#I understand that you can’t fit everything into movie adaptations | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

fixing-bad-posts · 1 year

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I haven't watched rop myself but I would absolutely like to hear your thoughts. Like, this is your cue to vent (if you wanna) :)

okay so i just got three asks about rings of power when i didn’t expect anyone to actually message me about this at all!!! as such, i’ll be giving my opinion in three parts with this being, part one: rings of power as a bad adaptation.

basically, the failure of rings of power is two-pronged: 1) it’s a bad adaptation, and 2) it’s a poor piece of writing. charitably, it’s a solid first-try for a pair of newbie showrunners who have never written a big project before. and following that, a bad adaptation is actually easier to forgive than a poorly written story—with a text so beloved, and without the proper rights to all the material (they only had access to the appendices of lotr), it was always going to be impossible to make a perfect text-to-screen translation. that said, it’s (imo) a pretty bad adaptation (although still not as bad as the artemis fowl movie lmao) for a few reasons: thematic interpretation, use of characters/characterization, justification of setting, and fidelity to canon lore.

on: themes—a good adaptation requires both an understanding and an appreciation of the source material, two things which rings of power lacks. in this promo article, the rop writers summarize tolkien’s works as about “friendship,” “brotherhood,” and, “underdogs overcoming great darkness,” and cannot imagine a tolkien story without hobbits. from this, it’s clear that they were first peter jackson movie fans, and then read all other book material as auxiliary support for what is inevitably peter jackson’s interpretation of tolkien’s writings on the third age. whether or not i agree with pj’s interpretation is irrelevant against the fact that the first and second ages of middle earth are stories with completely different themes than the third age. interpreting everything though the same thematic lens as the third age is a fundamentally flawed approach to telling a second age story.

the second age is permeated by arguably recent, memorable trauma from the war of wrath—the human characters are further removed via the mortal generations that have passed, but many of the elves were alive to see these events in (relatively) recent memory. this dissonance between elves and men regarding the events of the first age fuels some of the most interesting wider conflict throughout the second age (ex. the númenóreans being manipulated to become obsessed with/envious of elven immortality & the powers of the valar). furthermore, the world impact (i can’t say global impact because the world is not yet a globe) of the war of wrath fuels the setting (political reformation, social, cultural, and technical development). but rings of power ignores all of this because the showrunners don’t seem know what to do with any of it. they are trying to interpret second age events as if they have the same story elements/are painted in the same thematic palette as the events of the war of the ring. they relegate the events of the first age to ‘ancient history,’ instead of using its fallout as direct motivation for anyone except galadriel (more on this in the following section). the tension between elves and men is flattened into an allegory for contemporary immigration, which neither makes sense in-universe (there is a scene in which a group of men gather in the town square to protest the elves ‘stealing their jobs’ even though there is only one (1) elf on the island and she has not to date done any labor or craft associated with the people present), nor adapts the canon themes of anti-industrialization, anti-materialism, and fear of mortality.

on: character—whether the writers were/are incapable of doing their own analysis of the text, or their analysis is flawed, the result is that they struggle to write characters and conflicts who don’t fit into stock tropes. for example: galadriel—she’s the only elf who has any trauma about the war of wrath/the wars in beleriand, and this makes her seem like a poor communicator at best and paranoid/unreasonable at worst (she claims sauron is still at large but the writers never give the audience a reason to believe this, which implies that her crusade is fueled by dubiously exceptional trauma). this is especially egregious in a scene played opposite elrond where she tells him he can’t possibly understand her pain, and he just kind of lets this accusation stand despite the fact that he was functionally orphaned in a slaughter, and then adopted by two mass murderers before losing them too. but i digress.

on: canon lore—many creative decisions were ostensibly made to appeal to casual fans of the peter jackson movies. characters with recognizable names are given top billing in the storylines. galadriel. elrond. the pre-hobbits are given an entire section. meanwhile, key players of the second age like celebrimbor and gil-galad are made side characters in elrond plotline. why? because no one who has only seen the films recognizes their names, thus they wouldn’t be profitable to feature, and they wouldn’t sell a show. it’s only so transparent because the writers spend every episode contemplating how best to recreate memorable moments from the lord of the rings movies. galadriel is constantly shot with close ups on her eyes to mirror her film introduction in fellowship. shots of bronwyn (one of the rop original characters) at the elven outpost are framed, blocked, and even written in word-for-word monologue to recreate iconic éowyn-at-helms-deep scenes. various characters are constantly quoting the lord of the rings movies. the worst is when bronwyn practically quotes a section of sam’s iconic osgiliath speech to her frightened son, implying that sam’s speech is a collection of common idioms.

on a tangible level, the writers also fail at the monumental task of presenting a large map in a way that makes sense to people who don’t already know the world. they represent “the southlands,” as two villages, giving the sense that mordor as a whole is about fifteen kilometers wide. the timeline is fucked because they tried to condense it, while giving no clear indication of when anything is happening in relation to anything else, so it’s incredibly difficult to grasp the scope of any project or journey. for some reason they invented a fourth silmaril of dubious origin. they had elrond, raised by sons of fëanor, swear an oath only to break it in the following episode. they’ve made the choice to have all the elves speak quenya without acknowledging the history of sindarin vs. quenya and the politics of why certain elves speak it or don’t (i would love to see even one nod to thingol’s influence on elven language).

tl;dr—rings of power misreads, misunderstands, and miscommunicates the crucial themes of the second age. this leads to a complete misinterpretation of the pre-known movie characters they feature, as well as a sidelining of important book characters who aren’t movie-fan favourites. their attempt to properly explore a vast setting is clumsy, and the show invents lore out of a source material that already has arguably too much.

(i have to go run some errands but i have more to say on rop as a poor piece of writing regardless of its status as a so-called adaptation. i’ll be back.)

#ask fbp #anon ask #fandom posting #rop critical #anti rop #anti amazon lotr #anti rings of power #amazon rings of power #rings of power #rings of power negative #anti trop #rings of power critical #rings of power analysis #rings of power meta

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asordinaryppl · 4 days

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A3! Main Story: Part 4 - Act 13: Budding Spring - Episode 9: Going back to the start

Girl A: Thank you very much~!

Girl B: We’ll be supporting you from now on, too!

Chikage: Be careful on your way home.

Young man: You have once again made me think that actors are amazing! Thank you so much!

Youth: That was fun~!

Citron: For us, too!

Towa: Thank you so much!

Izumi: Thank you for participating. We were able to come up with a wonderful project because of you, Towa-kun.

Towa: To be honest, I was really hesitant about participating. Failing in front of Masumi-kun would’ve been embarrassing.

Towa: But I’m glad I took the plunge!

Towa: I understood what kind of scenery Masumi-kun and the others look at from the top of the stage…

Towa: I think I understand more about how a theater play is made, and about everyone who works on it, now.

Towa: A new world has opened before me!

Tsuzuru: Hearing you say that makes all of it worth it, right, Masumi?

Masumi: Well, you did your best.

Towa: All this from my oshi…!

Izumi: Come see our play next.

Citron: We’ll be waiting!

Towa: Yes! I absolutely will! I’ll be going now!

[Towa leaves]

Rento: Our first event was a big success.

Akashi: Even though… I don’t get many opportunities like this… I had fun, too…

Rento: Us backstage staff usually don’t have any contact with the audience.

Izumi: Thank you for your help today, you two!

Rento: Call me if ya do anything like this again.

Akashi: Me too…

Izumi: Of course!

Sakuya: We’ll be counting on you!

Izumi: … It looked like everyone was having fun.

Sakuya: It made me think of the first time I stood on stage.

Tsuzuru: Yeah, it was really nostalgic.

Citron: I could feel the chills in everyone’s hearts~!

Itaru: We were like that too, at the start.

Chikage: When you think about it like that, we’ve improved a lot.

Masumi: I was better than that.

Tsuzuru: That part of you hasn’t changed at all.

Sakuya: At first, just saying one line made me nervous, and I was constantly conscious of what the next line was.

Tsuzuru: Right, right! I kept thinking about how I had to move during a scene, and then I panicked because I missed everyone else’s lines.

Citron: I could do it when I was practicing alone, but when we were all together, I kept fumbling!

Masumi: You still do that.

Itaru: If my past self saw me now, he’d be surprised.

Chikage: Because you didn’t think you’d dedicate so much of yourself to acting?

Itaru: Something like that. But isn’t that true for you too, Senpai?

Chikage: I can’t deny that.

Izumi: Towa-kun’s eyes were sparkling as he told me that a new world opened before him.

Masumi: Even though he was nervous at first, he enjoyed himself.

Sakuya: I was like that too when I first decided to join MANKAI Company.

Sakuya: I’m really glad I took the courage to jump into that new world.

Tsuzuru: I remember hesitating a lot before taking that step, too. It got so busy after I joined that I didn't have time to think about it, though.

Masumi: It felt like fate for me, so I didn’t hesitate.

Izumi: Ahaha, that’s how it was. How nostalgic.

Sakuya: Also, this made me want to do RomiJuli again!

Citron: I know, right! I kept almost saying the lines myself!

Itaru: IKR.

Izumi: Should we hold a run for it again?

Tsuzuru: If we do that, I’d like to give Chikage-san a proper role.

Citron: And I want to appear a little more!

Izumi: Right, as Citron-kun is now, he can play all kinds of roles.

Chikage: But if everything else remains the same, it won’t feel fresh because it’s been reran multiple times.

Sakuya: If we’re going to do it, we’ll have to do it once the Fleur Cup is over, right?

Itaru: Since RomiJuli is such a catchy subject, it’s got movie and ballet adaptations, and it’s easy for people who aren’t into theater to get into it.

Itaru: I think it fits our aim of going back to the basics.

Izumi: But participating in the Fleur Cup with a repeat performance is too risky…

Tsuzuru: … Oh.

Izumi: ?

Tsuzuru: How does a sequel sound, then?

Tsumugi: Good work on the workshop. How did it go?

Sakuya: Everyone was hesitant at first, but as soon as their voices and gestures started coming out, they started having fun!

Tsuzuru: Watching them inspired me.

Tasuku: Sounds like it became a good opportunity for you to look at acting objectively again.

Tsumugi: I want to try it with the Winter Troupe, too. It sounds like we could learn a lot.

Homare: We should make some time for poetry when we do that.

Tasuku: That would change the subject.

Homare: In the sense of studying lines, I believe studying poetry, which emphasizes the rhythm of words, would be helpful.

Guy: That makes sense. Shakespeare was both a playwright and a poet.

Hisoka: … We can light a bonfire and roast marshmallows at the end.

Tsuzuru: You say it like it’s a recreational activity at the end of camping, but this is just your hobby.

Sakuya: It’ll be a workshop that highlights each of your unique characters.

Izumi: Let’s plan one again when we have the chance.

Sakyo: We’re all here now.

Izumi: Let’s start the meeting, then.

Izumi: This meeting is about the Spring Troupe’s performance for 1Q of the Fleur Cup.

Izumi: After the workshop, we got to talking about going back to the start…

Citron: Simply put, we wanted to do RomiJuli again!

Sakyo: You mean you’re going to rerun RomiJuli?

Tsuzuru: No, not exactly. I was thinking about writing a sequel…

Tsuzuru: The RomiJuli that can be done by us thanks to our growth— One that will be depicting the future of the RomiJuli we debuted with.

Tsuzuru: I think it’s something we can do because we live in the future of that time.

Sakuya: This is also our first attempt at a sequel, so I think it will prove to be a challenge.

Sakuya: Of course, we really want to perform RomiJuli again, but…

Chikage: We also have to make sure this performance is a stepping stone towards the Fleur Cup.

Itaru: If we don’t collect votes, we won’t be able to connect to the next performance…

Itaru: Since this isn’t only our problem, we wanted to hear everyone’s opinion.

Tenma: A sequel to the debut performance… I’d have never thought of that. But I understand the feeling of wanting to go back to that again.

Tsumugi: You can’t help but wonder how you would perform this role now. It always feels fresh, no matter how many times you do it.

Kazunari: Since it’s the first one, it’s prolly the one where the theater company and the troupe’s colors are most prominent~

Sakyo: Despite how rough it might’ve been, it can also be said that it’s what determined the Reborn MANKAI Company’s direction.

Banri: Since it’s the first one, it’s been rerun a lot. That’s also a plus, yeah?

Juza: Since you have a solid foundation of your role, you can approach it from a different perspective.

Juza: And above all, it’ll be rewarding to connect the dots from the debut performance to the sequel.

Homare: The parts that have changed and the parts that haven’t changed…You get a chance to express on stage those things that come to you naturally as you live day-to-day.

Guy: This will be a good experience for you as actors. It will help you grow.

Tasuku: I think getting to experience the long life of one of your characters is a precious opportunity.

Taichi: And the OG RomiJuli fans will be real happy with this!

Omi: The fact that the original was so well received is also advantageous.

Azami: It’ll also be easy to imagine the world setting.

Yuki: What I’m worried about is that since they’re the same characters, it might lack a sense of freshness.

Kazunari: It’d be good to be conscious of that and make changes in the visuals.

Itaru: And there’s also the jinx that sequels can’t surpass the originals.

Banri: We can do more in the lighting and sound department now, all we can do is show ‘em how much we’ve leveled up.

Yuki: When I think of my past self as a rival, I get a little fired up.

Kazunari: We can’t lose~!

Sakyo: We also need to satisfy viewers that haven’t seen the first performance. That’s quite a gap from a stand-alone.

Kumon: But, I’m jealous, Chikage-san! I want my own role in the Summer Troupe’s first performance, too!

Misumi: And I’m curious what the Genie from “Water me!” is up to!

Muku: I understand! Just like how we’re living in the future compared to those days, I want to see what they’re doing in their future, too.

Azuma: If we’re making a sequel for the Spring Troupe’s debut performance, we should do that for the Summer Troupe and the others, too.

Tenma: That’s where we’ll end up, naturally.

Juza: I wanna put myself in Lansky’s shoes once more…

Omi: I’ve got some sudden motivation now.

Sakyo: We will only go through with this if the Spring Troupe’s sequel doesn’t fail.

Homare: Choosing to do a “sequel” in a situation where we absolutely can’t lose and also have to deal with a lot of first-time viewers is quite brave.

Izumi: That’s true.

Tsuzuru: I-I’m feelin’ the pressure…

Hisoka: … All troupes have to make sure they can connect to the one coming after.

Guy: Following the Spring Troupe in 1Q is the Summer Troupe in 2Q, and then the Autumn Troupe in 3Q and the Winter Troupe in 4Q. We must all contribute to the ranking in order to make it to the finals.

Tsumugi: But isn’t it reassuring to know that the initial performance of RomiJuli will be by our side in such a situation?

Sakuya: Exactly… Because this was our “start” as the Spring Troupe.

Citron: It was the Spring Troupe, and the Reborn MANKAI Company’s first ever adventure!

Masumi: If we can’t do this, the other troupes won’t be able to do it, either.

Itaru: Pretty much.

Chikage: I think it’s worth the bet.

Tsuzuru: No choice but to go for it…

Izumi: Then, let’s make each performance for the New Fleur Award a sequel to the troupes’ initial performances!

Izumi: (With this, we’re taking our first step towards the New Fleur Award)

Izumi: (All that’s left is the same as usual, we come together and prepare for the performances. I hope we can get through it without any troubles…)

previous episode | masterpost | next episode

NOTES:

(1) the fleur cup mentions are not a mistake. they started calling it that so i just went along with them

(2) the text says Q, but the voiced lines all call it quarters. i went with the text, so i hope that's not too confusing

(3) episode title could also be translated as something like 'returning to the origins' but i didn't really like how that sounded

#a3!#translation #a3! translation #sakuya sakuma #masumi usui #tsuzuru minagi #itaru chigasaki #citron #chikage utsuki #izumi tachibana #towa ichinoe #+ more #this one is SO long i really hope i haven't accidentally missed a line...

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blaqueswanzaghouliishiilikeda · 11 months

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i understand if you don't feel like continuing this convo so feel free to ignore this if you're not in the mood but. i have to say i'm kind of floored by that one anon wondering why claudia didn't leave during those 6 years. because she wanted to be with louis! she didn't want to be alone, she was never planning on going alone, she was dreaming of taking that trip together with louis. going alone would be lonely and scary and difficult. louis wanted to live in nola so she stayed with him, hoping he would agree to go someday. then lestat came back into the picture. being around lestat is agitating for her, it's already a big sacrifice to have to live in the same house with him but she agrees to try. expecting her to act polite about it is kind of a big ask. and maybe she was just waiting for lestat to show his ass, is that so bad? she's literally proven right! lestat never had any intention of honoring the agreement they made, he lied about killing antoinette so it's logical to think his tragic backstory was a lie too. it's perfectly reasonable for claudia to hope that louis would eventually see the light and leave him. louis nagged her for not trying enough but when she proves lestat wasn't trying either he says he isn't even gonna confront him about it. i love louis and i know why he does what he does but this is all a goddamn nightmare for claudia. "he chose you over me." he chooses the person who treats them like shit over her. it's heartbreaking! she was willing to put off her travel dreams to be with him, she didn't want to be alone. she chose him for like 7 years but he doesn't choose her. louis is my favorite character but holy shit does claudia have good reason to grow resentful of him. even book claudia isn't as emotionless as people claim, she has mixed feelings about louis too, she doesn't start to resent him until she no longer has lestat to blame everything on, and i much prefer this complicated picture to the emotionless manipulator that people claim she is. she's not that in the books and she certainly isn't in the show. she is a complicated character who loves to kill and can be cold and calculating at times AND she desires companionship and gets her feelings hurt and her anger is born out of very real trauma. BABYGIRL

I don’t mind engaging here. and im gonna sound off on some things too while im here. please forgive me for veering for a moment before i get into what you're saying here. which i think is well said. me and anon don’t agree. i don’t feel like we have to either. i don't think every conversation has to lead to people being moved out of their stance all the time. Which is why there was a point where i said we simply have to just disagree. bc when it gets to a point where my stance is cut down bc im being perceived as only a “show watcher” bc im engaging with what is textually in the show…..well thats where the conversation started right? about the adapted character in the show so now you’re just deciding to say anything to get me to be wrong. and i am not going to engage with that. that’s not how i want to have discussions. im not saying i can’t be wrong. but im not gonna engage with something that goes beyond what im able to make sense of.

why show up to an amcverse discussion and demand the book take precedent? the show will adapt book claudia’s story arc to fit show claudia. all the parts we haven't got to yet will be adapted. so what is the sense in constantly cutting down show analysis with book analysis? they don't have to be identical. the different mediums are not identical. where they converge they converge and where they diverge they diverge. its not ignorance to speak of the show text as canon bc it is canon. in the show!

i’m able to do that with adapted movies/shows. i'm able to accept a multi-universe of truths in conversations so i just don’t know what to say to someone who refuses to, other than we disagree. where i don’t know, i go to book readers to ask. when there’s a conversation happening that is clearly book centric (wolfkiller fun debate/and jokes that i personally enjoyed, whatever angle was taken, for example) i am happy just to engage by rb and like and cackle while the ones who know bring the sauce. it was delicious and fun at first. sometimes i think we lose sight of the fact that people also just want to have a low stakes good time. but i digress

back to you love. thank you for your input. i agree. i can’t understand not acknowledging that claudia enjoyed being with Louis for a while there. She wanted to leave with him in a mirrored way to how Lestat also wanted to leave with Louis. I have seen many book readers discuss that there has been a shift in the dynamic that doesn’t lean into the romantic angle of their relationship in the book. Louis being made gay and not bisexual being one of those supporting factors. bc once again he is an adapted character and so is she. certain elements may be different. but you speak to there being love turned hate between them in the books as well and i'm inclined to believe you.

she’s heartbroken. she wanted louis to want her and choose her. she also wanted LESTAT to want and choose her. she’s heartbroken about his dismissal of her. his eventual boredom of her. his eventual resentment of her. of his abuse. i’ve even spoken to my understanding of what plays into why he feels resentful of her and how from his perspective in louis not immediately choosing him makes him also feel like louis is choosing claudia over him. that don’t mean he gets to just do whatever and be coddled and protected from the consequences of that…like? no i will not agree with that. and im comfortable with disagreeing on that. we on devices on an internet. our fingers make little tippy tappy sounds when we talk to each other. i don’t need this to be a be all/end all kind of thing. and im not moved by arguments of reverse abuse/manipulation. please miss me with that entirely. i dont agree. and i wont. i see him as a whole person too AND i am not gonna pretend she isnt justified in how she feels about him or reacts to him.

her tragic story is much fuller than just being physically small forever, and plotting something that failed. she’s more than a device to get the story to its next tragic beats to me. and i love what people i engage with bring to these analysis of all of these insane vampires. i love that others are as insane about them as i am. some people are so fucking smart. it’s a brain treat to read what they say man like how do you hold all that information in your mind and communicate it with such eloquence and hilarity and be so right??? keep talking, i am listening. some people got the book facts that fuck me up for the rest of the day thinking about it and what that author lady put into these stories like! others bring themselves with that too and that matters to me too. there is a beautiful variety of conversations happening on my dash. you’re galaxy brained and funny and i love it so much. thank you for your voices. i aint search for and lurk on the black/poc side of things for nothing. this my lil happy corner frfr. i think thats what makes this fun. its fun for me that way. and i am happy to be reminded if im going off course. and if im worried im being misunderstood i might clarify. but all this is to say its not a lot you can say to me to convince me claudia wasn’t 1000000% well within reason and justification to be whatever she needed to break free of that man’s tyranny over her. and if you aren’t moved in your stance. then we disagreee. simpo.

but back to you. thank you for your addition and giving me the opportunity to get this off my chest its heavy enough carrying around some tittys.

#mw asks #claudia #louis de pointe du lac #lestat de lioncourt #iwtv #i would happily get these buzoombas off my chest too like who wants them im so serious #yalll making all my homies wanna bounce and ion like det

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crystalrose555 · 1 year

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Slap me, I dare you! ch. 17

“Hmm, black or white? Which one’s better, you two?” Asmo asked as he twirled around.

Solomon and Lucifer sat across from the fitting room as the avatar of lust modeled the options he offered. While the sorcerer smiled and gave a thoughtful nod while the eldest brother looked up from his book with slight scorn. Seeing this reaction, Asmodeus gave a pout to his brother before leaning against the changing booth.

“Aww, what’s wrong, Lucifer, can’t decide? Sorry that I’m so breathtaking in everything I wear.”

Lucifer’s eyebrow twitched as he focused on his younger brother.

“I would rather concentrate on what you wanted to tell me. Instead, you’ve managed to drag me onto a shopping trip.”

“I mean, it only makes sense, it’s not often I get to shop in the human realm. It’s absolutely inspiring, especially when enhanced with my beauty.” Asmo chimed.

“Asmodeus, if you keep wasting my time, you will suffer dearly.”

Asmo shrank away a little while Lucifer pierced his form with his icy gaze. Seeing this, Solomon straightened himself in his seat as if to grab the eldest born’s attention.

Asmo and Solomon shared a glance before turning back to the eldest brother tapping his finger on the armrest of his chair. Solomon stared at Asmodeus whose eyes widened from the sudden attention on his person. A lump formed in his throat and vibrated gently while he tried to cough up his confession. Then as if a switch flips, he reverted back to his bubbly outlook and claimed,

“Lucifer, it’s obvious that Asmodeus is trying in his own way.”

“Enough, the three of us know what needs to be said and you two should stop wasting time and confess to your transgression.”

“Well, I wanted to tell you and Satan together but he isn’t here and I feel it’s a bit unfair to have him at a disadvantage, you know how mad he gets when he’s out to loop.” He deflected with a smile.

Solomon sighed silently while Lucifer stared at his younger brother with an unamused gaze that bordered with a quiet rage. Feeling the heat, Asmodeus shrunk behind the dressing room curtain while keeping a small smile on his face, hoping it would be enough to quell the morning star.

“Solomon, don’t just sit there, help me!” He called out in a panic.

The sorcerer just rubbed his temples as the stalemate continued.

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“Levi, when I said I was willing to go to the bookstore with you, I didn’t mean I would stand in this line with you. Do you have any idea how many people are here?”

Leviathan just snorted out of pride.

“Of course I do, this is one of the biggest release events this year, to think it would be here of all places. Though it was last minute, why do you think I planned this so we would be in the last part of the middle of the early group? With our position, we will receive a clear signature without the early calibration adjustments or the late fatigue mistakes.”

Satan just looked at his older brother with slight frustration.

“Alright but the last time I checked Mochi’s friend went through you when you met them in RAD.”

“Then why am I in line?”

“Because I want to get a signed copy for Mochi. Gothic Zombie Girl was one of the first shows I watched with her and with this new movie adaption, I wanna make sure that she doesn’t miss it, no matter who I have to go through.”

The shrewd comment created tension between the brothers who exchanged passive-aggressive glares.

“I don’t expect a normie like you to understand the bond we have. Besides, we haven’t found Mochi yet and I want to be prepared when we see each other again.” Levi answered with a head turn.

Satan rolled his eyes and looked toward the front where the author signed books and shook hands with varying degrees of excited fans. However, something else caught his eye as someone dressed in all black stood close by to the table. Their black shades reflected a multitude of colors in the light as they clasped hands with fans who made audible squeals upon speaking with them. Their face was obscured by the high collar of their jacket.

“Whose that?” Satan asked while tugging on Levi’s shirt to get his attention.

Levi looked on before twisting his face with slight disgust.

“That’s just Nue, he’s some normie musician that has been on the soundtrack side of things.”

Levi scoffed harshly.

“Yeah, with the way those humans are acting, I doubt that he’s just some musician.”

Satan folded his arms and raised an eyebrow.

“Please, he’s merely dipped into the world of otaku, he doesn’t have the experience needed to fill in a voice acting role.”

“So you’re upset that he’s popular and is cast in a major character role.”

Levi shot a glare at his younger brother before focusing on the line in front of them.

“Thanks for coming out, please continue to support our work in the future.”

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A couple of fans tried to squeeze out more answers before they were gently ushered away from the stand. Nixie took in a deep breath and sighed quietly. He knew that today was going to be a long one but the fatigue he felt was unrivaled. It was as if he was bleeding out and he couldn’t feel the wound, he could feel his skin heat up from the rising temperature. Another set of fans can and went as Nixie continued to autopilot each conversation. He wanted to care about those who came out to see him but he couldn’t spare any thought for them.

Between meeting fans, he thought back to when he went to Devildom, facing down its most powerful demons before escaping back to the realm of humans. He found himself questioning why they let him run away, he knew he was fierce but he was no match for all of them. If they really wanted to stop them, they would have, so what stopped them? At that moment, he could hear Marley’s voice, telling him that he was wrong, but he couldn’t believe it. It was more likely she was cursed and he just had to snap her out of it. He continued to entertain the feelings of the grateful fans as his vision blurred out of boredom and repetition, his mind and heart were barely there. However, he found a new focus as his worst fears came into his reality.

There he was, at the Gothic Zombie Girl book signing, promoting the upcoming movie, and deep in the winding crowd he could make out Leviathan and Satan patiently waiting in the queue. He was frozen, he couldn’t just bolt in front of everyone who was waiting to meet him.

“Why? Why the hell are they here?” Nixie cursed underneath his breath.

Levi jumped back a bit before grasping Nixie’s hand and shaking it.

His head throbbed while he struggled with some of Devildom's most powerful coming to him whether he liked it or not. He quickly glanced around, looking for anything that could give him an edge but found nothing to grasp onto. After a large silent sigh, he made peace with the fact he wouldn’t be able to slip away, not with so many eyes upon him. All he could do was meet his fate head-on. There they were, Levi and Satan stood in front of the mangaka with either absolute astonishment or complete indifference. After what felt like a thousand years, the duo finally turned their gazes upon Nixie.

“Thank you for coming out and supporting us today.” He greeted with a smile and his hand stretched out.

“He probably doesn’t even understand how big this movie is.” Levi thought to himself.

In reality, Nixie was just thinking about how cold the third born's hand was. His palm was clammy from his interaction with one of his favorite mangaka and he was now shaking hands with the same demon who broke into RAD without knowing it. If anyone should have cold hands, it should be Nixie.

“So, how did you manage to get a voice role in the upcoming Zombie Girl movie? Aren’t you a live performer, wouldn’t you prefer having your face everywhere?” Levi asked flatly.

Nixie chuckled at the question causing Levi’s hairs to rise.

“Believe it or not, I can be pretty bashful, I’ve been doing soundtracks in the industry while working on my own albums and only recently I’ve been doing live shows.”

“Yeah but you have been doing music videos for a while and they’ve been trending constantly. Yet I haven’t seen anything from the otaku side.”

“I’ve been credited for games and anime work under different names, currently my agent is working to release a full list of my works underneath my new name.”

“Changing names? Didn’t want anyone to associate you with geek culture-”

“It’s alright, it just means he’s very passionate about the series.”

Satan quickly covered his brother’s mouth while giving Nixie a smile.

“My apologies, my brother is a huge fan of Gothic Zombie Girl.”

Nixie gave a small smile, partially revealing his face in the process. Levi’s eyes blinked rapidly before squinting at Nixie hard. Seeing the change in expression, Nixie’s gaze widened slightly before breaking eye contact behind his shades. He held his hand to his mouth and gave a soft cough, clearing his throat.

“Either way, I’m happy I got a chance to talk to the two of you. Please continue to support us in the future.” He chimed.

Before either brother could fit another word in, the line organizer ushered them away as more fans greedily took their space.

“Yeah, we aren’t telling you anything, snowball.” Gell growled back.

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“Start talkin’, runts, before I get angry.” Mammon growled deeply.

Mammon and Gell locked eyes as their growling grew more and more primal with each passing second. As for everyone else, the built up tension of the situation seemed to dwindle away as they watched the twosome trying to intimidate one another. With Beel and Belphie looking on dumbfounded, Rem simply shrugged his shoulders before walking over and opening the fridge. He then opened another can of soda, gaining everyone’s attention.

“Quit callin’ me Snowball!”

“How about Snowcone then?”

“And what the hell are you doing?!” Mammon yelled pointing at the casual Rem.

“I’m having a soda, obviously.” He claimed nonchalantly between sips.

“Rem, now is not the time for that. If you haven’t noticed, we have a situation here.” Gell groaned as he motioned his arms dramatically.

Rem took another sip.

“No, we don’t.” He replied.

“Like hell we don’t, brat! Y’all better start yappin’ before I-”

“Besides, if you did do anything, Marley would kick your ass, so there’s no problem.” Rem answered as he took his free hand and pointed to a picture frame on the shelf.

“Before you what? It’s obvious if you wanted to hurt us, you would have done it by now.”

Mammon backed up a bit from the sudden bluntness and before he could offer his rebuttal, Rem opened his mouth once more.

Everyone turned to look at it and saw Marley with the boys smiling while standing over a large tuna. Mammon stood there dumbfounded while Belphie just held his face and shook his head.

“You really are a moron.” He muttered.

“Hey, you didn’t notice either, Belphie! So don’t think you're above this!”

“You can have one, but if you win, the prize is mine.” Rem claimed.

“Yeah, but I didn’t start making demands and threats.”

And just like that, Mammon and Belphie started a new argument, while leaving Beel, Gell and Rem to their own devices. Beel felt a tug on his shirt and looked down at Rem who offered him a soda.

Beel just gave a nod and accepted with a smile. Meanwhile, Gell could feel his eye twitch as he watched his twin sharing a drink with one of the home invaders.

“Rem, you scare me sometimes.” He sighed, grabbing another drink.

“That’s because you’re a scaredy-seal.” Rem smiled.

#obey me shall we date?#obey me shall we date #obey me fic #obey me!#obey me #mochi story fanfic #crystalrose555 #om #mochi #obey me beelzebub #obey me mammon #obey me belphie #obey me fanfic

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purple-worm · 1 year

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Thanks for the tag @lelephantsnail 💕

Favorite Color: peacock blue/midnight blue

Currently Reading: The Black Swan by Naseem Taleb. This is so unlike anything I’ve read. loving it so far. Padmarag by Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain. I hope I finish them.

Last Song: Dil Se Re by Rahman, Anupama and Anuradha. and Fanaa (Rahman, Tanvi, Sunitha). His concert reawakened my love for this song (actually all of his music, I had forgotten how much I loved it).

Last Series: I finished a Little Women rewatch (in love) and finally started Spy x Family. I love it! it's already starting to deliver the found family, I'm gonna be obsessed. Also watching Gaus electronics on the side. It’s pure chaos and zero brain cells in sight. I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did.

Last Movie: Nope. I need to rewatch this masterpiece.

Currently working on: just my portfolio. messing this one up big time if I dont stop procrastinating

share 10 different favourite characters from ten different pieces of media in no particular order, then tag 10 people: I'm doing 11 because I can't pick one from little women. I'm also quoting them (not necessarily their best lines, just the ones that come to my mind first) bc why not💕

1. Oh In-Joo (Little Women):

"Where do souls live? I always wanted a home where my soul could live." I can’t stop thinking about her characterization and development. They managed to keep Meg’s tenderness from the novel but added so much more. and they fit all of that with a surreal plot and significant commentary on capitalism and poverty. I love that they weaved in so much (and did it well).

2. Oh In-Kyung (Little Women):

"They're so fresh. They're fresh to the point that it's almost sexy". Fresh produce is…weirdly sexy. She gets it. Therefore, she is my favourite. Her layers make her feel so real, a part of the reason why I’m so obsessed w this show. Modern adaptations of classics are hard to get right, and I feel like this one treads those lines well. it is fresh (a full genre shift) but still manages to keep the essence.

3. Black (Not Me):

"Power is corrupting. Ideas are what have the power to transform society" My plot device of a man🥹🥹 Certainly deserved better. I could watch him wreck shit for days.

4. Dazai (Bungo Stray Dogs):

"No one can fully grasp another person's deepest emotions. It's impossible. Only you can understand what you're feeling. But generally speaking, I can tell you this. Most people tend to cry when their father dies." Can’t help but hate him. Can’t help but project onto him. He has fucked up a lot. and he will continue to do so. It is entertaining to watch, but sometimes he deserves a slap across the face (or several idk). Other times, a hug.

5. Wang (180 Degrees Longitude Passes Through Us):

"I will break free. Time is on my side, so I've decided to leave. But leaving doesn't mean I lost." I’m so proud of him. In a story where people struggled to change, he proved that it was still possible. His sheer will to gain something out of the heartbreaking experience he had, and to keep going despite being so lonely, so unheard. But also, the maturity to know which fights to pick. There’s so much to learn from him.

6. Togawa (Old Fashion Cupcake):

"I'm seducing you. I've been trying to seduce you, with everything I have. Although you never had a clue. I know...being seduced by someone of the same sex, isn't considered common sense for most people. Especially from a subordinate. But unfortunately, it's common sense to me. So I've been seducing you. I've been meaning to tell you this whole time, but I was afraid. I was scared of saying something that wasn't normal to you. But doing this...and telling you in such a horrible way... I'm so sorry. I like you. I like you so much, I could die." I couldn't have justified picking anything else.

7. Ink (Bad Buddy):

"It's so gainful" The icon that she is. gmm, get your ass up and give us a milklove GL 2023.

8. Anya (Spy x Family):

"Father is a tsundere." I've only had her for two episodes but if anything happened to her I would kill everyone in this room and then myself.

9. Fleabag (Fleabag):

"I don’t know what to do with it. With all the love I have for her. I don't know where to put it now." I will always treasure fleabag.

10. Baek Hee-Sung (Flower of Evil):

"We’ve only known each other for 14 years. So of course, you’d be clueless of my intentions." Thinking about him leaves an ache in my chest. Mr. I've-never-felt-an-emotion really broke down on the streets after reuniting with his 4 yo daughter and then got called out by her for it. "Daddy, don't cry like before if you miss me, okay? You're a grown-up". So,, misunderstood.

11. Han Ju-Won (Beyond Evil):

"I'll be a monster and dive into hell. That is my way of atoning" He's on this list bc I miss his ass and this show.

Special mention to Choi Doil and Great Aunt (Little Women) bc they haven't left my mind. and Nozue (babe, togawa was only here bc of that iconic confession, i love you just as much) and Miw from 3 will be free💕 This was so much fun, thanks for tagging me @lelephantsnail <33 Also, I’m so happy to see that you’ve watched 180 degrees, and wanted to shred it to bits with analysis because that show absolutely deserves it. so much to dig into and have your heart wrecked. Feel free to yell at me about it any time.

Have a great day!💕

#i set myself up w this quote thing🤡#took me longer than it should have bc horrible decision-making but what else is new #this was fun #to all the characters i didnt include: always in my heart i swear #i havent tagged anyone but if anyone is interested please go ahead #i’d love to see <3 #tag game

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luxereads · 1 year

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Have Controller Will Play

Rating: ✨✨✨✨ Would you recommend this book: Yes Would you read it again: Probably not. I liked it. But...I didn’t like it that much. If I had cheat sheet for references, then I probably would. But that’s more effort than I’m willing to exert right now. Quick thoughts: Obscure in ways. Delightful in others. I was pleasantly surprised overall with the work. Especially seeing as this was his first book. I feel it requires a bit of googling or just ignoring and moving on. I enjoyed it overall.

I’ve heard of Ready Player One on several occasions and even watched the movie before reading the book (a good idea for anyone interested in either or I’ll get into more of that later), Someone I know saw that I was a gamer and a bit of a reader and suggested that I check it out. So they gave me a well worn copy of the book and tasked me with reading it. Needless to say I wasn’t disappointed, in the book at least.

I essentially went into Ready Player One with a bit of information in mind. I knew the premise. I knew a bit of information having seen the movie. And I essentially knew how it ended. But I think about the phrase often used, “It isn’t about the destination, it’s about the journey, and the friends you made along the way.” Forgive my bastardization of the quote, but you get the gist of what I’m saying. Even with me knowing the ending, how we got there was a delight.

I’ll get to the nitty gritty here while trying to avoid spoilers. I appreciated the immersion of it all. I like the worlds with in worlds within worlds. I will say that in ways it felt a bit...like you needed a cheat sheet to understand references that were made in the book. But I will say that it isn’t nor wasn’t super integral to enjoying the book overall. This book is clearly a love letter to the 80s and pop-culture and everything in between which is amazing in it’s own right, but if you aren’t well versed in geek and pop culture from the 80s you’ll feel quite left out. They had descriptions of things here and there, which was nice, but it was nice when you can have that “aha” moment cause you get a reference. For me those were the quite popular well know references like the DeLorean, or K.I.T.T. from Knight Rider. Things of that nature. But like I said, the story doesn’t suffer from it in my opinion, it would just be nice to have had a guide somewhere to cross reference references. But I digress. I like the progression of the book. It had moments where things felt a bit slow? if you will. But everything can’t be all action all the time. You have to have a bit of down time; you have to take time to build and get to the climax. You can’t just cut to the guy getting the girl or the hero saving the day or whatever it may be. I just think I didn’t care for...the change in motivation at times to the protagonist’s and his choices. I’m sure if you’ve read it or read it you’ll know what I mean. Let me just say I know it wouldn’t be me. That’s all I’m gonna say. But again, I digress. I briefly wanna touch on the live action movie vs the book. If you’re gonna watch the movie and or read the book. Watch the movie first. The movie was...okay at best when I first saw it. But after reading the book...one word...cheeks. Absolute cheeks. It didn’t have the heart that the book had. It felt just very much like how many references can we cram into this film. And the references didn’t even really work together. Again, trying to avoid spoilers. But things just felt rushed and crammed together. There was no real synchronicity to things at all. They just were like there. Even when I didn’t get references to things in the book, it at least felt like they fit together. The movie didn’t have love and warmth. It was just a shell of the book. It was barely a skeleton. And I know it doesn’t have to be a perfect iteration/adaptation of the book, but like...it just felt like the movie was a Cliff’s Notes version of the book. But das all I’ll say. Final Thoughts:

I enjoyed the book overall. I liked the references. I liked the journey. There was things here and that I would change. But again, things are integral to the plot, so they existed for a reason. I’m not mad at it all. I’m happy someone suggested it to me and I’m happy someone pressed me to read it. Overall a nice book to get be back into reading again. If you’ve gotten this far, you get a gold star. If you scrolled to the bottom for the final thoughts, you get a silver star. Either way, you’re a star. Thank you so much for listening to my thoughts. Take care and may you get lost in a world of pure imagination. -🅻🆄🆇🅴

#book review #ready player 1 #ernest cline #lit #luxereads

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laura-ann-review · 11 months

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The Little Mermaid (2023)

In 1989 Disney released an animated film called ‘The Little Mermaid’, which follows a young sixteen year old female mermaid and her fascination with the human world.

It became a beloved fairy-tale for every child and fitted perfectly amongst the catalogue of princesses.

Now, 34 years later Disney had plucked our favourite mermaid into her own live action adaption.

With Halle Bailey not just voicing but also being the live action little Mermaid, Melissa McCarthy taking on the role of our infamous Sea Witch; Ursula, Javier Bardem plays our father of the seven seas; King Trident, Jonah Hauer-King taking on our leading prince; Prince Eric.

As well as our favourite sea animals getting new voices, Sebastian; Daveed Diggs, Flounder; Jacob Trembly, and Scuttle; Awkwafina.

The Little Mermaid (2023) has been discussed as similar to it’s animated counterpart with a few obvious changes with the actors and as well as a touch of rewriting in the songs.

As someone who loved the Little Mermaid and has photos of herself dressed as the little mermaid when she was younger, I was quite excited to see this take and prayed it’d exceed my expectations.

For me when I recently rewatched the 1989 classic, I saw it as a story of self-sacrifice, a story of a young girl trying to break away from her father’s rules and letting her curiosity get the better of her and a father who finally listens to his daughter by relaxing his rules.

I hoped by the end of the movie, I’d still be able to see that in the 2023 telling.

Unfortunately, After watching the movie the message I had taken away from the 1989 classic was a bit askew.

For me, watching this film it felt like I was watching a stage adaptation. It felt like a huge gimmick with trick lighting with very simple and basic costumes.

I understand this film was set in the 13th century, and I understand that this is a predominantly underwater movie, but it didn’t feel like either of those. It felt like they were trying to bring the 13th Century to the 21st Century and we all know by now, that trying to combine the two doesn’t quite work.

Like I mentioned, a few sentences ago. The water effects just felt like stage lighting effects and possibly a quite wind machine (a fan) close on hand to make it look like the actors hairs were moving the way they should underwater. It just felt like they refused to make an attempt at creating an underwater effect.

I know comparing animation to live action is like comparing apples to oranges but when you accustomed to one thing, you can’t help but compare.

Halle Bailey tries her hardest to fit into the fins of Ariel. At times she does a brilliant job, and you can see she is suited to the role of our favourite red head but at other times, she falls flat and allows herself to blend into the scenery without a second thought.

Javier Bardem as King Trident almost feels like a waste of a budget. I felt like he should’ve played a bigger part, I mean how much bigger can you get when your playing the father of the lead role? But he just felt so underused and when he was on screen, he wasn’t bring this anguish, this caring, this larger than life, this protective father figure to the screen. He felt like he was playing King Trident as a distant father.

Melissa McCarthy as Ursula, I felt like something was lacking with her and I can’t put my fin on it. I know that Ursula was inspired by a drag queen, and you can see those elements in the infamous villain but I’m not sure. To me, she seemed like a drag queen who had spent way too much time in a cigarette bar and allowed herself to grasp at fleeting moments of fame.

Maybe it didn’t help that when Ursula was shown during the first half of the movie, she felt like she was narrating the movie and giving away too much all at once. I doubt the animated movie Ursula told the audience everything before everything happened. Than when it came to showing Ursula in the second half of the movie, it felt like the writers didn’t know what to do with her, making her feel like she was shoved into the movie without a point. Even her finale with Ariel felt like a huge let down rather than the huge spectacle that audiences were once accustomed too.

Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric, I don’t remember Prince Eric being on the same path of as Ariel but hey, I never really cared for Prince Eric to begin with…So…He had the innocence of Eric and you can see the chemistry flow between him and Halle, those two together seemed to have worked magically on screen. But I felt like they under wrote Prince Eric or at least they turned him into a huge sap of a male version of Ariel.

Daveed Diggs as Sebastian tries to steal the whole movie. In the movie session I was in, the audience ate him up and loved him.

Jacob Tremblay; Flounder, and Awkwafina; Scuttle, felt like a struggle to be put in the story. Obviously when you take the mermaid out of the water, you can’t take the fish with her. Whereas Scuttle, it felt like Scuttle HAD to be there because the bird’s role was important in the animated movie.

This movie could’ve hit expectations, it could’ve hit records that Disney hoped for, unfortunately it falls quite flat. It felt like a stage adaptation.

At the beginning of the film it quotes “But a mermaid has no tears, and therefore she suffers so much more.” By Hans Christian Anderson, the original writer of this fairy-tale but his story and Disney’s take did not mix. Maybe it was Disney’s way of trying to convince the audience that they could do dark while trying to remake their own work. It just doesn’t work.

#little mermaid #movie review #mywriting

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melis-writes · 11 months

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Hi! If you’d want to do this, I have a request idea, something a little unusual.. I’m wondering which Pacino character you might “ship” me with?

Both cause I’m always so intrigued by other peoples’ thoughts on the kinda person I might match well with, and also cause of my massive lifelong crush on him 🤭 If you don’t want to do it, though, no worries at all!

My pronouns are she/her. 5’2 with thick caramel hair, deep cheekbones. I wear a lot of wide-fit, velvety clothing and chunky vintage heels.

Personality; blunt - no sugar-coating, easy-going, kinda mellow in some ways but hotheaded in others. Somewhere between an introvert and extrovert; while I like to be alone, I can rant and tell stories for hours.

I brush problems off real easy/I don’t tend to dwell on bad feeling, and adaptable.

Open-minded and dirty-minded. I’ve a heavily alternative, multicultural background and people being different or “flawed” doesn’t bother me.

While I can talk about stuff I heard about/saw for hours, I’m pretty private when it comes to myself and don’t open up unless I’m comfortable with the person. Saying that, flirting comes kinda natural to me.

My main love language is probably acts of service from me, but I adore physical touch.

I’ve never been academic and prefer to do things with my hands.

Love painting, doing a ton of cooking, spending time with loved ones, hairdressing.

Your blog, your writing - words can’t describe.. Your writing is a total comfort to read and I just… So grateful for it all. Hardly anyone writes for the movies you do. It’s amazing 👏

Anyway, if you want to do this, yay! But if not - that’s alright, I totally understand and don’t worry about it 💕

Hope you’re doing good!

Hello!! 💕 Ooh, now this is a very interesting question... 👀 Based on what you've told me here, I could easily say I'd ship you with Tony Montana and Carlito Brigante for sure.

Especially Tony though, you and him would probably be the most compatible in my opinion! ❤️ I think your personalities are somewhat more similar, and that you two could talk about anything and everything with each other for hours on end. I think Tony and you would in return love one another's company because of that reason alone! At the same time for Carlito, I think he'd be fascinated with any story or rant you'd tell him. He'd be eager to listen and a good listener at that, whether you want input in return or just a shoulder to lean on.

I see Tony as someone who brushes problems off easily too, and not Carlito in the exact same sense but in a way that Carlito is good at solving problems in a mature and calm state of mind. I think you'd appreciate either or!

Tony and you would have some amazing chemistry from being open-minded and dirty-minded. Carlito would lean more towards the open-minded aspect, but I know he can get down and dirty when he wants to. 🥴

Carlito could smooth talk and flow with your flirting and I think Tony would completely match your passion.

Acts of service as a love language would 100% be reciprocated from both Tony and Carlito, and while I don't entirely see physical touch being their main love languages, it definitely wouldn't be something that's missing from how they love you.

Neither Carlito nor Tony seem to care/be one for the academics either, but I think they would find you as a person and the things you love to do/enjoy appealing and interesting.

The question is, which one of the two men would you prefer? 🤭

#requests

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animecentralinfo · 2 years

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Overlord DVD and Blu-ray - Most Complete Season and Review!!!

Overlord DVD and Blu-ray is something different from the other Isekai anime because its contemporaries by giving us protagonists who play the role of the antagonist and love it.As this post was created, Overlord has already produced 4 seasons of TV anime series, along with other versions such as OVA, movies, and others.So, through this post, we would give you the information related to the Overlord anime and its DVD/Blu-ray as complete as possible. But before that, please take a look at the Overlord important facts, to make sure you won't get confused about everything we provide here.And here are Overlord important, interesting, and fun facts:- Overlord has 4 seasons of TV Anime Series, at least when this post was created. - Overlord is an anime adaption from the light novel with the same name, created by Maruyama Kugane as the writer and Soubin as the illustrator. - All anime adaptations were created by Madhouse studio. - The limited edition 11th volume of the light novel series released on September 30, 2016, included a 30-minute original video animation. - There are 2 compilations movies for the first season. - You can check out the first three seasons of Overlord and the airing episode of the 4th season on Crunchyroll. The best way to watch Overlord legally. - Medialink holds the rights to the series in South and Southeast Asia. - Overlord's chibi characters show up in crossover anime series called Isekai Quartet. - As a crossover anime, Isekai Quartet also includes characters from KonoSuba, Re: Zero - Starting Life in Another World, and The Saga of Tanya the Evil. - Isekai Quartet was published by Kadokawa Corporation.That's for the facts! And, let's dive right into the Overlord DVD and Blu-ray, and the reasons why this anime merchandise is worth the money!

Season 1 DVD

Buy Now!! I know you're thinking "trapped in another game series", but this one takes that theme and spins it in new directions until it's dizzying. You're not locked inside a video game either. Although based on a video game, he's trapped in another world. I'm biased for reading the light novels (you can't fully understand this series without reading the light novels, by the way), so you probably won't understand everything in the series, especially it's last three. An episode of Shalltear without the novel assist, but still great.Be prepared for his first two episodes to be lengthy. But this show after that is great. Again, heroes aren't heroes, and they aren't heroes if they do "heroic" things, so be prepared.

Season 2 Blu-ray

Buy Now!! It sucks...!At least that's what I thought when I first started watching it. But by the third episode, anxiety turned to enjoyment, knocking him through the rest of the first season's nine episodes at once. This is the second, there is a third, and at the end of the third, it states that the story continues.Animation wise it is well done and the story never gets bogged down or lingers. There is blood and some gore, but I don't remember any language issues.

Previous Next In the first few episodes, the protagonist tries to understand how strong he is in this world and learn how to coexist in this new world.I don't want to give much but I thought this was more interesting than Sword Art Online, which did a great job of explaining how they got trapped, but Overlord No, but this is a minor issue for me.Many of your favorite characters and their stories that you follow fit nicely with the main story.Highly recommend this series.

Season 3 Blu-ray

Buy Now!! This is an exceptional series that seems to have it all. It shines, it's compelling, it's audience-engaging, and it's a lot of fun. Naturally, exploring new worlds is part of the fun, and you learn as much as the characters in the story learn.Good directing, good (Japanese) voice acting, catchy music, good openings and endings, great storytelling, editing, pacing, and very good animation.Overall, these stories feature a lot of characters, but since many episodes are dedicated to isolated groups (story arcs), they give you enough time to grow up.

Previous Next Some characters die or have other tragic endings, and while it makes sense overall, it's often disappointing to see it. 90% isn't about the Overlord character, it's about what the main character moves. There are some slow spots with dunce "Climb" characters.I have to say that the villains are also attractive and all of them are interesting. It's an amazing, wide-ranging spectacle, a wide and diverse group of characters that would normally be difficult to keep together.

Isekai Quartet Season 1 Blu-ray

Buy Now!! The Isekai Quartet is simply a parody of four different shows including Re: Zero, Konosuba, Overlord, and Saga of Tanya the Evil. For those who don't know, all of these anime are stories that revolve around someone getting stuck in fantasy land, and each story is different in how they got stuck. Starting with each of the main cast of each show, they are sent to another world again (i.e. another world within another world), but this time it is school and people are told to go to regular school life. That's what the show is all about, going through activities, working in groups, class introductions, and all sorts of common things that happen in anime school.

Previous Next The important thing to know before buying this is that you need to watch the first season of each show to understand the various punch lines and inside jokes. As someone who has watched at least the first season of all four shows, I was able to understand almost all of the jokes mentioned.That said, Isekai Quartet is a really fun and surprisingly hilarious show, but only if you've seen the first season of each of the four aforementioned shows. Chances are you haven't seen them all. It is low, I would say the show that got more jokes/mentions was Konosuba, followed by a tie between Overlord and Re: Zero, with Tanya getting the fewest (sadly).

Isekai Quartet Season 2 Blu-ray

Buy Now!! If you know anime characters, this is a good laugh. It's okay if it's not.However, I thought the first one was a little better because it seemed to have more character quirks. But it's still a good watch. If you're looking for a light and fun anime, this is it. Read the full article

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alfairy · 2 years

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My thoughts on Sonic 2 right after my first viewing (HUGE SPOILERS FOR THE MOVIE AND POST CREDITS SCENE)

Remember, spoilers under the cut!

OK SO RIGHT OFF THE BAT, THE MOVIE BLOWS THE FIRST ONE OUT OF THE WATER. MORE LORE, MORE CHARACTERS, MORE ACTION

WACHOWSKI PARENTS ARE CANON!!! SONIC CALLED TOM “DAD” AND THEY WERW LIKE LETS GO GET OUR KID, I WAS SCREAMING

So Longclaw really did die…. ;-; Longclaw lives truthers are probably crying rn. We’ll never forget you

Fan artist and fanfic writers are gonna have a field day

The only thing I kinda disliked was that the wedding and GUN arrest scene went on too long. I turned to my mom and was like “when are we getting back to sonic” but the human characters are all very enjoyable and Rachel was hilarious and gets her time to shine

Sonic and Tails friendship was so cute! Personally, I felt Tails was a little underutilized in the film, but I loved the bond between him and Sonic, and how Sonic quickly became so protective of him!! Quickly stepping into that big brother role!

Knuckles did not disappoint, and he was so badass while also simultaneously being stupid as fuck, we love you king. Easily one of the best characters, everyone in the theater was dying laughing at him, but it never felt like the filmmakers were belittling him or making a joke of him, most of his humor comes from him not understanding earth culture and being so serious and blunt about everything.

Also side note, I found it weird that he’s literally standing 2 feet behind Robotnik and Stone at one point while Robotnik is causally mentioning within earshot how he’s gonna backstab him later to steal the emerald. And he just…. Doesn’t hear or react at all??? They’re right in front of you dude. I guess he was focused on something else lol.

LITTLE BABY KNUCKLES!!! He was adorable and it looked like he had a nice father. Ken Penders is probably throwing a bitch fit watching that scene and we all know it. Die mad about it 💕 We now know what baby Sonic and baby Knuckles looked like, and it’s a crime we haven’t gotten to see Baby Tails yet. O wait…. Tails still is baby….

So stonebotnik is canon right. Or at least as canon as it can get in order to sneak past the censors lol. Stones got it BAD. The maid outfit made me SCREAM

THE TEMPLE SCENE. My sonknux peeps… If u know u know… 👀

The filmmakers rlly were like “we’re gonna make sonic get beat the fuck up and pass out and almost die so many times 💕”

Knuckles, unironically: let’s punch him in the dick that’s the most vulnerable area

Living Chaos Emerald theory doesn’t appear to be canon, so Sonics powers are still unexplained. Which is weird since they make such a big deal about them in the novelizations and previous movie. Then again, Knuckles has powers and it’s never really explained, so it’s whatever I guess. Maybe they’ll bring it up in the third movie, since a certain you know who is coming ;)

SO MANY REFERENCES TO THE VIDEO GAMES IN THE FINAL FIGHT OMG

SUPER SONIC AHSHDIEKDIIDJEJEJSJD HE WAS SO BEAUTIFUL. i was kinda scared for a moment when they were like “that’s not the sonic u know anymore he is consumed by power” and then he summons a chili dog out of thin air and everyone’s like “o never mind he’s fine”

Idk how Robotnik could survive that fall, but Stone is fine so I guess he’s in hiding somewhere. Maybe in movie 3 he’s partially robotizied? Who knows? They never found him but we all know he’s lurking out there

THE POST CREDITS SCENE….. just…. OOF. People in the theater GASPED out loud when they said “we found a file from 50 years ago,” like we all KNEW in that moment. This movie still had its light hearted fun moments in it, but honestly if they’re gonna be covering a Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation, or the third movie is based loosely on it, then I think the third movie is gonna be a WHOLE lot darker. Cause you can’t have Shadow without Maria, and we all know what happened to her….. if sonic 2 is about found family, sonic 3 will be about ANGST

#sonic movie 2 spoilers #sonic movie spoilers

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daeguzen · 3 years

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Books and Mechanics

PAIRING | l.jn x f. reader

GENRE | fluff

WORD COUNT | 4.6k

NOTE | ai collab by @pastelsicheng. ah...to be young and in love and imagine cute mechanic jeno...this is just fluff. literally.

WARNING | none

SUMMARY | lee jeno lived an ordinary life as the third ai of the nct dream lab. having been out for a couple of years, jeno has found it easy to adapt to human life. working as a mechanic he thinks he doesn’t need anything more from life. he then meets you, the cute owner of the bookstore from across the street. he helps fix your car but can’t deny the little sparks in his chest when he sees his favorite book in your arms. it’s unusual for him to feel any attraction towards people, already being accustomed to the flirtatious comments thrown at him but it seems that he gets to taste what love at first sight is.

2005

AI: Jeno Lee

Created: April 23 2000

Age: 5

Lab: NCT Dream

“Do you think they will succeed?” A response came with a little happy lilt to it.

“I am absolutely confident that they will. We have had the most intelligent scientists working on them. And it has been five years. They have been doing well while we watched them.”

“Oh I know, it's just…”

“Taeyong, it’s okay that you feel a sentimental attachment to them. But this is what we created them for. And besides you’ll be able to see them.” Taeyong didn’t respond walking over to where the seven boys were lined up in chairs.

“Let’s start Taeyong.”

“Yes Doyoung.” The two boys headed towards the NCT Dream AI’s and initiated the protocol. Doyoung smiled at the first boy.

Jeno Lee had opened his eyes.

2010

Little whirls of machinery were the only sounds that the boy had known growing up. A room of monotone colors, dark gray, light gray, white. Long tables full of scattered papers, wires, tools, and more. It was a sight he had gotten used to. A sight that was embedded in his mind.

He didn’t mind it however. His emotions were still progressing, although a tad faster than the other boys but they were growing nonetheless. The little boy would flip through millions of movies, shows, and read books. Although he preferred to cheat when it came to the assessments, he tried his best to take his time and read the entirety of the books assigned to him.

Even though his emotions were developing he found himself looking at cars, trying to play with them, and most of all, understand their mechanics. How were the wheels connected to the car? What were the parts of the engines? What was under the list of maintenance requirements? How long before the car needed an oil change? Maybe it was because he understood what it... felt like. Did it feel like anything? In a manner of speaking, he would say that it was like getting sick. A person feels down or bad but with help and proper care they function again. Or well... feel better.

There were others like him. Those who understood him even though they could not express much. But they were all growing to, developing just like him. Looking at his own reflection everywhere in the room; he stared at his features often. Too short to reach everything that was set on the table but tall enough to fit in his room. His room. He understood that one’s bedroom was personal, something that defines one's self in some ways. He wondered if his room defined him at all. The only things he truly chose to have in his room were his cars. In fact, everything was designed with cars. The rug, blanket, bed, toys, and even some of his clothes.

He remembers his room clearly, laying in bed, and waiting for the adults to come in and talk to him. He was very smart for a boy his age. Of course. He had even garnered the affection of one of the adults who was the most strict. He would pat his little head, talk to him, play with him, and try to answer all his questions. A little boy like him should have known all the answers to the questions he asked. They were kind of easy and logical in theory. But he didn’t.

Emotions weren't his best subject.

---

2020

The boy, in a manner of speaking, had grown up into a young man. Tall and extremely handsome. His features were so delicately chosen. His emotions had finally developed. He understood why emotions were so important. They defined a great deal of who he was. He found himself genuinely enjoying things. He was even more attracted to cars and decided he’d be a mechanic. He’d also decided he’d like to make designs for cars. Jeno had found something he loved.

---

2021

Jeno opened his eyes, taking a moment to fully awaken. He reached over his head, pulling the cord that was attached to his neck. He rose to his feet and came in contact with the floor. He was moving, going towards his closet and looking for his working clothes.

The weather forecast for today is looking good. Low winds and sunny weather.

The traffic is slow this morning. I’ll take my bike.

Looking into the mirror, Jeno checks his appearance. He adjusts his shirt, runs his hands through his hair and takes a deep breath.

There was no need for him to do anything else so he made his way to the front door. He grabbed his keys and put them in his pocket as well as his phone and wallet. He crouched down to grab at his shoes and tie the laces neatly. Standing up straight again he opened the door to take his bicycle from the mount he placed it on. Closing the door behind him Jeno turned and started to make his way to work.

Jeno went through the motions of his day to day work schedule. He found it to be fun and enjoyed every part of it. Jeno happened to land a job at a small mechanic shop. He showed to be very smart and extremely knowledgeable on cars. More than the owner himself. He was quick and knew exactly how to fix any problem. He was an honest young man doing honest work. It was the reason many of the clients recommended him. He didn’t cheat people out of their money. And he was always quite the gentleman, anyone would swoon and fawn over Jeno. The gentle and kind soul he was.

Arriving at the shop he looped his leg to the other side of the bike, quickly landing in a walking motion. A smile graced his face as he saw Mr. Moon.

“Good morning Mr. Moon, how are you?”

“Jeno, stop calling me that. You make me feel old.” Jeno just smiled.

“I’m serious Jeno, just call me Taeil. Have you a good night’s rest?”

Now Taeil had been very kind when Jeno first introduced himself and asked him if he was hiring. He couldn’t help wondering how a young boy like him had come looking for work at a small mechanics shop. He looked like he belonged at college, studying his night away in hopes of doing something great in the future. But Jeno was very adamant on working as a mechanic. Taeil learned that Jeno was by far the most intelligent person he had ever come across.

He gave Jeno the job after testing his abilities. Jeno didn’t have a resume but he was really good at keeping one’s attention. In part, he was grateful for that seeing how his little business started to thrive. But of course, it was hard to hide who or what he was. Taeil had offered countless times to dinner, breakfast, lunch, or simply offering him a snack. But Jeno couldn’t accept those things. Eventually, he deemed that Taeil was a good person and came clean with what he was.

Taeil had been shocked to say the least. But Jeno was prepared. He offered him the references of his lab and Taeil being a little surprised actually called. His curiosity was great. He wondered how he’d have come across such a being. But it made sense he guessed. Jeno never ate or drank, he never got tired, he didn’t even break a sweat. He was perfect, except for his dirtied hands.

“I did. I knew that traffic was slow so I decided to take my bike this morning.” Taeil snorted.

“You biked all the way from the other side of town here, why am I not surprised?” Jeno just flashed him his cute Samoyed smile.

“How’s work looking today?”

“Slow. There’s not much. Just a few things that need to be changed. You have an appointment for this afternoon. A girl called saying she was going to drop her car off because she’s been having a few problems but she doesn’t know anything about cars.”

“Sounds good.”

“Yeah of course it does, you’re true love is machinery. Get to work.” Taeil turned and headed towards the garage. Jeno could see from afar the cup of coffee he had gotten for himself. It was his little energizer drink. Not that he really needed it, thought Jeno, he was quite energetic as it was.

---

Jeno was buried in his work. Trying to assess the problems in the engine when he heard a car enter and park. He peeked his head out from behind the hood and saw you stepping out of your car. Jeno stepped out from behind the hood and greeted you. He smiled at how cutely you turned to his voice.

“Good afternoon, are you the one who called in yesterday?”

“Oh uh yes that would be me.” You didn’t know how to properly react, surprised at the cute boy who was now in your view. His hair was raven black, his bangs almost covering his eyes. His eyes turned into cute crescents every time his lips perked up into a smile. The young man was tall and seemed to be between very built but delicately sculpted. His waist was by far the nicest waist you’ve ever seen in a boy not that you were staring or anything. The thought made you turn pink, a little disturbed at how the thought invaded your mind. Looking back into his eyes, you noticed his head tilted to one side as if questioning.

“So what problems are you having with your car?”

“O-oh, uh well...the tires here keep running out of air so I think I need a tire change. And the light for maintenance has turned on. Also, I’ve been meaning to change the system for the ignition. I want to get a key that turns the car on by a press of the button. Would that be possible? I’m not really sure how these things work...”

“Yes of course, I can get started on the other things but for the key I’ll have to make an order. It should be ready in an hour because I’m taking care of something now.”

“O-oh uh well I actually work across the street. So I’ll be there. When you’re finished though I can come and take the car so I can park elsewhere.” Jeno smiled at you. Damn that smile.

“Okay, your name?”

“Y-Y/N.”

“Well Y/N, it’s very nice to meet you. I’m Jeno.”

“Nice to meet you Jeno, well I’ll be back in a bit I guess.” And with that you grip your books closer to your chest and the little pink flush never leaves your face. Jeno notices this, thinking that the color looks adorable on your face. You were exhibiting signs of shyness, something he’s used to witnessing.

---

God did you want to slam your head into the bookcase in front of you. You did not fall for boys. At least...not that easily. You were so used to the boys in your books and fairy tales that you blamed them for your high expectations. Terrible really because all you managed to do was place yourself out of the dating market.

You weren’t expecting to see that boy. The boy with the cute crescent eyes and Samoyed smile. He really did remind you of your best friend Mark’s Samoyed puppy. You were going to have to tell Mark about your little problem or keeping it to yourself would end up killing you.

You cursed your shyness, it only attacked at the most inconvenient times. Inconvenient would be the cute mechanic boy that works across the bookstore. You wondered how you never noticed him but remembered what Mark once said to you, “You only keep your head up when you need to see in front of you otherwise your head is always buried deep into whatever book you're reading.”

He earned a smack to the shoulder with the book you had that day. Demian by Herman Hesse. You always remember your greatest books turned weapons.

I can still see his face damn it. You were in the middle of restocking some books when you felt a tap on your shoulder. Three rapid taps.

“Good morning Mark.”

“Good morning Y/N, what are you restocking now?”

“Some teen novels. Shouldn’t you be at school?”

“Eh, I already handed in my final project so I decided not to show up for the last class.”

“Oo, how’d it go for your project? And also I don’t condone skipping.” Mark just chuckled.

“I made an entire album of 12 songs. It was exciting and just listening to it I think I could’ve cried. At least a tear or two.”

“You would’ve short-circuited.” At this you received a playful push.

“Don’t make fun of me, I thought we were friends.”

“Mm we are best friends, excuse you, that’s why I make fun of you. Also, I want to listen to the album. I’m surprised you didn't let me hear any of the demo’s. That’s just heartbreaking.” Moving the cart, you made your way to the next section. Looking at the book you chuckled. Mechanics and Cars.

“You will listen to it when you’re on break. I was just really in my headspace when making this so I didn’t show it to anyone. But besides my professor, you will be the first friend to listen to it.” You turned to him, a mocking smile on your face.

“Mark, you don’t have any friends.”

“Hey! That’s not true! I have plenty of friends actually.”

“Oh yeah, then name them.”

“Fine! Taeyong and Doyoung-”

“Mark, they're like your parents. They created you. I mean friends your age.” Mark blushed.

“Renjun, Haechan, Jaemin, Jeno, Chenle, and Jisung. They are all my friends.”

“Let me guess, they are the other AI’s?”

“They are but we are friends. We get along very well and no we weren’t programmed for that. Our emotions developed.”

“Yeah yeah yeah. Anyways, oh I have to tell you something or it’s going to bug me the whole day. So I took my car to the mechanic across the street-”

“I could’ve fixed your car Y/N. I am literally an AI.”

“Mark, your focus is music not cars. Don’t worry about it. Anyways, I take it to the mechanic and guess what I see?”

“You see some dude covered in oil with a jumper?”

“Mark no! I saw a really really cute boy. He looked my age! And you know what, when he smiles he looks like your Samoyed puppy. He’s absolutely adorable. And he’s got the nicest waist I have ever seen which I admire and envy at the same time.”

“Ah, and then you had a mental breakdown and started stuttering. And that was oddly specific.” You frowned disapprovingly.

“I hate you.”

“So cute mechanic boy smiles like a puppy and his eyes turn into crescents? Oh, and he’s got a waist to die for?” You nodded happily.

“Lee Jeno.” You freeze, book in hand.

“W-what? You know him!?” Mark only smiles.

“Did you not hear when I named my friends?”

“It was just a bunch of names smushed together. I heard a few J’s. Wait...so that means Jeno is an AI?” Mark nods and you deflate. It doesn’t go unnoticed by Mark.

“Y/N, you can still approach him. There’s no problem in liking one of us. We’ve been out for five years now and honestly we’ve learned a lot. We’ve adapted really well. We’re the closest to what humans are like.”

“I-I don’t know. I mean I’ve known you for almost three years now and honestly I don’t constantly remind myself about that. It’s just...wow...what if he isn’t interested? He’s way too handsome and I’m not that high up in the pretty area.”

“Y/N, you’re a beautiful person inside and out. And besides, Jeno isn’t superficial. Just talk to him. He’s basically all you want in a guy. One of your characters comes to life.” You flush red immediately. Jeno seemed to be what you looked for with your high expectations but it was one thing imagining a relationship and then actually acting upon it.

---

You show up at the shop during your lunch break. Mark protested, faking hurt as you chose Jeno over his twelve songs. He gave you a thumbs up and some encouraging words either way.

Ok you just need to ask if the car’s ready, no big deal. You see your car parked in the same place you left it. When you turn your head you see Jeno closing the hood of another car and his eyes meet yours.

Nope nope. He smiles at you and you clutch onto your books for comfort. He walked towards you and you can’t help the unevenness of your breathing.

“Hi, you’re back.” Jeno tilts his head.

“Yeah, I mean I do work here.” Your face fell and Jeno felt a laugh bubble through.

“I’m sorry I saw the opportunity and I took it."

"It's okay I-I mean it was my-my fault. U-uhm.."

"Don't worry. I rather your adorable stuttering and mix up than the girls who have tried flirting with me.” Jeno didn’t think he could ever watch a person combust in their place but you seemed to be as red as a cherry.

“O-oh...uh well I’m definitely not here to flirt with you. I wouldn’t even be g-good with that...uhm so is the car ready?” Jeno nods. He feels a little spark in his chest and wonders why he perceives it as something heavy.

“Yup, everything’s done. As for the key, it can be used for your car. I just need to order it and make the changes. Although it is pricey. About $500 to $600.” A gasp escapes your lips.

“For a little remote control? That’s enough money to feed me for six months if not more.” Jeno chuckles. Yup, you’re definitely adorable.

“Yeah, I understand.”

“Okay, I’ll uh probably do it but in the future then. I’m not sure when but I need to gather that money so I can pay you.”

“Of course. Just come in and I’ll give you the bill for today’s stuff.” You followed Jeno in. You told yourself to say something but when Jeno shared the little everyone flirts with me news you felt a little pang in your chest. Jeno would just see you as the many girls that are looking to be his girlfriend and you didn’t want that. So you paid him, thanked him and left.

“Have a nice day!” you thanked him quietly and turned to leave. Unbeknownst to you Jeno stared at your leaving form.

“Has Lee Jeno finally been charmed by someone that isn’t a machine?” he hears Taeil ask. He knew he was standing in the doorway to his office.

“Mechanics and Cars...it’s a good book.”

---

“So what you’re telling me is that you completely failed to talk to him?” You nodded, sadness in your eyes.

“Well that’s nothing new.”

“Hey! You know what I’m hanging up, I have books to sell.”

“Correction: to read and fawn ove-” You hung up the phone. Mark was only good for messing with you and today you weren’t having it. The plan to talk to Jeno that had taken place yesterday went up in flames. Just as you expected. Life was cruel. Why couldn’t you just find your soulmate? You just wanted to cuddle at home with someone and read them a book. Looking at you lovingly. Holding their hand, running your hand through their hair...

“Excuse me miss?” You snap out of your thoughts.

“Hi yes can I help you-Jeno?” A smile greets you. That beautiful, adorable and sweet smile.

“Hi, Y/N how are you?” You straighten up.

“I’m doing fine h-how are you?”

“I’m doing good. I’m on my lunch break. I actually wanted to ask, if there is a section on cars?”

“Y-yeah, it’s uh down that aisle right there.” You pointed to the aisle that was behind him. He turned back to you with a thanks on his lips and a little turn. The universe wanted to curse you. Tempt you with something you could never have. And you did what you never did before. You let your head fall on the Pride and Prejudice novel that lay in front of you.

You didn’t see Jeno look over at you, a grin growing into a full blown smile. He kept going through the books in the aisle, his fingers brushing against the binding but his eyes searching for you. He held in the chuckle that wanted to erupt, as he watched your head rest on the book.

---

Every time Jeno had his lunch break, he crossed the street. A little smile lingered on his face when he would open the door and see you adjusting the books on the shelf or working behind the register. On his way to the engineering section he would say good morning to you, relishing at the sight of how you smiled brightly at him. He thought this is what it must feel like to fall in love. It was strange. It was like nice tingling sparks in his chest. He’d try to take little peaks at you, noticing how you looked around, your eyes trying to find him.

Never in your life would you have ever thought that you’d come to have a budding romance with the cute mechanic boy from across the street. Love seemed like something from fairy tales and books. You were happy reading about them, even if some were quite heart-wrenching. You never truly forgave Leigh Bardugo for the story of her star crossed lovers. But reading about them felt safe. Actually living it was exhilarating.

Sometimes Jeno would strike up a conversation with you. Asking about your likes and dislikes. He’d bring you a cup of coffee and your favorite pastry. He’d even recommend books which took you by surprise. Who knew Jeno had a thing for books? One day he’d tell you about the Caraval series and the next he went on about the Greek myths of Daphne and Apollo or of Odysseus and Penelope. It enamored you even more.

Jeno didn’t only have a knack for cars but he enjoyed reading and you could talk to him for hours if possible.

“Ok, but Nina’s change in powers? She’s drop dead gorgeous...wait…” Jeno laughs.

“I think you should have chosen your words differently. But I do agree. Nina is gorgeous. She’s such a powerful character and I have respect for her. She deserved better though.”

“Oh my god don’t even get me started I will start crying right now.”

“I know. Uhm, Y/N, I wanted to ask you something.” Jeno looks at you while you place the books on the shelf.

“What’s up?”

“It’s a serious question.” You stop for a moment and look at Jeno.

“Is there something wrong?”

“No, I was just wondering if you would like to go on a date with me?” Your mind short-circuited and your heart flipped a few times.

“A-a date?”

“Yeah, there’s a nice café with live music and a book section. I thought of you and I was wondering if you would like to go with me.” There’s flares of pink and red painting both your faces, more on you than Jeno. There’s also a lot of nervous tapping at the books in your hands, a reaction Jeno is aware of.

You look down to the books in your hands, a small smile growing.

“I would love to go on a date with you Jeno.”

---

Jeno finally gathered the courage to ask you on a date. Was it hard? The answer one would expect was no because he’s Jeno. He’s an AI and confidence should’ve been his middle name. But his heart did those strange little spark things that he wanted to keep feeling. And he really wanted you to say yes so he started to feel nervous. His anxiety flew through the roof the first few weeks he walked over to your book store.

But then he started gaining some confidence. And he kept going over to see you during his lunch break. He did notice your change in attitude when you would blush, smile more frequently, and got clumsier. It was funny. One moment you would be organizing the books nicely and the next you were dropping them when he would show up next to you.

Jeno had been meaning to ask you on a date and he finally did. The Moon Cafe had just opened a few weeks ago. He saw that there were local bands playing and that they had poetry readings on certain nights. There was also an area connected to the café where there were a small book selection.

It was five o clock on a Sunday when Jeno picked you up in front of your house. He had previously mentioned that the café was nearby and you two could walk there if you’d like.

“You look drop dead gorgeous.” You would have fallen to the ground if you could.

“I see you remember what I said about Nina.”

“Nina is gorgeous like that but she’s someone else’s type.”

“Wh-what, I- where do you get all this confidence? I can barely keep myself normal when I’m around you…” you look down, realizing the fault in your words. But Jeno speaks with a happy lull in his voice. Something so smooth and gentle it almost has you swaying in your spot.

“It seems like some of my confidence has rubbed off. Let’s go, I want to invite you to the best coffee in town.”

Jeno held your hand, just like you wanted. Just like you dreamed.

---

Jeno ended up kissing you after five dates. It could have happened sooner but Jeno liked taking things slow and you respected that. It made you fall even harder. He was the gentleman that everyone knew him to be. But having to experience it up close was completely different. It was after a few months of dating that Jeno decided to come clean.

“Love, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.”

“That’s your ‘I have something serious to tell you’ voice” you said with curiosity laced in your voice. Jeno seemed to be more nervous than you’ve ever seen him. You reached to hold his hand and he gave a gentle squeeze.

“Promise you won’t freak out? No matter what?” You smile.

“I promise.”

“Okay,” Jeno takes a deep breath, “so I told you I’m from Seoul but I haven’t specified anything. Not having parents and all. It’s for a special reason. Something I didn’t know if I could tell you and you’d understand. I want to be completely honest because I truly do love you.”

“It’s okay Jeno, you can tell me.”

“I’m an AI.” Jeno looked for a reaction. Any reaction. Shock, surprise, a laugh maybe if you thought it was a joke. But he definitely was not prepared for the soft kiss you planted on his lips.

“It’s okay darling I know.” He looked at you, instead the shock was written on his face and not yours.

“How could you know that?”

“Remember how I told you Mark’s my best friend? Well he had told me about him being an AI and he let it slip that you were an AI as well. I didn’t want to say anything because I thought it was something you would want to talk about.”

“You...you know Mark hyung?” You nod.

“And you know about the AI project?”

“Yes.”

“Y/N, you know that if we ever get to that point we...I won’t be able to give you children.” Your eyes widen. Jeno had been thinking about kids? Oh god he wants a life with you?

“Jeno...you were thinking about having kids?” He looked at you sheepishly.

“Well...I’ve given thought to having a family before. And I really really like you. Like I think I practically love you. And if we ever get to that point in life I would like you to know. We could have kittens. Or adopt.”

“Jeno, it’s okay we’ll think about it when we get there. I think it’s sweet you’ve thought about that. It’s okay as long as I’m with you. And if we want kids we could have your lab make some.” You winked at him and Jeno blushed.

“How’d I get lucky with you?”

“Are you sure you’re the lucky one? I think it’s the other way around.” Jeno gives you that big smile. The one that reminds you of when you first saw him. The little Samoyed smile with crescent eyes. And Jeno saw the same stuttering and nervous girl who clutched her books for comfort. And he couldn’t have asked for anything sweeter than that.

#jeno #jeno lee #jeno lee fluff #jeno fluff #jeno fanfic #nct dream

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serene-victory-77 · 3 years

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Why The Crows Being Teenagers Is Actually Perfectly Realistic

There’s a TL;DR are the end because wow I like to rant.

I lightly discuss the general situations they’re all in to explore how they are frighteningly mature and competent, but it’s not particularly depressing or descriptive, it’s definitely lighter than the books

I thought about this post with a joke first: “People who think that Six of Crows is unrealistic because they’re so young clearly have not spent much time with traumatized honors students.”

It’s a bit of an exaggeration, but the point stands.

But I decided that, hm, actually, I could make a point about this. I totally agree with the aging up of the characters in the Shadow and Bone show, but when people straight up say that the books are wrong or unrealistic for having a young crew, I get annoyed, and here’s why (other than me reading the books for the first time when I was 13 and thinking ‘Huh okay, I see it’ and now being lowkey offended when people say they ignore it for being unrealistic):

On Inej

- At first I thought Inej’s wisdom and general demeanor was one of the most unrealistic things in the book

- When I thought about it longer, I was like “Actually, she’s 16, right? I’ve sent some of the most lyrical philosophy trying to help my friends while in high school. My friends have done the same. It’s valid.”

- Frankly, teenagers love hard-hitting philosophical truths. They love repeating what they’ve read or heard in movies and in books and from family stories. They love sharing little bits of wisdom they have come up with

- Inej’s ability to hear and understand philosophy and wisdom that she was surrounded by for 14 straight years and then sit on it and elaborate it for her friends to understand, or even just to piss them off in Kaz’s case?

- Teenagers have that. They do it. So, Inej’s Wisdom passes, to me. It’s valid.

As for her being calm

- You know how everyone jokes that Kaz seems calm on the outside but when you get to his POV he’s like “What the fuck” at the Van Eck house or just straight up “Huh, is this revenge for making tree jokes” at the Djel River thingy in the Ice Court?

- Inej is like that, too. And she gets angry, and she gets confused, or exhausted.

- AKA every quiet kid ever. Like, are you kidding? Have you ever been in a situation in which it’s literally chaos all around you, people are screaming and things are being destroyed (think middle school classroom with bitchy long term substitute and even worse students), and you’re just, calm? You pick up your things, you do what you need to do?

- That’s Inej. Like, what else is she gonna do? She’s smart enough to know that panicking won’t help anyone, and so she just rides it out. Internally she might be like “Why is this happening” but frankly, her being quiet and controlled in most situations is probably a coping mechanism and I respect that

- Pretty sure this is also based on the fact that the Suli have no land for their own and constantly have to keep moving. It might align with generational trauma, I’m sure someone could explain it better than me, but being able to keep your cool while constantly having to change and adapt to new situations, in, say, a country with hellfire politics and no land to call your own? Seems like a hereditary trait that could be useful in Ketterdam, although it’s sad.

On Inej’s abilities

- Simone Biles started training when she was 6 and went to the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships when she was 16, where she qualified in all the events.

- There are videos of people walking over tightropes as young as three years old. We know Inej didn’t start that young, but not only was she naturally talented at it, but she spent a lot of time practicing. I think it’s valid. Plus, some of her family members do some pretty crazy things in her flashbacks, because that’s the whole point of what they do.

- Youngest person to beat American Ninja Warrior was 16 year old Vance Walker

- Inej has a variety of of tools that help her wall climb, and while it’s true that she started young and got good really fast, she already had a history of physical work that would help her, and from what we can gleam from the book, a surprising amount of free time in which she was actively encouraged to learn everything she could.

So that’s Inej! I think her skills are perfectly possible for someone with her history and situation. It’s true that she’s naturally skilled, but that’s not actually all that unusual. And her demeanor and wisdom do fit in with what a lot of teenagers are like and the circumstances she was brought up in

Onto Kaz!

- One thing I hear about is that Kaz is too smart for not having gone to school and also too young to know all that he does

- Do you all KNOW how many self-taught people there have been in this world? The word for people who are self-taught is autodidacts, and honestly a huge amount of famous people apply. Like many, many other people in history (there’s a whole list of them in Wikipedia), he had an vested interest in a field and he learned all he could. Sure, those fields were magic tricks and math, but still.

- Suddenly I have a lot of thoughts

- Okay, think, hyperfixations. That’s essentially what Kaz’s thing with magic tricks was, right? Have any of you ever spent time with an eight year old that clearly really, really loves dinosaurs? Those kids can spout names and facts and identify them by their skeletons and frankly know more than I ever will. Kaz’s was magic tricks. All kids are special.

- Kaz continued working on magic tricks and practicing them for years, so, I think that gets a pass.

- As for the math! Look, a Fact Of Life is that some kids are just Like That, whether it be possibly from neurodivergence or other factors:

- Flo and Kay Lyman are twins with Autism who basically have the calendar of EVER memorized. Kaz memorizing card decks is sensible, and these ladies don’t need to look up anything to figure it out, so Kaz doing sums inside his head seems plausible. His “photographic memory’ isn’t impossible, although the term itself might be incorrect.

- Katherine Johnson who worked at NASA (yes, the lady from Hidden Figures), was so good at math that she was in high school by age 10 and went to college at age 15. It’s true that she had some teaching, but 1. There’s no evidence Kaz had absolutely no schooling, even if it was just at home with books and 2. Kaz was 9 when he came to Ketterdam, and after Jordie died, when he wasn’t surviving, he was learning.

- Human calculator is a term that is applied to children a lot and there’s definitely plenty of videos showing how smart these kids are and them doing mental math easily, which he does in the books

- He had a LOT of pressure on him to figure out all he could, and if he wanted to move forward, he was going to have to learn a lot. He spent hours practicing magic tricks, for all we know he spent hours practicing math too. We know Jordie was a bit of a bookworm too, so Kaz from a young age probably already had a reason to learn. Personally, a lot of my love for books was inspired by my older sibling when I was younger

- Young people are adaptable. Kaz is incredibly adaptable. The term prodigy exists because of people like him through history.

- As for him being rational, there’s no other way to survive. Some of the greatest soldiers in history have been very, very young, and very, very smart. It’s true tacticians are generally considered to be older, but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been very young ones.

- A lot of the generals I found were like, 19 years old, but Kaz is 1. not a general and 2. in a place where young people take up the mantle really, really quickly, and frankly it’s been like that for a long time. I still think this passes. This isn’t relevant but William the Conqueror was apparently called “The Bastard”?

- Frankly, underground communities of thieves probably don’t go around publishing their escapades so to me it makes sense that I can’t just look up “famous young thieves” and get anything that makes sense, but I did try

- Y’all I tried to do research on youngest escape artists since I think Kaz qualifies and I found myself in what I think is a magicians forum? It’s from 2002-ish and I feel like I’ve just found a relic. I can’t definitely prove they’re all saying the truth, but some of the people there talk about 10-11 year olds at magic camps, so, it’s not impossible for this to be a skill Kaz learned really young, particularly when he made a habit of following around magicians

- I think he passes the realism check overall

For the other Crows:

- Nina being so proficiently multilingual makes sense to me, because she’s been in the Little Palace almost her entire life with all the best teachers they could afford at her disposal. Some people just click with languages. One such would be Timothy Doner, who spoke 23 languages at 16.

- Nina is a child soldier. She of course can handle the battlefield, although I imagine there’s a degree of trauma that she has to deal with (although it’s true that most of her work was always meant to angle her towards being a spy).

- Jesper was taught to shoot from a young age by Aditi, who was likely incredibly proficient. Plus, there’s mentions of him and his father being on some sort of frontier at one point in the books, so, it’s likely that Jesper got his fair share of ‘being a child soldier” since he would’ve been 15 or younger. Plus, with being a Fabrikator, he gets a leg up

- Jesper’s smart y’all, he just also likes to have fun

- I am a little terrified by the fact that I looked up ‘youngest sharpshooter’ and found out about a 9 year old girl (Addysson “Addy” Soltau) who can indeed shoot guns, but uh, it does prove my point

- Matthias... I haven’t heard anyone really argue about Matthias. He’s the oldest at 18 and again, he’s essentially a religious child soldier. Of course he would be built af and know how to handle himself in a fight, and in a flashback about meeting Trassel, we’re told that he was actually distanced from the other boys and was the biggest and strongest/smartest of the group. Perhaps not compared to Kaz, but still

- We know how Wylan ended up how he is, so I don’t think i have to defend how he’s both a musical prodigy, good at math, and good at chemistry. Plenty of kids who can’t do one thing will immediately gravitate to a different field (think AP math students who can’t write essays, or those kids who could analyse a book and it’s metaphors in class but didn’t understand geometry).

- Granted he took it far but it’s kinda implied that his father ignored him eventually and what else was Wylan going to do

- I don’t really know how he did chemistry while not being able to read the symbols and stuff, but that’s likely because I’ve never had to learn the way he did and also I really suck at Chemistry, but I refuse to believe that it invalidates his capabilities

Final Thoughts:

- They’re Traumatized Honors Students

- People might say that “it’s unrealistic that all the smart ones somehow ended up together” but again they’re traumatized honors students and those gravitate to each other

- Of course the smart ones ended up together, they’re the ones in those crazy situations precisely because they are prodigies. Nina wouldn’t have met Matthias if she wasn’t skilled and a spy, Kaz wouldn’t have known Inej if she hadn’t been skilled at silence (I can’t explain that one but uh ninjas did/do exist and it IS still a fantasy world). Kaz would have never been a leader of the Dregs in a position to find Jesper if he hadn’t been so determined to rise to the top, and Jesper wouldn’t have been in Ketterdam if his father hadn’t thought that Jesper was smart enough to get that chance.

- You know how those fringe revolutionary artists for new eras end up knowing all knowing each other and even hanging out? That’s them.

- I have decided there is a strong basis for Autistic Kaz, someone who is more studied than me should feel free to explore this.

- I read this book a few years ago, A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah. It’s about this guy’s experiences as a boy soldier and it’s a painful read so I’m not sure I recommend it as a casual read, but he talked about these young kids being able to actually make competent military strategies and handle warfare. It’s an extreme example of what I’m trying to explain when it comes to them being able to handle the brutality of their situation, but it’s true, essentially

- They are definitely serious, but if you think they’re not teenagers I just, disagree so much. They have moments of lighthearted banter, they make light of their situation, they try to support each other Nina covers it so well in her farewell at the end of Crooked Kingdom: The little rescues of laughing at each others jokes or eating together and just supporting each other, is not only a very human thing, but a very teenager thing.

- Scary experiences that shape us happen all the time, and although for most it’s not the things that the Crows experience, picking each other up is a big part of why they do read as teenagers to me. I’ve seen kids be able to seriously converse about things like being questioned by the police, or being left to their own devices for days at a time, or the general impending doom they all feel, and it’s dark, but they’re also going to joke about silly puns 20 minutes later.

- Teenagers aren’t exempt from terrifying maturity and competence

- Finally: Despite all I said, it’s a fantasy story and doesn’t have to be realistic

In the end, everyone can believe what they want to believe, but this is my case for my opinion.

TL;DR The Crows are all prodigies and a lot of their achievements and capabilities are based in reality and there are real people who actually achieved things like what they’ve done. Messed up prodigies gravitate to messed up prodigies, hence how they all end up together. When it comes to their mental state, most of them have been brought up their entire lives in situations that required for them to problem solve and keep their cool even when things are going to hell.

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of-house-atreides · 3 years

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Who is Loki?

or "what makes a Loki a Loki?"

According to the Loki series, Loki is a narcissist and a villain with a huge ego, the type of person who cares if there is a superior version of himself. Any character described this way is, to me, a shallow character who’s not really interesting and who would make a basic villain.

So who is Loki, really?

Perhaps he is a scared little boy, but more than that, he is lost. He is looking for a place in the world, a place to fit in, where he belongs, with people he loves who will love him in return.

At the beginning of the first Thor movie, Loki has a plan in motion to ruin Thor’s “big day” as he believes his brother would make for an ill ruler. Now whether he’s right or wrong doesn’t really matter, that’s not a right thing to do, as a brother or a loyal citizen of Asgard. So what does he want from it? What is the goal?

As events take place, Loki’s plan keeps changing as he has to adapt to the different unexpected results of his own actions. His original plan was to show Odin that Thor is unfit to rule. That he is not ready or yet worthy to become king. That is one belief that Loki has from the beginning, along with the belief that he would make a better king for Asgard than Thor. He didn’t plan for Odin to banish Thor nor did he know at the time that he wasn’t Odin’s biological son. As Loki finds out who he really is, everything changes. He’s angry. And quite understandably so. “I’m the monster parents tell their children at night”. His whole life he lived in the shadows of Thor. There is a clear need from Loki to prove himself to Odin so that he would receive the same love Thor has been given his whole life. But once he finds out he’s adopted, that he’s a Frost Giant, the son of Laufey, then he thinks he understands now why Odin has never loved him as much as Thor. And so the plan changes again. He has to be better now. He has to be a hero, a savior. Because he is a Frost Giant, he has to prove himself in a bigger, more impactful way.

So Loki is insecure. He’s insecure about his own existence, his place in his family and on Asgard, a realm of which he is a prince. So when he fails, he knows he’s lost everything. That’s why he lets go at the end of the movie.

But when he doesn’t die and is forced by Thanos to take over Earth, he embraces who he thinks he really is: a monster. After all, he is a villain. He’s “always been one for mischief”, he’s plotted against his own brother, his plans have been exposed, he believes his family isn’t his real family and probably are glad he is gone. He has no choice left but to be a monster. That’s what Thanos wants from him, and there’s no escaping that. He has no choice. So he becomes a villain. He becomes the villain. He lies to himself, thinking that’s all he is now, that he can never be anything other than the monster who betrayed his family.

In Avengers (2012), he tells Thor he “means to rule them”. That he is better than them. He is invading Earth on behalf of Thanos, he knows what Thanos will do once the planet is his, he will kill half of the population and perhaps he will keep his word and leave the rest for Loki to rule. That is Loki’s only chance, the only path he can take. So he walks down that path, hoping Thanos will keep his word, that if he succeeds, he will rule over Earth and I believe he has every intention of doing it well. He doesn’t mean to be a cruel ruler. In Thor (2011), he knew he would make a better king than Thor, a king Odin would be proud of. And after Dark World until he is discovered in Ragnarok, he is King of Asgard, which did prosper under his rule. So he knows he is trapped, and if he doesn’t do it, Thanos will just send someone else to do it instead, so he endeavours to take over Earth meaning to rule them and to bring them peace. During his dialogue with Thor after he is captured by Tony, Steve and Nat in Germany, Loki says this: “the humans slaughter each other in droves while you idly threat”. Although we can’t be sure of it since it never happened, there is another scene in Avengers that makes me believe that a peaceful reign was his intentions. Thor and Loki are fighting and Thor asks him to look around and says “you think this madness will end with your rule?” and Loki does look around and from the look on his face he is not too pleased with what he sees. But he knows it’s too late, he knows Thanos will come for Earth eventually. Pretending otherwise will only lead to more pain and not only for him. “Sentiment,” he says as he casts it aside and continues to fight his brother, so he can, perhaps, put an end to “this madness”. Because if he’s not the one to conquer Earth, one of Thanos’ people will.

And, he fails, again, and is brought back to Asgard, where Odin sentences him to life in the dungeons. He’s not just a villain now, he’s an enemy of Asgard. After getting his mother killed, he falls into depression. And then he fights alongside Thor and saves Jane, and then tricks his way back to the throne of Asgard. He is able to do that because he’s smart and cunning and knows (and has enough) magic to enchant the AllFather and traps him on Earth (in New-York, of all places). He traps his father, but does not kill him. And I do believe that if he was able to do one, he could have done the other just as easily (if not more easily).

After Dark World, Loki is back to his unapologetic mischievous ways while not entirely being a villain like he was in the Avengers movie. It took great magic and trickery to pretend to be Odin for so long. But he did not do so to be evil. In fact, all he’s done wrong is replace Heimdall who was the only threat to his plan. (worthy to note that he was strong enough to run him away.) Asgard did not fall under his rule, nor were the inhabitants unhappy. Otherwise, Loki does say himself that Asgard is prospering, he just let the other realms fend for themselves, which led Thor back to Asgard.

So as an insecure, lost and scared little boy, his main goal was to find a place he belonged and that place was non other than Asgard. As King, as Odin, he was loved and respected, and he took care of Asgard and its people. I won’t talk about Ragnarok Loki as I believe it is a twisted version of the character and I talk about it here, but what I will say is, either he wasn’t happy as Odin (who would be happy being someone else) and/or he was content not to be Loki anymore, after all he had done, being Loki, especially on Asgard, would have been hard, even if, as Odin, he had managed to elevate himself into a hero.

(Also Ragnarok Loki seems happy so... perhaps he was content as King, and why wouldn't he be, his people were thriving.)

Throughout the movies, Loki displayed magical abilities (such as illusions) and a great intellect. He was cunning enough to plan out all the events of Thor (2011), take Odin’s place and pretend to be his father for years (I personally believe he was such a great king nobody thought to question Odin’s bizarre behavior), but he’s also managed to show his heart. After all, Asgard is home, and Thor is all the family he has left. It’s such a shame his redemption arc was limited to “I’m sorry, here, let me die real quick to show you I’m really good now”.

"What makes a Loki a Loki" is such a bizarre question in this series where there are so many different versions of (allegedly) everyone. But if they’re different enough to have been born a different gender, a different race or a different species, then they’ve also been through different experiences that would make them completely different from one another. I would say cleverness and ambition makes a Loki a Loki. Sylvie would have never known that sense of betrayal Loki experienced when he found out he was adopted as she already knew that. But as she was taken away from the TVA, she had to be on her own from a very young age and learn everything herself, but she is still clever and ambitious. She was clever enough to understand how the TVA works as well as the nexus events and that hiding in apocalypses would keep her hidden from them. She also figured out they were all variants once before they were made agents of the TVA. She was clever enough to teach enchantment to herself. And she was clever enough to plan the bombing of the timeline, and as Loki did in Thor (2011), she planned it all with one goal in mind, get to the Time Keepers. And she was ambitious enough to want to take them down.

Another thing they have in common is they both are, or were at some point, villains, to a certain point of view.

So "what makes a Loki a Loki?" - I find it ironic the series asked that question. They don't even know themselves.

Not only is Sylvie the better Loki in the show, but Loki isn’t even a Loki. He has ambition, yes, he, too, wants to take down the Time Keepers (although for a different reason) but there’s nothing clever about his actions in the show. The only time we see him be smart is when he figures out the variant is hiding in apocalypses. But that’s it. For the rest of the show he is restrained on a leash, beaten up and taken down, tortured and humiliated. He’s been stripped of his elegance, subtlety and cunningness, and by no way of character development but just bad writing and a bad understanding of what makes Loki Loki. His trauma is used to bring him further down and is never addressed in anyway. He is being bullied and harassed and called a villain, a bad guy who will die alone and sad, who doesn't deserve love. Loki is hurt and insecure, he is not a narcissist. Loki is strong. Loki is magic. Loki is a survivor. He’s been through shit, and yes he’s made all the wrong choices, but he is more than just a pitiful prankster, he is more than just a basic villain. And the MCU, so far, has treated him as a way to elevate other characters into greatness, but the Loki show was supposed to elevate him into glory. And they took the wrong direction at every single turn.

#loki #loki series #loki negativity #loki series negativity #review #mcu #marvel #thor #what makes a Loki a Loki #Sylvie #anti Loki

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nobodycallsmerae · 3 years

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Hello, Hello!

Soo, a few days back, I had shared a post asking for some BBRae AU fanfiction recommendations, so, let's put the fact aside that it didn't really help... but now, I'm here to share some stories that I've read, and I recommend reading!

So, this list only consists of AU (Alternate Universe) stories where they aren't superheroes, so you can skip it if you want ^^

So... I won't rank them, because I think every story is amazing, (and I'm pretty easy to please,) so, I'm just assorting them as I keep collecting the links :) Also, I'll try my best to review the stories without giving away any spoilers...

Firstly, there are too many good fics to count, but here I am mentioning the ones which stood up in my mental folder. (Also, it only includes completed stories.)

This list includes all types of stories, high school, co-workers, roommates and all... the ratings are between T-M.

(Links lead to stories on Fanfiction.net.)

The Butterfly Effect -by Light NS | Rated M for semi-sexually explicit material and topics of depression and suicide.

This story definitely comes in my top-5 list blindly, and it deserves so much more! The story is about Gar and Raven, who are adults now... and let's just say there are far too many coincidences in this one! It's a lovely story with also a healthy amount of tension... because, I personally believe it can't be BBRae without some arguments *shruggs*. You should definitely check it out if you haven't already!!

Broken -by LightNS | Rated T

Oofff... okay, so this story is actually one of the first BBRae stories I've read and it's really close to my heart...

First of all, I want to say that the characters in this story are freakishly accurate. I mean, the personalities are on-point. In this story, the Titans are high schoolers, but this isn't exactly a high school romance kinda book. To be honest, this isn't exactly a romance book..(?) It's more like an action/thriller... And... it isn't heavily a BBRae book... I mean, yeah, it is based on those two characters, and Gar spends most of his time crushing on her... but, y'know, it's a book that shows both of them growing... and learning about each other -and themselves.

The writer does an amazing job to portray the character's feelings and personalities, and I'm sure her writing won't disappoint you.

The only drawback this story has is... well, it has a discontinued sequel named "Glass", so, it's kinda sad that, I mean, I've fallen in love with those characters... but, they don't really have a happy ending soo…

This writer is also on Tumblr, @lightns881 , so you can also visit her blog and support her!

By the way, there're also really great BBRae communities to be found on Fanfiction.net and you can check them out for more fun stuff to read. The ones I thoroughly recommend are:

"Best Of BBRae" which basically has all the goodness, IU and AU (but, it's a bit old so... you might not see newer fics there.); and

"Best Of BBRae AU's" which is a collection of one of the best AU stories.

Moving on...

Everything Has Changed -by Chibi 1309 | Rated M for Mature themes and language.

This story also comes in my beloved top-5 list!!

I don't really know what to say about this story without ruining it, but if you're on the lookout for an adult Titans BBRae fic, this is definitely your stop. Well, let me just say that, Gar and Rachel are best friends, a troupe I personally adore, and they live together in an apartment in Jump City.

This story has a lot... I mean, A LOT of feels, and the writer... *chef kiss* She really knows what she's doing. May it be the setting, the characters, the emotions... the author could deliver it wonderfully.

It also has a lot of other Titan members, so I like the fact that it also gives us an insight on what's going on in their lives too, rather than just Gar and Rachel.

Hands up in surrender, I won't say anything else, because I don't trust my mouth (or fingers), but this work is definitely a must read.

"Spy vs Spy" by Caitastrophe8499 | Rated M for mature themes, violence, and adult situations.

This... is a masterpiece people. You should definitely read it... like RIGHT NOW!

In this story, Gar and Rae are from rival agencies, Doom Patrol and Titans, and as fate has it, they're forced to work together. Neither of them are happy about it, because of each other's cocky and standoffish attitude and as both of them work best solo... and also... both of them hate each other... at first. This book, it includes lots of action, and if you knew me, you'll know that I am a sucker for crime and thriller. I mean, this story in itself is so great, it could be adapted into an ACTION MOVIE!! Or maybe a graphic novel to start with. :)

And what's best about it is, it doesn't only show two people romance each other, it shows a group of people working together to catch a deadly villain. I won't say much more to build suspense, but all I'll say is, it's entertaining, spicy, and the character dynamic fit perfectly with their relationship and situation, and if you haven't read it, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!! CHECK IT OUT NOW!! This will probably be one of the best recommendations of your life.

Assuming -by magisterquinn | Rated T

This is a feel good, light-hearted BBRae story that I very much enjoyed. So, basically, it's about Raven (or is it Rachel, I forget), and how the (dashingly handsome and) annoying employee won't leave her alone. She also gets a series of mail that sparks her interest, and I don't trust myself to say more without spoiling it.

Magisterquinn, the author, has an amazing collection of the BBRae (AU) stories they've written, "Chivalry Isn't Dead", "Making Mr.Right" (a must read) and "In Paris" to name a few, so, I definitely recommend checking out their profile for amazing and clever reads.

The Malchior Widow -by beautifulpurpleflame | Rated M

...this story...all I wanna say is... if you haven't read it, you're missing out on something wonderful in your fangirl(/boy) life.

This story is based on my favorite troupe, which is where all Gar wants is for Raven to open up to him. It's like, Raven is a reserved, "untouchable" person, and Gar, being Gar... feels an urge to talk to her. After many, many attempts, when Gar finally talks to her, his friends are like, "How'd you get her to talk?" or "How's she open up to you?" and the response is, "No one's ever even tried before."

"The Malchior Widow" goes at a satisfying, feel-good pace... and it's one hell of a journey. I mean, as the title suggests, Raven's a widow, and she isn't exactly open to the possibility of loving... or trusting someone else yet. It shows not only both of them falling in love... but also understanding, knowing, and learning to trust each other.

Another good AU story by Beautifulpurpleflame is "The Beach House", so you can also read that.

Honorary mention::

"How To Save Her Life" (Rated T) by "Beautifulpurpleflame"

If you're looking for a wholesome, toe-curling good, filled with feels, amazing, awesome, family Titans BBRae story... this book will give you everything... or any of Beautifulpurpleflame's stories really...

I mean, that girl... is a legend... Her stories are so great.. just... I'm speechless

Don't forget to check 'em out.

You can also follow this amazing writer on Tumblr, @beautifulpurpleflame , and show her some love and support.

Okay, another story... Now this may be considered cheating, as I'm only including completed stories... but I couldn't stop myself from not mentioning this story...

Nevermore Records -by LilyTimbers | Rated T

According to the author, only one chapter and an epilogue is left... so, I guess we could wave it off with a yellow flag?

I, myself, can't go on a single day without music. And the idea of my favorite team of superheroes... being a Rock Band..? Boy, ya' don't gotta tell me twice!

This is a slow burn story, which includes Gar in his mid-twenties, along with the other Titans (except Raven), being a part of a Rock Band, which plays gigs at different places just as a side hobby. But, as they have real talent, they get a once in a life-time chance to be an officially labeled band, they're ought to be super hit. Here, we also see some other Titans, which is a real sight for sore eyes sometimes... But, just being good doesn't mean that everything's out for them in a gold platter. The team itself faces lots of challenges which is, truth be told, really entertaining. And the fact that Gar's love interest is his own manager? Oooh... you're up for a real good ride...

I'll keep the rest of the reading to you... and believe me, the story is waaay better than my small review.

The author is also an amazing artist, and has many beautiful BBRae fanarts on her Tumblr profile @lilytimbers , so you can follow her for updates! (though tbh I think you already do... but I felt like saying it, soo...)

If you're also a sucker for musical band based BBRae story, don't forget to check out

Harmony -by Kid Walker | Rated M

Here, Raven joins a singing group which does covers, and quite willingly, she can't seem to keep her eyes off of their leader/director, Gar Logan... and looks like he can't either. It's an amazing story, and I believe you'll really enjoy reading it!

(The story itself is complete, just some extra bonus chapters that the Author posts are yet to be updated, so I guess this story qualifies.)

There is also a huge collection of amazing BBRae AU stories on Wattpad, too many to count, but here are two stories that I remember... and had a good time reading...

(On Wattpad only: (and only completed ones.))

High School -by anssoftball94

Soo... as you might've guessed from the title, here Gar and Rae are high schoolers. They live together with Rick (Dick/Robin), Kory and Vic in the Tower. I guess we could call it a slow burn, and what I enjoy is it also has the other Titans in a satisfying amount.

What I love about this story is that Gar and Rae don't just jump into a romantic relationship (like most teens do, I'm just sayin'!) and start a romance, no. In this story, first, they understand each other... and in a subtle manner, fall for each other. It's a really sweet and practical story, and I really enjoyed it... (even though I had to wait for the ending for decades!!)

Just one thing that makes this story a bit weird is that instead of "Gar" or "Garfield", Beast Boy is mentioned as "Logan" throughout the whole story... so... it was a bit... y'know? *shruggs*. But otherwise it's a must read.

A+ -by NikolaDabrowska

This story, to be honest, will definitely qualify as a cliché high school romance, "popular basketball kid falls for introverted bookworm nerd", but I really enjoyed reading it.

I mean like, you know what they say about Disney Classics, right? Even though we've read Beauty and The Beast or Snow White, we still like to watch the movies..? This story's like that.

Even though the troupe is kinda cliché, the story itself is executed in a very engaging manner, with interesting character dynamics and some original plots, so, I would definitely recommend reading it. (I, myself, have read it more than five times...)

So, that was a list of the BBRae AU stories that I highly recommend! There are more amazing (and incomplete) stories out there to read, but these are just the ones I've thoroughly enjoyed (and remembered.)

Also, feel free to share your BBRae story, if you have written any, and I'll happily read and support your story!!

Happy Reading!

Quick endnote, if you've read this post till here, do me a favor and check out my stories too! ;)

On Fanfiction.net and Wattpad.

All of my stories are complete, instead of "Tease Is Just The Cover" on FF.net (which I don't think I'm gonna work on any time soon), so feel free to check 'em out!

Sorry for the advertising, but I also want an audience y'know?

THANK YOU! And I hope you have a good day/evening/night ahead!

#bbrae #garchel #garrae #teen titans #fanfiction #au #alternate universe #recommendations #fanfic recommendation #titans #raven #rachel roth #raven roth #beast boy #changeling #gar logan #garfield logan

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