Unofficial TV3 Final Toasters Club/Discussion Thread

[Kermit]

Teams/Mentors/TV Universe

The Mason Ross Teamwork Award: Baby's Sharks

The This-Kill-Is-Brought-To-You-By-Verizon Award: Why, the eponymous Baby of the famed Baby's Sharks, of course









what other questions

[MurderWeasel]

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[b]"You're My Favorite Jellyfish!"[/b] What is your favorite use or subversion of team/mentor mechanics or relationships this season?

[b]Making The Dream Work:[/b] Which team are you rooting for to find success?

"You're My Favorite Jellyfish!" refers to one of the very best gags in TV2, by the legendary Rattle. Generally speaking, what I look for here is something beyond just quality, something that stands out as a key beat for the stories of the character and the team, or for opening up new possibilities for the student/mentor relationship.

As far as teams I'm rooting for, that's more just who I'm digging top to bottom, either in terms of quality or as a narrative force. It's a typical question filtered through the TV lens, because multiple characters can find success.

[+] My take

"You're My Favorite Jellyfish!" What is your favorite use or subversion of team/mentor mechanics or relationships this season? Rattle, question namesake, takes it again with everything about the dynamic between Anthony and Ben but extra especially this thread where the relationship finally disintegrates. The sheer frustration and incoherent ire displayed by Ben is an amazing piece of character work, and while we've seen a number of students turn on their teams this version, none have made it so personal as Anthony. It's a thread highlight for me full stop, and the only reason it wasn't shortlisted for my favorite of the version was I knew I was going to be talking about it here.

Making The Dream Work: Which team are you rooting for to find success? This was a tie between the Selkies and the Leviathans, but I gave it to the Selkies last time, so...

One of the things I appreciate about the remaining Leviathans is that they've both traced unconventional paths through the game, suffering hardships distinct from the more common fights and deaths of friends (though there's been some of that too). Now, at the final stage, they've found themselves in a real alliance despite not actually liking each other much at all in other contexts, which is a great feature of the team system and gives them a certain dysfunctional underdog appeal.

[almostinhuman]

Teams/Mentors/TV Universe

The Mason Ross Teamwork Award: Mariners best team.

The serious answer has to go to Ben's Crabs, our deadliest and most durable team (for a while, anyway) whose powers are legendary. Their crop of kids is a particularly strong one in a strong version and have gotten up to all sorts of interesting shit over the course of the season.

The This-Kill-Is-Brought-To-You-By-Verizon Award: They're all cool but I've gotta hand it to Stephanie Cahill, who brings something unique and interesting to her interactions with all the kids on her team. Her repeated sabotage of Sofia and her ongoing arc with Louisa Grassielle are particular highlights.

"You're My Favorite Jellyfish!" Jewel Evans aiding Lorraine Grasstov in her escape efforts - a thing that materially helps her not at all for a girl who's not on her team. They interact more than Jewel interacts with some of her own team, and there's a great dynamic between the two, and between Jewel and the grass kid's actual mentor Stephanie.

Making The Dream Work: Some part of me wants a Selkie win just so poor Emmy can have one thing go right for her. Simultaneously, I'll admit to a mild bias to both our remaining Buccaneer and our two remaining Crabs, and ultimately our final 10 are such a strong crop that any sort of win could be cool.

[MurderWeasel]

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[b]They're ALL Terrible People?[/b] Which team has thoroughly earned its inevitable downfall?

[b]The Universe Next Door...[/b] If you could move one character to another team, who would it be and where would they go?

The earning-their-fate question is the "Best Villain" equivalent but for teams. It's not a perfect fit (and the name is pretty off-the-cuff—if anyone has a good TV reference I'd love to rename it. After TV3, I'm thinking maybe "Crabs In A Bucket" could be nice?) but it's still fun to kick around, as it helps push each team's identity some.

Universe Next Door is a little different, in that it's not about something being done well, but is instead a hypothetical interesting situation that engages with what has been written. It calls for some speculation, but Ii think that's what makes it fun.

[+] My take

They're ALL Terrible People? Which team has thoroughly earned its inevitable downfall? This stretches my commitment to not reusing these, considering I'm literally proposing renaming this category in honor of the Crabs, but I suppose I'll also give a shout-out to the Sirens, While a decent number of them had good intentions, they also include a number of very high-profile villains, and even the more lowkey tended to be either proactively seeking trouble of somewhat disconcerting in some manner or other. Well, except poor Caleb, who comparatively did nothing wrong. Unless you ask Junji, of course...

The Universe Next Door... If you could move one character to another team, who would it be and where would they go? I think, given how their respective arcs went, that it would've been fascinating to have Amy Barrows-Shaw as a member of the Buccaneers (much as I loved having her on my team, and believe me, I did). Amy was a character whose path was heavily shaped by her interactions with the team concept, and this left her unable to trust her friends, causing her to murder one and then perish to retribution from her teammate. In a world where Amy is on the same team as Kaya and Bethan, I think things could've swung in a much less dark direction, and while still being a volatile situation full of potential conflict.

[almostinhuman]

They're ALL Terrible People? The Crabs do seem to have a higher-than-average concentration of murderous assholes (and sometimes regular assholes) than the other teams, so it's a bit of an easy win. Many of them meet rather grisly ends or have other terrible things happen to them, and it's pretty funny to see that one of the least awful members of the team is left alone with one of the worst of the lot as the game comes to an end.

The Universe Next Door... Everyone should be on Emmy's team and so she doesn't have to watch everyone die and I get out of having to come up with a serious answer for this!

[MurderWeasel]

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[b]The Scarlet Panther Award For Cooperation[/b] Which team's dynamic and interactions with their assigned allies have you enjoyed the most?

[b]Put Me In, Coach![/b] Which team would you want to be on if you were in TV?

The Scarlet Panthers managed to get 4/5 of their team together in one place, then proceeded to cooperate for approximately half a thread before falling into dysfunctional chaos and splitting up. I give this award to a team that really played with the idea of having teammates, though not necessarily in the intended fashion.

The "What team would you want to be on?" question is mostly just for fun. You can think tactical, think who you'd want to avoid, or pick whatever mentor you think would be most fun to harass. This one's really open.

[+] My take

The Scarlet Panther Award For Cooperation Which team's dynamic and interactions with their assigned allies have you enjoyed the most? I'm going to pick the Mariners on part because this team had a distinct lack of successful team dynamic. It was oddly common for Mariners to jump to other groups for safety, and one of the best quiet team-based plotlines was Gabby picking off other Mariners in an effort to send Elliot-Blair home with the ten... something which ultimately ended with him the last of the team standing and no early release in sight.

Put Me In, Coach! Which team would you want to be on if you were in TV? Since I'm passing on repeats, I'm going to go with the Selkies, because they had good teamwork (except when it came to dealing with deserters) and they have a mentor who genuinely is invested in their survival, albeit not always in a good personal spot to contribute a ton towards it.

[DerArknight]

Scenes and Deaths

Best Tragedy: Without a doubt, Leah Hemingway.

The Stomach-Churner Award: This might be a weird pick, but my vote goes to the death of Caleb Bloch. The death itself isn't bloody at all, but once you start thinking about how this death works in-universe, it gets dark really quick:

It is a death that could not be farther removed from the colorful action that the TV-universe promises in-universe. Caleb died a slow dead by bleeding out from a wound he got hours ago, completely alone, with even his mentor having seemingly abandoned him. The only company were his thoughts and memories of before the show, and even they were far from pretty.

And what was the result of him bleeding slowly out while contemplating his entire existence? Probably not much, since his death wasn't very good TV-material and is unlikely to get much attention in-universe due to other deaths being much more active. So he was abducted and thrown into the show just to walk around and talk a bit before getting shot and dying, without any of the other contestants ever wittnessing it or finding his corpse. If that isn't a depressing example of how pointless dying on SOTF-TV is, I don't know what else might be.

Best Impact: I believe that RJ's death ended up impacting several character he had met during his time in the game.

Best Comedy: Ashanti and Mandy having a conversation made very awkward thanks to Ashanti holding Mandy hostage and Ashanti refusing to speak.

The Sunglasses-and-Explosions Award: God Only Knows is the furious finale of Seo-yun's island-story, including her fight against another one of the biggest players of the version. I think that the fight between the two is not only well-written, but also interesting if one analyzes how the two girls have several similarities (both aiming for the ten, both having a side-kick) but also severe differences (their motivations for their actions). I have no clue how long the involved handlers have worked towards Seo VS Gabby, but it shows that everyone put a lot of effort into the thread.

Best Feeling-Inducer: Amanda losing all hope and jumping from the cruise ship was a real gutpunch.

Best Drama: Looking Back Is Blinding is a very tense scene, showing how the game has created a rift between Gabriela and Elliott. What made this scene especially volatile is the fact that Gabriela was already rolled before the thread started. Meaning for some posts it really looked like their discussion would escalate in a death.

Best Surprise: The entire journey of Luanne Grasset was a roller coaster of emotions that I look forward to re-visit again once the version is finished.

Teams/Mentors/TV Universe

The Mason Ross Teamwork Award: Despite them being the first full team to get killed off, I liked the Mariners. While most teams had a clear demographic (like the Crabs having a lot of players or the Buccaneers having a lot of escapees/good guys), they had a little bit of everything: Two members of the Respects, one member of the biggest escape group, someone who tried to look like an escape group, a shy girl that just wanted to be left alone, one half of a interesting duo that sadly dissolved way too quickly, someone who deserved better and a literal video game NPC. Just to name a few. While they sadly never really teamed up, each member had a nice plotline different from anyone else on the team.

The This-Kill-Is-Brought-To-You-By-Verizon Award: Jewel Evan. Nuff said.

"You're My Favorite Jellyfish!" Amy using Jewel for on-the-fly advice... which then almost screws her over because she forgot that mentors have a limit on how often they can talk.

Making The Dream Work: The Leviathans, because I am going for the win with Chris and am therefore biased towards them.

They're ALL Terrible People? The Crabs really dug their own grave.

The Universe Next Door... I would have been interested to see on of the Respects on the Leviathans.

The Scarlet Panther Award For Cooperation Instead of pointing at one team, I would like to say I find it really cool how all remaining teams of the final ten have united. It took until almost everyone died, but we finally have reached the point where everyone more or less understands that the teams are their best bet on survival.

Put Me In, Coach! I would chose to turn the Loner into a duo like the Jade Rhinos. Because Amanda deserves any good thing she can get.

[MurderWeasel]

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[b]Best COTD Tangent:[/b] What's been your favorite piece of work from [url=http://www.sotfmini.com/COTD/]the in-character TV fan forum[/url]?

[b]Best Social Media Drama:[/b] What TV-related social media musings have most positively caught your attention?

These ones are pretty self-explanatory, and also good candidates for skipping if you didn't follow COTD, IC Twitters, etc. Of course, they're an even better excuse to go check that stuff out.

[+] My take

Best COTD Tangent: What's been your favorite piece of work from the in-character TV fan forum? This is the one exception I'm cutting myself re: doubling up. Long live Kyoko Sakura-Chan! Everything's been tons of fun on COTD and there are so many wonderful things, but nothing can challenge the sheer joy of these incredible MS Paint masterpieces that have left a permanent mark on site culture that even goes beyond TV.

Best Social Media Drama: What TV-related social media musings have most positively caught your attention?
Elliot doesn't come online that often, but he's one of my favorite TV lore personalities just for the vibes he brings. I also love Noreen teasing the Burton Harris maneuver, just for the memes. Really, though, everyone who's been active has again put in some great work.

Also, this is the end of a section and tomorrow is super busy so I'm calling a preemptive catch-up day tomorrow. It may stretch to two days, depending.

[almostinhuman]

The Scarlet Panther Award For Cooperation The Buccaneer's saw a number of interesting mini-teams form inside the larger team, from Pippi Bloodworth and Leanna Grassaya's escape efforts, to the journey of Kaya Robinson and Bethan Gayle (and Emmett Purcell before his tragic tumble), to the very brief and shaky alliance between Viginia Burns and Abel Kuntz. Combined with both the leader of mostly non-Buccaneer escape group and a team-killing member of the Respects, and you've got a ton of interesting team dynamics in one nice package.

Put Me In, Coach! Mariners best team.

(Probably the Buccaneers idk I love Stephanie)

Best COTD Tangent: There's plenty of fun stuff happening on COTD but, like, it kinda has to go to Kyoko Sakura-chan. These ridiculous MS Paint doodles are not only funny as hell and a lot of fun to watch come together, but they're at times surprisingly evocative despite their absurdity. Plus they've given us plenty of fun emojis for the Discord.

Best Social Media Drama: Jewel's Twitter musings are always a treat to read.

[MurderWeasel]

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[size=125][u][b]Predictions, Preferences, and Positions[/b][/u][/size]

[b]If you could change ANYTHING that has happened thus far, what would you change?[/b] 

[b]There are ten remaining characters. Which character/team are you counting on to be the last one standing in TV3?[/b]

Now we enter the realm of broader, version-centric questions. These may be about your experience, about how the game is run (one of the few spots where critical questions remain, because feedback is useful), and hopes for the ending/results. Please remember that those latter ones are not a spot for being critical of folks; celebrate who you do like, instead!

For the "What would you change?" question I usually go with some version-wide trend or other. "Less inactivity" is basically a freebie here in most versions, though TV3 didn't have that much inactivity so it's slightly less applicable. It's also completely valid to pick something really specific, though.

The winner pick(s) is a weird one for me because normally by the time this comes up Endgame planning is in full swing so I have to give a wishy-washy non-answer, but this time I'm flying as blind as everyone else, so the wishy-washy non-answer is choice rather than obligation.

[+] My take

Predictions, Preferences, and Positions

If you could change ANYTHING that has happened thus far, what would you change? Aside from wishing characters hadn't gone inactive, my big one is actually that I wish the rolls had come down on the escape brigade in a slightly less brutal way. I super love Luanne and think her solo breakout is amazing, but I feel like there were several moments where larger groups were poised on the edge of making some progress only to be thrown off course by rolls hitting one character and then another the next set, and it would've been really cool to see some of the other amazing kids involved in the plot get more of a chance to make it further too.

There are ten remaining characters. Which character/team are you counting on to be the last one standing in TV3? So, while I have preferences, they're pretty slight and change on a dime. I think TV3 has a super strong cast on the whole, and while it's exciting to have a team win actually possible, I also think the kids left can pull their own weight for solo focus as well if that's how the cookie crumbles. I think we're in for something really cool whoever takes it.

[Applesintime]

it has been rumoured that yes, I can do toasters on time. however there has been no evidence so far

Teams/Mentors/TV Universe

The Mason Ross Teamwork Award: Ooh. The Leviathans have been a great cast; from the more emotional and quiet characters like Leah and Mary to the more extroverted and chaotic characters like Jasper and Laura, and it's all topped off by Jewel; Toben has done great work writing her, and man, her tweets are fun to read.

The This-Kill-Is-Brought-To-You-By-Verizon Award: I love Emmy, both as a concept and a character. The idea of a student mentor, someone who got their name pulled from a hat and selected to watch their classmates die instead of doing the dying is a really fun idea, and Emmy as a character just nails all the guilt and emotional outbursts that someone in her place would likely have.

"You're My Favorite Jellyfish!" Oh, it has to go to Stephanie intentionally messing up Sofia's shot. We've had disagreements over TV3, but nobody has actively assisted in killing a member of their team by throwing off their shot.

Making The Dream Work: it's all about the crabs baby love the crabs alright baby let's go get a team win baby love the crabs let's go crabs

They're ALL Terrible People? Everyone on the Sirens is a piece of work; the first killer, the psychotic leader of a player group and someone who teamed up with the ten killer and doesn't really seem to mind teaming up with the aforementioned. Can't wait to see them die!

The Universe Next Door... Luanne as a loner would be interesting; a lot of her interactions were with her mentor and another mentor, not other people; so I think Luanne being on her own, with no team or anything like that, would be interesting to see.

The Scarlet Panther Award For Cooperation The Buccaneers have had a lot of fun interactions, from Pippi and Luanne's interactions before Pippi got her head beaten in, to Bethan and Kaya's tragedy-filled teamwork to Sofia murdering Lucille.

Put Me In, Coach! I would like to be in the Leviathans, mainly because Jewel seems to genuinely care about her team, and also because I've already picked the Crabs.

Best COTD Tangent: It has to be Kyoko. Her art is brilliant, and Laurels' characterisation of the drawings is just the cherry on top.

Best Social Media Drama: I've been enjoying the parents/sibling accounts; shoutout to Noreen, who's been a constant presence through the game by harassing Jewel and Stephanie.

[almostinhuman]

Predictions, Preferences, and Positions

If you could change ANYTHING that has happened thus far, what would you change? I'm still pretty sad about Mariko and Jodi going inactive. At least their shared deathpost is pretty cool, but I'd love to have seen more out of them.

There are ten remaining characters. Which character/team are you counting on to be the last one standing in TV3? Any of our current kids certainly could be cool winners, and while I've already fessed up to my personal biases, any configuration should be a satisfying one.

[Applesintime]

Predictions, Preferences, and Positions

If you could change ANYTHING that has happened thus far, what would you change? I'd have loved to see Bacchia last a little longer; she was at the peak of her arc before Ivan quite literally cut her down, and I'd have loved to see how a Respect leaving the group would have affected the dynamic between Fisk and his gang.

There are ten remaining characters. Which character/team are you counting on to be the last one standing in TV3? I don't think I'm allowed to say.

[MurderWeasel]

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[b]How do you predict the ending of TV3 is going to turn out?[/b]

[b]How much did you enjoy/not enjoy TV3?[/b]

Not too much to say on these—they are relatively self-explanatory. The prediction one is funny because it puts people still in play on the spot a bit, but also seeing other folks answer it when you are still in the game is super cool because it shows how folks are engaging with your stuff.

How much did you like the version? is pretty nebulous but I can't really think of a better way to put it. I dunno, it's one of the less-changed holdovers from the very early days, but it's interesting to see the replies.

[+] My take

How do you predict the ending of TV3 is going to turn out? I think it'll be a blast with a bunch of cool stuff happening just due to the great cast we have left, IC and OOC. This has been one of the most consistently active, creative, high energy versions, and I think all of those things are going to carry through.

How much did you enjoy/not enjoy TV3? TV3 is some of the most fun I've had, and a lot of that's down to the really positive, supportive atmosphere throughout. Watching all of chat turn out to celebrate Seo-yun and Luanne is a great snapshot of what's been so nice about it. I also enjoy how ambitious everyone's been while still being open to compromise and willing to try new things.

[Lilith]

How do you predict the ending of TV3 is going to turn out? I just hope everyone has fun n we all communally are happy for the people involved

How much did you enjoy/not enjoy TV3? it’s been my favorite version fiveever, hands down. I needed it this after v7 HAHHAHA