- Fri Dec 02, 2022 11:31:57 pm
#75234
God does it feel good to be back! Evolution is the name of the game this time around and I, The Otter, have come into this game a deeply, deeply changed man. Fatherhood has really shifted my mindset as a person. I want to play this game as a more humble and kind man. I want to be more honest and loyal. Humility is the evolution that I want everyone to see from me...
FUCK THAT. Welcome to Stranded Season 41 - MIKEonos!
I'm bummed these questions were already here for me. I was fully prepared to leave a novelesque confessional ripping the generic returnee questions I would get and answer them before they were asked. Anyways, Hi - I'm Mike - otherwise known as the Otter and residents self-proclaimed resident DILF.
I'm beyond excited to be back playing Stranded. The second I was booted last time around I wanted back into the game immediately. But also, if I need to tell one more person about how excited I am to be back I'll fucking kill myself. Cut the phoney as shit folks - obviously we're all excited to be back to kill it as part of your small talk. Why the hell would you not come back if you weren't excited?
Since Aegean Sea I've entered my DILF era - my wife had our beautiful daughter, Hope, mid-season 40 and since then I've just been dad-ing it up. I've had a business venture fail, started going to therapy, become a stay-at-home dad and continued to be all around awesome.
As for what made me come back - Vince's mom. She kept gassing me up while I was over at his place visiting her. She told me Vince really wanted to play again so that got me motivated to play. But now he's not here and that really sad. We'd be the first father-son combo to ever play Stranded together and it's a goddamn shame we didn't get to see it happen this time around. Whatever, I'm spending the night at their place again tonight so I'll try to talk to the little sport and see what happened. Will share results later.
To defer back to my previous answer - I'm surprised Vince isn't here because, again, his mom told me he wanted to be the first boot again. But I guess he really meant it when I sent him into retirement. As for the rest of the cast - I'm really excited by the cast around me - there's lots of potential here. On the Rhodes side of things I've got 3 former tribe mates and 3 people who were on the tribe opposite to us before Aegean Seas really kicked off. By the numbers, we have more Rhodes than Crete but I don't really think those tribal lines matter much at all. I'm ecstatic to see Hali back (more on that later), I'm indifferent to Carolyn, and optimistic towards Rodney. The biggest mistake I made last game was I was too dogmatic and believed too much that my information was the most accurate information and ignored the other information that people could have been potentially withholding from me. So I'm gonna double down and do that even harder this time around.
Hali being back in the game is great for me because she's super personable, beyond likeable, and maybe the sweetest member of the season 40 cast? We had a solid working relationship and it's my fault she went through the turmoil she did last season. I'd like to make that up to her by trying to work with her to stay in the game with her as long as possible. I don't want to TAKE her as far as possible - I genuinely would love to have us mutually work together to go far. To say I'd take her feels like it disregards her ability as a player and I have too much respect for her as a person to present it that way. The one wrinkle is the new Bounty twist which, lo and behold, Hali is my fucking bounty. If I had to make a list of 1-11 ranking who I most vs. least want to have as my bounty, Hali would without a doubt be ranked at #11. I WANT to work with her. So, at this moment, I've made a decision - fuck the bounty. I don't want to target Hali and I think - without knowing what the reward for the bounty is - she is infinitely more valuable to me than an advantage in this game right now. I'm sure other people are writing up confs about killing their bounty or taking their time etc etc. but I have zero interest in taking out my bounty. It'll only be of benefit to me if someone else takes her out...but even then I'd like to prevent that as much as possible.
Carolyn is just tricky to play with because they're so inconsistent. I'm not the most thrilled to have them back in the game and they're probably not a bad first boot if I'm being honest Unless they show up and play radically different than they did last time, I feel like they're a disappointing roster space. I'm not saying I want them gone yet but until I see something different from them, I'm not sticking my neck out for them.
Rodney is a GOAT - would love to connect with him a bit more so I put in a bit more effort than I did last time. I'm trying to find common ground and we joked around a bit. He's probably talking mad shit about me in his confessional already but that's cool. Just gotta get along for now. He incited the Otter moniker so I've gotta show him a bit more respect.
Sydney gives me nice vibes - we've just had general life chat but I can tell she's a little socially hesitant whereas I just don't give a fuck and will always try to push a conversation forward. Very nice lady, would love to work with her and get to know her better. I'm hopeful for a future in the game with her.
Voce - sketches me out a bit. I think he thinks he's a better talker than he is...and he's not. Not sure if I believe if he's even Canadian, maybe he is? But it just surprises me that I didn't know that already. Maybe I should trust him but he doesn't strike me as someone who I should be trusting. Nice enough guy though.
Naseer - Too much too fast. He keeps hard selling me on our chemistry and working together. His social skills are lacking a bit. Again, nice enough guy but Voce already disclosed to me that he sold Voce on that he was his #1 last time around but was literally playing everyone. Reading the tea leaves here and it feels like Naseer is playing the EXACT same game. Co-owns a Dairy Queen at 20 years old so get that fucking money kid. As of right now though, just off initial impressions, I don't think he'd be the worst first boot this season. If he's working with everyone he's working with no one.
Michelle - Super nice but didn't give me much. Want to explore more as I think we were both early boots so it would be cool to go far with someone like that and reverse the boot order a bit.
Morgan - Super kind, gives me the Hali vibes. Reading the Pre-Season tea leaves I know she's got a relationship with James. Guy posts a photo of himself and her saying they're the king and queen of stranded 41 and doesn't expect the most active player from S40 in the server to notice that? Like what? Anyways - to add to my suspicions, when I was asking about players he notably didn't even send me a whiff about Morgan. If I had to guess, they're tight, locked in and will take care of each other the entire way and James doesn't want me to know that at all.
Paul - Great guy, good vibe. Hope he feels the same way. We're building what feels like a genuine bond. Similar interests, ages, places in life. He strikes me as being clever but not as clever as he thinks he is. I think if he, James, and I could link up and stay loyal we'd do a lot of damage as a three but I don't know. I planted the seed tonight for it with the idea of the Handsome Devils Club - even though they're both probably uggos and can't match my DILFiness. Paul is linked to Michelle tightly and he tossed out the fact that I'm tight with Hali. Could be a good four to explore.
James - My hesitant #1. I think he's arguably more dogmatic than me and it'll cost him in this game. He wants emotion removed from moves so I'm doing my best to buddy up with him. I GENUINELY like James - he's the most active person from our season in the server next to me so I'm happy to see him here. He perfectly rides that line of someone who could be an ally or the person who could take me out because he sees me as a threat. I think in terms of social nuance, I'm strong than he is so I'm hopeful that could help me win out if it came down to he and I having to go to war. But for now, he is 100% a better ally than he is an enemy and that's where I want to keep him. In my opinion, he's gotta do more to earn my trust than I do to earn his but he probably feels the same way about me and is likely echoing the inversion of what I'm saying now back about me. We will reluctantly trust each other for as long as we can.
Stephanie - My favourite person so far. Similar humour but I wish she'd dial it back from an 11 to about an 8 and just be genuine with me a bit more. I think we'll be a bite of a hatemance if we play together and have some flirty tension because I'm all about self deprecating humour and I love that she seems to be similar. I think I can play along with her style but I worry of boredom growing with her if we just constantly shit talk each other. It gets old fast, I've had relationships like that before and at a certain point you just need to drop the act and be genuine. I'm trying to do that but she isn't making it easy so far. I would be nice if she met me halfway but I'm not holding my breath. So far, she's maybe the only player I can't identify any previous ties to and that excites and scares me a bit. It makes me want to work with her more honestly but it's a bit dangerous without knowing her prior or current connections. I can see that everyone has at least one person (Hali/Myself might be seen as pairing up, James/Morgan, Syd/Voce, Michelle/Paul are early duos I can see) other than maybe Rodney and Carolyn. Naseer has tenuous ties to everyone but maybe he's still "close" with Voce/Syd? So yeah, Steph is the outlier. I don't know her relationship with Morgan but there could be something there too. Lots of things to unpack but again, that's part of why Stephanie is my favourite so far.
Smaller season just means I can go balls to the wall sooner. Cast size doesn't phase me and it puts me in this goofy spot now too where I don't default to my highest placement ever in an ORG (which it is what it is). I had benchmarks last time I played and I didn't hit any of them. This time around the benchmark is just make it past the first vote and make it to F3. That's it. There's no merge to worry about and with 12 players I assume we all make jury. So yeah, smaller cast should be a blast.
Here's where I drop the whole Mike "the Otter" persona - I was too dogmatic last season and it cost me. But I don't want to play gun-shy this season as a result. I'm just going to breathe, think everything through from all angles, not just my own, and see if I can pull off some magic. I feel like I made some great social in-roads tonight which tells me I probably didn't do as good socially as I think I did. I don't think I'm an early favourite (other than in the lurker's hearts), nor do I think I'm at the bottom of the barrel in terms of entertainment or ability. I'd say I'm smack dab in the middle and I'll likely stay there until after this first vote when the numbers start to emerge. I've listened to a lot of feedback from the hosts and previous players so the primary adjustment this game is to be less dogmatic. But outside of that I also want to former a strong 4-6 alliance that stays super loyal until the endgame (shoutout to Loveita), and then maybe I'll do some tomfoolery with some chats (thanks Michael!)...oh and as Crazy James told me too, just breathe. BZ also gave me some great feedback too so if I can put it all together, everything that went wrong last time shouldn't happen this time (hopefully). It helps that a colossal douchebag like Vince isn't here for me to target early. Oh, and I might not go as hard on getting an idol as I did last time. Became obsessed with getting one and it cost me.
Getting back into the Otter mindset - yeah I'm going to go balls to the wall, be so goddamn social you love me, and then immediately blindside my closest ally who has an idol. That's the fucking game plan. These folks are fucked.
Otter out.
I stayed up to 1 in the goddamn morning to deliver this novel for you lurkers. I'm not proofreading this so if it's an incoherent mess go fuck yourself.
blogs for me to read afterwards.