

Pinkie Pie : 26 |10 (38%) The Mane Six : 17 |12 (71%) The CMC : 12 | 6 (50%) Fluttershy : 9 | 4 (44%) Rarity : 8 | 6 (75%) Twilight : 9 | 5 (56%) Rainbow Dash : 6 | 3 (50%) Applejack : 5 | 4 (80%) Cheese Sandwich: 4 | 3 (75%) Flim and Flam : 4 | 1 (25%) Coluratura : 3 | 3 (100%) Starlight : 3 | 3 (100%) Queen Chrysalis: 3 | 3 (100%) Celestia : 3 | 2 (67%) Spike : 3 | 0 (0%)

Pinkie Pie actually held on better than I expected, considering how many of her songlets got swept. As there are a lot of Pinkie Pie songs, and multiple people provide her singing voice, here is a breakdown of just her Voice Actors

Shannon Chan-Kent: 15 | 9 (60%) Andrea Libman : 10 | 1 (10%) EileMonty : 1 | 0 (0%)

As you can see, Andrea Libman as Pinkie Pie mostly did the songlets that got swept, with the only song she sang remaining being The Fresh Princess of Friendship (though she also sang The Goof-Off, which came close to winning)

As for how my taste conforms to Tumblr's, I have 36 MLP songs saved to my Music folder, and of these, 29 made it to Round 2*

*2 of these songs, At the Gala and True True Friend, were given byes, and so could not have been eliminated. Also, in 2 matchups, I had saved both songs, so the possible range was 4-34

But how about how my 11-year-old self's taste conformed? They had 5 songs saved to their IC Recorder, and of those, 3 made it to Round 2*

*This is kind of cheating, because the fact that I had saved At the Gala and Babs Seed when I was 11 is literally part of the reason they were given byes. So the possible range was 2-5.

Round 2 Starts Today!

[chenford4ever]

https://ustoday.news/the-rookie-season-5-has-chenford-succumbed-to-the-moonlighting-curse/

The Beginner: Federal Agencies, which likely ensures a sixth season (although nothing has been announced yet). With time and chemistry, Chenford was born.

The romantic relationship between Tim Bradford (Eric Winter) and Lucy Chen (Melissa O’Neil) probably wasn’t intentional, so the reason the two ended up on the slow lane can be attributed to a passionate fan base and open-minded cast and creators. Lucy even started it The beginner in a relationship with protagonist John Nolan (Nathan Fillion), but that was funnily dropped in season one because of the stigma of dating another cop. Thankfully, Lucy doesn’t seem to have the same issue with Tim, further cementing this pair as endgame-worthy. So what’s going on?

Chenford’s Foundation

The couple’s relationship begins with a teacher/student dynamic, with Tim as a rookie becoming Lucy’s training officer. The first season more or less builds their relationship, with Tim being a hardass for lack of a better term. Lucy is engaged with Nolan for most of the season, but their bond is explored more after Tim is exposed to a weaponized virus that puts his life on the line, leading to one of the first emotional moments between the two. Another important moment between the two happens when Lucy is drugged from a date and essentially kidnapped by Rosalind Dyer (Annie Wersching), one of the many antagonists who overstepped their welcome The beginner. It is Tim who is able to find her and dig her out of a buried barrel and later sits by her bedside in the hospital. It was these dramatic and traumatic events that facilitated their bond and proved that these two would stay by each other’s sides regardless of their LAPD duties.

One of the other major ways Chenford’s relationship has evolved has been how they have challenged each other. Be it through their opposing viewpoints or their different love interests in the earlier seasons. Lucy and Tim always had a push and pull dynamic that made them fun to watch. Though their relationship changed a lot over the show’s first four seasons, needless to say, despite their outward differences, trust was built between them. Chenford is a couple that will make your heart skip a beat. Except once they got together. And then.

Where they went wrong

Season 4 ended on a big note when the two, posing as a couple, kiss to convince some criminals of their authenticity. Tim and Lucy even convince themselves, leading them to almost react to new undeniable feelings in the season 5 premiere, until they are interrupted by finding another gift from the gift they keep giving, Rosalind dyers Search for Lucy’s friend Chris (Kanoa Goo), with life-threatening injuries, slows things down for the couple, causing them to contemplate all the ramifications and complications that come with starting a romantic relationship. It is not until the ninth episode of the season that Tim asks Lucy out after she breaks up with Chris. The way the two come together, speaking things out and being pragmatic might tick all the boxes for some fans, but the beginning of their relationship still feels too easy. This beginning loses all the tension and anxiety that her relationship had before her established romantic relationship. Put simply, it’s boring.

That brings us to the 10 or so episodes that the couple is seen together. There’s no denying that these two are cute together and their chemistry exists, but the main issue here is their pacing, which might give a committed viewer a bit of whiplash. It took Tim and Lucy four seasons to get to the point where they could accept, let alone admit, their feelings for each other, and just a few episodes after they’ve agreed on a date, they’re already pondering their future after having kids How. Despite this, Chenford goes from 0 to 100 real fast, and while there is an issue with many shows being subject to cancellation, The beginner has been a sure bet for renewal in recent seasons. There doesn’t seem to be any real reason why the pair need to rush major milestones in their relationship, especially given how quickly it’s taken to get here.

Are Chenford Victims of the ‘Moonlight Curse’?

Just because Chenford is finally dating doesn’t mean it is The beginner should play it safe with his fan favorite couple. Delivering cute GIF-able moments is all well and good, but if Lucy makes a five-player trade to give Tim a new job, the most interesting conflict is going to be between the two, then maybe it should have been balanced more building their romantic relationship. With the plethora of plots they could get as characters on a cop show, the couple could easily get something more dramatic that could linger longer, rather than just ticking off a checklist and jumping from point A to point B to point C.

The beginner landed something special with Tim Bradford and Lucy Chen. Although the original intent was probably not to make them a couple, the show paid attention to audience reaction and the chemistry that unfolded even in the earlier episodes, and despite the relative lack of focus the couple had, since it became canon, Chenford at her worst is still better than any relationship Nolan is at his best. So while Chenford suffers a bit from the moonlighting curse, the pair are still incredibly entertaining to watch. However, with the history and connection that Tim and Lucy have, there’s more than enough time to correct course for the pair to fulfill their full potential and further cement their place in pop culture as fan-favorite lucky breaks.

[mallowstep]

i literally havent been able to stop thinking about the wbcd thing, its so needed in the series. how do you decide which cats die when? do you weigh eventual offspring when deciding, like thornkit/claw eventually having four kits while lynxkit obviously having none? will "important" canonical deaths like swiftpaw, brindleface, etc count towards the death count for the season, or will those types of things be bonus deaths?

figured i'd answer this b4 i went to bed!

i need to scrub the wbcd posts from my queue and rewrite them up to a higher standard, but i'm going to keep the outcomes the same. i've gotten the hang of things now.

anyway, this is all done in one notebook, and the way i do it for wbcd is a little Special. (i've done similar things for fan-ish clans to make sure the numbers work out. they do, generally. sometimes you have bad luck.)

but wbcd doesn't account for moving to the elders' den, increased death rates because of moving to the elders' den, and i don't think i was doing double rolls (i'll explain) last time i queued the posts.

(it's a bit of a mess rn is why i need to scrub and rewrite. or maybe start a(nother) sideblog for it? just for my own sanity?)

anyway.

i've done this out a few times, and i've decided writing shit out by hand is best. maybe i just have no restraint and overcomplicate shit when i start typing, and someone else could make it work.

so first up, determining leader lives: i literally knock off 2/book. if i'm doing something for a fanclan, i generate numbers the same way i do for litters, a normal distribution with mean 2 and standard deviation 4. N(2, 16) if you want to be fancy. i've considered lowering the standard deviation, but i like the swingy-ness of it. (i also permit "gaining" lives to account for this. it's a little hokey, but it makes leaders live for the Right amount of time.)

deputies have a 1/10 chance of dying every season. all of my numbers, here, are estimations based on my initial calculations, then smoothed out to a number that easily goes into 100. again, i do wbcd in batches, and my methodology has changed slightly, so it's possible i was still not rolling for deputies.

seers/medicine cats (seer = 4 letters, and i'm writing by hand, also it fits the Aesthetics of the idea) have a 1/20 chance in dying. i don't usually bother rolling for them, though, because their deaths uh. don't matter? bc wbcd follows canon timeline, i can kill them for drama as needed.

as for warriors, they have a 1/25 chance in dying every season. i believe i calculated the odds for 1/10 living to 40 seasons and 1/3 living to 40 seasons, and then found a number that was easy to remember in between. because i don't track elders in wbcd, no one ever actually retires, but when i do this for other things, i give elders 1/10 chance of dying. just to make sure they don't stack up.

but! wbcd is special because i don't just roll and move on. what i do is, i roll for every warrior, and then i shuffle deaths. did whitestorm die, but i need him to live long enough to be firestar's deputy? well, XYZ is right there not doing anything, why not kill them instead?

and so on.

there's certainly a bit of favouritism going on: when i decided to kill barley, it Hurt me a Lot. but it needed to be done.

the factors that go into my decision are about what their death does to the future. killing whitestorm before he becomes firestar's deputy is frustrating to the plot in ways i didn't want to deal with. killing darkstripe early does nothing.

so non-canon characters (i don't want to say ocs, bc it's more lynxkit, ravenpaw & barley, etc) have a higher risk of dying, because their deaths, well, by their nature their deaths Cannot change the plot.

but that's not the same as offspring. see, blossomfall and thornclaw's kits are very, very, very minor. stemleaf is the only one who matters, and i can easily work around that.

so important canonical deaths do count in the seasonal tally, because the numbers are supposed to be high for drama. the only exception to this is that i rolled really well for the season of the great battle, so i ended up using my litter size generator for an extra number of deaths. i'd do this again for a time when there was that kind of Big Event Death if i rolled "too well."

now, you didn't ask about this, but i want to be thorough: how do i do kits and apprentices?

okay, apprentices are my favourite part, because they're the only group that has dynamic odds. uh, i'm going to say seasons, but what i mean is, when i'm on my leafbare page, i then roll to see who lives through newleaf, and i call that the newleaf roll. i know it's confusing, that's just the convention i started with.

so anyway, seasonal odds of death for apprentices

newleaf: 0/1 greenleaf: 1/10 leaffall: 1/5 leafbare: 1/10

if you recall my overall apprentice odds, this might seem odd, but you have to remember that "leaffall" really means "1 out of 5 apprentices dies every greenleaf."

i've considered flipping this, but for reasons i'll explain in kits, having the newleaf "palette cleanser" means that the warmer months aren't as brutal as they seem.

so for kits: when there's a litter born in a season, i don't do anything. if there are multiple, i try to space them out. there's not like. a reason for this, other than helping me keep the numbers straight.

for seasons with no litters, i generate a litter size and pick a queen who's "free."

the litter size generated is N(3, 9), or mean 3, standard deviation 3. negative numbers mean nothing here, and there's a fair amount of Large Litters. it would be realistic to split those up, but that takes a Lot of time and bookkeeping.

anyway, generated litters usually have no father, because you know. keeping things moving here. i pick a free queen, which basically means:

the queen whose next canon litter and last litter in wbcd are furthest away.

this is a balancing act, and i usually favour not giving a couple an early litter before their first canon litter. but if, say, willowpelt needs to have a litter in two seasons, even if she could have two litters back to back, i don't like doing that.

so i might find someone who has had their last canon litter and give them an extra one, or someone who's a while away from their next litter.

for generated litters, i give them an extra roll. because i disregard negatives, litter sizes trend larger than intended, so an extra first roll keeps them down. all rolls for kits are 1/5 odds of death.

but if i roll a 5, i circle the bullet point, and roll twice next season. this is because 4/5 * 4/5 is 0.64, which is more than my ideal survival rate of 0.50. add in another 4/5, for the bonus roll, and you drop to 0.512. the occasional extra rolls sends some kits down to 0.40 survival rating.

one day, i will figure out what those odds are to see if my numbers are still accurate, but having played this scenario out pretty far, i think it works.

i also employ the double roll for apprentices. hence having no rolls in leafbare means i can sort of. stop anything from cycling over.

if u have more questions about the mechanics/my process behind this, let me know. i hope i explained everything clearly, but it's all basically scribbled in a single notebook that i actually need to dig out so i can fix things.

thanks for asking! i'll be out with more wbcd content soon.

[garrothromeave]

the hell is mystreet season 6??

(warning, long post ahead)

ok so before i start this

1) ive never posted shiiiit on tumblr before so watch me suffer, im just here to talk about stuff that my friends who dont know anything about aphmau have to listen to me rant about for hours on end

2) i havent seen mystreet in like years (except season 3, i watch that frequently since im laurance and shadow knight deprived) so please bear with me because i might be completely wrong on this lol. it’s just like, pointing out things i remember

3) im sure someones already talked about this but who cares

4) im gonna do this stupid thing where i just explain myself a bit at first, if you dont want to read that just skip to the part where you see “the actual thingy:” in bold and italics 

5) mild disclaimer; i am completely aware that jessica is not a professional writer. i know that she did her best to appeal to her fans, and honestly, respect for that. while this post will come off as aggressive and probably look like hate, that’s not my intention in the slightest. it’s just... intense criticism. im sure y’all probably already know that, but yeah, just stating that anyways. i do believe that jess is doing her best, and in no way do i want to dismiss any hard work she’s done. that being said; prepare for a very strongly opinionated post.

haha watch there be 10000+ typos in this making me look like a complete dumbass

ok here we go 

one of the main reasons i stopped watching aphmau back in 2017 was the mess that was season 4. like, in the first few episodes of the emerald secret, i thought “woah!! this is kinda cool, im a sucker for mystery!” because of course i was, it was something new and something exciting. the only problem i had with it at the time was kim, but that’s just because i always found her annoying and out of place. i just didn’t understand why garroth dragged her along and honestly i still don’t to this day BUT, moving on.

anyways, as the season progressed, 13 year old me was of course just “:0!!” the entire time--that is, up until the reveal of the main villain. i remember watching the episode, seeing the reveal of ein, and then stopping. like, just for a quick break, but i was still just overwhelmingly disappointed. like, and this was the time when pdh was airing and ein just got made alpha (i think?) and i had really really liked eins character in pdh. either way, that really sucked and actually opened my eyes to a lot of things.

one of the main things bein’ the fact that this was supposed to be a slice of life kinda series that decided to take a turn to a more edgy kinda approach. which, i guess i regularly wouldnt mind? but seeing as mcd was kinda bein neglected at the time it just didnt sit right with me. BUT WHATEVER, point is i stopped watching mystreet all together at the end of season 4.

like, a whole year later my brother tells me that shit’s getting intense in season 5 + 6 of mystreet, and my brilliant self decided to give it a shot--but i refused to watch all of season 5, so i only stepped in when ein made an appearance. so whenever that was, that’s where i picked up because i didnt care enough to see 

and y’know--i honestly didn’t hate it at first. in fact, i found it oddly cool. it wasn’t enough to get me into aphmau again, but it was enough to where i was intrigued. i dont know why, but i never watched the finale, so i didnt see the ending until just a few weeks ago--but back then, i thought it was neat. looking back on it however... im just so confused. 

side note: only got back into aphmau this time around because of mcd. mainly because like, i adore the first season and the first half of the second season. and being nearly 18 now, im a lot more appreciative of plot and well-written characters n junk. 

the actual thingy:

ok back on track. imma stop spilling out my story of how i got back into aphmau, and lets just skip to what rewatching mcd made me realize of season 6′s plot and shit:

-emmalyn. how the fuck does ghost even remotely exist? if she’s emmalyn as claimed, then why have we already seen emmalyn in the mystreet universe alive? look i get that creators can do whatever they want with their stories but at the same time please provide some sort of explanation good god. and maybe they did and i just havent seen it, so if there is one--let me know. but until that day imma just sit here confused as fuck

-ok so imma just be real, the whole ‘ultima’ thing is just... not great. in my opinion, anyways. like... i saw someone mention this in another post, but if this ultima stuff was like, a really big deal, why isnt it mentioned in mcd? though i suppose since its a curse of sorts, it could be later on past the time period in which mcd takes place--but even then, how did it manage to make its way into aaron’s family bloodline? 

-WHY IS EVERYONE AT STARLIGHT ITS JUST SO CONVINIENT like what happened to this place being the most expensive shit on the planet or whatever, and how the gang happens to run into like, the werewolf trio and blaze and kai and guy and nate all of these people like god damn life doesnt WORK LIKE THAT 

-im sorry but turning people into relics? thats... thats the best you could come up with? plus, like, how does that even work? in mcd it’s established that relics are separate entitles that choose their wielder, based on a ‘personal’ connection (being a descendent of a previous wielder) or if they’re a good match personality and (i think?) moral wise. so the whole turning-people-into-relics doesnt make much sense to be honest. 

-irene really over here using her god powers to only keep her friends alive like god damn not a great god if you ask me 

-can i talk about how incredibly predictable aphmaus death was? like i just kinda sat there waiting for it to happen and when it did i literally went “haha! wonder when she’ll be revived” because god forbid we actually kill off characters 

-when aphmau + demon warlock fought in the irene dimension there was no passage of time whatsoever in the real world whiiiiiiiiich really bothers me because they fought in there for at least a few minutes

-speaking of aphmau and the demon warlocks fight does it bother anyone else that it had to be aaron who took over the fight?? like we get it hes the big protector blah blah blah but god damn it wouldve been cooler if aphmau had fought this battle as her. aaron fighting this battle was so underwhelming

-...love. like, thats the only thing thats needed to break out of a forever potion? love? LIKE YEAH, GOOD GUYS GOTTA WIN SOMEHOW, but its just so cliche and overdoneeee

-oh yeah and also when travis went bonkers and became the demon warlock or whatever, why’d he only take over katelyn and garroth?? like, zane had been influenced by the potions in the past as well? DONT GET ME WRONG--i do love some good brother edge, but uh, the demon warlock was just bein kinda a dumbass by not possessing zane too just sayin’

-can aaron please go to fucking jail for mass murder now like holy shit, he just got sent home on a fuckin boat. also why did blaze forgive him for killing him thats not even remotely realistic. then again, nothing in mystreet has ever been realistic when it comes to characters and motives and personalities, (cough katelyn being actually abusive and travis being an actual pervert) but yknow whatever

-katelyn and kawaii chan literally added nothing to the plot whatsoever. like lets be real, katelyn lost her personality the moment season 5 started and kawaii chan just kinda sits there :I

-ok im sorry this was bound to come up but cmon guys imagine laurances potential if he was in season 6 like god damn this is beyond maddening. AND YOU KNOW WHAT WOULD HAVE BEEN A REALLY REALLY COOL PARRALLEL?? IF IT WAS LAURANCE WHO SNAPPED GARROTH OUT OF HIS MIND CONTROL THING, because it would mimic laurance’s speech to get garroth to snap out of his rage in season 1, episode 100 of minecraft diaries. like how fuckin rad would that have been? missed opportunity 

-also?? why does kim/ghost know magicks?? like, if i remember correctly, emmalyn is a scholar--not someone who knew magicks. i mean, i guess research? study?? but its been established that knowing how magicks works =/= being able to use magicks. i dunno, just doesnt seem right i guess. maybe its explained, i wouldnt know (yes i know that makes me look like a dick leave me alone)

-melissa should have stayed dead. LIKE, NO, ITS NOT AS SIMPLE AS “haha it takes more than a few bullets to kill me”??? look ive got nothing wrong with melissa (cough lie cough) but yknow it would have just been cool a character... stay dead? for once? its just too fuckin cliche that shes alive god damn

-can i also just say the only good thing that came out of season 6 was travis’ dads sacrifice like damn that made me actually sad

-howww was lucinda turned into a relic. or yknow, anyone else? like im sure they explain it better in the actual show i just dont remember, but its just that easy? turning anyone into a relic? granted, a normal person wouldnt be able to produce a good relic, but idk man. IM JUST SAYING; that the only really powerful relics that aphmau should have been able to wield is the one that aaron + zane produced because shad relic and esmund relic moment. lucinda isnt even like, connected to a divine warrior. ALSO, another point, if its seriously that powerful of a relic getting one from just a magic user like lucinda, why go through the trouble? i mean i guess ofc youd want the “all powerful” one that the ultima produces but i mean damn whats the point

-ok this is just going to bother me but in one of the episodes (i think might have been in season 5 actually) where that like, guardian dude was chasing aphmau and zane and at one point they split up and the dude just chuckles at zane diverting paths and goes under his breath “youre not the important one here”, suggesting that aphmau somehow is? first of all, id argue that any ro’meave is significantly more important than aphmau was, especially not knowing much about her other than that shes with aaron. i might be missing some bits an pieces, but if i was that dude id forget about aphmau and go after zane 

-killing off derek for shock factor sucked, and i know the moment was supposed to be really sad because like “oh :( aarons dad is sacrificing himself for his son” but lets be real dereks still was a shitty father and i dont think his reasons for doing what he did was very good at all

-less about plot or more like: why the absolute fuck did the gang bring kim along instead of, oh i dont know, a life-long friend? like, laurance or dante maybe?? im sure its explained, i never saw aphmaus year or most of season 5, but god DAMN id hate to be apart of this friend group AND GOD LIKE, imagine reconnecting with an old friend who ends up getting closer to your best friends and taking priority in their lives over you (cough laurance) like god damn lol

-im just going to preface this one with: i dont remember everything that’s happened, so if im wrong i apologize in advance--but (you actually can correct me if im wrong and please do) didnt like, irene reincarnate her friends in order to give them better lives? I DONT KNOW IF THIS IS TRUE, ITS JUST WHAT I REMEMBER--however, if im correct, then:

a. why the hell would she bring back someone like zane, or gene, or ivy, etc.

b. why the hell do they all have the same exact names? first and last? again, im aware that the whole mystreet+mcd tie wasn’t originally supposed to be there, but i dont think that means such a coincidence can be excused? its just a bit much if you ask me.

c. why the hell is the fact that (as much as i literally hate this) aaron is a decedent of shad being ignored? like, you’d think that something like this would be something thats actually important, or something the demon warlock couldve taken advantage of. or are we completely erasing every other connections to divine warriors besides aphmau + irene? because even if irene did reincarnate them or do whatever it is she did, does she even have the power to sever the connections between them and their ancestors? my guess is, no.

d. speaking of irene why on earth was aphmau able to talk to/see irene, they’re literally the same person are they not? did she like, fuckin reincarnate herself without actually doing it?? BUT--i will give it to them, the demon warlock did refer to aphmau as something along the lines of being “one of the 3 parts of her broken soul” or something like that. however, my point still remains. also what are the other two did i miss that or is it never explained

now; if irene in fact did not ‘reincarnate’ her friends then please ignore that little bit right there :)

but yes, those are a few of the problems i have with season 6 off the top of my head. i would go into like, season 4 and 5 more as well, but i honestly didnt feel like it. at some point i might go into other things, like how important laurance could have been to the plot of these later seasons, or HELL, even dante. i might also go into what could have made season 4, 5, and 6 actually good--maybe... a rewrite? perhaps? but im getting too far ahead of myself, so i just leave you with this for now.

and i know that as soon as i post this 15 more things are just going to pop into my head BUT im going to try and not edit this post because why stress myself with that even more

anyways thank you for coming to my tedtalk 

[peterstanslizzie]

Reacting To: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts (Season 2 Episode 2)

Episode Title: The Goat Cheese Prophecy

Spoiler Warning: Kindly proceed if you’ve already seen the episode or are able to handle spoilers.

1. The episode begins with a flashback to when Kipo was just a baby and her dad, Lio is trying to bottle-feed her. They are above the surface; So perhaps this took place at a time when there wasn’t a clover burrow? Or maybe Lio came up with Kipo to do something? Anyways, a Mega Scorpion pops up and starts chasing after him; Lio reaches a dead end and is cornered by the scorpion but cute baby Kipo reacts all of a sudden and uses her giant jaguar paw to slash its pincer. 

2. This buys Lio some time and they manage to escape and hide out somewhere in a forest. But he then hears some heavy stomping and gets charged at by a giant boar, I’m guessing. What can’t nobody catch a break on this show lol?

3. Back to the present; Our heroes arrive at a decimated Ratland. Again, I hope Amy and Brad are still alive. Looks like my prayers are answered because both rats pull up right in front of them in their van! Yay! They ask the group if they need a ride somewhere to which Kipo says that she needs to see the Chevre Sisterhood to help her control her transformation. According to Amy, they are very mysterious blind goats and she can only get them close to where they live but not exactly. 

4. They arrive at the area known as “Eyeball Woods”, which appears to be the place where Lio was attacked by that boar-thingy several years ago. After getting dropped off by the rats, they are suddenly attacked and eaten?! by 2 of the same creatures, except for Mandu (who kinda looks like it belongs to the same species as them except for the horns). I’m pretty sure that they’re just in their mouths...

5. Meanwhile, back at Scarlemagne’s Court, our main villain had just a painted a portrait of himself and he ends up hating it and tearing it apart. This guy has some major issues. Lio, who is now dressed up in court attire is taken by Scarlemagne to see the construction zone of his new city, Aurum. And the city is being built by the mind-controlled humans. Scarlemagne reveals to Lio that he’s running out of pheromones and he plans to use him to make more of them. 

6. Back to the two pigs/boars with our main characters in their mouths; They eventually spit them all out and they hear three of the Chevre goats chanting the names of 4 different cheese repeatedly, including Chevre, which I actually didn’t know it was a type of cheese made with goat’s milk. Now I know lmao. Since they’re goats, I guess my prediction about the mysterious cloaked individuals who appeared at the end of the first episode being the Chevre sisters is wrong. 

7. One of the goats whose name is Florabel realizes that they have visitors and because she and the rest of them are blind, they need to rely on the cheese to tell them that. Weird but okay. They start slobbering cheese all over the group’s mouths, which is once again, very weird. They also reveal that they use their pigs, Bornak and Webber to travel by hiding in their mouths, keeping them safe and hidden. Kipo lets them know of her plan to get them to train her to control her powers but they don’t seem to know what she’s talking about. Well, these goats seem kind of not all the way there in the head; So I’m not surprised. 

8. Scarlemagne wants Lio to reproduce his pheromones in a chemistry lab. We also get more context on the prior relationship between these two. From what I could deduce, Lio did something to Scarlemagne to make him “this way”, What does that mean? Like make him crazy or evil or what? Anyways, Lio obviously refuses to help him but it’s too late because he gets sprayed with the pheromones and has no choice but to do what he’s told. 

9. After explaining her plan even more to the goats, they seems to agree to help her but first, they want to make more cheese. I guessing the cheese is more important than I what initially thought. Kipo agrees to help them but she must do it alone, which makes Wolf feel highly suspicious of the goats. 

10. Kipo is led into a room with a bunch of stuff that is used to make the cheese. The sisters hand her a couple of herbs to put those into the mixture slowly. The recipe seems easy at first but it went from 0 to 100 real quick because they begin to speed through the instructions, which makes Kipo even more confused. To make matters worse, these crazy goats are all over the place and spilling/dropping things everywhere. They are so annoying. 

11. One of them (Bev) even accidentally tosses ghost peppers into Kipo’s eyes, which stings her face. It also seems like her transformation is starting to take place gradually at the same time because her left arm is now growing fur on it, just like her right arm. Back to the mixture; These goats are reckless AF! And Kipo is trying her best not to get stabbed or burned by them. 

12. Meanwhile, Wolf is trying to get past the two giant pigs and she manages to sting them with Stalky; Although, they end up falling asleep in front of the exit to the room Kipo is in. But with Mandu’s help, they manage to get past and reunite with Kipo, who ends up looking like this now:

13. Even though Kipo is frustrated that she isn’t a full-on jaguar yet, I’d say a lot of progress has been made. I mean, look at her! The goats then reveal to Kipo about how they met her father and her a long time ago. They tell her that Lio had just lost her mother and had to abandon the burrow Kipo was born in. I wonder why he had to abandon that burrow? Maybe it would bring a lot of painful memories for him?

14. He asked them for guidance to which they tell him that making cheese would help. We also see that whenever Kipo feels safe, she will transform herself more towards her human form and vice versa if she feels unsafe, which is pretty much whenever she’s on the surface. Basically, the goats advise Lio to keep her safe in another burrow to keep her human form as her dominant one. And when it’s time for her to be a jaguar, he can bring her back to the woods. 

15. After hearing the story about her dad, her jaguar form is starting to dissipate but only a little. They tell her to think about the safety she feels when she’s around her dad whilst doing the “herbs out” motion. And it works! All her fur is now gone!

16. So all Kipo has to do to is to feel at peace by imagining herself with Lio in order to maintain her human form and if she wants to transform into her jaguar form, she needs to do the “herbs in” motion as well as thinking about needing to use that form. So that’s why the goat sisters were acting all crazy just now. And Kipo is practically mastering this technique. But we still don’t know if she will be able to FULLY transform into a Mega Jaguar.

17. Back at the lab, Scarlemagne discovers that Kipo is actually Lio’s daughter. Hmm, I really thought he already knew given the prior relationship he and Lio had. He then tells Lio that he plans to capture Kipo and use her Jaguar form for his own benefit. 

18. We then see the Chevre sisters doing their cheese chant again in order to find out if Kipo is ready to take on Scarlemagne with her Mega Jaguar form. Their eyes start glowing blue and they reveal to them that if Kipo becomes the Mega, she won’t be able to turn back into her human form and she probably will lose all of her human essence to it. But there is still a chance for her to stop it and it’s by finding an object that can bind her to her core and guide her out of her jaguar form. 

19. Kipo figures that she could go back to the burrow she was originally from and was born into, which isn’t the clover burrow. She asks the goats if they have any idea where that burrow is or if her dad has given them any info on why he had to abandon the place to which the sisters say they don’t have the answers to those questions. So, the episode ends with a new mission at hand. 

20. Hope you all enjoyed my review of episode 2. Stay tuned tomorrow for when I will be posting my review of episode 3. Thanks for reading! Bye y’all!

[thegeminisage]

we were robbed: the morgana & arthur edition

i have a well-worded and very-thought-out meta about this brewing in me but i don’t have time for all that so have this instead (spoilers obviously):

arthur & morgana didn’t know they were brother and sister but in actuality they would have GROWN UP like brother and sister because (though we don’t have any ages) it’s implied that morgana came to uther quite young

season 1 has them acting all flirty with a touch of antagonism but if they had had their shit together from the start there would have been nothing but (somewhat loving) antagonism from the get-go

a nice thing to have done would have been for someone to suggest arthur/morgana and for them both to look genuinely disgusted (”he’s like my BROTHER”/”she’s like my SISTER”) instead of “i’m pretending to be disgusted but secretly i’d hit it” because it would have been really funny come season 3 when the reveal came thru

here’s the thing about siblings, particularly when there are only just the two of you and you’re very close in age: siblings know you better than anyone. if you grow up with someone they have been witness to all of your weird obsessions and awkward phases and stupid crushes and bad ideas. they are often the only playmate of your age and so you spend 100% of your time together whether you like it or not. you learn to tolerate them and vice versa. you know what will make them happy. you know what will piss them off. there is no one you hate more than your sibling. there is no one you love more than your sibling. no one else on earth can make you so angry or so happy. they are your partner in crime and/or the one framing you for murder. they will help you bury a body and mock you mercilessly for it for the rest of time. siblings are your life companion until one of you becomes an adult. in a perfect world, nobody would have ever, ever, EVER understood arthur and morgana as well as they understood each other - absolutely no one else on earth can comprehend what it’s like to grow up where you grew up with the parents that you had except someone who did it with you

AND THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED FOR ARTHUR AND MORGANA

imagine a canon where when morgana says in season 1 that SHE ALONE can convince arthur to defy their father and get him to do (whatever dumb thing - kill the afanc, find the morteus flower, etc) it’s not because of her Womanly Wiles it’s because she grew up with this IDIOT and she knows him better than he knows himself

imagine a canon where arthur and morgana’s relationship more closely resembles merlin and arthur’s just for the SHEER AMOUNT of insults traded - and morgana hardly has to mind her tongue the way merlin sometimes does because she and arthur are nearly of equal station

shooting each other rude looks behind uther’s back at dinner, absolutely roasting people at court under their breath, roasting each OTHER under their breath, scheming to get away with mad plots right under uther’s nose, tattling on each other when one of them was holding a grudge, alternatively arch-enemies and thick as thieves, that’s SIBLINGHOOD, babey. like this except if morgana wasn’t lying

you know what i think? if morgana and arthur had been written as proper siblings, arthur would have been one of the first people morgana confessed the truth about her magic to. yes sometimes it’s hard to tell people close to you about that shit, but we didn’t see morgana so much as CONSIDER telling arthur the truth in canon. arthur, as morgana’s adoptive-not-adoptive brother, would be one of the most important people in her life (and vice versa). if magic = gay, there’s no way she wouldn’t asking probing questions such as “so hypothetically if you found out someone you loved had magic what would you do” (more subtle than that because she’s not merlin but you get the idea - that’s what the gays do with our straight siblings. we test for homophobia.)

like if arthur had come for her when he thought the druids kidnapped her because he was actually as distraught and worried as uther was and she, instead of freaking out and fleeing, begged him to cover for her because she wanted to stay - THAT’S WHAT SIBLINGS DO. they ask impossibly hard shit of each other and then they owe one another favors for the rest of their lives. morgana and arthur should have been RIDE OR DIE for each other. that arthur would have fucking covered for her or at least been really torn about it and really fucked up that he didn’t, if he chose not to

i would have loved to see arthur struggle more with the fact that was not only morgana his biological sister but she was magical - and yeah he didn’t find out until morgana had turned ~evil~ but THAT IS WHAT WE WERE ROBBED OF

as a matter of fact arthur only gets about 5 total minutes of screentime in the same frame as morgana AT BEST! after she pulls off the sister & magic reveals but in every bit of it he is fucking HEARTBROKEN. arthur’s more fucked up about morgana than merlin is and it’s merlin’s stupid fault she went darkside to begin with

look at the tears in her eyes. he’s so sad to see her like this. he calls her MY LADY even when she’s trying to murder them all. arthur grew up with morgana. arthur must have loved her SO MUCH. she would without a doubt be someone he considered his immediate family. there’s a million and one fanfics about arthur changing his mind about magic after he discovers someone he loves (merlin) would be killed for having it, but almost none of them deal with how arthur would take the revelation that morgana, his sister in all but name (at least until he finds out she’s actually his biological sister too), has magic, and would have to be put to death according to the law

like. ok. he sent merlin out of town when merlin was facing execution over something as simple as STEALING in 2.06, he helped mordred escape the chopping block in 1.08, he pled gwen’s case in 1.03 when he thought she was a sorceress for real, do we really think he wouldn’t have fought for morgana? 

moving on: morgana died nearly right in front of arthur and we get 0 emotional reaction from him - typical. granted he was also dying, but a word exchanged about how the pendragon line ended with the two of them on the same day would not have gone amiss.

think of the PARALLELS - they both died from a sword forged in a dragon’s breath, when their father was the one who drove the dragons to extinction

LIKE: morgana wanting arthur to lift the ban on magic SO BADLY yet being the reason arthur remains convinced he can’t - because he watched his bright sweet compassionate and brave sister become someone cold and ruthless - watched her pain morph her into someone not unlike uther, who also used his pain as an excuse to kill people

arthur wanting morgana to stop her crusade EQUALLY badly but HE’S the reason she remains convinced she can’t do that EITHER because he still won’t lift the fucking ban

(AND LET US NEVER FORGET THAT THEY BOTH HAVE THAT FIREBRAND PENDRAGON RAGE - when arthur gets mad he gets GOOD and mad - both of them tried to kill uther, both of them at one point attempted to or actually did disown him once they were able to fully comprehend the extent of his crimes)

their reconciliation could have been so good. morgana insisting that magic didn’t make her this way, people did - people like arthur and uther. as good as arthur’s moment at the druid shrine in 4.10 was, that same moment and emotion should have gone to morgana in late season 4 or 5 (preferably while she was beating his face in with him making no effort to stop her winter soldier style lmao)

man ok arthur and merlin’s grand tragic not-quite-romance was good and fucked up and i love it to death, but SIBLING RELATIONSHIPS are so fucking powerful. they’re messy and difficult but most of all they’re ENDURING because you just can’t pick your family

and they had such a good character and good relationship RIGHT THERE with morgana and they WASTED all of their potential

thats ALL IM SAYING. ok. thank u and goodnight

[five-wow]

I have a little crisis going on. My friend saw me checking in on tumblr on my phone a week or so ago and asked me what I was looking at. I told her about H 5-0 and McDanno. She likes gay ships and started watching.When she was finished with season one and had watched the conclusion of the season final she asked me why Danny ditched Rachel in favor of Steve. I told her because he loves him – duh! But I guess she just doesn't feel the vibes for that ship. (1/2)

She told me while she got why maybe Steve would fall for Danny she didn’t understood how Danny could develop feelings for Steve, didn’t even get how they’ve become friends with all the arguing. I know I can’t convince her and I don’t want to.But when I was home again, it got me thinking… and to my sheer horror I nearly came up with nothing (okay, he payed for the dolphin swimming and helped finding Meka’s murderer, was there for the memorial service) but otherwise? (2/2)            

Dear god, I don’t know myself why Danny would fall for Steve. I haven’t watched season 1 in a while. Could you please remember me? Sorry for the Long three part ask. (3/3)             

OKAY SO. Tragically, I haven’t watched season 1 in a while either, because I still haven’t gotten around to that rewatch I keep saying I should probably do, BUT. HOWEVER. YET.

It might be a bit of a mess, but I’m always ready to ramble about why Danny might fall for Steve. This ended up as nearly 2k words, so I’ll put it under a cut:

I think that a crucial first thing to understand is that when Danny yells, it does not necessarily mean he’s genuinely angry. I definitely get how if you do interpret it that way, the entire show could just kind of look like Danny doesn’t even like Steve very much, let alone loves him. Yelling CAN mean he’s angry, and of course it often DOES mean that, but just as often (or perhaps even more) it overwhelmingly means that he cares. Loudly. Right in your face. (There’s a later episode, 3.15, in which Steve does something heroic but stupid and Danny yells at him afterwards and Steve goes, kind of gleefully, “You were worried about me” and Danny says “Worried? No, no, I was worried about my car” but it’s VERY obvious that he’s lying, like, to the point where that’s the whole joke here. There are probably other instances that prove the yelling-Danny-does-not-mean-a-Danny-who-doesn’t-like-you, but this is my favorite because it’s extremely, blindingly obvious, and the narrative actively wants us to see it that way.)

To jump right in with the deep stuff: Steve offered Danny a job and gave him a family and a place in Hawaii and a purpose and the feeling of being useful, and he did it at a time when Danny was living a pretty miserable existence where even after six months he was still being hazed by the other Detectives for being the haole who wears a tie. Danny tells Tani in one of the very early season 8 episodes that Steve has a way of coming into people’s lives at just the right time, and that he did that for everyone on the team, including Danny. Obviously if you’re watching season 1 you can’t know what’s being said in season 8, but it’s just confirmation of stuff that’s definitely there on screen in season 1, too.

Steve is good at his job. Really, really good, and even if his methods are crazy, he ends up helping people. Danny can be shocked at the means and still appreciate the end at he same time.

Steve’s surprisingly smart, too. A bit of a dork sometimes - Steve with that teacup in 1.10? “I like tea.” NERD. (He’s also absolutely saying that to rile Danny up, and essentially that just means he enjoys arguing with Danny which is SO PERFECT for Danny, who can’t stop it even if he tries. More about that later.)

Steve makes Danny laugh. It may sometimes be a laugh borne out of shock, perhaps even anger, but there’s definitely laughter. (Steve also goes along with Danny’s silly banter and smiles about it - Danny’s “you miss me, don’t you?” when Steve is being a super secret spy on the museum ship in 1.07 and Steve’s “yeah, yeah” and “but you don’t swim” are a wonderful example.)

But then, on top of all of that, Steve is also kind. Of course there’s the hotel room with dolphin swimming he gives Danny as an apology after Danny makes it clear that he thinks he deserves one (which, by the way, still make me scream a little, because everything after that one moment ALWAYS portrays Steve as extremely unwilling to spend a lot of money on anything, even gifts, AND because yes, it’s a way to apologize, but it’s also something that immediately shows Steve gets Danny, because it’s not just for Danny, it’s for Grace! it’s for Danny to have fun with Grace), but he also makes a call to the Governor when Danny has issues with Rachel over visitation rights for Grace, and he does it behind Danny’s back. He comes to Meka’s funeral, not because he needs to grieve, but because Danny is grieving. When Grace and Rachel get car-jacked and Danny has to leave suddenly in the middle of a case, Steve’s immediate response is to tell him to call if he needs anything and then look completely thrown for a moment after Danny leaves. tl;dr: Steve CARES, and Danny, a man who is definitely not stupid, knows this. I mean, it’s not like he has to look far to see it anyway - he experiences it, over and over and over again. (And Steve’s there like this for the whole team, not just Danny, but in season 1 it’s definitely mostly Danny, because after Steve he just has the most problems, poor guy.)

(Side note, that episode I mentioned in which Grace and Rachel get car-jacked and Danny rushes to them? 1.16? Later on, Steve is going full camouflage ninja in the forest on his own and then his phone starts buzzing and he sees it’s Danny and the first thing he does after picking up is ask “are Grace and Rachel okay?” and when Danny then asks about the case he goes “don’t worry about that” to calm Danny down, and they end up having a lengthy conversation about Danny’s problem while Steve is panting trying to hold a log in the air for some very important SEAL reason, but he doesn’t complain a single time or even mention that he’s kind of busy. Danny needs him, so he’s available.)

And I mean, obviously, there’s these: “Maybe you’re not as alone around here as you think, Danno.” “I know you.” “I picked you, didn’t I?”

If I can just circle back around to something we’ve sort of covered: Danny yells a lot. He has a temper. He gets angry. He doesn’t get along super well with most people, and then along comes Steve, who initially INFURIATES Danny to the point where Danny ends up hitting him after they meet, but instead of getting angry back or holding a grudge, Steve is impressed and takes it in stride and still wants Danny to work with him because he sees Danny’s talents, and he doesn’t let himself be intimidated by the attitude. He lets Danny rant and get angry and he argues back but also calms Danny down when needed, and everything we’re shown indicates that he enjoys that dynamic. Essentially, Steve is the ideal partner for Danny, and Steve is also lonely and he’s loyal to a fault and they have a similar sense of humor and their banter flows ridiculously smoothly right from day one and their personalities just click and Steve keeps inviting Danny over for beer and letting him walk into his kitchen unannounced and dragging him into Steve’s classic car for its first test drive, so what do you know? Steve’s also a really great best friend.

Danny says Steve is terrible with kids and then Steve is actually GREAT with Grace. Like, when Danny gets hit with the sarin gas and Steve picks Grace up from school because he knows she’ll be getting out soon and there will be nobody waiting for her? That’s something that you can bet means the world to Danny, because Grace is his world. ALSO, Steve goes to get Grace and deliver her to the hospital personally, even though it’s a ridiculously busy day with two cases to work at once, one of which might lead them to Wo Fat, the killer of Steve’s father, which is Steve’s Huge Tragic Backstory and the thing he’ll usually drop anything else for. Except Grace! (Obviously, if he knew when Grace would need to be picked up and hadn’t done anything about it, that would have been a huge dick move, so you could say he had no choice, but that still means that 1) he knows when and where to pick Grace up in the first place, which shows he cares enough to pay attention to something that he couldn’t have known would ever be relevant until that moment, and 2) he could have sent Chin or Kono or Jenna or Duke or Kamekona or random HPD officers, and he did not do that. He went there in person. He went to get Grace.)

Which leads us neatly here: Steve, a guy with virtually no family left except for one very estranged sister (and an aunt we don’t know about yet and a mother who’s actually still alive, but those can’t really be counted at the end of season 1), is a HUGE FAMILY MAN. What’s Danny’s whole reason for uprooting his life and being miserable five days a week but still feeling it’s totally worth it for those other two days? LOVE OF FAMILY. Danny definitely, 100% can appreciate that quality in other people, and Steve has it, he just had nowhere to direct it for the longest time.

In the same vein, Danny is a True Dad. He sees Steve, this lonely guy who just lost his dad, and in the fandom it’s generally acknowledged that Steve saw Danny and went “yes, this one, I’m keeping this one”, but for all of Danny’s complaining, he also adopted Steve on the spot.Steve needs a Danny so he doesn’t get himself killed (the very first episode immediately hammers this point home really hard), and there’s no way Danny isn’t aware of that on some level.

Also just. Yes, Steve does a lot of things Danny tells him he shouldn’t do. Yes, Steve is an idiot sometimes. But he also listens to the things Danny yells at him, and when it really matters to Danny, he changes his behavior. There’s that apology hotel room, for one, but there’s also that bit in the episode about Meka, Danny’s former partner, where Steve is not entirely convinced that Meka wasn’t a dirty cop even though Danny keeps insisting he can’t have been because he was a good guy, and Danny gets so mad Steve doesn’t believe him that he walks off (“If my word is not good enough for you, then I don’t know what I’m doing here,” he says), so a while later Steve goes after him and he keeps asking questions until he understands what Danny means - you know your partner, you trust your partner, the way Danny trusts Meka is the way Steve trusts Danny and that’s why Danny’s behavior makes sense - and from that point on, he fully has Danny’s back in this crusade to clear Meka’s name, even though there it’s not like there’s suddenly more hard evidence to support it.

So why would Danny ditch Rachel to go chase after Steve? Well, because he knows at that point, no one else might do it, and at least not the unrelenting way Danny will. Because Steve doesn’t have many people and deserves to have someone stick up for him. Because there is zero doubt Steve would do the same thing for him.Because Danny knows that in that moment, Steve needs him more than Rachel does. Because he has to make a choice and he’s inevitably going to regret not being there for one of these people, but apparently, to Danny, getting to Steve is more urgent. Because he’s putting Steve’s needs before his own. Because they’re partners and they’re family and they’re friends and that really, really means something. Because it’s Steve, and he means something.

[sheusedtobesassier]

Day 10,330

Home alone for the first time in I think three weeks?? And by home I mean Allynda’s home. Lights off almost everywhere. Moon lamp, Scentsy dark crystal, candle, streetlight, three more candles, and the lowest lighting of the touch lamp. The Ballad of Love and Hate playing. Just got out of a hot hot bath during which I decided I feel capable of writing out the love story, well at minimum the beginning of it. I would call the start the best part, but I hesitate to say so. Intimacy was the best. Before that was just the delicious anticipation of that. Yeah so I realized I want to write about it tonight which was the smallest gasp of relief. I know there was a time when I couldn’t fathom remembering the sweetness. Begged for protection from those memories actually. And truthfully, I think that prayer was heard and answered. Sure they suddenly come for me sometimes, but they’re almost always quick and painless, like a shiver. Like a muscle memory. Phantom. Hm, hm.

“You’re still all over me like a wine stained dress I can’t wear anymore.”

We knew each other back when we were kids. To be specific, he was definitely a kid and I was in high school haha. (I believe he’s four years younger than me.) We were goof around pals that saw each other occasionally when our churches got together for Christianese functions. It wasn’t a close friendship, but me and my friends were very fond of him and his best friend. I left home in 2010 and probably interacted with him online once or twice throughout the next seven years of wandering on my own. I wasn’t keeping tabs.

November 2017. His best friend ended up falling head over heels in love with an old friend of mine. They had a sweet little “café con leche” wedding ceremony. There were a whole pile of people I knew at the reception and we filled up a long table. I noticed two friends seemed to be checking somebody out and when I curiously turned to follow their eyes, there was Omar. And uh, haha, he was definitely no longer a kid. Broad shoulders and the longest curls. I noted that he was nervously glancing around the room, probably looking for someone he knew. (I found out later it was an uncomfortable wedding for him.) Without a second thought, I stood up and excited rushed over to him. It was a short conversation, an exchange of pleasantries. What he’d been up to and what I’d been doing. He told me he was a vagabond and I told him I’d just been assigned the role of Staff Director at Sky Lodge. I mentioned that if he didn’t have anything going on in the summer he should come up and work. He said it’s something he had considered before and gave me a maybe. I don’t believe I saw him again the rest of the night.

Fast forward to the spring hiring season. For a few months, week after week, day after day, I was trying to round up summer staff, particularly a strong adult leadership team. I was interacting with maybe 100 college kids throughout this process with the goal of getting around 12 of them to commit to a full summer at camp. It is a grueling process. That spring specifically I felt like I was being forced to relentlessly coerce others to apply for a ministry they seemed to have Absolutely Zero Interest in. The applicants I did have were concerning to me as far as trustworthiness. I knew I wasn’t doing a great job and that knowing made it hard to do even a good job. Once May came around I had no fight left in me. And then I got weird messages from Omar. He had said early on that he wasn’t available, but whatever he had lined up fell through so he was wondering if there were still spots. I sent him the info and he said he’d apply that evening. A couple days later nothing had come through from him so I messaged him to see what was up. He had read the application and was no longer interested. I had a gut feeling and asked, “Is it because you don’t think you want to work for us or because you think you won’t get hired?” He told me it was a little of both and felt like parts of the application process were intrusive. Which, lol, he wasn’t wrong. I was thrilled. Asked if he’d be willing to fill it out and then have a longer discussion with me about his misgivings. He said he would. I remember calling my sister after I read what he submitted and giddy announcing, “HE’S A REAL LIFE PERSON.” He hadn’t given religious robot answers. He’d been forthright and controversial. He would bring something So Different than everybody else I was hiring AND THAT POSSIBILITY WAS DEEPLY INTRIGUING TO ME. I scheduled his interview, knowing I’d be deciding if we were going to hire him BUT ALSO he would be deciding if he wanted to come. I told him he should take a few days to really really think it through, talk it over with people he trusted, and genuinely pray about it. I started asking God to work it out if it was supposed to.

Okay. A little pause because I’m about to write about a part that I want to make sure comes off as how it actually was. First, I want to be clear that I was 0% attracted to this person at this stage. We were both grown, but he was still a kid to me. A long ago friend who I’d lost touch with. I was in boss mode, desperate to have admirable leaders I could count on for the summer (which was only a week away). Second, there was a specific season of my life where I considered myself very in tune with the Holy Spirit. I communicated with Her consistently and believed I heard from Her pretty often. That may sound kooky to you, but it doesn’t change what I believed then haha. This story I’m telling occurred like, five years after that Era of Very In Tune. Which I feel the need to say because like, interacting with the Holy Spirit still happens in my life, but rarely. I’m not seeking it out as frequently and hardly ever get anything straight from Her. Lol, if this weirds you out, no worries it weirds me out too. Okay so. With those said.

The morning before his phone interview, I was driving around a riding mower praying about the conversation we were going to have. I was concerned that he wasn’t going to choose us, worried about how I might screw up a good thing. I big time wanted to know that he’d be good for camp AND that camp would be good for him. Honestly I probably wanted the second one even more. I was stressing about it to God. And like. I wouldn’t write this except that it’s true. I out of the blue just experienced 100% reassurance that Omar would be at Sky Lodge for the summer. Right there, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was was going to say yes. And like, I knew it was from the Holy Spirit. That familiar Her. Burst into tears because like I said, I wasn’t hearing from Her as much as I used to. So to suddenly experience that rush?? I wept happy tears. When I came in for lunch I told Jeremy we could start putting Omar’s name on all the official lists. He was like, “But you haven’t done the interview yet? And didn’t you say he might not even want to be here?” And I was like, “Look. I know he’s gonna say yes. I can’t explain how, but put him on the lists.” Then I went out in the sun and called him up. We talked through several complicated things. It was an articulate conversation between two people who respected each other. (It is very weird to think about how much I low key instantly trusted Omar.) And lol. The end of the conversation was me big smile saying, “So uh, everybody else is getting here on Thursday to get moved in and settled by 5 o’clock. So.” and then he was big smile basically like, “Okay. Yeah. Well. Huh. Yeah I’ll be there.”

And sure enough he was. Well kind of. He showed up late. Everybody else was going through the line for dinner when he called me to say he was here but not sure where to go. I ran out of the dining room and saw his black car pull in. Showed him to park down by Maple. Noticed the John Mayer poster rolled up in his back window so we chatted about our mutual fondness for him on the quick stroll to the Lodge. I remember as dinner was finishing up the Foremen were starting to gather. I was staying on the edge, interested to see the beginnings of all their dynamics. Noticed Omar keeping his distance, but not in an uncomfortable way? Like, he definitely wasn’t exuberant, but he wasn’t closed off either. He was wearing the DAYDREAMER hoodie. He couldn’t hold still? I decided I didn’t need to worry about him and hoped he would pick buddies soon.

Foreman Training. Okay. He was definitely the most interesting person in the room. I mean, besides me of course. He was laid back and whenever he spoke up it was good for everybody. He kept giving out nicknames. Playful. Oh lol, when we’d take breaks, he and Elicia had a game of pool going on which was great because it gave the other girls the chance to watch him flirt. He was noticeably special. I was glad I hired him, because he consistently brought the group’s average up. And we got along well. One night after training had wrapped up the two of us got into a chat about the Kardashians, which lead to Kanye, which lead to President Trump, which lead to talking about Omar being brown. On my walk to my home, I txted him apologizing for maybe expressing too much and not asking enough questions. He told me not to worry and thanked me for the conversation. THERE WERE NO BUTTERFLIES YET. This was my first shot at being a true blue leader and I wasn’t taking that lightly. Being good for everybody working for me was my obsession.

Foreman Campout. Okay. Several things happened here that I want to note.

1. We had a mega controversial meeting about cell phones, during which I suggested we make an official policy that Foremen would leave their phones up in my office unless they needed them for something. It was a kick I was on mostly. A very firm belief that the less the Foremen were on their phones the higher quality their summer would be. There was immediate pushback. I was fending off tiny arguments. Suddenly Omar gave this rallying speech of like, “Come on guys. What the heck? Why are we being babies about this? This could be a really good thing for us!” And that settled it. He had power.

2. The morning after it rained there was a little pack of us huddled up in the gazebo talking about what the storm had been like for us. I asked if anybody had a pen I could borrow and Omar ran to get me one from his backpack. I journaled something like, “Last night I tried to imagine somebody to fall asleep with and couldn’t think of anyone. It’s nice to not be even a little in love with anybody.” AND I MEANT THAT. THERE WERE NO VIBES YET.

3. We all went tubing together and slowly but surely got split up into tinier squads. I was with Marissa and Omar, which was the ideal scenario for me. A lot of stupidity and laughter. Goofballs. There was definitely a point where I was wondering if there was chemistry between them. They drifted further ahead than me towards the end and I thought, “Interesting. We’ll see how that unfolds.” Once everybody was back on land I heard a bit of, “Ooh did you see Omar and Marissa?” It wasn’t a match in my head, but I didn’t think that hard about it.

4. The drive back to Sky Lodge, haha. Omar and I were both on the first bench. Him in the middle and me next to the sliding door. Jeremy was driving and Chris was shotgun so the four of us were chatting away. We passed some fields getting irrigated and I made some offhand comment about the Farmers’ Almanac. Omar suddenly turned to me and was like, “What do you know about that?” I tried to defend myself and he was like, “This sounds like you’re just making stuff up.” WHICH. EXCUSE ME. I WAS NOT. I couldn’t believe it. Him just challenging me right to my face. I was surprised and super secretly thrilled. Do you want me to explain that? Like, I didn’t feel dismissed by it. It was like he wasn’t allowing me to sound stupid and get away with it. Like. More was expected of me? He wasn’t gonna let me be high and mighty as his boss. And that like. Lol. It bothered me, but in a good way.

5. Okay this one was his story that he told me later. Both of us were claiming that there wasn’t any attraction happening yet at the campout, but then he was like “Oh hold up.” He said that on that drive back, most of us in the van were slowly falling asleep. I dozed off and was sort of precariously placed, like there was potential my head might land on his shoulder or my knee would drift into his. He said I woke up a little, noted the situation, and arranged myself as far from him as I could. He said he thought, “Why is she being like that?” And then he thought, “Wait actually why is it bothering me that she’s being like that???” Lol.

6. We got back and dropped everybody off at the staff dorm with announcements for the next day. Edith, my right hand woman, had evening rounds so the two of us did a super quick debrief of the trip standing outside my front door. I mostly remember making the statement that we had to look out for Omar because a lot of the girls seemed interested in him. It meant in a few weeks either they would all turn on each other OR all turn on him. Edith laughed and was like, “Well soon him and Elicia are gonna make out. Then nobody else will want him.” We giggled and I was like, “I just don’t want everybody to decide he’s a flirt when he’s actually just comfortable around women.” And like, haha. I WRITE THIS AS PROOF THAT I DIDN’T SEE IT COMING.

Alright so. Lol. Mm, mm. I’m gonna let me hit a hard pause for the night because I’m losing steam. Will come back to this though and soon. It’s a time in my life where I do have the space to get it out and I think I’d like to. Idk if it’ll be healing or useful. I’m not worrying about damage and maybe I should? But. Look. I fell in love with a good one who fell in love with me too. And. I’m not choosing to take my hands off it yet. Still pulled in. Fixated. I keep being afraid that I’m coming off embarrassingly obsessed, panicked that I’m weak and messy. But. Lol. I actually don’t feel like those things at fucking all. I do feel like someone became part of my life and with him I grew in gorgeous ways that I kept wanting to grow in and then I lost that person and now I am having a hard time figuring out some other gorgeous ways I can grow now. And like. I cannot have more of Omar or more from him. Not right now I can’t. But that doesn’t change that I already have a lot of what he did give me. And it’s really mine and I’m not required to like, demolish it to smithereens in order to qualify for moving on.

[kierakravec-blog]

After four in a row

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[ponysongbracket]

MLP Song Tournament: Results of Round 2

Warning: Long post. Many stats

The three biggest landslides were Smile (93.77%, 256 to 17 votes), This Day Aria (92.54%, 670 to 54), and Raise This Barn (82.47%, 334 to 71)

The three closest matches were The Seeds of the Past vs Say Goodbye to the Holiday (50.90%, 163 to 169)

The Pony I Wanna Be vs The Magic of Friendship Grows (50.52%, 190 to 194)

And, surprisingly, This Day Aria Reprise vs Celestia's Ballad (50.28, 178 to 180)

It's surprising how This Day Aria (Reprise) went from one of the biggest sweeps last round to the closest match this round, just barely winning by two votes.

This round as a whole was very close, with the average win margin being 62.85%, which is even closer than the Quarterfinals of the Brony Bracket (and this is Round 2 !). This is because many of the top tiers that swept last round (A Kirin Tale, Better Way to be Bad, etc.) went against popular songs (Flim-Flam Brothers, The Perfect Stallion). I'm guessing that next round won't be as close.

There were 11 upsets this round, all of which were a Tier 3 song beating a Tier 2 song (despite the tough competition, all the Tier 1s hung on). The biggest landslide of an upset was Luna's Future beating Rainbow (79.01%, 51 to 192)

Below is how many songs from each season entered round 2 and how many move on to round 3

Season 1: 7 | 4 (57%) Season 2: 9 | 6 (67%) Season 3: 8 | 6 (75%) Season 4:13 | 7 (54%) Season 5: 8 | 2 (25%) Season 6: 5 | 3 (60%) Season 7: 3 | 1 (33%) Movie   : 6 | 3 (50%) Season 8: 2 | 2 (100%) Season 9: 3 | 1 (33%) Promos  : 1 | 0 (0%) Other  : 2 | 0 (0%)

Here is the above but for specific episodes

Magical Mystery Cure      : 5 | 3 (60%) A Canterlot Wedding       : 4 | 3 (75%) Pinkie Pride              : 4 | 2 (50%) A Hearth's Warming Tail   : 4 | 2 (50%) Crusaders of the Lost Mark: 3 | 1 (33%) The Mane Attraction       : 3 | 0 (0%) Filli Vanilli             : 2 | 0 (0%) The Crystal Empire        : 1 | 1 (100%)

And for what character sings each song

The Mane Six   :12 | 7 (58%) Pinkie Pie     :10 | 4 (40%) Rarity         : 6 | 3 (50%) The CMC        : 6 | 2 (33%) Twilight       : 5 | 2 (40%) Applejack      : 4 | 4 (100%) Fluttershy     : 4 | 2 (50%) Rainbow Dash   : 3 | 2 (67%) Starlight      : 3 | 2 (67%) Cheese Sandwich: 3 | 1 (33%) Queen Chrysalis: 3 | 3 (100%) Coluratura     : 3 | 0 (0%) Celestia       : 2 | 1 (50%) Flim and Flam  : 1 | 0 (0%)

Not much too surprising, for the most part these are pretty close to how many songs in total moved on (just over half). Notable exceptions are Season 5 7 and 9, The CMC, and Cheese Sandwich losing disproportionately, Coluratura/The Mane Attraction and Filli Vanilli being completely eliminated, and Applejack and Queen Chrysalis never losing.

As for how my taste conforms to Tumblr's, 34 of the songs that made it to Round 2 are saved to my Music folder*, and of these, 20 made it to Round 3

*this is higher than I said in the last announcement because I downloaded a few more songs

As for my 11-year-old self, 3 of their saved songs made it to Round 2, and all 3 moved on*

*like I said last time though, 2 of those 3 were given byes and haven't even entered the tournament yet

Round 3 starts tomorrow!

[greensconnor]

hssca mc facts. baby time

i’m very sorry for the late reply to this but i was like “i’ll respond to this tomorrow” like 2 weeks ago and then i just didn’t

hssca mc: vivian marlowe

how tall are they?

look i haven’t been freshman aged for a Long time and idk how tall kids are anymore but as an adult she and her twin are both 6′0″ do i can safely say she is Tall for a child (john mulaney vc and everything)

how do they tend to dress?

vivian “if you perceive me i will literally have to die” marlowe just wants to look Normal okay. also she’s baby butch aes so lots of big, often fuck-ugly jackets, plaid/flannel, the same like 3 pairs of jeans and assorted flare-leg pants, big stompy boots…. literally anything that makes her physical form hard to gauge

do they like how they look?

she’s like what? 14? if someone looks at her for too long she’s like I Have To Get Plastic Surgery Immediately Or I Will Be Pelted With Tomatoes Like Quasimodo but the further into highschool she gets the more she stops caring so by the end of it she’s a lot more confident.

are they an only child or do they have any siblings?

she has a twin brother, philip, although she’s the oldest by like 5 minutes and she never. lets. him. forget. i also hc that their parents have fostered a few other older kids before them and they were the first ones they permanently adopted when they had a stable enough household to care for babies, so sometimes they get visits from those kids but they don’t rlly consider them family since they didn’t grow up knowing them, they’re more like family friends?

are they a morning person or night owl?

neither ): vivian can’t stay up too late without feeling sleepy and she also hates waking up early, but she typically tends to prefer mornings or daytime when it’s sunny!

are they a cat person or a dog person?

she always thought she was a cat person until she adopted sammy, her dog, and now she’s fully 100% dog mother of the century. she still likes cats but she has a newfound appreciation for dogs, especially the big, fluffy kind that seem intent on smothering her with cuddles.

got any favourite foods?

LOVES her parents pancakes but is also a really big fan of licorice which surprises people constantly. ajay and rory especially like to take the piss out of her for this but she knows its all in jest, plus if she brings licorice to theatre group meet ups then no one else will touch them except sometimes skye

how about favourite drinks?

MILKSHAKES all the way she loves chocolate milkshakes especially but every now and then she can be convinced to swap out for strawberry… not often tho

what are their favourite movies/tv shows?

going green or w/e as established by canon but i also thinks she probably likes things like the crown & the flame and then she stanned season 1 of riverdale but she had to quit season 2 after the musical episode she couldn’t do it. also she really likes disney/animated movies in general.

do they have any hidden talents?

acting is a very Visible talent i think but other than that not really? she has a bit of a useless talent for free-handing straight lines that she perfected because philip stole her ruler one year and she never bothered to get it back

do they believe in love at first sight?

yes… she’s 14 and romance is new and exciting and she likes to boast she fell in love with skye at first sight which makes her blush like… a lot… but !! either way, vivian is young and optimistic n of course she believes in true love and love at first sight, although philip and amber’s whole relationship kind of shook that for her

who is their love interest?

she’s dating skye! they’re very cute together and getting with skye is kind of how vivian came out to her family! she did have a crush on rory (and was very obvious about it) before highschool but she was really cagey about it because she wasn’t ready to be out, but now she’s really happy being in a relationship with skye!!!

what are they afraid of?

she’s afraid of raccoons and possums which skye thinks is hilarious, but how are you supposed to handle them! what are you supposed to do! over the hedge haunts her dreams! she also tends to be afraid of specific birds like magpies and crows/ravens.

what are their guilty pleasures?

she LOVES those bad disney movies. u know. the sequels that went direct to videos. the disney channel originals like radio rebel or whatever its called. she and philip sometimes spend sadtime sundays (if one of them has had a bad week and needs to Wallow) watching marathons of that kind of stuff.

what was their dream job as a kid? is it still their dream? 

she wanted to be a knight and alas…. rory sniped her role… now her dream is pretty much to get into professional acting, both for stage and for screen depending on where opportunities arise, but she would still like to wear a cool suit of armor one day and look as badass as kenna rys in it

have they ever broken a bone?

she’s broken her arm once when she, rory and philip built a treehouse in the marlowe’s back yard. she was helping her dad and she slipped and fell. luckily, the treehouse still got built, but with extended safety precautions this time.

have they ever been in trouble with the law?

no she’s only baby but she will in trouble if brian crandall comes anywhere near his baby sister while she’s on watch like a rabid guard dog. she’s not afraid to bust both his kneecaps

+ three other random facts about them!

she’s not really a big fan of musical theatre, she only really likes cats (2019) because it’s just so wildly stupid, her celebrity crush is stephanie beatriz and she’s actually decent at sports because she used to help philip practice!

ask me about my choices mcs!

[hawkvalley]

Hawk Valley

Quick Review

Allen was a breath of fresh air for a team on a never ending quarterback search. Allen used a hard count to great effect. I think Elway was the last Denver quarterback to do that. Peyton Manning waved his hands around and shouted Omaha. Allen is mobile which made a HUGE difference in the game.

The world had never seen Allen before and the Cleveland defense didn’t have an answer. At the end of the first quarter the score was Denver 7, Cleveland 0. Would the Broncos win the game 28-0? No, this is the 2019 Denver Broncos.

In the second quarter the Broncos scored 10 points instead of 14. Cleveland’s defense had adjusted to Allen. Cleveland's offense was now awake and they marched down the field four times for scores. They scored four field goals instead of four touchdowns thanks to the Denver defense.

In the second half both teams scored touchdowns, the Broncos in the third and the Browns in the fourth.

Why am I mentioning this? The Broncos have established a clear pattern of play this season. They start the game sort of strong and then slowly fade away during the game. In this game the Broncos won the first quarter, but the Browns won the rest of the game 19-17. This is a cause for concern because football is a game of adjustments and the Broncos are not making the right adjustments.

At the end of the day, Denver Broncos beat the Browns 24-19.

Before the season started, Vegas predicted the Broncos would average 17 points per game and they were spot on. At this point in time the Broncos are averaging 17 points per game. They average 9 points per game in the first half and 8 points per game in the second.

The Game Stats

Time of Possession

DEN: 24:30 CLE: 35:30

Play Selection

DEN 20 Passing Attempts, 193 yards: 20 Runs for 127 yards CLE 42 Passing Attempts, 273 yards: 29 Runs for 90 yards

The Running Game

Carries AYPC Long TD(s) Fumble(s) Lindsay 9 10 40 1 0 Freeman 5 3 6 0 0 Allen 5 3 11 0 0 Sutton 1 7 7 0 0 *AYPC is average yards per carry

The Passing Attack

Receptions % Long TD(s) Fumble(s) Sutton 5 63% 21 1 0 Fant 3 75% 75 1 0 Booker 1 100% 14 0 0 Fumagalli 1 100% 9 0 0 Spencer 1 33% 0 0 1 Freeman 1 100% -1 0 0

The Quarterbacks

Allen

Passing comp ypa TD INT Long Rating 60% 10 2 0 75 126 Rushing Att Yards Long TD 5 13 11 0 Sacked Times Yards Lost Fumble(s) 3 18 0

Mayfield

Passing comp ypa TD INT Long Rating 64% 7 1 0 41 91 Rushing Att Yards Long TD 3 22 16 0 Sacked Times Yards Lost Fumble(s) 2 12 0

During the Week

It’s like the Broncos are a bad team. After beating the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, some media organizations celebrated like the Broncos had won the super bowl. The Denver Post declared Denver to be Allentown. It was embarrassing. Allen’s future seems to be tied to how long the 2019 Broncos want to ride his hot hand.

As the week progressed, everyone forgot about the game and went back to guessing who the starting quarterback will be in 2020. Almost everyone thinks Flacco will be cut, except for the business people, who point out he still has two years left on his contract in 2020. The business people are pushing Lock out front, just like they did with Paxton, just because he was a first round draft pick. Their argument is that if Lock stumbles in 2019, they want the team to draft a better quarterback in 2020.

Nobody seems be giving the current backup, Rypien, a chance to make the team next year.

The quarterback discussion eventually expanded beyond the current team and speculation ran wild with what underappreciated NFL quarterback Elway will try and sign in 2020.

Some crazy people thought Tom Brady could come to Denver. They point out that his house is for sale.

Before the Chargers week 10 game, Rivers was on the list. However, after that game, the general thought about Rivers is that he will retire at the end of the season. After all, he didn’t move with the team to Los Angeles when the team tried to move there. I say tried to move there because there was some talk of the Chargers relocating to London. If he comes back next year and is still on the team and they move to London, he’ll just retire. There’s no way Rivers will want to deal with that.

Teddy Bridgewater’s name was also mentioned, but why would he leave the Saints to play for the Broncos?

Allegedly, Shannon Sharpe is making the case for Cam Newton to become the Broncos new quarterback in 2020.

So basically, in the aftermath of Allen’s first win in Denver, sports talk was all about somebody else becoming the quarterback in 2020. That’s what happened in the bye week.

In the week leading up to this game, the Broncos let Drew Lock practice. He’s getting more repetitions than Rypien in practice.

Today’s teams ranked by stats

Broncos (3-6)

Points: 28th

Yards: 27th

Passing yards: 28th

Rushing yards: 16th

Passing Touchdowns: 8

Rushing Touchdowns: 7

Field Goals: 15

Interception returns for TD: 0

Safeties: 0

Punt Returns for Touchdowns: 0

Fumble Returns for Touchdowns: 0

Net Turnovers: -3

Streak: Won 1

Vikings (7-3)

Points: 9th

Yards: 8th

Passing Yards: 17th

Rushing Yards: 3rd

Passing Touchdowns: 18

Rushing Touchdowns: 13

Field Goals: 15

Interception returns for TD: 0

Safeties: 1

Punt Returns for Touchdowns: 0

Fumble Returns for Touchdowns: 0

Net Turnovers: +5

Streak: Won 1

Outlook

Hopefully Brandon Allen can impress the fans, the company wants to see Lock. The quarterback controversy highlights the never ending battle between Elway and his head coach over who should see playing time. If Elway wants to coach the team, he should do it. What he can’t do, is coach the team from the management box like Al Davis.

Kubiak is back in town and I suspect, he’d enjoy beating the Broncos.

Don’t look now, but the team that everyone thinks was tanking in 2019 is just one game behind the Broncos. The Miami Dolphins are 2-7 now. How embarrassing would it be if the Broncos ended up with a worse record than the Dolphins.

Game Time

11:00 AM MT

[pkmnmasterlyra]

Adventures in Unova

We've reached the end of Ash's Unova adventure~ So the interesting thing about this one is this is the only time the Pokemon League is at the start of a season rather than the end. Which is probably a good thing, as it is terrible! So Ash has 4 fights in total. The first fight is against Trip, 1v1, Pikachu vs Serperior. Trip may be a bad rival, but he still deserved better than that, and on top of that, this battle is just Serperior knocks Pikachu around for 5-10 minutes with Pikachu being completely unable to defend itself or counter, then one shots Serperior by using Iron Tail and Electro Ball at the same time. The second match, is like 30 seconds ling, we only see the end where Scraggy knocks out the other trainer's Pokemon. The 3rd match was against Stephan, which was te best of the league, which is depressing cause it probably matches the worst of the Sinnoh League, it also involves all of Ash's Pokemon knowing a new move we never saw them learn, and Stephan thinking a good strategy for his Zebstrika against Ground types is 4 normal type moves. And lastly... Cameron. I genuinely believe the Cameron fight is the worst one in the entire series. So at the start Hydreigon is wrecking Ash's team, being taken out by Pignite finally, after 2 of Ash's Pokemon were taken out. And at this point it seems fine, had a decent fight there, but then, this kid decides to send out his Ferrothorn against Ash's Pignite, ya know, with his x4 weakness and all. And you may be saying oh, the anime doesn't put as much weight into type advantages as the games to you, to which I would respond THE LESS THAN 30 SECONDS THAT FERROTHORN WAS IN THE BATTLE WOULD DISAGREE! And for the record this was 30 minute battle, so it was by no means short. So after that Cameron makes the only smart move he does all battle sending out his Samurott. He beats Pignite then Pikachu beats it (Oddly enough without a single electric attack connecting) This one isn't as bad as the rest, but it pretty much boils down to attack spamming, so it isn't very interesting either. THEN Cameron thinks the PERFECT counter for Ash's Pikachu is a Swanna, ya know, with a x4 weakness to electricity. Goes about as well as last time, except this time it takes a minute instead of 30 seconds. And that's a big problem, 3 of the 4 Pokemon of Cameron's that Ash beat go down in less than 5 minutes of this 30 minute battle. But the WORST part is after that, once Cameron sends out his 5th Pokemon, says it's his last, and they don't let him get a 6th, you know Ash lost. The anime isn't just gonna let Ash win because of an unfair advantage. And you know how long you gotta sit there watching already knowing Ash lost? 15 minutes. Literally half of the battle is Ash vs this kid's Riolu/Lucario. Oh and the episode ends in the middle of it, so you gotta wait a week in the middle of that 15 minutes too. So after watching possibly the worst part in the entire series, what do i think of Best Wishes? Same as before tbh, makes some HUGE mistakes that I don't blame people for finding unforgivable or disliking the whole series because of, but the mistakes are still the minority, and as someone who likes the inbetween episodes just as much as the gyms and big battles, I still think Unova is middle of the road over all. Worse than Sinnoh, Kalos, an Alola no doubt, but better than Kanto Johto and Hoenn. The Team Plasma Arc was very healing after that mess, and N is portrayed very well in the anime. It was especially interesting to see how he interacted with Ash, or Pokemon in roles other than battling for trainers. And last the Delacore Islands!~ There def shoulda been a Delacore League so Ash was doing something with that time, but they were still fun. and it's actually where Team Rocket regained their personality so that was fun!~ But anywho, onto the win rates~ Pokemon         Total Fights             Wins             Losses                        %   Pikachu                   23                        22                   1                          96% Pignite                    11                         9                    2                          82% Snivy                      10                         9                    1                          90% Unfezant                  7                          6                    1                          86% Charizard                 6                          6                    0                         100% Oshawott                 5                          2                    3                           40% Krookodile                2                         2                    0                          100% Scraggy                   1                         1                     0                          100% Leavanny                1                          0                     1                              0% Boldore                   1                         0                     1                               0% Total Fights: 67 Pseudo Legends                    Wins                    Ties Pignite            1                          0 Total Fights: 67 Pseudo Legends                Wins           Ties Pignite        1                0 This was the comeback season for a lot of Ash's Unova mons. First off, one interesting thing about the Unova League is, every single one of Ash's Pokemon fight exactly once in it, aside from Pikachu who battled twice, so despite how bad it went, no pokemon could get more than one loss from it. On top of that, aside from Pignite and Oshawott, that's the only place anyone lost! Another good thing that happened, is Team Rocket became beatable again. For most of Unova Team Rocket has either been off working on a big scheme, or ran away before their Pokemon got KOd and Ash's mons could get the win, but that changed once the Delacore Islands started. And on top of that, ever since Hoenn I've had a rule if Team Rocket only uses 2 Pokemon, and Ash and co only use 2, either 2 from Ash or 1 from Ash 1 from a companion, I'd count it as a Double Battle KO (giving both Pokemon 2 wins) rather than a group KO (giving both Pokemon 1 win), since if they're balancing the sides the witters are probably considering it a more serious fight and less of a gag fight. This is a VERY rare occurrence in Hoenn and Sinnoh, but is the norm in this last part of Unova, so that helped everyone's rates. Here's a shocker, Unova, has a record high win rate. Unfezant has a better win rate than any of Ash's previous regional birds. Pikachu proving he's not the same Pokemon he was at the start of the journey by tying with the  Pokemon Advanced season for his highest win rate in a single season. Also, while Pikachu's win rate did hit 88% mid DP, it dropped back down at the end. that means that DP is the only gen where Pikachu didn't bump his overall win rate a percent, while Best Wishes did. With 206 battles Unova barely beats out Kanto in battle count, but lower than everything else. And last but not least Charizard! Charizard was scammed out of a Pseudo win against Iris' Dragonite by the fight being cut short, but still had a good display otherwise!~ Not sure if I mentioned it but when I make the Graphs for each region any old Pokemon with less than 5 battles wouldn't be included, cause in Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh, there's at least one Pokemon with a win rate of 100% off of 1-3 battles and being in a hand full of episodes (usually 1). But I was rooting for Charizard to get those 5 battles since he's here for over half a season, not just an episode or 2. Just barely made it too, winning a double battle in the 2nd to last episode for win 5 and 6. Speaking of which, they were all wins, raising Charizard's overall win rate from 66% to 70%. But with that, we go from what's known as Ash's worst, to what's known as Ash's best, let's see if the win rates reflect the reputation (Certainly wasn't the case with Sinnoh vs Unova)

[lordmattuk]

How do you stop being depressed?

Dear God, I wish I knew the answer to that one. I do know that given enough time each bout of depression passes. Sometimes fast; sometimes slow. It is what you do while you wait that makes the difference.

I do not have a story from my life to give you as an answer but here is everything I know about living with depression (in no particular order except item zero):

0. Depression is a liar

Depression tries to say things like, “this is never going to get better, I’m the only one, no one will understand, people will think I am weak…” Thoughts like these are lies depression tells you to keep you down.

Depression is a liar. Do not listen to it.

1. Talking helps

Being honest with friends and family you can trust makes the journey easier. You still have to go through it but know there are people that will listen makes it seem less difficult.

I thought I was the only one that felt the way I did. So I hid it. All through my teenage years, I kept my depression secret. It turned out though that my sister, my dad, and my uncle all faced similar demons.

2. Get rid of stressful people and drama queens

Boy or girl, drama queens just sap the strength you should use to face depression. While it might feel like doing the right thing to help everyone - you cannot save the drowning if you cannot swim yourself. 

A few years ago (on Facebook) started using memes like the one below. The strange thing was the very needy people I was always ploughing all my mental energy into helping just went and found someone else to ask for help. They didn’t want my help, they were addicted to the attention I was giving out. Like vampires sucking my energy away.

For when you are once more stuck between two friends who have (once more) fallen out over something

When they can’t get a hit of sympathy from me, they just go somewhere else and try again.

The result is, I feel healthier and less stressed. Depression is now a little easier to bet without that drag factor.

3. Deal with crap that is bothering you

Nothing powers up your depression like crap you need to deal with but are pretending is not there. Be it a relationship that has to end, a commitment you should withdraw from, a painful memory you need to grieve over, or whatever. Find a safe way to unpack that baggage and leave it behind you.

4. Sleep more

I cannot stress this enough - depression is worse when you are tired. Get a good nights rest. Take naps if you have to. Get good sleep.

5. Give yourself permission to take the day off

Some days I just say screw it to social media, party invites, and housework. I just sit around in my PJs and catch up on Netflix. Not because I am lazy (I am that too but this is not why) but because sometimes I just need to decompress and do something that makes me happy.

A day off for me means not looking at the news (Brexit worries me no end). I disconnect and just live in the moment (which means I watch Netflix or dip into my DVD collection). Sometimes I go out for food or a beer with a good friend.

There have been days where I get up with a low spoon count and no motivation. I take care of whatever will cause pain if not done now and then I chill and so serious amounts of nothing much. You’ll be surprised just how much can be rescheduled.

Of course, if you have a nine to five job, you cannot pull a sick day too often. For that, you will have to get your doctor to sign off on a few days to a week of recovery. Which means telling your doctor what is going on (also a great way to get support).

6. Talk to your doctor

Getting support from your doctor lightens the load. I never would have learned about mindful meditation had I not tried this.

7. People who say “why don’t you just cheer up”.

These people suck. There is not much you can do other than find better friends. They don’t understand and if re-educating them sounds like too much work, find friends that do understand. People who just don’t get it should be carefully managed and kept at a distance.

8. Advice on social media is far from perfect

Remember what I said about talking t your doctor? Doctors are experts. Tumblr users are… Who knows? We’re weirdos on the web. Sometimes we can help but do please double check with an actual expert.

9. Find someone else who is going through the same thing

Being able to explain what you are going through with someone who truly gets it - because they’ve been there - is wonderful. Just knowing you are not alone makes it easier. It beats the lies depression tells you by showing you the truth. That alone makes it all seem much less terrible.

On top of that, you can feel listened to and heard - boy does that help.

Furthermore, you can both share insights on ways to cope. Truly the best part of the deal.

10. It does get better.

Over time, depressions tricks just seem less effective. The cloud is just the same but I seem to be hurt a little less by it each year. The other benefit of getting older is that you can level up in kicking depression to the curb. 

Depression still mounts some nasty attacks sometimes but it has never beaten me for good.

11. Get a cat or dog

This might be me but right now I have a soft warm cat (Molly) laying on me and I feel just a little bit better because of it. 

12. Socialising can help

I’m an introvert but I found that my DnD and Pathfinder games lift my spirits. I’m pretty sure it is the socialisation and not the dragon-slaying that helps. 

That said slaying dragons with a group of people you see every week is most satisfying. Try that too. Seriously, tabletop RPGs are the best.

13. Did I mention how helpful sleep is?

Sometimes a power nap can hot reset on strong or overwhelming feelings. It can just be the case that allowing yourself a short cry and then a nap, lets you get back to your day. That works for me.

14. Music

I have playlists that I use that can help a lot. 

Some are full of songs that recognise negative feelings, pain, and suffering. I find them cathartic. 

Others remind me of times I have had a lot of joy. A surprising number of those are themes from favourite shows.

I’ve no idea if this will work for you but try it out if you get a chance and see if it works for you. Sometimes a good playlist can kick depression right in its stupid face.

15. Rewatch favourite shows

I read somewhere that when we watch shows we are familiar with we enjoy them differently. The stress and release of finding out what will happen are replaced with something similar to the feeling of seeing a treasured friend. Maybe it is just me, but I have some shows I have seen certain seasons of many times.

Some shows (Red Dwarf, Bleach, iZombie, Star Trek DS9, etc.) have episodes that I can quote line for line.

16. Look after your health

Take care of yourself. Show your own self some love and care. I’m not really sure why this helps but it does. Pain, sickness, and generally being run down make coping with depression harder. I guess that I do have a clue about that after all.

Some people find yoga helps. When my body was younger, I liked running. I can’t run now do to an arthritic bad spine and I miss it.

17. Nice food

Talking of showing yourself some love. Treat yourself to something nice once ins a while. For me, that is pizza, bacon and eggs, or chocolate ice cream. Man, that is the way to say “I love you” to me.

I would not be surprised if Bacon might one day turn out to have magic properties from which we will develop a cure for depression. Even if it does not - bacon is still awesome. 

Except for pizza. For some reason, they always put really dry tasteless bacon on pizza where I live.

18. If it gets too much tell someone

When depression is loudest, never try to ride it out without telling someone. Tumblr does not count.

19. Never drink depressed

Booze is not the answer. For that reason, when depression is very bad I drink nothing stronger than a tea or coffee. Trust me on this one.

20. It is okay to sometimes be not okay

Give yourself permission to feel low. Don’t hide it but don’t let yourself get dragged down by it either.

21. It is not okay to stay not okay

If the depression spell lasts without relenting, seek help. That’s bad and you deserve the best support there is available to you. It can often be the last thing you feel like doing but after a week or two of feeling low and staying home, something more serious may be wrong and you must get help. You deserve to be happy sometimes too.

22. Enjoy the little victories

Take time to really bask in the glow of the smaller wins. I find that gives me the strength to go and get the next win.

23. Your job is NOT to make other people happy

On no account is it ever okay for anyone to make you feel that their happiness is your responsibility. File people like that with the drama queens - in the past.

Trying to conform to the expectations of others is the leading cause of making depression worse than it needs to be. A close second is trying to please everyone. I have no data at all to back that up with but I am pretty sure it is true.

24. Surround yourself with people that know the real you and still like you

Everyone else can stick it where the sun never shines. Seriously, people that know and like the real you are worth their weight in gold. Everyone else... Not so much.

25. It is okay not have the answers

I am 100% sure there is more stuff I know and cannot think of and 100% sure that there is a lot I don’t know and probably should. I’m still learning too.

[pressrowmedia]

Riverside Football Rankings, Week 6

So, we have our first controversy.  The new Number One team actually lost, but based on Power Index, they move to the top spot.  The main factors in determining Power Index are: Won-Loss Record, Road Wins, Wins against Higher Division teams, and Strength of Schedule/Opponents' Won-Loss.  In the end, league play will balance everything out.  

Current (10/1) CIF-SS Poll.

Without any further adieu, here are the Week 6 Rankings.

#1 NOTRE DAME (4-2) /DIVISION 7 / SUNBELT

 LAST WEEK: #2

The Titans lost 48-21 vs. Paloma Valley, in Week 6, but previous opponents Aquinas, Hillcrest, Xavier Prep, Tustin and Rubidoux all won.  The Wildcats rolled up 382 rushing yards and 6 rushing TD against Notre Dame's defense, while holding the Titans to 279 yards on offense.  Notre Dame was also flagged for nine penalties, totaling nearly 100 yards.  QB Rodney Koenig was victimized by a pick 6 early in the game.  Paloma Valley jumped out to an early 21-0 lead, and never looked back.

Doesn't get any easier for the Titans, who'll play their fourth straight road game at Valley View (2-4), coming off of a big win over Arlington.  The Eagles will test Notre Dame's secondary, as they average 200 yards per game through the year.

Ultimately, the Titans fortunes will come down to how they perform in league play.  The new Sunbelt League should be intriguing, as with just a three-game schedule, margin for error will be tight, like trying to squeeze the 60, 91, 215 interchange during rush hour on a Friday.  The Titans managed to stay in the Division 7 top ten, despite the loss.

#2 RAMONA (5-1) / DIVISION / 12 RIVER VALLEY

 LAST WEEK: #4

The Rams scored an impressive 20-0 win over Patriot (4-2, ranked 8th in D10) to kick-off league play.  Previous to their Week 5 Bye, it had been the Rams' offense that had been the focal point, in Ken Mushinskie's revival, averaging 45.3ppg over a three-game win streak.  To date, the Rams have allowed 15.3ppg on the season, and 64 points over their four-game streak (32 in a September 14th match-up with Poly). The Warriors averaged 283.8 yards per game over their first five, and the Rams held them to 146, and forced three turnovers, winning despite totaling under 200 yards of their own.

The Rams take on Hillcrest (3-3, 1-0) Thursday, the Trojans coming off of an impressive win against Norte Vista.  A win for the Rams could put them in the drivers' seat in the developing River Valley league race.  One of Coach Mush's strengths, is his ability to get the Rams to focus on matters at hand.  The old, boring “one game at a time” strategy.  Hillcrest is explosive, so the Rams have a task ahead of them.  Look for them to incorporate some ball control early, while Senior QB Brandon Osayande looks to pick his spots against the Hillcrest D, which was impressive in shutting down NoVi on Friday, allowing the Trojans to go to the half up 40-7.

If the Rams can start 2-0 with two road wins, they will have a leg (or a horn) up, as two of their last three games are at home (La Sierra & Norte Vista), with their road game being at Jurupa Valley.  The formula is there for Ramona to succeed: Senior QB in Osayande, top-flight RB in Donte Roby, Jr., and a defense that has been up to the challenge.  The Rams always play hard, and don't beat themselves.  Don't be shocked if that allows them to overcome some of their liabilities (undersized, lots of underclassmen in key positions).  This is a big week for Ramona's very talented linebacking corps.  They'll need to contend with the Hillcrest run game, while the secondary deals with the speed of the Trojans' receivers.  The Rams are 5th in the most recent Division 12 CIF Poll.

#3 NORTE VISTA (4-2) / DIVISION 9 / RIVER VALLEY

 LAST WEEK: #1

The Braves were throttled by Hillcrest, 54-13.  They played their fourth straight game without Senior RB Chris Melesio, but Miron Hazem (14 att 104 yds TD), Eddie Allain (16 att 80 yds TD) and Josef Luckey (4 att 28 yds) took up the slack. Senior QB Julian Corey completed 4 of 5 passed, for 86 yards.  Over Corey's last three games, he is 10 of 12 through the air, for 230 yards and 2 TD.  As Corey continues to develop, he could play a huge factor in determining the River Valley race, and in the CIF Playoffs. After averaging 370 yards rushing over the previous three games, Hillcrest held the Braves to a paltry 212 yards, while rolling up over 400 on their own, taking a 40-7 lead to the half.  The loss dropped No Vi out of the Top 10 in the CIF-SS Division 9 Poll.

Norte Vista tries get back on track against La Sierra, who until last year, had been the only team to defeat the Braves on the field, back in 2014, when current Arlington Head Coach Jeff Roney led the Eagles to the River Valley crown.  Over the last three seasons, No Vi has scored an average of 51.3 points in games against La Sierra, including 65 back in 2015. Having Melesio back would provide the Braves with a huge lift.  The defense also looks to redeem themselves, after allowing over 400 yards in the Hillcrest loss, while the offense will look to bounce back from a game where they committed six turnovers.

Last week's stumble non-withstanding, the Braves remain a contender in the River Valley.  Since the league formed in 2012, No Vi has been the regular season champ of the RVL every season except for 2014 (La Sierra) and as part of a five-way tie in 2017.  They took a haymaker from Hillcrest Friday, but a win over La Sierra could allow them to take a breath, and settle back in.  Everyone knows that Ken Batdorf will have his team ready, and look to guide them over the early speed bump against Hillcrest.

#4 HILLCREST (3-3) / DIVISION 10 /  RIVER VALLEY

 LAST WEEK: #6

To quote Ebby Calvin “Nuke” La Loosh from Bull Durham, the Trojans “announced their presence with authority” in Friday's 54-13 win over Norte Vista.  The win over the Braves was Hillcrest's second in a row, after losing three straight, which dropped them from the #1 spot in the CIF Division 10 Poll.  Sophomore RB Dominique Clay ran for 112 yards and 4 TD, while Sophomore QB Camren Payne completed seven passes, five for more than twenty yards, including a 79 yard strike to Ryan Howard.  The Trojans used a thirty-three point second quarter to roll to a 40-7 lead at the half.  The offense rolled up 434 yards, while the defense forced three turnovers.  Clay notched his second 100 yard performance of the season, after not having played since September 7th against Kaiser.  

Next up for Hillcrest is a key match-up with Ramona.  Both Hillcrest and Ramona knocked off ranked teams in Week 6, which could put the winner at the pole position, in what looks to be a fairly tight race in the RVL. Last week, I'd said that Hillcrest could be the most talented team in the league, and they showed that on Friday night.  Another reason I like Hillcrest, is that young guys like Clay, Payne, Ryan Howard and Isaac Perez will improve with each additional week of varsity experience.  The defense is led by four Seniors, Josh Ford, Ezekial Holliday (both two-year starters), Christian Murillo and Erik Rivera (three-year starters).  The Trojans forced seven turnovers over the last two weeks, while committing just one of their own.

The key for Hillcrest will be to peak at the right time, and have the young team playing their best football, heading into November, and the CIF Playoffs.  In their five non-league games, the Trojans didn't play a team below Division 8, which could pay dividends in October & November.  Their opponents' winning percentage is .528, which ties them for fourth among city teams.

#5 LA SIERRA (5-1) / DIVISION 12 / RIVER VALLEY

 LAST WEEK: #3

The Eagles are becoming Riverside's version of the “Cardiac Kids” as they rallied from behind to defeat Jurupa Valley 25-24, denying the Jaguars their first league win since 2014.  The defense held up, finishing the evening out with a Goal Line Stand.  The five wins are the most by an Eagles' squad, since they went 8-3 in 2014 under current Arlington Head Coach, Jeff Roney.

Bryce Poppe had 188 yards passing, and threw for 3TD, while the Eagles also amassed 200 yards on the ground, where they were led by Lamar Gaines, with 86 yards and a TD.  Andre Thomas continued to do Andre Thomas things, nine catches for 166 yards and two trips to pay dirt.

This week, the Eagles lock up with Norte Vista, as the Braves will be looking for redemption, coming off of their loss at the hands of Hillcrest.  The last time La Sierra knocked off No Vi was back in 2014.  There is familiarity between the two teams, as Gary Hedlund served as Ken Batdorf's offensive coordinator, back in 2014, prior to taking the La Sierra job.

The Eagles were a hair from losing to an 0-6 Jurupa Valley.  That's the bad news.  The good news is, they hung on and won the game.  They have now logged four road wins, with three in come from behind fashion, late in the game.  The combination of Poppe to Thomas might be the most dynamic in the league, and they can run the ball well enough to keep teams honest.  

The Eagles' defense has been stingy in key spots, when it's counted.  In their loss to Rialto, La Sierra gave up 38 points, but it should be pointed out two of those scores by the Knights came on punt returns.

The Eagles are like a deep philosophical argument.  On the down side, their strength of schedule is ranked the lowest amongst Riverside teams, and they've had to eek out some close games under against those opponents.  

Some will say that playing from behind eventually catches up with you.  The other side of that coin, is that La Sierra is now 4-0 on the road.  Are the Eagles one of those teams, that if you let them hang around, will just find a way to beat you?  The River Valley League will know soon enough.

#6 POLY (3-3) / DIVISION 9 / INLAND VALLEY  LAST WEEK: #5

The Bears are coming off of their most impressive performance of the year, a 49-0 win over Canyon Springs, yet took a slight drop in the rankings.  The Bears rolled up 320 rushing yards among five players, and QB Budd Bernie was very efficient, completing 9 of 10 passes for 106 yards in the win.  More importantly, Derek DeWitt had his full complement of players on defense, which was led by Warren Hardin, who had 7 tackles, after missing time with an injury.  Jaylon Keeton also returned to give the Bears' defense their cornerstones along the defensive line.

This week, Poly looks to go 2-0 in the newly configured Inland Valley league, as they'll play Orange Vista on Saturday.  Greg Zomalt left Citrus Hill to helm the Coyotes program, but brought over the “process” from the old place.  They run, run, run the ball.  Four rushers combining for over three hundred yards on the ground per game.  The front seven of the Bears will be severely tested.  On the defensive side, Orange Vista has only allowed one team (El Monte) to score as many as twenty points. They've only surrendered 68 points all season (11.3 ppg).  Offensive Coordinator Bill Powell will have to dial up a game plan to exploit the talents of Jermaine Henderson, Budd Bernie, and Jerry Sandefeur, among others, if the Bears expect to go to 2-0 in league play.  A fourth win for Poly would mark the most successful season during the DeWitt Era.

The goal for the Bears is to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2015, and this year's version of Poly Football could be a sleeping giant in the IVL.  Orange Vista will be a tough out, but a win over the Coyotes would allow Poly to build on the momentum from the big win over Canyon Springs. The Bears have dealt with nicks and bruises all season, and look to finally be healthy, particularly on defense.  Saturday will be a good barometer by which to judge their progress.

#7 JW NORTH (2-4) / DIVISION 8 / INLAND VALLEY  LAST WEEK: #7

The Huskies finally got to bark a big, with a 42-12 win over Perris to open Inland Valley League play.  The offense finally got clicking, which North Head Coach Dennis Brown attributed to their line play, as the Huskies rolled up 483 yards, 342 on the ground, an aspect they'd been trying to improve over the last two seasons. Both Jerrell Calhoun and Venasio Mika'ele went for over one hundred yards, and North led 28-6 at the half, in cruising to victory. Senior QB Nick Satcher completed passes, to five different receivers, throwing for 141 yards, connecting with Jerrell Calhoun for a TD.  The North defense, which had taken its lumps, surrendering 137 points over a three-game losing streak before the bye, finally negotiated the learning curve against the Panthers.

This week, North hosts 1-5 Lakeside, as they look to go 2-0 in Inland Valley League play.  The Lancers won their opener over Ramona 17-14, but have dropped all five of their games since, and haven't won a road game since they knocked off Orange Vista last September 15th.  The Huskies will need to keep their mojo going, and seem to have gotten a boost over the bye week, where they were able to get healthy, and make some adjustments, which resulted in the big win over Perris.  The backfield combo of Mika'ele and Calhoun is formidable for any defense, especially when the offensive line, anchored by four Seniors, two of whom are three-year starters (William Smith and Omar Gudino Flores) has found its rhythm.  And don't forget about Nick Satcher, the Senior QB who threw for nearly 1,900 yards and 16 TD in 2017.

The Huskies' playoff win in 2016, was their first since before they moved to the Inland Valley out of the Big VIII.  In recent years, though, the Huskies have missed the playoffs more than they've been in it, winning their opening round game over Grand Terrace in '16, and going one and done in 2014.  This being an even-numbered year, should bode well for the Huskies.

#8 ARLINGTON (0-6) / DIVISION 8 / SUNBELT  LAST WEEK: #8

The Lions fell to Valley View, 34-6, to drop their 6th straight, and 9th out of their last 10, dating back to last season, after a 7-0 start.  The Lions actually led 6-0 early, and it was a 7-6 game at the half, before Valley View reeled off 27 straight 2nd Half points, aided by three Arlington turnovers.

Doesn't get any easier for Jeff Roney and his crew, as they have Paloma Valley on the road.  The Wildcats have won three in a row, and scored 47, 48 and 48 points in those wins.  Arlington has allowed forty points or more in four of their six games.

This is the last non-league game for Arlington, who have taken their shots thus far, but could wipe the slate clean with a couple of wins in Sunbelt League play.  Ezekial Valentine had a rushing TD in his first game for Arlington, and should help QB Isaiah Leuta, who already has weapons such as Devin Johnson, and Mike Hollis at his disposal.  The defense, anchored by their standout line, will need to step up over this last month of the season.

#9 ML KING (0-6) / DIVISION 4 / BIG VIII

 LAST WEEK: #9

Looked as if things had started to turn for King, as they'd played at OT game vs. Poly (3-3) on September 8th, and lost a one-point game to Elsinore on September 14th, before stepping out for their bye week.  Returning to action this week, Norco reminded the Wolves they still play in the Big VIII.  The Cougars rolled up nearly 500 yards against King.

Doesn't get any easier with their next opponent, Roosevelt (4-2).  The Mustangs knocked off Corona 57-0, to start Big VIII play.  Their only losses are to Servite (Division 1) and Tesoro (Division 2).  While King has struggled, the Wolves had surrendered 106 points over the first five games, before the 42-7 loss to Norco.

At this point, King is mostly playing for pride.  The Big VIII is a tough league, with four teams in the running for playoff seeding.  The showdown with Corona on October 12th, could be King's last real chance to enter the win column in 2018.  Notre Dame transfer Adeal Bavadi leads King in rushing and has 3 TD (most on the team) between his running and as a receiver.  He's averaging nearly six yards a pop on the ground, while King has struggled, particularly from the QB position, as they only average 82 yards per game through the air.  Of King's eight leading tacklers this season, four will be back next year.