I think if I could give the QSMP team one piece of advice, it would be to hire someone who's a really good and experienced TTRPG gamemaster as a consultant
That's a very specific and difficult skill to acquire (I definitely couldn't do it) but it could do so much for the storytelling and the events. Even just small things that an experienced GM could tweak subtly because they know how to direct or redirect players smoothly in the directions they want them to go, without having to force it
And they would probably be able to predict certain player reactions and prepare for them better
I mean obviously it's not all transferable to this format, livestreamed Minecraft roleplay is very different from a tabletop roleplaying game, but I think a lot of it would be, understanding player psychology, etc.
And I get the feeling that the current admin team is maybe more experienced in like video game design? or maybe Minecraft adventure map design? rather than a fully interactive medium (I mean it would make a lot of sense to hire adventure map designers for a project like this, and it definitely seems like they have people who are very talented at those kinds of skills, so I'm assuming that was a priority in their recruitment efforts)
My point is, having a different perspective would help, I think, and good GMs are still such an underrated talent
284 notes
·
View notes
Luffy not knowing about Zoro promising Sanji to kill him if he ever ends up losing himself makes me go feral because that's something they can only know about. Because Zoro's respect for life and death goes beyond anything, and Sanji knows he understands. Sanji knows that if somebody has to kill him, it's him.
And I don't even think it's because Sanji assumes Zoro's opinion of him is hatred and it would hurt less for him to do this, but because Sanji knows only Zoro would be able to treat the promise as it is. Because he would put Sanji's wishes before any feelings he has for him. It's not that Zoro doesn't care, but I think he respects people's ideals and decisions to the extent of being able to kill Sanji if he so desires.
That being said, he'd do it if there's no other way to fix it. If it's either dying or living as an emotionless machine, which is the same as dying for Sanji, Zoro would fulfill his promise. And there is just... Something about Luffy not knowing. Their captain. The man they're devoted to the most as if he were their God. Luffy doesn't know. It's something only the captain's wings are aware of and the thought of these two keeping this from Luffy until the end is just insane. Not even trying to make it romantic here, but the bond and respect these two have for each other is crazy.
Maybe it's the poetry of it all, too. Somebody like Zoro, who has looked at Death in her face multiple times and said "no", ending Sanji's life, who wants to give in to death to not experience a fate worse than death for him.
324 notes
·
View notes
i don't know what order to start Dissecting, so i'll just start with:
it's absolutely fascinating how the dynamic Wally & Barnaby had - to my knowledge - before the update, and a dynamic i'd seen speculated elsewhere and generally accepted, has been completed turned on its head
see, given that Wally is the "main character" and Barnaby is classified as "his best friend", i got the feeling that Barnaby kind of... tags along on Wally's 'shenanigans'. that he's the sidekick, the best friend. especially since their dynamic has been previously & briefly described as "Barnaby is very polite to Wally." he's the Companion.
but the audios sorta paint a reverse picture. in the Interview, when Barnaby enters stage right, he completely bowls over Wally's introduction and dominates the interview. when the interviewer asks how the two of them are handling the fame, even outright asking Wally, Barnaby doesn't hesitate to answer the question himself, and only about himself. Wally doesn't get another word in edge-wise until the interviewer explicitly singles Wally out.
(now, an argument could be made that Barnaby knew that Wally was somewhat overwhelmed with all of the questions, and tried to take the reins to give him a reprieve. but, considering that the interview seems to be very early on the possible timeline - like, very soon after Welcome Home debuted - i don't think this is likely. i doubt Barnaby and Wally would've had the time to solidify their dynamic or really get to know each other that well yet)
and Barnaby continues to take point in pretty much all of their other conversations, too. like in the mystery Howdy/Barnaby/Wally audio, their interaction gives off the vibes that Wally is Barnaby's sidekick, his tag-along.
(on a related tangent, it's fascinating how the website described the episodes as "[beginning] with Wally introducing the focus or theme for the day before coming across other characters who would join him on his escapades until the end of the day." but from pretty much everything we've seen so far, it seems like He's the one who's just along for the ride, bouncing from neighbor shenanigan to neighbor shenanigan instead of having his own adventures.
of course, if the 14 audios are present time, which is honestly somewhat likely, this could be because the show isn't running. they aren't doing episodes - they're just existing, doing their things. no need for Wally to take point in any way shape or form. tangent over)
in the 14 audios with Barnaby, he doesn't even acknowledge Wally until the very end - which, of course, could be because that's how the scenes are set up. except that in some of them, the characters do directly acknowledge Wally's presence outside of the endings. Eddie in 5-14, Howdy and Poppy in 1-14, and Frank in 4-14 (technically, since he was infodumping to Wally at the very start before Barnaby interrupted). you'd think that a guy would try to include his best friend a little more!
maybe i'm reading into it too much. & given what we know about Wally as a character, it would make sense for Barnaby to be the go-getter Main Guy of the two. but it really seems like its Barnaby & Wally instead of Wally & Barnaby. he's just kinda... there. going along with whatever Barnaby is up to.
but also, on the other side of things - & it's occurring to me as i type this, it's interesting how in a lot of audios, Barnaby seems to seek Wally out. in "Just So", he shows up to fetch Wally. in 4-14, Barnaby interrupts Frank and Wally's gardening session, almost as if he's stopping by to check on his little buddy. in 7-14, Barnaby calls Julie's house (presumably) searching for Wally, or at least checking in once again. something to consider in all of this!
441 notes
·
View notes
help me eat for the next month 💜
hey friends. my boss just unexpectedly told us that he's decreasing my hours over the next month and that I can only work 7 hours per week in December. That is nowhere near enough to cover rent and groceries. I also currently am recovering from a broken rib and have to restock my first aid kit, pain meds, etc. I'm trying to see if my old second job will let me pick up some hours in January, but it doesn't look like I'll have any luck for December. I also currently don't have a legal ID or any paperwork, so I can't use the food banks in my neighborhood until I can get another ID. And my university's dining hall is closing because it's end of semester, so I don't have a ton of options right now.
I'm hoping to raise $150 to help with groceries + wound care supplies throughout December and January. anything extra I get will be donated to other friends who have urgent mutual aid posts going around. thank you all so much for your help--i really appreciate the tumblr community for all the support you've shown over the years.
links:
v*nmo: @transaxolotl67
p*ypal: link
$30/150
201 notes
·
View notes
yes yes robin or eddie teaching steve about bisexuality that’s all good but consider!! steve talking to mike and explaining to him that sometimes people just like boys and girls, and that it’s okay. steve coming out to mike, telling him that he’s, like, kinda sorta dating eddie munson, and that that doesn’t mean he never loved nancy.
and then mike — prickly, ten walls around his heart, snarky comment on his tongue even when no one’s around, suppressed, confused, kinda scared, super in love with will — wheeler has a first, very tentative coming out. to steve harrington, of all people. and maybe that’s okay.
update: theres a fic now
480 notes
·
View notes
[ *peeks ever-so-cautiously out from the rock I've been living under & wordlessly chucks This out at your feet before scuttling back into the darkness once more* ]
...man isn't it just absolutely wild when a rogue art demon suddenly possesses your body out of the blue one day and decides to necromance the ancient bones of a couple of multiple-years-old askbox requests & synthesize them into a fully actualized Something™ that they never would have even come close to being all those years before? Yeah? You know what I mean? ...........................No? x'3c well,,, anyways—
(they're secret-dating at the time of this scene so that's why they're sneaking around in the woods like this, in case anyone was wondering lol)
146 notes
·
View notes
Not sure if this theory makes any sense at all but I'm starting to believe that there's no time skip between Wally's phone calls and what we see/hear in the show's Media/Merchandise. If we see the Toyland call being made before the Homewarming episode then it would make sense that Wally's expecting Barnaby to come over soon. As well as the Homewarming sketch from the prior update. (I don't know, still kind of brainstorming this perspective)
that theory Does make sense and i've been considering it! the "timeline" is such a nebulous thing right now because we still... don't really know! there are too many variables and too many Maybes for any solid answer.
maybe the reality that the neighbors live in exists outside of time like you say, and like half of me suspects. there's so much reality fuckery already present, but I'm also... unsure of how much merit this holds given what we know / can infer about how time passes in Home. i'm putting this theory on a low shelf to look at but not prioritize
maybe it really has been 50 years, and Barnaby is either still around / Wally is still in contact with him, or Barnaby... isn't there. who knows, maybe Wally was just verbalizing some Wishful Thinking. i mean, Wally is a bit of an unreliable narrator, isn't he? we can't assume that everything he says is entirely accurate or truthful. and i mean, if it's been 50 years it makes sense that Wally would be pushing for connection / to revive WH. who knows how long he's been trying.
hm... i mean. it could be a mix of that and the Outside Of Time theory. who knows, maybe W is receiving calls from different points in the timeline - Wally may have started out just calling, and has just graduated to invading the WH website / getting pushy with the envelopes and media that's been sent to the WHRP. maybe Wally got tired of waiting for W to respond before W was even born. who's to say!
56 notes
·
View notes