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stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale · 2 years

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I read Clementine Book One 9 times so that you don’t have to read it at all

Spoiler-free review: It’s not great. 1.5/5 stars.

"Clementine is back on the road, looking to put her traumatic past behind her and forge new path all her own. But when she comes across an Amish teenager named Amos with his head in the clouds, the unlikely pair journeys North to an abandoned ski resort in Vermont, where they meet up with a small group of teenagers attempting to build a new, walker-free settlement. As friendship, rivalry, and romance begin to blossom amongst the group, the harsh winter soon reveals that the biggest threat to their survival...might be each other. “

The best way I can describe Clementine in this is if TFS never happened and this is an older, slightly less angsty ANF Clementine who also lost a leg. She’s not great.

Amos is the best character. He has a goal, a drive to reach that goal, and an actual personality that shines through in every page he’s in. He’s also the only character Clementine has any real chemistry with, which isn’t good news for her new love interest.

Speaking of which, Ricca didn’t reach the potential I felt she should’ve. She has a fine backstory, but the way it was delivered was info-dumpy and not built up well. Her “romantic chemistry” with Clementine is practically non-existent, rushed, and a little awkward.

The twins, Olivia and Georgia, were bland and annoying.

The baddie of the story is weak as hell. They do something terrible for a reason so overdone that it actually makes my brain mad.

The story is okay for the first half, but takes a steep nose dive in the second half that ruins what little good will it got outta me. Everything mentioned that was from the games felt shoehorned in for fanservice points and not because it contributed to the story. The pacing is all over the place, and the ending is just... annoying. The artwork isn’t Tillie Walden’s best, I know she can do so much better when she’s allowed to play with color and give her work a more dream-like quality, which the story doesn’t.

I originally rated it a 1/5 stars, but after reading it 9 goddamn times, I bumped it up to a 1.5/5 stars mostly for Amos, the few chuckles it got out of me, and one part that I genuinely liked.

My full detailed review is below. It’s long, gives a recap of the 12-page Clementine Lives comic from Skybound X, addresses the harassment Tillie Walden has gotten over this, and spoils everything within book one.

so how the hell did we even get here?

On August 14, 2018, the first episode of Telltale’s The Walking Dead: The Final Season was released, a game developed by a team that showed great care and passion for the story they wanted to tell and was meant to give Clementine’s story a satisfying ending. It’s not a game without flaws, both in its storytelling and mechanics. If you’ve followed me for any amount of time, you know I have my complaints about each of the games but at the end of the day, I love them, flaws and all.

On September 21, 2018, we got the news that Telltale Games would be closing its doors. About 90% of their employees were let go with only about 25 remaining to fulfill the important obligations they couldn’t wiggle out of... y’know, like finishing a version of Minecraft Story Mode made for Netflix.... which if you know me, you know how I feel about MCSM and I’m sure you can guess the speed at which my eyes rolled upon reading that.

With the closure of Telltale Games came hundreds of people suddenly out of a job, the cancellation of several games, and the realization that we wouldn’t get the rest of TFS. Sad times all around, statements were being made by Telltale [ex] employees, not fun in the slightest, you would go to youtube to watch playthroughs of episode 2 when it dropped and every creator was original enough to title their videos “GOODBYE TELLTALE” or “THE END OF CLEMENTINE.”

But then Robert Kirkman told everyone to chill the hell out, Skybound Entertainment worked out a deal with Telltale, they’re going to finish off TFS through their Skybound Games division, all with the original development team who were working on it.

The fans rejoiced, the Telltale team got to complete their game the way they wanted, and Skybound were heroes being praised by the fans. TFS was great, my personal favorite of the four main games. 10/10, would play it 100 more times. Clementine finally got the happy ending she deserved.

....But then we got Clementine Lives as a part of the Skybound X collection...and Clementine Book One was announced for summer 2022.

A lot less happy after that.

“blah blah die a hero or live long enough to be the baddie or something.” -Scarecrow, probably

In hindsight, we should’ve seen this coming. What, Skybound gets all the rights to Clementine and we expected them to respectfully leave the conclusion of her story alone? That’s not how the money is made, babe!

Clementine is a cow who just wants to be free and eat dewy grass all day in the warm sunlight but that isn’t about to stop Skybound from locking her up in a barn stall before getting on their hands and knees to pull and twist and squeeze every single last drop they can get outta her. Even if she runs outta milk, they can just shoot her and turn her meat into steaks and ribs and tenderloins and anything else you can get out of a cow down to the bones. When they’re desperate enough, they can make some bone broth.... I don’t really know where I’m going with this, we can just pretend I meant this as a metaphor for how they butchered her or something.

Anyway, anything to continue making money on a franchise that is still fairly popular... I think? Aside from Telltale’s The Walking Dead, I’m not a big fan of the TWD franchise in general, any other content I tried intaking was meh at best. I lost interest in the show after S1. The books about the Governor weren’t all that interesting. I browsed the comics and they couldn’t hold my attention.

I even played and finished the awful Daryl Dixon prequel game that no one else played. The most interesting thing in that game is if you run for more than 3.5 seconds, sweat blurs and drips down the screen as Daryl shits himself... riveting.

Now we have a Clementine trilogy to throw in there.

Skybound decided they wanted to branch out into the young adult and middle grade world. Makes sense. Reach out to new fans, get some young blood to flow into crevices left by old fans who are no longer interested, expand your reach as far as possible... all they have to do is tell a compelling story in their well-established world with fleshed out characters while also checking all the boxes to ensure success. Sounds easy, right?

Enter Skybound X and within it Clementine Lives, a 12-page comic tying together TFS and Clementine Book One.

I have a full in depth look at that comic here, but for a refresher:

After the events of TFS, Clementine sneaks out of Ericson one morning without telling anyone and we find out that she’s planned her departure for a while. She has maps and supplies hidden away, as well a car stashed somewhere. Before she can get away, though, an older AJ appears wearing Clementine’s hat... Ugh.

He’s rightfully pissed that she would ditch out on everything like this, insists that he’s coming along, and Clementine tells him no. Her explanation for all of this, the reason she’s abandoning AJ and everyone at Ericson, is that she’s not happy... which spoiler alert, is kinda contradicted in chapter 8 of book one??? but we will get into that later. AJ lets Clementine leave and she sets off on her new journey that brings us to the events of book one.

To say Clementine Lives was poorly received would be a vast understatement. Fans ripped it to shreds, they hated the damn thing, and they were vocal about it. There’s no way in hell Skybound didn’t know how much fans despised Clementine Lives. I mean, people were making long-winded posts/videos about how it was an insult to Clementine’s character and asking everyone to not support the Clementine trilogy, to let Skybound know that this isn’t what they wanted.

Fans hated the portrayal of Clementine and AJ. They felt it had more in common with a fanfic written by someone who didn’t play the games themselves but instead watched a youtube playthrough one [1] time, thought Clementine was cool but didn’t like anyone else and said, “Hey what if Clem ditched everyone and hung out with my OC’s instead??” than it did with the canon of the games.

I mean, who wrote this, right? Did they even play the games? Well...

Tillie Walden and the Curious Case of Clementine’s Character [and other short stories involving obnoxious twdg fans who have nothing better to do with their lives than stalk her instagram account]

I hadn’t heard of Tillie Walden prior to the announcement that she would be the one writing this Clementine book trilogy.

I’ll admit, I hated the 12-page comic, too. In my review I said, “...Skybound and Tillie made this comic, they put it out there and asked for money for it, therefore I’m allowed to explain why it’s garbage as well as ponder over the questionable intent and whether or not Tillie actually has played these games.”

“This comic is awful. It misses the point of everything TFS, and the rest of the series, stood for. There is no heart here. I feel no happiness in reading it, and I don’t detect any passion behind it. It’s a lifeless comic that retcons everything in order to throw AJ away and start fresh with a new adventure for Clementine that makes no sense because the cow isn’t profitable unless it’s milked.”

That was then and this is now, though. While I still don’t like the comic and feel it’s not in line with Clementine as a character or a good direction for the comic, I do believe Tillie has played the games... the problem is she admitted during the Skybound Games XPO stream that she hadn’t played the games prior to getting the job. Skybound reached out to her and THEN she played through them, and she played through them fast...and I doubt she played them more than once. That’s an issue.

I’ve read some of her other works- On a Sunbeam, Spinning, A City Inside- and I think they’re good, I think she’s a talented artist. Some of the writing choices/themes are a bit iffy but most times I can overlook that because I genuinely love the art. It’s colorful, surreal, dreamy, creative, the kind of art you look at and feel something, y’know? Oh, and she likes to point out, “very gay.” Even if you hate the Clementine books she’s writing, I still encourage you to give her other works a chance. There’s a lot more life and creativity there. I can see why she was considered, despite Tillie saying herself that she didn’t think she was the “obvious choice” for this project..... which yeah, even she knows.

This one pesky little problem has more to do with Skybound than it does Tillie: creating a continuation of Clementine’s story after TFS is a dumb move... especially when the artist you hired didn’t work on the original games, doesn’t typically write stories in a zombie apocalyptic setting so their art style doesn’t let itself well to this particular project, doesn’t have a good grasp on the main character’s previous establishment, hasn’t played the games more than once or twice, probably has to follow a strict set of rules put in place by Skybound because they’re just like that, is under an extreme time constraint of having to finish a trilogy only three years mostly by herself, and is forced to make shit up about the previous games in order to make this comic’s plot exist.

In my honest opinion, Tillie wasn’t a good match for a Clementine story, and if she was allowed to write something completely original within the TWD universe, then this would’ve been a more compelling story to follow.

Let me say this about Clementine Book One: If anyone else was the protagonist of this story, it would’ve been better. I would’ve given it a 3.5/5 stars if Clementine was replaced with an original character.

That’s the problem.

I know a lot of people put the full blame on Tillie for how bad this whole thing is. She wrote it right? She “ruined” Clementine, it’s all her fault that this beloved character and reputation is “tarnished” and she should just cancel the rest of the series, blah blah blahhh.

I don’t entirely blame Tillie for this. She was hired to write this story because Skybound knew people would buy anything with Clementine’s name on it, good or bad. They knew Tillie had a fanbase who would buy anything she wrote. They knew that no matter how much fans bitched and moaned about it, Clementine Book One would sell. I believe she should’ve familiarized herself with the source material better, but she’s a professional artist. I believe she tried her best to create a good story for this trilogy but it’s weighed down by the fact that the main character had to be Clementine.

Which leads me to this bullshit that pisses me off.

There are plenty of assholes out there who stalk her instagram so they can harass every post she makes [even ones that have nothing to do with Clementine] with “#notmyclementine” and “dis comic make no sense clam wuld never lev aj u sux” as if that’s going to do anything. Not to mention the comments wishing for her to be fired, hoping she loses her entire career over this, calling her a fucking groomer, and other disgusting things that you don’t have to scroll far to find in her instagram comments.

This is the part where I tell everyone to sit the fuck down and stop. There is no reason to harass Tillie for doing the work she was hired to do. Telling her [and Skybound] that she should be fired, making homophobic remarks, insulting her appearance, wishing harm on her, telling her how much you hate her, calling her a groomer, and harassing fans of hers who want to support her is fucking disgusting.

Clementine is not real. She is a fictional character in a video game. This comic doesn’t hurt her feelings because she doesn’t exist. Clementine, the video game character, is not a real life person. I don’t give a single shit how important Clementine is to you. You are not defending anyone’s honor or protecting them from harm when you post shit like that. You’re causing the harm over a fictional character. Tillie Walden is a real person. You can dislike the work while still showing human decency to the creator. You can criticize the work while remaining respectful to the creator. It’s not hard.

Now that you’ve scolded us for the shitty people on instagram, are you gonna actually review the book or are you gonna keep procrastinating...?

Hey, don’t call me out on something I’m totally doing.

And yes, we can review the actual book now that I’ve gone over how we got here and hit you over the head with the “don’t harass Tillie over the comic, shithead” bat.

Yeesh, so impatient.

The Plot: it’s thickening... like curdled cheese

First thing’s first, let’s go over the story, the plot, of this thing. Then I’ll go in depth for each of the characters, talk about the “romance,” finish up with my final thoughts, and then talk about Clementine Book Two coming out June October 2023. Cool? Cool.

Clementine has left Ericson behind and is traveling alone with nothing but a pair of crutches to keep her warm at night. She's discovered by a group of Amish teens after being startled by her own period. Gotta say, I love the attempt to include Clementine having her period tastefully by having one of the other girls be like, “Oh, I just started mine, too,” only for another to be like “Don’t tell her that, ewwwwww!”

Remember how well ANF handled that? No? Just me? Whatever.

Anyway, they notice Clementine has a prosthetic leg and offer to take her back to their town to meet Rabby, a dentist who creates prosthetics. This town they take her to is actually neat. They have high walls, guards who have a system of keeping track of everyone who comes and goes, they’re not rude to her during the entrance procedure, there are several buildings with a lot of people walking the streets, they have horses..... oh and Meredith, one of the girls who found Clementine, calls the walkers “devils,” which is fun.

Clementine gets her new leg before ditching them to go back on the road where she meets Amos, an Amish teen who is out on his Rumspringa [a period when some Amish youth experience greater freedom. The idea is that teens will come back after tasting the modern world] with his horse, Helen, his carriage, and his 16 shirts.

Amos is heading to a mountain base up north in Vermont to help a group build a “strong homestead” throughout the winter, then when the snow melts, he’ll be rewarded with a plane ride. Clementine thinks that’s bullshit, planes don’t fly around anymore, but Amos insists that he saw the plane in the sky.

Y’see, a man showed up looking for recruits to help build these houses and then flew his plane over as proof that this was real. Amos really wants to ride in a plane, something he’s not supposed to do, hence why he’s going on this adventure for his Rumspringa.

Clementine gets a ride from him where they save a group of people who were under attack by walkers. However, one of the guys they saved gropes Clementine and she attacks him.

It’s difficult to tell that’s what happened due to the sloppy art, though. Initially I interpreted it as Clementine thinking he turned into a walker and attacked, but uh no, he groped her. She stomps on his hand after he challenges her with a, “do it,” and then as she’s hurrying to get away, someone else from inside the carriage says, “What did you do to that girl?!”

I would say I’m surprised but given some of the other stuff in Tillie’s works, I’m not.

Anyway, Amos leaves the carriage with those people, takes Helen and catches up with Clementine. He wants to travel with her, she calls him ridiculous and “I’m not interested in being a bodyguard anymore.”

It doesn’t take much to convince to her, though- Amos promises to leave Helen with her once he gets there since he knows she’d take care of her.

And I’m strangely reminded of Clementine’s trauma regarding horses from TFS where dead horses appear in her nightmare due to the one she was riding getting shot at the ranch... no mention of that anywhere, but are we surprised?

They spend a week traveling together. We get a montage of them that I actually like, and adds to my point that Amos has the most chemistry with Clementine in this book.

They make it to the mountain base where a pair of twins are waiting, and they’re suspicious as hell.

Red flag #1: No names. They refuse to give their names.

Red flag #2: One twin shoots Helen without even talking to Clementine or Amos, they just assumed they brought the horse for them to eat when nooo, Amos wanted to leave Helen with Clementine when they parted ways.

Red flag #3: They immediately view Clementine as a liability for her leg and tell her they’re not feeding anyone who can’t pull their weight... two people who refuse to give their names are in charge of your food and shelter, huh?

Red flag #4: Clementine says they’re dangerous and refuses to leave Amos alone with them.

Red flag #5: the mountain they’re on is literally called Killington. My eyes, look at them roll, there they go across the floor...

Hey, do you think these twins might be bad news? Because I dooooo~

But there’s a really sweet hug between Amos and Clementine after she insists she stays with him. You really feel that he’s scared and hurting after Helen’s death and he’s relieved to have her.

Up the mountain, we’re introduced to Ricca and.... y’know, not even Louis and Violet eye-balled Clementine this fast. I’ll save it for the romance section but uh... yeah. Ricca’s interest is apparent pretty quick... like right after their first conversation and then it goes no where.

So the twins explain that they need wood for building and the stove, snow melts down for water. Stick to the paths when out because the twins won’t come looking for them [red flag #6], they work from sunrise to sunset but the days are short up in the mountains so they need to move fast. They lose a lot of days to storms, they need to keep track of all their tools and bring them in during those storms or else they’ll never be seen again. Walkers don’t come up here because it’s too cold.

The twins refuse to answer more questions, and Ricca says she’s been calling the one with the ponytail “Right” and the one with her hair down “Left.”

Side note: I had a helluva time trying to keep these damn twins straight, you cannot tell them apart for shit especially since they change their goddamn hair styles and have the same goddamn face!

Oh but put a pin in the fact that Amos can tell them apart because “Left has much brighter eyes.”

So they all get to work. Clementine, Amos, and Ricca get pretty close. They go on joyrides with the snowmobile, they spend their nights reading novels together, getting into snowball fights that Clem takes too seriously, hunting, and talking about how sus the twins are. These sections are good, I like them. Especially when they’re reading together- Amos and Clementine read out loud, and when they don’t know a word, Ricca looks it up for them in the dictionary. The three of them are curled up in their sleeping bags, reading by candle light, it’s very sweet. It’s too bad there isn’t more of that in here.

While out chopping wood one day, Clementine hears a noise that is supposed to foreshadow walkers being underground, and we find out Ricca is a smoker.

Oh, and Amos gets sick with a fever. Not fun.

Now let’s talk about the generator because this is funny. Not good funny, though, so don’t get too excited.

So they have this portable generator, right? It’s for the other lift that they just fixed, so Clementine and Ricca have to drag it about three miles away from the main base, but can take a shorter way over a bridge the twins built. They take a map, put it on the snowmobile, and Ricca let’s Clementine drive. Smart.

But uh oh, the bridge is broken! Guess they gotta turn around and go the other- just kidding, they’re gonna tie a rope around the generator and swing it to the other side. I wish I was joking but I’m not, aren’t you laughing???

Ricca fucking falls down with the generator and Clementine jumps down after her.

While down in the pit, they’re attacked by walkers. Turns out the twins weren’t entirely truthful about there being no walkers up here. Ricca breaks her glasses, Clem breaks her prosthetic [which we learn she named Kenny UGH] and Ricca dumps her backstory which I’ll get into during her section.

Ricca then climbs back up and promises to come back, we get a flashback of AJ about to cut Clementine’s leg off? for some reason? and then she starts exploring the cave for a way out... only to be overwhelmed by walkers and then saved by this random dude named Tim who comes out of nowhere.

Tim gets bit, or scratched...? I don’t know, you can’t tell what the fuck is going on during the part. He says it’s just a scratch on the cheek but I thought you only turned if you were bit? Or is it a bite and Tim’s trying to downplay it? I don’t fucking know.

Clementine feels super bad that he’s gonna die because of her. They have a heart to heart, and it’s one of the better parts of this book. Tim talks about how he lost his husband at the start of all this, how he actually used to look after the twins [whose names are revealed to be Olivia and Georgie- correction, her name is GeorgIA, not GeorgIE, but characters just call her one or the other and it gets confusing] and how this whole building houses thing is for their sick mother. Clementine opens up about how she can still feel ghost pains in her leg and how she ended up alone- every group was the same, they fell apart, so she wanted to come up north to live alone.

“I can’t... I can’t do this. I can’t keep watching people die. That’s why I wanted to be alone.”

Tim gives her some encouragement about building a better world and lets her to go, she does, and then she reunites with Ricca. Yay.

Back at the base, Clementine tells the twins what happened and they’re freaked out because Tim’s alive. They interrogate her about him, and Right runs outta there to go find him... Left tries to stop her, and it turns to violence.

With Right gone, Left is super sad, and Ricca is super sad that Clementine didn’t tell her about Tim after they were reunited and then outta nowhere just, “I don’t need a girlfriend or to know all your secrets, just... God, I sound stupid. Just... next time you meet a stranger in a cave, a heads up might be nice.”

Feel that romantic tension?

Speaking of romantic tension, Left asks Amos to come behind the curtain to her area, and Amos is like “Can I get you something?”..... and then Clementine’s hears a gasp from behind the curtain and Ricca is like “let them have their fun.”

So apparently Amos and Left were fooling around... remember when Amos said Left had brighter eyes? I guess that was foreshadowing all the smoochin’ they were gonna do in the background? I dunno. I’m surprised Amos would be chill with foolin’ around, and Left just got into a fight with her sister which I don’t imagine is a mood setter.

Right comes back in the middle of the night covered in blood. I believe we’re assuming she found and killed Tim, who was a walker... maybe? She later mentions that Tim told her something sooo did she kill him when he was still alive? Maybe. Who knows? We never find out for sure.

Oh, and Amos was sleeping behind the curtain with Left.... Keep that in mind.

The next morning Amos fixes up Clementine’s leg, and Clementine asks for the whole story behind him and Left, who he calls Olivia... meaning she told him her real name. But Clementine asks him if he wants to take a walk when night falls because they haven’t gotten to spend much time together, to which Amos tells her, “That would be delightful, Clementine.”

Can I just- Clementine, why don’t you ever ask to spend alone time with Ricca? That’s a serious question, why? I’m seriously truly to feel something with Clementine and Ricca but all I can say is she has better chemistry with Amos.... Tillie, I don’t understand, you write wlw and you’ve done it well before, why is this so... full of nothing?

Anyway, Right is being pissy, and Left tells Clementine that she’s going to leave with Amos once they’re all done here. She wants to go back to his town, but her sister can’t know...... because of course not. I’m sure nothing bad will happen because of this.

Right comes in even more pissed off because Amos is gone and so is the snowmobile. Turns out he took the generator [which Left fixed after it was broken in the fall] to save this “screwed up camp,” as Clementine puts it.

And Right goes, “there’s a storm coming in, he’ll never make it... but at least it’ll be one less mouth to feed.”

RED FLAG #8 HELLO??

The storm hits, and Right just stands outside like a brooding, suspicious asshole who refuses to come in. Left then explains that they’re here building houses because of her mother. Her mother grew up in the area and thought this would be the perfect spot to rebuild when the world went to shit. She kept them alive, so the twins feel like they owe her, especially since she’s sick.

Which.... okay? But also what? Like alright, jumping ahead a bit, we do get to see the mother and the place they’re staying in and it’s huge, AND there are people.... why is it just the twins doing this shit? Tim fucking dipped out last winter so why are the twins here? Do they think building houses will make their sick mother magically better? Spoiler alert, it will not!

This whole part doesn’t make sense.

But then RICCA decides to go out looking for Amos, and tells Clementine to stay behind because she doesn’t want to leave Left alone with Right....

But then fucking CLEMENTINE goes out by herself to look for both of them, all while thinking about Ricca and Amos and the nights they spent reading together.

But guess what? You’ll never guess- Amos and Ricca are alive and he did it, Amos got the lift to work! He crashed the snowmobile, but that’s okay! The other lift works now! They rush to bring the twins the good news, everything is happy!

And then Right pushes Amos off a cliff.

...............................Yep.

This is where the story takes a nose dive into shit- Amos is killed because Right found out about Left’s plan to leave with him... apparently?? Left is sobbing on the ground, Right fucking stomps on her back and tells her to shut up, and then pulls out her gun on Clementine and Ricca, who run away.

Are you laughing? because I’m not.

What was the fucking plan, you moron??? “Oh step one, push Amos to his death in front of everyone. Step two, break my sister’s back. Step three, fucking shoot Clem and Ricca. Step four, ??????” It doesn’t make sense.

Up until this point, I was fine. It wasn’t great by any means, the plot is kinda dumb with them building houses in extreme weather, everything with the generator was dumb..... Right’s always been an asshole, but now she’s decided to be evil.

The story just killed off its best character out of nowhere. It feels very “we have to kill someone off, and Tim wasn’t enough, we have to kill off a likable character so that the reader is sad.”

And like... I can’t even say it wasn’t foreshadowed? because right from the start, you know Right is a bitch. You know she’s an asshole, much more so than Left. Then Left starts smooching Amos and asks Clementine not to tell Right? C’mon... even though we get no indication that she knows about Left’s plan to leave with him. Maybe she saw him peeking from behind the curtain where she knows her sister sleeps and figured out they were smoochin’? I don’t know, I really wish things were actually clear in this damn thing.

So yeah, Right decides murder is a good idea because she won’t let anyone take her sister away... I feel like I’ve seen something similar to this before.

We get another Lee flashback, and now Ricca and Clementine are crying. Ricca wants to go looking for him, but Clementine tells her there’s no way Amos survived that fall.... even though he probably could have, we never see his body so I dunno if this is Tillie leaving things open for him to come back or if she didn’t want to show his body to all the middle graders reading this but this is TWD... no body? they can always come back.

Clementine and Ricca decide they can’t just ditch the mountain yet, they have to save Left from Right- oh excuse me, Olivia... they have to save Olivia from Georgia.

So they sit outside of camp and wait for sundown... but here is where I get even more pissed than I was before: Clementine explains why she left Ericson.

“I spent so many years trying to find somewhere safe. And I did. This old school. There were good people there. People I loved. But after I lost my leg, everything felt different. No one said it, but I could feel it- they thought I was a liability. But I think the real issue... was that I couldn’t talk to any of them about it. They were all around my age, and I... I just wanted to talk to Lee about it. Someone older, and... I don’t know...”

“Lee?”

“He, um, was with me in the beginning. Took care of me, as long as he could. After leaving the school, I was alone, like I was when he first found me. And I realized... I was waiting for him. For Lee to come find me. And I was so pissed at him for not trying harder, which doesn’t make any sense, he’s dead... When I was on my own, it was nice for a while. I was so focused, my mind got quiet... I got so sad I would just cry for days, and then I’d get scared... about what my future would be like. That maybe this sadness would never go away.”

“Has it?”

“Honestly? No... not really.”

................I just-

I thought Clementine left because she wasn’t happy? That’s what she told AJ in Clementine Lives, so what? “Well actually, I really left because everyone at Ericson thought I was a liability and I just wanted to talk to Lee again but he’s dead and I’m pissed at him for being dead and not trying hard enough to save me again.”

This “reveal” is so... bad. It’s bad, I don’t like it one bit because I actually played TFS... more than once. I’ve played it several times, I’ve streamed it about what? Four or five times? Shit, maybe more? I know the story, I know the characters, I know Clementine.

You’re gonna look me in my big dumb face and try to convince me that Louis and Violet looked at Clementine like she was a liability? After everything she did for them? After all they went through? Clementine didn’t feel like she could talk to them about how she was feeling? That they didn’t care enough to reach out to her?

I don’t believe you.

I think you’re full of shit.

I’ll rant about this more in Clementine’s section. We gotta move on because believe it or not, we have even more bullshit to cover.

ANYWAY.... Georgia has Olivia gagged and tied up so she can’t escape.... I just, what is the plan?? What does she expect to happen??

Clementine and Ricca trick her into coming outside and-

Clementine gets her with the hatchet, but Georgia has a gun up her sleeve and shoots Ricca. The gunshots cause an avalanche. The place is covered in snow, Ricca and Olivia are *not* okay, and Georgie is just spouting cheesy villain lines about leaving Clementine’s body on the mountain.

Oh, and she starts trying to guilt Olivia with the whole “Everything I did was for you! I’ve always protected you! He was going to take you away from me! Tim told me not to let you go!”

...Again, I feel like this is very familiar.... hmmmmm....

“You’ve never loved anyone, Clementine, I can see it. You have no idea... how far I’ll go... what I’ll do...”

No seriously, why do I feel like there was another, much better written twin character behaving like this.....? hmmmmmm....

Anyway, Georgia gets bit by a walker while trapped in the snow, and Clementine FINALLY says something I agree with:

“Out of everyone in this world that your sister could’ve picked... you were so lucky it was Amos.”

Georgia and Olivia say their goodbyes, Ricca calls Clementine “baby,” and they drag her outta there.

Now it’s just Clementine, Ricca, and Olivia left. The three of them travel to the lift and get off this damn mountain. They get the bullet outta Ricca when Clementine hears a noise outside. She follows it and finds a one-eyed kitten alone under some junk... because sure. They name the kitten Dr. Barnwell.

I can’t wait for that kitten to be tragically killed off for dramatic effect later in the series. To be fair to Tillie, she couldn’t possibly write an beloved pet death as bad as Rueben’s in MCSM.

Now the plan is to get back to Olivia’s place, sneak past her mother, and steal the plane. Reasonable, yes? Planes are easy to steal, and easy to fly, too!

Ricca also mentions that Clementine talks in her sleep, but won’t tell her what she says until they’re in the sky.

They finally make it there, sneak in, Olivia tells her mother she’s sorry before slipping a note under the door, they run around and knock some guards out, and it’s revealed that Olivia’s mother is a walker.

I think.

The art is too sloppy to fully tell but I think that’s the big reveal.

So... did they know that the whole time? This is what they meant when they said she’s sick? or was she sick before and then died during this time so they have no idea? Ugghhh I don’t know.

They find the plane that Olivia just happens to know how to fly thanks to her uncle teaching her, they take off into the sky, and they plan to go back to Vermont so they can fly over and “let’s show Amos the plane one more time.”

Oh, and that note Olivia left?

The FUCKING END.

That’s it, that’s everything that happened in Clementine Book One. I can’t believe I’ve read this time nine times, holy shit-

The Art Style: I have no idea what’s happening

I struggled with this art style.

Remember how I said Tillie’s a talented artist? She is, she truly is... when it’s her original works and she’s allowed to play with color and doesn’t haven’t to be gritty to fit the TWD aesthetic. Her original stuff is so clean and you can actually see what’s happening.

Some examples:

and I get it, her style won’t be for everyone, and that’s fine. I happen to really like it.... but not when it feels like she’s trying to implement elements of TWD grit while also working in greyscale.

Tillie’s style doesn’t lend itself well to this story. Maybe it would if there weren’t such restrictions put on her by Skybound because I’m sure they gave her a bunch.... but this ain’t it, chief.

As I talked about before, trying to tell the twins apart in this was a nightmare. Olivia has a ponytail, Georgia doesn’t.... but when this is so messy and at times sloppy I can’t tell shit about the hair.

There’s also the fact that if you removed Ricca’s glasses, she would look exactly like the twins. Clementine and Amos are the only two of the five who you can always recognize.

Rabby has a good design, and so does Tim... but they aren’t around enough. The walkers- oh god, the walkers- look like blobs most of the time.

And don’t even get my started on Clementine’s face.

I can’t with Clementine’s face.

Clementine: there’s a reason fans are calling her “Tangerine”

This section of the review is the most overwhelming for me because where do I even begin?

There is never a point in this book where I feel like this is the Clementine I remember from the games. And y’know, I always like to remind everyone who plays the games that no Clementine is the same. We all play the games our way, she shape our Clementine through the choices we make, we have different interpretations of her personality, relationships, how she rationalizes her decisions. My Clementine is different than yours, that’s the fun of these games.

When you take a character who has thousands of different interpretations, who can follow several different paths, and try to make her into a condensed version for a graphic novel while also trying to stay true to her character and not invalidate any choices.... it’s not going to work. It’s just not.

So how does Tillie Walden interpret Clementine for this first installment? Who is Clementine here?

She’s dull. Awkward. Angsty. Feels more in line with ANF Clementine than TFS Clementine but toned down. She has a few moments where she teases Amos and Ricca and that’s cute, that’s some personality I want to see... but then she starts on about how talking is hard or makes a rude comment so... that’s cool.

She feels dumbed down when it comes to first aid solely because the book needs a way to inform the reader of proper amputation care... even though we never see Clementine washing her leg after that.

She’s pessimistic, grumpy, and again, only really shows a soft spot for Amos... which is not good news for Ricca, her actual love interest. Even when she opens up to Ricca after Amos’ death, it doesn’t feel... earned? warm? It doesn’t feel tender, or comforting.... ugh, I’ll talk more in the romance portion.

Clementine does get emotional after Amos’ death, she cries and explains why she left Ericson and I’m still shaking my head at the fact that this book is trying to sell this to me.

This would be an emotional moment if it were coming from anyone BUT CLEMENTINE.... I played TFS and this doesn’t add up.

Clementine wasn’t happy at the end of TFS, everyone around her looked at her like she was a liability, so she left. She left AJ.

Except no? What are you talking about?

Oh, and by the way? She never mentions AJ to anyone. Not by name, not in passing, nothing. AJ get a single panel flashing back to when he cut her leg off. That’s it.

Also look at the way he’s drawn. Someone who never played the games would probably think AJ was a baddie who cut off her leg but you and I both know how fucking raw and painful it was for AJ to beg her to get up and come with him. That one lousy image holds nothing from the original.

AJ might as well not exist. If you took that panel out, nothing would change. Honestly? I almost get a bit of bitterness from it. She goes on and on about how she realized she was going to live while everyone around her kept dying, she would spend some days just crying and crying.... it’s not great.

Clementine feels... immature? And yeah, she’s seventeen in this and seventeen-year-olds aren’t the pinnacle of maturity. I feel like Tillie was trying to present her as mature for her age given her life experience in the apocalypse, but it comes off as emo teenager who thinks they’re mature because they write faux deep poetry on tumblr and wear combat boots.

This isn’t like Clementine in TFS where you do feel she’s mature. She has to be, she has a child she’s raising and protecting. She has to be strong and smart for him. She has to be the adult in their relationship... but she has those moments of vulnerability to remind you that she’s not an adult, she’s a teenager who was forced to grow up too fast and it hurts.

In ep4 of TFS, when they’re in the caves after getting separated from the group, she and AJ get into an argument. She tells him that he’s just a child, and he throws it right back at her- “So are you.” and you can see it on her face... y’know?

You want her to be happy, you want to give back the childhood that was taken from her at the start of the apocalypse, you want her to overcome every obstacle thrown her way. You understand her feelings about Lee, why he meant so much to her and why she struggled to let him go even after accepting that he was dead.

You remember that she is a teenager who makes mistakes, she doesn’t know everything, she fucks up. She’s doing everything she can to protect those she loves. You feel that she wouldn’t hesitate to give her life for the little boy she raised. She still has a lot of growing to do but you don’t doubt that she’s gonna do it.

This Clementine? She has none of that. This Clementine doesn’t feel like the kind of person who could raise and protect a child, who would give her life to ensure that child was safe. You don’t get the vibe of a teen who had to grow up too fast in order to survive, someone who is clever in their survival tactics. This Clementine doesn’t know basic first aid. She was mad that Lee didn’t save her despite being dead. This is a Clementine that I can’t imagine breaking onto a boat full of kidnappers to get her friends back... and it’s not the amputation.

TFS Clementine, amputation or not, she would’ve charged that damn boat herself if it meant saving those she loved. Comic Clementine couldn’t even be bothered to check and make sure Amos really was dead, it’s just easier to assume there was no way he survived... but then she turns around and insists they go back for Olivia, a character she has no real connection with. It doesn’t make sense.

It’s just.... not her. I’m sorry, Tillie, but this characterization is okay at best, insulting at worst.

Amos: I’m signing the adoption papers as we speak, he’s my son now

Amos is the best character in this book, and I’ve yet to find anyone who would disagree with that. Every review I’ve read/watched boils down to “this comic was bad but I liked Amos.”

Let’s be real- he was only made so likable so that we’d all be forced to feel something when he died.

Before I get more into his character, I wanna nip something in the butt that I keep seeing even after this book’s release- Amos isn’t just white Louis. Amos isn’t a “hey can I copy your homework” of Louis’ character. The most they have in common is freckles and being the friendliest person in the group.

A key difference being Louis uses cheerfulness as a shield to keep people at a safe distance from him where Amos is just genuinely cheerful in a very naïve and selfless way.

Or uhh, @pi-creates put it much better when we were talking about it-

So no, Amos isn’t just a rehash of Louis, you can stop calling him the white Louis of the comic now, you’re only making it clear that you know nothing about Louis as a character when you do that. As much as I like Amos, he isn’t anywhere near as nuanced and layered as Louis is soooo stop.

Anyway, Amos! My dude! The only character I liked! The only character with an interesting personality, motivation, and a set goal he worked his ass off for.... only to fucking die.

Of all the characters to die in this damn thing, it would be Amos, wouldn’t it? Ugh.

Amos grew up in an Amish community his entire life. When a man, presumably Tim, showed up to recruit workers to help build houses, Amos got to see the promised plane fly over his head and he describes it as the best day of his life.

So, he worked to convince the council to allow him to go on his Rumspringa, they agreed, and here he is on the road. He fights with an axe, he owns 16 shirts, love his horse, and wears a fun hat. Overall positive, glass half full kinda guy.

He wants to help people. It’s mentioned by the townspeople that he brings survivors there often, he saves that group of people while he and Clementine are on the road and even goes as far as to leave his carriage with them to go after Clementine and stay with her.

Amos trusts Clementine enough to leave Helen with her even though they’ve only known each other for only a week, but through the “montage” page you really get a vibe for how well they work together. I wish it wasn’t just a spread of moments but instead gave actual depth to their journey through dialogue, y’know?

He finds Clementine funny [good for him, I wish I did, as well] and likes being around her. Also they share some looks that I feel should’ve been reserved for the love interest.... sooooo what the hell.

When they meet the twins, Amos is quick to be like, “well actually no-” when they start talking about her being a liability for having only one leg, which was sweet.

I felt so bad for him when Olivia just fucking shot his horse, too... he’s so upset and Clementine’s trying to calm him down, really sucks.

Oh speaking of Olivia.... their “romance” makes no sense? There wasn’t any build up to it, the only hint we got that he maybe liked her was the comment about her having brighter eyes than Georgia, and her sticking with him when he was sick... but then she asks him to come behind the curtain with her, there’s a gasp, and I assume they were doin’ kissing stuff. Like... why? Why even bother? Unless you needed an excuse for Georgia to murder him? You couldn’t think of a better way to kill him off? So dumb.

He’s not all that complex or anything, just an all around good dude. His biggest flaws are his naivety and being too trusting of the wrong people [Georgia]. I mean.... he just wanted to fly in a plane. He wanted to help people, work hard, and fly in a plane. It’s hard to dislike him for that.

When Amos died, it was the first time while reading this that I felt something other than “eh this is fine.” I’m still annoyed, pissed even. His death ruined a lot. It marked the start of a steep decline toward the ending. So much bullshit, and for what, y’know?

In conclusion- Amos makes up an entire star of my rating, the only one worth reading this book for, and he’s supposedly dead now so that doesn’t bode well for Book Two. The only way I’ll forgive Tillie is if Amos comes back as a twist villain, angry that they didn’t even try to go after him.

Ricca: wearing glasses doesn’t qualify as an entire personality, baby

Oh good, I get to talk about Glasses now....

Ricca is... fine. She’s not terrible, but not great. I feel like she had the foundation to be a cool character, but a lot about her falls flat. Her best moments are when she’s with both Clementine and Amos, but things become a little more awkward when it’s just her and Clementine.

She’s a smoker, she’s Jewish, she owns 36 pairs of glasses, has a drier sense of humor that works well with Amos, those two have a couple cute moments in this... uhhh let’s see, she threw a snowball at Clementine once, who overreacted and attacked her which prompted Amos to get between them and Ricca was like “whaaa don’t stop, I was just having fun,” so y’know.... flirting, I guess.

She does come off as a bit whiney sometimes, which gets grating... especially when she gets butthurt at Clementine for stuff and then tries to act like “but whatever” about it.

The reason she’s here is to learn how to build houses. That’s why she agreed to work out there, she wants to have the skills to start over, to rebuild what has decayed.

But her big backstory reveal has to do with why she owns 36 pairs of glasses-

At the start of the outbreak, Ricca was with her brother. He looked out for her at first, but as time went on, he started using her as a “canary in a coal mine.” Basically whenever there was any potential danger ahead of them or if he got bored, he’d push her in to things like camps, caves, herds. She was just a little kid, and there was no where else for her to go... but then she got older, and when he sensed that she was going to leave him, he broke her glasses.

Ricca had no way of surviving without him after that. She had no choice but to fight mostly blind and deal with her brother. It got to the point where she started wishing for death.... until she was out looking for food one day in a dark building and felt an entire wall of glasses-

-but I’m gonna ignore that for right now. She tried on every single pair, found one that worked, and then ditched him. She has no idea if he’s still alive or not. Wonder if he’ll come back as a surprise villain, who knows.

Sooo... glasses are a big part of her character, which is fine. I like seeing characters with glasses, personally. There’s also an uncomfortable feeling seeing her talk about her brother and describing how she felt when she got to see clearly again only for the world to be so disgusting that she was sick for weeks.

Unfortunately that’s about as deep as her character goes and I wanted more.

She does want to go after Amos after he dies, which I appreciate, but Clementine tells her no. She gets shot, so that sucks for her.

For being Clementine’s new love interest, and the fact that this is Tillie Walden’s work we’re reading, I expected her to be waaaaay more compelling but she didn’t hit to mark.

But to be fair, she’s going to be in Book Two so I’m assuming that with Amos dead until he comes back as a twist villain we’ll get to focus on her some more and her personality will shine a bit.

Olivia: the left twin

Olivia is bland.

A block of raw tofu has more meat than Olivia does.

I have read this fucking book NINE times now, and the only thing I can tell you about Olivia is that she’s the “nice” twin, she did some smoochin’ with Amos in the background, and she’s super sad that her sister’s an asshole.

Oh and she shot Helen without asking if they brought the horse for food or not, and then is like “oop sorry, I didn’t know, but it’s cool, I get it, my sister ate our hamster when this started.”

If I was Amos, I’d tell her to the hell away from me, you shot my beloved pet! and I certainly wouldn’t let her be smoochin’ on me!

Anyway, she knows how to fly a plane, which upon looking back through the book, it turns out it was her uncle that taught her... so that’s cool. She’s the one who named the kitten, she... gets sad a lot?

I’m sorry, but Olivia is so forgettable and it sucks. I want to be invested in these twins because they clearly have a troubled relationship, and Georgia steps all over her [sometimes physically] and it could’ve been interesting to see her deal with the conflict of staying vs leaving her sister..... kinda like the dilemma Ricca had with her brother..... were those supposed to be connected somehow....? parallels...? hhhnnnnngggggggg thinking too much into it-

ANYWAY... I honestly don’t have much to say about her. Maybe Book two will give her more characterization, but at this point the pothole in my driveway has more depth than she does so... lame.

Georgia: the right “evil” twin

Ugh.

Alright, no more beating around the bush, Georgia is a watered down version of Minerva... but where Minerva is a great, tragic character with good writing... Georgia sucks.

AND she killed off the best character in the book so she sucks extra hard! Oh my god, she fucking sucks.

Like okay, the twins are here to build a community for their sick mother because the mom thinks this would be the perfect spot so they’re gonna build some goddamn houses in the middle of winter for her with the help of strangers... if that sounds like a dumb reason to you, then you’re right, it IS dumb but here we are. I don’t know what Georgia’s deal is, but she’s an asshole. That’s her entire character: ASSHOLE.

Right off the bat from meeting her and Olivia, you can tell she’s the baddie. You can tell where this is going, she’s going to be the one who turns on the group, maybe she’ll convince Olivia to her side and then she’s gonna try to murder everyone on this mountain called Killington.

She’s the one who tells Clementine that she won’t feed anyone who can’t pull their weight, immediately assuming Clementine can’t do shit because of her leg. She never smiles, never cracks a joke, is never kind to anyone, and apparently she’s super possessive and controlling of her sister.

Also, she’s a goddamn moron because what did she think would happen when she killed Amos?? that Olivia would just be like “oh okay sorry” after you murdered her boyfriend and then gagged and tied her up while waiting for Clementine and Ricca to come for her so that you could also shoot them??

Y’know, when Minerva confronted the group on the bridge in order to kill Tenn, it made sense- she was bitten, dying, and had pretty much lost her goddamn mind after a year of trauma and brainwashing, being forced to kill her sister, and then losing her new “family” after Clementine blew up the boat. She was furious, out of control, bitten, covered in guts and completely out of her goddamn mind. There was no saving her from the start, and she had nothing left to lose.

Georgia’s just an asshole who doesn’t give us any real indication that she’s dangerous. She’s all talk and glares... then she comes back covered in blood after finding Tim soooo are we to assume that’s when she lost it? When she was like “I think killing Amos will make everything better,” or was it a sporadic, in the moment decision?

In fact, why wasn’t she the one to shoot Helen then?? Why did you have Olivia, who is supposed to be a thing with Amos later, when you could’ve really established Georgia as the real threat when she shoots the horse and is like, “too bad, so sad” and then have Olivia come in and calm the situation?

Establish that she’s possessive of Olivia early on, not when she’s two seconds from death and spouting, “He was gonna take you away from me! I had to kill him! I did it all for you!” nonsense...

There’s just so many little things that could’ve been tweaked or added to make her a better antagonist, but no, we’re left with nothing with irritation.

God, Joan from ANF was a more layered villain than this and she was boring as hell.... ugh.

Tim: where did he come from?? where did he go?? where did he come from, Cotton-Eye Joe???

Tim’s pretty chill, but a waste of a character.

He comes outta nowhere to save Clementine and gets bit in the process, but he’s fine with it because it was bound to happen sooner or later, and at least he saved Clementine.

There isn’t too much to say about Tim that I haven’t already said. The scene with him was pretty good, but he’s not around enough to feel like an actual character. He’s just here to make sure Clementine feels bad that she got yet another person bit and to give some info on the twins.

But he’s dead now so... cool.

The “Romance”: if you squint hard enough, you might see it?

I don’t understand why the marketing around this book put such an emphasis on the romance aspect. Remember when the trailer dropped and we got a look at Ricca and it was like “ooohhh new love~”

What love? There is no love, there’s no chemistry, there’s no soft sad uwu wlw love story here! What the hell?? Just gonna lie to me like that, huh??

Okay look... I went into this with an open mind about Ricca. Truly, I did. You know me, you know I’m a never gonna change my mind that clouis is the best, but I took both clouis and violentine and set them aside. I put them out of mind and let myself go into this wanting to ship Clementine and Ricca. I was ready for the sad girlfriends trying to survive this bullshit together with their token straight buddy.

And then I came outta this wondering why Amos wasn’t the love interest? I mean, I know the answer to that so a better question: Tillie, why not just make Amos a girl and have Clementine fall for her instead? The foundation was set, there’s a lot of interesting things you could’ve done with that given Amos being Amish and all. They had a solid thing going on and the only reason I knew they weren’t going to end up together was because it was written by Tillie Walden, a queer woman who writes wlw.

So I’m baffled at everything lacking between Clementine and Ricca! I mean, Tillie could be saving the meat of the romance for the next installments which fine, if that’s the case then I will happily keep an open mind and see if this relationship improves since right now? This ain’t it, chief.

Lemme give you an example of something that could’ve been sweet, m’kay? After they have the generator fixed, Clementine asks Ricca why she always leans in so close to her.

Ricca begins to explain that everything has started getting blurry... meaning her eyesight is getting worse and all these glasses she owns may not work for long. A scary thought, especially when you factor in her backstory with her brother.

This feels like a set up for soft moment, something I wanted to see more of... only for it to be rudely interrupted by Amos being murdered.

Like.... C’moooooon maaaaan...

UGH

There’s no warm fuzzy feelings here, and the only time I went, “they could be cute if it could get me invested” was the ending where Ricca is clinging to Clementine as Olivia boots up the plane and starts flying.... but even then, that moment is cut short because Clementine has to be all, “let’s show Amos the plane one more time.”

They don’t kiss here, either. There isn’t a first kiss moment, there isn’t a confession scene, there isn’t even an admission of feelings on either side. Ricca calls her “baby” and now I guess they’re something?

“Clementine, baby, don’t let me die here~”

Ugh. Do you know what I think of when I hear the words “Clementine” and “baby” in the same sentence? I think of the voicemail Clementine’s mother left in ep1 of S1: “Clementine, baby, if you can hear this, call the police... it’s 9-1-1... and we love you... we love you...”

So excuse me if I don’t have a great response to that.

Anyway, maybe it’ll improve with the next book which shouldn’t be too hard given all the nothing this book gave.

The Lee Flashbacks/Nightmares: hey, remember season one? remember Lee? remember when Lee died and Clem was sad? do you remember??

Uuuuggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh.......

To their credit, these flashbacks are pretty loyal to the games as far as dialogue and setting, but the main point of them is for fans of the games to read this and be like “ohhh I remember Lee, he sparks joy!” and for new readers to have a face to a name when Clementine talks about him to Ricca.

But they don’t do much to improve the story. The only time I appreciated how one tied into the story was when Clementine watched Amos fall. We see her and Lee on the train, and we get this dialogue:

“Ask me anything, Clementine.”

“Will the pain ever stop?”

because yeah... watching Amos die was pretty damn painful, ties in well.

But other than that? Meh... which is crazy to say about LEE but that’s the comic for ya.

Final Thoughts: I can’t believe I read this 9 times

What’s that thing called when you keep repeating a thing hoping it’ll be different but never is? Madness? Is that what I’m feeling right now?

9 times, good god....

It wasn’t worth reading that many times and yet, here I am, a mad lass dissecting a comic I don’t like that remains unfaithful to a character I love. I watched and read so many interviews with Tillie, I kept tabs on reddit threads about this book, I pestered my discord buddies about it... can’t wait to do this two more times...

In the end, this book isn’t good. I like a couple things, but the good doesn’t outweigh the bad. It’s definitely not canon with the games, no matter how hard Skybound whines that it is.

I can’t recommend it to any of you. If you’re gonna read it, you can find the whole thing for free on youtube. If you wanna support Tillie Walden without supporting this series, check out her other works. I’d recommend On a Sunbeam or Spinning.

btw did y’all hear they released the description of Book Two?

“Clementine and her new friends are rescued by an island community led by an enigmatic doctor called Miss Morro, but just as Clementine's scars are finally beginning to heal, she discovers dark secrets that threaten to tear her new life apart. Can Miss Morro be trusted? What about the rest of the islanders? And just how far will Clementine go to protect the ones she loves? Tilllie Walden's acclaimed trilogy continues! ”

I dunno how I’m gonna survive Book Two if I don’t even have Amos to look forward to..... guess Tillie’s just gonna have to make me like Ricca, huh?

I also need to keep in mind that this IS a trilogy, so questions I have now and am annoyed about may get answered in the next book, Olivia might go from being stale white bread to a wonderful slick of cinnamon and raisin bread, and the romance may start existing... won’t know until June.

No wait, excuse me, October... they’ve already pushed the release date later for the next one soooo that’s interesting.

This is the part where I ask what you thought. What are your thoughts on Clementine Book One? I’m curious to know. Send an ask or leave a comment on this review. I know this was long but hey, thanks for sticking around to the end, it’s appreciated.

Thanks for reading! 💚

#Clementine Book One Review #twdg clementine #twdg aj #twdg lee #twdg louis #twdg violet #twdg #twdg kenny #long post

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youneverknowme028 · 7 months

Note

Full story please because I'm confused, and fan is as well.

ITS ALL UR FUCKING FAULT!!

SO BACK IN THE PAST BEFORE YOUR ASS SHOWED UP I USED TO ALWAYS, AND I MEAN FUCKING ALWAYS USED TO CHECK UP ON FAN, ASK HER QUESTIONS ABOUT THE CHARACTERS AND MAYBE EVEN HERSELF. I FUCKING LOVED FAN, SHE WAS/IS SUCH A GREAT FUCKING WRITER AND SHE EMBOIDED THE CHARACTERS OF CHUCKY VERY FUCKING GOOD.

I HAD SUCH A FUCKING SOFT SPOT AND I EVEN STARTED WRITING BECAUSE I FOUND HER AS INSPIRATION. THEN LATER ON YOU CAME. YOU ASKED QUESTIONS TO AND THEN AFTER 2-3 QUESTIONS YOU AND FAN BECAME LITERAL FRIENDS, WHEN PEOPLE WAS HATING ON YOU FAN AND ANOTHER PERSON WAS THERE TO CHEER YOU UP. BUT WHEN I ASKED 80 QUESTIONS FAN STILL NEVER NOTICED ME AND I DIDN'T GET TO BE FRIENDS WITH FAN OUT OF THE BLOOM LIKE YOU DID. I THEN STARTED TO STOP ASKING QUESTIONS AS AN ANON AND ASKED QUESTIONS REGULARLY ON MY OLD ACC TO SEE IF THAT WOULD MAKE AN ATTEMPT TO GET FAN TO LIKE ME LIKE YOU AND BE FRIENDS WITH ME

FAN DIDN'T FUCKING DO THAT, BUT WITH YOU SHE DID. EVERYTHING YOU DID ON HERE YOU MADE FRIENDS AND GOT COMFORTABLE VERY QUICK. I THEN FOUND OUT A MONTH LATER MY COUSIN ON TUMBLR FOLLOWS YOU AND WAS EVEN FRIENDS WITH YOU IN REAL LIFE! HOW COME YOU CAN BE CLOSE FRIENDS WITH MY OWN COUSIN BUT I CAN'T EVEN BE THAT CLOSE WKTH MY COUSIN. MY COUSIN BEARLY EVEN TALKS TO ME UNLESS IF ITS THE HOLIDAY SEASONS, BUT SHE TALKED TO YOU EVERYDAY AT SCHOOL AND ON SNAPCHAT. SHE USED TO SAU HOW YOU WERE THE SWEETEST AND ONE DAY. I THEN ASKED WHAT DID YOU LOOK LIKE AND SHE GAVE ME A PICTURE OF YOU GUYS. YOU WAS IN CLASS TOGETHER SITTING BY EACH OTHER POSING FOR THE CAMERA ON HER PHONE. AND TOU WAS SL FUCKING BEAUTIFUL. A COUPLE WEEKS LATER WHEN MY COUSIN HAD A CRUSH ON SOMEBODY AT SCHOOL YOU ENDED BEING ABLE TO HOOK THEM UP. I THEN FOUND OUT YOU WAS THE POPULAR GIRL AND GUYS AND MY COUSIN EVEN SAID BECAUSE OF YOUR POPULAR ATTITUDE AND PERSONALITY YOU MADE FRIENDS AND BECAUSE POPULAR QUICK. IT DIDN'T MAKE IT ANY BETTER FROM HOW RICH YOU WAS AND EVERYBODY WOULD GO TO YOUR HOUSE TO HANG OUT FOR PARTIES, SLEEPOVERS, ETC. MY COUSIN LOVED YOU MORE THAN SHE LOVED ME ANF I'M BLOOD!! SHE HAD YOUR SNAP AND CONTACTS NAME SAVED AS "My love❤️) WHILE WITH ME I WAS "Annoying rat" DO YOU KNOW HOW HURTFUL IT IS WHEN SHE VIEWS YOU KORE THAN FAMILY THAN ME AND I'M REAL FAMILY? IT HURTS VERY FUCKING MUCH. YES, I HAD CLOSE FRIENDS AT SCHOOL BUT I WAS NOTHING COMPARED TO BEAUTIFUL, POPULAR, AND RICH LIKE YOU WAS. TUMBLR WAS MY HOME. I HAD INSPIRATION, FRIENDS, AND PEOPLE WBO I LIKED BETTER THAN PEOPLE IN REAL LIFE. I WAS YOU JOE, BUT ON A FUCKING APP. NOT IN REAL LIFE. BUT IT WAS OKAY BECAUSE I LIKED THE LIFE I WAS LIVING ON TUMBLR UNTILL YOU SHOWED UP AND GOT EVERYONES ATTENTION. PEOPLE CALL YOU THE SWEETEST PERSON ON EARTH AND GIVE YOU COMPLIMENTS ON TUMBLR, TIKTOK, SNAPCHAT, AND IN REAL LIFE!

FAN WAS MY INSPIRATION AND MY SORTA FRIEND, BUT UNTILL YOU CAME YOU WOULD ASK QUESTIONS AND SOONER YOU AND FAN BECAME FRIENDS. I ALWAYS WANTED TO BE FRIENDS WITH FAN, SHE WAS MY INSPIRATION ANF SOMEBODY I WANTED TO BE, BUT YOU CAME, SAID SHE WAS YOUR INSPIRATION, AND TOOK MY SPOT. FUCK YOU! I HOPE YOU GET RAPED ONE DAY BY A MAN IN THERE LATE 4OS OR 50S I JUST WANTED TO BE FANS FUCKING FRIEND AND YOU CAME AND RUINED IT BEFORE I HAD A CHANCE TO EXPRESS MY FEELINGS FOR FAN! I EVEN KINDA HAD A CRUSH ON FAN AND YOU STILL CAME. FJCK YOU FICK YOU AND FUCL YOU! GO SUCK DICK YOU WH0RE!

@fanficwriter284 @fanficwriter284 @fanficwriter284

@joemomma01 @joemomma01 @joemomma01

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rekrappeter · 4 years

Text

back in love || jj maybank

pairing: jj maybank x reader

summary: three years since he left, he comes knocking on your door

warning: cursing || not proof read in the slightest oops

notes: i wrote this in about thirty minutes, just wanted to take my mind away from studying so i hope y’all enjoy. it’s quiet short and simple but hey, sometimes they turn out to be the best ones

masterlist ||

The first thing that gave it away was the whispers and sympathy stares that followed you around all day. Then it was the spontaneous phone call you got from your mother. Then finally, it was the knock on your door that confirmed it. You knew it was bound to happen, but that still didn’t ease the nauseous feeling in your stomach when you opened your red coloured door, leading to the porch that overlooked the marsh.

Usually, when you opened the door at this time, you were met with a beautiful sunset that glistened orange sparkles on your face. You usually had a cup of brewing tea in your hand, or a cold beer. But this time, you were met with the face of that man that left you nearly three years ago.

His hands were stuffed into the pockets of his hoodie, that draped over a pair of swim shorts. His gaze was to the floor, his head hanging low, and you could tell how tense he was with how his jawline was popping. He still had the boyish features, his tousled blonde hair and little stumble decorating his upper lip.

Seeing him didn’t release the nauseous feeling, it only exaggerated it. You’ve thought about this moment every night for three whole years; the most common scenario was slapping him across the face and slamming the door in his face. But when he stood there, it was as if the anger just fizzled away and you were left aimlessly looking for some explanation. Why did he leave the Island, why did he leave you?

JJ finally gained the courage to lift his eyes to you, his heart aching at the sight of pain and sorrow washing over your expression. He was speechless, he had thought about this moment every minute that he was gone. He wanted nothing more to wrap his arms around you, bringing you as close as he can, and never letting go but there was barrier there now. That same wall he spent years knocking down was there again, this time even higher than before.

He sucked in a deep breath, offering you a sad smile. He wasn’t surprised when you didn’t return it, your face blank. ‘Hey,’ his voice was nothing more than a whisper, an exhale.

‘Hi,’ you replied, your heart fluttering at the sound of his voice.

‘Can I come in?’

You shook your head, ‘I think it’s best if you don’t.’

‘Oh, okay,’ JJ muttered, fidgeting at a loose strand in the pocket of his hoodie. ‘How have you been?’

You couldn’t even work up the effect to roll your eyes at his question, only shrugging in response. It was like the world around you paused, you hadn’t noticed any of passer bys or the barks of dogs that echoed in the background. You only saw JJ, with the orange sky outlining his figure.

‘Have you finished college?’ He questioned, pleading for any kind of reaction from you.

‘I dropped out.,.’

‘Oh,’ JJ was taken back, knowing that you had dreamed of having a successful career. It was why you used to get so stressed out when it came around to exam season, it was something he always admired; you also kept him in school, forcing him to study with you. ‘I bet you had good reasons, I mean it’s never too late to-’

‘JJ, are you honestly going to stand here and give me a speech about going to college?’ You interrupted, this time rolling your eyes in annoyance.

‘I guess not.’

‘You’re right. Now if you don’t mind, can you please leave?’ The pain in your chest was getting too much, watching him tip toe around the topic hurt you. You thought you deserved as much as an explanation. ‘That’s what you’re good at anyways.’

‘Hey, now that’s not fair,’ JJ retorted, standing up straight and bringing his shoulders back.

‘No!’ You exploded, watching his eyes widen in shock at your outburst, ‘What’s not fair is the fact that you fuckin’ disappeared anf fucked off for no god damn reason, and if you’re not going to tell me why, then kindly fuck off’

JJ blinked rapidly, his face heating up but he was solemnly focused on the bundle of tears piling up on your bottom lashes. He wanted to reach out and take you in his arms but he knew it would just be met with a slap across the face. He never remembered you cursing, nevermind cursing multiple times in one sentence but he knew you were upset, you were right to be upset. He messed up.

‘Why did you come here? Why did you come back?’ You asked when your outburst was met with complete silence.

‘I-I thought it was time.. to come back. I missed you- no, let me talk,’ JJ begged, shutting you down before you retaliated on his statement. ‘I never planned on leaving, you have to believe that. It was an impulsive decision.’

‘Yeah, one that lasted three bloody years.’

‘Y/N, let me talk!’ JJ pressed, running his hand down his face. You kept quieting, indicating for him to continue. You crossed your arms in front of your chest, your face stern but his eyes only softened and he took a deep breath. “The first thing you need to know is that I loved you, I still do love you. Every day I was gone, I only thought of you. Every time I rang one of the guys, the first thing I asked about was you. I missed you like hell, honestly, the hardest thing to do was stay away.’

‘Why did you?’ You only whispered, not trusting your voice.

‘I planned on coming back earlier, but then I found out you started seeing people again. I thought you were finally getting your life back, that spark you always had. I didn’t want to ruin that,” JJ swallowed deeply, his eyes flickering around your face.

‘You still haven’t told me why you left...’

‘All I ever wanted was for you to be happy... I couldn’t do that, we were falling apart, you were miserable-’

You shook your head in disbelief, letting out a dry chuckle. ‘You know, usually couples try work through their problems. Not run away from them.’

‘I was young and stupid,’

‘Very.’

‘But that night, I bumped into your mother in the store.’ JJ retorted, biting down on his bottom lip. Shock filled your features, and you uncrossed your arms, tucking them into your pockets, feeling exposed. Your brows creased in confusion, waiting for JJ to continue. ‘Sh-She begged me to leave you...’

‘No, no..’ You muttered, feeling the tears immediately releasing down your cheeks.

‘Y/N, I’m sorry but we both wanted the same thing, we wanted you to be happy and successful and I was holding you back.’

‘You didn’t have the right to make that decision!’ You forced, pushing him back on his heels. JJ grabbed your wrists, watching your emotions take over you and you crashed into his chest, sobbing into his white t-shirt. He quickly wrapped you up in an embrace, feeling your chest heaving rapidly. ‘Why didn’t you speak to me?’ You sobbed.

‘I’m so sorry..’ JJ mumbled into your hair, and he continued to whisper it softly until your breathing calmed down and you were all cried out. You don’t know how long you stayed there for, the sun was long gone, the night’s stars decorating the sky. You weren’t sure if it was the concept of being back in JJ’s arms that made you not want to pull away or the idea of confronting your mother who pretended to be concerned for you following the departure of JJ.

‘Do you want to come in?’ You finally spoke when you detached yourself from him, your eyes moving from the tear stain on his t-shirt to his face. He nodded slowly, walking in behind you. The feeling that washed over him made him dizzy, it was like he never left; he welcomed the familiar smell that brought along a powerpoint of memories he shared with you in this house.

JJ followed you into the living room, taking a seat next to you when you returned from the kitchen with two beers in hand. He accepted one from you, knocking it back, releasing a sigh when the cold liquid lined his throat.

‘How long are you back for?’ You asked, crossing your legs on the couch.

JJ coughed awkwardly twisting to face you, ‘I-I bought a one way ticket.’

You tried to hide the twitch of a smile, knowing that you and JJ were nearly two completely different people from when you were teenagers. ‘So, you’re back for good?’

‘Yep, that’s the plan anyways...’ An awkward atmosphere surrounded the pair of you, you kept stealing glances at him and he was doing the same. It felt strange being back in his presence, but the love you once held for him was still there. You weren’t sure if it was ever going to go away. He still looked at you with the same soft eyes, a look of adoration that never faltered.

As the night went on, the laughter increased and it was like he never disappeared. One beer turned to three, which ultimately led to being a bottle of your mother’s best wine. It wasn’t until you were laying on your couch, your legs draped over JJ’s knees and your eyes were drooping closed that JJ took that as his queue to leave. He lifted your legs from his and got up from the couch, pulling the blanket from the back of it to cover you.

JJ watched you for a moment, your face calm and relaxed. He leaned down, placing a kiss on your forehead and the feeling of your fingers wrapping around his wrist startled him. ‘JJ?’ You whispered, peeking your eyes open seeing him hovering over you. ‘Please don’t leave me again.’

‘I promise I won’t, we can speak tomorrow.’ JJ replied, but he haltered any movements when you shook your head.

‘Don’t leave me tonight, stay.’

‘You sure?’ He asked, but he was already kicking off his sneakers and climbing underneath the light blanket. The heat of your body wrapped around him, welcoming him as he wrapped his arms around your waist pulling you as close as he can. He squeezed you tightly, causing you to giggle.

Raising your hand to brush across his face, you missed being this close to him, feeling his breathe fawning over your face. His eyes were drooping, just like yours but you could still see the sparkle in them, the happiness. He leaned his forehead against yours, breathing in your scent. ‘I missed this’ You broke the silence, feeling the vibration of his humming against yours cheek.

You unconsciously brought your lips to his and he lazily leaned into the kiss. His eyes fluttered completely closed, as you insisted on deepening the kiss, bringing your tongue into his mouth. He never forgot what your kisses felt like, every night he imagined you laying there with him. Every night he dreamt of kissing you again. This didn’t even feel like real life right now, having you back in his arms.

His fingers caressed your jaw, running them through your hair and pulling you even closer. The sound of the kiss echoed around the living room, but all he could hear was the beating of his heart and the blood rushing through his veins. You pulled away, breathing heavy. You took a moment to tell him how much you missed him before bringing your lips back to his. Welcoming the thought of spending the rest of the night like this.

pls gimme feedback

#jj maybank #outer banks #obx #jj maybank x y/n #jj maybank x reader #jj maybank imagine #jj #outer banks jj #rudy pankow x reader #rudy pankow #rudy pankow imagine #jj maybank fluff #jj maybank angst #outer banks imagine #outer banks fanfic #outer banks oneshot #tuserscout #netflix

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aesthetic-survivor-of-twd · 4 years

Note

What was your attitude towards Ericson's children after they blamed you on Marlon's death? I was cold and brautely honest with them about what the world is like now and what Marlon did. Mainly for this because I wanted to keep some character traits of Clementine from Season 3 which focused on survival and being cold in relation to someone's death (even a loved one). Besides, I was very annoyed about their attitude towards what he did: He sold them two friends and killed one, and they acted as if

(Oh no! your comment got cut off! :( sorry I can’t read what you wrote at the end!)

I have a tendency of playing Clementine as how I would personally act in that particular situation (so basically me...but as Clem lol).

In a situation like that I would try to be wise and choose to be apologetic and calm as to not add fuel to the fire. Especially since I had a feeling that if I acted too defensive or picked a fight I would just end up ruining any chance I had of gaining allies further down the line (not that I expected the game to actually take this into consideration but y’know...roleplaying). I think the only hostile action I took was telling Mitch to back off when he pointed a knife at us.

In a way I kinda get their reactions?

What Marlon did was horrific and in AJ’s defence he didn’t exactly understand that the fight was finished now. In his mind he still saw Marlon as “danger” and his natural impulse is to protect Clem no matter what. So even though I don’t agree with AJ’s actions, I don’t grudge him for it either.

But keep in mind that these kids are pretty damn sheltered. They aren’t used to seeing their friends getting gunned down by other humans and despite Marlon’s actions, he was still their childhood friend and leader for at least 8 years. You can be angry and even hate someone for their actions, while still caring about them at the same time.

Imagine playing season 1 for the first time but from the perspective of Clem and then after many months of bonding with Lee you then find out in the middle of an argument that he murdered someone because they had an affair with his wife and then someone gunning him down in front of you and killing him in a heated argument during that same scene.

A weird and not exactly accurate comparison (as we don’t know or care about the state senator) - but my point is that from the perspective of someone that has known Marlon as this good guy and friend for many years, only to find out he did terrible shit and then for him to get killed in the same night...is a tricky situation to deal with emotionally (especially when you aren’t used to seeing murder). Your emotions are all over the place, and you’re scared and don’t know what to do.

Much like my feelings towards Louis in episode 2 - I empathised with them and understood their perspective.

Do I think it was ridiculous of them to throw out Clem and AJ the next day without a proper discussion over what happened that night? yes, definitely. But I couldn’t really be that angry at them because I understood their reasoning even if I as Clem felt more rational about the situation.

With that said though, I think it’s perfectly reasonable for you to be annoyed at them for their reactions and I totally get it. I think it’s really cool that we all deal with and view the scenes in different ways haha. Also I love that you tried to keep it in character with ANF Clem!

#twdg #twdg marlon #the walking dead game #twdg s4 #twdg tfs #skybound #twdg4 #twdg final season #twdgs4 #telltalegames #asks

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sseroxy · 5 years

Text

Can You Forgive a Monster

Good ol Cass x Lance fanfic/fluff/angst

Takes place after season 3 and what I believe happens.

Warning for blood and injuries

It's finally over. Years of working with new friends and the final product was a nearly destroyed Corona, a town of injuried civillains, almost 10 casualties, a broken princess of light and prince of Dark, friends hurt and beaten up, but most importantly, a warlock who's only remain in this world is a single horn. Zhan Tiri had beeb defeated at last with the power of the Sundrop within Rapunzel, the Moonstone with Cassandra, the faith within Eugene, and the scientific magic within Varian. A great battle between friends and foes. The most painful battle for everyone; having their own friends fighting them, Zhan Tiri leading them in bloody rage.

Finally, all are settling down, only a day after this war. The wounded are being tended to, those capable are cleaning up rubble where houses and shops once stood. Some lost more than others, whether if be a person, thing, or body part. But I was okay now. Rapunzel had lost her hair, Cass lost the Moonstone and the bloodlust that came with it. Those powers were back in the Heavens where they belong, restoring balance.

Quirin had been freed at last, his note holding a final goodbye that won't come for another 20 years. Varian had been redeemed and has been working with Xavier since, allowing him to help in the war. Xavier decided to keep Zhan's horn as a reminder but also for any spells or experiments. The Brotherhood had been reunited, and after it all, Eugene had found his family in Corona and the Dark Kingdom. The Dark Kingdom had decided to make an alliance meeting with Corona, one that took place today. All knew it was a sure agreement.

While all were getting their lives back to normal-or what they wished to be normal-an incredibly injured Cassandra laid on her bed, resting off the day before. When she opened her eyes, they looked around and met with three others in the room. Rapunzel smiled greatly, pulling her friend into a large bear hug, gaining a painful grunt from Cass. She pulled back, offering space. Cass looked her up and down, saddened by the scene. Rapunzel had lost her golden locks for her natural brown, short hair, and her leg was in a cast as she held herself up with a crutch. Her face and arms were covered in bruises and cuts; she knew where they were from.

" I'm so..so sorry.."

She let out a whisper, regret showing it's face within her voice. She looked down, remembering it all. Everything she did. She had every intention to use that stone for glory, to take it, to finally take what she worked so hard for. This was never what she wanted. She not only hurt her friends, but was at the mercy of that thing. That twisted creature of magic that wanted nothing more than to use her to destroy everything.

" This is all my fault.. I let him get to him..i let him hurt you.. I hurt you."

Her brows pushed together as she tried to keep the water of her eyes From pouring. She clenched her teeth and her fist. Her left fist. She looked at her right arm to see it was gone up to her elbow. Exactly where her burn was. That painful reminder of her first dip into pain and madness and it was just gone. She moved it up anf down, feeling nothing but a sting in it's end.

" Careful. It's still healing."

Eugene put a hand on her injury. She cringed at what happened to him. The left side of his face was covered in bloody bandages and his right side as well. The flashback struck her; cutting his eye and stabbing his side with the rocks. She looked at Lance, who had bloody bandages around his head and his arm in a sling. He wasn't hurt as badly as Eugene or Rapunzel. She went easy on him; as if she even had a choice.

" It's okay, Cass. It wasn't you."

Rapunzel sat next to her, a small smile from her lips gave a warm, but disgusting feeling to Cass' heart.

" It was, though. I chose to grab the Moonstone. I chose to listen to..him."

She looked away, her teeth clenching harder. Rapunzel took her hand.

" Yes, those were choices you made, and I really wish you didn't, but you had your reasons. And you didn't want to hurt us, that was Zhan Tiri. You were in a bad place and I should have been paying more attention to it like I should have with Varian. It's over, though. It's all okay now."

She hugged her, that disgusting warmth again. A warmth she hated because it was no longer innocent. It was built on hurt, guilt, and betrayal. How was Rapunzel so happy after it all? She wanted to be happy.

" I'm mad about the whole thing; especially with you ruining this beautiful face and my own," Eugene motioned at Rapunzel and himself, " But I think we'll all get over it. Though I'm not too sure about the Brotherhood or my father, they might not be so quick."

He laughed slightly, then proceeded to mess up her already bedhead hair, to which she pulled away slightly.

" Hey, uh, can I talk to her for a moment?" Lance spoke up with a small voice. Eugene and Rapunzel looked at each other, slightly surprised, but nodded. Once they were gone, Lance sat on the bed next to Cass. He sighed.

" I'm so-"

" Don't." Lance cut her off. She was taken aback slightly at this, " I get it." He looked at the floor, " You feel bad for everything you did, heck i would too, what you did was really terrible." Cass' eyes darted, " But it doesn't mean you're terrible."

Cass held what was left of her arm. " What are you getting at?"

" You're a good person, Cassandra." He stated, " You have so much going for you; physically, emotionally, even your personality. You have so much inside you and you wanted people to notice it. And we do."

" What are you talking about?"

" I have seen and noticed everything. Even when you though no one was seeing you, I was watching. I learned so much from you. You taught me how to be stronger, fearless, and helped turn me around from my life of crime."

He laughed slightly, " Even when you knocked me on my butt, i still looked up to you."

The silence took the room once more. It was like an awkward silence. Cass sat motionless besides her slight shaking from trauma. She shook her head.

" You..look up to me? Why"

Lance looked at her, holding a sort of kicked puppy expression.

" Because you are.."

He choked on his words, thinking to himself if he should tell her how he felt. What he's been wanting to say for a long time.

" I..have a thing for strong women."

He smiled slightly, hoping she'd get the hint. She scoffed.

" You want help with Adira or something?"

Lance jumped up, his body full of what he wants to say.

" IT'S YOU!"

He yelled. Cass slightly jumped at his sudden tone. When he saw her uncomfortable gaze of confusion and slight fear, he sofftened.

" It's you, Cass. I..I like you."

Cassandra looked at the large man presenting his love to her. She couldn't react. Was this the right time? Was she ready for this? Didn't he like Adira?

" Lance, I-I..i don't"

Lance let his shoulders drop.

" You dont feel the same- GAH! I knew I shouldn't have said anything, after everything you're not ready for this and should have known better,"

Lance walked around the room, his hands on his face.

" I shouldn't have said anything. Just pretend I didn't."

" Lance.."

Cass got out of the bed, her feet touching the cold floor beneath them. She too Lances hand with her left.

" Now wouldn't have been the best time, but since we're being open..I do too."

She looked down, then back to make eye contact with the lovestruck thief before her. He started to smile.

" How long?" He asked.

" Since the island."

The room seemed to feel hotter and the air tasted sweet. Almost too sweet to breathe. Lance, with tears, opened his arms slightly, to which Cass leaned in. The embrace was at first one sided, as Lance hugged Cass, but he felt her arm wrap around his large middle, sniffling being heard as she started shaking. He felt his eyes drip their usual tears.

Why was this so hard? Why was this so painful? Is it because of the war? Was it that they dont feel they'd make it together? These questions buzzed in both of their minds. Though, Cass had another thing on her mind.

" How can you forgive me?"

She sniffed, her arm burning along with her chest. A flashback took her mind with surprise.

" Cass, what are you doing?!" Rapunzel screamed in horror at the sight of her best friend become the host of the Moonstone.

" Taking my destiny." She said before forcing the black rocks to attack her once beloved friends.

Her eyes snapped open from the memory.

" After everything I did.."

Lance held the small woman tightly.

" I hurt you."

-She felt the tear of flesh as she cut Lances head with a black rock protruding from her arm like Hectors blades. This wasn't her. She didn't do this. She didnt want to do this. Lances cries of pain as he fell back shook her core. She wanted to stop, why couldnt she stop? She recoiled, but felt her head burn with her arm. The vines on her neck and arms were unable to be seen by anyone but her. Gripping her head, her eyes glowed blue and green as she fought. She couldn't stop him.-

" I almost hurt everyone."

-A burning sesation from her chest made her scream out in agony. Zhan Tiri tore the power out of her very soul in front of everyone. They all looked on in horror, Rapunzel trying to stop him. "STOP!!" She cried. He finally tore the Moonstone from her chest and-

" I was a monster."

-He dropped her body, the group rushing to catch her. She wasn't dead yet. Her arm was shown to be useless again, much worse this time. Her color drained but her hair remained blue. The Black Rocks that took place of clothes were scattered along her body, some still embedded as her actual skin. Zhan Tiri consumed the stone but he never would have guessed-

" You're not a monster, Cass. You never were."

-"You can't expect them to hand your destiny over after all of this can you? You have to take it." The creature behind the door had a point. It showed her everything she's worked for and had taken away. Her glory, her dignity, her arm." The Moonstone is meant to be yours."-

" You weren't yourself."

-" I can fix you, just listen..and obey."-

" You cant think that for a second, okay?"

-The finale surged as the scroll revealed how to use the power. Cass still had the Moonstones energy inside. Even if it killed her, shed fix this. Rapunzel held her hand along with Eugenes and Varian activated his machine. This was it.-

" And I want you to realize that I will never see you as a monster. Trust me, ive done terrible things too, but you stuck with me, didnt you?"

Lance tore apart from the hug, putting his hands on Cass' shoulders, keeping eye contact.

" We're in this together, whether as a team or-"

His sentence was broken by a kiss. Cass brought his head to hers with her hand, and even though Lance was big and strong, even if he wanted to he wouldnt be able to break her grip. He didnt want to, though, and instead embraced this moment. It was warm. Not disgusting anymore. The disgust was from thinking she didn't deserve the warmth except from the burning of her arm. This was different. It was nice. Needed. For both of them. It felt like eternity until they broke their lips, yet they wish it would've lasted longer. They looked into each other's eyes, tears staining their faces.

" Better?"

Lance asked. Cass chuckled slightly, hugging him.

" Yeah..better."

#tangled #tangled the series #tts cassandra #tts spoilers #tts #tts rapunzel #destinies collide #tts eugene #cassandra #moon cassandra #tangled the series spoilers #au #classy #clance #cass x lance #cassandra x lance #angst #fanfic #fluff

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stardust-and-blades · 5 years

Note

Klance 21 please

*sticks leggy out* Of course

21. Things you said when we were on top of the world

Takes place two, maybe three years after season 8 bc ouch

“So, how is farming life treating you?”

“Alright,” Lance replied, swishing around the wine in his glass. “But I gotta say, Juniberries are hard to grow. I never knew Allura’s favorite flower would take so much steps to living.”

Keith chuckled, taking a bite of the Spanish rice on his plate, still dressed in his galran suit. He had returned from a mission that lasted six months, all of the retired paladins contacting him and demanding he visit. Lance, of course, was the most vocal, and invited everyone to dinner at his place with the help of his mama. They ate and told stories, asking questions about the other planets and Pidge mentioning their breakthrough in halfing the time it takes to travel from New Altea to the farthest planet known to man. They had already left, claiming they had some more work to do and that they will return the next day for a day out in the public. Though Keith could not help but notice Pidge and Hunk whispering to one another while Shiro shook his head. Lance and Keith had a lot of catching up to do, so they ate slower than the rest. But neither minded, Lance’s parents and siblings in bed to give them privacy.

“Altea had people who knew the climate well, you’re going based off of instinct, so it’s natural for you to experience trial and error.”

“I know,” He groaned. “If only Allura was here, she would be able to help me.”

“She is. In spirit. She probably is still laughing at the time you slipped on the manure and face planted.”

“How rude! Allura would never laugh at the ruining of this beautiful face.” Lance acted as if he were flipping his hair back, eliciting a laugh from the stoic ex paladin.

“Whatever you say.” Keith placed his hands in the air, mocking surrender.

“What about you? Miss combat and bored of peace?”

Keith shook his head, a small smile on his face. “No. I mean, I was good at it. But it’s nice to bond with my mom and the others. With the change in the Blade’s purpose, I see different faces compared to during the war.”

‘Hmm…Must be nice.” Lance commented, turning his head to the window to their right. His gaze, filled with mirth just before, somber. His bright blues dulled into a calm azure, his head leaning against one hand as his food is forgotten. “It has been, what, two years since the end of the war?”

“Yeah, about right.”

Keith expected Lance to continue; veer off into another subject like they had been doing before. But nothing came. Lance just stared at the stars, the white, twinkling faraway explosions reflecting back in his eyes. Lance hasn’t talked about Allura or space much since then, sticking to random topics. But now, for some reason Lance is bringing them up; vocally recounting the days of naive flying in Blue, their humorous training sequences, and the exploration of different planets. Lance used to be so bright eyed during those times, bursting with curiosity anf surprise despite missing his family. And while there were hard times, he was always smiling a huge grin.

Now, his smile is watered down. It isn’t quite sad, but neither is it gleeful. Keith wondered if them being on top of the world is really a victory, or if it is just a placeholder for his real feelings. For the fact that he is happy to know his home and other planets are no longer under the rule and threat of a tyrant, yet wishing for more in life. Something besides staying on Earth and farming, looking back on the boy who wanted to explore various galaxies rather than stay home for a mundane life. Lance is a lot of things, but he isn’t mundane. If anything he is bursting with raw energy. Once concealed by grief and heartbreak over the loss of his first love, cracks began to scatter across his morose aura.

He won’t ever forget Allura. Will not forget her sacrifice and her wishes.

But he also cannot forget the dreams he held so close to his heart, just as he did Allura.

And Keith wondered if there is a chance he could change it. Maybe Lance will never love him the same way Keith loves him, but the least he could do is try and bring those dreams back. To awaken the spark that made Keith and Allura fall for the shining young man.

So Keith reached a hand out, hoping Lance would take it, hoping he would acknowledge the part of him clawing to be acknowledged. To be heard.

“Lance?”

“Hm?”

“I…I have another mission coming up in two weeks. Delivering products and medical aid to a healing planet. It will probably take up to half a year to reach, since Pidge will be putting out their new technology. And the mission itself is believed to pan out for an additional year.”

Lance raised his eyebrows, confused. “Okay?”

Keith scratched at his neck, his nerves shaking him. He wasn’t professing his undying love, why is he nervous?

Nonetheless, he forced himself to make eye contact.

“Would you like to join me? I know you have your farm to tend to, and you would miss your family a lot. But…um…” Okay, now he was losing his train of thought. What was he going to say? Where was his eloquence? Geez, if only Shiro were here. Maybe then he wouldn’t feel as if Lance’s gaze was going to burn him.“Um…I figured–you kind of look sad, so I figured–you like space–uh…shit,” his head bended down, feeling the heat rise to his cheeks. Shut up Keith. Just shut up and stop digging yourself into a deeper hole. “Nevermind, I don’t know why–”

“Keith.”

Keith perked his head up, swallowing as he feared meeting Lance’s eyes. But he is met with a kind gaze, a genuine smile blossoming on his lips. “Are you offering me a place in your elite ranks?” He joked, but Keith can hear his growing excitement.

“Uh…yes. Yeah I am. I mean, it really isn’t elite–”

He is interrupted by a hand covering his on the table, callous fingers touching soft flesh concealed by elastic.

“I would love to.”

He meant it.

Lance will always love Allura. But both knew he couldn’t linger in the past. And something tells both Lance and Keith that Allura would be proud.

She fought for them to be happy.

It is time Lance honored that.

send me a ship and number and I’ll write a mini fic!

#shania writes #klance #keith kogane #lance mcclain #VLD #voltron #post-season 8

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enguardebitch · 6 years

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There's a part of me that wants to play the final season, but how could I know that Telltale won't fuck this up again? Every time something new about Clementine's "coming-of-age" comes out, I'm always reminded how much the writers fucked up with the plot and writing in the past and I think about the characters that could have made it (but didn't because of the writers and it's asskissers). I don't mean to keep living in the past, but I'm just still really mad at the potential that was wasted.

I’m gonna say this from the bottom of my heart, I’m intrigued with this season but at the same time I really, really, really don’t care about this season? I feel like back when 15 year old me was excited as shit for Season Two because I loved Clementine and wanted to see her story after she lost Lee, and then Telltale gave us that. And then I was less excited for ANF, and Telltale gave me something that was slightly better in some ways, but still pretty dismal, and now? I can’t give a shit about it.

I don’t even mean to be negative but I don’t care about AJ at all. We were given minimal scenes with him in S2, considering he only popped out near the end of Amid The Ruins, and he had so little scenes in ANF because Clementine already lost him by the time we meet her as Javier. There, he couldn’t even speak, and now he’s talking like Clementine did when she was eleven? I feel like I missed some important things with him before this season, and missed actually seeing Clementine growing up and raising AJ outside of a few flashbacks.

I’m not sure what’s going on with the Garcia’s either, or Richmond as a whole, considering AJ looks older and Clementine hadn’t taken him back already, especially since Lingard said the McClaren Ranch where AJ was left wasn’t that far away. Could he have been moved during that season and Clementine came to the ranch too late, spurring the search for him that took her a while? Did she not have the chance to get back to Richmond when she found AJ? What happened to Javier and whoever survived at the end of ANF, and will Telltale actually bother using them in meaningful ways besides cheap shock now that Javier is no longer protagonist?

That, and Clementine’s “coming-of-age” story my arse. I openly despised her story after Season One. I hated her lack of character in Season Two, I hated how she dissolved into a #lone wolf character in ANF until Episode 5, outside of her interaction with Gabe considering she can be an absolute dick to Javier, but immediately acts sweet and charming to Gabe even in the first interaction, despite the fact she knew Javier and his family for a day. I hated how she is being used to push the “you must be tough to survive” mentality that Telltale loves pushing on everything, and how she must constantly be fucking alone. The only good thing I can think of in that trailer I saw, besides how pretty that water looked, was that she taught AJ not to be alone. That was a good touch.

So, I really feel for you, because this game used to be one of my absolute favs and I wanna play it with my father, considering it’s one of the few things we love together and he’s a huge fan of Clementine, but I’m not sure I wanna waste my money on a game from a company that gave me shit time and time again previously.

#twdg #//twdg hate #if y'all dont wanna see my honest opinion for this just black list //twdg hate #I'll be tagging all my posts from now on with it if it's like this one #ask #I am disgusted™

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stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale · 3 years

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Top 5 Character Deaths That Made Me Side-Eye the Writers

There are a lot of character deaths in TWDG... obviously. It a series about the literal dead walkin’ around and eating people, so as you’re playing, one of your favorite characters is bound to meet such a fate. To give this series credit, it does have quite a few well-executed deaths that, while I hate them, they have a purpose in the story that works.

The best example of this is Lee’s death-- we all hate that Lee dies, but it’s well-done. It serves its purpose, it acted as both a shock and a slow-burn for the player, and left us all an emotional mess.

However, we’re not talking about the “good” deaths today. No, we’re talking about the character deaths that are poorly executed, cheap, lazy, and just plain dumb... they’re the deaths that make me side-eye the writing team and wonder what the fuck happened there.

By the way, it was reeeeeeal fun narrowing it down to only five deaths, because it seems like for every great death, there’s at least two bad ones.

5. Mariana and her death that ruined ANF’s potential story

I’ve talked at length about Mariana’s death and how much I hate it. Like, I get it TWDG... you love your sudden deaths and you’re so edgy for killing off a child character because you’ve never done that before... but maybe consider things a little further before pulling the trigger?

Yeah, killing off Mariana the way they did got a reaction outta people when it happened, and we got the burial scene if you stayed with Clementine... but you didn’t consider the future of this storyline? You pretend you did by name dropping Mari when it’s convenient, but then throw it out the window when it comes to characters like David or Gabe.

Listen, I know that ANF is a mess and what’s the point in telling the mess that it’s a mess? Well, I’m still annoyed at the writers for wasting the biggest opportunity for this game’s story, something that could’ve saved it from being a mess.

And I get it, you gotta make a death quota, so instead of killing Mariana off... why not kill Kate off instead? Oh no? We don’t get the stupid love triangle that no one actually enjoys or is engaged in?

Instead of this dumb story about Javi falling in love with his sister-in-law but oh no David’s back.... we could’ve had a story about Javi losing Kate and being left to care for two children by himself. Mariana and Gabe are all he has left, and he going to do whatever he can to keep them safe all while the three of them are mourning Kate.

Then David comes back, and he immediately takes these kids away from Javi.

There is no stupid storyline with Kate, but an actual conflict between two brothers who were never on the same page and two kids caught in the middle.

Plus, Mariana herself as a character really could’ve brought something to the table. She could’ve brought out a lot in David’s character since she seems to be more like Javi.

Her death is just... annoying. It’s frustrating when you know they could’ve told a better story with her alive, something ANF desperately needed.

My side-eye is one of disappointment and annoyance.

4.Luke and his easily preventable drowning

Ugh.... where to even begin?

Luke really just gets butchered as a character throughout the second half of S2, and the writers end up demolishing the set up they placed at the beginning of the season for a Luke vs Kenny thing.

Why? Well, Luke vs Kenny was the initial ending they were gonna go with, but because this season went through all kinds of bullshit, they scrapped that and replaced Luke with Jane... and it’s so dumb.

Hell, it kind of ruins a lot. Not only did it ruin Luke, a character that many players loved, but it forces the new character of Jane, who we only get two episodes to get to know, so they can fade Luke out.

But that’s not all.

His death is so... ugh. It’s stupid, okay? Stupid and easily preventable, but noooo... we gotta kill Luke off for reasons because all we know is that S1 killed off a lot of characters and we’re gonna do that again but worse because we failed to understand what made those deaths impactful in the first place.

Lots of character death and despair = good game.

Yep, uh-huh. Okay.

So we all know that Luke’s leg is hurt, yeah? Great, so you’d think that the group that has an injured man and a new born baby would be extra cautious and go around the frozen lake. Yeah, Arvo says that it’s safe but let’s not take any chances.

But no. We gotta go across like a group of dingdongs and whattya know-- the ice begins to crack beneath Luke’s feet. Now, even here, we coulda got him outta there safely... if Bonnie wasn’t a dingus.

Think about it. If we shot the walkers who were coming towards Luke with all their weight, he could’ve slowly scooted away, even if he’s already fallen through. BUT NO. Bonnie either guilts Clementine into going towards him, adding more weight to the already fragile ice as Luke tells her to stop, or Bonnie will go over there herself... and she’s a full grown woman soooo her weight breaks the ice.

Good job, you dipsticks.

When you have to make your characters into morons in order to move the plot along and kill off characters....maybe do some rethinking, yeah?

3. Mitch and his shock-value death

This death is so dumb... so incredibly, dumb. Even now, I can’t help but give full side-eye to the writers every time one of them tries to justify this death.

I’m sorry, but this death didn’t have the impact you wanted it to have. And because there’s always someone who says, “Mitch didn’t die for shock value, you just can’t tell the difference between a good and bad death” lemme tell you a thing.

What was the point of killing of Mitch? Well, according to those who worked on TFS, it was to show that Lilly and the delta are serious. This is when shit gets real, and when Lilly is established as a bad bitch who will do whatever it takes to get what she wants. We should be scared of her now.

Except no.

This scene doesn’t tell me that Lilly is a bad bitch. It tells me that she has good reflexes, and going off her reaction after killing Mitch.... I’m not fucking scared of this dumbass. If anything, this scene says more about Mitch than it does Lilly. It says that Mitch is also a dumbass for running at her like he did.

Y’know what would’ve been more impactful? If Mitch didn’t immediately get stabbed in the throat, but instead, actually got her on the ground and struggled with Lilly. Then, Lilly gets the upper hand and when you think she’s about to send Mitch to the cart, she fucking murders him in front of everyone to prove a point.

There’s no remorse, it’s slow enough for Lilly to actually process what’s happening and show that she does know what she’s doing. That would scare me. That would show me that these people aren’t fucking around and they’re willing to kill some of them if that means getting the rest for their army.

You still get your shock value death but it actually does something other than kill a character off.

I’m really supposed to believe this is the same Lilly who can order to have Louis’ tongue cut off?

But it doesn’t end there. No, no... there’s another part to Mitch’s death that annoys me, and it’s how insistent everyone was that his death is going to have a greater impact on the second half of the story. It had a purpose within the story, we did it for a reason.

...I mean, it has an impact on Willy and his arc for the second half.

But that’s it.

Oh... oh, what’s that? Oh, you were referring to those throwaway lines about Tenn? “He was screwing up again, just like when he got Mitch killed.”

OOOOOH.... I see, that’s what Mitch’s death was really amounting to... some lines dealing with whether or not AJ shot Tenn. Well, I guess I was wrong. Mitch’s death wasn’t just shock value. It really had a big purpose. In fact, Mitch’s death has the biggest impact on the series. Fuck Marlon and Brody’s deaths, and Lilly and James, and hell, fuck Tenn’s death, too. They’re meaningless compared to Mitch’s death. You did it, guys. You really did it.

....Okay, I’m done. I’m just... salty, I fully admit.

Being serious again, Mitch’s death is probably the worst in TFS as far as unpreventable deaths go and the real reason I side-eye the writers is because they tried to tell us it was going to have this huge impact in the future and it just... didn’t.

2. Nick and his offscreen death.

I’m sorry, but what the fuck happened here? Why- what are you- how the hell did this happen??

I’m actually baffled.

Someone wrote this.

They set up at the end of ep3 that Nick is shot.... then ep4 comes and we find him like this. I just... did someone on the writing staff not wanna do their job that day? Someone was working on the story and at the last minute forgot Nick was a character, so they were like “Eh, he’s not important anyway, and it adds to the shittiness of everything so we’ll pretend this was 100% intentional.”

Nick was one of your more interesting characters and you really thought killing him off like this was the way to go, huh?

Like, his first death is shitty, but in the very least it kind of makes sense.

But this?

This is horrible. If I wrote this, I’d be embarrassed.

I just... I’m so tired of S2 right now.

This is at #2 because it’s just lazy, bad writing. At least with Luke, Mitch, and Mariana, we got to see their deaths and they had some, even if just a little, impact on the story afterward.

But Nick?

Nothin’.

Even Luke, who is the closest person to Nick, name drops him maybe twice? It’s just.... nothing.

And yeah, you can come at me with the “oh well not every death has to have meaning!”

This is a story, okay? This is a story crafted with characters who have arcs by people who wanted it to be a success, and usually that means having satisfying conclusions.... or, intentionally unsatisfying if that acts as a natural conclusion to their story or is a reoccurring theme.

Nick’s death is just the writers falling flat on their faces and hoping no one would notice.

1. Sarah and both of her shitty deaths.

Ugh. UGH.

Okay.

I’m not even side-eyeing anymore-- I’m fully glaring.

I don’t have to tell you how shitty both of Sarah’s deaths are. We all played S2, we all know that no matter what you do, Sarah dies in ep4. You can try to save her, she lives a little bit longer, and then falls to her death... and both deaths have her being devoured alive by walkers.

Now, this is enough to annoy me. First off, I guess my choices don’t really matter. Sure, you can justify this as one of those “sometimes you can’t save someone, no matter how hard you try” ...and fine. Sure, if they had bothered to execute that point well, then great.

But I disagree that the writers had that in mind when they were killing Sarah off.

In fact, I know what what going on in their brains-- “God, can’t wait to kill Sarah off! Give us any reason to do it! She’s so damn annoying!”

The writers have openly admitted that a lot of the team were just waiting to kill Sarah off, waiting for any reason, so when the major part of the community who take everything at surface level because why think? kept complaining about Sarah, they jumped on the opportunity to kill her off.... but the deaths are dumb.

Listen, this isn’t like when the writers planned on killing Lee off. You can plan a death and even be excited about it because you’re excited about the story and execution of it all. You can be excited to see the heartbreaking end of this character’s story that you crafted because you know you put everything you had into it.

These deaths were lazy and the product of a team who didn’t care about the character. Sarah dies and no one cares.

Sure, you leave her to die the first time and Jane does her thing about how you can’t save everyone, she talks about Jaime, and then Luke exposes himself as the fake Luke by agreeing that leaving Sarah behind was probably the right thing. Like what?

Now as much as I hate that first one, the second one is even worse.

For some reason, Sarah is standing in the corner while they’re trying to fight off the walkers instead of being inside with Rebecca... y’know, where she would be if this was logical.

Then the deck breaks and Sarah falls, trapped under a pile of wood. Jane, despite being the one who sees Sarah as a liability, goes down there to try and help her after Clementine begs her to.

But because the writers don’t know what they’re doing, Jane gets hit by a random piece of wood and can’t get Sarah out in time, leaving her to be eaten alive by walkers.

Then AJ is born and no one cares about Sarah ever again.

I just....

Could’ve had an interesting story arc with a character who just lost her father in such a gruesome way, a character that already deals with anxiety and other problems that you never bothered to explain other than “she isn’t like Clementine” and you could’ve had her grow.

But I guess that would’ve taken effort.... and screen time away from Kenny, and god forbid we ever do that.

---

Honorable Mentions

-Ava falling to her death in the most comedic way possible, made even more hilarious by David’s two seconds of mourning. -Omid.... because hope is dead. Do you get it? Hope? is dead? Because Omid means hope? Do you get it?? -Honestly you could put most of S2′s deaths on this list because oh my god. -Ben because I’m still a salty bitch. -I also wanna add Louis and Violet’s deaths on the bridge mostly because they die, Clem is sad for two seconds, Tenn says sorry, and then no one cares. Yeah, yeah, they mourned off screen and I call that lazy bullshit. -Hell, throw Tenn’s death on here, too, for similar reasons-- no one but Louis/Violet and AJ seem to care. Even Clementine is like “whatever” after it happens.

---

Y’know, picking this one seemed like a good idea at the time, but by now I’m just annoyed by all these dumb deaths. So, what are your thoughts? Are there any deaths that make you question the writers that didn’t end up on the list? Do you agree or disagree with my list? Lemme know, we can have a friendly discussion about it.

Have any suggestions for future T5F’s? Feel free to send ‘em in! :D

---

Next week’s T5F Top 5 Favorite Louis Moments

#twdg t5f #twdg clementine #twdg javier #twdg kate #twdg mariana #twdg gabe #twdg david #twdg luke #twdg jane #twdg kenny #twdg nick #twdg sarah #twdg mitch #twdg willy #twdg louis #twdg violet #twdg tenn #after this i need to talk about muh boy #louis content coming next friday

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hatsukoi-butterfly · 5 years

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Things I liked about season 14:

Arizona getting much more screentime than the last few seasons

Arizona having a beautiful relationship (until they killed it)

A hope for Calzona

Jolex!!! I enjoyed every single moment of them!! They were so great the whole season

Jo being her super Ravenclaw self and showing everyone that she's smart and great and SO smart

Jolex again

THE COOKIES EPISODE!!! THE COOKIES!!!

Some episodes actually made me laugh it hasn't happened in a very long when I watch the show

The episode with baby Cristina and baby Izzy ect I LOVED it and cried so much every time the mentioned Lexie / Mark / Derek (I didn't even liked Derek during his time in the show wtf)

Miss Carina DeLuca

J O L E X

No one of the main cast died 😍

Betty!! Mostly bc I really really love the actor. And Leo is adorable too!!

Jolex again. Sorry I love them SO much.

Jo's husband storyline - I have some things I didn't like about it and I'll explain in the things I didn't like section, but I love that they gave her such a great important and good storyline. I loved that.

The Harper Avery storyline was important and good. I don't really like the whole "we have no money" thing they do every season twice at least but the story itself was very important and I like how they showed how Jackson and Meredith are stopping his mother from ignoring the victims' pain and ruined careers and made something good.

Leo is so cute!!! 😭

Magen and Farouk and Nathan!! I hope they're happy anf safe 💞

Also, Camilla acting this season? Wow. I truly think we didn't have such a great actor in GA since Sandra.

Things I didn't like about season 14:

Jo' husband - I liked the storyline a lot but it moved so fast?! They were talking about him for so long and when he finally shows up by the end of the episode he was half dead. Wtf is that? I wanted him to go to jail and I wanted Jo and Jenny to destroy him like he destroyed them. Why did they kill him so fast? Just wtf. I'm very angry about this.

Amelia's brain tumor - first at all, giving her a tumor so they can explain her weird mood swings was stupid. Yes, she wasn't very stable with her decisions, but I could still understand her character and why she acts the way she acts so I'm not really sure why they had to do it. It just feels like they were trying to find a way to end her and Owen's relationship so... Nope, I didn't like it. Plus it's such a huge tumor and they spent about 3 episode max about it. Wtf? They keep talking about it later but it's very non-GA to give a main cast character such a thing and just make it go away so fast and easy.

April. What's going on? I feel like they made her so occ I don't know what her real personality is. The whole "losing god" thing was weird. I mean, I know it's a real thing and it breaks people like that but... The whole thing was very weird. All the alcohol, the weird behavior... I felt like they're ruining her character. I didn't like it. They could have done a lot better with her character considering the fact they knew she's leaving in the end of the season

April and Matthew - what? I have no problem with them together but it feels like it happened out of nowhere. I know they were hiding it but the viewers didn't even know about it, which made it a bit shocking. I feel like they went to get married too fast. It felt like they're just trying to give April some "good ending" after they almost killed her off. Idk, I didnt like it.

Sofia. I get that the girl is seven and I know she probably acts this way bc she wants her mothers to be together again but she asked to come to Arizone and the moment she got there she started talking about missing Callie and wanting to go back...? I mean again I know she's a child but it felt like she was with Arizona for a very short time before the whole I want to go back to New York started. It felt like it's happening too fast in order to explain Arizona's decision to leave too.

Teddy. I am sorry, I don't know why but I could never stand her. I don't like her at all. I can't believe she's back and I can't believe she's having Owen's baby. Urgh. I don't like them together and it just... I don't like her or this.

Basically it feel like they didn't do a very good job with closing storylines they wanted to close. They wanted Jolex to get married already so they killed her husband fast, they wanted to end Amelia and Owen marriage so they gave her a brain tumor for 2 episodes and then blamed it for their broken marriage. They had to find a way to kick Arizona and April out (if I remember correctly the decision to remove them was after they started to shooting so) so they did everything fast...

I probably forgot some things but yeah

#rachel talks

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survivormarmoreal · 5 years

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Episode #11: "okay so heres the tea mawmaw henny... anyways" - Bryce

I guess i wasnt right to be paranoid but doesnt feel good knowing your name was used as a fake target. I really want to win the next immunity but idk. Hopefully i can do well.

nick tried super hard that tribal i got a tiny bit nervous but i'm glad that things seem to be going pretty well and working themselves out with nathan brian and sharky but i feel like nathan's gonna be pretty upset with me after the season :(

Welp I blew another challenge. Good times. Hopefully Nathan won't win because I want him out next. Ideal boot order for me going forward is Nathan, Bryce, Maynor, Matt, Anna. So we'll see how this challenge shakes out and then I can create some beautiful mastermind plot to send his ass home. Tbh he's just gotten too shady. It seems like every round it gets back to me that Nathan has been working some plan that he never told me about. And Nick was always the leak so with him gone Idk how I can trust Nathan anymore. But I feel solid with The FB Bois and with Brian's steal a vote in his pocket we should be able to control the majority from here on out. There's a lot of "hopefully"s in my head right now.

The challenge didn't go so well because I was sleep deprived and reaction time was slow. I don't think Im going to win. It is crazy though that it is the Final 7 already. Im closely working with Nathan in this game. I would totally go to the end with him. This is where we can make a move to keep the majority. Nathan says he is able to get Annabelle's vote and I think I can get Bryce's vote which means that's 4 and enough to send either Matt, Sharky, or Brian home. It sucks cuz I'm also working with Sharky and Brian but both haven't really talked game game to me. They have told me the vote but not really strategy talk. So I feel like I rather side with Nathan, who actually talks to me about strategy. We have to wait and see who wins immunity to really make a plan for tribal.

i really wanted to uh win immunity but JKFASKJ guess thats never gonna happen. i was like how can anyone flop at this simon says game and well. love simon outsold... i want to get annabelle out this round but now it can be hard without the blanket of protection that immunity brings what if it backfires. we still have brians steal a vote tho so thats 3 votes and we'd only need one more barring another idol. speaking of idols i still have NOTHING.

Okay now I'm starting to feel a little guilty. Nathan just came to me stressing. He's never made it this far and he feels like he's so close but he's feeling the pressure to build his resume. I get all of those feelings. And I know if I'm the one to betray him and ruin his streak I stand no chance of getting his jury vote. I'm feeling so conflicted. Nathan is a threat and I can't trust him. But I finally understand why he's been such a mess throughout the merge. What do I do?

So remember how I said I felt bad for Nathan? OVER IT. So I wanted to vote him out this go around. But then I was unsure. And I told him it would be easiest to just vote Bryce. AND HE TOLD BRYCE. I'm over it. he's doing literally too much. He's never made it this far and it shows. Like scrambling and betraying your allies who had your back and EVEN FORGAVE YOU WHEN YOU LIED TO US. Like It's not cute.

ok so heres the tea mawmaw henny. ... anyways i um love stream of consciousness writing NNN so sharky doesnt trust me and wants me out but like everyone tells me why doesnt he trust me ive been nothing but honest anyways gays cant be trusted. but maynor sharky and anna wanna vote matt. and matt wants to vote maynor/anna and i wanna vote anna with brian so idk im just scared that if we use brians vote steal we'll be in danger at f6 maybe voting matt is smarter like if they just voted sharky id be down but i dont want to go into f6 with sharky AND nathan/anna

So I forgot to vote last round before I literally passed the fuck out after work... how sad! Nick still did go, just like I had worked on... But I'm OK again because I won immunity //again// (a physical threat...) so therefore I'm safe for yet another round. It's worrying because if I ever lose I become a huge target for the vote, and I think this round is very risky bisky.... but it'll also finally draw the final lines in the sand with people I want to go to the end with.

I've decided that Nathan's messiness and choice in allies is what strays me away from him. I love Annabelle, but her relationship with Sharky is what deters me from going further with her. I like Maynor, but his sketchiness during every tribal is what deters me from going further with him. If Nathan got over his obsession with voting for Matt... Every. Single. Round... then maybe I'd feel better about this all. If he threw out Sharky, then whew, let's do it! Nathan is one of my favorite people ever, and he's so enjoyable to talk to... his big ass heart is what's making me feel so fucking bad about this decision, but I think it's what's best for me.

At the moment, I'm seeing a very iffy chance at winning come final tribal time, but I still have a fighting spirit to get there and to dominate final tribal. I'm just worried about losing all respect from people like Nathan, Sharky, and Annabelle when I vote them out. I know it's very plausible, so I have to start planning around that. I have to be able to manage talking about a dominating game and also owning up to being shitty from time to time.

Ideally, I'll be sitting in final 4 with Bryce, Matt, and someone else (it's between Maynor and Nathan/Annabelle). I know Sharky has to go, but I also have to be ready to work around him making finals with me. Final 3 situation ideally would be with Matt and Bryce and then final 2 with whomever I see it easier to beat. And that's all the tea I have for now.

To have tied in the immunity record and also be confirmed top 6... I'm so proud of myself and what I have done given all the time restraints I've had in this game so far. It's impressive, if I do say so myself. I really hope I can make people proud of me... and even if I go in 6th, I know I did the damnest fucking thing and fought my ass off.

Annajane, Matty, Jack, Jones, and Drew..., thank you for believing in me enough to cast me for this season. I hope I don't let you guys down and haven't yet.

Marie, I hope I'm making you proud by still being here!! I'm trying really hard every day to ensure one of us could do the damn thing.

Zacky, Tobi, Loris, Scott, Justin... and to really anyone out there rooting for me... thank you! I may not know everyone who is rooting for me, but I really appreciate any support you've given me this season!!

So I think this vote might be the breaking point for me and Annabelle. If we're really coming after Nathan I can't tell her. I also told her that Matt's idol was the merge idol which isn't true. But the fact that she asked makes me think she doesn't know another idol is out there. Which is a great sign. I feel bad but I'm worried if she has to choose between me and Nathan she may choose Nathan. Ugh

God I am SO over these people! Like i seem to be the perpetual target every single round! And it is quite demoralising tbh. I seem to be the easy target cause Brian has immunity and Sharky has got close with Annabelle. and we 3 are a "trio!!!" who apparently need breaking up, even though nathan really needs to like fuck off out of here. I appreciate how hard the man is playing but he's just coming off as a dick now. As he has said, he wants to basically be fuck buddies with Brian to the end, which is not a cute look for him, riding Brians coat tails to the end where he will clearly be beaten. I am just SO over it. At least I _should_ be safe (and should is the correct term here) cause we will have bryce with us hopefully going into this vote but if i leave, i leave. I just want these people gone so I can have a stress free game for ONCE. Like please just fuck off out of here and LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE.

ok so idk whats going to happen sharky threw my name out but now says he didnt and since i want him to vote with me i just say oh ya ofc i believe u. like i want anna out but sharky/matt wants nathan and maynor/anna/nathan want matt. what about what *i* want...

Today is the day where Nathan and I take majority with Bryce and Annabelle anf get rid of Matt or our plans come crashing down in flames. Either way we are making a move. I just hope we prevail and things go our way and our plan doesnt leak.

brian is amazing i need another immunity win so we can just have ari stans only winning immunities. i'm nervous because like this tribal is like anyone can really go the next few rounds but i feel like people still don't think i'm a threat but idk we'll see this game is really like i'm not sure.

So now Matt is pitching Maynor because we couldn't choose between Anna and Nathan. But they still want to keep it a secret. And that's a terrible idea. We're going to do all this lying and plotting and then vote out the smallest threat. That's a wasted opportunity. I could get behind voting for Maynor but I'm not going to lie to Anna to do it. Plus they want to do it for fear of advantages but like...if Anna or Nathan have anything they'll definitely use it at F6 if we lie to them about the vote. We're overcomplicating this.

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ok so like im gone.. idk its so hard to know whos telling the truth. what if sharky leaks to anna i want her out. like anna/maynor/nathan SHOULD be doing matt which means that like as long as me and brian vote together ill at most have 2 votes against me so maybe 3-2-2 but i really trust matt so i feel like he'll vote with us. i really dont wanna vote nathan out when anna is still here... bc she'll go to sharky so quick and take maynor with her. im trying to think of damage control if things do go bad ill just have to tell nathan i wanted anna out bc i thought he was closer to her than me and then maynor idk what to say NNNN... also sharky made an alliance with me matt brian and him but didnt tell me before hand lol love that.. i feel like the abi maria of the season idk why... or like the gabby who doesnt get her way AJSDHFKJA so sad... anyway im a goner :(

It looks like Brian, Matt, and Sharky are voting Bryce. While they think Bryce will vote Sharky. Me, Nathan, Annabelle, and Bryce are doing Matt which will suprise them. I think imma have to do lots of damage control with Brian and Sharky cuz last time I voted differently than they did, Sharky was fine since it wasnt him but Brian was made he was lied to. So like oopsie. But hey its the game of survivor and sometimes you have to lie who ur voting for.

Okay so...I amde a questionable choice...a VERY questionable choice. I told Annabelle everything (almost). She came to me and confessed the Matt plan because she didn't want me to be blindsided. Which verified all me feeling about fighting to save her. So I told her the truth (almost). I said Bryce leaked all of that info to us. I told her the 4 of us came together. I didn't tell her we named it the Fajita Fellas. That's just for us. But then I told her that I had protected her and got the vote on Maynor. Now if there is an idol played it will be on Maynor and Nathan will still go home. I'll send her a PM during the voting and be like SOS it's switching to Nathan. That way I cover my ass. Now I'm just trying to calm Brian down because he is ANXIOUS. Can people just chill out

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Nathan is voted out 4-3.

#episode #allmadhere

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enguardebitch · 7 years

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Top 3 twdg seasons?

1. My absolute favourite season has to be Season One. The plot and the writing had a goal and understood what they wanted to get across to the player, and they were not afraid of using mature themes without going overboard and leaving the player apathetic to what happens next. You had dozens of moments in the season where you could take a breather and just walk around while getting to know the characters that you’re trying to survive with, helping the player learn their fears, their doubts but also what keeps them going when everything else goes to shit.

Not only that, but all the choices in the game weren’t meaningless or had unfortunate implications about you or Lee. No matter how trivial the choice was, there was always some sort of effect that happened later on, whether it was the relationship you had with another character or who would even be there later on. The main success over this is because, no matter what we choose, we have to think about how it would affect Clementine. Whether we choose to feed her back at the motor inn, whether we choose to steal from an abandoned car or if someone’s life was in our hands, even to the point of whether Lee chooses to fix the swing rather than let Andrew St.John do it, it always had an effect on Clementine and you knew about that effect.

Last point of my reason is simply the protagonist. Lee was a man who lost everything but was given another chance when the apocalypse came and ruined everything for everyone. It’s like Lilly said, it’s good for Lee that everyone’s lives were ruined shortly after his. Taking care of Clementine, protecting a life, is Lee’s way of redeeming after he took a life. Even outside of player control, Lee has some personality, some character, that comes through when he is interacting with his world, whether it’s something as trivial as how he reacts to looking at a picket fence, or how his dialogue options differ depending on his character being in a certain situation. You felt like you were Lee, but you also felt like Lee was a character outside of your control, and this bond the player has with him is why it hurts so badly when he eventually dies at the end of the season.

2. A New Frontier is a close second for me because, while it’s an improvement over Season Two, this season did show some of the faults that brought the previous season down so much. The plot isn’t as haywire but sadly it still goes into a plot where it just goes by so fast that the player doesn’t really have time to register what had happened. After being at a community for half of the first episode, and then ten minutes into the second one, we’re suddenly forced out by the season’s main antagonists and find ourselves stuck with a wounded family member and another settlement to travel too, which oddly feel much like Clementine and her group trying to get to Wellington with a pregnant Rebecca, only for Rebecca to die and the group looking after an infant.

The player isn’t given any time to feel for these people. Every death in Season One was felt, you knew some bits about a character that when the time came for them, you would feel more for them rather than just accept their death without so much as blinking. However, despite the fast pace of the plot, I do find myself more interested in the plot because we have some influence on it. With the choices, Telltale had improved and made me enjoy what I enjoyed in Season One. While some choices lead to nowhere and even then have anti-climatic endings, such as Ava/Tripp dying in Episode 5, there are choices that have an impact on the game even from ones where I didn’t really expect the choices to influence the story like this. The main one I’m thinking of is the Clementine choices.

While the choices failed to affect the story in the immediate sense, they did have an overall effect on Clementine’s character, whether or not she would choose to trust people again or keep her guard up because of all the loss and trauma that she went through over the four years. Based on your choices, she can and will leave a boy who she has a crush on with his mentally unstable father to help Kate save a community that had wanted nothing more than her and her group dead, as well as being responsible for taking her only hope left from her. On the other hand, she will help Gabe whether Javier goes with her or not, leaving a teenage girl to fend off walkers by herself while saving the rest of Javier’s family.

Clementine’s character in this grows, and you can see how she is at the beginning vs how she is in the end. She learns that even though there are people out there that will hurt you, there are also people out there that can help you and you do not have to survive this world alone. Even the protagonist, Javier, made me like the season more mostly for his humorous quips about everything around him and his obvious love for his family, and while some characters put me off and some are either cliche, boring or underdeveloped, this puts A New Frontier as my second choice.

3. This leaves Season Two as my least favourite season. I may have been put off after the masterpiece that is Season One, but all the flaws of Season Two are glaringly obvious even when I look back after a couple of years. The writing doesn’t seem to go anywhere, with Clementine being pushed from the child that we see at the end of the last season to a completely different character with only ten minutes at the beginning dedicated to explaining why she became like this. We never got to see that development from a young girl mourning the loss of her guardian to a preteen who can, and will, defend herself without another thought of the danger that she’s facing.

The spotlight goes to uninteresting, terrible and off-putting characters like Jane, Kenny and even Luke, while other characters that should’ve been given development were shoved to the side before being unceremoniously killed off with very little build up. Sarah is the main culprit of this, and the one character I firmly believe should have made it to the end and be with Clementine into ANF rather than Kenny or Jane. She mirrored what Clementine could have been if Lee never taught her how to defend herself, even worse if he died before she could learn the skills she needed to learn. Carlos may have thought he was doing the best thing for his daughter, but he was just stunting her growth into a survivor that could still go on even when he was gone.

It’s not just Sarah that suffers from this. Nick, Pete, Sarita, even Carver was turned from a charming villain who made good points to a sociopath that murdered another man just because he didn’t pick berries fast enough, and then destroyed any narrative that the game was trying to set up for Clementine. In this season, it should have been about who Clementine could trust, and how she grew from a little girl thrust into the world without her guardian to protect her anymore to a jaded survivor that could fight off walkers and smear herself in blood without giving it much thought. The problem is, both parties were so bad that I feel like Clementine couldn’t trust any of them.

The Cabin Group almost shot her, before throwing her in a shed to die of an infection from her dog bite, Kenny emotionally abuses her and alienates everyone from the group before murdering the only other adult there that Clementine had any sort of attachment too, Jane tried to manipulate Clementine into leaving Kenny by lying that AJ had died, as well as spending all her screen time convincing Clementine that it was best for an eleven year old to go at it alone rather than be with a group, while the game made point that the first time Clementine is truly alone, her choices left her worse off with a dog bite. Even then, when Christa and Omid left her alone in the bathroom, she leaves her gun and the situation ends up with Omid dead and Christa and Clementine’s relationship in ruins.

Even Carver, who told Clementine not to trust people who didn’t trust her, ended up being a tyrant who was also an abusive rapist that murdered his victim’s husband. Not only that, but every time Clementine meets someone who isn’t a jaded survivor or just a complete asshole, they die. Sarita gets bit, Sarah is eaten by walkers no matter what you do to save her, Walter is shot by Carver, Matthew is shot in the neck by Nick. Even when Clementine herself shows compassion, she is immediately punished for it. That’s not a message I agree with in a game, even one about zombies.

There’s also the choices. None of them really feel like they make an impact, where when you choose there is always gonna be a repercussion to what you just did, just like how Lee’s choices affected how people around him reacted, or who was even there to begin with on his journey. Hell, if Lee is an asshole at the wrong times, he is killed because people won’t tolerate him acting that way just because he’s the main character. The problem with this is Clementine’s an eleven year old girl, and the writers were likely uncomfortable with making any real consequence to her actions. If you choose to reveal to Rebecca that you know that Alvin may not be the baby’s biological father, she reacts in the moment but it doesn’t come back up again, and she doesn’t react negatively to Clementine for basically blackmailing her with the fact that she was raped by Carver and the baby might be his.

If you’re a complete asshole to everyone around you, they don’t bat an eyelash and it’s soon forgotten. One example where this isn’t the case is where Sarah says that she and Clementine are not friends if you behaved horribly with her, but then she gets killed not five minutes later and it doesn’t matter again. Even the one choice where Clementine has real influence on her surroundings, the Jane vs Kenny choice, she is still left off the worst. She could either be with a woman who lied and manipulated her, as well as having abandoned her once before, a man who screamed at her, smacked her in the face and then doesn’t even apologize for it, even going as far as taunting her if she watched him murder the tyrant who basically kidnapped her, or Clementine could face the daunting fact that she is going to grow up in a horrible world alone while caring for a baby.

In the end, no matter what Clementine picked, she always loses.

#//long post #twdg #twdg clementine #twdg lee #twdg javier #ask

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wiersema1 · 7 years

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Those that know me best know that college football is truly my favorite sport. You know what gets me pumped for college football season? I absolutely L-O-V-E ESPN’s countdown of their Top 25 Games of last season. They do this every year in July and August as they prep for the upcoming season on the gridiron. When they started their countdown, I happened to catch the 23rd best game of 2016, #23 Florida St. at #10 Miami from Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, FL.

By the way, have you seen the revamped Hard Rock Stadium? Hard Rock Stadium might confuse you, but this is the place that used to be known under the following seven names: Joe Robbie Stadium, Pro Player Park, Pro Player Stadium, Dolphin Stadium, Land Shark Stadium, and Sun Life Stadium. For the first time, it is finally a great looking park. They added a partial roof which must help against that scorching Florida sun. Anyway, it looks like a place I’d enjoy checking out a game.

Someday. But for now, I’m driving my son to closer stadiums. This Autumn…..Purdue in West Lafayette, Indiana where we’ll see the beloved Huskers of Nebraska at Purdue on October 28.

I know……..not too exciting but it’s all part of seeing each and every B1G stadium. So far I’ve been to games at Iowa, Michigan, Northwestern, Wisconsin, and of course Nebraska and Illinois. I’ve also been to Minnesota and Indiana on non-game days. So that leaves us with Ohio St., Penn St., Maryland, Michigan St., Rutgers, and of course, Purdue.

So here is the list of ESPN’s Top 25 games of 2016:

#25 – Florida St. 45 vs Ole Miss 34 – An offensive explosion. The QB’s in this one, Deondre Francois for FSU and Chad Kelly for Ole Miss inspired both teams to dream of the National Championship. Unfortunately for Ole Miss, Kelly was injured in his 9th game. They went 4-5 in his 9 starts but the offense wasn’t the problem for the Rebels. Their defense allowed 34.0 ppg! As for Francois, he played like a freshman at times, but a wonderfully talented freshman. Going into ’17, Francois is a Heisman contender and FSU is a National Championship contender, starting the season ranked #3.

#24 – Toledo 53 at BYU 55 – Brigham Young’s RB Jamaal Williams ran for 286 yards and 5 TD in this crazy 55-53 victory. This brought back shades of the ‘Wild Wild WAC’ days of yesteryear.

#23 – Pittsburgh 36 at North Carolina 37 – Both Pitt and UNC played in plenty of tight games in ’16. This one was no different.

#22 – Alabama 10 at LSU 0 – I don’t remember watching this one last year (or this year). Maybe I’m just all “Bama’d” out. Does this ten to nothing shutout surprise you? This was a typical SEC slobberknocker, I’m guessing.

#21 – N.C. State 17 at Clemson 24 (OT) – How many tight games did Clemson win in 2016? They won seven games by 7 points or less. They lost one. Spoiler alert! They finished as National Champions with a 14-1 record. That makes tight victories like this all the more important. When the Wolfpack took them to Overtime last October, it improved a shaky Clemson team to 7-0 with 4 tight wins. Most people were wondering what in the world was going on with them. I’ll tell you what was going on. They were forging bonds during tough, hard-fought wins that ultimately propelled them to legends.

#20 Central Michigan 30 at Oklahoma St. 27 – Games like this are what makes college football a special game. Remember this one? CMU threw a Hail Mary after Okie St. was penalized for throwing the ball out-of-bounds on a 4th down as time ran out. The refs wrongly gave CMU one un-timed down because of the Cowboys intentional grounding. So what do you think was gonna happen? Central Michigan caught the Hail Mary, the WR ran it all the way into the end zone after catching it in play and making an incredible run. CMU won! As for Oklahoma State?…….Talk about getting hosed!!!! They finished 11-2……I mean 10-3 doh! The NCAA referees acknowledged their mistake after the game but to no avail. You can’t open up Pandora’s box afterwards.

PS: A similar play happened here in Illinois in the IHSA high school state playoffs between Fenwick and Plainfield North. I know! What is wrong with these referees! If you don’t know for sure, get out the rulebook and consult with IHSA officials or Athletic Directors or somebody before you end up forcing a judge to sit through a courtroom case brought about by a lawsuit. In this case, Fenwick got hosed, losing 18-17 in OT! I can’t believe this really happened twice within a couple of months! Who got screwed more? I vote for Fenwick. They lost a playoff game whereas Oklahoma St. only lost a non-conference game that luckily, ultimately, didn’t derail their championship hopes. As for Fenwick, I’ll be cheering for them this Autumn.

#19 LSU 13 at Auburn 18 – Oh my God! Reliving these fantastic games is wonderful. Remember this one? In what turned out to be Coach Les “The Hat” Miles’ last game as LSU head coach, the Tigers (which one?) thought they threw a game-ending 15 yard TD pass. But wait! The officials reviewed it and determined that the snap on the last play was too late. The game clock had indeed just barely run out before the Tigers’ (which one?) center snapped the ball prior to the miraculous game winner. So who won? The Tigers……naturally. (ICYMI, Auburn’s ‘War Eagle’ won……naturally rather than the LSU “Geaux” Tigers. People wonder why our youth are so confused. I’m confused both reading AND writing this column. Whatever man, “This is the SEC!” I could probably delve into a whole sub-article here about academics in the B1G (Big Ten) vs the SEC but I’ll spare you.) Thanks Dutch!

#18 Ohio St. 30 at Wisconsin 23 (OT) – This was a solid B1G game. This column is getting too long so I’ll refrain from commenting on this one. Oh wait. I have a question for you: Is “Jump Around” a tradition? I mean, this tradition started based on a lousy 90s rap/crap/hip-hop song from 1992? Is that a tradition? Maybe the B1G is dumber, and closer to the SEC, than I thought. I know what you’re thinking……all my Wisky friends are enraged and throwing a fit right now, and possibly “unfollowing” the Dutch Lion concurrently.

#17 Florida St. 20 at Miami 19 – This one brought back memories of earlier games in this once national series but 2016’s edition was not a truly fantastic matchup. It’s good clean hate but it lacks the buildup of what it once was…..one of the greatest meaningful rivalries that the entire nation watched with eyes wide open. Did someone say “wide”, as in “Wide Right!”?

#16 Michigan 13 at Iowa 14 – Great game! Michigan had a perfect 9-0 record, ranked #2 going into Iowa City. Iowa was #1 (you’re dreaming again, of 1985!) In 2016 Iowa was unranked but primed for an upset of Jim Harbaugh. Is Iowa Jim Harbaugh’s kryptonite? Nonetheless, outside of the Hawkeyes current struggles, it was “Shades of 1985!” Seriously, it was eerie. Here’s a column I wrote last Autumn, detailing one of my all-time favorite college games that made me love the sport forever:

“How weird is it that Iowa beat Michigan 14-13 in almost the same way with almost the same score as when they beat Michigan 12-10 in 1985????

My favorite upset of the day was definitely Iowa over Michigan because it brought back so many memories of the epic 1985 #1 vs #2 matchup in Iowa City. It was October 19, 1985. I remember that day well for being 31 years ago. It’s like “Back to the Future”. I was a 10-year-old raking leaves on a cloudy, overcast, rainy October day in the Midwest.

The weather in Iowa City, IA was pretty much the same as Lake Zurich, IL on that day. You had CBS, you had Brent Musburger, you had Chuck Long quarterbacking one team while Jim Harbaugh QB’d the other. Boy, Chuck Long had an arm, huh! You could hear the pads popping the way they did in that era, especially when you had a wet field. For some reason, the pads “popped” differently back then.

You had Ronnie Harmon and Larry Station. I mean seriously, how GOOD was Ronnie Harmon! You had Jamie Morris. You had Bo Schembechler vs Hayden Fry! You had NO instant replay and Iowa’s #87 Scott Helverson got HOSED in the back of the end zone.

You had Rob Houghtlin, making 4 of 5 FG’s including the game winner for Iowa to win 12-10. He was allowed to use the tee. Do you guys remember that placekickers were allowed to use tees? I know, right?

You had that weird moment in time in which the QB could “complain” to the refs about crowd noise and the ref would actually STOP the game and tell the crowd to be quiet so that the QB could communicate with his teammates. I KNOW, RIGHT! Can you believe this actually was a rule for a brief moment in time?!? (I need to look into that further. Did the NFL impose that rule? For how many years? How subjective was it?) Harbaugh was complaining to the refs for parts of that game that made it drag. It was SUPER DUMB! What were the refs supposed to do? Do they penalize Iowa for….the fans being too loud? I want an ESPN 30 for 30 short about this strange story.

Nonetheless, don’t let that ruin your experience. It ended up being such a great day for the Big Ten, for College Football on CBS, for Ara Parseghian (God bless his soul as he just recently passed away) as the “color” man next to Brent. It was great for our Nation’s Heartland. Remember the struggles of the farming community in the mid-80s? Iowa’s farmers actually had an “ANF” logo on the Iowa helmets…..”America Needs Farmers”. I know, right!

Add it all up and it almost makes you want to become an Iowa fan……well, it wasn’t THAT cool 😉 I’m just kidding. It was really, really cool and near the top of my list of cool 80s college football memories.”

(For some reason, footage of this great game is hard to find. Stephen Barnett has most of the old great games posted as FULL games on Youtube.) Thank you Stephen. You’re a video God.)

1985 looks about the same as….

Iowa 14 Michigan 13 in 2016.

#15 North Carolina 37 at Florida St. 35 – I don’t think I watched this one live, unlike most of the games on this list. Now that the Bears drafted Mitch Trubisky, I have extra interest. Check it out and scout #10 in powder blue!

#14 Arkansas 41 at TCU 38 (2OT)

#13 Army 21 vs Navy 17 – This rivalry is so special. Lately, Navy wins almost every year. Not last year. Army broke a long, 14 game losing streak, winning 21-17. I watch it just to see the passion of the cadets and the midshipmen. Who cares who wins? Well, Army and Navy vets do. My buddy Bush is an Army guy. “Go Army, Beat Navy!” My buddy Thomas Sullivan Magnum, P.I. is a Navy guy. “Go Navy, Beat Army!”

#12 Tennessee 38 at Texas A&M 45 (2OT) – Another nutty game. Go watch it. You’ll see.

#11 Orange Bowl: Florida St. 33 vs Michigan 32 – I remember Michigan DE Taco Charlton ripping guys heads off. FSU won on Francois’s game-winning TD pass with 36 seconds left.

#10 Clemson 37 at Florida St. 34 – Fantastic game! The Tigers and Seminoles have such a long-lasting rivalry and it continues to play out better than ever the last few years. Both are National Title contenders as of late and they always seem to play tight ballgames. This is one of the newest great rivalries that isn’t getting enough hype. The winner of this game has won the ACC Atlantic Division Championship how many years in a row? The answer is 8. Every year since 2009. Each team has won 4 times. It’s probably gonna happen again in 2017, this time in Death Valley, South Carolina on November 11. Look for this year’s version to make next year’s Top 25……again.

#9 Alabama 48 at Ole Miss 43 – The Ole Miss Rebels seem to be the only team that can hang with the Crimson Tide the last few years. Last year, Ole Miss had a huge 24-3 lead, but then what happened? Oh, you know!

#8 Ohio St. 21 at Penn St. 24 – I was all geared up for this one. Good game in the 3rd quarter. Then all of a sudden the Chicago Cubs won the NL for the first time since 1945. All the local stations including ABC-7 (the only station showing OSU at PSU) decided they had to show the bozos celebrating in the streets. Ok. I’ll watch that for a minute or two. But ruin the entire, amazing 4th quarter comeback by PSU in Happy Valley? Call me furious! What a shame. Thanks for ruining an electric game atmosphere by showing people looting and pouring beers all over their idiot friends because their lovable losers finally won a league for the first time in 72 years. PSU! More like P-U. You stink!

#7 Notre Dame 47 at Texas 50 (2OT) – Good opening weekend capper on Labor Day weekend. Who is better, Malik Zaire or DeShone Kizer? Hmmmmm. Kizer threw for 5 TD. Zaire……he stunk more than Cubs fans. Who stunk more than Zaire? Head Coach Brian Kelly! If he had just declared Kizer the starter prior to the game, they may have avoided not only this loss but 7 others throughout that disastrous 2016 season. Coaches have off years too. Kelly admits he did a poor job in ’16. Another bad year soon and as the Hawk says, “He Gone!”

#6 Tennessee 34 at Georgia 31 – I’ve seen the end a billion times, but I’m still dying to watch the entire game that led up to that crazy ending. I have it saved on the DVR. Both teams’ fans were dumbstruck in the last minute. Spoiler alert…..not one but two Hail Mary’s!!!

#5 Louisville 36 at Clemson 42 – This game had one of the greatest buildups I’ve ever seen on television! Did you watch this? It was an ABC Saturday Night classic. Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit were there and ABC showed the traditional Clemson run down the hill and touching Howard’s Rock. What made this one unique was ABC had cameras outside in the street showing the bus that drove the players and Coach Dabo Swinney to the entrance gates above Howard’s Rock. Incredible intensity! (start watching at about 10 minutes in until at least the end of Louisville’s 1st series at about 21 minutes in) I felt like I was there. Honestly, the crowd and atmosphere brewed up one of the top experiences I’ve ever seen on TV. I had it saved preciously on my AT&T U-Verse DVR until those AT&T bozos screwed up and lost all my recordings earlier this Summer. Thanks AT&T! Rather, thank god for Youtube. I NEED to attend a Clemson night game someday to experience this in person. Nonetheless, this game at #5 on the countdown, will live in my memory, hopefully forever.

#4 Pittsburgh 43 at Clemson 42 – How many times was Clemson on this Top 25 list? The answer is five, with four in the top 10! That’s insane and hard to believe. That’s what makes them all the more important, knowing that they won the Championship. When DeShaun Watson threw a late interception on a bad pass into the end zone, I recall thinking, “DeShaun will just not be a good pro QB”. Then as the NFL Draft approached, I desperately wanted the Chicago Bears to take Watson 3rd overall. As it turned out, I’m really happy the Bears selected North Carolina’s Mitch Trubisky. Meanwhile, Houston drafted Watson and the whole time since, I keep thinking about that Pitt interception.

#3 Michigan 27 at Ohio St. 30 (2OT) – Wow! This was a really great game. Double Overtime!! Incredibly tough defense throughout most of the game as regulation ended with a 17-17 tie. Ohio St. won 30-27 with some controversial measurements, penalty calls, LACK of penalty calls. Everyone was talking about Coach Jim Harbaugh’s ranting on the sidelines. Well, he’s a Bo Schembechler guy and after some of these referees calls, Jimmy is http://widgets.boxxspring.com/MjA1NSw0MDUzNzM1OA” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>bitter…..bitter!

I don’t blame Harbaugh. I would’ve been stretched to my limits if I was a Michigan man too. We’re already beginning to see shades of the “Ten Year War”! Depending on the length of the Harbaugh/Meyer Era, we have just embarked on what will likely go down as the “Ten Year War: Part 2”. So far, Urban Meyer leads 2-0. When will Harbaugh “put one on the board”? I’m betting on ’17. The game is in Ann Arbor on November 25.

#2 Rose Bowl: Penn St. 49 vs USC 52 – This could’ve been the best game of the year. Every time I watch and re-watch I’m just amazed by this nutty game. Ultimately, Trace McSorley was a little too aggressive, throwing 3 interceptions and showing his sophomore inexperience as PSU’s first time starting quarterback as they were outscored 17-0 in the 4th quarter. Meanwhile, over on the other sideline USC sophomore QB Sam Darnold was proving why he’s a top option for next year’s NFL Draft. He threw for 453 yards and 5 TD in one of the all-time greatest Rose Bowls.

#1 National Championship: Clemson 35 vs Alabama 31 – ‘Bama hardly ever loses. But when they do, it’s so much fun to enjoy! Hunter Renfrow’s game-winner with 1 second left was the stuff dreams are made of. Congratulations to Watson, Renfrow, Dabo Swinney, and all of the Clemson Tigers fans who have waited since 1981 to experience that National Championship feeling all over again.

So there you have it. Another amazing season. What does 2017 have for us? It all starts this week. Pumped much?

A Summer Tradition: ESPN’s Top 25 College Football Games from last season! Those that know me best know that college football is truly my favorite sport. You know what gets me pumped for college football season?

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