[This one WordPress post covers four months’ worth of Tumblr posts.]

“everything’s gets screwed up because a minion of the pivotal guy doesn’t like his hiring practices.” Think of how bad it would be if it was an argument over the dress code?

Hah!

Word of advice, Coil: Don’t let Skitter have access to any robot insects.

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The sandara Behemoth image apparently came through shrunk and severely artifacted, in fact, any image I submit seems to be getting badly un-qualitied. So here’s the direct Deviantart link to the image, just don’t look at any of the related images / comments etc.

[I used this version of the image for the migrated version of the first post about the piece.]

He

ll yessss

(The version shown on Tumblr might still be lowered quality because Tumblr does that; if so, click the link to see the image in all its glory. It’s not to the DeviantArt page, because Sharks saw fit to send me this link directly to the image instead, likely due to spoilers.)

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I took what was said to mean she /was/ a minor though. Rebecca asked if her mom should be there and the Doctor said “Normally yes, when dealing with a minor. But this is a private deal. Just for you.” So in normal circumstances (them coming to Cauldron to buy powers I assume) Rebecca’s mom would’ve called the shots but the Doctor decided not to let her in on it for whatever reason hence “private deal just for you”

re: Rebecca being a minor. I’m pretty sure you did misunderstand that. When Doctor says that “Normally yes, when dealing with a minor. But this is a private deal. Just for you.” it means that she is a minor. Otherwise the involvement of a parent wouldn’t have been “normally” with it being a private deal being an exception (hence the “but”). Instead the answer to Rebecca’s question would have simply been “no, because you are not a minor”.

““Shouldn’t my mom be here for this?” My mother makes all of the decisions. “Normally yes, when dealing with a minor. But this is a private deal. Just for you.”” I’m still reading this as implying that she’s a minor.

Oh.

Right, when you put it together like that, that makes a bit more sense.

It fell victim to the fragmentation that happens in the liveblogging process.

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Oh yeah, one thing I forgot to mention – early in this chapter, I think you were working under the assumption that Eidolon and Legend had trigger events? But later in the chapter it’s revealed that they were all definitely vial capes and you didn’t comment on it.

I thought I did eventually comment on that? *goes looking*

Ahh, right, I guess I didn’t clearly mention that this contributed to the ditching of the “early natural capes were stronger” theory [here]. Sorry about that.

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I… I have no idea how I managed that typo [here]. It was supposed to be “generally easier” and idk if you could tell.

I could, with some effort 😛

What came in its stead was a thing of immense beiuety, though. At least five hundred millihelen. Gwnerageneasier, the typo that launched half a thousand ships.

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And now for an ask and an answer that I have no idea what say:

Lb Funexf, nal punapr gung jr pbhyq trg na nhqvb ernpgvba gb Gnlybe qbvat gur guvat va nep 20.

Sharks: V jbhyq gel gb qb gung, rkprcg V qba’g yvir naljurer arne Xevk naq gurer’f ab jnl V pbhyq trg uvz gb erpbeq uvf ernpgvba gb gung jvgubhg oevatvat vg hc ntrf orsberunaq be gvccvat uvz bss gung n ovt rirag vf pbzvat, guhf qhyyvat gur fhecevfr. Vs nalbar unf nal vqrnf, V’yy or unccl gb urne gurz

(translate here)

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“So what are the odds that Coil knew about Triumph and Prism/Ursa[…]being here when he sent the group?” Seems low. Remember that Taylor in Protectorate custody–where she could spill the beans–is a loss for Coil. It’d have to be step one of a multi-part plan to actually kill her.

That’s a very good point.

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Until the reveal it they could have all been actors; if there weren’t two children there. Sure, child actors are a thing, but hiring some willing and able to keep their cool in front of supervillians can’t be easy and while they could be tinkertech illusions or shapeshifter rouges, at some point it’s probably cheaper to just blow up Taylor’s lair with a rocket launcher while she is sleeping.

Yeah, fair enough.

(That particular alternate option has less plausible deniability with respect to the other Undertravelers, but I see your point.)

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IMO the conversation with Coil shows something that (besides all the betrayal plots) Taylor hasn’t internalized yet: She and Coil have different goals for the takeover. She wants to help by providing for her people and removing the “actual” bad guys, for which Parian managing a territory in a loose alliance is a good thing while Coil wants to rule the city, both legally and by controlling the criminal population, for which a rogue with connections to the heroes not in his direct employ is bad. These approaches might seem similar at times but when they clash like they do here, Taylor doesn’t get why Coil isn’t immediately agreeing with her, with makes her understandably frustrated even beyond the death threats and the Dinah thing. (I also wanted to point out: Trickster, why are pointing a gun at the head of a ten year old child? wtf is wrong with you?)

Taylor is a smart girl, but yeah, she really doesn’t seem to fully understand this yet. We also see this with how she expects Coil to approve of all her efforts to increase quality of life in her territory.

I don’t think we’ve seen her actually think about why Coil wants her dead.

(As for Trickster, I still think his threats were empty, but there is a case to be made against him for traumatizing a child even more than they were already doing just by being there.)

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jesin00:

You sure did Sharks a confuse, jesin. :p

Meanwhile I was just like “yeah, I’ve seen this around”. I’ve seen your empty asks while acting as ask screener for Homehyuck and ask… poltergeist… for Minda.

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A drawing by YunYunHakusho, a hypothetical scenario depicting Winslow High’s new transfer student, “Rooster Cocoa Brawn” who is definitely not Alexandria.

Ahaha!

That new transfer student is so awesome! She can get some frankly unreal air on that skateboard, and even when she falls off, she just gets right back up without a scratch! And even though she’s too cool for homework, she aces every test!

(okay seriously I would read a fanfic of this)

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https://imgur.com/a/urgQSg6

This is really good! Especially if imagined to be the first few pages of a comic covering all of Gestation rather than a standalone chapter.

I like the teasing of Taylor’s trigger event and the heroes that’ll show up later.

It’s also an interesting choice to have Emma be in class with Taylor instead of Madison. I think I like that, since Emma is far more important than Madison.

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So here’s a thing:

I have a friend with whom I tend to discuss linguistics and translations. This friend, Glass, speaks Spanish as a second language, non-natively, which means that language comes up a lot.

I also sometimes talk to them about Worm, which they haven’t read (this makes me feel a lot safer about discussing it outside the blog than I usually do).

So when I encountered an Anglo-Spanish pidgin in Worm, of course I had to talk to them about it!

[Discord]

Krixwell:
So here’s a thing you might appreciate
The last chapter of Worm I read included some lines in an Anglo-Spanish pidgin

Glass:
Huh
What’d it sound like?

Krixwell:
—–
“To gustaria livir?” She asked, in the local’s anglo-spanish pidgin. Do you want to live?
His eyes widened as he seemed to realize she was there. “Eres an gwarra engel?”
“No,” she replied. She brushed his hair out of his face with one hand. “No an engel.” Not an angel.
“Livir,” he breathed the word before slumping over.
—–

Glass:
“Livir”
That’s… weird to hear
It’s an English word with a Spanish sort of conjugation

Krixwell:
And later:
——
“Eres okay,” she said, in his language. “Eres livo.”
It’s okay. You’re alive. She forced herself to smile as reassuringly as she could.
——

Glass:
Now that I think about it that’s just the actual word for live/alive (vivir/vivo) but with an L

Krixwell:
Nice.

Glass:
If “live” were directly used in Spanish as a loanword it would probably be “livear”
“Eres an gwarra engel?”
Something like “are you a war angel?”

Krixwell:
I interpreted it as “are you a guardian angel”, but you’d know better than me and “war angel” makes more sense with the setting of the specific scene

Glass:
In Spanish I believe it would be “¿Eres un ángel de guerra?”
The U in “guerra” doesn’t get pronounced, but I guess that’s where the pidgin part comes in

Krixwell:
There and in the construction of the compound using the English format

Glass:
Oh, and in Spanish “eres” means “you’re” so I’m surprised “eres okay” didn’t get translated as “you’re okay”
And in fact I’m surprised it’s not “estás okay” or whatever the pidgin variant of “estás” would be
The actual way to say “you’re okay” would be “estás bien” which uses another word for “you’re”

Krixwell:
I did translate it as “you’re” before the POV character gave her translation.
Honestly, “you’re” makes a little more sense.

Glass:
I wonder if this is an actual pidgin

Krixwell:
It would be like Wildbow to use an actual one

Glass:
The words “an” and “engel” are intriguingly ambiguous about which language they come from
“an” could be from English “a”/“an” or Spanish “un”/“una”/“unos”/“unas”

Krixwell:
I like how it ends up getting spelled like in Norwegian.
The latter, I mean

Glass:
“Engel” could be from English “angel” or Spanish “ángel”
Would probably be clearer if I heard how it was pronounced, though
Spanish one is very roughly pronounced like “AHN-hell”
(I need to learn IPA one of these days.)

[For once I didn’t have to transcribe a series of Discord screenshots while migrating. This was already in the format I use for the Discord transcripts, just needed the [Discord] at the top.]

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Lung, post-Gestation:

[Gintama screenshot]

Gorilla: How many weeks is it going to take to get my dick back?

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Interlude 4 remains one of the most wholesome things in the entire story so far.

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Concept: Tinker whose power lets them create – at random – objects from this generator.

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[reblogging the above post]

I imagine this Tinker can’t tell what each item does or how it’s activated until it happens.

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[reblog of a Tumblr post]

neglectedrainbow:

alignment chart: 11th grade english edition

…Slaughterhouse Five?

Was the name of the Slaughterhouse Nine a reference all along, one that I didn’t get because English classes in Norway don’t go through these books?

*looks up the book on Wikipedia*

“science fiction-infused anti-war novel” – so it’s Animorphs then.

“unstuck in time” – oh, never mind, it’s Homestuck.

The protag gets captured by aliens? This plot is wild.

And they have a human zoo with selective breeding – oh, so it’s Steven Universe, then.

Alright… I think I’ll write this one off as probably unrelated for now, except maybe the name. Nothing about this crazy plot seems reminiscent of the Nine.

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Jozrael Reads Twig

So who here wants a Twig liveblog to read?

This is Jozrael, who recently started and just finished liveblogging Arc 1 of Twig!

They’re doing it in a somewhat unusual style – putting the source material in a Google doc and liveblogging in the comments – but from what I hear it’s going over well with the readers they’ve got so far.

So yeah, if you’re interested in Twig, go check them out!

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Some songs for Worm

…pulling exclusively from songs that are already on my main playlist:

• Worm itself: Ghetto Rainbows by Insane Clown Posse
• Brockton Bay: Theme For Great Cities by Simple Minds
• Skitter: Here Comes a Thought from Steven Universe
• Grue: Spooky Scary Skeletons by Andrew Gold
• Tattletale: Icarus by Emma Blackery
• Regent: Everybody Do The Flop by LilDeuceDeuce / Hearts Are Made For Breaking by Disneyfanatic2364
• Bitch: Dogsong by Toby Fox
• Imp: Shake It Off by Taylor Swift
• Panacea: River Run Red by Rachel Rose Mitchell
• Glory Girl: Megalovania by Toby Fox / I Burn from RWBY
• Marquis: Bonetrousle by Toby Fox
• Bakuda: Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom (Creeper Rap) by Dan Bull
• Coil: I Can’t Decide by Scissor Sisters
• Leviathan: Under the Sea from The Little Mermaid
• Behemoth: Pompeii by Bastille
• Legend: The Hero Within by James Paget
• Alexandria: Reach Out by Westlife
• Armsmaster: Popular by Eric Saade
• The Wards: Ward by C418, from Minecraft
• Trickster: Desperado by The Eagles (cover by Westlife)
• Jack Slash: Mack the Knife from The Threepenny Opera (cover by Westlife)
• Siberian: TIGER by Neil Cicierega
• Bonesaw: Like a Surgeon by Weird Al Yankovic
• The final threat: How Far We’ve Come by Matchbox Twenty

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[Twitter thread] Christopher Ingraham:

So, a shipment of crickets for the lizard arrived via FedEx today. It was my first time ordering bulk crickets off the internet, and I naively assumed that they would be in like, a bag or some other contraption to facilitate easy transfer to another container. They were not.

They were in a cardboard box. And I cut the tape and opened the box and SURPRISE! Crickets everywhere. It was the middle of the workday and I didn’t have time to deal with cricket logistics, so I put the tape back on the box.

And then I put the box in the upstairs bathroom, the only semi-contained place in the house where I knew the kids and the cats and the dogs wouldn’t be able to get at the box and tear it open and unleash 250 hungry crickets into our warm, semi-humid environment.

About 20 minutes later I’m back at work on my computer, and I hear my wife in the kitchen: “where are these goddamn crickets coming from.” I freely admit I had not kept her fully up-to-date on my cricket purchasing plans.

And at first I was like “okay, maybe one or two got out when I initially opened the box. No biggie.” I kept working.

With the benefit of hindsight, this was a mistake.

I’m trying to wrap up a story but I keep hearing cricket-related exclamations coming from the kitchen. Eventually I get up to investigate. I say, “So uh the crickets got here toda–”
“I REALIZE THAT,” she says. “WHY ARE THEY ALL OVER THE KITCHEN”

I say “That’s a good question. Let me check something.” I walk over to the bathroom. I open the door. There are crickets. Everywhere.

Crickets on the floor. Crickets on the walls. Crickets in the sink. Crickets in the toilet.

For some reason my first instinct is to flush the toilet, as if that will do anything to solve the problem of crickets in all the other places that were not the toilet. I shut the door. “Uh, don’t come in here!” I try to sound cheerful.

Apparently I had not sealed the box shut as well as I should have. I ended up rushing out to the shed, in the 18” of snow and below zero temperatures, to pick up a spare aquarium we had. I spent about 45 minutes collecting crickets from the bathroom.

Of course by this point many had migrated elsewhere. They were in the closet. In the shoes. Making their way downstairs to the playroom. The cats were having what I can only imagine was the greatest day of their lives.

I tried to collect all of them. It was like the world’s shittiest game of Pokemon. But here we are, roughly 10 hours after the initial catastrophe, and stray crickets are still turning up in odd places.

I make this information public because if I do not send any tweets tomorrow, it is because my wife murdered me after finding a cricket in our bed in the middle of the night.
And that’s the news from Red Lake Falls.

Guys, I think Christopher Ingraham might need Skitter’s help.

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Migration clarification

It’s come to my attention (via Sharks) that there’s a bit of confusion about the current hiatus and the WordPress migration, so let me clarify a few things:

• I’m currently manually mirroring the blog’s contents to WordPress, due to Tumblr making stupid executive decisions and being quite likely to die as a site within the next year or two.
• (For anyone not in the know about that: Tumblr suddenly went “no porn, guys” and entrusted their bots, which have long proven to be completely incapable of identifying whether something is porn or not, with identifying whether a post contains porn or not. Any post they flag is blocked from public view and requesting a review by a human on an old flagged post is a pain in the ass. And it doesn’t even stop the porn bots because they can just tag everything with #sfw and, for now, the bots believe it.)
• There’s a lot of blog to go through and I have limited time each day to do it, so it might take a while. I’m currently at 6.9 after about a month of this, so I hope to be finished around March. Ideally earlier.
• The reason I’m not blogging more chapters while I do this is that I can’t trust my Tumblr posts to stay accessible anymore. I have multiple backups from before the NSFW ban took effect (December 17, 2018), but anything I post after that is unsafe, and any further backups taken afterwards would potentially miss any posts (new or old) that have been flagged.
• The WordPress site is already available to view, but since I’m not finished mirroring it (and fixing the mess left by the automatic Tumblr mirroring suddenly partially working after I’d dismissed it as broken and started doing it manually), I consider it under construction.
• The site can be found here.
• When the migration is finished, I will continue liveblogging on the new site.
• I will also update this blog with links to new posts on the WordPress site as long as Tumblr stays functional enough to let me do that.
• Comments are, for now at least, enabled on the WordPress site, but I will not be reading them.

I hope this clears things up a bit. 🙂

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[part of an MLP comic panel]

Rainbow Dash: Let me get this straight – you’re telling me that this glorified smog somehow got into our brains?

So I just came across this quote from the MLP comics, out of its context… I’m sure you can guess which part of Worm it made me think of.

At least it wasn’t red smog.

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[Discord]

Krixxx:
Okay do I want to know why “How to Sneak Up On Someone When They’re Sleeping” has at least twelve steps judging by the url of that first image

Merry Crisis:
3. Disguise your scent

Krixxx:
Become the Scentless Man, leader of the Triangle Clan, and scheme with a dog girl to trap a healer in an evil window without telling Pearl

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There’s still a ways to go for the migration, but in the meantime…

Happy second anniversary of the liveblog! 🎉

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[reblog of a Tumblr post]

k25ff:

After thorough scientific analysis, here are my findings.

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[reblog] k25ff:

This has gained a lot in popularity, and one of the things that has been bought to my attention is that my analysis is incomplete. So here you go:

Me when I’m getting ready to liveblog:

Me, during the liveblog, being an idiot:

Me when an Endbringer shows up:

Fenja/Menja:

Very possibly the final threat:

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So here’s a thing I just found out…

In the English dub of Madoka Magica: Rebellion, Madoka’s parents are voiced by Taylor Hebert.

Sorry, I mean, they’re voiced by

a Taylor,

and an Hebert.

That’s a thing.

(#hebert in this man’s case is pronounced ay-bear
#also i specify rebellion because junko has a different va in the show)

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[reblogging the above post]

[Discord]

LHC:
in the show, Junko is voiced by a Carrie, or a Savage
someone Taylor specifically chose not to be

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Hey there!

Just wanted to let those of you who haven’t been paying attention over on the new site know that I just finished migrating Arc 14. We’re on the homestretch now!

I hope to be back to liveblogging proper by next week at the latest.

Damn, how I’ve missed it.

[This post was made four days ago.]