Use the Falchion

Waiting on the confirmation email, and then I'll be able to reply properly!

I've never done either, so PBP works fine by me!

Depends on when, but schedule (and Lord) permitting, I'd be down.

Is it possible to spoiler tag the quotes for the moment? I know it's the release day, but there might be people who wander onto this thread without having seen the episode yet. (Although, given our reactions to run to this thread immediately after watching the episode, I'm not sure how likely that'll be.) Anyways, Wandavision is getting better and better with each episode, and I love it. The show is also becoming more meta in some ways. I'll talk more about this in the spoiler section. The drama and acting were top notch, and the theme of the episode was a nice one. The title tied into this episode in some fun and very clever ways as well. And now I have some new theories! Anyways, onto the good stuff:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa-xea4zihU

So...Gatekeeper took first place in Fire Emblem Heroes' Choose Your Legends contest for the men. Marianne took it for the women, beating out Eirika (who got second place) and Female Byleth (who got third). Next year - barring any crazy meme status characters stealing the spotlight again - we'll probably see the Three Houses girls steal the women's side (again). ...unless a remake of FE4 comes out, and then Byleth may have some competition in Deirdre, Julia, and Ayra (and another female Avatar, assuming they add one). https://twitter.com/FE_Heroes_EN/status/1356439793706684418

Wakanda Disney+ show confirmed! Black Panther Ryan Coogler 5-year exclusive Disney TV Deal Proximity Media – Deadline

Half and half. Endgame shows us that at least Clint and Wanda mourned Natasha and Vision together, but after that...well, the three people she was closest to were Clint (who went home), Steve (who put the stones back and stayed in the past) and Vision (who is dead)...

So. Episode 4. This episode answers a fair deal of questions we have, but leaves us with even more. The meta nature of the show is acknowledged by everyone now, and used to wonderous effect. It also gives us the best line from the show yet. Overall, this may be my favorite episode so far, and I can't wait to see how worlds collide in this. However, due to this episode, I'm not sure that the series will end on a comedic note... As a side note, I do have some qualms about the MCU that were screamed loud and clear in this episode: The X-Men comics immediately following House of M were pretty dark (as in, blowing up school buses dark), but things...reach a status quo of so for a time. If you're looking for a place to start reading comics, I'd say anywhere that interests you is fine. You can always find out what came before at a different time. My personal main starting places were the Ultimate Spider-Man run (which serves as the basis for the Spider-Man Homecoming version of Peter Parker in a lot of ways) and the first Young Avengers run. I've heard great things about the later runs, but I like what I feel nostalgic about better. These are both pretty YA in terms of content, but they're easy to follow and don't require much attention...although finding them right now may be hard...hmm... I've heard good things about Tom King's Vision run though, so maybe that's worth checking out? Edit: As an aside, Wandavision is really wrecking my MCU viewing order, and I both love and hate that.

Endeavor from My Hero Academia and Ursa from Avatar: The Last Airbender are a couple I'd want to see, not for each other but for how the children would react to their new parents. Yeah, Endeavor and Ursa should NOT date at all. Endeavor may be on the road to redemption, but his history and past behavior would absolutely be traumatic for Ursa. And for Endeavor, bringing in a woman whose own backstory reminds him of Rei's may cause him to backslide on that development. ...and he's still married...so there's that. But how much fun would it be to see Zuko and Shoto as step-brothers, and seeing Endeavor deal with Azula? Hilarious I tell you. Hilarious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY6BWFylkbM

So...it's time for another terrible made-up support! This time I tried something incredibly different. I tried an OT3. Y'all, this was hard, so please don't expect many in the future.* So for now, enjoy F!Byleth x Dimitri x Dorothea. (Dimitri/Dorothea is partially written but is in need of rewrites, so it'll give it to y'all at a later date.) Accompanying song is "Wait For It" by Leslie Odom Jr. from the Hamilton soundtrack. I'd recommend watching Szin's animation of the song first however. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X04-9LE6EOA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulsLI029rH0 C-Support: B-Support: B+ Support: A-Support: A+ Support: S-Support: EDIT: (Requirements: Dorothea's paralogue completed; Dimitri/Dorothea support chain at A; Byleth/Dimitri support chain at A; Byleth/Dorothea support chain at A) Epilogue: Author's Notes *If I did do more, it'd be Claude/Edelgard/Petra and/or M!Byleth/Marianne/Shamir. Not sure how to get Shamir and Marianne to have anything in common though... Others that I won't do that would make sense and would probably be fan-favorites would be Claude/Edelgard/M!Byleth and M!Byleth/Manuela/Dorothea, F!Byleth/Rhea/Catherine, or M!Byleth/Catherine/Shamir.

I forgot to reply to this! I think it'll be three separate novellas, since that has what Brandon has said in both in the SotS and Update 3. I can see the three being released as one volume in print though, sort of like how the Legion novellas are.

Band-Maid's new album Unseen World dropped today (Jan 20th Japan time), so I decided to download it and check it out. And let me say, it's a blast. It's really felt like the band(-maid) just came out and punched their listeners in the face with their ferocity. Like, there's definitely anger in this album - I mean with song titles such as "Warning!" "No God" and "I Still Seek Revenge." what do you expect? - and I'm here for it. Granted this isn't the first time I've felt this way or have had albums start off with a punch to the face, but it's one of the most effective times for me.* I haven't felt this punched since Linkin Park's LIVING THINGS' intro. (Which, while wasn't as hard as The Hunting Party's "Keys to the Kingdom," it hit harder to me.) Another name for this album is "Killer Kanami," as Kanami, the guitarist goes HARD on this album. She has wicked guitar solos in nearly every song, along with the drummer Akane, keeps the energy crazy high for the duration of the album. The best solos so far have been in "No God," "H-G-K," and "Giovanni." The bassist Misa deserves an insane amount of credit too, providing the backbone in many of the songs; she even shows off in a couple of them too! "No God" has a short and sweet one. Heck, this whole album shows how much of a group Band-Maid is. Everyone gets a chance to shine and everyone works together to make the songs come together. Miku Kobato's song as the main vocalist, "Sayonakidori" brings a different flavor to this album that's very welcome, while still keeping the tone and energy level the same. (Her vocal sound and style remind me of Co Shu Nie's "Asphyxia." This is the second time something about Band-Maid has done that...no idea what that means for either, but I like all three songs, so yay...?) Granted, there are songs that I don't really like, but that's true for every album. I've found that I don't like it too much when Band-Maid goes more grunge or old-fashioned, and they always have a song or two that does that each album. Part of the reason I'm hesitant to listen to some of the older songs is because I'm afraid that they'll be more grudge than what I ilke. Here it's "Manners." "Black Hole" will take me a while to warm up on, but I'm enjoying it so far. This album also has a more...synthetic feel, despite it being hard rock. It's the audio at times and some of the transitions within the songs. This isn't a bad thing at all. I like it! But it does make the album feel more muddy at times. Then again, that goes with the album's whole aesthetic IMO. Ultimately, I'd give this album something between an 8.5/10 and 9/10. It's an amazing album that I'm having a blast listening to, but it's also exhausting. There isn't really time to catch my breath while listening, and I end up as tired as the band probably feels after playing this, and that's not usually how I like my albums. That being said, for those interested in the band or like their stuff already, I wholeheartedly recommend it. Tomorrow morning they're coming out with the music video for the first song on the album, "Warning!" *There's also the fact that my only real basis for comparison is CONQUEROR, which starts with the melodic-yet-still-resonant "Page."

Not really. I honestly expect most of the Sharders to be excited for W&W4 than Nowhere. Part of this may be because it's Cosmere, part of it may be because it will have been six years since the last Mistborn book by the time W&W4 comes out. Either way, I'd be lying if I said a large part of me wasn't more excited either.

Update Three is here! https://www.reddit.com/r/brandonsanderson/comments/l06ipy/skyward_three_update_three/

Watched it Friday morning. I really enjoyed it! The show is off to a very solid start, and I can't wait to see more of both the sitcom silliness and the creepy mystery. Don't forget in the second episode we have

Due to deadlines, I wouldn't be too surprised if that was the case...

As of tonight's livestream, Brandon is officially finished with the second draft of Skyward 3! (Timestamp is 1:26:45)

As of tonight's livestream, Brandon is officially finished with the second draft of Skyward 3! (Timestamp is 1:26:45)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w5f8-Elfqo

Kelsier being involved in Era 3 or even being the antagonist of Era 3 aren't new theories (one of my earliest Reddit posts was about that, and I've seen the theory pop up every now-and-then since), but I like your spin on them! (Spoilers All) Crackpot theories incoming! : Mistborn (reddit.com) My own theory on it is similar to my OG one in some ways but very different in others. I a lot of ways it's similar to your theory...which doesn't bode well for your theory sadly, since I think I've had a less than 10% success rate with Cosmere theories... I think that the serial killer will be Kelsier, who is working with whoever is providing that "red mist" that Harmony is fighting. Eventually, it'll be revealed that Kelsier was actually working with the "red mist" provider in order to gain information as well as to force Harmony into action. (I'm not sure if this will prompt him to become Discord, but I sort of doubt it.) But then it would turn out that Kelsier got something for himself out of the deal too: I do have some theories about whether or not Kelsier would reveal himself to the public and try to use those actions as a way to garner allies, but I think that's an Era 4 move TBH.

I'll read the Claudia Gray books because she's really the only Star Wars author whose books I will 100% buy AND read. Charles Soule earned himself status on the "I'll check it out first" list*, but everyone else is up in the air. Overall though, I'm just not that excited for the High Republic. It feels too close to the PT to feel like it's own thing, yet so...archaic that any Old Republic stuff that comes out would feel like it's encroaching on that same territory. And it doesn't move beyond the ST, so I really can't wash the bad taste of TROS out of my mouth. So in a time when I wanted Star Wars to move forward, they moved backwards instead, yet weirdly not far back enough to truly satisfy me. Add that into how separate and full of red-herrings** the EU material has been for the most part, and yeah, I'm pretty skeptical. But I am happy Lucasfilm is truly committed to making its own era in Star Wars, and I hope everything is really high quality and super cool and fun. *He should probably be higher, but I find the comics I've read by him to be pretty hit-or-miss. Lando was solid but not great IMO; Poe Dameron was good with moments of greatness, but overall about the same as Lando; Darth Vader was phenomenal, and I love it; and I haven't actually read The Rise of Kylo Ren despite me knowing what happens in the story. I don't blame my disinterest on Soule though. He was forced to work with characters who, Boba Fett, Captain Phasma, and so many others, had been introduced as one thing and turned into a complete joke by the end. **Gallius Rax in Lost Stars and the Aftermath trilogy, Admiral Sloane's fate, the tree from the Shattered Empire comics, the compass from the Battlefront 2 campaign, the entirety of The Force Collector book, etc. I'm not saying any or all of this is bad, but after being burned on red herrings and fake-outs for the past five years, I've learned to be far more wary of what Star Wars material I want to consume and who it's by.

ONE THOUSAND CHAPTERS!! We've come so far! It does look like our journey is nearing its conclusion, especially after reading (a translation of) Oda's thank you letter on Twitter...but as Brandon says, Journey Before Destination.

My Hero Academia is back with Chapter 296...and wow...not a happy chapter...