Previous Post This post contains spoilers for the show To start with, I'm a huge urban fantasy fan. Supernatural is my genre, though for a long time I stuck up my nose at it. I thought it was a wacky grim-dark drama for teenage girls where there are no stakes because people keep coming back to life, and while
it is a wacky dark drama aimed at teenage girls, it's also so much more. And it's self-aware about it.
When
u/ChimericalTrainer asked if I'd watched any more of the show, it happened to be my day off, so I shall continue. Currently I've watched to episode 15, though I will be covering my thoughts on that later. If you've scrolled down, you'll have realized I have a lot of them.
The Best and the Worst When I first sat down with my cousin to discuss Supernatural, and if I'd actually bother to watch it (15 season is a lot) she suggested we play a game. I'd read out a sentence from the wikipedia synopsis for an episode from a random season, and she'd try to remember what else happened. It was a lot of fun, and I spoiled that in one episode a family
lives inside the walls, and murders people. Then I spoiled that a zombie apocalypse happens, and Sam can time travel to the future? or something? I don't remember it very well.
Regardless, when I looked at the statistic for Season 1, I found that the early episodes averaged 5 million viewers, until a sudden sharp drop off to 3.8 million. Where did they go? What happened that made 1.2 million people stop viewing? My interest was piqued.
At this point I suggested we watch the pilot before I get spoiled any significant plot points, since I already knew there was a thing called the Colt that couldn't kill Lucifer, but that was apparently a big reveal moment... oops.
So we watched. That night, I shared my thoughts on the first episode. Here are my thoughts on the rest, and some little essays.
The Best: Episode 12 My favorite episode so far has been Episode 12: Faith, and it's not close. I watched it at my desk, alone, right before going to sleep. The next morning, I told the plot to my mom, and she said "why did you do that? Now I'm sad," Then I told her the ending, and she said, "that only made it worse,"
She's fine.
Faith is how to do Grimdark fantasy. Not over-the-top with blood, or sexual perversion, to haunt the audience with trauma, but simply with real people being real people. They do things they think are right, and it hurts themselves, and everyone around them. But they had no choice.
The episode begins with Sam and Dean climbing down into a basement to rescue some children from a Rawhide. What a rawhide is isn't mentioned, but for people like me who know what it is, it's a nice easter egg... ahem... while writing this, I found out that it's actually spelled Rawhead... anyway, moving on. The Rawhead is a story-monster used to scare children into good behavior. Thus, the implication is that the boys are saving "bad children" and the idea of "bad innocence" is mildly interesting. The episode doesn't explore it through the children though.
This scene made me think, "Wow, they do stuff off-screen too? Gosh, these are just normal guys. How are they still alive? I mean, that's a little unrealistic," And then Dean tases himself, and has a heart attack.
At the hospital, the doctors give him a month to live, and Dean accepts it. He also complains about daytime television. Sam decides that he's going to look into the supernatural for a way to save Dean, and brings him to a Faith Healer named Preacher Roy. Roy is blind, but seems kindly. Dean mocks him under his breath to Sam, but Roy overhears it, and asks him to come to the altar to be healed. Dean rolls his eyes. Sam tells him to go up, but Dean doesn't want to.
"This is why we're here!"
So Dean clambers up on stage, gets healed, and collapses. Just before he passes out, we see a strange man - clearly inhuman - vanish from beside Roy. He wasn't in the other shot, so it's implied that only Dean can see him.
The doctors say Dean is perfectly healed, and there isn't even any lasting damage. Sam is ready to go, but Dean can't let it go. The man, and the fact that the world simply doesn't work like that, haunt him. He investigates, and finds that a man died at the exact same time he was healed. A stopped clock leads him to think it's a Reaper, since apparently Reapers can stop time.
Now, we have a problem. Roy has only been presented as a Nice man. A good man, and more importantly an HONEST man. To have him secretly controlling a Reaper
intentionally would require foreshadowing that wasn't there. To have him doing it by accident could work, but it's likely that it would strain believability, and robs the murder of motivation. In which case it wasn't a murder, but an accident. I mean, like really? Can you do something like that by accident in this world?
Everything in every episode builds the world, the characters, etc. This isn't a resetting show, like X-Files, old superhero shows or Phineas and Pherb, etc. This has a developing storyline, a slowly growing world, and characters who remember what happened last episode. If the audience is told, "Here's this kindly Preacher, but he was actually a monster the whole time," then they won't trust the show as much, and that's a bad thing. One bad thing will pollute the whole show.
All that to say, it can't be the Preacher doing the healing. But I wasn't sure who it was. The only other character introduced so far has been the love int- ahem- relationship teaser female, who has brain cancer, and a six month diagnosis. This time it's Dean who does the eye-thing with her.
Sam breaks into the preachers house, because of course he does, and finds a little black book, hidden away on a bookshelf. But he doesn't just find it, he finds it because the rest of the books have dust around them, except the one used to hide it. It's details like that that make me love the show so much, because they show the amount of effort put into even the simplist things. He didn't just find it, it was hidden and he uncovered it, after breaking into their house, but he got away with all of it, because there was no mess. For some reason there are newsclippings in the black book, which are of the exact people who became victims of the Reaper. Why the newsclippings are there is because the show wanted to emphasize the motive of the murderer, not because the murderer had any reason to leave them there. In fact, it almost seems kind of silly to leave news clippings of people you sent a reaper after
right next to the book that explains how to summon a reaper, especially since it worked, and if someone found that notebook, you might be in trouble. Like, most people might not believe you did it, but some people
would. But it's not actually a problem, because she didn't leave the evidence lying around. She left it hidden away in an unused part of the house. It's not as though she expected someone to break into her house, and take out a specific book, and then check behind it for a ritual book.
The newsclips, from what I remember, placed the victims as firmly anti-religious/christian. An aethiest advocate, a gay priest? I think, and an abortion advocate. All people that a overzealous Christian/Muslim/Jew would find abominable. So, if someone is to die, it might as well be them. And, because of how indirect the murders are you can understand how she wouldn't even feel viscerally horrible for committing them. In fact, she was probably more broken up about having to lie to her husband Roy.
Oh, right. It was Roy's wife the whole time. She used a ritual to save her husband from death, by binding the reaper that was after him to her will, via a necklace. Using a Talisman and a ritual prayer and an altar she built in the basement, she can send the reaper after people.
And because it's a TV show, she sends it after Dean. And Roy begins to heal brain-cancer-relationship-teaser-girl. And as he's about to die, Sam breaks the Talisman. The reaper kills her, and brain-cancer girl isn't saved.
The end.
Why? Why do I like this episode so much? Especially when it leaves a such a bitter-sweet taste in your mouth. Well, for one thing, there's parallels. Like, how Sam would have done what the Preacher's wife did if it had been his only option for saving Dean. He would have bound a Reaper to his will, and sacrificed the life of someone he saw as expendable in exchange for his brother. Thankfully, he didn't have to do that, as such a choice would have changed him, and at the very least, annoyed Dean.
But why didn't love-interest-teaser-girl live? I mean, someone died as she was being healed, right? Wrong. The scales were unbalanced. That's why the reaper was there in the first place. He had to kill someone to Balance the Scales, and she was the one who had got the Reapers attention, so she was killed. I think maybe they said "back when Roy survived and woke up from the coma, someone died," but that could be a coincidence.
Why didn't the brothers keep the ritual book to use later? For all I know, they did. I didn't see them burn it. But I don't see them using it anytime soon. It's not the kind of thing that monster hunters do. Especially not if they want to remain human. (also, it'd be bad for the show if Sam and Dean had their own personal Reapers. They did say it was dangerous,)
Why did people die? Because a wife loved her husband, saved his life, and then continued using the power she'd found for what she saw as good.
What will happen to Roy? He'll be unable to heal people, called a fake, and he just lost his wife so he'll probably go into a home. He'll either have a ton of people angry with him for not healing them, or he'll start lying. Just kidding, he's not the kind of man to lie, so he'll have a bunch of people angry with him. And he'll still be blind, and he lost his wife.
What will happen to brain-cancer-love-tease? She'll probably die in six months, unless the fans got the writers to bring her back. Unfortunately, Layla only has one episode in the wiki. So... unless she did something off screen, she died of brain cancer, and her mother is heart broken.
What happened to Dean and Sam? They got away with it. Dean didn't die, and Sam didn't lose his brother. They did this (kind of) by condemning Roy and Layla to terrible lives. The scales have been balanced. Dean is now a little more faithy, and Sam is a little more jaded.
The Worst: Episodes 6 and 10 I did not make it through Asylum. I may have been in a bad mood, and wanted something funny, or maybe it's actually bad. I could not get through it, though I plan on watching it at some point. Episode 6 on the other hand, was very fun, and also the worst written episode so far, by like a mile.
The premise of Episode 6: Skin is that there is a skinchanging creature loose in the city. It travels by the sewers. The reason this episode is terrible is because of two things. One of them is a single line:
"Let's Split Up" < I made a clip of it Why? Because the writers need the characters to go out of sight of each other so that the shapeshifter can turn into one of them.
Do you know how else you might accomplish this? Hmm. About a seven hundred million ways, and every single one of them is better and less lazy than having an intelligent character say "Let's split up," after they learn that there's a shapeshifter on the loose. Like, really? It's a terrible character-destroying line. I don't remember who said it, but whichever one it was, they were being an idiot.
They could have split up before realizing there was a shapeshifter. They could have been split up by a crowd. Or something more creative, like some "random" guy from the bar that Dean insulted/cheated jumps starts yelling at him, and Sam disappears off-screen, dragged into the sewers. Or maybe they split up while shopping, or one of them wakes up in the middle of the night.
Literally anything is better than saying "Let's split up," while actively chasing a shapeshifter.
The second thing, is that the shapeshifter's abilities weren't very well fleshed out and then it died. I found that mildly unsatisfying, though the episode overall was enjoyable, and I really enjoyed the plot. The fact that Dean is a convicted, and dead, murderer is actually brought up again, and I love that it lets them make the line, "It's not everyday that you can go to your own funeral,"
Making A Perfect Leading Pair: Lumberjack and Homemaker (Essay 1) When you are making a show for Hollywood, knowing your audience is very important. Not only because it shows that you understand who your show will largely appeal to, but it will also give the broadcaster an idea of the best time slot to play it in. Different people watch TV at different times, after all.
When making a show for teenage girls, how the lead actors look is essential. Not just their face, but their mannerisms, their swagger, their likability. Dean is a mash of archetypes, the Lone Wolf + Loyal Son, the Raised From Birth Warrior, the Inept Player, the Rogue. Sam is a mash of the Good Boyfriend with a Dark Secret, the Sensitive, the Lone Wolf + Family Man, and he's also Raised to Fight. This mish-mash of familiar ideas is what (imo) creates creates the best characters. The two bounce off of each other because of their differences, and stick together because of their solidarity. Their brothers, their friends, they look out for eachother, they enjoy spending time with eachother. And, after EP 1, they're all they have. Except for Dad, and the episodes female long-meaningful-look relationship-teaser.
Dean is like the Lumberjack. Skilled, hardworking, loyal as a rock, very strong, and a bit dangerous. He's also at peace. When he finds out he's going to die in Faith, he accepts it. He doesn't like it, but if that's how he goes down, he won't bitch and moan about it. Girls want to tame him, to open his heart a little more, to give his joyless life some deserved happiness, and enjoy his party-side. But he's also kind of a jerk sometimes, insensitive, bad at convincing people with charm so he uses lockpicks and brutal selective honesty. He wouldn't exactly be a good father, but he'd be a loving on, and if you could get him to change his ways a bit, you could make him into a good father. He gets slightly funnier lines than Sam, though they're both pretty good.
Sam is like the Homemaker. Kind, charming, soft spoken, calm and collected, strong but gentle. He's restless, he lost his lover. He wants revenge, he wants to do the unthinkable to the thing that killed her. He is poised for strong development. In fact, he changes in the first episode, going from a family oriented lawyer, to joining his brother on an "endless" road trip. Girls want to take care of Sam, and let Sam take care of them. He's caring, kind, cuddly, and gentle. The kind of guy you want to look after your kids, you want to spend time with, chat with. His actor is slightly better than Dean's actor... ok, significantly. I really like both actors though, they did a fantastic job. Oh, and Dean wants him to change too, to become more like Dean, more loyal, more professional, and less idealistic.
Most girls will like one of them over the other. This is good, because it means that the target audience likes the characters. Some will love them, dream about them, etc. They're both just slightly larger than life, and that makes you wish they could be real.
Wrapup Those are my foremost thoughts. Wendigo, Bloody Mary, Dead in the Water, Hook Man (I especially loved the special effects in this one), Bugs, Home, Scarecrow (which I got to watch with my cousin), Route 666, and Nightmare were fun. I got to watch The Benders with my cousin, and as soon as the door opened and the strange cloaked figures walked in I said outloud "Oh, so it's just normal people this time," and my cousin was like, "HOW DID YOU KNOW?!?" and then Sam literally said "It's just normal people?!?" It was hilarious. I mean, it was kind of obvious though, because of how the show is written. If something makes you think of something tropey, then it's because the writers meant that to happen. And either they're going to run with it, or they're going to do the opposite of what you think.
If I asked you "what do you think of when I say "Wizard Chess" you'd probably say
harry potter and if I asked you to think of a rockband, someone has long hair, and someone has an electric guitar, and there's probably music in the background. Cues are fun, and I'm just starting to learn about them. Anyways, I'm not sure if that last part made sense. Hopefully there are no spelling/grammar errors.
Post Note Now, you might be wondering where that 1.2 million viewership drop came from? You might think it was from Skin, and
single terrible line, but
NO it was actually Faith. Faith is the
lowest viewed episode out of the ones I've seen so far, though apparently the finale had 3.5 million viewers for most of it. I guess general audiences don't like feeling Sad XD
I'm sorry if there are any grammar mistakes, because I'm Brazilian and I don't speak English very well. The game I remember was about agent p from the cartoon (Phineas and Pherb), the game was for android, it was 3d and cartoonish, in this game agent p had to run through obstacles and fight doctor doofenshimirtz who was inside a round robot and shoot agent p, the game was minions rush style, and also besides being able to choose agent p we could choose other agents to play, I played this game in 2014-2015 in my childhood and I really wanted to play again, hope you guys help me find it.
Hello, was wondering if Pherb's guide is still up to date? Wondering how to install and join the server.
Also when was the last ladder reset?
Edit: Found the guide. Anyone want to start a new game with me? Or perhaps start new hardcore characters?
Thanks
Just shoot me a message in the game. *pherb
I'll be doing chaos unless somebody needs a rush.
Disclaimer: I'm doing chaos for mf'ing and just offering it up for people who need levels. This isn't a team mf game. Anyone who joins chaos and vacuums won't getting anymore help.
Krawall's guide to the Cowzon / Cowjava
This is how I play the cowjava. Others might do some things different, I like this way the most. Playing from Western Europe I have constant 160 ping, so I guarantee this works with lag.
The guide is only for javas doing 1p hell cows for hr hunting and nothing else. If you are interested in doing Baal/Chaos with a java this wont help you much - consult
mdbarney then, he 99d one of those.
OVERVIEW
GEAR (ghetto version) Titans Razortail Valk wing or circlet w/ 2 zon + frw Silkweave 3 java blue gloves (Anya) Ormus high light% / Peace / Vmagi / Stealth Spirit or Lidless Cats Eye Ravenfrost Manald or ring w/ ml+maek
Z torch Anni Java skillers frw scs 2nd Titans on switch or in inventory to reload while in cow level
A1 merc:
Harmony in low dmg base ("king-proof") Vgaze Shaftstop
SPEC & STATS Pierce 1 point Lightning Fury (LF) max Charged Strike (CS) max LF synergies max and prereqs
Skilled out at 95. Using Razortail a total of 9 points in Pierce is needed to get 100 %. With Anni, torch, Titans and 2 skills from helm you got that covered with 1 hard point.
str / dex req vit rest
HOW TO PLAY
To farm effectively you want to maximize cows killed per time invested. This means minimizing the time where no killing is done. Your typical bottlenecks are mana, javelins and inventory.
The key to playing this char is taking advantage of LF's AoE. Your LF damage determines how big a cow pack must be so it can be blown up with just 1-2 LF throws, ie the higher your LF damage is the less you need to herd. This mechanic is essential, everything else is derived from it.
LF's AoE is amplified by Pierce/Razortail, hence Tgods is not used.
It follows that you want to throw as little javelins as possible and maximize kills per thrown jav. This saves mana and keeps you from visiting Charsi.
Since you dont want to stab the cows to death and LF's base speed is good already IAS is not required. IAS mainly benefits your ability to CS and you dont want to use that unless you are cornered and need to clear a path, which shouldnt happen in the first place. LF does the killing for you and hammering it will do nothing but drain your mana and empty your mag. Dont push, just guide. Very gently.
You shouldnt bother with isolated small packs/stragglers or hard bosses, its not worth it. New game/map will net more kills/hour. Even if you only clear 60 % of the level in 3.5 min it still beats a 95 % clear in 6 min, you get the picture.
Your demand for mana will decrease as you get better using LF properly. So you can gradually switch out maek for damage on your items (Spirit over Lidless, and later Griffons over Valk).
The merc can die quite fast which is annoying, moving a lot helps with that. As your damage increases so will her survivability. Towning to revive her isnt worth it and if she dies every run you might as well save the gold and improve your ability to kill first. If you can come up with a better way to gear her Im all ears, this is the part Ive experimented the least with.
Once you get comfortable with the build you should
average 4 minutes or less without any faceted gear. Even on a big map a run should never take more than 5 min.
VIDEO of 2 runs with budget gear. Only one skiller and no torch used, and no maxed out synergies. The first cow map was very small therefore the short clear time should be understood as an outlier. Second clear is closer to average.
DISCUSSION & MYTHBUSTING
Chest armor: The slot where you have the most freedom to choose. The lightning dmg of an Ormus can get you more LF dmg than a 2 skill armor, try it out. Every light typed armor with +skills is an option, like Vmagi or Hegans. Peace has the +2 but you have to play around valk procs, which isnt for everyone. If you lack frw go Stealth. You can even use 4 ptopaz armor if thats your thing, though runes dont care about mf. I will get to Treachery in a moment.
Remember to use light typed armors as bases so you dont get a running speed penalty. These are Dusk Shroud, Wyrmhide, Scarab Husk, Wire Fleece, Great Hauberk or Archon Plate. For shields Monarch is the only option.
IAS: This guy doesnt recommend Treachery hurr! Im offended! And why no 2/20 over plain 3 skill gloves!
Nope. IAS is super overrated for cowjavas; while its basically redundant. Ive outlined above why that is. If you think you need more IAS when you play this char you are doing it wrong. Simple.
Etheral Titans: Fancy, but nonsensical. Your damage is 99 % lightning and while that extra physical might help with mana leech the ridiculous cost of an eth pair and inability to reload at Charsi make noneth a nobrainer.
Flat lightning damage: Nonsense, it does nothing for you. A2 mercs: If you think Insight might be useful, read the How to Play again or go play a throwbarb. Infinity is also meh, it costs so damn much you might as well buy a shitty Griffons and one facet piece with that cash. Also the merc never is where you want him and the aura's AoE is really too small for this task.
UPGRADING & PROGRESSION
If you actually hate javas/cows and just want to whore some runes with this char, skip this section and continue with the Remarks. Gear gg cowzon:
Griffons w/ 5/5 facet 20/20 monarch Enigma or 20/20 armor Java frw skillers
The gear wall is high with this build, as the cheapest upgrade really is a 4 facet Monarch. Even if you can only get four crappy 3/3 light facets for a 12/12 shield it will make a very noticeable difference. Griffons and armor would be next. Usually ELR > light skill dmg, except when there are 2 pts of %light vs 1 pt of ELR, ie a -17/+12 Griff nets more damage a -18/10 one.
Enigma vs facet armor is a tie, Ive played both setups and Id say depending on how good your Griff and facet shield are you are already at the highest damage needed for 1p cows, ie oneshotting any pack regardless of size. Enigma may win on paper due to the additional 45 frw, but at 150+ its not very noticeable either due to the diminishing returns. The 8 % dr are out of the equation too, at this point you run like Barry Allen and nothing touches you.
Frw java skillers are super rare, never seen more than 4 in one ladder. Took me 3 ladders and some help to get 7 for my NL zon. GL hunting these.
On a good Stony spawn / small cow map you are able to get close to cutting 2 min with this setup.
VIDEO of my NL zon. Without any tryharding still doing 4 runs in 10 min ezpz. If you mirror this build you will have as much luck Kappa.
Gear. I want to add that I build this char for fun, you can be almost as fast with like 2x 15/15 armor+shield and a mediocre Griffons, its frankly overkill.
REMARKS & TIPS
- Picking up stuff has a major influence on your effeciency, as it results in stashing and muling breaks. I only pick up currency runes, grand charms, circlets and the occasional perfect base for a runeword. If you have to farm pgems, limit yourself to one type or you will have to town twice a run just to stash all the flawless gems.
- Except from boss mods, there is no elemental damage in cow level, so you can basically ignore resistances. I do recommend some light res though, eating those bolts from light enchants can be a pain. Might be this is less of an issue with better ping than I have.
- Sometimes its best to re-enter through red portal to get rid of those annoying extra fast lightning immune bosses.
- Minions of bosses can drop Griffons.
- Mercs can kill the king, dont forget.
This got way longer than intended. Feel free to post any questions about this build.
Credits to roy, renn, barney, pherb, kuka, eko and everyone I forgot for helping me getting those stupid frw skillers.
So after watching Episode 10 for the 3rd time( with rumble mcskirmish ) which made me think how they could put gravity falls into a video games. Hell, phineas and Pherb have video games. They could easily make a good platformepuzzle games in 16 bit. What would you guys want in the game if they make it?