ptw30

Figured I’d pop back into Tumblr for a bit to give you my two and a half cents about the current Funko Pop! Blitz Voltron Event. 

TL;DR: Totally a lot of fun. Loved the game…until parts of Seasons 3-8 dribbled into it. 

Full rundown:

As you know, I’m all in for anything that has Black Paladin Shiro. So when I noticed the Voltron Event on Funko Pop! Blitz and saw Shiro from Seasons 1 and 2 was on it, I immediately downloaded the game. 

I was not disappointed. 

The game is a Bejeweled type game, which I’ve played on many a roadtrip. You get Pidge automatically, and then it’s the luck of the draw for who else you get - except Shiro. 

Despite the fact that we only have Shiro for half the VLD series, of course we have to fight for him in this game, too. But I was able to put that behind me (though I was sad I couldn’t immediately play as my favorite character) because I assume he was set the exclusive reward to the event due to his popularity. 

After about $30 in coins, I was able to get Pidge, Keith, and two Lances. I’ve played them all, and Lance was by far the most fun (before Shiro)! 

Once Shiro shows up - about six hours of playing time for me - the game was almost perfect! I got see Shiro kick ass in Season 1-2 style, and it really brought back all the wonderful feelings I had for the early VLD seasons. 

I really cannot express just how much fun this game is to play.

There’s a lot of hoops to learn, but once you get a handle on it, you fly through the levels. To get Shiro - you need to collect a lot of quintessence tubes, and to get more tubes, you can use coins to help you “buy” more characters or some enhancements in the game, like more time.

One of the best parts (and worst parts) is that you get to collect items that mean something to each character. Helmets, lions, bayards, including…

Shiro having the Black Baryard. YESSSS! I have been waiting more than five years for this! 

The only part I had real issue with the game was, also, those paladin items. I was playing the second star items for Lance (before getting Shiro), and Season 3-8 content started to enter the game. On top of Lance’s Blue Bayard, one also collects his Red Bayard Sword - and that’s where I almost turned it off.

But I hadn’t won Shiro yet, so I continued. (And it really is so much fun playing as Shiro!)

For Kuron fans, Shiro’s power is…well, making clones. 

I didn’t get that little tidbit originally, which…I’m not sure if I like that or not. Considering how the Clone dies and how the clones were never explained…it just drudged up a lot of negative emotions about that part of the series. 

Overall - I had a lot of fun and really enjoyed the game, especially once Shiro joined it, but I think I’ll stop before Shiro loses his lion and the game makes you collect Atlases for him or Black Lions for Keith. I had to watch my favorite character be cast aside once.

SO I DIDN’T STOP SINCE HOPE AND ALL THAT AND IT WAS ALL BLACK PALADIN SHIRO!

Figured I’d pop back into Tumblr for a bit to give you my two and a half cents about the current Funko Pop! Blitz Voltron Event. 

TL;DR: Totally a lot of fun. Loved the game…until parts of Seasons 3-8 dribbled into it. 

Full rundown:

As you know, I’m all in for anything that has Black Paladin Shiro. So when I noticed the Voltron Event on Funko Pop! Blitz and saw Shiro from Seasons 1 and 2 was on it, I immediately downloaded the game. 

I was not disappointed. 

The game is a Bejeweled type game, which I’ve played on many a roadtrip. You get Pidge automatically, and then it’s the luck of the draw for who else you get - except Shiro. 

Despite the fact that we only have Shiro for half the VLD series, of course we have to fight for him in this game, too. But I was able to put that behind me (though I was sad I couldn’t immediately play as my favorite character) because I assume he was set the exclusive reward to the event due to his popularity. 

After about $30 in coins, I was able to get Pidge, Keith, and two Lances. I’ve played them all, and Lance was by far the most fun (before Shiro)! 

Once Shiro shows up - about six hours of playing time for me - the game was almost perfect! I got see Shiro kick ass in Season 1-2 style, and it really brought back all the wonderful feelings I had for the early VLD seasons. 

I really cannot express just how much fun this game is to play.

There’s a lot of hoops to learn, but once you get a handle on it, you fly through the levels. To get Shiro - you need to collect a lot of quintessence tubes, and to get more tubes, you can use coins to help you “buy” more characters or some enhancements in the game, like more time.

One of the best parts (and worst parts) is that you get to collect items that mean something to each character. Helmets, lions, bayards, including…

Shiro having the Black Baryard. YESSSS! I have been waiting more than five years for this! 

The only part I had real issue with the game was, also, those paladin items. I was playing the second star items for Lance (before getting Shiro), and Season 3-8 content started to enter the game. On top of Lance’s Blue Bayard, one also collects his Red Bayard Sword - and that’s where I almost turned it off.

But I hadn’t won Shiro yet, so I continued. (And it really is so much fun playing as Shiro!)

For Kuron fans, Shiro’s power is…well, making clones. 

I didn’t get that little tidbit originally, which…I’m not sure if I like that or not. Considering how the Clone dies and how the clones were never explained…it just drudged up a lot of negative emotions about that part of the series. 

Overall - I had a lot of fun and really enjoyed the game, especially once Shiro joined it, but I think I’ll stop before Shiro loses his lion and the game makes you collect Atlases for him or Black Lions for Keith. I had to watch my favorite character be cast aside once.

Rutger Bregman is the Dutch historian who became a global sensation after an appearance at this year’s Davos summit, where he accused attending billionaires of ignoring taxation. Now he has created another viral moment in an extremely uncomfortable interview with Fox News’s Tucker Carlson.

Bregman so riled Carson with his accusations of hypocrisy, critiques of Fox’s conservative agenda, and attacks on Donald Trump that the TV host called him a “moron” and angrily told him: “Go fuck yourself.”

Source

No I am not repeating myself. Let us move beyond the keep of the castle and to the outer region of the castle.

Blacksmith

The blacksmith was the heart of the castle or the town. Blacksmiths were the most important of the trades which is why there are so many people with the surname Smith. The blacksmith worked at the forge and would have had a team of people working for him. The blacksmith would be paid a high sum by the castle's lord especially if he was skilled at making weapons or armour. A specialist armourer would have been extremely expensive to employ. The blacksmith could be employed within the castle walls or outside them. He would likely be provided with a house near the forge or sleep in a chamber off from it with his apprentices.

Porter

The porters were the gatekeepers of a Castle. You would not be able to go through the gates and the main entrances to a castle. The porter was responsible for making sure nobody came or went from the castle without proof of leave. The porter would be fed and housed with the castle barracks.

Groom

The groom or the stableboy/hand is employed at the stables to care for the horses. They would muck out the stalls, care for the horses, feed the horses, brush the horses, keep the tack clean and ready the horses when needed. The grooms would have to have some knowledge of the horses and likely a strong sense of smell. Grooms often slept in the stables or would have lived in the town as a tenant.

Bailiff

The bailiff was hired by the lord to act as his representative. The bailiff would act as an overseer, making sure the lands were in order. He would also be collect fines and rents from the tenants. The bailiff was nearly always somebody brought from another town or place from the kingdom so he could be impartial and fair. The bailiff would have been provided a small cottage near the castle if he had a family or a small chamber within the castle walls.

Watchmen

The watchman or guard was responsible for security in the castle. They were tasked to patrol the battlements and corridors of the castle, including guarding the most important places of the castle such as the treasury room. The watchman would be kitted out on the Lord's coin, trained as part of the garrison and wear the livery of the lord. Watchmen would have slept in the barracks, been fed by the castle kitchens and would have had to report to their captain or the Constable for orders.

Gamekeeper

The Dragon Prince makes sense, but why would you place Voltron: Legendary Defender in the LGBTQ Stories for Families sliding preview banner, and not She-Ra: Princesses of Power or Kipo and the Age of the Wonderbeasts?

Did y’all even watch VLD? Not family friendly, and saves it’s slivers of gay till the end of 8 seasons. I know the bar is low, but let’s keep it off the floor!

LGBTQ as a media genre is quite specific and topical, and where LGBTQ characters are front and center. That is not VLD at all.

Romance is probably the hardest thing to write. No, it is the hardest thing to write. A good romance means you have to convince the reader that these two characters can be attracted to each other, enough to risk all kinds of vulnerability, and would go through whatever trials to end up together. We each have such intensely personal understandings of what would make us find someone to love (or to accept that someone else loves us). Creating characters, in a complete story, in a way that the sum of the whole resonates with thousands (or millions) of readers is just... I don’t know, man, that’s an alchemy far above my grade.

I try to always keep romance as the sub-plot -- or at least put it running alongside some other conflict -- because if life has taught me nothing else, I know my personal concepts of romance are left of center, at best.

But that said, there’s a really good essay about how a fictional pairing is most successful when the two characters share a goal. I want to say it was @echodrops who wrote it? Grrr, does anyone else remember the essay? I know it was long and compared/contrasted a number of pairings to explain what made some resonate more with audiences, where others failed.

The one thing I would highlight when it comes to romance is - follow the formula. There are times to break formula, but most romance readers/viewers/consumers watch because we want our favorite characters together. We’re rooting for it, and if they don’t - well, that’s disappointing. (Re: Barney and Robin in HIMYM. I would also like to mention - three times and still HIMYF isn’t being made. That’s how disappointed and VOCAL the fans of that show were.)

“Fine! So what’s the structure?” you ask. 

This post - Writing the Romance Novel: The Seven Story Beats - does an amazing job of giving you the seven steps in every romantic story. (I also recommend this post - Get Structuring Your Steps in Seven Steps - which goes into more detailing about plot.)

The steps are: 

 The Set-up/Hook (two opposing people seemingly who would never get together - do)

The Meet-Cute/Inciting Incident

The Turning Point

The Midpoint/Raising the Stakes

Swivel: Second Turning Point

The Dark Moment/Crisis

Joyful Defeat/Resolution (end on a high note)

Alright. Rather than telling, let’s show. 

Wimbledon (the movie)  

He’s in his last tournament and looking toward retirement; she’s a rising star who doesn’t quite have her act together. 

He gets the key to the wrong hotel room - her hotel room. She’s in the shower. It’s attraction at first sight. 

She yells for him in a match; he doesn’t want her to see him lose; he wins.

Her ex calls her a bad name; he punches ex. They get together. 

He has a chance to win and goes to see her, even though she’s trying to focus on her game and doesn’t want the distraction. 

She loses and blames him. They break up. 

He apologizes on live TV; she runs to him. They get back together, and she watches his game. He loses, but she’s there - so it’s all okay. 

...just kidding! Of course he wins. This is a romantic comedy! See? I broke the formula, and it made you sad for a second. (Writers have POWER!)

“She,” of course, gets to win Wimbledon twice, according to the end narration. (Why? Because he’s now her calming force - and she’s his.)

TL;DR: Come up with a concept in which two people have opposing viewpoints/situations/relationship values - throw them together, follow the formula, and you’ll have a good story. 

Rewrite the Stars by nihonlove

A Promise is a Commitment by one_proud_hufflepuff

Saudade by Xyriath

Take Me With You by stellarparallax

love in idleness by peggycarterisacat

take me to the pilot by AnnaofAza