I'm still seeing a lot of angry takes in the tags about how excessive Watcher's current costs are and how all fans really want, apparently, is "just shane and ryan sitting in a basement" back again. While I do think Watcher is probably spending over budget and that's a real issue, a lot of the takes I'm seeing show a fundamental misunderstanding of how video production works and where costs actually lie. So a few quick things that I just keep seeing that are bothering me:

It was never just Shane and Ryan in a basement. BFU did a great job selling that conceit and making sure you never saw anyone beyond them and maybe TJ, but they absolutely had other crew members with them on ghost hunts and they didn't do all the work on BFU themselves. This Q&A from Season 2 lists 36 people on staff for Buzzfeed Unsolved. It's fair to make arguments that Watcher may or may not need 25 people, but those arguments should not be coming from a place of "before it was just Shane and Ryan and nobody else."

If you don't know how many people are needed to make a professional video from a TV/film standpoint, you will not have a reasonable grasp of why Watcher wants to keep 25 people on staff. Sure, some YouTubers get by with a ring light and a contracted editor. The Watcher team have stated repeatedly that they do not want to work as just YouTubers and see themselves more as a production studio—so why do people keep referencing the YouTube model to understand their business? This is like asking the local shake shop why it doesn't function like the kids' lemonade stand down the block. The item category is similar but they're not trying for the same products or process.

The "gold dusted food" is not the big budget sink you think it is. On most TV shows I've worked on it's normal to partner with businesses that are shown onscreen and work out a deal where the price of the product (in this case the gold food) is reduced or eliminated in exchange for the free publicity. Watcher very likely made a deal with every restaurant it worked with to make the Korea trip affordable for the company. The real budget spends are on things you're probably not seeing but that still matter: camera and lighting equipment is expensive, insurance for that equipment is expensive, business overhead and paying your staff are expensive. So again—it's fine to critique Watcher for the streaming plan and the perceived budgetary issues, but go into this knowing the costs might not be coming from the things you see onscreen.

My source is that I work in TV and film and actually have a clue on how the industry functions. Again, 36 people worked on Unsolved (and those were the people mention in Season 2—who knows how big the team blew up past that in later seasons). Entertainment work is real work, and demands decent equipment, competent staff, and the same types of business and budget problems you'd find in any other business (overhead, staffing, etc.). Feel free to critique Watcher's business model, but first try to understand where that model is coming from and what goals it's attempting to serve.

I finished that dressup game I said I was working on !! would very appreciate people giving it a go because I spent literally a week on this. like 7 days off work doing nothing but drawing clothes lmao

in order to make the different body types work without ballooning up the file size way more than it already is, I had to make it so you choose your skin tone twice. in meiker you can't arrange the order elements appear in, but I recommend starting with these two options to pick out your body type and skin tone first, since some options look better on certain bodies imo

also !! meiker !! I don't hear people talk about it much, but it's really cool I like it a lot! it's like picrew, but instead of uploading a bunch of pngs, you arrange and label your layers in folders and upload a single psd file. personally I liked the process a lot more than picrew because I'd rather work with one big file than a million tiny image files, but that's just me. plus you can make the images bigger than you can on picrew too

also posting this again since I can attach it to a post with the game, but I made a tutorial on how to create a bunch of colour options super fast if you want to make your own dressup game. there's no way I'd have nearly as many options if I didn't know how to do this. once you understand the actions feature you can do so much stuff so much more efficiently it's insane it's like my favourite photoshop feature

Hang on wait. Probably been said already but I'm watching the stream so it's on my mind.

I think it's something to say how Gabriel's two phases work in both of his boss battle. Judge of Hell (3-2) starts out with his very uptight, arrogant monologue- he has a role and purpose to fulfill. He truly believes that he's going to win this fight. And then, when V1 proves it can put up a fight, he gets pissed. +Enraged, phase two, he's going to destroy this pile of scrap. And then he loses.

He loses everything. His divine light has been severed. All that remains is perfect hatred. Apostate of Hate (6-2) starts with one of the best pre-boss monologues I've ever heard and then it's right into Enraged. Because Gabriel is already fucking furious. This worthless machine has taking everything from him and he's going to make it pay. There is no reason to be calm and ordeal, this machine just needs to die.

Then the fight goes on, same as last time, and Gabriel starts to learn. This fight against the machine shakes his entire faith and he enjoys it. He loves the fight. He's laughing, he's enjoying it, he's having a grand old time because for the first time ever he's fighting for his own will. Not God's, not the Council's, but his own will. The anger gives way to glee and he returns to his normal form in Phase 2, no longer enraged, but enjoying it.

And then he's defeated for the second time and all he feels is relief. Everything he has ever known, his faith, his loyalty, has been shattered. His will is now, and will forever- or, at least, for the next few hours he has left to live- be his own. All he feels is relief.

Gonna fight Raphael this morning. Wish me luck

of course there are a million and one things that go wrong in the "man on fire" fight. it's miscommunication city over there. but truly the real downturn of the fight is when stede starts being mean about ed's fish and admits outright that he only ever complimented it in the first place to make ed feel good about himself. the thing is that it was obvious to the viewer that's what's happening; ed is not a fisherman and he caught one teeny tiny fish after an entire day of fishing. it would probably be obvious to ed too, and were he in a better place in general that wouldn't be a bad thing. because that's what you do in relationships! it was also incredibly charming for stede to be animatedly invested in ed's story regardless of the fact that the fish isn't impressive — he just fucked up severely by throwing that truth back in ed's face.

it's a crux of their relationship in the same way ed's investment in the treasure hunt in "this is happening" is. like, the treasure hunt is silly, the map is not real, the experience is just tramping around in nature all day for nothing, and ed truly dgaf. the main thing lucius tells him is that if he doesn't give into the silly and have a fun time with stede their relationship just straight up will not go anywhere because this is stede showing ed how much he likes him. so ed decides he's going to have a good time for stede. everyone's happy. their romantic relationship builds.

they're both relationship turning points, one that succeeds and one that fails, and they're both from the same source (which is the source of all their relationship conflict): stede thinks that ed needs adventure and that he, as ed's friend and partner, should be the rugged adventurer type to keep ed's interest. meanwhile, ed just wants to chill out forever.

i also think it's significant that as a father, man of whimsy, etc stede has always probably been more naturally good at responding to bids for connection — he's just the first to turn it around and throw it back when his feelings get hurt. but ed, whose character arc has in many ways been about opening himself up to whimsy, had to learn to respond positively in First Serious Gay Relationship 101 (taught by Lucius Spriggs). but it's very clearly a meaningful perk of being in a relationship to him, so to have such a new and good thing ripped away from him is literally thee fatal blow of the whole thing. he says "if you're not taking my fishing seriously, fine" and then walks away for good. my man was right ...... it is everything about fishing!!!!

people will say clem should have died at the end of s4 like we didnt get the entire barn sequence. like clem didnt literally become lee in the end seeing his fate through her own eyes. like they didnt fake us out sooooo hard. like they didnt play take us back to hammer it home. the game ended on the pan out of the ericson gates and everything after that is the epilogue where things are Fine Actually and clem gets her happy ending. we got BOTH!!

like what you wanted her fate to be the same as lees? did you miss the themes throughout s4 of breaking the cycle?? did you miss aj feeling so helpless to a fate clem sees as inevitable? where all he wants is agency? where hes looking for another way?? he tells clem she wont always be able to tell him no and he was RIGHT!! he says NO to her death!! he makes his choice and SAVES HER!! she told him they couldnt be together in death and so he said then youll have to keep living!!!

and she does!!! she loses her leg but she gains a Home. a REAL ONE!! full of people who love her. where they get to choose their own paths and make their own future Together. and she finally gets some fucking Rest. a part of herself dies in that barn but a new part gets to emerge!! she gets to live a happy life surrounded by a loving community that she helps build!!! and you think she shouldve died 😐

if dorian didn't show up, do you think louis would have shot minnie?

I do. I know some people think either he wouldn't have or he would've missed so that's why the writers had him shoot Dorian instead, but mmmmmm no, I don't personally think so. I like to think that if he had taken the shot, his shaky hands would've caused him to shoot her fatally.

Mostly because I'm already so normal about the fact that of the Ericson crew, Marlon and Louis are the only ones with a body count. Well, that we know of, but shown to us in the game, at least. Plus, we know it's Louis' first kill.

Like yeah, Clementine and AJ become part of the crew and they have bigger body counts, and if we're counting indirect kills caused by actions, then Tenn has a count... and I guess everyone has blood on their hands for blowing up the boat... but I'm talking about killed directly with a weapon like....... I lied, I'm not normal about that at all, Louis and Marlon are the ones who have killed someone in Louis' route. I'm also not normal about the fact that Louis kills Dorian and then even as he's clearly in shock, he tries to go with Clementine to get AJ, and then later on when they talk about it, he says it feels like bile but not quite and he's glad he has it in him to do it.... listen, listen, listen... I'm obsessed with that.

Anyway, so if Louis shot Minerva, I think he would've accidentally killed her and can you imagine? He's already enough of a mess after killing the woman who pinned him down and tried to cut his finger off [or succeeded] but he knew Minerva, they were friends before the twins were taken. Even Violet couldn't kill her even though that would've been the smarter thing to do, and we know thanks to meta knowledge that killing her would've saved lives, but Violet couldn't, and I don't think Louis would intentionally either.

Speaking of Violet, if Louis killed Minerva, I hate to think about what that would've done to Vi. I think she might've actually left at that point, like what was planned before it got changed to her being burned. I don't think she would've attacked Louis over it, though, like yeah she attacked Clementine in the cell but Louis? I don't know, but I don't think so just because it's Louis and he'd be a mess about it anyway.

Though if he did kill her, it would be a neat parallel to draw... y'know, because Louis forgave AJ for killing Marlon even though he was pissed and heartbroken, and Violet was annoyed with him the entire time... but could she ever forgive Louis for killing Minerva? Y'know? We already have a similar parallel with AJ shooting Tenn, but still.

If Clementine killed Minerva in that moment, though, then I could see Violet attacking her since in her eyes, Clem proved her right.

So yeah, I get why they added the Dorian kill to his route. It adds another compelling element to Louis as a character, but we also need Minerva alive for episode 4; Louis can't kill her, he can't miss, and he's not going to stay with her because we need Violet to stay on the boat and him to be on shore for all routes.

thank you for the tag @fxreflyes this is so cute, except the format is trying to hinder my propensity to ramble, so i’ve rectified this in the tags lmao

i’m over 5'5 / i wear glasses or contacts / i have blonde hair / i often wear sweatshirts / i prefer loose clothing over tight clothes / i have one or two piercings / i have at least one tattoo / i have blue eyes / i have dyed or highlighted my hair / i have or have had braces / i have freckles / i paint my nails / i typically wear makeup / i don’t often smile / resting bitch face / i play sports / i play an instrument / i know more than one language / i can cook or bake / i like writing / i like to read / i can multitask / i’ve never dated anyone / i have a best friend i’ve known for over five years / i am an only child

no pressure tags for @static-radio-ao3 @inevitablestars @itsjaywalkers @carniferous @orbitfalls @transsexualpriest @futurequibblerjournalist <333

AU where Tim's family is connected to the Court of Owls rather than Dick's, and Tim decides to go undercover as a member of the Court

alt version and explanation under the cut

(Disclaimer: I know the court of owls storyline happens in the n52 continuity, but for my own sake (as i don't really like tim's whole deal in it lol) this AU is using pre-n52 backstories and characterizations)

In this AU, Janet Drake was a member of the Court of Owls, unbeknownst to Jack and Tim. Bruce eventually finds this out, but chooses to keep it from Tim to protect him. Tim, of course, finds out that Bruce is keeping this from him, and, feeling betrayed both by Bruce and his own mother, decides to infiltrate the Court on his own. The court has been sending him cryptic invitations ever since Bruce announced his initiative to improve Gotham, looking for a way into both the Wayne family and WE. As a member of the Court, Tim is able to gather information to help stop them, but in order to maintain his cover, he is forced into many situations where he is forced to choose between compromising his morals or compromising his position in the Court.

Thinking about the INSANE moral grey area of the thg victors at the minute,, these scared, small children killed 23 (or 47) other equally scared, small children in order to make it out alive. Every year afterwards the wound that is the games gets ripped open and they have to go about closing it up all over again. They can never escape the blood of the other scared little kids on their hands. They are being punished by the Capitol, made to watch other kids do what they did, for something the Capitol made them do in the first place. If they want the kids to die because they don't want them suffering the way a victor does for the rest of their lives, then they're uncaring & complicit in the tributes death. If they get the kids out, they're signing the tribute up for a life of misery. No winning. No moral high ground. Just a train ride that never stops.

"Airi-chan, you've always been my idol!"

jlb saying one of her favorite parts is writing avery through JAMESON'S eyes (when asked about the averyjameson romantic moments in the brothers hawthorne) because throughout tig, we're seeing the world, the brothers, jameson, all through avery's eyes and now in the brothers hawthorne we're going to see moments of jameson looking at avery when she's not looking and getting how he feels...... oh gosh this woman does not want me to survive

.

I think TSR played a big part in the "crybaby that wouldn't hurt a fly" perception of Silver. Silver in that game can't even comprehend other people's aggression. I think that combined with how meek and even fearful he's often drawn in IDW creates that impression of him(he cowers in fear at Blaze's flames and nervously holds her in Victory Garden and that isn't the only instance of him being frightened in that series)

About TSR, I definitely agree. Though, I looked into it more before to see if Silver would meekly let Lanolin scold him without talking back in IDW issue 63, and Silver actually does have good scenes in the English localisation! For example, he is shown at least twice to be right on Eggman's tail about what he is doing with Dodon Pa and the Ultimate Energy Engine, and even talks to Eggman once without immediately letting himself be shot down when Eggman insults him.

....But then the localisation put in that fucking Trash Talk Scene and UGH. I looked at the Japanese version, and especially Sonic is just so much more easier to bear there. The thing is, the essence of what the localisation seemed to want to convey in their conversation is absolutely there. Sonic is a bit teasing and competitive, Silver is somewhat awkward and cannot really convey what is bothering him. But Japanese!Sonic, you know, tells Silver multiple times to not worry. That they're friends who haven't seen each other in a while and that he thus would like to race with Silver because he enjoys it. He does joke a bit with Silver's worries, but when Silver expresses frustration he backtracks and goes right back to encouragement once more. None of that dumb "I'm gonna badly beat youuuuu" "I'm gonna make you look sillyyyyyy get your head in the gameeeee" "I'm gonna feed my car to youuuuu", and so on. That's not expressing happiness at being able to race with a friend who hasn't been around in a while, that's just being a smug jerk waving your self-confidence into someone's face who clearly is not interested. And then you continue ragging him on while he tries to talk about his worries, which you keep shooting down in favour of your bragging. Bah. One of English-TSR!Sonic's worst moments, imo. Not helped by Silver's altogether awful responses, like "I'm not hungry, but thanks", and not to mention the "I'm so gonna own you!" "Okay." from the racing start. Like Silv, bruh, you're constantly sneering at and mocking other racers on the track in multiple games, show some bite??? And, as seems to be happening with most of Silver's mischaracterisation by fandom, this one event gets cherrypicked to show that he's just Complete UwU Baby Who Cannot Trash Talk So Cute So Cinnamon Roll If You Look At Him Funny He'll Drown In His Own Tears.

....Yeah. Sigh. Even worse because he's got multiple good moments otherwise.

Anyway, onwards to my other current Silver-related dislike in the Sonic franchise, namely IDW! Because he can indeed be drawn strangely there, and definitely cowering like you said in your ask. Though, a Silver with huge starry eyes and shit when things go right for the heroes for a change is HELLA ooc as well. Give Tangle her stripes and tail back please :/

In my mind, Tangle was similarly starry-eyed in issue 9 as Silver in issue 26, but Silver is WORSE there. In what world is Silver more of a Manic Pixie Dream Genki Girl than Tangle???

And the annoying thing is that also in IDW he's got, in my opinion, great moments! The battle with Zomom in #28 is a no-nonsense, well-coordinated fight between Silver and Whisper wherein Silver can convey what he believes in when he gets jeered at, while showing off some slick psychic moves. In issue 30, Silver gets tons of moments to shine: he's a massive help in Sonic's attempt to reach the final Emerald with Metal Sonic on multiple fronts (carrying the Emeralds, using his powers to block the blows from that gigantic Zavok while not dropping them, getting to Sonic at the very last second so he can turn Super in time, etc.). And even if the Super battle against the gigantic Zavok goes by in mere seconds (which the comic lampshades itself), the scene wherein Sonic and Silver remove the Metal Virus from the world with Silver's PK is one I quite like as well. It shows further good coordination between Sonic and Silver, nobody is being a smug jerk, they know what they should do to save the world and do it smoothly. So also in IDW there are definitely moments to be found where Silver is just his IC self, where I would even go so far as to say that for a good 80% or so in issue 63 he is too.

...But, of course, people only look at the moments wherein he's Being Baby to support the fact that He Is Baby, so there's not a lot of people paying attention to those issues in favour of others that have him far more flanderised and dumb. For example, I quite like Victory Garden because I like the idea Silver would start a garden and seeing Blaze and Silver interact, but it doesn't give much respect for his powers (he can't even carry a bunch of equipment at once, or not slap himself right in the face with it?), throws in an obligatory It's No Use reference because Evan wrote this*, and adds some silly faces and poses here and there on him as well. And there you have it: uwu baby Silver! Not to mention the absolutely awful way Sonic treated him in issue 8, where I'd say the TSR conversation was actually bearable compared to that. Plus the fact Silver is just regularly drawn all throughout the comic as wide-eyed cute boyo in all sorts of goofy kid poses, to the point where Evan actually toned down some of her sketches for #8. (I believe there is a second example when he and Sonic first see Whisper, but Tumblr's search function is shit as always.) So yeah, both the art of IDW and the way Silver is written there tends to be on the meh side in my opinion and furthermore makes him a nice punching bag for everyone else, sigh, and those are the exact moments other fans seem to focus on for their idea of what Silver acts like in favour of actual more IC moments.

I do not know enough about what appears to be one of the root causes of this mischaracterisation of Silver: namely Archie, the stories of the various issues Silver was in, and the fandom's general mindset at the time. But I know enough to realise that Silver was just written plain awfully there, and it bothers me that Silver The Punching Bag (both by comic characters and writers alike, really) from that comic just seems to have gotten carried right over into IDW next. And now we indeed have fans see Silver as a massive cry-baby with half a braincell who won't be able to walk two steps without perishing from something, which is fine if that is how you want to portray him for your fanwork! But it is not what an IC Silver is like, yet especially the comics portray him like that too. I will readily say that Silver seems tough to get down because he's gotten a very 'dual' personality between rude determinist and friendly world-admirer, but the fandom, comic writers, and localisers alike focus far too heavily on that latter part and twist him into someone he simply is not. And since I like seeing both parts of that personality come into play and I do not like Silver being drawn like Tangle (wide-eyed, goofy, Silly Poses Of Enthusiasm) while displaying an altogether awfully unfitting personality (dumb, overly innocent with a complete lack of rudeness or smugness, constantly being set up to be mocked by other characters), I do not like how this characterisation is what has become so pervasive in the fandom's mindset, either.

i often forget that when hearing "sonics sibling/brother" a lot of people probably think of sonia or manic before tails . sad

Replayed Modern Warfare 3 2011 on Veteran tonight and goooooooood night. Blood Brothers never gets any easier to watch no matter how many times you've done it and the ending really never misses huh

I apologize for the amount of yapping in the tags I reread it all on mobile and started giggling because it went on for so long but eh. Blessed are those who won't shut the freak up and all that