re: the hbomberguy plagiarism video again. i keep seeing people being like "this is a reminder to always check your sources" and it leaves me wondering. does anyone on this website even understand what that means

ooc. Regarding this ask, in second grade, we had for half the school year poetry class. So we learned poetry, and as I mentioned, limericks.

From there that's where I really got into writing. I dunno if it was my baby self just craved praise or maybe I did have talent then, but it made me happy to know I could write. We learned other styles of poetry, like haikus and continued from there.

But that class was my first spark into getting involved with writing. After that it was normal English classes and while I struggled a bit (jumped from English to Spanish to now fully English) I managed to be one of the more creative types in the class.

Of course no one bothered me though, I'm not artsy. No one cares about writers, even in grade school.

So. Sit with me everyone. We agree that we need to stop worshipping a person or media on the sole grounds of being gay right. Can we finally agree that it's not homophobic to criticize gay ppl with large platforms. Can we finally actually learn to think critically abt how these ppl talk abt ppl outside of their immediate identities and to recognize that just because they say they aren't bigoted doesn't mean they aren't. Please.

I'm almost done watching hbomberguy's video (I have an hour left) and it is honestly an educational experience. It's not just a brutal takedown of some guy. It's not just drama. It's an intelligent, breakdown of plagiarism and it's effects on the credibility of a person, and whatever organizations are involved. Mr. Harry points out multiple patterns found in plagiarists e.g Inflated egos, not respecting other people's work enough to even credit them and the inability to take accountability for something they have done, using words like "accidentally plagiarised" (btw saying that is like saying i picked a knife and stabbed someone 43 times on accident -unlikely) and their ultimate quest of greed the reason they chose to steal people's works. It is an excellent break down and I'm very impressed. It was a learning and teaching moment which made me realize that I wasn't educated enough on plagiarism.

It's not a punch down to James whatever his name is -that's just too simplified. it's a video that if you're a student, an academic or you basically write articles, you need to watch this guy. No for real, he taught me about siting sources and how to use references better than anyone at my secondary school or university (both failed to teach) in just 2hours. I love it!

Halcyon Dreams

When you watch any artist for a long enough time, you start to notice patterns in their work—methods they reuse, ideas they return to, themes they fixate on. Watching Harris Bomberguy's plagiarism video made me think about that.

The obvious point of comparison is that Tommy Tallarico exposeé masquerading as a video about a funny oof, since that is the last video Mr. Bomberguy put on YouTube before the plagiarism video. But watching the ROBLOX_OOF.mp4 had reminded me of an even older hbomberguy video, Halcyon Dreams: The Legacy of Dragon's Lair.

The thesis of that video is similar to ROBLOX_OOF.mp4 and Plagiarism and You(Tube). It's about how people with money and fame can use those things to erase the contributions of others, claiming that they alone are responsible for the accomplishments of entire teams.

In the introduction and conclusion of Halcyon Dreams, Mr. Bomberguy mentions how Geoffrey of Monmouth claimed that Stonehenge was constructed by a single legendary wizard, rather than a bunch of skilled but otherwise unremarkable masons and architects.

He compares the way Don Bluth receives credit and recognition for projects that dozens of other animators and other artists worked on (and, in the case of Dragon's Lair, programmers and other technicians). He compares Bluth to Merlin, and it wouldn't be hard to apply that same analogy to Tommy Tallarico or any of the youtubers mentioned in the latest video.

But there's a crucial difference. OOF and Plagiarism are focused on Tallarico and the plagiarists, on Merlin, on showing the depth of the lies by these self-proclaimed wizards, focusing on the man behind the curtain. And Halcyon Dreams does talk about Don Bluth's wizardry for the first bit of the video, but then he pivots to someone else. One of the architects that helped him build Dragon's Henge.

Rick Dyer has similarities to the wizards. Like Tallarico, he named his company after himself. Like Bluth, he mortgaged his house to fund an ambitious creative project, after leaving a more famous company. But there are two crucial, interlinked differences between Dyer and the wizards. First is how few people have herd his name, second is how his creative project failed.

Most of Halcyon Dreams is about the Halcyon, and about Thayer's Quest and Kingdom: Shadoan, the remnants of Dyer's ambitious plan. It's the story of Rick Dyer, or part of it. Most of the video isn't focused on anything directly related to his thesis; Dyer's story isn't really a story about stolen valor. He just talks about Rick Dyer's creation, and just brings up the thesis to explain why he thinks it should be talked about.

OOF and Plagiarism are about people left in obscurity as others take credit for their work, in the sense that they talk about people taking credit for work done by obscure people. Halcyon Dreams is about that, in the sense that it talks about someone left in obscurity as someone took credit for (the most successful part of) his work.

If you want a palette cleanser after watching Plagiarism and You(Tube), I'd like to recommend Halcyon Dreams.

There's a lot that can be said about the Mr. Beastification of Youtube, but one of the worst symptoms of it to me is that so many thumbnails look like This now

(okay these are all from the same channel but they look so bad. also they did a collab with Internet Historian before the hbomberguy video LOL) Here's some other examples:

Even channels I otherwise like are doing this:

I don't have some grand statement about it. I just think this photoshop monstrosity of heads and limbs with hyperrealistic 8 billion saturation filters looks like complete garbage and I don't know why people click on it

Your elementary posts are inspiring me to rewatch elementary! Which is good bc i love elementary and bad bc i have so much programming homework to be doing.

Anyway, so on the topic of sherlock holmes:

Which screen (movie and tv) adaptation of sherlock holmes have you seen, and which ones do you think are best (true to original holmes) and best (most personally enjoyable to you)?

(I love your meta on fandom stuff in general - no pressure to answer tho! I just feel like you’d give an interesting reply on this)

Elementary is so good, I'm glad I inspired you to rewatch (but also, good luck with your homework lmao)

Now, to answer your question

It's worth noting that I... Did not read the original stories. Or well, I tried, but I didn't vibe with them originally (I tried to read them in high school after receiving a complete copy for my birthday from my sister), didn't get around to giving them a second chance, and eventually just exchanged my copy for some of my friend's books. So I can't really speak to how accurate any of these are to the originals, but I'll guess anyway lmao

So! Adaptations of Sherlock Holmes I've seen, in no particular order

Sherlock (BBC, 2010-2017) - first two seasons and an episode and a half of season 3

My experience of Sherlock BBC was heavily colored by superwholock and the reichenbach pause, which were the reason I watched the show in the first place, as I had not heard of the show previously. 2012-2013 Tumblr was truly another time. I believe around the same time I also binge watched the first two seasons of Game of Thrones, and I had very similar experiences with both of them: investment because they were pop culture phenomenon, and uncritical and quick consumption that left no room for my own feelings to develop. And in both cases when the third season premiered I discovered, much to my surprise, that I didn't actually like the show. I in fact had extremely pointed criticisms of the show, didn't enjoy the characters, and found the viewing experience to be tedious hard work. So... I do not like Sherlock (BBC), and never really did, although I continued to participate in superwholock as a fandom until its decline. The release of Sherlock is Garbage and Here's Why (dir. Hbomberguy, 2017) was an incredibly satisfactory experience, as it experienced my criticisms extremely well, and put to words my feelings that I hadn't even managed to turn into criticisms, plus pointing out flaws I hadn't even noticed. SiGaHW is one of my favorite films, a twice-yearly watch. Highly recommended. That said, Sherlock itself sucks and is both a bad show and has uncompelling "mysteries". Bad as an adaptation of the original stories and bad as in just bad. Bad.

Elementary (CBS, 2012-2019) - all seven seasons

I enjoy Elementary a great deal. I think it's sort of a model modern procedural, with the cases of the week nearly always being compelling to watch and the emphasis on the developing character dynamics being one of my favorite aspects. There are seasons I enjoy more or less but that's nearly always because of the ongoing subplots (Morland and Moriarty were significantly more compelling than Shinwell, for example) than the actual cases of the week, which again, are pretty much always extremely solid. I've rewatched this show several times, and I think it's extremely enjoyable. It's not perfect, but it gets points for, for example, having Mrs. Hudson be a trans woman all the way back in the early 2010s, and having an autistic woman as a love interest who felt like a genuine well rounded woman. It's also occasionally a little critical of the police in a way that stands out for a crime procedural, which is cool, but only a little. All in all, I like the show a lot, although it's not my favorite on this list. That said, the crime procedural is pretty much the most natural way to adapt the spirit of the original Holmes stories into modern day media, and it uses pretty much every notable character from the stories eventually including some of the mysteries (I really like the hounds storyline adaptation in particular!), so I think this wins best adaptation.

Sherlock Holmes (dir. Guy Ritchie, 2009) - just the first one

I'll be real with you I don't remember anything about this movie except that I watched it and had a fine time.

House (Fox, 2004-2012) - all eight seasons

Y'all know I'm currently in House brainrot, so obviously this ends up on the list. Excellent television, especially for people like me who live for a good procedural and were looking for something that wasn't a cop show. House is Holmes, Wilson is Watson, and the occasional Sherlock Holmes canon reference shows up, such as the guy who shot House being named Moriarty in the credits, or Wilson bullshitting the second gen ducklings about a woman named Irene Adler who was The Woman for House. It's a very good show - although not currently my favorite on the list - and any mystery of the week format is going to be at least a little inspired by the o.g., but it doesn't win over Elementary, which has actual murder and crime mysteries.

The Irregulars (Netflix, 2021) - like two episodes

Based on the concept of Sherlock's canon irregulars but it's a fantasy show! I heard great things but did not end up clicking with it. Obviously by virtue of it being a supernatural show it's not very based on the original, but at least there's mysteries that must be solved?

Sanctuary (Syfy, 2008-2011)

This show is the kind of thing I'd watch when it was on, back in the days where I would watch my parents' satellite television instead of downloading whole seasons of shows on my laptop (as I didn't have a laptop yet lmao). I remember it having dense plots, and vaguely remembered that one of the characters was Sherlock Holmes, and I googled it - it's actually Watson. But hey, that counts, so I included it. I remember enjoying the show but I could not tell you if it was actually good because my taste in 2010 was a bit of a mixed bag on account of me being 12. Anyway I would say it's probably a terrible adaptation and they most likely didn't even try considering the kind of show it was, and I wouldn't call it my favorite.

Psych (USA, 2006-2014; movies 2017, 2020, 2021) - eight seasons, 3 movies

Finally we reach my favorite of these shows. Is it the best one? Idk that's probably a competition between Elementary and House, really, because Psych gets quite silly in the later seasons. But I really do love this show and these characters so much. Like House, it is only a little inspired, but even more loosely so, with really only the idea of a guy who's really smart and eccentric and his best friend who seems normal but really is a bit of a freak (in Gus' case, actually way weirder than Shawn) sticking around. Shawn has eidetic memory and is wicked smart, and actually makes for some really good ADHD rep in my opinion. The comedy usually lands and the romance plot is one of my favorite slow burns and the serial killer episodes are high quality as shit and I love that there's a pineapple hidden in every single episode and I just. I love this show I love it so much

Anyway these are all the adaptations I've seen that I could think of. It's possible I missed something but only the kind of thing that doesn't say Holmes on it; I haven't seen Enola Homes, for example.

Thank you so much for asking I really appreciated this thought exercise of trying to remember every single bullshit TV show I've ever seen because, um, I've seen a lot of TV if I'm going to be honest.

Sorry for taking two weeks this was surprisingly hard and I have. A job

BBC Sherlock watch through: A Study in Pink

You read that right. BBC Sherlock in the year of lord and savior 2024. To be fair to me, I was 8 when the show ended, and therefore could not watch it in its heyday.

Two disclaimers before we begin with its first episode.

1. Despite me not watching a single episode up until this point, I do know a decent amount about it from watching videos about it (Hbomberguy’s video, Sarah Z’s video about the Johnlock conspiracy, and as much as I’m ashamed to admit it, a decent chunk of the TJLC explained videos). That being said, I will attempt to go in to it with an open mind in all regards.

2. Much like what people do to his actor, I will intentionally be getting Sherlock’s name wrong. Why? Because I think it’s funny. It’s probably not gonna be funny to a lot of people but I’m gonna do it anyhow. Mmkay?

Without further ado, let’s get into it.

-What kind of bed is that lmao. You roll over a little bit and you fall off

-That transition from John saying that nothing happens to him to the intro was definitely a bit awkward

-These transitions are getting on my nerves. Can we find a smoother way to get from one thing to the next please?

-They’ve all got a point. Why would they be linked just because they took the same poison? Investigate the poison, not the suicides.

-If you’re so sure that they’re suicides why are you investigating them????????

-Why is Shamrock an asshole.

-Here comes the 10 billion gay jokes.

-Yeah, Shamrock definitely seems…eager for John to like him.

-Ok, now he’s bossing Mrs. Hudson around for no reason. There’s a difference between “unsociable” and “asshole” guys cmon now.

-I just want to say that despite my whining, I think it’s been…fine so far. I just haven’t found anything nice to say about it yet. It’s not boring me to death, that’s something I guess.

-Four suicides?? In a big city?? Crazy. Must be something wrong there.

-BBC Sherlock says All Cops Are Incompetent! That’s something going for it.

-Ah yes, the struggling to plug in his phone line. One that haunts many I hear,

-Completely neutral on Johnlock right now if anyone was curious. I don’t really think they have any of that kind of chemistry really and that’s most of it I’m pretty sure. If they had some more chemistry I’d probably jump on it.

-I like Sally. Everyone else is fine (although Shamrock is on thin ice), but I like that she’s mean to Shamrock. And she’s funny about it.

-Ok. I don’t like Shackrock. Get his ass out of here

-He is such an asshole?????

-I know from the Hbomberguy video that the victim was attempting to spell Rache as in the German word in the original story and…..wow. They really are just dismissing it as stupid aren’t they? For what, so Shackrock can have more opportunities to be an asshole?

-Mycroft’s stance???

-Mycroft is alright I think. Him and Sally, that’s two characters I like

-I’m gonna count how many references to Shackrock and John being gay/gay jokes in general there are. That’s 2

-Weird brothers. Kind of funny. I like them

-3 gay references. We’re doing great for not even being through the first episode.

-Genuinely though, why does nobody believe John when he says that him and Shackrock aren’t a thing. It’s only happened once so far but I know it happens in the future a few more times. Theres no apologies or even any “mhmmm sure ;)”, they just straight up ignore him.

-I think Shellrock likes men at the very least. Between everyone around him thinking that him and John are a thing, and him being based on the the adaptation that wanted to make him gay, he’s probably at least a little bit of a manliker at the very least. Not sure if it’s intentional though.

-4 gay references. You think we’ll be able to squeeze one more in before the episode ends?

-How do I still have 30 minutes left. Ugh.

-I think….I don’t like this show. I will continue on. But I don’t think I like it.

-I am growing a fondness for John and Shellrock’s relationship though. They’re a little cute.

-Why is he so insistent on Shellrock not being the type to take drugs. He literally found him slapping on nicotine patches like it was nothing.

-Am I supposed to like Shellrock. Am I really supposed to.

-Can Shopshock shut the fuck up.

-This cabbie thing was actually kind of good.

-Yeah, Shopshock and John are pretty cute. And a little gay but I don’t know if that was intentional on the writers part.

-Shopshock is a little funny. Not enough to counterbalance the assholeness but a little funny.

-Did she ask who just so they could end the episode with Mycroft saying Sherlock and Dr. Watson. Really.

Finally, the episode has ended. It’s been 4 million years. It got a little bad in the middle but it managed to pick itself back up by the end. Because of this I have no idea how I feel about the episode over all. Anyway, join me next time for The Blind Banker.

Looks like Hbomberguy's hours long crap is up(publicly).

“Made a legendary animator, his most trusted colleage (shows Shane) and two-”

People he outright went to and he acknowledged were better writers, thanks for admitting that HBomberguy and not be an insulting jackass right?

“RWBY’s failures matter because it could have been something-”

So could Twilight- That means nothing at this point other than ‘I made a bunch of headcanons and the show dared to not follow them.’

‘It’s easy to see why this show has such a devote fanbase because it frequently threatens to become good-”

So did Fairy tail (except for real) and that died out. Also you are really chipping away at my goodwill

‘People say what it promised!”

You mean this?

‘Weaken REAL criticism by being given too much attention-”

Hypocritical much douchebag?

“*insert a bunch of sarcastic bullshit mocking critics of RWBY*”

*rolls eyes* You say as you mimick them down to using the DEAD.

‘It’s separated into two eras with issues that don’t necessarily overlap-”

Bull. Fucking. Shit. Most of RWBY’s problems now ORIGINATED in the early Volumes. 

“If you’re a fan of the show you’re probably gonna dread what I’m about to say and if you’re a fan of the second half then you’ll probably agree with what I’m about to say-”

Considering you’re stupid sarcasm is just a less smug version of what I do, pretty clear ‘agreement’ and ‘actual good point’ are very different here.

“If you love RWBY and are still gonna watch, thank you and I love you for joining me on this journey.”

Less a journey and more a Seven Page Muda but sure.

“My goal isn’t to make people think less of the show-”

Which is why you openly insult it in the beginning.

“-but to think more about it.”

So far you’ve shown about as much understanding of the show as FloofArtist, complete with hypocrisy. And considering what I’ve heard about your video, you’re not getting better.

“I hope to give credit where credit is due-/It’s said failure is the best teacher-”

Which is why you openly insult people.

“’Rooster Teeth is starting game development!’ *insert insulting Steam Statistics*’

Fucking wonderful. Like you haven’t already tested my patience.

“*gushes about the Red Trailer after about eight minutes of recaping*”

Cool, eight minutes wasted on knowledge that EVERY RWBY fan knows. Literally every RWBY fan knows the origins of RT and Monty and the bitch basic knowledge of how they came together. You seem to have targeted this to RWBY fans and yet to blab about shit that you get after looking at the fandom for 2 seconds.

To say nothing of how you prove something was wrong with the Red Trailer. Namely, you never mention a plot, a personal conflict, a display of character or anything other than ‘cool music!’ and ‘animation!’ despite the show being pretty plot dependent.

*Gushes about the White Trailer*

Yet another bitch basic gushing with nothing of substance to it. For a guy who says he wants people to think critically about RWBY, you sure don’t do that for what is considered the basis of the show. It’s just talking about shit you like instead of anything worthwhile.

*Yet more gushing with the Black Trailer.*

... You know, I watch these kinds of videos searching for some kind of intellectual stimulation. Something to make me think and engage with. Right now, I get more stimulation and engagement from RWBY itself than a supposedly critical video that doesn’t even have to bother with anything original.

“The show already has generic monsters who just want to destroy humanity and yet you have written your characters to act exactly the same-”

And within your own bitching, you discovered the counter. The Grimm have nothing really to explore about them outside giving them variations and powers whereas the human characters can have these things called ‘motives’ and ‘reasons’. Not to mention even you would say people act like that in real life *cough* anyone NOT of your political alignment *cough*.

“And the audience is left with one lingering though...he can make that jump.”

How does it feel that Family Guy did a better version of your joke?

“She’s written like two adult men who have never written anything professional before except Red Vs. Blue wrote a Teenage girl-”

.... Monty wrote her based off her voice actress.  You’ve also made me regret ever using this same insult against Miles and Kerry so congrats on that.

*Even more gushing...*

You know, I am legitimately considering rewatching the Persona episode of Game Theory because at least MatPat’s faffing about is short and he has more content in his first eighteen minutes than this.

“More people have gone back to watch the trailers than watch actual episodes of the show!”

The trailers are the first thing people would watch to know about the series- no shit they’d be higher in view count.

“It’s so hard to not be onboard with the trailers!”

It’s actually very easy, especially in their release.

Why? Simple, a lot of the depth in the trailers only exists with context from the show itself. The White Trailer is cool and all but it’s symbolism and deeper meaning comes from Weiss’ backstory and the truth depth of Blake leaving Adam and what it causes is found in the show, the two best trailers while Red is just mindless fun that you can get better from other places and Yellow is just kind of neat.

How the fuck am I the more critical of the two of us so far?

“Then the show actually came out and it was terrible-”

Piece of advice, don’t follow this up with a super janky, uncanny valley 3D animation that makes Volume 1 look appealing.

“RWBY isn’t just a bad show, it’s a bad show that could have been something-”

*cracks neck*

The idea that RWBY or any show ‘had potential’ is most often used when a person once had a fondness for the property in question but has long since lost the goodwill to see it in a positive light, trying to make up for the cognitive dissonance of the conflict between liking what it once was and disliking what it is now. The issue here is that these so called ‘issues’ are born of the original creator who either founded the show or helped found it which means that it was pretty much DESTINED to be this way as the creator’s specific interpretation of their own work is what resonated with you in the first place and was likely built up to in the subtle inner workings of the show, thus making the big changes you want so badly would cause a ripple effect that would have affected your past impression of the show because everything in a show is connected. And in all likelyhood, your impression would have soured no matter what.

Tl;Dr- ‘It had potential!’ is self defeating and stupid.

‘The creators are receptive to criticism!...well, they try to be.-”

Oh boy I can’t wait for Mr. ‘kill half of all babies’ to try and speak about THIS topic.

“You don’t engage with any of the good faith criticism and just reward shitty people with attention. And I hope to show them that as a lifelong fan of RT and Monty Oum, that I’m saying this thinking RWBY could have been good...and still could be.”

Says the man who when referencing Miles for the first time, actively SEPERATED him from being a ‘treasured college’ of his friend and insulted him with Yang even though the fault lied with MONTY. 

All while referencing a tweet where he chews someone out for saying EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE SAYING ( ‘God this is why i hate this fandom. You miss the point. If I critise the show I'm a hater because you worship it. I'M OFFERING CRITISM U IDIOT SO THE SHOW SEES ITS FAULTS AND FIXES THEM. HOW THE FUCK CAN U KEEP MOVING FORWARD IF YOU DON'T IDENTIFY YOUR OWN FAULTS AND LEARN’). Yeah great job there jackass- How exactly are you any different from this fucker?

So that’s my thoughts on the first twenty or so minutes. Can already tell it’s gonna be shit.

Lazy NaKniCroMo Week 2

I’m skipping the WIP, my shawl looks just the same, there’s just more edging this week. I’m about 1/4 of the way through.

Day 7: Snacks

This info is much the same as last year. I never eat while knitting, that’s a good way to get food on your project. I’ll drink coffee though. Warm coffee with butter and cream or iced coffee with a splash of cream.

Day 8: Sounds

Lately I’ve been watching long video essays on leftist YouTube while knitting. If I really need to zone out I’ll put on an ASMR video. Occasionally I’ll knit with just music but it’s not quite stimulating enough for me usually so more often it’s Youtube/Netflix.

Day 9: Sights

What does this mean? Like what do I watch specifically? I love hbomberguy, ContraPoints, and PhilosophyTube. On Netflix I recently started The Good Place, been meaning to watch it.

Day 10: Inspiration

The “what’s hot” page of Ravelry. If I’m wanting an idea for a new project I’ll scroll through what’s new and popular, favoriting anything that looks good. Otherwise I take inspiration from any knitwear I see on mannequins or on TV or on other people. I would really love to knit a dark blue Neighborly Cardigan because hell yeah I want a Mr. Rogers cardigan.

Day 11: Pets

They aren’t really my crafting buddies because sometimes they don’t sit still but sure I will link photos of my ball pythons:

Artemis top left, my pastel and the youngest and best eater. Julius below her, in a goddamn rare and precious photo of him looking directly at the camera, after finding him under the sink in his one successful escape attempt, and Brutus, the biggest boi, but the calmest boi.

Day 12: Recharging

Knitting is a recharge time for me. But sometimes I need a break even from knitting. I will play a game or maybe take some time to eat. I used to knit until my hands were very sore, but that hardly seems to happen anymore. I think my hands just got tougher because I certainly don’t knit very ergonomically. 

Mr. Lovhaug/Linkara, you once did mini-opinions on each episode of Series 8 of Doctor Who. Since you have finished the Series 10, would you mind posting your opinion on each episodes?

The Pilot: Good introduction to Bill, but as a complete story it feels... off, particularly because there is no real resolution to the Pilot and its idea. Also continues Moffat's tradition of throwing in a popular monster for no real reason, but props for inclusion of the Movellans.

Smile: Okay outing, but one of those situations where future tech is based on current tech/trend (Emoticons/Smilies in this case) and it is always silly to me when that happens. Sudden anti-war/battle thing at the end? Weird, but yeah, not a bad episode at all.

Thin Ice: Thin story, more like, but not bad. Basically one of the problems with a lot of stories during the Moffat era is a lack of character development for the secondary characters of the story, as is the case with both the villain and the thieves. Although this one is at least better than a lot in that the Doctor provides for them after he leaves.

Knock Knock: Favorite episode of the season. I love haunted house stories and this one is nicely creepy. The explanation for the shenanigans is good and the makeup on the "monster" deserves an award.

Oxygen: Great story! Capitalism taken to its extreme like this is always neat to see, plus a good, clever way to resolve the situation. The brief storyline with the Doctor's blindness introduced here is a good idea.

Extremis: Good beginning to the three-parter! The revelation of what was going on was fantastic... although I'm iffy about the inclusion of the Pope and whatnot, especially bringing them around in the TARDIS. I don't know, just felt kind of like an attempt to show off how cool the Doctor is - even the Pope needs to go to him for help! Seemed a bit over the top.

The Pyramid at the End of the World: I'm glad that Moffat remembered one of his old plot points, in this case the "Doctor is the President of the World" thing introduced a few seasons ago... but the problem is that that particular plot point is kind of silly and lame - once again, the Doctor is the coolest, most important super-awesome person in the room and everyone must acknowledge that blah blah that Hbomberguy talked about in his Sherlock video. That being said, a lot of props for the clever way in which disaster will occur on the planet, but what's more that the way the Monks take over - with love rather than fear - is an interesting approach that is appreciated. The title is also rather irrelevant, since the pyramid itself is not that important in the grand scheme of things. Hell, you could have called this one "Countdown" or "Love the Monks" and it would have made more sense.

The Lie of the Land: After all that build up and the fascinating, interesting, somewhat original concepts with the Monks in the previous two episodes... this is a major letdown. It's just a generic "Aliens have conquered earth" situation and the resolution is both pat and yet another "love conquers all" thing. It's trite and disappointing after the last two parts.

Empress of Mars: Feels like an RTD-era episode and I mean that in a good way. While I have no particular fondness for the Ice Warriors, it's good to see them again and this is the first in a while where it feels like we have proper secondary characters. The setup for the two Peladon episodes of the third Doctor is nicely handled and it's just a solid outing.

The Eaters of Light: Again, another RTD-era feeling episode and a good one at that. A lot more secondary characters and they definitely feel better than what we've gotten. The plot is simple and more classic-style Doctor Who of the Doctor and the Companion going off to do their own separate stories that eventually intersect and lead to a good resolution.

World Enough and Time: One of the more annoying things about the modern era is spoilers. And I don't just mean people spoiling, which sucks enough as it is... but the two major revelations of this episode were spoiled BY THE SHOW ITSELF, both because of press releases ANNOUNCING it and because of the Next Time trailers revealing them. Narratively, the episodes are structured so that these revelations within them are major twists. However, because of the show ITSELF giving these things away, they are not twists - we know already what's happening and thus it becomes padding to get to that point. It's like when in classic who there would be "_______ of the Daleks" titles for episodes - you can't really pretend then that the Daleks appearing is that big of a deal or shocking twist because YOU ALREADY PUT THEIR NAME IN THE TITLE. I called the disguise element almost immediately because I knew the spoilered return. It was easy enough to figure out what the actual situation was with Operation Exile because of that same spoiler. They would have had a larger impact had I not been spoiled with this information. That being said, the episode itself WAS still good, creepy, and played with sci-fi concepts nicely.

The Doctor Falls: Unlike the last two Capaldi finales, this one is MUCH better. It actually delivers on the promises of the previous episode, has lots of interesting character interactions, and lots of great lines and moments. The Doctor actually DOES stuff. It is by no means perfect - I dislike that only new-who versions of the Monsters were seen (aside from the original versions), but it's understandable why they did that. Bill's resolution wasn't too terrible, even though the setup from the Pilot is still... ehhh. But whatever, just glad Bill wasn't the super-duper-most-important-person-in-the-universe AGAIN and I'm glad she'll be back for the Christmas Special even if she won't be back for the next season. Overall great stuff and improves on a lot of the problems of the last two finales, probably because it's BASICALLY a do-over of those last two finales.

Fallout is the Bomb

I can't believe I've only brushed over this series before. There was a whole, beautiful, irradiated world to explore within its boundaries that I never knew of! Lemme explain. Fallout is, well, post-apocalyptic. That alone had me worried. I'm not a big fan of the post-apocalyptic setting because of how it essentially gets so misanthropic, and assumes everyone turns into the kinda scumbags you'd see in "Violence Jack". The good news is that Fallout actually has a sort of "out". You see, in all of the series...well, most of it, anyway...you play as a Vault Dweller, someone who was sealed away along with others in big, social experiments set up by the government before a great war between China and the USA over resources that ended in nuclear fire. The Vaults have everything you'd need to survive for decades, even centuries! But not for all of them. You need to leave your Vault eventually, either to get a much needed Water Chip that will ensure your people can survive, or to find the "Garden of Eden Creation Kit", or you're forced to leave because the head of your Vault is a big fat jerk, or you leave because your SON has left the vault long before you while you were essentially frozen in suspended animation, and you've gotta track them down. In New Vegas, it's different, but I'll get to that later. Fallout 1 and 2 introduced the factions that basically dominate the universe. The Brotherhood of Steel, who sealed themselves away and hoard technology, hoping to someday come back up and revive the best of mankind in better days. The Super Mutants, mutated humans infected by a virus made by a lunatic who thought that as long as there were differences of ANY kind in humans, we'd keep tearing each other apart. Hence, why not make a race where everyone looks and sounds basically the same, AND is super strong, AND can easily withstand the radiation-filled wastes that fill America? There's the Enclave, the remnants of the previous government, heads of corporations, the rich and powerful, who helped MAKE the Vaults, and who basically think any life that's out on the Earth at the moment isn't really human because their DNA isn't like the "old world" humans anymore. Even if it just means people just have an extra toe or the like, they think you're a subhuman mutant as bad as the two-headed, skinless cows that now walk around. There's Ghouls, people who are heavily bombed to s--t, their skin burned off, looking like they've been flayed alive and yet linger on, some who are very intelligent and still retain their personality, others who are feral and twisted and evil. And then there's the NCR, the New California Republic, founded by war heroes and remnants of the army who are trying to sort of rebuild America or at least, what it stood for, out primarily on the West Coast. Their leadership's too concerned with bureaucracy and the amount of red tape and incompetence can be a real issue, but you can clearly tell most of them, the soldiers included, are just trying to stick together and do as much good with as many people as possible. In the first two games, it's a sort of isometric perspective. In the third, it switched to a sort of first person shooter mechanic, and the series has kept it like that, with RPG elements throughout. You have "perks", abilities like being able to carry a ton more, being able to avoid fighting with wild animals because they all like you, having a random, mysterious, gun-toting stranger randomly pop up to help...and you can choose how you want your character to look and act, like in most open world games. Now, which one is the best? I'm not sure for everyone, but for me? New Vegas is the best blend of old school and new. You play a courier who's lived out in the Wasteland. It was your job to deliver a "Platinum Chip" to Las Vegas or, as it's now called, New Vegas. But you got caught by some fancy dressed mobsters, shot and left for dead. It didn't stick. Now you wanna find that Chip, find out WHY it's so important, who the hell killed you, and maybe...or rather, most LIKELY...get revenge. There's a problem, though. For one, you don't know where the mobsters went. And you've got to contend with raiders, the NCR who aren't sure if they can trust you, wild mutated animals, and everything in between. AND...a new, Roman-themed faction that's raping and pillaging every town they find, selling the women into slavery and following a mad lunatic named Caesar. And I do mean Roman-themed, they wear Roman armor, have centurions, the whole shebang. The Legion's boss, Caesar, actually gives a damning condemnation of Democracy in the game. After all, it was Democracy and electing the idiots that were in the govt that cared more about the Red Scare than people having fresh water to drink that led to the war. Might makes right. The good news is you can play someone who's both good and bad, someone who's a blend. There's not merely morality, but "reputation". You can have a good reputation with the Brotherood, but be HATED by the NCR. Or idolized by the NCR and despised by the Legion. If you're smart enough, or charming enough, or have the right perks, you can talk your way out of almost anything, or, if you've the skill, blow the beejbus outta anyone you want with a ROCKET LAUNCHER! HAHAHAHA! KIBBLES AND BITS! It's fun watching baddies explode. And there's a lot of funny moments too. Take, for example, a subquest at the Atomic Wrangler, as you try to earn money to gain access to New Vegas, for you need 2000 bottle caps to get in, and that means you need to either sell a lot of highly valuable stuff...which you probably don't have...or you've gotta get dirty and do things like be a pimp for a whorehouse. Which I had to. The boss says we need a ghoul cowboy, a charming older lover, and a sexbot. Then when you tell him you've got the sexbot, he's all giddy like a schoolkid, making it abundantly clear the sexbot was for HIM. Which he tries in vain to pretend isn't true. And of course, the guy who shot you has a talking droid. Because of course he does. His name is Yes Man. When you tell Yes Man you're the Courier his boss shot? Yes Man: Hahaha! I know that's not true, because you still have a head!

Courier: I'm serious. 

Yes Man: Hahaha! That's... not funny... you getting shot in the head. I really shouldn't have taken so much pride in how I set that up, huh? ... I feel really bad right now. Yes Man has a lot of great lines. Oh, and did I mention Elvis Impersonators run a good chunk of the Strip? Because of COURSE they do. Of COURSE they do. Guess what they have to say about their HQ? "Near as I can tell, it was some sort of religious institution. Oh, I know it says "school" out front, but everything in here seems to be related to the worship of some guy from back in the day. People used to come here to learn about him, to dress like him, to move like him. To BE him. If that's not worship, I don't know what is." Hey, if you're gonna imitate ANYBODY, why NOT the King? And yes, in Camp Searchlight...deep breaths... THERE IS...a set of HOLY HAND GRENADES in the Church.  The sign just reads, "Pull pin and count to 3." And the grenades will make a bigger boom when you count to 3. Don't believe me? Look for yourself!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tZUFKe-uYw&feature=youtu.be It's too beautiful for words.  ^_^

hbomberguy on Youtube did a really good analysis of the themes of Fallout. And as he said, “FO1's villain is 'the future', represented by mutations, evolution, technology and so on. The Master embodies this by being a mutated machine-man. The old world is gone, and the future is coming to get you.

FO2's villain is 'the past', in the sense that the largest threat to the world is the stuff that destroyed it the first time. People are trying to move on, inventing new money, but the real threat is that we haven't changed enough, and are still doomed to destroy each other. Hence the theme of newly-invented drugs, money troubles and so on. You're chasing an artifact of the past to survive, but that past killed the world. How much of the past is it good to dig up? The Enclave dream of a return to the prelapsarian america that already had its chance and got blown up.

Horrigan (the main villain) embodies this. He 'is' the ideology of the past, personified. He wants to kill you because mutants must die, and you must be a mutant because he's been ordered to kill you. Symbolically we're seeing that humans have a thirst for purity, and this thirst is itself our greatest flaw. You also HAVE to kill him with violence. It's not possible to talk him down, and the real challenge is how you deal with that fact. It's a nice final twist. Your first proper conversation allows you to claim you believe peace is always possible - and the last one is a counterpoint, saying - but the other person has to be willing to try this too.

The game criticisms mankind's inner violence, but then points out that to escape this, violence becomes necessary - it just has to be used differently from before. Being able to recruit some Enclave soldiers AGAINST the main Enclave soldier is a fun moment. The military industrial complex is bad but can be wielded against itself.All FO's main villains and central characters are rendered 'faceless' by masks or armor or mutations, because they represent something prevalent in humanity itself, more so than any one person. it makes them larger than life, like you're battling a concept. The Master is a monstrous creature-machine, Horrigan is always behind a mask, as is Lanius, and the burned man and Ulysses are similar too. This is one reason why making the villain of 3 just 'some guy in a jacket' really annoys me. Make me contend with the faceless monster that is the darkness in man. Don't make me shoot some southern-talkin' dude.Even then, I can see that being a really cool twist on the formula. But it's so badly done. Poor Autumn.”

Indeed. The main “villains” of New Vegas are sort of “faceless” and represent greater concepts. Mr. House is, in many ways, a refusal to let go of the past. He wants all of Las Vegas to be like his snowglobes: perfectly pristine and preserved under a glass bubble, unchanging. Caesar’s idea,, the LEGION’S idea of the “future” is a take from the past as well, a sick, dark past, the ROMAN heritage, embracing the past’s more cruel elements in the name of a greater organization and unity. Sort of similar to the Master’s Unity, but this time not coming from looking to the future, but to the past. The NCR is the present, and they are, in a way, a problem as well, something to contend with. Because people are suffering here and NOW, and they’re stretched so thin and so tied up with red tape that people slip through the cracks easily, or they just use outright violence instead of better, smarter solutions. They can’t see ahead properly, and aren’t learning from the mistakes of the past. Cassandra Moore, in particular, is a good example: every solution she has involves killing someone or a group of people. She refuses to open up to the idea of diplomacy. She’s as closeminded and narrowminded as the idiots who helped cause the bombs to fall to begin with. By only seeing other factions as enemies and never considering they could be allies or friends, or dealt with more kindly, you close yourself off to better, more moral, or smarter solutions.

The Brotherhood of Steel are similar: they want to preserve the elements of the Past, but they can’t see that their refusal to really help those in the present is dooming them. They’re well-meaning, they CARE, but...they’re wrong. They’ll just die out if they just stay inside their bunkers. They need to take a more active role in the world outside.

So what I'm saying is...play Fallout: New Vegas when you get the chance. Check out the Fallout series. There's a lot to love in there that might surprise you. I know it surprised ME.