Talk:Valentine Games/Archive

Move to Los Angeli

Hey there, Taco here. So, just wanted to get the talk page started off for this transition. Seems like Games is quite the traveller. I fully appreciate her poetry collection and I do not think we should touch that. Time to workshop reasons as to WHY she is in LAs DeejayRingis (talk) 21:51, 5 October 2020 (UTC)

Hello! Spy here. We are in the process of building out our character lore and unfortunately hadn't made it to Val yet. We do have a bunch of notes we can share (most of which are from Val's Twitter RPer, who I believe has now joined the Tacos if you want to hit them up) if you want to build their character out yourself, or I can make turning it into actual sentences and paragraphs a priority and get it to you that way. Let us know what you prefer! Superstitions (talk) 03:33, 6 October 2020 (UTC)

Hey all, Tacos captain here. Yes, their Twitter rper came into our chat to contribute their ideas. The following is our current draft, based on the ideas collaborated on in our Lore doc contributed to by Tacos Fans and their rper.

Feel free to contribute thoughts/additions/edits, etc.

Known Personal History

Unlimited Tacos Career

The Houston Spies, after receiving increasing reports of a Taco with the mysterious tendency to Flicker, wanted to complete an operation with Valentine, their most experienced in Feedback storms, to help bring NaN to Houston for discussion of said effect. The events between the Spies initial decision to speak to NaN, and the start of the sixth game of season nine are pure rumour. Upon arrival in the rifts of Los Angeli, reports have come back fuzzy, with all firsthand accounts varying and surveillance camera footage completely glitching.

Little has been uncovered since Valentine’s switch to the Tacos. She has denied making any comment on her personal relationships with her teammates, although, from her recently published blackout poetry, it appears she is beginning to grow fond of the team’s sense of family, and has begun to slowly reveal parts of their life in regards to previous travels.

Examples for IRM additions:

Disposition to Poetry

Valentine Games appears to interact with all press solely speaking in forms of poems and riddles, primarily in free verse and slam.

Friendships on the Tacos

Los Angeli natives have reported Valentine often appearing in public with teammate Rat Mason. It is rumoured this is due to shared travels regarding Valentine’s time spent on the New York Millennials, while Rat grew up in New York before moving to LA for the Blaseball scene.

Spies Trench Coat

Games has only ever been seen with his trench coat from the Spies on, according to reports from both the team and others native to Los Angeli. The only exception to this report is directly prior to every time he steps up to bat, when he dramatically flings his coat to the side and does not pick it up. Because of this, it is assumed they have come about a collection of unlimited coats.

CJessicaa (talk) 02:57, 7 October 2020 (UTC)

That all sounds good to us! We're going to work on drafting some backstory for Val (mostly for their time with the Spies) that we'll share here as well. We were in the middle of redoing/creating lore for all of our players and then... Feedback sheNaNigans. Superstitions (talk) 17:53, 7 October 2020 (UTC)

OK, lore pass finished! Here's what we have in mind:

History

Valentine Games joined the ILB as a member of the Baltimore Crabs, but fate had other plans for this poetic wanderer.

Though Games has a nomadic heart, her devotion to the Crabs is one of the few constants in his life. The relationship is more than pure team loyalty; Games, an accomplished poet, believes in the divinity or near-divinity of the natural world. Their clothes are often encrusted with ocean salt—a strange occurrence, given that not all the teams they've called home have been near the sea. Still, communing with nature, transcribing its messages, and seeking the greater mysteries of the world and Blaseball are core to their life, no matter what town they call home for the moment.

Time with the Houston Spies

Because Games has an interest in life's greater mysteries, spending some time with the Houston Spies was a natural choice. During a Feedback event during Game 51 of Season Six, Games, at that time with the New York Millennials, swapped places with then-Spies hitter Andrew Solis. The swap was mutually beneficial; Games gained access to the Spies' extensive collection of dossiers and information-gathering technology and Solis began his relationship with Dominic Marijuana prior to his death.

Games' time with the Spies was met with great enthusiasm. Her trademark "Valentine Triples" and solid defense helped the Spies become quite a formidable team during season eight. Off the Blaseball diamond, Games' natural curiosity also made them a prized spy. His dedication to seeking answers for the great mysteries of the world made them a natural choice for spywork, as well as their ability to redact documents to great poetic effect. Games also showed a distinct capability to find the strange, esoteric truth at the heart of things, opening up more mysteries for the Spies to explore as often as she turned up concrete evidence.

However, Games' deeper eccentricities were sometimes at odds with their spying ability. They had a tendency to speculate aloud, and would routinely walk away from assignments to pursue whatever whim the wind brought them.

Regardless of their performance as a spy, Games rapidly became the face of the Spies. Their batting ability, effortless style, and unique personality made them a perfect fit for the spotlight—she became "The Spy of Love," the trenchcoat-clad wanderer with a poet's heart. The Spies' propaganda division encouraged Games to lean hard into this identity, including asking him to kiss the bat before each hit. Games was willing to play her part, earning the affection of numerous fans in the Spies as well as other teams. During interviews, Games often suggested their acceptance that Blaseball was where they belonged. She is quoted as saying, "Well...this is what I have to do. I go where the wind takes me, and the wind takes me to new places pretty frequently, so. I'm a spy now, in some sense."

But Games' wandering soul couldn't be content with just one team. Eager to investigate the strange phenomenon of the Flickering then-Unlimited Tacos player NaN, the Spies arranged a swap to make use of NaN's Flickering and the Feedback weather of Season Nine, Game Six. Games volunteered to take NaN's place; Los Angeli was an interesting phenomenon, one she'd like to see for herself, and the sea called to her once again.

Though Games has left the Spies, her presence is still felt—blackout poetry adorns the walls of Spies HQ, Comfort Septemberish has taken up collage art from advertisements, and Math Velazquez has devised Math's own form of poetry with graphing calculators and sine waves.

--

We didn't want to step on the Crabs or Jazz Hands' interpretations of things, so it's very focused on the Spies. Open to any and all feedback! Superstitions (talk) 17:38, 10 October 2020 (UTC)

Update: added the Houston Spies and brief History section to the page, but didn't add the Tacos lore in case you had made any changes since it was posted here. Just as a note, I couldn't figure out how to get the history above IRM but below "Community Lore," and the IRM for Val is cool so I'm fine with it down below. Superstitions (talk) 15:56, 12 October 2020 (UTC)

The Unlimited Variety Hour

The Infinite Variety Hour After joining the Tacos team, Valentine Games saw an opportunity in Hollyw∞d to accomplish a lifelong dream of finally getting their avant-garde TV show on the air. The show was a combination of a dating show and obstacle course so genius and foolhardy that it bore no resemblance to either aspect. Alas, pitch after pitch and studio after studio Games unfathomable script kept getting turned down. Games started to wonder if their show would ever become a reality. Then the announcement came that Basilio Fig had made their big break, landing the roll of Tree #4 in the hit movie Citizen Kane 2: Revenge of Kane. Fig stole every scene they were in and was soon signing autographs by the thousands. This was it, the key to getting on the air! After a night of drunken discussion, Fig and Games both agreed and with Fig's name attached to co-star the script was picked up immediately, much to the dismay of primetime audiences everywhere. In fact, Fig and Games’ TV pilot was picked up in every Los Angeles simultaneously. As it happens, on the Immaterial Plane only three things are certain: death, taxes, and the Unlimited Variety Hour. The broadcasts vary wildly from Los Angeles to Los Angeles, but all are disjointed, confusing, unsettling collections of seemingly unrelated scenes, often featuring other members of the Tacos who were cast to save on the budget. A true, coherent version of Games’ vision can be revealed by stitching together scenes from broadcasts all across the Los Angeli. This has been accomplished only once. The Spies have classified it “Top Secret”. (This also kind of doubles as an in-lore excuse for basically any scene featuring any Tacos in any costumes to appear as a scene from the TV show. It also canonizes an existing entry in Val’s rumor mill from their days on the Mils when Val tried to start a TV show.)

Revisited Tacos IRM Entries

The Tacos have worked in our side server to adjust a pre-existing IRM entry and have two new ones ready to add to Val's Rumor Registry.

IF-73.39 to be adjusted to:

Valentine appears to interact with all press solely speaking in forms of poems and riddles, primarily in free verse and slam. When asked about their experience playing for the Tacos, xe responded: "Hands tight around the bat swish swing and steady self against the game beginning, already blacked out can't back out now not when there’s a game changer weather brewing not when there’s a team changer coming down the line and I can feel it in my blood but no use watching grass grow when there’s a game to be played, superstition superseded by the pitch coming my way and I swing hit the ball and run and steal and play the goddamn game until its time to get back onto the plate with the pitcher on the mound all secondary threat and no menace. Feedback ringing in my ears I close my eyes

and swing".

[note that we created this entry and have permission to add to it]

Peanut Philosophy

Though seemingly an unlikely pair, Valentine Games and Peanut Bong have become close friends due to a shared interest in philosophy and the arts. Bong, who is very accustomed to not being taken seriously, has found a good discussion partner in Games, who considers what they have to say important. The two are often seen going to nearby ice cream parlors to have their deep conversations about life and the cultural event of Blaseball.

Infinite Variety Hour

Upon joining the Tacos, Valentine once again tried to get their TV show on the air. With help from Basilio Fig, who had recently come into stardom as Tree #4 in the hit movie 'The Bee Mlovie', the script was picked up in every version of LA at once. The show varies from LA to LA and is widely heralded by critics as "Confusing", "Incomprehensible", and "No seriously what's going on here". Rumours that the Houston Spies have stitched together a coherent "true version" from bits of footage from each LA's version are described by the Spies as "Unfounded" and "Please ignore the cassette reel labelled 'Top Secret'".

The rest of the Tacos have been cast as a wide variety of bit parts for various episodes of the shows, and footage of them in various costumes crops up from time to time. Fig, as well as Peanut Bong (whose ability to utilize cartoon logic is a major asset to the special effects department), play more major roles and are also close friends with Val even off-set.

CJessicaa (talk) 01:51, 23 November 2020 (UTC)