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Survivor: LJ Idol Reunion Part 5
May. 17th, 2021 11:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
clauderainsrm When I started the last reunion segment, this was the stretch of the game that I wanted to talk about, where things fell apart due to Real Life and where Asaga cost themselves control going into the merge.
Thanks to the new configuration of tribes after the shake-up, Luzon broke their losing streak, with LaMina squeezing out a second place finish and sending Asaga to tribal council.
But that's not the only important thing that happened that day.
After WEEKS of hinting about a hidden immunity idol, the first one was found byflipflop_diva !
From my perspective, I'd been practically begging someone to find it - posting the same Tarsier picture after every clue. (It was hidden under the image of the first one I posted)
It actually ended up coming down to a mistake. I'd made a clue, and hid it under the new Tarsier image, but when I went to preview it, I realized that the order had been flipped, and had I hit "post" at that point, the clue would have been visible. Oops!
So I changed them back around and thought "That was close!!"
What I DIDN'T realize was that in making that change, the text around that image had been made into a link as well! So when flipflop_diva looked at it on her phone, she noticed that the text was different, and clicked on it... taking her to the location of the first clue!
She still had to figure it out, and go back through several weeks of posts to find where the hidden idol was "buried", but she did... and the game was afoot!!
Sure, there was a chance that she would misuse it, or go home with an idol in her pocket. But at least ONE of the Survivor fans in the game had a little bit of a safety net. So that felt good.
***
I felt "less good" from the first new Asaga Tribal Council. I found out after the fact that megatronix asked to be voted out. Which is the ONLY way this vote makes sense from anything other than a self-destructing/imploding sense. Adoptedwriter was the odd one out going into this tribal, and the fact that she managed to escape elimination at this point gave her a clear shot at getting far into the merge, and keeping the original Luzon in the mix. You manage to convince megatronix to stay (would that even have been possible at this point? *shrugs* I don't know how convincing you are! :D) and original Luzon doesn't make a comeback going into the merge. Which, to me at least, completely shifts the game.
Then again, adoptedwriter didn't even get a single vote in that tribal, so maybe she would have stayed and lawchicky would have gone out... which again, would have been a huge mistake (to anyone except the winner) IMO.
There are MANY "completely shifts the game" moments as we get closer to the end, but this one always struck me as critical.
***
But critical losses seem to be a theme, because after the challenge, both impoetry and n3m3sis43 ended up quitting the game.
it did even out the tribes again - BUT took original Asaga down one more person overall. Meaning what was a 3 person-advantage was down 2.
As I've said before, impoetry made the graphics for this event. He was one of the MOST excited about things coming in. He was going to play as "The Wildcard", somewhere between a Coach and a Specialist.
Real life just got the better of him though, and he never really had the time to get into the game the way he wanted.
I wasn't entirely sure what N3m3sis43 was doing, strategy-wise in the game. But later hearing that she had been loosely working with flipflop_diva makes sense in retrospect. I thought she was in a pretty good spot (Luzon being down in the numbers not withstanding... ultimately though, she wouldn't have been the first, or even second target, for anyone looking to get rid of "visible threats"... and she seemed to be willing to consider her options. Which would have been dangerous for everyone else going down the stretch just after the merge.)
I didn't close the poll in time this week - and although no one has asked, I will tell you what happened. I KNEW about both of these drops before the poll was set to close. I had fully intended on closing it on time, but at the last minute I was called away from my computer and it didn't get closed in time... which is a pretty rare thing, and highly embarrassing. BUT, knowing that there wasn't going to be a regular tribal council this week, I didn't feel as badly about it as I would have...
***
The two drops forced the merge to take place earlier than scheduled. What would have happened in those two votes? How would the game have changed if new Luzon had been forced to go to tribal? Or LaMina? What if Asaga went again? I have no idea.
But a merge also means that there is a hidden immunity idol hidden. And flipflop_diva now knew how to look... and ended up with a SECOND idol in her possession!
I believe it was around this time that I first heard about the alliance between her and gunwithoutmusic... so in that short period of time she went from "the next person to be voted out" to one of the people in the strongest positions in the game.
***
The Edge of Extinction ended up being more anti-climatic than I had wanted... just due to the amounts of drops toward the end. I was in communication with jenwithapen, so I knew she wouldn't be able to come back, and the last three people hadn't had the time to really change their minds about fighting. Which means it came down to 2 people!
I was really regretting not saying "AT LEAST one person will be returning"... instead of just 1. Bringing both swirlsofpurple AND bittyjane into the game would have shifted things. But it would have also meant that everyone voted out was back in the game, which felt like a complete reset. And besides, the only time 2 players had ever come back was in Pearl Islands, and that didn't seem like a good move (which is why I didn't make that call in the first place.)
Still, I felt bad for bittyjane, who I think could have done really well if brought back into the mix.
***
The question of "merge boot" always comes up in a game of Survivor. Traditionally, it's the strongest player from the weakest alliance. It sets the stage for the game to come.
This time, that decision was taken from the group whenminikin25 missed the deadline and was eliminated. I was personally sad to see her go.
She's an "old school Idol" competitor that not a lot of the newer folx had the opportunity to interact with before, and I thought that was great to see how well she had been doing.
From a game perspective though, I saw her as someone who would have had a clear path to the very end of the game. As the "bigger names" went after each other, she would have just been behind the scenes/outside the chaos, writing her entries and disappearing from their radars.
She was doing well enough in the polls that she wasn't going to be at the bottom either. In my "head canon" she would either be brought into someone's rag-tag alliance or be the outlier that surprises everyone at the end of the game.
Plus, it took out yet another original Asaga... bringing the original tribes in at 6 each. Would the new relationships shift things? Would swirlsofpurple go back to the tribe that voted her out, or get vengeance??? I was excited to see what would happen next.
***
What were YOU thinking at this stage of the game?
Thanks to the new configuration of tribes after the shake-up, Luzon broke their losing streak, with LaMina squeezing out a second place finish and sending Asaga to tribal council.
But that's not the only important thing that happened that day.
After WEEKS of hinting about a hidden immunity idol, the first one was found by
flipflop_diva !From my perspective, I'd been practically begging someone to find it - posting the same Tarsier picture after every clue. (It was hidden under the image of the first one I posted)
It actually ended up coming down to a mistake. I'd made a clue, and hid it under the new Tarsier image, but when I went to preview it, I realized that the order had been flipped, and had I hit "post" at that point, the clue would have been visible. Oops!
So I changed them back around and thought "That was close!!"
What I DIDN'T realize was that in making that change, the text around that image had been made into a link as well! So when flipflop_diva looked at it on her phone, she noticed that the text was different, and clicked on it... taking her to the location of the first clue!
She still had to figure it out, and go back through several weeks of posts to find where the hidden idol was "buried", but she did... and the game was afoot!!
Sure, there was a chance that she would misuse it, or go home with an idol in her pocket. But at least ONE of the Survivor fans in the game had a little bit of a safety net. So that felt good.
***
I felt "less good" from the first new Asaga Tribal Council. I found out after the fact that megatronix asked to be voted out. Which is the ONLY way this vote makes sense from anything other than a self-destructing/imploding sense. Adoptedwriter was the odd one out going into this tribal, and the fact that she managed to escape elimination at this point gave her a clear shot at getting far into the merge, and keeping the original Luzon in the mix. You manage to convince megatronix to stay (would that even have been possible at this point? *shrugs* I don't know how convincing you are! :D) and original Luzon doesn't make a comeback going into the merge. Which, to me at least, completely shifts the game.
Then again, adoptedwriter didn't even get a single vote in that tribal, so maybe she would have stayed and lawchicky would have gone out... which again, would have been a huge mistake (to anyone except the winner) IMO.
There are MANY "completely shifts the game" moments as we get closer to the end, but this one always struck me as critical.
***
But critical losses seem to be a theme, because after the challenge, both impoetry and n3m3sis43 ended up quitting the game.
it did even out the tribes again - BUT took original Asaga down one more person overall. Meaning what was a 3 person-advantage was down 2.
As I've said before, impoetry made the graphics for this event. He was one of the MOST excited about things coming in. He was going to play as "The Wildcard", somewhere between a Coach and a Specialist.
Real life just got the better of him though, and he never really had the time to get into the game the way he wanted.
I wasn't entirely sure what N3m3sis43 was doing, strategy-wise in the game. But later hearing that she had been loosely working with flipflop_diva makes sense in retrospect. I thought she was in a pretty good spot (Luzon being down in the numbers not withstanding... ultimately though, she wouldn't have been the first, or even second target, for anyone looking to get rid of "visible threats"... and she seemed to be willing to consider her options. Which would have been dangerous for everyone else going down the stretch just after the merge.)
I didn't close the poll in time this week - and although no one has asked, I will tell you what happened. I KNEW about both of these drops before the poll was set to close. I had fully intended on closing it on time, but at the last minute I was called away from my computer and it didn't get closed in time... which is a pretty rare thing, and highly embarrassing. BUT, knowing that there wasn't going to be a regular tribal council this week, I didn't feel as badly about it as I would have...
***
The two drops forced the merge to take place earlier than scheduled. What would have happened in those two votes? How would the game have changed if new Luzon had been forced to go to tribal? Or LaMina? What if Asaga went again? I have no idea.
But a merge also means that there is a hidden immunity idol hidden. And flipflop_diva now knew how to look... and ended up with a SECOND idol in her possession!
I believe it was around this time that I first heard about the alliance between her and gunwithoutmusic... so in that short period of time she went from "the next person to be voted out" to one of the people in the strongest positions in the game.
***
The Edge of Extinction ended up being more anti-climatic than I had wanted... just due to the amounts of drops toward the end. I was in communication with jenwithapen, so I knew she wouldn't be able to come back, and the last three people hadn't had the time to really change their minds about fighting. Which means it came down to 2 people!
I was really regretting not saying "AT LEAST one person will be returning"... instead of just 1. Bringing both swirlsofpurple AND bittyjane into the game would have shifted things. But it would have also meant that everyone voted out was back in the game, which felt like a complete reset. And besides, the only time 2 players had ever come back was in Pearl Islands, and that didn't seem like a good move (which is why I didn't make that call in the first place.)
Still, I felt bad for bittyjane, who I think could have done really well if brought back into the mix.
***
The question of "merge boot" always comes up in a game of Survivor. Traditionally, it's the strongest player from the weakest alliance. It sets the stage for the game to come.
This time, that decision was taken from the group when
minikin25 missed the deadline and was eliminated. I was personally sad to see her go. She's an "old school Idol" competitor that not a lot of the newer folx had the opportunity to interact with before, and I thought that was great to see how well she had been doing.
From a game perspective though, I saw her as someone who would have had a clear path to the very end of the game. As the "bigger names" went after each other, she would have just been behind the scenes/outside the chaos, writing her entries and disappearing from their radars.
She was doing well enough in the polls that she wasn't going to be at the bottom either. In my "head canon" she would either be brought into someone's rag-tag alliance or be the outlier that surprises everyone at the end of the game.
Plus, it took out yet another original Asaga... bringing the original tribes in at 6 each. Would the new relationships shift things? Would swirlsofpurple go back to the tribe that voted her out, or get vengeance??? I was excited to see what would happen next.
***
What were YOU thinking at this stage of the game?
