#its also kinda obvious who he is twisted off from based on design and name tbh but . yeah 👍

[fanartfunart]

@sapony01​ commented on one of my Sides Swap posts: Can you explain their function and personality a bit better/explore them? Some are kinda obvious but some kinda confuse me

And, but of course! I’m totally open to it! (I’m mostly making another post for it because otherwise it’ll get absurdly long)

To summarize, the main idea is that they keep their personality and secondary traits they represent (Like Ego, Emotionality, ect), while further representing the Main Trait (like Anxiety, Creativity, ect)

The rest under the cut:

Anxiety

Roman: His key representation of Anxiety would befall closer to overemphasizing bravery and ignoring problems, and of course, insecurities. Thus a focus on Dangers you can Fight, and avoiding things you can’t. A emphasis on the Knight theme as a representation of bravery. He’d use ego and theatricality as a cover- a ‘be weird before people can accuse you of being weird because then it’s on purpose’ type logic.

Patton: The type of Anxiety where you emotionally over extending yourself because you’re scared of social-emotional repercussions. Caring so much that there’s no time and energy to care for yourself. Also a good representation of the Dad-Friend override for Anxiety.

Logan: A representation of over-analyzing the world like an outsider, that emotional distance that, while you’re curious of all the things around you, you can’t help but focus on the bad. Avoidance becomes a key factor and everything is categorized as bad or good off of exaggerated ‘proof’.

Janus: Very self protective to the point that things outside the Comfort Zone are almost always negative and overwhelming. Sarcasm, brittleness, and lying as a way to avoid things outside the Comfort Zone.

Remus: Overthinking creating an Anxious reaction. Basically seeing things in the shadows and over-analyzing interactions. Essentially worries cropping up out of the idea of various terrible things you can think of possibly coming at you from the smallest of hints to it. Also Knight theme because why not.

Creativity 

Logan: A more organized and analytic approach to creative works. Prone to being a literary critic. Draws from media to explain a point. As creativity would likely be the type of writer that hides details and metaphors in everything, focus on foreshadowing and the such.

Janus: Never lets anything be direct, people should be able to make their own conclusions about the meaning of the text. Probably thinks method acting is fun. The kind of actor/writer that easily shrugs on different types of characterizations that it makes other people dizzy seeing him switch between them.

Virgil: Your inner Emo Art Phase personified (everyone has at least one somewhere in there). Would prefer to be either a lesser known creator, or not let Thomas use his real name (thus Ghostwriter), because being Known is Awkward and his work can get too real, being known as a real person could detract from the art. Focus on art as an outlet for expressing negative feelings and stress relief.

Patton: Take your craft-happy relative who always hand-makes gifts and you’ve got Creativity Patton. Just wants to have fun and share the fun. Draws from positive emotional experiences for creativity because he wants to give everyone who sees said art a hug through said art. (Yes, his design is vaugely based off of Disney’s Pinocchio Geppetto aka Pinocchio’s dad.)

Remus: Take Remus as he is, and then take the ‘intrusiveness’ out of him. He basically has all the same horrifying ideas, but he doesn’t use them to make Thomas upset or anything, he’s just making stories.

Logic

Patton: Sorta a relaxed logic, understands not everything can be solved with a clean logical solution and that emotions hold a important space in people’s actions. Is that little logical voice when you’re super mad going ‘you’re mad because this, this, and this, and this is probably an overreaction to what you’re expressing your anger to, but it’s still valid.’ Prone to emotional fallacies though.

Virgil: You know any super cool teacher/professor who teaches you what the book says and then closes the book and says ‘ok now guess what, they’re also wrong, and I’m probably wrong too’?? Virgil as logic. (also why I kinda gave him the ‘tired + university hoodie’ style) Emphasizes learning from various sources and never trusting any of them 100%. Doesn’t trust his own information either, and it makes him stressed.... but like, he’s always stressed anyway so it’s chill. 

Roman: Bounces from topic to topic to learn. Very curious and easily inspired- also easily distracted. The definition of what a liberal arts education should be doing- aka, connecting seemingly unrelated topics. An Encyclopedia of very specific information. But, once he’s got a set of information it’s hard to let go of it, which makes it hard to adjust to being told he’s wrong.

Janus: Emphasis on how information is always being adjusted, and people’s biases are always present in studies and interpretation. Focuses on debunking things. Also kinda makes it hard to 100% be sure of any information presented.

Remus: Enjoys abusing the ‘technicalities’ in things. A little hard to follow in terms of train of thought. Disturbing Facts are still facts.

Morality

Virgil: Emphasis on sympathy and ‘do what you’d hope people would do for you’ moral arguments. Focus on social structure for the ground rules for moral behavior. That guy who’s constantly nice because he wished someone was nice to him, ya know? Hates the idea of being a bad person so much that it causes a lot of guilt and mistrust of the self.

Logan: Thinks of moral behavior as an equation of sorts. People do good things and that causes good things and that allows the social structure to work as it should, so do good things. Draws on philosophy and other social sciences to argue his points. Easy to readjust his thinking with proper reasoning.

Roman: Just wants people to be happy! And to be good! Emphasis on the reactions of others and how that effects your social/emotional well-being. Do good because it feels good kinda guy (he wants to be somebody’s Hero, ya know how it be).

Janus: Understands that morality is such a grey place that most anything can be seen as bad if you argue it enough. Places value on the self as someone deserving of feeling good as well, and bases moral values on what you as an individual wants to do. Also still kinda morally grey in general and probably shouldn’t always be listened to.

Remus: I Follow no Rules but My Own. Full rejection of social pressures. What precisely that means for his resulting moral standing is up to debate.

Deceit

Logan: Woorsst lair because he’ll twist truth and facts into it and it’s hard to pick out what’s the lie. Very blunt about his role as deception and its benefits and drawbacks. Very good about remembering which lies were told when and to who. Not the kind to lie more than seen necessary.

Roman: Focus on lying as acting and getting to where you need to go in life. ‘Fake it til you make it’ is his motto and it also includes mental states. Makes it hard to be honest about feelings. Very much a ‘lying to yourself’ aspect.

Virgil: Lying to avoid perceived negative repercussions. Lying still bothers him- as lying can also cause negative reactions. Focus on lying in reaction to events, less so on lying to the self. Not every lie is especially necessary though, knee-jerk reactions and fear make it very easy to lie. Lies of omission being the most utilized.

Remus: The opposite to Roman’s ‘lying to yourself’. Lying to others just to see their reactions. Uses being ‘blatantly honest’ about taboo subjects to seem honest about other things.

Patton: Lying to spare people’s feelings and being perceived well. Focus on lying or omitting the truth to seem like everything’s awesome.

Intrusive Thots

Patton: Makes emotional reactions overwhelmingly hard to gauge and control, results in terrifying thoughts and feelings with little control or filter. Gets stuck on ideas because of how hard he’s trying to push it away (yea know, like the white bear experiment).

Virgil: Thinks in problem solving, but the problems are of course, the thoughts of his own creation. Incessant about ‘solving’ the perceived problem.... not much else changes.

Logan: The Mad Scientist aesthetic is fun, what can I say? Takes facts and focuses on the scary parts, and then brings them back up on the slightest hint of relevance, and sometimes just Because. Some of it is curiosity taken into a frightening territory and gets overwhelming.

Janus: Emphasis on what happens if terrible things happened. Also likes using the ‘you’re gonna go to hell anyway just dive in with me’ argument. Occasionally pops up in a way that sounds almost nice, then turns horrifying very quickly.

Roman: Take Roman, make his ideas more Remus. He’s already Loud and Proud, just make him scarier, and a little more incessant and probably a little more arrogant for good measure.

#sides!swap #jobflop au #roman sanders #logan sanders #virgil sanders #patton sanders #janus sanders #remus sanders #intrusive thot #deceit!sides #intrusive!sides #creativity!sides #anxiety!sides #morality!sides #logic!sides #snake tw #sword tw #I forget most of the tags for these #chat a lat #reply #famart

[deltaengineering]

Fall Anime 2019 Part 4: also, he has a gun for a head

Beastars

So here’s the CG anime that everyone for some reason decided way in advance would be the best show of the season, more or less by default. I was very skeptical of this for a multitude of reasons. First of all, that is a bad name for a show and you can’t convince me otherwise. It’s actually even worse because you’re supposed to write it in all caps, but I refuse. Second, it has a terribly on the nose conceit in which all sorts of animals live together in a high school setting and it’s all metaphorical ‘n shit. The main character is a wolf but get this, he’s actually all sensitive and quiet! Yeah, this is definitely rated D for Deep. And finally it’s by Orange, the CG studio that got an inordinate amount of acclaim for making Houseki no Kuni, the show that everyone thinks looks great and finally made CG anime worthwhile (actual real fact: HnK does not look great most of the time and CG anime was worthwhile well before it). 

But enough about my preconceptions since Beastars is... pretty good, actually. If you ignore the setting, which is indeed terribly on the nose. And there’s not much else to say about the story so far besides it. However, it looks significantly better than Houseki no Kuni because it actually has really good character animation throughout instead of a one-minute action scene with flashy spinny camera tricks every other episode. The directing’s strong too, even if the show conspicuously mainly consists of obvious manga panels. I’m still not too hot on the animal stuff but the general writing seems to be sufficiently competent it would work simply on a character level. So I don’t love it, but it seems solid enough to see if it goes somewhere with its “Zootopia but also Beverly Hills 90210 but also they eat each other sometimes″ plot.

Rifle is Beautiful

Remember the whole “anime about some assorted anime girls joining a club doing an oddly specific activity” thing? This is another one of those, and now it’s about air rifle sports shooting. Except it’s not about air rifle sports shooting because that’s apparently way too violent, so they use rifles that look like exactly like air rifles but are actually based on lasers or really bright flashlights (they can’t keep their bullshit straight between scenes, sorry) instead. I just don’t think “girls doing activities” anime should blatantly misrepresent their subject matter like that, you know? With the possible exception of idol anime that is, ain’t nobody who wants to hear about that shit. Apart from that it’s nothing special, so if you are really into air rifles and wish to watch an anime that’s not about those, knock yourself out. It goes through a whole “club needs 5 members” arc in the first half of the first episode, so I really can’t say where it goes next. Nowhere much, I would guess.

Oh right, there’s one more thing: They frequently render the bodies in CG and the heads in traditional drawings, and they do it every time when they’d actually have to draw a rifle otherwise. It’s a weird effect that I think I haven’t seen anywhere else before, and it’s not great but also not terrible. And it’s the most interesting thing about the entire show.

Kabukicho Sherlock

“Let’s take a bunch of public domain characters and put them into a hip modern setting” seems to be its own genre at the moment, and not only because the BBC did that with S. Holmes, Esq. already. Obviously this show is influenced by that (besides other public domain namedroppers like Bungou Stray Dogs), mostly in Watson and his relationship with Sherlock, but Sherlock-san is rather different here; he’s neither the classic Victorian bohemian nor the abrasive sociopath of the BBC version, and tends more towards a bumbling 90s pop culture version of autism and/or general wackiness here. These two are surrounded by a bunch of campy transvestites for some reason, and I’m not quite sure whether I’m supposed to find this particular stereotype offensive or empowering this week, but it sure is annoying. And it has the same character designer as Joker Game, so if you like chiseled, angular anime men, you’re in for a treat here - even if they tend to wear a lot of makeup and dresses sometimes. I don’t know man, it seems sort of okay-ish for the most part but it’s neither as funny as they think, nor as weird as they think, nor is the murder of the week intriguing at all. Oh yeah, he’s hunting noted public domain character Jack the Ripper. Because of course he is.

 Shin Chuuka Ichiban!

I am told this is the sequel to episode 19 of a 52-episode anime TV show from 1997. Okay. I am also told to not dare watch this without the important setup therein, which makes me think I should pay less attention to what I’m told because understanding Shin Chuuka Ichiban and its backstory is not hard at all. Kid is superawesome cooking champion in ancient China and goes around clowning on lesser cooks, got it. It’s not a complicated setup and it’s not a complicated genre either: This seems to be mostly about sick shounen cooking duels. Besides the setting, the main difference between this and Shokugeki no Soma seems to be that SnS goes for ridiculous and Chuuka Ichiban goes for epic - which is to say that it fancies itself emotional as well. Apart from that it’s what you’d expect from a cooking shounen, big moves, big reactions, huge twists and so on. One notable thing is that this show looks really, really nice. Production I.G seems to be establishing a sideline in taking stuff from the 90s and updating it with smoother animation and shinier lighting, while keeping the overall look intact; They did it for Mahoujin Guru Guru, and this looks much the same. Still, I’m just fundamentally not really interested in what appears to be a very straightforward cooking shounen from the 90s.

Assassins Pride

Straight from the Department of Chuuni, we have this light novel masterpiece about a cool as fuck teenage assassin who teleports behind u and nothin personells fools all day. He then meets a princess he’s supposed to off but just kinda decides not to, probably because she seems to be smitten by his m’lady act. Now he has to use his sick skillz to keep them both alive. It’s awful and terrible and no good and also kind of adorable. This truly is the most 13 AND A HALF MOM years old anime in a while, and it’s not even isekai! The writing’s just so amateurish and corny you can’t help but smile when princesses exposit their backstory for no reason while being accosted by pumpkin monsters (without knowing that Awessassin McCooldude happens to be listening in, which is certainly convenient). Or when the episode ends with the man just reading the synopsis of the show out again, in case you were too fascinated by this plot to pay attention to what it’s about. Yeah I’m not going to watch this in a thousand years, but it sure made me chuckle. Your mileage may vary.

Mugen no Juunin - Immortal

Speaking of 𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔫𝔦𝔫𝔢𝔱𝔦𝔢𝔰 𝔢𝔡𝔤𝔢, another anime adaptation of Blade of the Immortal appeared! You know, the manga for the cultured and historically minded guro fan. The first episode of Blade of the Immortal runs with this and is an arthouse production that someone most definitely directed the shit out of. I don’t think I’ve seen this much directing since, well, Sarazanmai, but “Ikuhara amounts of directing” is pretty much the idea here. And most of the time it even works! The quickly edited, disorienting style gives episode 1 a feeling closer to horror than to a cool swordmen action show, and that really brings out the best in the material, which is grotesque splatter bordering on the comical - It’s somehow a better Junji Ito anime than the actual Junji Ito anime. I think it tries too hard in a few places, but at least it does try.

But then I watched the second episode and that one’s a fairly conventional splatter-comedy swordin’ anime. I am not at all pleased with this development. The third episode was better again and seemed to split the difference between 1 and 2, even if it mostly uses the tricky editing to save on effort in the action –  I would much prefer actually readable fights and the wacky mannerisms in the more psychological stuff, thank you very much. Based on episode 1 I thought we might have something special here, but as of episode 3 I’d already merely call it pretty decent. I guess I’ll still stick with it but man, that’s a real bummer.

No Guns Life

No Guns Life is a neo-noir thriller about a guy who has a gun for a head. That’s fuckin rad and exactly the kind of silliness I am totally down for. He also has a gun for a hand, and there’s also some battle nun’s who carry revolvers with two cylinders, so in short I think the title is false advertising. This sounds very wacky (and it is), but it also takes its noir very seriously, down to details more wannabe neo-noirs tend to neglect (like being set right after a big war). The look and feel is pretty excellent, with sharp design and high-contrast artwork, and the music goes all in on the moody saxophone as you’d expect. And there’s some really adorable “look mom, I’m writing” stuff about how Man With Gun For A Head really “needs someone to pull his trigger” and so on (which is, as the astute reader might remember, at the back of his head). It feels like a throwback but then I can’t really think of many 80s/90s shows like this, so it’s actually more like the sort of faux-retro idea Trigger/Imaishi would come up with on a lark. Trigger/Imaishi would, of course, make a far worse anime out of it, so it’s all good. Well, it has some pacing problems and as always it’s a fine line between amusingly camp and not so amusingly camp anymore, but No Guns Life seems to have enough real qualities that it can probably stand on its own even when its conceptual gimmick eventually doesn’t suffice anymore. I give it a two gun’s up.

Hoshiai no Sora / Stars Align

And finally, here’s an anime about middle schooler softboys playing a tennis just as soft as themselves, while being henpecked by the elites on the girl’s team. This is not an “actual” sports anime though: for starters, it’s not based on some shounen manga and is an anime original with quite some staff pedigree instead. It’s also more of a character drama that already goes to some surprisingly real places by the end of episode 1, reminiscent of the recent and quite good Run with the Wind. Furthermore, it looks delicious, with minimalist but distinctive and varied character designs and animation that’s both extremely detailed for a TV anime and also not trying to shove that fact into your face with flashy stunt cuts. In short, this show seems very simple at first glance but every aspect of it just oozes quality. If nothing else, it’s already worth watching just for the excellent ending sequence where the characters show off their “best” dance moves and the chunky student council president dunks on everyone. This one caught me by surprise and it’s an easy pick for most promising show of the season.

#anime #impressions #Beastars #Rifle is Beautiful #Kabukicho Sherlock #Shin Chuuka Ichiban! #Assassins Pride #Mugen no Juunin - Immortal #No Guns Life #Hoshiai no Sora #stars align

[illfoandillfie]

from the prompt list: 23,24 from fluff and 31 from hurt/comfort with roger? would looooooove to see this!

I kinda snapped with this one and wrote almost 2k words soooooo its under a cut, enjoy!

23 “I think I love you,” + 24 “Can I kiss you?” + 31 “Just breathe. Breath withme.”

When you’d moved in with Roger you’d been nervousbordering on anxious. It was in your nature to worry and you knew this was thefourth time in two months that Roger had advertised for a roommate. But youwere desperate, everywhere else in your price range was unsuitable – too faraway from the campus to make the cheaper price worth while, men who wereclearly looking for someone to clean up after them like their mothers had athome, streets that were too dark and made you feel unsafe. So you were willingto look past his previous roommates complaints about that fucking infernalbanging and at least give it a shot. Of course there were other thingsworrying you too, your friends insistence that he’d try to hit on you for one.That sort of attention wasn’t something you received all that much and youweren’t entirely sure how to handle it. But you did know that roommates sleepingtogether was a bad idea so you knew you’d have to turn him down no matter what.

Roger, for his part, seemed thrilled when you said youcould move in straight away. You’d met up at a pub to chat and discusspotential arrangements and he’d entirely put you at ease. You were a little thrownwhen he didn’t so much as look you up and down let alone openly flirt with you,having believed everything your friends had said, but you put it down to notbeing his type and pushed the tiny pang of disappointment to the side. What hedid do was make you laugh, a lot. The conversation quickly turned from discussionsof rent and moving in to general chatter about everything else – the subjectsyou were both studying, the band he was in, opinions about music and literature,anything that jumped to mind. Before you knew it half the night was gone, yourworries were dispelled, and it felt like you’d been friends for years. Youwondered if that was just the way Roger was, easy to talk to and charmingenough to put anyone at ease, or if there was just something about the two ofyou that worked well together.

Over the first few months living with him you got toknow him quite well, better than you might have expected. You now weren’t surewhether people’s complaints about the constant banging were related to his drumsor the string of one night stands he brought back to the apartment, the thinwalls doing nothing to muffle their moaned cries of don’t stop or theway his voice got low and gravelly as he told them how he wanted them to cumfor him. Everything was only made worse by the slight crush you had on him. Itwas a small crush, nothing in it at all, you told yourself, based entirely on thefact that he was a guy, a cute guy, who talked to you like a human being,or talked to you at all. But you couldn’t stop the way your gut twisted whenyou saw him the next morning, standing topless in the kitchen, hair a mess,shooting you his stupid grin as he made his tea. You also couldn’t help the wayhis voice stuck in your brain, the way his moans invaded your thoughts as you gotyourself off, alone in your bed. But you pushed it to the side. It was a badidea and besides he clearly wasn’t interested.

It wasn’t long before you were introducing Roger asyour best friend. You spent more time with him than anyone else. On the dayswhen your classes lined up you’d meet him afterwards for a drink, sometimesaccompanied by Brian or Tim or Freddie or any number of your friends. You followedhim to every pub in the area to watch his band play, always wishing him luck beforehand and showering him with praise after. It was a nice excuse to look at him withoutthe fear of being caught, taking mental snapshots of the way his face scrunchedup as he played and how his bare chest looked covered in sweat. You’d be lyingif you said it didn’t turn you on. Once a week he’d turn up at the café whereyou waitressed, despite barely having enough money to make rent. He’d order thecheapest thing he could and sit there for an hour or more, making you laughevery time you visited his table. When exams approached you stayed up into theearly hours of the morning studying, which is when he learnt about your tendencyto worry yourself into an anxiety attack, and how to calm you down. You were alwaysmore prone to working yourself into a panic when you were stressed but you couldhave sworn the attacks had been less frequent since you met Roger. You put itdown to his calming voice and charming nature – it had put you at ease thefirst night you met after all – although maybe it was that you just hadn’t hada whole lot to stress about since finding suitable housing.

On quiet nights the two of you would sit at homelistening to records as you finished whatever beer you had on hand and madedinner with whatever scraps were left in the fridge. Roger always tried to keepyou amused with rambling anecdotes and jokes that had you in stitches, or withsuggestions of drinking games.“Ask me a question,”“Rog, I don’t understand how this is a drinking game,”“Because every time you answer a question you drink,”“So we’re just talking and drinking then,”“Well we couldn’t keep playing never have I ever – it always ends with metanked while your barely tipsy. And shit like truth or dare doesn’t work withonly two people.”“So why don’t you invite the others around then? They could bring some ediblefood with them,”“Nah, they’re all busy tonight. Fred and Tim are working on an assignment andBri’s on a date or something. It’s just you and me love.”You tried to ignore the way your heart beat faster, reminding yourself hecalled every pretty girl he talked to love.“Why don’t we go out instead?”“We’re practically broke Y/N. Why pay for beer when we have perfectly alrightstuff here.”“Okay but I’m no where near drunk enough to play some game designed to get meto spill all my secrets.”“Secrets? Who said anything about secrets?”“You know what I mean.”“Oh c’mon, it’ll be fun.”“Will it? My stories are never as good as yours.”“’s not a competition, just wanna get to know you better,” he shrugged beforetaking a swig of his drink.“You have to ask the first question then.” You rolled your eyes at the grinRoger gave you.“First kiss?”“That would be a guy named Peter when I was 18. It was….not good.”“What was so bad about it?”“I don’t know, just didn’t feel anything. I only did it to prove I could do it,not cause I was actually into him.”“So I take it you and this Peter never went any further then,”“You would be correct.”The game continued with the questions getting steadily more risqué as you bothgot tipsier. He told you about his first proper girlfriend and you told him aboutthe time you were stood up only to discover you’d been asked out as a dare. Whenhe told you about accidentally throwing up on the girl he fancied you told himabout the time your last boyfriend fingered you on a crowded bus, so he told youabout the time he’d shagged a girl who wanted to do anal on the first date. Yourcheeks were still burning when he asked his next question and for a moment youdidn’t think you’d heard him properly.“What?”“Can I kiss you?” “K-kiss me?”“Yes, Y/N.”“This is…a joke right? Like a badly timed joke considering I just told you aboutbeing asked out on a dare.”“It wasn’t a joke,”You shook your head, mouth hanging open as you tried to work out what to do. Partof you was screaming at you to fucking say yes but part of you was alsotelling you it was a bad idea and part of you was just confused that he’d askedyou when he could go out and get any number of better girls. You brain wasbuzzing with noise and you could feel your chest getting tight, air notreaching your lungs as you hands trembled slightly.“I c-ca-n’t b-br-,” you stammered, trying to blink away the tears that sprungto your eyes as you clutched your chest.“Woah, woah, Y/N, it’s okay,” Roger’s voice got softer as he reached out foryou, his hands landing on your shoulders, “Hey, we’re gonna breath okay, justbreath. Breath with me. In,” he inhaled, “and out,” he exhaled. You triedto match your breath to his, closing your eyes and focusing on the sound of hisvoice as he instructed you and the way his thumbs were rubbing over yourshoulder. Gradually your breathing returned to normal, the tightness in yourchest subsiding.“Sorry,” you said softly.“No, I knew you weren’t into me and I still asked. I shouldn’t have put you inthat position.”You looked up at him so fast you saw spots, your heart beat speeding up to thepoint it felt like one of his drum solos was being played against your chest.“But I am into you,”“Really?”“Yeah. I didn’t think you’d feel the same though. You never hit on me.”“Yeah because I go to hang out at all my friends workplaces especially when I’mflat fucking broke,”“I thought that was just like, being friendly or something,”“Are you kidding?”“This doesn’t happen all that often to me. I’m not…I don’t… Guys don’t really gofor me, why would you?”“Shit Y/N, here I was thinking I was being super obvious and you’re completelyfucking clueless. I’ve been into you since the day we met. We talked for hoursremember? And the more we’ve hung out the more I’ve wanted to be with you.”“My friends told me you’d try and get me into bed and then I met you and youdidn’t and I figured I wasn’t worth your time.”“I didn’t hit on you because I didn’t want you to think that moving in here wasreliant on sleeping with me. But Christ, Y/N, you are worth every second of mytime.”“But the other girls? The ones you’d bring home and fuck so loudly.”“I was trying to distract myself, to stop thinking about you but it didn’t work.I think I love you. I mean, I know I love you because you’re my best friend,but I think I’m falling for you in a different way too.”You replayed his words in your head, searching for any hint of deception or ahidden agender. You must have been silent for too long because Roger carefullynudged your shoulder.“Are you okay? Still breathing?”You laughed softly, “Yeah, still breathing. Just umm, trying to process it all.We’re roommate’s Rog, as much as I want this to happen, isn’t it a bad idea?”“I’m willing to risk it if you are.”You nervously bit your lip, looking up into his eyes as you nodded, “Yeah, okay.You can kiss me,”Your breath hitched as his lips met yours in a soft, chaste kiss that made yourheart stop altogether. “Better than Peter?”“No competition,”“Didn’t think there would be since I stole your breath just by asking for akiss,”

#my writing #my blurbs #roger taylor x reader #i hope you like it! #i was up til like 3am last night #so ive been fighting sleep while i was writing this #because it was like 8pm when i started it lmao #so i hope its okay and makes sense and isnt too rubbish lmao #quirkydeaky

[pastellearts]

Been wondering since I was browsing your art and see you mention how you see “Kid Icarus” as a separate character from Pit, why is that? Just curious. :3

i deeply apologize for not answering this very soon nonnie ;~;

before we begin, i just want to say that this is based off my opinion and speculations. if you see “kid icarus” aka captain n pit as pit’s awkward phase, that’s completely fine. there is no right or wrong way of how you view the cheesy cartoon counterparts in comparison to the characters they were loosely based off (the video game ones). just remember to keep in mind that not everyone will think the same way.

anyways, to begin, while kid was loosely based off of pit, i feel that his overall background strays far from the actual game, coming neck to neck with DiC’s “creative” take on simon belmont. while it’s highly evident that princess lana’s design was influenced off palutena’s classic design with its own twist, like all other cheesy 80s nintendo cartoons, this was obviously another cash grab show. so instead of following and reading the instruction booklet which revealed pit’s name, why not say the game’s western title fifty billion times instead, thus the name “kid icarus” was born.

i feel that even if kid is considered an alternative character or an AU version of pit, he might as well be his own character since kid lacks the vital importance of pit’s character – his lack of flight. while pit is disabled (a friend pointed out that his wings are much smaller than the average angel’s), kid isn’t.

like if you were to observe their wings side by side, you will notice how small pit’s wings are in comparison to kid’s. they are not large enough to support his body and only expand when the power of flight is activated. kid’s wings on the other hand, are large enough to support him. unlike pit, kid is completely capable of flying on his own.

another thing which makes the two stick out from one another is their background. in the instruction booklet of the NES game, it reveals that pit was a valiant warrior who used to be in charge of palutena’s bodyguards. it was evident from the start that pit was a highly respected warrior from the start before medusa struck angel land. meanwhile for kid icarus, not much is known about him except that he hails from mount icarus (what captain n dubs angel land as) and he works under princess lana. unlike pit, there isn’t really anything significant about him in the slightest. in his world, kid’s seen as an equal amongst the other angels despite working for the princess of videoland, which in a sense, is a high position of sorts.

as for personality, while both share some similarities with one another (both crack cheesy jokes, are brave (pit more so than kid), resourceful, can be cocky at times, etc.), there are also some differences. for starters, pit is very confident in his abilities. he rarely falters (unless palutena isn’t present, however his codependency on her is more of an uprising thing), even when he experiences stage fright at times. his confidence even causes him to show off his ego at times. in kid’s case, he is often unsure about his own abilities (can be unconfident at times). it can even be argued that kid can sometimes come off as whiny and obsessive as opposed to his game counterpart. one of the major differences between the two however is that unlike pit, kid’s a team player. he is willing to work with others and aid them. pit on the other hand, prefers to work alone (with the exception of palutena). he shows reluctance whenever someone offers to help and states that he doesn’t need his or her assistance. 

another difference is pit’s a butt monkey while kid isn’t. in KIU, a lot of jokes are made at pit’s expense and not once does anyone try to defend him. meanwhile in captain n, when simon tries picking on kid, kevin and the others shut him down immediately.

for insecurities, pit is very insecure about being a flightless angel while kid was very insecure about his height. a really obvious comparison is pit doesn’t have a verbal tic like kid (something that was much more common in older cartoons).

now let’s move onto the three sacred treasures. in the game, the three sacred treasures consist of the mirror shield, arrow of light, and the wings of pegasus. while some had speculated kid had the wings of pegasus prior, one of the episodes of captain n disproves that. in captain n, the three sacred treasures consist of the mirror shield, arrow of light, and what appears to be a bow of light to compliment the arrow instead of the wings. this right here proves that unlike pit, kid can actually fly on his own.

last but not least, let’s discuss their abilities. while pit wasn’t certainly a powerhouse, he was an expert marksman and had a very precise aim. kid on the other hand, often had very bad aim. this was most likely done for comedic effect, but more times his precision wasn’t good in comparison to pit’s. i feel part of it could be due to his inferiority complex while another part could be that he isn’t necessarily skilled for combat (like i stated earlier, the instruction booklet of the NES game revealed pit had prior combat experience). he hasn’t dealt with a proper takeover of his home world by medusa (which is very surprising, given he would had been a known hero prior to the start of the series for his deeds, but then again, DiC rushed their animators and they had a lack of source material. more about the progress of how captain n came to be could be found on tvtropes).

these are primarily the main reasons why i see pit and captain n pit as separate characters nonnie. as i have stated in the beginning, there is no right or wrong answer on how you interpret the characters. if you see it as pit’s awkward phase from the past, that’s fine. view the two as separate characters such as myself, that’s fine too.

i did notice some others had taken the liberty to make their own version of kid as well which i really appreciate (his character really grew on me tbh). kinda makes me tempted to draw them sometime because why not. :v

i do hope to see more variations of him in the future. would be interesting to see how people who view them separately interpret him.

#kid icarus #kid icarus uprising #captain n #captain n the game master #kid icarus pit #captain n pit #long post #whoa this got pretty lengthy #haven't seen captain n or played kiu in a while so i'm just going off from memory #i do plan on explaining how i interpret icarus's character when i draw his sheet #Anonymous #i apologize that it looks like a block of text on mobile because tumblr messed up its formatting there #fixed the formatting for mobile on mobile lol

[littlemisssquiggles]

RWBY Musings #23: How Squiggles Thinks Volume 5 will end.

..Or rather how I would like for it to end. With the Volume 5 finale in just 2 days and the excitement for it building by the hour, I wanted to make this brief post sharing my thoughts on not what I’d like to see from the finale but also how I think it should end. I’ll start with the endings first before moving into stuff I’d love to see in last episode.

The way how I see it, RWBY Volume 5 can end either one of two ways for me:

The Happy Go-Lucky, Sunshine and Rainbows Ending

The Battle For Haven is won in favour of the heroes. Triumph is theirs! The villains are all captured (with the exception of perhaps Hazel, Emerald and Mercury who managed to escape) and taken to prison where they’d be held accountable for their crimes, possibly putting an end to Adam and the White Fang for good (or at least put them in the Void of Obscurity until their evilness is needed again in a later season)

The Relic of Knowledge is acquired safely. Our heroes survive and the volume ends with everyone making plans to head towards their next designated kingdom but not before a brief period of celebration first.

I can see the team returning to Vale next, to reclaim Beacon Academy and secure the Relic of Choice. Or if the CRWBY writers’ game plan is to save returning to Beacon as the final battleground when RWBY is nearing its series finale (or at least the end of the ‘Salem Arc’ in case RWBY is planned to go on even after Salem is supposedly defeated), then I guess the next best place to go is probably the Deserts of Vacuo to meet the Headmaster of Shade Academy to secure the Relic of Destruction and meet the next seasonal Maiden: the Summer Maiden (granted that she is in Vacuo).

And I’m excited for the gang to go to Vacuo since it would finally mean some well-deserved development for Sun Wukong since it is his home turf if I recall. It’d be nice to have a season where Sun can take centre stage despite being a supporting character for the past five seasons.

I know most fans are waiting for the team to head to Atlas but...so far the Maidens have been going more or less in order of the seasons. We had Fall first, then Spring. So naturally, shouldn’t Summer come next with Winter following after?

Then again, when I checked the RWBY Wikipedia page, I noticed they have Winter listed before Summer since the Winter Maiden is connected to the Relic of Creation which consecutively comes before the Relic of Destruction which is tied to the Summer Maiden. So...I’m guessing if the story is going in order of the Relics rather than the Maidens themselves, then the next destination for the story to go to would be Atlas and Signal Academy for V6.

It’d be remarkable to see just how everyone makes it into Atlas considering that Ironwood locked it off. Not to mention that returning to Atlas would spark another character arc for Weiss or at least bring some closure to her side of the story moving forward since it would mean reuniting with her strained family again. Maybe this time we can actually meet her mother.

Then there’s also the irony of Weiss escaping Atlas to go to Haven only to go right back to Atlas in the end. But, at least this time it would be of her own will rather than being held hostage by her own father.

As much as I would love for the gang to head to Vacuo (so that best monkey boy Sun can get some development for once), I’ll admit that I’d be excited for them to go to Atlas too.

Focusing a season on Atlas would mean giving us fans more opportunities to explore more of the kingdom and its inner citadels. The thing that disappointed me about the Mistral arc is that we never got to actually walk about the city and see it through the characters’ eyes. The most we got were 2D still images of the kingdom in the first episode and Qrow walking around part of it in Chapter 6 when he was gathering his huntsman team. But beyond that, that was all folks! I hope things are different in Atlas. For me, I imagined Atlas with its technologically advanced culture and rich elites would be like the Capitol from the Hunger Games series. It just gave me that kind of vibe y’know what I mean.  

Even Jacques Schnee can be almost interpreted as a RWBY version of Hunger Games’ President Snow (minus the homicidal tendencies and proficiency to both physically and emotionally torture and scar those he sees as a threat, all with a smile on his face). 

 They’re both moronic tyrants in their respective shows, but I digress. 

Going to Atlas would also mean reuniting with fan favourite characters from Weiss’ arc from Volume 4 like Klein, Whitley (yes, believe it or not, I actually would like to learn more about Whitley and understand why he’s the way he is) and even Henry Marigold. 

That’s right, you heard me correctly. I think Mr. Pretty Boi is gonna make a comeback. It’ll be even funnier if he ends up being the one to assist Weiss and everyone when Ironwood in his paranoia, refuses to permit them into Atlas or something like that. 

You don’t just give a character a full name in RWBY without them making a return to the show unless it’s the special case where said character got unexpectedly killed off of screen. Like poor Fennix Altair. I’m still salty about how he just dies at the start of V5 though the show never actually takes the time to confirm this. Then to make it worse, Weiss straight up forgets about him once she’s taken prisoner by the Branwen Tribe.

Doesn’t even ask if he made it out alive after meeting the bandits and Vernal for the first time. Seriously CRWBY writers! Weiss didn’t just arrive in Mistral on her own so where’s that continuity? I understand that he was more or less an expendable character for Volume 5 but jeez, why even bother to give him a name if he was going to be killed off. Heck they didn’t even confirm his death.

It was just left up for assumption and the debate is still out on whether he’s actually dead or stuck in the forests of Mistral somewhere or maybe he was taken in by the Mistral Police who made sure he was hospitalized for his plane crash injuries. That could be it but I guess we’ll never know that for sure, will we?

Not to mention, an Atlas arc would mean meeting Penny’s creator-father. It could even mean Ruby reuniting with Penny or...at least another version of her. What did happen to Penny’s robotic remains after the Fall of Beacon?

Surely they were returned to Penny’s creator-father who should be able to make Penny a new body and revive her personality based on Penny’s memory unit since she was a robot---a human super computer and computers have memory especially backup memory. Penny Pollendina could be brought back for V6!

I can also see Penny’s creator sharing a connection to Dr. Arthur Watts. Like maybe they used to work together in the past. Didn’t Raven say he was originally from Atlas when they met this season so we can all assume that Watts is going to be the primary antagonist from Team WTCH (along with probably Tyrian too) if the gang head to his old home turf.

Not to mention...that being in Atlas...meeting a man who makes robot humanoids could also give our farm child Oscar (who recently got a taste of Ozpin forcibly taking control of him and might not be too happy about that) the crazy idea of...maybe trying to transfer Ozpin’s aura from his body into another artificial one.

After all, I’m sure the machine that Ozpin planned on using to transfer Amber’s soul and Maiden power in Pyrhha’s body must’ve been Atlesian in origin.

But I’m getting ahead of myself here and theorizing too much on this.

So like I said, the good ending is everything is all good for everyone or mostly good.

And before the departure is made for their next adventure, let everyone return back to Menagerie to celebrate their victory over Haven as well as get some well needed downtime.

Because let’s be fair, given all that’s happened between Volumes 3 to 5 and seeing that Menagerie, though mostly Faunus territory is technically a lovely tropical island paradise, don’t you think the gang could use a little vacation before beginning their next big adventure.

Not saying that they should make next season about the whole gang in Menagerie but it would be nice if Volume 5 concludes with a big celebration in Menagerie (with evil looming on the horizon naturally) and then begins Volume 6 with a little beach downtime in Menagerie where everyone catches up. 

We can get some nice one on one character interactions and conversations including a proper Team RWBY reunion, maybe some tension and slight resolution between Blake and Yang granted we don’t get it in the V5 finale which I doubt.

All this before Ozpin-Oscar pulls them in to discuss moving onto the next location towards the next Relic and Maiden.

The Not So Good But Still Such a Nice Twist That It’s Good Kinda Ending

Everything is the same as the good ending. The Battle of Haven is a victory but at a price.

Ruby and Oscar both become prisoners of Salem and though they manage to escape their hijackers’ grasps, that doesn’t change the fact that they’re not quite in Remnant anymore as they find themselves face to face with the Grimm within the walls of a mysterious dark world.

This then sets the stage for our two young simple souls having their own adventure next season as they make the perilous trek across the dark world of Salem’s Domain together; surviving only on their skills and each other with Ozpin as their spirit guide.

The series had hinted more than once between volumes 4 and 5 about BOTH Ruby and Oscar being captured for Salem. In Volume 4, Tyrian was sent to Mistral to kidnap Ruby for Salem and this volume, Lionheart straight up proclaimed abducting Oscar to take to Salem.

Fans are saying either or but I’m mostly gunning that they both get taken prisoner and have to depend mostly on each other to escape and stay alive. 

I don’t just strongly desire this kind of story arc for the obvious amount of RoseGarden bonding moments it will bring but mostly due to my curiosity about learning more about Salem, hers and Ozpin’s relationship and history together as well as the World Salem resides in as I believe it used to be Ozpin’s home too before the Wicked Witch took over with her monstrous Grimm pets. I voiced most of my reasons for wanting a story arc like this in this ♦ musing right here.

I’m still gunning for this kind of arc but even if we don’t get it for Volume 6, I still do hope we get an arc like this eventually, perhaps after a period of Ruby and Oscar becoming better acquainted to each other and having a decent comradry. Because not only will it be great for Ruby and Oscar’s character growth but, I honestly believe an arc like this is coming.

They wouldn’t hint at Ruby and Oscar being taken to Salem if it wasn’t gonna come to fruition at some point in the story. So when it does, I hope that it’s an actual arc that takes place over the span of either a whole season or at least half of it and not be some short subplot in a season that winds up being irrelevant. That’d be lame in my opinion.

Now that I’ve covered how I thing V5 would end, let’s get into the next segment.

Things I Want To See In The Finale:

No Reconciliation for Bumblebee this Season: Let Yang remain uncomfortable to talk to Blake and part of Season 6 is the two working through their tension and issues with each other; among other things like Yang’s true feelings toward Blake. It’d be interesting if Illia is the character to mostly help Yang through this because at some point, she was the same as her (not to mention that, like Sun, Illia is going to be an affirmed member of the hero party, I hope). 

If they make Bumblebee suddenly hug and be all buddy bud at the end of V5, it’d be a total cop out in my opinion. They made such a big deal about Yang’s anger towards Blake this season (which they didn’t have to since Blake’s reasons for running way were justifiable in my opinion). To tell the truth, I never quite understood Yang’s reckoning behind her blatant anger towards Blake.

Even when she said that she’s angry that Blake left because it reminded her of her mother leaving, while I gave it a pass, I still never bought that excuse in the sense that I don’t think that’s the only reason. It can’t be if that’s what you’re trying to sell me. If her leaving was the main issue then why wasn’t Yang pissed at Weiss or Ruby.

Blake wasn’t the only one that left Yang behind when she could’ve used the help getting through her depression over the loss of her arm and her PTSD. While Weiss’ motive for departure was mostly due to her father, Ruby left Yang of her own accord. So how is it that Yang can easily forgive Ruby for leaving but not Blake? And don’t even use the pretext that she’s her beloved little sister.

Ruby left Yang too and so did Weiss (technically). Her entire team left her behind, albeit for different logical reasons, so why is Blake the only one being thrown under the bus.

Personally I’m not that big on the Bumblebee ship. Don’t get me wrong, I do think it’s a lovely pairing with lots of potential for canonicity however I’m more of a Black Sun kind of fangirl which falls in the same category. But despite being a Black Sun shipper, even I can notice that there is definitely more to Yang’s anger at Blake and I strongly believe it’s due to her apparent feelings for her; whether she acknowledges it or not. This isn’t about friendship with a friend leaving a friend. This is about love with someone dealing with the sting of watching their love interest leave them behind. I have a better time believing that Yang is mostly upset with Blake’s departure because the girl she was secretly in love with abandoned her just like her mother did over the excuse of ‘Blake is just a friend and she left me’.

All of Yang’s friends left her, not just Blake, and she forgave them easily! That being said, I’m hoping the Bumblebee dispute is savoured to be resolved next season because it deserves its own focus.

Save it for next season where it can be allowed more time to simmer and then be resolved properly at the perfect moment as opposed to during a big battle where emotions are already high. For what it’s worth, I figure that the season 5 finale will leave Yang and Blake’s relationship still on the edge.

While most of Yang’s displeasure probably died down during her talk with Weiss during Chapter 7, I don’t believe it’s enough to just make Yang straight up forget her anger and forgive Blake.

I don’t even want them to hug it out. Is it weird that I want Blake to reach out to Yang as an attempt to make peace but Yang refuses it, not out of the disappointment she felt before but more so of her not entirely being over what Blake did and her not ready to deal with it yet.

So she just ends up walking past Blake, not even bothering to make eye contact with her again, while Ruby and Weiss stay by Blake’s side overlooking the tension between them in worried silence.

So even though the team is reunited, things aren’t the same as before and...probably may never be again; at least till next volume.

Oscar’s semblance: I’ve already talked; practically preached about how much I want the finale to reveal or at least give us a taste of Oscar’s semblance. Still itching for that to happen along with it being a mind-based semblance. I really hope Oscar’s semblance is clairvoyance—the kind that can connect him to someone’s mind so that he can read their thoughts, access their memories as well as project his own thoughts and memories inclusive of the ones belonging to Ozpin onto others if ever necessary.

Could even have an extension where it can allow Oscar to communicate with and even control less intelligent creatures like...animals or even the creatures of Grimm perhaps (like imagine our precious farm boy unexpectedly pulling a S2 Eren Jaeger and controlling the Grimm with his mind). Okay that one’s a crack theory tossed out for funzies but really gunning for Oscar having mind powers.

Oz-cane true form reveal: I’ve preached about this too. If we don’t get a teaser of Oscar’s semblance this season then we gotta get an Oz-cane trick. Seriously, they hinted at this in an earlier chapter of V5 so...it’s gotta be coming for the finale. C’mon Oz-cane secret time scythe/sickle mode!

RoseGarden Trigger for Oscar Defeating Hazel: We know that Ozpin’s control over Oscar’s body is temporary and once it wears off, not only will this leave Oscar probably weak and extremely fatigued but also puts him in the line of fire for Hazel to attack unexpectedly.

If Oscar is down and Hazel attacks then I can see Ruby jumping in at the last minute to take the hit for Oscar. We all saw how ‘aggressive’ Oscar became after finding Ruby unconscious.

Maybe seeing her hurt especially by Hazel trying to protect him is enough to trigger his semblance awakening. I’m still standing by my hunch that Oscar using his semblance for the first time could be what finally puts a stop to Hazel’s rampage. Since Hazel’s semblance makes him immune to physical pain then brute force is not going to be enough to stop him. So, maybe the power of the mind can quell the beast from within. I’m hoping that an Oz-cane trick can lead into this so that we can get both Ozpin unleashing the true power of his weapon finally as well as Oscar revealing his own hidden power. 

It’s the finale so why not go out on a bang and give us both of these things one after the other.

Yang and Raven talking; not fighting, in the Vault of the Spring Maiden: That way we can finally get some answers about Raven with maybe a flashback.

Fallen Maiden Cinder: I already talked about Cinder possibly coming back as some kind of corrupted half Grimm, half Maiden monstrosity possessed completely by her Geist Grimm arm but with her Fall Maiden powers still in her arsenal in ♦ this musing. While I’m not sure how this will fit into the finale episode with all that is going on already.

However we know Cinder is coming back. We know she’s probably going to get the jump on Raven and Yang.

 So maybe she is going to come back as a monster that Yang and Raven will have to fight together (mother-daughter tag team battle anyone?)

Maybe it’ll conclude with Raven using all that she has to restrain Cinder while Yang escapes (possibly with the Relic of Knowledge in hand) as the Maiden Vault crumbles around them.

Even if the Vault falls, I don’t think Raven will die or even trapped inside cause she has her sweet teleportation powers and her connection to Yang to portal her to her at any time.

 They can even tease Raven still being alive by having Yang spot a familiar raven outside as always. We can even get one last mother-daughter conversation before Raven departs and falls into obscurity until her character is needed again for whatever reason (like helping Yang or cause further distrust in Ozpin) for another season.

New Threads for Oscar: If he doesn’t get napped by the V5 finale’s end then give the precious farm boy some new clothes that fit his new huntsman title and role. In the event that the CRWBY decide to save Oscar’s new look til V6 (buying them enough time to pay @xen-vita for her amazing design for him), then at least give him a cool new character theme.

Seriously, if we don’t get a new character theme for Ozpin-Oscar during his showdown with Hazel and the reveal of his Oz-cane trick then at least let the end credit song for Volume 5 be about Oscar; addressing his growth following the events of last volume and highlighting how much further his character development is going to progress; even subtly foreshadowing his inevitable conflict with Ozpin over who’s in control. Can we at least get that please?!  

Would love a duet between Jeff Williams and Vic Mignogna cause as most of us in the anime community know, Vic has a lovely singing voice (see Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, One Piece and D.N.Angel).

I know Vic is Qrow’s VA but...admittedly when I first heard Oscar speak back in Volume 4, I actually thought it was Vic doing a double role and using his ole Edward Elric voice to voice him, not knowing it was actually Aaron (a.k.a Alphonse Elric) (due to the uncanny similarity in their voices at times).

I’m just saying it would be cool for RT to utilize Vic’s amazing singing vocals and have him sing for a character in RWBY even if that character isn’t the one he plays in the show.

Like imagine how awesome it would be for Jeff and Vic to sing a new song together that is supposed to represent Oscar and Ozpin singing to each other about their bond; again foreshadowing many things to come for their side of the story.

Eyy? Hey CRWBY, c’mon! Hire me for my ingenious ideas RoosterTeeth!

Last RoseGarden Moment or Moments out of Volume 5: Something for us shippers to savour til next volume (or at least till RWBY Chibi Volume 3 arrived next weekend because they gotta be getting an Oscar for the third season, right?)

It doesn’t matter if they fight side by side together, protect each other, save each other, hug, kiss each other on the cheek (mostly Ruby to Oscar cause I want her to lay a big one on them flushed, cute, freckly cheeks of his), hold hands or even check up on each other in recovery. I’ll even accept them blushing at each other for whatever reason. Don’t matter. I’ll take it still. I’ll take it ALL!

I want a real nice tender RoseGarden moment or moments (more than one will not be refused) for the V5 finale for me to enjoy, pterodactyl screech over, die of feels over, resurrect myself and come back to hype up, over-analyze and over-emphasize and of course, download and watch multiple times till Volume 6 or again, at least till RWBY Chibi Season 3. They gotta be getting Oscar for S3. His adorable freckly chibi presence needs to be added to the chibi pot too.

So to finish...

I think that’s it for what I want mostly from the finale. I’ve made my list, checked it thrice and now all that’s left is to jubilantly look forward to possibly checking off all; if not most of the stuff on this list.

What about you fellow RWBY fans? What are you looking forward to seeing in the finale on Saturday?

On that final note, I’ll see ya’ll for the epic RWBY Volume 5: Chapter 14!

~LittleMissSquiggles (2018)

#rwby #rwby volume 5 #oscar pine #ruby rose #rwby rosegarden #rwby volume 5 predicitions #rwby theories #rwby volume 5 finale #rwby musings #yang xiao long #raven and yang #raven branwen #hazel and oscar #rwby oscar vs hazel #hazel rainart

[luucarii]

Fire Emblem Echoes Ramblings

Okaysss so hopefully this won’t be as long as my Persona 5 Ramblings (I’m honestly going to start a “Rambling” series where I just give my opinions on games and anime and just other shit soo)

spoilers and bitching abroad my friends.

edit: most of my bitching is toward the story not the game itself. The gameplay is amazing, save for some few nitpicks I mention down below.

Fire Emblem Echoes. A game I’m extremely conflicted about. Now, this is coming from someone who has only played Awakening and Fates. Echoes was… okay. I don’t think I’ll go back to replay it for a while. Like a long, long while.

Echoes physically drained me after about Act 3. Maybe it was because I was a little high on Persona 5 at the time, maybe it was because I was finishing up school. I don’t know for sure.

Everything just grew so repetitive. The constant “rout the enemy” missions, the lack of memorable map layouts, the lack of memorable anything really. Nothing really stood out to me.

The story, was an extreme slow burn and the amount of exposition was incredible for how simple the overall layout was. The title screen cutscene that plays where Alm and Celica are talking about Duma and Mila perfectly explain what the whole game is going to have you accomplish. Duma’s the bad God and is going mad and with the help of Mila you (or Alm and Celica) are going to have to put him down. I get why they had to have all this fluff in the beginning with the prologue (to establish Alm and Celica’s relationship even though their relationship wasn’t exactly executed properly I feel but I’ll get into that later) but all the other shit involved like why Alm has a Brand and the Masked Man (two “plot twists” that literally anyone could have seen coming - YOU GET THE MEMORY OF CONRAD’S “DEATH” THE BATTLE BEFORE/AFTER YOU MEET HIM HOLY SHIT ITS SO OBVIOUS) was just a bore to me.

The battles were quickly forgotten as well as the named villains you fight. Besides Berkut (who is probably the best villain in the damn game even if he isn’t the main antagonist) and Jedah (who was obviously the main antagonist considering all the cutscenes he was in) I literally only remember Fernand because of his death near the end of the last dungeon. Everyone else who had names and who you were forced to fight are just footnotes because there’s nothing memorable about them. They’re just commanders for Rudolf’s army or are apart of the Duma faithful. Removing their names wouldn’t affect the plot at all.

I feel like the plot as a whole was an attempt to make a simple plot more complex and failed in process. It’s literally a Mila vs Duma fight but all this extra stuff made it drag on longer than my 33ish hours of playtime. And I’m very disappointed because after Fates and Awakening (two games that I genuinely enjoyed) I was looking forward to Echoes. From the trailers and screenshots I was interested in the whole concept of dueling gods but the execution was just subpar for me.

Now, I have one more gripe with the overall story. Alm and Celica. Specifically their relationship. In my personal opinion, Alm and Celica’s relationship seems so forced from the minute the prologue starts. I’ll admit there are a few sparing cute moments here and there but I feel they’re quickly overshadowed once you realize they had only been friends for maybe a good 3-5ish years as children before Mycen took Celica away. You honestly expect me to believe that they continued to want to see each other after 8+ years of being apart? You honestly expect Alm, Gray, Tobin, Faye, everyone to remember Celica from childhood when she was taken away from them at such a young age? I… I just can’t buy it. You can also argue that their fates were intertwined since they both have the Brand and they are the “Children of Fate” but I still can’t swallow that without any lingering thought of bullshit. I never shipped Alm and Celica because I can’t see any actual romantic development with them besides them obviously caring about each other. The fight at the beginning was just a plot device to drive them away from each other and having Celica get momentarily possessed at the end and have Alm kill her was just another cliche and having Mila save her (when to be honest, Celica was better off dead) just made me shrug and say “she’s one of the main protagonists, obviously she won’t die.”

Guys, Nintendo. If you’re going to establish a relationship in one of your games, for fuck’s sake make it at least somewhat likable. Shulk and Fiora (even though Fiora can get a bit bitchy sometimes), Reyn and Sharla both from Xenoblade Chronicles, Link and Zelda from Skyward Sword (specifically). These relationships had development. They grew. Yeah, they had a fight here and there but that wasn’t the only basis as to why they’re loved as a couple. Shulk and Fiora while yes they had their fair bit of problems (mostly the whole revenge relationship plot) you can still see them let their hair down and have fun and Fiora teases Shulk a lot throughout the game. Reyn and Sharla start as a sort of friends while Reyn has to work himself to show Sharla that he can be a man to take care of her after the stuff with Sharla’s fiancé (story shit I won’t get into because spoilers). Link and Zelda (while if only in the first few cutscenes) you can see Zelda poke fun at Link, you can see the care she has for him, HELL THEY EVEN HAVE A FAKEOUT KISS AT THE BEGINNING. During SS you see Zelda grow as she begins to realize her role and Link meanwhile is risking his life all for her, all so he can get back to her.

Alm and Celica, I feel, have none of this. Guys, having them fight at the beginning of the game just to drive a wedge in between them and have them come back together at the end doesn’t make them a good couple if the reason for the fight was overall shit and hypocritical on Celica’s part.  Just… ugh. I’m sorry to any Alm/Celica shippers but I just don’t like them together.

Maybe it’s my bias because I really really don’t like Celica as a character but either way I don’t ship Alm/Celica and there’s nothing that can convince me that they’re good together.

Now, this is already long enough so I’ll sum up the rest of things about  Echoes that disappointed me.

The Supports. Don’t get me wrong, the voice acting is absolutely amazing, one of the best I’ve seen this year. But just… the lack of them compared to Fates and Awakening is so disappointing. Now I get Echoes was based off one of the older games so it’s not completely fair to compare the supports to that of recent games but there’s literally a maximum of 3 supports per character and the supports do literally nothing to show off character. Fates and Awakening’s supports had 3 (4 if it was a marriage support) short bursts of dialogue away from the main game to establish character, likes, dislikes, compatibility with other characters the works. These supports, if anything, are lighthearted pieces of fluff to distract from the somewhat serious tone of the game.

Enemy Variety and Class Variety. Again more I can’t exactly complain about since Echoes was based off an older game and thus took aspects from said older game. But… the amount of Dread Fighters and Barons I saw in the last dungeon just made me hate the classes as a whole (despite two of my best boys Tobin and Kamui being Dread Fighters with Brave Swords who fucked EVERYONE up with crits). Fates and Awakening had such a fun cast of classes, my favorites being Nohr Noble and Assassin and dropping the number of classes just… ugh.

Also, one last quick note. The suddenly difficulty spike is one of the main reasons I considered dropping the game midway through. I played on Normal/Casual (I’m still a newbie leave me alone…) and although I died once, there was a bunch of times where I was sitting in frustration of not knowing what to do. Though as a strategy game, you’re kinda suppose to do that so…

OKAY ENOUGH BITCHING ABOUT THIS GAME, LETS GET INTO THE SHIT I LIKED…which is going to be a few short paragraphs…

The Voice Acting. Holy shit the voice acting. Not only is it featuring some of my favorites (Cherami Leigh, Max Mittelman and the like) but nearly every line is spoken beautifully. Special props to Alm’s voice actor Kyle McCarley who brought me to near tears with some of his lines. Absolutely incredible.

Bows!!! BOWS ARE ACTUALLY GETTING LOVE! I rarely used archers in Awakening but I did pick up using them in Fates (Takumi and Kiragi are incredible) and I fell in love with them here in Echoes. Finally they’re not just limited to 2 spaces and they can hit as far as 5 and just… Python and Leon were my main favorites.

Dungeons. It’s a nice break between battles and they’re interesting locals. But please, Celica, that weird squeak that you have while attacking… just… please stop.

The Design. The character design is something I can’t NOT praise. Everyone looks incredible. While the cutscenes I feel lag a little compared to Fates and Awakening you can’t deny they still look amazing for a 3Ds game.

The Soundtrack. I’m a sucker for good music (one of the reasons why I love XC, Okami, Botw and the like) and a good majority of the tracks on the ost I’m completely in love with. The credits theme especially “The Heritors of Arcadia.” Props to Bonnie Gordon (Silque’s VA) she did an amazing job.

Verdict. Overall, Echoes was okay for me. It was different compared to Fates and Awakening and I knew that going in. I knew there was no marriage system, I knew they were getting rid of the weapon triangle, I knew it was going to be similar to the older games to close divide between the fans before Awakening and after Awakening. And it was a good different in some ways but in most other ways just disappointed me. The fact that I had to force myself to marathon the last dungeon just so I could finish the damn game speaks miles. I was drained. I didn’t want to continue but I did just for the sake of saying I beat it. It didn’t feel like 30 hours of game play for me, it felt like months (which in actuality was nearly two). Like I mentioned, I doubt I’ll pick this game up again anytime soon (while Fates I replayed and beat nearly 6+ times, 2 for each path and Awakening I’ve replayed maybe 3 times I can’t remember). It could’ve been so much more, I feel, if they didn’t try to shove Alm/Celica down my throat and if we could have had some more character development. But eh, that’s just me.

ALSO IM REALLY HAPPY MAE AND BOEY ENDED UP TOGETHER.

#ari speaks? #fe echoes #welp not as long as my p5 ramblings but still pretty long #idk how to feell

[jinjojess]

Jess’s Thoughts on V3 Chapter 3

I’m halfway through the game now so I figure I should check in with some thoughts and theories and junk.

My liveblog should have finished its queued posts by now, so this post itself should follow that up shortly.

Character Rankings

Maybe I should start with an updated character ranking?

HaruMaki

Akamatsu

Toujou

Hoshi

Gonta

Chabashira

Yumeno

Iruma

Momota

Shirogane

Ouma

Angie

Kiibo

Amami

Shinguuji

Saihara

1-9: The Actively Like Range

HaruMaki has eclipsed Akamatsu ever so slightly thanks to sheer badassery and how much I love her FTEs, but you can consider them to be pretty much equal.

Toujou and Hoshi are about even too--they both hit my “exhausted hard worker just trying to hang on” and “duty before self” buttons.

Gonta is still wonderful, and I love him about as much as I love Chabashira and Yumeno, both of whom should technically be on the same line. Those two got boosted because of how their relationship evolved--I love that in the end Chabashira shows a degree of maturity in respecting that Angie is important to Yumeno, and I like that Yumeno went from gag lazy character to character struggling with guilt and regret.

Iruma is still hilarious, but she hasn’t had a lot of character-building to do yet so she’s dropped some spots, and I still like Momota a lot, though he’s starting to border on being irritatingly shounen protag-y, and I’m super disappointed in how poorly the game handles the set up for his relationship with HaruMaki. (Famitsu mentioned at one point that HaruMaki had an interest in space, so I thought they’d bond over common interests like actual human beings, but Kodaka decided to take the Stairs of Anime Troposity instead.)

10-13: The You’re Fine But... Range

Shirogane is really adorable and good at stealth snark, so I’m ready to like her, but she just...never gets anything to do. This is why I want her to be the mastermind so badly (more on this below)--I feel like she needs something to elevate her from “meh, I like her” to “wow, she’s great.”

Ouma’s antics were fun in the beginning of the game but are now starting to grate on me. I still find it really interesting that he tells lies often to help the group as a whole, but the fact that he’s constantly at odds with everyone is getting a little tiring.

I’m going to miss doing Angie’s voice on stream. She was never really high up in my ranks to begin with and she hasn’t moved much. I like that she was doing the patented student council president move of seizing total control in the name of public safety, but I would have liked to see a little more variation in her character.

Kiibo’s fine. He’s amusing enough, I just find him to be kinda bland? Hopefully he’ll get more character development going forward.

14-15: The I Don’t Really Care Range

Like I said before, I don’t have anything against Amami really and I think the mystery surrounding him is kind of interesting, but I just overall don’t care much about him. Nothing really draws me in.

Shinguuji was more of a disappointment. I was expecting something really big from him and it just didn’t really measure up. I wanted his talent to be really used to its fullest and while the Kagonoko thing was cool enough, everything about him was just kind of a let down. Even his execution isn't on par with the others we've seen so far (music's good though). Plus after reading DRT2, the reveal about his sister seems kind of tepid in comparison. I get why people are really put off by him, but I can’t care enough about him to really summon a lot of hatred. It’s very similar to how I feel about Haiji--yes, he’s objectively a worse person than the characters I actively dislike, but I will forget he exists after this chapter is over.

16: The It’s Complicated Range

I’m fine with Saihara when the narrative isn’t focusing on him. When he’s just being one of the cast, doing FTEs and hanging out for shenanigans and stuff, he’s totally fine. It’s when the game tries to make me care about his boypain that I need to check the fuck out.

Being clear, I don’t think his story so far is being handled especially poorly (except for the Akamatsu thing, which makes me wonder about Kodaka’s romantic experiences irl), I just find his character type to be really frustrating and annoying personally. I have seen this exact story before, many times, and the sucker punch of being given this yet again when I was offered something I actually wanted is not going to get forgiven any time soon.

Fingers crossed that the ending twist will justify this somewhat, though when it comes down to it, this game is way less enjoyable for me by making me follow around a character I don’t give a flying fuck about at the expense of one I really liked.

Thoughts on Chapter 3 Overall

Okay, onto my thoughts on the Chapter itself.

Like I said, I liked the whole student council angle, though I would have preferred if it got a little more actively oppressive. In Chapter 2 when Gonta is gathering everyone up for the Insect Appreciation Party, that was some intense shit, and I feel like the student council never really reached that level of threat. There’s never a point where Saihara and HaruMaki have to like, make a plan on how to creep around the school without being caught or anything.

Loved what this chapter did for Chabashira and Yumeno as characters. Took this background gag relationship and elevated it to something tragic and character-defining.

Would have liked the victims and the culprit to be less glaringly obvious. This is a common complaint about this game so far, barring Chapter 1.

Liked the murder tricks--this was the first chapter where I didn’t go into the trial with a solid idea of how the murder took place.

In conjunction with that, the trial was way harder, and I enjoyed that a lot.

I hate hate HATE that Kodaka insists on still replicating patterns from the first game--I wanted Shinguuji to get away with killing Chabashira while Angie’s killer got executed, meaning that Yumeno’s character arc would still have some ways to go and not be tidily wrapped up at the halfway point of the game. That would have lent some sense of overall progression, instead of every case being neatly confined to its one chapter (except for the first one I guess).

Also as a result of this, I now have to assume that the next Chapter will involve some heroic sacrifice (which will likely not measure up to Sakura’s, because they never do), the fifth one will touch on the questions left by Amami’s murder, etc. Making your murder mystery series that started by undermining tropes of the genre into a predictable formula is not fun, Kodaka.

Apparently a lot of people have a problem with the motive but I’m pretty whatever about it. I thought it was just silly enough to be a fun red herring, and I assume this discussion about bringing back the dead will resurface later in the game’s climax. Plus it gave me so many opportunities to incorporate Obakematsu.

The way Monokuma and Monodam temporarily switched places was pretty interesting, and I liked the parallel between Monodam’s getting along rhetoric and Angie’s student council thing as oppression through legitimate good intentions.

Mixed feelings on Monokuma lamp-shading the references to the previous games. In a world before DR3, I feel I’d be overjoyed and would use these to look for ways this game connects to the Kibougamine series, but I live in a post-DR3 world (specifically a post-Kibou-hen world), and I am desperate to get away from that series and its baggage.

I think that’s it?

Theories

Right, last up, a lot of people have asked me about theories I have for the rest of the game, so here are some.

Theory #1: Mastermind

So when the character designs were first revealed back in like September of last year, I pegged either Shirogane or Angie as the mastermind. I still am super suspicious of Shirogane based on a few very subtle things:

she’s the first character Akamatsu and Saihara run into in the prologue

she’s suspiciously normal and plain

she doesn’t seem to be affiliated with any kind of in-group other than the student council

hers is the very first secret scene you access in the game (provided you played the demo)

Junko panties, man

when you break for a Scrum Debate, she’s the first to rise (with Amami on the bottom)

HOWEVER, based on how the game doesn’t use 黒幕 (puppetmaster/one behind the curtain) for the mastermind any more, instead opting for the more straightforward 首謀者 (lit. mastermind, one behind everything), I can’t help but suspect that it’s Saihara behind it all. I mean, everyone keeps going on about how the story has to focus on him, so it’s very likely that he’s responsible for this situation and Shirogane ends up being a fake-out mastermind or something.

Theory #2: What the fuck is going on?

I have a few ideas for what exactly is happening here--most of them involve it not actually happening. In other words, the game events themselves are fictional in-universe, either because they’re a literal story reflecting how DR is a fictional property in our world, or because Saihara is just making it up.

Maybe he’s had a psychological break and is hallucinating this. Maybe this is a Shinsekai-esque program generating things to help with his inner issues? Maybe this is all a very long movie (or a TV show, or a game)? Maybe the events of the game are playing out in reality, but Saihara’s such an unreliable narrator that his account is radically different from what is actually happening.

My two favorite theories though, which I’d love to have be right, are as follows:

V3 is a giant rp campaign (not super likely)

V3 is a giant Duel Noir Saihara has set up to get revenge or something (slightly more likely)

If the latter is true, that opens the door for Shirogane to be the “mastermind” who’s actually working for Saihara. His main motivator seems to be guilt and self-hatred, so it’d make sense that rather than pull the strings, Saihara would want to participate and suffer along with all the other sinners.

It’s also possible that the events of the game are presented to us through the lens of Saihara relating what happened to someone else, like the authorities, or the public, or the loved ones of those who died. I’d love that kind of ending because holy shit Heart of Darkness much? Like he feels so awful for whatever reason that he set up this killing game, but then loses his nerve during it, is the sole survivor, and finds that he actually can’t be honest, resorting to a “his final words were your name” kind of lie.

If that happened, it would redeem my faith in Kodaka quite a bit. (I’d still rather play a game not about Saihara, but it would feel like all my suffering would have been worth it.)

As for the glimpses we get between Chapters and from the Memory Light, I kind of feel like a lot of it is fabricated. Maybe not the funeral, but I highly doubt the SHSL Hunt exists, at least not as it was presented in Chapter 2, and this horrible incident Toujou references could very well just be the SHSL kids rebelling or something--i.e., the impetus for Saihara to want to punish all of them to begin with.

Maybe it’s an alternate timeline where society reacts to Junko’s coup by punishing the talented, as I posited way, way back in the day?

Time travel is still on the table too, meaning that it’s possible that all of the characters inevitably die at the end, but Saihara has arranged it so that their consciousness just replays the game over and over in his own self-imposed purgatory.

There’s lots of possibilities.

Theory #3: Future Deaths and Survivors

Momota ain’t making it out of this game, sorry. I thought he might earlier on, but he’s leaning too hard on the “Ishimaru Stock Shounen Protag” button, and Kodaka needs a cheap, easy way to push HaruMaki through the last bit of her character arc, so I doubt he’ll hang on. Not now that he’s gotten involved in motivating Yumeno and stuff too. Sorry, dude, I like you a lot, but the only way you’re getting to space now is via execution.

Also yeah, I think he’s totally going to end up a culprit. It will be in self-defense, or an accident, or some convoluted sacrifice thing like with Gundam, or for some other excusable reason like that, but I just feel like Kodaka isn’t going to give up the change to a) fuck with Saihara again, and b) have another space-themed execution.

I think Yumeno will live to the end, if only because Kodaka has that dumb idea that if someone dies for you you deserve a Get Out of Death Free card. The only way she won’t live will be if Saihara’s the sole survivor.

HaruMaki I think will make it to the end since she’s filling the Main Female Character role. Ditto about the caveat being if Saihara’s the only one to get out.

Iruma is going to get so murdered. It’d be interesting if she’s the heroic sacrifice.

Kiibo is also going to die. I don’t know if he’ll get murdered or if Ouma will goad him into killing someone, but I can’t see him making it out alive. (Also he needs to step it up--Momota and HaruMaki have now been key players in this game, and Kiibo’s the only one from the initial reveal image to not be important).

Ouma I feel like is the type who could accurately fake is own death just to fuck with everyone/flush out an actual killer (we kinda got this a bit in Chapter 3, which could be foreshadowing). Ultimately though I think he’ll die one way or another.

Gonta is up there with Yumeno and HaruMaki. I get the feeling he’ll survive except in the case of Saihara being the only survivor.

Shirogane...uh...if she’s the mastermind, she could die after the culmination of Saihara’s plan, or she could not. She could just ride off into the sunset or something. Otherwise, I think she’ll fly under the radar with Gonta.

Okay, I think that’s everything I had to say about Chapter 3 and the game so far--looking forward to Chapter 4!

#DR3 #NDRV3 #V3 #V3 spoilers #theories #Jess plays V3 #long post #opinions #BBQueue

[some-flyleaves]

for “no particular reason” some thoughts on stuff I’ve watched/read lately

spoilers ahead but most of these have been out for a while by now

Beauty and the Beast remake

overall entertaining and well-animated, though I still prefer the original

some of the story tweaks were neat and I especially liked the subplot about the cursed servants becoming less sentient(?) as time went on

others were kinda unnecessary imo, the whole opening scene being a glaring example. also giving the Enchantress a bigger role is neat in theory but kinda definitely raises a few Questions

not fond of the autotuned lead singer which is even more obvious comparing soundtracks

the furniture designs cannot grow on me They Simply Can Not, you can’t get nearly as many lines of action or squash & stretch out of a hyperrealistic CGI teapot

on that note the original’s beast design is still the best design, shout-out to my family for calling the live-action prince a “surfer dude”

at the end of the day idk what to make of the LeFou Discourse(TM) but shout-out to the little bit where Potts was like “you’re too good for him [Gaston]” and all things considered I thought it was a biiit more than what those cynical meme posts suggest. mind I’m not sure what I would’ve thought if I didn’t know about the whole shebang beforehand

it was apparently enough to get the film banned in a few countries, which doesn’t equal Instant Representation Pinnacle obviously but ehhhh that’s another topic for another time

Maleficent is still the best live-action “remake” of the films disney’s been churning out lately imo my onion, but I can’t say any of them have really disappointed me? (unless the first Alice counts; all I remember is that it was weird, which I guess is a given considering the source material but idk live action loses so much charm. definitely haven’t watched the second and have no interest in thereof)

anyway Mulan is one of my favorites so fingers crossed...!

Moana

very predictable but heck if that oscar bait song hasn’t been intermittently stuck in my head since

big earworm shout-outs to “You’re Welcome” and “Shiny” too but this website has ruined the latter sequence to an extent because I’m half convinced someone in production there has a vore fetish

in any case that was way too good a villain song for a one-scene show-stealer wtf the fuck

Moana’s voice & overall expressiveness fuels my soul

also it was GORGEOUS, more than compensates for another ~coming of age~ plot with fantastic colors

I have a lot of questions about the sentience of the ocean

what do you mean the Obligatory Animal Companion was a chicken and not the pig

okay ngl I didn’t quite catch the angry volcano spirit woman also being the green lady? I don’t think...? aw heck it’s been a little while by now but the ending was neat

how fucking old is Maui

Universal Harvester by John Darnielle - if you recognize that name it’s because, as I found out after reading, he’s the guy who leads the band responsible for a song I had on repeat hell for at least a couple months after discovering it via this wonderful, wonderful "lyric.. comic... thing” </ungodly run-on>

if this seems completely out of nowhere it’s because it is. I’ve jacketed and shelved a lot of new books, and while a good handful catch my interest, few compel me to check it out before heading home for the day

off the top of my head the other most recent book this happened with was No One Else Can Have You by Kathleen Hale (heads up for a non-graphic image of hanging on the cover), which was... oh holy shit that was over three years ago I don’t read often enough nowadays x_x

that one started strong but, around if not at the point where the protag was making out with the secondary dude, took a sharp turn towards the cliche & general What Is This Fuckery. but I digress

seriously no image on the internet can do this cover justice, the vaguely vaporwave-lookin part is actually very dark and the whole thing shines like one of those rain puddles mixed with.. gasoline? oil?? whatever makes it rainbow-y at a certain angle

I only skimmed the inside flap description before diving right in the night I took it out, and I realized a good chapter or two in that I’d unintentionally picked up a horror novel.

well. kinda? horror-ish?? despite there being no killer on the loose, no supernatural monster on the prowl, not even an invasion of alien farmers federally paid to invade your small town, basically no imminent looming dagger above the protagonist’s head, it’s VERY unsettling for the most part and I gotta give it major kudos for that

<SPOILER class=“mild”>also huge shout-out to the subtle switch to first-person at a key moment, then scattered throughout from there on.</SPOILER> it was at that point I had to reread the description to see what I’d actually gotten myself into and decided I was gonna read this sucker in one sitting or I wouldn’t be able to sleep

(skip this bullet point if you don’t like vague ending spoilers) despite that it manages to leave off on a somber, even sentimental note. pretty darn satisfying, though upon further thought there are a few big questions left unanswered that probably should’ve been addressed. (/vague end spoilers)

overall I’d recommend it if you’re looking for an interesting little read that might send a few chills from atmosphere alone but also makes you think*. just don’t start reading expecting a chapter or two before bed will do help you fall asleep.

*yeah yeah I know “makes you think” is something of a meme phrase at this point, but screw it I like my media when it actually engages the viewer/reader for more satisfying payoff. I’m not a fan of the “lol intellectualis” thing anyway V: but I digress.

Kubo and the Two Strings

ftr the record I called Beetle being the dad from his debut

my god Laika really likes their bugs and creepy hands (based on this and Coraline at least, I’ve seen ParaNorman but don’t remember much). this is absolutely a compliment.

voice acting didn’t thrill me, with the exceptions of the old lady & spirit sisters, but got dang those facial expressions

magic worldbuilding left a lot to be desired but it took place in fantasy China(/Japan? as with The Last Airbender I think we’re looking at another fictional Asian blend) and I for one am a sucker for that so I can let it slide

climactic fight felt kinda shoehorned, when the moon spirit dude showed up looking like a nice old man I almost thought they were gonna go for a less confrontational ending sequence - which I guess it kinda did but also the obligatory “join me and we can rule forever” stuff came up. I dunno I liked the spirit fish form ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

don’t get me wrong here I did enjoy it, I guess I was just expecting a lot more from all the talk about kids being able to handle mature themes and whatnot? ah well the conflict wasn’t quite Good Versus Evil so that was neat

was the moon spirit just a regular old dude all along though? is the moon going to rise again even with him hanging out among mortals? is he mortal now?? how does the Plot Amnesia work???? can someone tell him who he really was even if it’s not flattering??????

idk for some reason I feel like I’m being harsher here than anything else so far, really did enjoy it though. LOVED the 2d animation in the credits and I absolutely must emphasize how fucking awesome the animation is, being primarily stop-motion and all. they set a very high standard with Coraline and cartwheeled over it with Kubo holy hell

also I have a new desktop background

Wings of Fire Book 1: The Dragonet Prophecy - Iiiii actually haven’t finished reading this one just yet, saving the last part for when I finish at least one mcfucking assignment, but here goes nothin:

if you take a shot for every blatant violation of Show Don’t Tell you’ll be dead three chapters in, not sure if that’s because this is a middle-grade book or what

that said I find the plot & its overall direction intriguing enough to continue and, much as I may internally groan at the repetitive characterization and disney villain dialogue, I thought it was worthwhile and already have the next book checked out ;V

what can I say there are dragons there’s a war and it’s a very interesting take on the whole “because you are the Chosen Ones we will raise you here for hero training” deal

there’s also some intriguing worldbuilding with regards to the “scavengers” and “the Scorching,” not sure how much those are covered in this book but a friend who recommended the series in the first place says it’s some kind of post-apocalyptic thing?? nice.

not really related but shout-out to that one commenter in Script Frenzy who told me it was jarring or weird or something to have my dragon protags straight-up eat a few human researchers. I mean they weren’t wrong and it’s not like the WoF good guys have eaten any people (onscreen, at least) but still. I don’t read dragon stories for the humans >:T

in any case, sorta wondering if that one surviving scavenger will come back in any way later...? chekov’s human.

but seriously we don’t need to be beaten over the head with exactly why each dramatic plot twist is indeed dramatic, I could practically hear the manufactured gasps

despite that there are also descriptive passages of fun events like characters getting their necks snapped or screaming in agony as poison seeps through their scales! and we've barely scraped the surface of the Horrors of War!! >:Dc

conclusion of sorts for this disorganized mishmash of bullet points: why yes I am one of those unrelatable fucks who doesn’t buy the whole “I will defend a shitty shebang of a plot if the characters connect” thing how are you. what can I say, even if I don’t have any particular fandoms right now, I still have Thoughts On Media and no one can stop me from throwing a good ~90 minutes into typing ‘em up despite having other responsibilities ;’V

tune in next time for... well honestly I dunno if this is gonna become a regular thing, but whatever thanks for readin feel free to like reply and follow and see you next time on a-flyleaf dot tungler dot corn~

#''no particular reason'' by which I mean Procrastination Supreme #.rtf #*watches this get longer than my current essay in progress* swell!