Sasha and Ariel Experience ... Watanare!

Sasha: Okay, you're going to be really happy about this thing I found out about "There's No Freaking Way I'll Be Your Lover! Unless ..."
Ariel: Is this going to be you trying to make me look lazy with more stuff you learned by looking at Wikipedia?
Sasha: Nope, not at all. In fact, the whole reason you're going to be happy about it is that it's something we can both be lazy about. Because I found out that instead of "There's No Freaking Way I'll Be Your Lover! Unless ..." some people just call this show "Watanare."
Ariel: What's a naray?
Sasha: No, "Watanare."
Ariel: No, I get that that's what you said. I'm just asking what a naray is so I can understand why people are so impressed by it that they say "What a naray!" instead of saying ... you know, the whole name of the show.
Sasha: Look, I'm not saying "What a naray." I'm saying W-a-t-a-n-a-r-e. It's Japanese.
Ariel: Well then why did you think I would understand it at all? I don't know any Japanese. Akane keeps saying she wants to teach us, but everybody keeps being too lazy to get her to.
Sasha: I didn't think you would understand it. I don't even understand it. But it's a shortened version of the Japanese title of the show, and I figured you'd be all about using a shorter version of a title.
Ariel: Well I am, but that doesn't mean I don't still want to understand it. Sheesh, it's like you're teasing me with saying here's a chance for me to be lazy about something and you won't even criticize me about it, only now I've got to go and learn a whole other language to understand what I'm saying!
Sasha: Do you really have to understand it to just use it to talk about the show?
Ariel: How am I even going to remember it if I don't understand it? If it's just a bunch of sounds squooshed together, how's it supposed to stick in my head? I mean, I already don't remember. "What-a-whatsit?"
Sasha: Let's just go with that, then. Considering we call things by the wrong name all the time anyhow.
Ariel: Okay, I guess. So what are we going to say about Whatawhatsit today?
Sasha: I dunno, the usual kind of thing, I guess. Like what we liked about it, and if there was anything we didn't like, what that was too, and maybe something funny about the characters -- especially if we can think of funny names to call them that aren't their real names. But before we say anything, we probably ought to tell people to put their spoiler blankets on.
Ariel: OMG. We didn't do that at all last time!
Sasha: I kept trying to say we should.
Ariel: Really? Then why didn't you?
Sasha: You kept interrupting me before I could get it out.
Ariel: (That's what she said!) Haha!
Sasha: Anyhow, I'm saying it now. If people don't want to have the extra bonus season of Watanare spoiled for them, they should definitely put their spoiler blankets over their heads right now. Okay. Done and done. So what was your favorite thing about this show?
Ariel: So many cute girls! There was Cute Pink-Hair Girl, and Cute Blond-Hair Girl ...
Sasha: I thought she was more pretty than cute.
Ariel: Oh. Maybe you're right. Then there was Cute Black-Hair Girl -- oh, shoot. She was more pretty than cute too.
Sasha: Although it was kind of cute the way she was so sarcastic and borderline emotionless at the same time.
Ariel: Brown-Hair Girl was definitely cute-cute, though, not just pretty cute or with a cute-ish personality twitch.
Sasha: She was very cute and pretty at the same time. Also super nice.
Ariel: Wayyy the nicest one on the show, for sure. And that just leaves Cute Green-Hair Girl.
Sasha: Are you just calling them by their hair colors because you can't remember anything else about them or about the show?
Ariel: I remember lots of stuff!
Sasha: Really? Like what?
Ariel: Like when Cute Pink-Hair Girl finally got around to admitting she liked both Cute Blond-Hair Girl and Cute Brown-Hair Girl.
Sasha: That was like, literally the last thing that happened in the series.
Ariel: At least I remembered it, though. You didn't even remember what "Whatawhatsit" means.
Sasha: Watanare. And it's not that I don't remember what it means, because I never knew what it meant.
Ariel: Are you sure? Maybe you just don't remember that you knew what it meant, along with not remembering what it meant. I mean, it seems like you're forgetting an awful lot of stuff, so maybe you forgot that too.
Sasha: What are you talking about? What other stuff do you think I'm forgetting?
Ariel: You know! All that stuff! I don't want to list it all off or you'll get too embarrassed.
Sasha: Anyway ... Watanare is a show that's mostly about this pink-haired girl who was a big shut-in in middle school, so when she gets to high school, she decides she's going to be popular and extroverted and make a lot of friends. She falls in with this group of four other girls that's centered around the super-smart, super-pretty blond girl, who is also a famous model despite just being a freshman in high school. But because the pink-haired girl's such an introvert, she keeps getting exhausted by trying to keep up with all their conversations, and a week or two into freshman year, she kind of freaks out about it and runs up to the roof to get some fresh air and decompress. But then the super-pretty blond model girl comes up too and sees her leaning over the railing and thinks she's about to jump, so she runs at her and yells for her to stop, which startles Pink-Hair Girl and makes her actually fall, and then Super-Pretty Blond Model Girl has to jump off the roof too to grab her and make them both tumble into the top of a tree nearby. See? I remembered all of that even though it was from back in the very first episode.
Ariel: Well ... I don't want to be mean, so I'm not going to mention all the stuff you remembered wrong just then.
Sasha: What? What stuff? 
Ariel: I said I wasn't going to mention it, didn't I? Sheesh!
Sasha: Whatever. Anyway, then Super-Pretty Blond Model Girl decides that she's fallen in love with Pink-Hair Girl and insists that they need to become girlfriends, which is where the title comes in.
Ariel: I thought you said you didn't know what the title meant?
Sasha: No, I mean the "There's No Freaking Way I'll Be Your Lover! Unless ..." version of the title.
Ariel: Oh, I get it. Aha! Also, I get what the "Unless ..." part of that title means, now!
Sasha: You do? What does it mean?
Ariel: It means, "Unless You're Going To Get It On With Both Me And Cute Brown-Hair Girl!" Thank heavens they didn't make that the title instead of just putting the dot-dot-dot there. That would have been a cray-cray long title.
Sasha: It also would have been a big-time spoiler for how the extra-bonus season ended.
Ariel: Probably not. Probably with it being that long, most people wouldn't have read all the way to the end of the title anyway.
Sasha: I kind of feel like they would, though, Aers. I mean, most people aren't you.
Ariel: What's that supposed to mean?
Sasha: Just that I don't think most people would get so exhausted reading 14 extra words that they'd give up and not finish reading the title.
Ariel: I didn't say they'd stop reading from being exhausted! Quit acting like I'm all lazy that way. I meant they'd stop reading the title because they'd be so excited about actually reading the story, so they'd skip right to that. Or skip right to watching the show.
Sasha: Uh-huh. So are you going to actually say anything about the show at any point?
Ariel: I already did! I guess you forgot about that part too.
Sasha: You know what? Forget I said anything at all.
Ariel: What you said when?
Sasha: This whole time I've been talking!
Ariel: What whole time?
Sasha: Would you stop that?
Ariel: But you told me to forget you said anything. I was just doing what you wanted.
Sasha: Uh-huh. Why does that not work literally any other time I say you should do something?
Ariel: There's lots of times you say I should do something and I do it!
Sasha: Really? Like when?
Ariel: Um ... do you really want me to say? Cause that's a whole other list of things that I think you might get embarrassed if I went and listed them all. If you know what I mean!
Sasha: Oh. Yeah, okay. 
Ariel: So ... is there anything else you want to say about Whatawhatsit?
Sasha: Hmm ...
Ariel: Or -- is there anything else you want to say I should do?
Sasha: Why are you batting your eyes at me like that?
Ariel: No reason!
Sasha: Uh ... okay ... Goodnight, everybody!

Sasha and Ariel Experience ... There's No Freaking Way I'll Be Your Lover! Unless ... !

Sasha: Okay, time to get down to it and us get some blogging done to start the New Year!
Ariel: Yeah, we've kinda been slacking since ... yeep, like, last September or something?
Sasha: Soooo many things we've been experiencing since then that we could have blogged about!
Ariel: I don't even want to think about it.
Sasha: Anyway, now that we finished watching the bonus season of this show, I figured we could use it as a quick way to get back in the swing of things.
Ariel: Whew! Thank goodness we're only talking about the bonus season! I barely hardly remember the first season, and I even barely-er, hardly-er remember the manga, cause we read that ages ago.
Sasha: Well, I mean, we could still talk about the first season or the manga, or at least the parts we remember. It's not like we only have to talk about the bonus season.
Ariel: Maybe you don't only have to talk about it, but I only have to talk about it on account of it's all I remember.
Sasha: All right, no biggie. In that case, we should --
Ariel: I mean ... I guess I do remember when we started watching the first season this summer I was all, "Wait, did everything happen this fast in the manga?" Because I didn't remember everything happening that fast in the manga.
Sasha: True. The manga took more time getting things going than the show. But before we get too much into it, shouldn't we --
Ariel: Oh! Also, I must remember something more about the manga, because when we watched the bonus season, I was like, "Whoa, this is totally different from the manga. They obviously changed this way around from the original story."
Sasha: Well ... I think that's because we haven't read the part of the manga that the bonus season covers.
Ariel: What do you mean? Haven't we read all of the manga that there is?
Sasha: We've read all of it that's been translated into English, but there's another whole volume that hasn't been translated yet.
Ariel: OMG.
Sasha: What?
Ariel: You meant the whole bonus season was SPOILERS for a part of the manga that we haven't read yet?
Sasha: You didn't know that? I mean, I thought it was pretty obvious considering the end of the main season was pretty much the end of the last volume we read of the manga. Actually, it even went a little further than the last volume of the manga.
Ariel: I just thought that meant the people who did the show ran out of stuff from the manga and just figured they'd wing it. I didn't know there was a whole other volume we never read!
Sasha: Hmm. I guess you really don't want to hear what I read on Wikipedia getting ready for this post then.
Ariel: What? I mean, I don't even want to hear that you were reading on Wikipedia to get ready at all. Are you doing that before every post so you can show me up?
Sasha: No, why would I be trying to show you up?
Ariel: Because you think I'm lazy! But just because you're going and doing a bunch of extra homework before we start blogging doesn't mean I'm lazy!
Sasha: Those two things aren't connected at all, Aers. Plus, we already said at the start of this post that we've been slacking about posting, which basically means we've both been lazy.
Ariel: No it doesn't! Slacking just means we sort of haven't been doing it. Not that we're being lazy about it. It's like how "chillaxing" is put together from "chilling" and "relaxing." Only with slacking, it's "sort of" and "lacking" that you're putting together.
Sasha: Okay, you totally just now made that up to keep from having to admit we were being lazy about posting because then you'd be admitting you're lazy sometimes.
Ariel: No, I just now made it up because it's work making something like that up, so making it up proves I'm not lazy. Not everybody is unlazy enough to go around making up new words, you know.
Sasha: It's not a new word, though -- it's totally a word that already existed. What are you even talking about?
Ariel: It's a new word that just happens to be spelled the same as an alxisting word, which is another word I just made up by combining "already" and "existing." There's lots of words that are spelled the same as other words, you know. 
Sasha: Like "lots." I know.
Ariel: Not just "like" lots! Actually lots!
Sasha: No, I mean "lots" is more than one word. Like there are parking lots and also lots of words that are spelled the same.
Ariel: Oh, I get it.
Sasha: Also like "like." Like, you can like some one and someone can also be like someone else.
Ariel: Ooh! Or you can can someone like firing them or you can can them like boiling them in a jar to keep them from spoiling.
Sasha: That's pretty dark.
Ariel: Sorry. I was going to say like you can can vegetables by boiling them in a jar, but then I realized "them" was way shorter than "vegetables" so I just decided to use "them" because probably somebody must have done that at some point.
Sasha: Cannibals, I guess?
Ariel: OOH! Right! Like, most people aren't cannibals, but they are can-able if you're a cannibal and want to can them.
Sasha: ...
Ariel: If you don't believe me, I bet you could look it up on Wikipedia, since it seems like that's your thing.
Sasha: I don't even remember why I brought up Wikipedia in the first place.
Ariel: Because you said I didn't want to hear about it.
Sasha: Right. Oh yeah, the thing is, on Wikipedia I saw that not only was there a manga before the anime but also there was a "light novel" before the manga.
Ariel: What the heck is a light novel?
Sasha: It's a kind of Japanese novel that's mostly for a younger audience, written so it's easy to read and with illustrations in a manga sort of style. Apparently, quite a few anime shows come from manga that come from light novels.
Ariel: Okay? I mean, I don't know why I wouldn't want to hear about that.
Sasha: Because the light novel series for "There's No Freaking Way I'll Be Your Lover! Unless ..." is like, eight books long, and the stuff we just watched in the bonus season is from maybe book number four. Which means there's four other whole books of spoiler material out there for parts of the manga and show that haven't even been made yet.
Ariel: That's crazypants.
Sasha: But I guess we don't have to worry about that, since we'd have to go out of our way to get the light novels and read them in order to have anything spoiled by them.
Ariel: Unless someone kidnaps us and forces us to!
Sasha: That seems kind of unlikely, though.
Ariel: Well ... yeah, but even if it's unlikely, now I have to worry about it a little bitty-bit where before I didn't have to worry about it at all.
Sasha: Maybe what we should worry about more is actually posting about the anime?
Ariel: Whew, I'm sort of tired now, though. From all the worrying and all the word-inventing. And before you say anything, "tired" isn't the same thing as "lazy!"
Sasha: Actually, I was going to say I'm sort of tired now too. Let's try talking about the show again tomorrow, how about.
Ariel: Sure!
Sasha and Ariel: See you tomorrow then, everybody!

Ariel and Sasha Experience ... Four-Way Heroscape!

Ariel: Okay, wow, so this is going to be so new and different!
Sasha: Yeah? How so?
Ariel: Well, I mean, duh, this time we have guests!
Sasha: We had guests before, way back when we did that book club post.
Ariel: What? What book club post?
Sasha: The one where --
Ariel: Oh, wait, maybe I remember. It was the book about that Russian composter, Peter Cottontchailovsky, fighting that wolf that was eating all the planets. Holy moley, that was years ago! How did you expect me to remember that?
Sasha: I didn't. That's why I reminded you.
Ariel: Okay, but when you did that you also reminded our readers, who probably would of forgotten just as much as I did, so they would have been excited by that part being new just like I was. Anyway, those were book club guests and this time they're Heroscaping guests. We definitely haven't had Heroscaping guests before.
Sasha: That's true.
Ariel: And we're playing with new Heroscape stuff because a brand-new package of it came today.
Sasha: Sure, but we've played with new Heroscape stuff before.
Ariel: But we haven't played with newer than that Heroscape stuff.
Sasha: Sure we did. We've played with new Heroscape stuff after a couple of different packages came in, I'm pretty sure.
Ariel: Well ... but this is the newest Heroscape stuff, and we haven't played newest Heroscape before.
Sasha: I mean, technically every time we've played Heroscape it's been with the newest Heroscape that was out at the time.
Ariel: OMG, you are making us sound so boring and un-new!
Sasha: Sorry.
Ariel: Anyhow, even if we've had guests before and we've played newest Heroscape before, we haven't ever played newest Heroscape with guests before, and we haven't ever played four-way Heroscape before, so this is still going to be super new and different.
Sasha: Sure. So very different. Because, you know, we never start our posts off arguing about pointless stuff before we get to the part where we actually talk about the thing we're talking about.
Ariel: That part's always your fault!
Sasha: Er ... you're going to have to prove that by going back and showing me it's always me doing the arguing.
Ariel: Ugh! That would be so much work!
Sasha: I guess we'll never know, then.
Ariel: Grr. OH! But plus, here's another new and different thing about it -- one of our guests has never been a guest here before, and also she's a new yam who's only barely been in the house a couple weeks or less, so we've never even talked about her here before, much less talked with her here. Hah!
Sasha: Okay, so that's a pretty major new thing, I'll give you that.
Ariel: Boom! I win!
Sasha: Why don't we just introduce our guests?
Ariel: Sure. I'll go first and introduce the super-duper new and differentest of our guests, Heddy. Heddy used to be Hettie's girlfriend a long time ago, and now she is again! And also now she's here instead of way over in California or wherever. And also, her being here means she's pretty much our girlfriend too now, so say hello, Heddy!
Heddy: Um ... hi?
Sasha: Sorry if Aers is embarrassing you with too many personal details, Heddy.
Heddy: No, she's fine. I'm just ... still kind of working out what I'm supposed to be saying. As a guest on you guys' blog, I mean.
Ariel: Sheesh, Sash, why are you going and making it out like she's all embarrassed? And what do you mean, too many personal details? It's not like I went and said you two already did it or anything.
Sasha: ...
Heddy: ...
Ariel: I mean, I guess I did just then. Uhh ... anyway, here's our other guest for today, MSG! Say something, MSG!
MSG: We can have them edit out anything embarrassing later, Heddy. Just let them know.
Heddy: I'll definitely consider that. But I think as long as this doesn't degenerate into a bunch of who's-done-what-to-whom, I'm probably okay. I'm not really all that easily embarrassed. More self-conscious in new situations like this.
Ariel: Aha! See, Sash? She agrees with me about how new this post is!
Sasha: Maybe we should get on with playing. MSG, I see you already built a map for us to play on.
MSG: Yep. And I looked at the new figures and divided them up into four more-or-less even armies worth about 230 points each.
Ariel: Oh, good! Those are some of the funnest parts, but some of the most work too. And I kind of feel like we've already been working at this post a lot.
Sasha: You're not the only one.
Heddy: Okay, so, I'm seeing all these little figurines and stuff, and I'm trying not to be intimidated, but this is definitely even more outside my normal box than the D&D game we played.
Ariel: Don't worry, it's way easier than it looks. Sash and I basically taught ourselves.
Sasha: Let's not get into why we taught ourselves.
Heddy: Oh? Is there a story there? I'm noticing MSG is looking at both of you and neither of you is looking at him ...
Ariel: Uh, we kind of opened his game and played with it before he had a chance to.
Sasha: Ariel opened it. I only played with it.
Ariel: I said "kind of," didn't I? Anyway, that's all water under the fridge now.
Sasha: Under the bridge. Water under the bridge means it's in the past. Water under the fridge would be a mess.
Ariel: Yeah, but it's a mess you wouldn't see unless you went poking around under there, or unless somebody pointed it out to you. Like, when they didn't even need to.
Sasha: Anyway. Like Aers said, she and I basically taught ourselves, by which she meant I read all the rules and basically taught her.
Ariel: You didn't read all the rules! Some of the rules are on the cards for each army. So I had to read those just as much as you did.
Sasha: Okay, but I had to read all the rules in the rulebook.
Ariel: And I didn't, and it was still pretty easy for me to learn, and Heddy seems to be gobs smarter than me, so it ought to be a snap for you, Heddy.
Heddy: I'm not going to go making any claims about how smart I am.
Sasha: You do seem pretty smart, though.
Heddy: Thanks!
Ariel: So the main things you want to remember are, if your guys are up higher than the other person's guys, you get more dice to attack with or to defend with, if you're attacking or defending. And you always want to make sure you look at your cards and maybe the other person's cards before you make your decisions about attacking, because there's this SUPER MEAN rule about no backsies, and if you say, I'm attacking that dude with my whatchamacallit power and it turns out that dude's card says no whatchamacallitting him, you're screwed and you just wasted all the time you spent setting things up to whatchamacallit the dude.
Sasha: Another thing to remember is, if your figure won't fit in a space because it's got legs or wings or something sticking out, then you can't go there.
Ariel: Haha, that totally screwed your super-centipede dude up that one game.
Sasha: Let's not get into that.
Ariel: Yeah, he had all those tiny little legs sticking out from his sides and there were so many of them that even though they were teeny-tiny, he still wouldn't fit in that space. And I was like, "Sucks to be him!" And then I totally whacked him from above with my Killaballoon guy.
Sasha: You know, Heddy can read all about that later, if she really wants to.
Heddy: It does sound kind of amusing, so let's not go through the whole story now.
Ariel: Oh, right! Spoilers! Sorry.
Sasha: MSG, why don't you tell us about these armies you built.
MSG: Sure thing. First, there's this army with a bunch of fish guys, a miniature kraken, and these giants with giant bows.

Ariel: Haha, I like the one guy in the back who's just drinking away.
MSG: Well, they're fish warriors, so I think that's probably a conch-shell horn that he's blowing as a battle alert.
Ariel: Does it say that on the card?
MSG: No.
Ariel: I think I like my way better then.
MSG: That's cool I guess. So the fish warriors can give themselves and the krakenling some extra movement at the very beginning of each round, and they defend better when they're in water or being attacked from above. The krakenling gets lots of attacks when it's not wounded and can swap places with someone next to it. And the giants have really good range -- 7 spaces. They also get an extra attack die if they're shooting someone 4 or more spaces away, and another extra attack die shooting someone 7 spaces away.
Ariel: That looks like a pretty badass army.
Sasha: Right? Maybe I want to play that one. Who's next?
MSG: This great big flying lady and her dragon crew. The three dragons in front are kind of wussy. Their special powers only work if you team them up with certain figures, and this new set of Heroscape doesn't have any of those figures. So they're just some mediocre flying guys in this scenario. But the wizard lady can attack twice a turn, once at long range and once close up, and before her turn she can take a turn with this feathery flying beast in front of her, who can either attack or use a special ability to heal her if she's wounded.

Sasha: So basically if someone takes her out, you're screwed.
MSG: Basically. Now, these three guys don't look like much, but they're worth more points than the other three armies. Both the guy with the staff and the green guy get to take an extra turn with the red vines beast before their own turn. The guy with the staff also has a special power that lets him take a turn with another unique hero who's within 2 spaces of him after his turn. Has to roll a 13 or higher on the 20 sided die if the hero is controlled by the same player, or a 16 or higher to take over another player's hero. His attack value is lame, but he always gets two extra skulls when he attacks. Both the green vine guy and the red vine guy have a chance to make an opponent's figure stop moving if it becomes adjacent to them, so they're tricky to move past.

Ariel: That sounds awfully complicated.
Sasha: Yeah, but there are only three of them to keep track of.
Heddy: So wait ... does that mean the guy with the staff can take a turn with the red vine guy, and then take his own turn, and then possibly take a turn with the green vine guy, who can also take a turn with the red vine guy before his turn? So you could get four turns instead of just one?
MSG: That's exactly what it means.
Ariel: Dang! I told you you were smart, Heddy!
Heddy: Well, I didn't say I wasn't, I just said I didn't want to go bragging about it.
MSG: So the last army is this pirate ninja lady and her pirate squad. She gives the squad extra defense if she's close to them, and they let you take a turn with her every time you take a turn with them. She also gives them an extra attack die if there's an order marker on her card, and if you put the X order marker on her card, you can reveal it at the start of her turn to move two of the squad guys up to 3 spaces each. The squad guys have decent attack and defense, and they also get to roll an extra attack die for each wound they inflict when they hit someone.

Ariel: Yikes! They sound evil!
Heddy: Aren't most pirates evil?
Ariel: Yeah, but that sounds even extra eviller.
MSG: So who wants to play which army, and are we doing a free-for all, or playing teams?
Heddy: I wouldn't mind having a teammate to give me advice for this first game I've ever played.
Ariel: Ooh! I'll be Heddy's teammate!
Sasha: Maybe we ought to let Heddy pick?
Heddy: No, that's fine. It does sound like she crushed your centipede guy pretty well in that one game.
Ariel: Yes!
Sasha: Okay, me and MSG against Heddy and Aers. Who gets which army?
MSG: I propose letting Heddy pick first since she's the only one who's never played. Then the rest of us can roll off to see who picks next.
Ariel: Okey-doke by me!
Sasha: Sure. Heddy?
Heddy: I'll definitely take the guys who are worth more points and can take up to four turns in a single turn. That sounds too good to pass up.
MSG: I roll a 9.
Ariel: Boo. 8 for me.
Sasha: 18! I'll take the pirate chick and her gang, since Aers probably wants to play the drinking fish guy.
Ariel: Wait, just because I think it's funny that he's drinking doesn't mean I want to play a drunk fish dude!
Sasha: Well, I'm still going for the pirates.
MSG: What do you think, Aers? Want me to take the fish guys and giants, or should I leave them for you and play the little dragons and the flying wizard lady?
Ariel: Uh ... let me see their cards again? Okay, the fish guys for sure. That wizard is all sneezy.
Sasha: What?
Ariel: Look at her name! "Hatchoo-a-lot."
MSG: That's Haluchott.
Ariel: Oh. Well, you still made it sound like she and her guys were pretty lame, so I'm down for the fish team.
MSG: If that's settled, let's roll to see who places their armies first. Heddy, whoever gets highest on the 20-sided die places one army card's worth of figures in one of the four grey starting zones in the corners of the map. Then the other players place two cards' worth of figures at a time, and we keep going in order until all figures are placed.
Heddy: Uhm ... got it, I think. I roll 13.
MSG: 9 for me.
Ariel: Boo! 6.
Sasha: 18 again, baby! I'll take this spot here. Pirate queen for the win!
Heddy: I don't know that I see much difference between the different starting places. Am I missing something?
MSG: Well, I don't know Sash's plan, but none of her figures have range, and she put her pirate captain down pretty close to those trees and bushes, so she may be trying to set up cover against ranged attacks. Also, if you're next to a tree or bush, you get a defense bonus against anyone shooting at you from a distance -- and your green vine wizard can heal at the end of a round if he's next to a tree or bush.
Heddy: Great. Definitely picking this spot closer to trees, then.
MSG: Not much difference between the two zones left, so I'll set up here.
Ariel: And I guess that leaves this place for me.
Sasha: I'll stick the rest of my pirates in front of this Crimson Widow chick, then.
Ariel: Oh, I thought that card said "Window." Widow is a lot cooler.
Sasha: Why would a pirate ninja be a window?
Ariel: I don't know! But it would be pretty un-cool sounding, is all I'm saying.
Heddy: My wizard with the staff will go here. "Maruchott, Vine Whisperer." Interesting.
Ariel: What do you think he whispers?
Heddy: Rumors? Innuendo? I'm guessing whatever he hears through the grapevine.
MSG: Nice. I'll put my sneezy wizard down here.
Ariel: That leaves my Crackling dude to go here.
Sasha: "Krakenling."
Ariel: Watch out or he's going to be Krakenling your window.
Heddy: Okay, so we're all set up ... what now?

MSG: Order markers! You get 4 of them: 1, 2, 3, and X.
Sasha: X is only for my pirates, to mark the spot. I'm joking, but man, that would be a cool power if you could take the X off your card and put it on a spot on the board and suddenly there's treasure there.
MSG: The order markers are used to determine which figures you move with during a round. There are 3 turns per person in a round, represented by the 1, 2, and 3. The X is used as a bluff, or in some cases to activate special powers.
Sasha: Wait, that's right! My pirate chick does have a special X power.
Heddy: So I put one marker on each card? And then the X ... where exactly? I'm not seeing the bluffing part.
MSG: You don't have to put one marker on each card. You can put them all on one card, or two on one card and two on another -- any combination you like. So you could put your 1 and 2 on your Heard-It-Through-the-Grapevine wizard, your 3 on the other wizard, and your X on the red vine beast. Until you reveal each one, we won't know which ones you're planning to move or when.
Heddy: Ah, that makes more sense.
Ariel: After order markers, we roll the 20-sider for initiative and then go in order of our rolls. The winner plays their number 1 marker, then the next person plays their number 1 marker, until all the 1's are done and we go on to the 2's.
MSG: Each order marker is a turn, and going through a complete set of all order markers finishes a round.
Heddy: All right. I'm putting mine like this. What do you think, Ariel?
Ariel: Um ... sure? Remember, I didn't take those guys because they sounded too complicated. Sorry if that's not much help.
Heddy: No problem. If I lose, I lose. It's just my first game.
MSG: I've got mine set up.
Sasha: Me too. Aers?
Ariel: Give me a second! I had to help Heddy, even if I wasn't much help! Okay, done.
Sasha: Time for initiative, then.
Ariel: Actually, I think first I use this special power of my fish guys. I put 3 order markers on them, so all of them and my Window Cracker get to move 3 spaces. Okay, done.
Sasha: 6 for me on initiative.
Heddy: 11. 
MSG: 13.
Ariel: Woohoo! 15! I go first! It's the fish guys. Dang, their stupid flying fish wings sure get in the way ... why do they even have flying fish wings if they can't fly? All right, here's where they end up, then.
Heddy: Hang on. When you moved them those 3 spaces before initiative, it looked like some of them only moved one space. Did I miss something?
Ariel: Oh! No, see, if you can't fly, you have to count the sides of each level that you go up. So each level you go up counts as a move even if you don't go into the actual space until you've finished climbing.
Heddy: Ah. But when your fish fellows moved down on the other side of that hill, you didn't count extra for the sides?
Ariel: Right, because you can just jump down. It doesn't cost you anything.
Heddy: Got it.
MSG: My number 1 is my little dragon trio. They'll fly to here. Since they have Flying, they don't have to count the elevation steps to go up and over the hill. That's all they can do this turn.
Heddy: It's me next then, right? Okay. I put my first marker on Marachott. So first he gets to take a turn with "Vrono the Brambletooth," who can move 5? One, two, three, four. Did I do that right? One to go up this level, then three to get next to the bush?
MSG: Yep.
Heddy: I don't think I want to move him any closer to your dragons, so he'll stay there in cover. Then it's Marachott's turn ... one, two, three, four. I'm keeping him within 2 spaces of "Girushia, Grove Keeper" to try to give him a turn too, which I need to roll a 13 or better for ... 19. Got it. So one, two, three, four puts Girushia here by the bushes too. And I don't have any range, so I'm done.
Sasha: Time for some piracy! My number one is on my squad -- the Dreadnoughts of Caraway Cavern!
Ariel: Yeesh! You're not going to say that whole name every time, are you?
Sasha: No -- especially since it abbreviates to DCC, just like Dungeon Crawl Classics!
Ariel: Oh, man, I love that game.
Sasha: We'll have to play that one with you sometime, Heddy.
Heddy: So many games!
MSG: Let's try not to overwhelm her, okay, you two?
Sasha: Sure. Alright, they give the Crimson Window -- grr, Widow -- a turn first, so she's moving over here behind these bushes, and then they're moving up with her. Your turn for order marker number 2, Aers!
Ariel: It's my Greatbow Archers! They're gonna move to here and shoot some giant arrows at your little green pirate over by those bushes, Sash. They're at range 7, which is plus 2 attack dice because they're "Longshot Specialists." 5 dice coming at you!
Sasha: Eek. I get to add 1 for the bushes, but I still only get 4 defense dice.
Ariel: Twang!!! Oh poop. Only 1 skull.
Sasha: Whew! I only roll 1 shield but that's enough. 
Ariel: Second archer ... twang!!! Two skulls!
Sasha: Booooooo. No shields. So he takes two wounds and he's dead.
Ariel: Yes!
MSG: Okay, number two for me is also my little dragon guys. These two are going to fly over and attack Ariel's fish guys, and this one will go attack your red vines beast, Heddy. The first two get an extra attack die for elevation ...
Ariel: But I get TWO extra defense dice for being attacked from up high!
MSG: It's still the best I could do. So the first one rolls 3 dice and gets 2 skulls.
Ariel: Dang, I better roll really good with my 4 dice ... boo! only 1 shield. He's dead.
MSG: Next 3-die attack -- yech. No skulls.
Ariel: Whew!
MSG: And finally, 2 dice against -- what's his name again? Vroomo?
Heddy: Vrono.
MSG: Sorry. Anyway, 1 skull.
Heddy: So I just roll 4 of these and look for shields? Oh, good, 3 shields. Can I save some of those for later since I only needed 1?
MSG: Afraid not.
Heddy: So I'm next, and my number 2 is Marachott again. First he gives Vrono a turn -- oops, I forgot to read my card on your turn. I should have used these Sharp Vines when you moved in next to me. I might have shaved off one of your dice. Not that I ended up needing to. All right, I've got 2 dice to attack your mean little dragon, so ... 1 skull.
MSG: He's got 2 defense ... 1 shield, safe.
Heddy: Marachott's main turn now. I'll smack your dragon with my Staff of Curupiran. Hmm ... I get to roll 1 attack die, but I automatically get 2 skulls, so aren't you already dead? No, wait, you might roll 2 shields, even if that's not super likely. Here I go, then. Nope, my die is a shield.
MSG: I defend with ... only 1 shield, so your auto skulls kill me.
Heddy: I'm liking these figures. Time to see if I can give Girushia an extra turn again ... yep, 16! Can I move through my own character?
MSG: Yes, as long as they're not engaged with another figure -- which mostly just means adjacent.
Heddy: Sweet. I can move him over here, then, and -- oh, wait, he was supposed to give Vrona a turn too. But that no backsies rule means I can't, right?
MSG: It's supposed to.
Ariel: We can give her a break though, can't we? Since it's her first time playing?
Sasha: You can't, because she's on your team. I don't know if I want to be a hard ass about it, though. What do you think, MSG.
MSG: I'm okay with doing it this once.
Heddy: You guys are the best. I'm moving Vrono around to here, then, still by the bushes but on the other side. And then Girushia goes here. He's got this Reach thing that lets him attack at range 2 as long as the target isn't too high up or too far down, which means I can go for your white baby dragon, right? 
MSG: Yes, but I have elevation, so I'll get an extra defense die.
Heddy: Let's dance, then. My attack is 4 -- ouch. but I roll no skulls.
MSG: Bad break.
Sasha: Piracy time! My number 2 is the DCC again. First, Crimson Widow goes. She'll reveal this X marker to move her last 2 scurvy knaves 3 spaces each. Then she moves 5 spaces toward you, MSG! I'm coming for your sneezy wizard -- let's make that "sneezard" for short. Now it's my actual turn with the DCC, and they're out for blood! They move here ... and here. This guy can smackeroo your familiar from up high now. 4 attack dice! 2 skulls!
MSG: I have 3 dice to defend ... 1 shield, so I take 1 wound.
Sasha: Hang on, though! I get to roll another die for each wound I gave you, and it says ... rats. Shield. Just the one wound. Here's a wound marker.
Heddy: What's that for?
MSG: Figures with more than 1 life -- that's the number in the little blood-spatter icon there -- don't just go away when they're hit. You put wound markers on them until they run out of life. I've got 2 left now.
Sasha: Not for long. This DCC is attacking you too! What the -- 3 shields on 3 dice! Lame!
MSG: Wait. Sash, you're on my team.
Sasha: What? Oh, shit. I just saw some sweet, sweet pirate victims where I could reach them. Does the no backsies rule apply to that kind of boner move?
Heddy: That seems like it would be a little too harsh.
MSG: Technically, the You-Snooze-You-Lose rule says to check for Glyphs, Special Powers, and Height Advantage before attacking, not for whether you're making a completely crazy attack on your own team. So I agree that applying it now is a bit much.
Ariel: I'm going to agree too, but probably only because I'd be outvoted anyway.
Sasha: "Probably," huh? Well since everybody's giving me the backsies, I end up moving my DCC's here with the 3-space moves, then Crimson Widow here, and then the DCC's here with their real move of 6. So this dude gets to attack Gooshy-gooshy the vine guy. Let's see ... I've got elevation again, so 4 dice  ...
Heddy: You already rolled 4 dice. Should we just use those results?
MSG: Your call, since you're the target, I think.
Heddy: I'd just as soon not risk having Sash roll 4 skulls, so I'll take the 2 she rolled before. My defense is 3, so ... oh crap, I forgot my Wicked Thorns again.
MSG: Well, you haven't rolled defense yet, so I think we can let you have the backsies on this too. Especially since you're not the one attacking.
Ariel: She's getting so many backsies! Oh, wait, she's on my team, so that's a good thing. Never mind.
Heddy: You know what? I'm still going to pass on that, because she could end up rolling 3 skulls on the re-roll. Here's my defense roll of 3 against the 2 skulls ... 2 shields.
Ariel: Yes! Safe!
Sasha: It seems like we both need to pay more attention to what team we're on, Aers.
Ariel: The whole "team" thing is just confusing the heck out of me, to be honest.
Sasha: Well, you wanted new and different.
Ariel: Yeah, I guess I did. Anyway, now it's my number 3 order marker, which is the fish dudes again. I'm gonna swarm these last 2 dragons! 3 attack dice on this red one! Woot! 3 skulls!

MSG: Only 1 shield on my defense. Dead.
Ariel: Yes! Next fish guy! 2 skulls!
MSG: No shields. Dead.
Ariel: Fish guys rule! This last guy doesn't get to attack though. Oh, he's the drinking one. I guess he was too busy getting sloshed to fight.
Heddy: Looks like the fish men really schooled you, MSG.
MSG: Ouch. Did you have to add to my pain? Well, I'm next, so let's see if Haluchott can get some payback. First, my familiar flies over here to attack Sash's --
Sasha: Not you too! MSG, we're on the same damn team!
MSG: I guess I was still smarting from your false move last turn. Okay, rewind that. The familiar flies to here, and my wizard flies to here, which puts me in range to zap either Heddy's vine guy or Ariel's fish guy with my Staff of the Long Hand. Looks like I'm up against 4 defense dice for a fish dude or 5 for the red vines beast, so I'll take a shot at the fish guy.
Heddy: You could also hit Girushia, right? He's only got 3 dice plus 1 for the bushes.
MSG: Yes, but we're almost to the end of the round, and he's the one who heals if he's next to a bush or tree when the round's done, right?
Heddy: True. I was hoping you wouldn't remember that.
MSG: 2 attack dice coming at that fish guy there ... 2 skulls!
Ariel: Yipe! Uh, 4 defense dice gets me -- only 1 shield. Noooo, my fish guy!
MSG: Heddy, your turn.
Heddy: I put order marker 3 on Girushia, so first I'm taking a turn with Vrono. He's only got 2 attack dice, though, so I don't see much point moving him up to attack Sasha's DCC pirate on that hill. But I guess doing something with him is better than doing nothing. 2 attack dice ... ooh, 2 skulls!
Ariel: Yes! Whip those vines!
Sasha: 4 defense dice ... glah! All skulls!
Heddy: Wow. I didn't think that would work. Okay, Girushia's turn, and he can attack the last pirate with his Reach ... 4 dice ... and, 4 shields.
MSG: Everybody's really going all-or-nothing in this fight.
Sasha: Thanks be to the pirate gods on that last one. If she'd taken out that guy I wouldn't have been able to use my last order marker. It's on the DCC's again, so first I move the Crimson Widow, which puts her in place to attack Vroomo with 5 attack dice for being up high.
Heddy: Urk.
Sasha: 2 skulls, Vroomo.
Heddy: Hang on. First I was supposed to get my Sharp Thorns power, since it's not an attack and the You-Snooze-You-Lose rule doesn't apply, right? I only roll a 9, though, so it doesn't work. Ah well. I do get 4 defense dice ... and again, no success on even a single one of them. Vroomo -- Vrono's almost dead.
Sasha: Time for my last DCC. He tromps over here to attack Gooshy-Gooshy from up high, plus he gets a bonus attack die for being next to the Widow. That's 5 dice total.
Heddy: This could be painful ...
Sasha: 3 skulls.
Heddy: Yeah, I'm not liking the looks of this. Wait! Wicked Thorns! I swear, at some point I'll remember that at the right time. Not that it matters. I roll a 2. Okay, I only have 3 defense dice, so this is probably going to hurt ... oh, 2 shields. Only 1 wound.
Sasha: But I get to roll another die for that wound! Skull!
Heddy: Okay, 2 wounds then. But it's the end of the round, right? So my Gift of the Forest lets me heal one of them anyway.
Ariel: Turn one, all done!
Sasha: New order markers!
Heddy: You'd think now I've done this before, it would be less tricky instead of more. Okay, done.
MSG: Mine didn't take much brainpower.
Sasha: Yeah, mine either. Seems like we've still got one slowpoke, though.
Ariel: Hey! Don't rush me! Look ... there, I'm done.
Sasha: Time to roll it, then!
Ariel: Nooo, don't you remember? I still have my special power for after the markers are put down. I have 2 of them on my fish dudes, so all my oceany guys get to move two. That's here, and here ... and ... here. Okay, now we can roll. 
Sasha: 11 for me.
Heddy: I see your 11 and raise you 12.
MSG: I'm on 9.
Ariel: Boo! I'm on 3.
Sasha: You're up then, Heddy.
Heddy: Predictably, I have Malachott first. So Vrono's going to take a crack at the Crimson Widow, since she's the only figure he can get at. 2 skulls!
Sasha: I get 4 defense dice from being queen of the mountain ... 2 shields.
Heddy: Okay, now Malachott's turn. He'll go boop, boop, boop to here and ... no guts, no glory, right? I'm going to take a shot at using my Malachott's Whisper to brainwash Crimson Widow. Come on, 16 or better ... nope. 9. That's it for me, then.
Sasha: Whew! That could have sucked! All right, first up, my last DCC dude, who gives CW a turn. She's chopping Gooshy Vines with 5 dice! 3 skulls!
Heddy: Oof. No shields on my 3 defense dice.
Sasha: Yes! Hammertime with my last DCC dude, then! He gets 5 dice too! Only 2 skulls for him, though.
Heddy: This could be ugly ... whew, 1 shield, still alive.
MSG: I'm next. Haluchott is my number 1, so I'll take a turn with Chana first. I'll move him here, and then Haluchott between him and Marachott right here. Now I get a normal attack of 3 dice and a Staff of the Long Hand one for 2 dice. 1 skull on the normal attack ... ooh, 2 skulls on the special. You get to roll defense against them separately, though.
Heddy: 1 shield, and another 1 shield, so that's a wound. My guys are starting to get kind of torn up.
Ariel: Me to the rescue! My number 1 is ... fishies! First mister drunky drunk attacks your DCC with 3 dice, Sash. 2 skulls!
Sasha: 4 defense for me ... crap! No shields. He's sleeping with the fishes now, I guess.
Ariel: Wait, what? I expected him to live! Now my other fish guy isn't where he can attack anybody else.
Sasha: Should have told the drunk guy to wait. Then he could've attacked Gooshy goosh.
Heddy: No, Sash. Aers and I are on the same team.
Sasha: Ugh! No more of this team stuff, please! Next time we play it's everybody against everybody.
Heddy: Back around to my turn, now, which is Marachott again. Vrono takes another vine swipe at the Crimson Widow ... useless. Then Marachott smacks Haluchott with her staff. 1 skull plus 2 for the special power equals 3 total.
MSG: Ouch. But I roll 2 shields, so only 1 wound.
Heddy: This time I'm whispering Girushia for better odds ... and of course it's an 18, so I could've taken over one of your guys if I'd had the guts. Girushia gives Vrono another turn, so I'll whip Crimson Widow again ... 1 skull.
Sasha: 1 shield.
Heddy: Girushia vine-whips the Widow too. Wow. Again just 1 skull.
Sasha: Another shield, hah! My turn! The Crimson Widow has lost all her backup, and she's pissed about it. Here's 5 dice back at you, Gooshy! 4 skulls!
Heddy: I don't think I'm living through this -- oh, definitely not because I've only got 3 defense. Goodbye, Girushia. And then there were two.
MSG: Unsurprisingly, my number 2 is Haluchott again. I'll move Chana up out of the water and see if she can heal that wound I got last time. Whiff. Just missed with an 11. So Haluchott's up for her own turn, with another 3-dice/2-dice combo on Marachott. Here we go. 2 skulls and ... no skulls.
Heddy: One shield, so that's a wound.
Ariel: My turn! Time for some giant arrowing! Let's see ... who can I shoot at range of 7? If I shoot Crummy Windows, she gets an extra die for up high. But if I move a little closer I can shoot Hatchoo-a-lot just fine. 5 dice coming at you, Hatchoo! Dang, only 2 skulls for the first one.
MSG: 2 shields.
Ariel: 3 skulls for the next one!
MSG: Ouch, only 1 shield.
Ariel: Yes! Two wounds! Your turn, Heddy!
Heddy: Sort of. I thought I was playing it safe spreading my order markers out. My number 3 is on Girushia, so I'm just out of luck, right?
MSG: Unfortunately, yes.
Sasha: Sweet! Crimson Widow is going to jump down here and move to attack Marachott!
Ariel: That means you move away from my fish guy and get a leaving engagement attack!
Sasha: I'm not worried. That's the drunk one.
Ariel: Oh yeah? Well -- rats. You're right. Mister drunky fish misses.
Sasha: 4 dice against Marachott! Aaugh! Where are all these shields coming from? Your turn, MSG.
MSG: Definitely trying to have Chana heal Haluchott again. Nope. Okay, same 3-dice/2-dice combo on Marachott. Pff. No skulls, no skulls.
Ariel: Yeah! Haha, I guess Marachott's nothing to sneeze at, huh, Ms. Sneezard?
MSG: Just take your turn.
Ariel: Arrows! 2 skulls, then 3 skulls!
MSG: Uh-oh. No shields, then 1 shield. Dead.
Sasha: Things are looking pretty bad here. But the Crimson Widow never gives up! Order markers!
Heddy: I'm ready.
MSG: Me too.
Ariel: Me three!
Sasha: Okay, time for your fishies to move then, Aers.
Ariel: Woohoo! You remembered! I've got 2 markers on them, so my fish guys go here and here, and my Crackling goes here. Initiative time!
Sasha: 12.
Heddy: 5.
MSG: 8.
Ariel: 9!
Sasha: I guess the Widow is up first. 4 dice on Marachott! 2 skulls!
Heddy: 1 shield. That's half my life gone now.
Ariel: My turn! This guy goes over here to kill your familiar, and drunky drinker stays where he is to kill Crummy Windows! Take that, familiar! 3 skulls!
MSG: Eep! 1 shield. I'm hanging on by a thread.
Ariel: 2 skulls, Windows!
Sasha: 1 shield. Just a scratch!
MSG: I guess I'm attacking this fish guy. 1 skull with my beak.
Ariel: Uh-oh. No shields. I guess I should of stayed in the water. Now I only have the one drunk fish guy left.
Heddy: And your giant archers, and the Krakenling.
Ariel: Yeah, but I mean, out of my fish guys I've only got the drunk one left. Your turn, partner!
Heddy: Marachott again. Vrono attacks the Widow ... 1 skull.
Sasha: 1 shield.
Heddy: Now Marachott ... 2 skulls.
Sasha: 1 shield.
Heddy: And finally, let's see if I can take the Widow over for a turn. 16! Got her! Since I control her now, she can move through my figures, right? So I'll send her over here in the water where it's easier for the archers to take her out.
Sasha: Ugh!
Heddy: Back to you, Sasha.
Sasha: I think I better get up out of this water even if it means Vroomo gets a leaving engagement attack at me.
Heddy: Shield.
Sasha: Whew! Now I'll circle over here and attack Marachott. 2 skulls!
Heddy: 1 shield. I'm feeling pretty puny right about now.
Ariel:  Don't worry, I've got this in the bag! I move one here, and one here, and even though they're not at 7 anymore, I still get 5 dice because they're both higher than Windows. Twang!!! Ugh, 1 skull.
Sasha: 1 shield.
Ariel: Twang!!! 2 skulls!
Sasha: 1 shield again. Ow.
MSG: My turn. I'll fly down in here by the bushes and attack Marachott. 1 skull.
Heddy: No shields! Only 1 life left! But it's my turn, so I'll give Vrono a turn and he'll whip your familiar. 2 skulls!
MSG: 1 shield. Dead.
Sasha: It's all up to me then, huh? Here's my number 3 coming at you, Marachott! 2 skulls!
Heddy: No shields. I'm dead.
Ariel: Don't worry! My giants will get revenge! Twang!!! 3 skulls!
Sasha: Oh, dang, I just realized I haven't been taking my bush bonus. I get 4 defense dice instead of just 3! So ... yeah. 1 shield. That takes me out.
Ariel: Victory!!! Woohoo! Heddy, why aren't you dancing?!?
Heddy: I feel like your giant archers did a whole lot more than my team of viney wizards. I mean, look at all those figures you have left, and I just have Vrono with one life point out of three.
Sasha: Hey, alive is alive, which is better than my or MSG's guys.
Ariel: Plus, you totally soaked up so much damage. My archers would have been in trouble if they'd been getting hit the whole time. And you put Crummy Windows out there in the open where I could arrow the heck out of her.
Heddy: All right, I'm feeling better.
Ariel: Super! Let's get a picture of the winners!

Heddy: So that was fun. Maybe the D&D is more my speed, though.
Ariel: This game gets better the more you play it. I think.
Sasha: Me too!
Heddy: I'm not opposed to giving it another try at some point. Maybe a game with just two players so nobody tries stabbing their partner in the back.
Ariel: Two players is awesome! Sometimes. Other times, Sash wins.
Sasha: By that logic, you should be really into this four-way style. Everybody else got wiped almost or totally wiped out, and you ended up with like two complete cards worth of figures not even scratched.
Ariel: Plus my drinky drunk guy! Yeah, it was pretty cool this way too. I'm just hyping the two-player version so Heddy wants to try it someday.
Heddy: No worries there. I'm definitely interested.
Ariel: Okay, well, we'll sign off the blog post now, then!
Sasha and Ariel: See you later, everybody!

Sasha and Ariel Experience ... My Dress-Up Darling Season 1 Finito!

Sasha: OMWTHG.
Ariel: I don't know what that means ... except I guess I do because it must mean that episode of My Dress-Up Darling WAS THE BEST THING EVER!!!!!!!!!
Sasha: Everybody for definitely sure has to put on their spoiler blankets one hundred percent right now!
Ariel: Are we going to be spoily? Because I think that episode was so good I don't know if I'm going to be able to say anything except for repeating the thing I already said, and I already said that thing before they put their spoiler blankets on, so it's too late.
Sasha: Well I'm going to say ... That sunlight reflecting off the pool onto their faces!
Ariel: Yeah, that was the best thing ever.
Sasha: And then the way she looked in that yakuta at the festival!
Ariel: Yes! Best thing ever!
Sasha: Blue tongue!
Ariel: HAHAHAHA that was so funny and THE BEST THING EVER.
Sasha: Post. Credits. Scene.
Ariel: Woosh! Best! Thing! Ever!
Sasha: Okay, I'm done.
Ariel: Me too ... bestthingever!
Sasha and Ariel: Goodnight, everybody!!!
...
...
...
Ariel: Snorrrrrre.....
Sasha: I love you.
Ariel: Huh? What?
Sasha: Nothing! Go back to sleep.
Ariel: mmffhl ... glzzzzz ...

Ariel and Sasha Experience ... My Dress-Up Darling!

Ariel: OMG! This is the most adorable anime!
Sasha: Hey, spoilers! Don't we have to tell people to put their spoiler blankets over their heads first?
Ariel: What? No, it's not a spoiler that it's adorable. I mean, it's maybe a little bitty bit spoiler-ish, but how are we supposed to convince people to watch it without saying good things about it?
Sasha: Sure, it's not a spoiler to say it's an adorable anime ... but don't you think it's sort of a spoiler to say it's the most adorable anime?
Ariel: Um ... well, but, they might not even agree that it's the most adorable, so does that really count?
Sasha: Maybe not. So why exactly do you think it's the most adorable?
Ariel: Probably the characters. But I can't say exactly why without it being a spoiler.
Sasha: Okay, then I'll officially say people should put their spoiler blankets over their heads if they don't want My Dress-Up Darling spoiled for them.
Ariel: No peeking!
Sasha: So you think the characters are what makes it adorable? Who do you think is the most adorable.
Ariel: Ooh, that's a tough one. Definitely the girl has a lot of adorable characteristics. But the guy is also awfully adorable, cause he's like so obsessed with Japanese dolls that he doesn't even know how to act around people, but he's also all artistic and also unselfish and shy all at the same time. Plus apparently his dead parents who died before the show started were big-time fans of the Marvel movies we like.
Sasha: Huh?
Ariel: Because they named him after that African kingdom in the Mad Accent Panther movies, Wakana.
Sasha: No, that's Wakanda. This guy is Wakana, with no "D" in it.
Ariel: Omg, that's horrible.
Sasha: What? Why would it be horrible?
Ariel: I mean, do you think they died from being that embarrassed about spelling their son's name wrong?
Sasha: Gkk. No, I mean I really don't think they were trying to name him after a movie that came out 8 years ago, when in the show he's supposed to be in his first year of high school.
Ariel: Doesn't that just show what big fans they'd have to be?
Sasha: I guess I don't know how to argue with that. What about the cosplay girl?
Ariel: Which one? The main one, or that one they just introduced in the last couple episodes we watched?
Sasha: Whichever one you want to talk about.
Ariel: Because, I mean, I don't why you'd be asking about the new one, I just wanted to make sure.
Sasha: Fine, let's just pretend I was talking about the newer cosplay girl.
Ariel: What? For real, that's which one you meant?
Sasha: Did you hear me say, "let's just pretend"?
Ariel: I did, but I didn't know if maybe you were joking about it being pretend.
Sasha: No, I was hoping to get this post moving, so I seriously meant we should pretend.
Ariel: Ooh! Like the cosplay girls seriously want to pretend they're the characters they're cosplaying as! We're practically doing the same thing they do!
Sasha: I don't know that it's really like that, but okay.
Ariel: Only we don't use any costumes, so it's not cosplaying. I guess it's blogsplaying?
Sasha: But we actually are blogging.
Ariel: No, you said we were just pretending.
Sasha: I ... whatever. Personally, I think the main cosplay girl is the best thing about the show. She's super energetic and likable and sincere and also just plain gorgeously cute.
Ariel: Hey! I didn't even get to say what I thought about the newer cosplay girl after you told me to pretend you asked me to, and now you're already talking about the main cosplay girl! How is that fair?
Sasha: I feel like I gave you a lot of chances to say something about either one of them, really.
Ariel: I didn't know I had a limited number of chances, though.
Sasha: You don't have a limited number of chances. You're still having chances, but you're still not using them to talk about the show.
Ariel: ...
Sasha: Tell me your favorite thing about what's going on in the story right now.
Ariel: Oh geez, that's a hard one. Um ...
Sasha: Should I go first?
Ariel: Holy smokes, why are you so impatient today?!?
Sasha: Never mind, take your time.
Ariel: I mean, the pressure!
Sasha: Sorry. Whenever you're ready.
Ariel: Well ... well, I liked when they went to the beach and the bird chased them and stole their food.
Sasha: That's you're favorite thing? 
Ariel: No, it's just the first thing I thought of, on account of all the pressure. Give me another chance.
Sasha: Sure.
Ariel: I also thought it was funny the new cosplay girl is older than the guy from Wakanda and the original cosplay girl, even though she looks way younger. And then her younger sister is younger than her but looks like the oldest out of any of them! I mean, I kind of saw it coming when the new cosplay girl was talking about having a younger sister and the other characters were thinking the younger sister would be a smaller, cuter version of New Cosplay Girl. But it was still pretty cute.
Sasha: You're not really convincing me that's your favorite part of the storyline right now. Is it just the second thing you thought of?
Ariel: Yes.
Sasha: So ... how about you take a minute and go through the third and fourth and maybe fifth things you think of, just in your head, and figure out if any of those is actually your favorite part.
Ariel: OH! I know, I know!
Sasha: That can't have been long enough for you to think through to the fifth thing you could think of.
Ariel: No, this is just the third thing, but it's for real my favorite. It's the way Main Cosplay Girl is getting totally head-over-heels for the Wakanda guy but is too freaked out to say anything about it and meanwhile, he doesn't have a clue even though she's already turning into the most important person he's ever met except his family.
Sasha: I'm actually good with that answer. Nice one! I feel like "Main Cosplay Girl" doesn't really do her justice as what we should call her, though.
Ariel: Hah!
Sasha: "Hah" what?
Ariel: You're always calling me lazy and now I actually was being lazy and you didn't even notice!
Sasha: Honestly, that's kind of what I was getting at saying "Main Cosplay Girl" doesn't do her justice. I mean, she's a super non-generic character and that's such a generic name.
Ariel: But I wasn't calling her that because I was too lazy to come up with a non-generic name! That's what you didn't notice!
Sasha: You're going to have to explain it to me, then.
Ariel: I was calling her that because I was too lazy to put the "r" in the middle of her name. Obviously, she's "Marin Cosplay Girl," not really "Main Cosplay Girl."
Sasha: Uh ... is it supposed to be a flex that you're pointing out one of the weirdest ways you've ever been lazy on this blog?
Ariel: Hey, anytime you don't call me lazy when I actually am being lazy helps make up for all the times you call me lazy when I'm not being lazy.
Sasha: And exactly which times are those.
Ariel: A lot of the times! Like ... times when I just have really heavy eyelids.
Sasha: Uh-huh.
Ariel: Anyway, I think I want to end on a high note, and you not noticing me being lazy seems like a good one to me.
Sasha: Sure, let's call it a high note and not say you just want to wrap things up because you're being extra lazy on top of too lazy to put an "r" in the main character's name.
Ariel: Hah! See, you're being lazy too!
Sasha: How exactly --
Ariel: She's the Marin character, remember? Not the main character.
Sasha: No, I really meant -- never mind. I guess I'm ready to wrap it up too.
Ariel: Yes! Teamwork!
Sasha and Ariel: Goodnight, everybody ... and watch My Dress-Up Darling! It's super fun!

Sasha and Ariel Experience ... More New Heroscaping!

Sasha: Whoa, dang! What do you have there, girlfriend?
Ariel: A big box!
Sasha: Yeah, I can kinda see that. I meant, what's in it?
Ariel: Well, duh, I haven't opened it yet! 
Sasha: Okay -- so lemme see here. If a big box got delivered and it's obviously not addressed to you and you don't know what's in it, why are you bringing it in here to me?
Ariel: (because i think it might be new heroscape! shhhh!)
Sasha: Wait, are you trying to get us in trouble again?
Ariel: No! I mean, didn't you notice I was whispering?
Sasha: I feel like we should have learned a lesson from our boyfriend hiding the second batch of Heroscape from us after we hid the first batch of Heroscape from him so we could play it.
Ariel: We did learn a lesson. How to play Heroscape!
Sasha: But ... oh, never mind. If we're in this, we might as well open it up really quickly and try playing before he gets home.
Ariel: Yes! Can you get that thing we use to cut open boxes like this?
Sasha: The box cutter?
Ariel: That's the one!
Sasha and Ariel: (slice ... open ... unbox ... unwrap ... unbox some more ...)
Sasha: Wow, holy moley, look at some of these. This guy has a freakin' blimp!
Ariel: No, don't call it that -- call it a "killballoon" or something.
Sasha: Why?
Ariel: Because "blimp" is spelled "B-limp." Which makes him sound like instead of flying around killing things, he can't get it up.
Sasha: Sure, okay, killballoon. I guess you must want to play that guy or you wouldn't care if he B-limp.
Ariel: Heck, yeah, who wouldn't want to play a cute fuzzy squirrel in a killballoon?
Sasha: He is pretty cute.
Ariel: Oh, look! This other guy looks like he's on the same team. He's in a cool steam-walky thingabob with one of those old-timey machine-guns with all the barrels.
Sasha: I think it's called a gattling gun.
Ariel: Well, I'm calling it a cattling gun, cause he looks like a cat to me.
Sasha: Yeah? I think he looks more badgery.
Ariel: Hmm. Maybe. Ooh, and here's some more guys on the same team, they're like fox ninjas or something.
Sasha: Maybe they're dingos. Ninja dingos sounds pretty cool.
Ariel: I don't know what a dingo looks like. Does it look like sort of a fox but sort of a raccoon?
Sasha: I don't know either. I only know they're a kind of dog.
Ariel: Anyway, I'm all set with these guys. They're all super cute and they're all on one team, so I'm playing the whole bunch of them.
Sasha: Sure, knock yourself out. Looks like that leaves me with an awesome giganto monster centipede-bot, and a devil dog, and these lich-looking guys, and ... oooh! Look at these!

Ariel: Wait, no fair! I was supposed to get all the cute guys!
Sasha: Only the furry cute guys.
Ariel: But those guys don't go with your monster killbot centipede or your devil goat-horn dog or your lichy things at all! They're way too cute!
Sasha: Sorry, they're mine. Not only did I pick them, but I'm doing the math and all your furry guys added together are practically the same points as all these guys I'm left with.
Ariel: Dang it.
Sasha: Whoa, look! Super-cool new dice too!
Ariel: Sweet! This set is so awesome. I almost feel guilty hiding it from our boyfriend.
Sasha: Well, we could wait until he gets home and play a three-way with him.
Ariel: Uh, the way you just said that I think it would turn into something else real quick. Besides, I said "almost," didn't I?
Sasha: True. Okay, let's get set up, then. I guess we have to build a board.
Ariel: No, the BF already did! See? Pretty cool-looking, huh? I think he read up on the cards for this set and built a board that would be just right for them.
Sasha: And this still isn't making you feel guilty?
Ariel: Maybe a little. But I'm too excited to stop! Come on!
Sasha: Okay, put your guys on that end of the map and I'll put mine here and do your order markers and let's roll for initiative. 
Ariel: Wait, though. What do you think all that lava-looking stuff is all over the middle of the board.
Sasha: I think it's probably lava.
Ariel: What! We've never played with lava before. Are you sure?
Sasha: Yeah, because for one thing, my crab dudes have "Lava Resistant" as a power on their card, and for another, there's this rule sheet for lava terrain in the box they came in.
Ariel: Oh. I guess you're probably right, then.
Sasha: Great. I roll a 6 for initiative.
Ariel: Wait! What's it do?
Sasha: It probably lets you go first unless you roll worse than a 6.
Ariel: No, I mean the lava.
Sasha: So, the rocky looking stuff, it says, is lava fields. If you're standing on it after all the order markers are done, you roll a die and if it's a skull, you take a wound.
Ariel: Ouch!
Sasha: The bright-red, fiery looking flat stuff is molten lava. If you step in it, you've got to roll the 20-sider, and if you roll a 20, you live.
Ariel: What if you roll one of the other 20 numbers?
Sasha: The other 19 all mean you die.
Ariel: That's terrible!
Sasha: Not for my crab dudes. They get to ignore it.
Ariel: Ooh, I hate them! Except I can't because they're so cute. Okay, well, I guess I better not step in any of it. What's that pebbly, concrete-y looking stuff?
Sasha: Those are road tiles. They're old, so I've got to dig for the rulebook they're in.
Ariel: Agh! Whenever you're done, you get to go because I rolled a 1 for initiative.
Sasha: Here it is. The scoop on road tiles is, if you start your turn on them and stay on them the whole turn, you get to move 3 extra spaces.
Ariel: Awesome! I'm hitting that.
Sasha: Wow, are you that juiced up from some extra movement?
Ariel: No, I mean hitting the road.
Sasha: Gotcha. Okay, my first order marker is on Crab Dudes. They're going to scurry over here.
Ariel: Okay. My number 1 is Cattling Badger. He'll move over here onto the road.
Sasha: Number 2 ... Crab Dudes again. Scurry, scurry, scuttle.
Ariel: Number 2 for me is Killballoon! He can do this cool Skyhook thing, watch. He starts flying here like this, and when he passes over the Ninja Dingos he picks them up, and then when he lands he gets to put them down next to him.
Sasha: So you can move them without moving them. Pretty swift.
Ariel: I know, right?
Sasha: Number 3 is Centikillbot. He's gonna move to here ... clickety-clack, clickety-click.
Ariel: My number 3 is Killballoon again, and he Skyhooks the ninjas again and carries them right here to the bottom of this bridge.
Sasha: Looks like things are moving right along. Let's do our order markers for the next turn.
Ariel: Done!
Sasha: Oof. Initiative 2. Looks like you go first this time.
Ariel: Nooooo! I roll the 1 again! This 20-sider sucks.
Sasha: Well, number 1 is my crabs. Scuttle-scuttle.
Ariel: Cattling Badger! Clunk, clunk, clunk, stomp. Boo! I only just made it to the bottom of this stair thing and the extra road movement doesn't help because it takes 4 to climb up.
Sasha: That's rough. Number 2 ... more crabs. Scurry-scuttle. This one crab with the killer chain started off on the road, so he gets 3 extra movement, and that means he can get all the way next to your Dingo Ninja here. Time for the first attack!
Ariel: That's crazy fast for a crab!
Sasha: Yeah, but these other two are stuck over here in a crab-jam because I didn't look carefully enough at where I had them going. Anyway, I start off with 3 attack dice and add 1 for being higher up than the dingo. WHOO! 4 skulls!
Ariel: Uh ... I only have 4 defense, so unless they're all shields ... poop. He's dead. That's so lame! I kinda hate your crabs again.
Sasha: Who's your first order marker?
Ariel: The stompy mech guy. Stomp! Stomp! He's up the stairs. Now he can cattling gun some crabs! Three attack dice plus one for being up high just like you ... waah! Only 1 skull. 
Sasha: Three defense dice ... damn, look at that!
Ariel: Haha, all skulls! So you wasted a great attack roll and now your dude is crab-cakes!
Sasha: They do this cool thing when they die, though. I roll the 20-sider, and ... 14 means I put down a lava field tile where he bit it.
Ariel: That is kinda cool.
Sasha: My number 2 is ... crabs again. Boop, boop, this one climbs down here and takes a swingo at your dingo. Three skulls this time.
Ariel: I'm not laughing as much at those three skulls. My defending roll is ... yippee! Three shields!
Sasha: Dang. Can't win them all, I guess.
Ariel: Time for some Killballoon Skyhooking! I fly five spaces up onto the bridge and then drop my Ninja Dingo where he's right above your crab. Then Commander Killballoon shoots at you! Four attack dice ... now it's my turn to roll 3 skulls!
Sasha: Dang it. Crab salad. Time for Killerpede, though. He's my number 3 and my 'X' marker, and his special ability lets him take an extra turn with that 'X.' Meaning he can move all the way here and then use his special -- oh, oops. It says I can't use my special attack in the extra turn. Crap-doody.
Ariel: Well, at least you got real close to me.
Sasha: But not close enough to attack, because my normal attack range is 1. And on the Xtra turn, if I don't attack, I take a wound.
Ariel: Sucks to be him!
Sasha: He's got lots, though. He starts off with 7.
Ariel: Yikes! Well, my number 3 is the Ninja Dingo. He starts on the road, so he can go 8, which means he can totally get to your Killerpede and hit him with 4 dice. Only 2 skulls, though.
Sasha: That's enough to do a wound. New order markers, looks like.
Ariel: Ready!
Sasha: 14 initiative this time.
Ariel: Blah. 13.
Sasha: Killerpede is using his Double Burst Special Attack. It's 3 dice and has 4 range and I can shoot twice. First, this damn dingo. Boo, no skulls. Shooting him again -- what!
Ariel: No skulls twice in a row? More like Stinkerpede! And my Dingo is still alive, so I'm smacking you again ... 2 more skulls. 
Sasha: 2 shields. My number 2 is Killerpede again. Pow! 2 skulls!
Ariel: 2 shields!
Sasha: Grr. Pow! 1 skull.
Ariel: Whew! 1 shield!
Sasha: I can't believe this Ninja Dingo is better than my giant killbot centipede.
Ariel: Sorry! My number 2 is the balloon guy. He flies over here and shoots your centipede. 2 skulls!
Sasha: 1 wound. Okay, number 3 is still Killerpede, so he's gonna try his normal attack, which is 5 dice but he only gets to attack once. 3 skulls!
Ariel: Uh-oh, this could be Dingo Doom ... nope! 3 shields!
Sasha: You've got to be kidding me. Okay, Xtra turn, same deal ... oh, come on. One. Flipping. Skull.
Ariel: Okay, Dingo, please don't blow this, please don't blow this, please don't -- he blew it. No shields.
Sasha: Finally!
Ariel: Number 3 for me is Killballoon ... 4 dice for 2 skulls.
Sasha: Blagh. Another wound. Your dudes just keep whittling me down. Well, new order marker time.
Ariel: Okey-dokey.
Sasha: 15 initiative.
Ariel: 9. I keep losing initiative but I think I'm doing okay at the game, so maybe that's fine!
Sasha: Killerpede climbs the rest of the way onto this bridge and Double Burst Special Attacks your B-limp guy. No skulls, ugh. Then 2 skulls. 
Ariel: 2 shields! Now my Cattling Badger stomps over here and down the stairs and shoots your centipede. Two skulls.
Sasha: Two shields. Finally no wounds. Double Bursting again on B-limp. Two skulls!
Ariel: One wound.
Sasha: Two more skulls!
Ariel: Ow! One more wound. Okay, I'm getting out of here. He's my number 2 marker, so he'll fly ... here. And shoot at this lichy guy. 3 shields! Boo!
Sasha: Killerpede zooms down the stairs and Double-bursts Cattling Badger. Two skulls.
Ariel: 3 shields!
Sasha: Dang. One skull.
Ariel: What! No shields, so I get a wound.
Sasha: Yes! Now I use my Xtra turn to go ... erg ... no, instead I'll go ... ergh! What the heck!
Ariel: Ha-ha, you can't fit next to me because my wings poke out and you're not allowed to go into a space you won't fit in!
Sasha: Okay, well instead of going for B-limp, I'll go for Cattling Badger. I just have to move down into this little crevice at the bottom of the stairs ... WHAT.
Ariel: What's wrong?
Sasha: The base of my figure would totally fit there, but my tiny damn centipede feet stick out just enough I can't go all the way flat to the ground!
Ariel: Sweet! You're going to take more damage, you're going to take more daaamage!
Sasha: Damn it.
Ariel: Killballoon's gonna fly back onto the bridge and shoot you from way up. Kablam! Two skulls.
Sasha: What the --! No shields. Dead.
Ariel: New order markers!
Sasha: No, I think I'm just going to call you the winner.
Ariel: What?! That's no fun!
Sasha: Like it's going to be fun for me to spend a couple of turns while you grind up my weenie devil dog and skeleton guys from a distance? They've got 1 or 2 life each and crud for defense. And no ranged weapons.
Ariel: I guess that doesn't sound very fun for you.
Sasha: See?
Ariel: Still kind of party-pooperish is all I'm saying. But it gives us time to put these away before the BF gets home, so win-win!
Sasha: Aers, he's totally going to see that all the packages got opened up. And even if he didn't, we're blogging this, right?
Ariel: I mean ... but at least we're not leaving it a big mess for him to clean up!
Sasha: I guess I can't argue with that.
Ariel and Sasha: Bye, everybody!