Board Thread:Virtual Tribal Council/@comment-2002887-20180405153349/@comment-5277627-20180406054428

Ivanornels wrote: Tanglefrost wrote: Imagine being such an insufferable prick people make the dumbest move of the game so far because they can't stand being around you? As irritating as Bradley was, getting rid of him was SO the wrong move, especially since Libby already burned Domenick once. She's just going to go right back to Malolo since they merge next episode (merging at 13 again, fuck off) and with the infighting between Dom and Chris, Naviti is probably gonna fall apart post-merge. At least Bradley (as much of a prick as he was) was 100% loyal to Naviti.

All around a pretty crap episode. I wasn't even spoiled and the boot was obvious from the beginning. There was a forced "break the curse" storyline, the appearance of advantages is really becoming a stretch now, Kellyn crying over an advantage was ridiculous (Kellyn is also getting very annoying), and this episode really hammered home for me that idols are becoming a get out of jail free card. There isn't an overabundance of them like in HvHvH or GC, but Michael finding two is irritating especially since he already misplayed the Malolo idol. The only reason we got for Michael flipping was to "save himself" and he doesn't have any bonds, so it just seems like the idol is a get out of jail free card for him, not to mention it was the second one hidden on Malolo.

I'm hoping the merge picks up but I don't have high hopes for it at all. I genuinely do not care about anyone left and it's so frustrating to watch so-called "superfans" make these boneheaded mistakes continuously. The editing has been on a downslide, there's no reason to root for anyone apart from forced narratives, and I just don't really like any of the cast left. Something NEEDS to happen to bring this out of its slump or it's just going to keep getting worse and worse. Wow who messed up your coffee this morning? This episode already remedied the slump that happened in the last few episodes. It's as if you were rooting for a Pagonging or something. Also how could the Bradley boot be obvious when it was the same situation we've seen the last three episodes where "oh look there's someone irritating on Naviti, let's make some social connections and hope someone flips, welp we are getting Pagonged" so that could've easily been the case this episode with Libby going home, especially with Bradley being built as at least a merge villain this season. There's plenty of players to root for like Wendell, Donathan, and Michael, and every season forces narratives. In Borneo Rudy was portrayed as a likeable players because he was an old ex navy player for example, never mind he was sometimes saying some distasteful things. Also, like every decision at Tribal Council, we will not know whether or not the move pays off until later on this season. There can only be one winner so judging by your pessimism there will be a lot of "bad moves". We are set up for an interesting merge and if you're not excited for it, that's too bad.

1. It was obvious to me that Bradley was going to be pre-merge given how extensive his negative edit was.

2. I'm indifferent on Wendell; Donathan is the closest I come to rooting for someone, he's a very very lovely guy but they're forcing the underdog hero thing down our throats; Michael is probably the person I'm least rooting for because thus far he has been a really bad player.

3) Libby burned Domenick once and he somehow still trusts her. Domenick was literally saying, like, two episodes ago that Libby was Parvati 2.0 and needed to go and he gets rid of Bradley instead. Bradley looked like he was 100% loyal to Naviti whereas Libby has connections on Malolo. Not really being pessimistic, just looking at it from what I've seen so far.

4) The reasons I'm not excited for the merge are as follows:

a) half the cast have been largely insignificant up until this point, so I don't really have a reason to root for anyone, and the people who are highly visible aren't playing very well and/or are annoying to watch.

b) The entire next episode is looking like a Chris vs. Dom showdown and honestly I'm not really excited for it.

c) I feel like it's going to be Chris/Dom imploding the Naviti side and then Malolo coming out as the Final 5. If we're in for another Aitu Four/Foa Foa type storyline then it's going to be awful.

I'm actually enjoying the outcome of this season so far. Every boot up to Bradley's (with the exception of James I feel) has been logical and although it has left numbers unfavourable, after seeing Gamebot City/BIG MOVES the last two seasons it's nice to have the gameplay calm down a little bit. I think production screwed it up by swapping so early and then having a second swap. Not saying that I would enjoy a pagonigng though;  if it gets to the point where the people obviously on the bottom just stay there and do nothing, it's going to irritate me. On the other side, if people continuously make stupid moves over and over again and Naviti end up falling apart so we're left with the Malolo 5 it's going to irritate me. I'm hoping for a balance of blindsides, but also people knowing when to logically stay put.

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