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#and have 100% adopted it for the gems in the VERY least
tangledinink · 5 months
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your art and design(s) of donnie has inspired me to give my donnie a long fluffy tail.
and like i headcanon donnie as trans, and i know that female turtles have little short tails but my excuse is that something just went a little weird with his mutation so he has a long tail. that also goes for the fluffy part of the tail, since turtles don't have fur whatsoever
sorry this was random I just wanted to say- also i LOVE YOUR ART!!! ITS SO PRETTY
hell yeah! long tail donnie supremacy!!! go off!!! chase your bliss!!! give him a long fluffy tail! my favorite way to 'justify' donnie's long tail (not that you need a justification) is a headcanon that I 1000% stole from @spectralsleuth that the mad dogz got more than just turtle/human DNA in there...
i mean, they're baron draxum's masterwork! unstoppable super soldiers! the answer to the prophecy! if you wanna make an incredible dish, you don't just use two ingredients, right? so i like to imagine it being, like, mostly turtle and lou jitsu dna, sure, but with, like... a dash of dna from a dozen or so other animals, too. just for good measure. you gotta season the dish, right?
it's fun because it just opens so many doors in my mind. oh, donnie's long tail? yeah, that's the water monitor dna. the way the gemini wag their tails? oh, there's some doberman in there. the sharp teeth? python genes making an appearance! they purr because of the trace amounts of wildcat heritage they have--
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fam1lyjewels · 11 months
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The members of the family jewels each come from very different backgrounds. Part of the reasoning for the group’s name comes from the fact that they are their families’ prized possessions, their beautiful little gems. Members like Nayun and Narae come from a well known family in Korea, whilst members like Heidi, Gigi, and Nanami are from humble families in far away countries.
These are their families.
(   the jungs   )   /   *   single parent by choice   .
All HEIDI has is her mother, JUNG JIHYE. Before having HEIDI, JIHYE was a Korean teacher at a high school in Iceland. She is a Korean immigrant, having fallen in love with the country while on vacation and decided to move there without a second thought. JIHYE couldn’t wait to live in Iceland with her boyfriend at the time, but things quickly went down the drain. He did not possess the same passion for the country and didn’t want to move there and not have a stable job. So, she left him in Korea. Or at least, she thought she did. JIHYE found out she was pregnant before leaving for good. She chose to not tell him, fearing he would make her stay. HEIDI was born in 2001 and she hasn’t told either of them. JIHYE plans to take this secret to her deathbed, or at least keep it a secret until HEIDI does a DNA test.
HEIDI is okay with not having a dad, but she always wonders what it would be like to have more than just her mom.
(   the kims   )   /   *   the 1% of the 1%   .
SON MINAH is the matriarch of the Kim family. She is the oldest child of SON JONGYUL, the founder and CEO of KMO Corp. As the acting COO it is speculated that upon death or retirement, she will become the CEO of the company. KMO is the leading source of news and entertainment in South Korea, Japan, and China. Because of her ties to KMO, it is estimated that MINAH’s net worth is nearly $100 million USD. KIM JINHO, the patriarch, is a four-time Academy award winning director. In 1998 he won Best International Short film for UMMA, a 20-minute film following the life of a young girl as she slowly, but surely turns into her beast of a mother despite wanting to be nothing like her. The year the twins were born (2003) he won Best Director for When the Songbird Croaks a zombie movie that focused on the horrors of humanity rather than the monsters. Best Screenplay was won in 2007 for MAPS, a story of star-crossed lovers who met their end far too soon. The most recent award was Best Picture in 2021 for Bite the Hand, a film that follows a woman’s journey to cutting off her family to better herself. His net worth is estimated to be $50 million USD.
Because of their parents, NAYUN and NARAE have known nothing but luxury. They have been guests to the Oscars, the Grammys, the BAFTAS, et cetera simply because they are the flesh and blood of SON JONGYUL and KIM MINAH.
(   the murakamis   )   /   *   raised by a sibling   .
NANAMI’s biological father passed away from cancer before she was born, and her mother died during childbirth. With no one else to care for her, she was adopted by her then 18 year old brother MURAKAMI SATOSHI. SATOSHI was college student studying engineering at the time. When a child was suddenly thrown his way, he pulled out of schooling to care for NANAMI. His close friends decided to pitch in and help him raise his sister. When SATOSHI would leave for his job at the local spa one of his friends would step in and care for NANAMI. SATO KOUKI, ENDO HIMARI, and HARADA MIO were the most influential on NANAMI in her early developmental years. However, as their college careers came to a close SATOSHI’s friends began moving away to start their lives. Times became tough for the MURAKAMI siblings. Things stayed tough until SATOSHI met TAKAHASHI EMA, his wife. At this point NANAMI was 4 and needed a female figure in her life more than ever. Since then, they had been a family of three.
NANAMI has a fear of people leaving her that stems from her past. She fears that everyone she loves will pack up and leave because she isn’t enough. She is currently in therapy.
(   the xus   )   /   *   the nuclear family   .
MIKEY XU is a history professor at Chapman University. He met his wife, HOSANA “ANNIE” KAM while studying there in the 1990s. She was studying to become and high school English teacher and he was studying to become a history professor. They met at a student mixer the RA on their floor was throwing, and have been together ever since. Not too long after they met, ANNIE became pregnant with their son GEORGE and they quickly got married before she was too far along. They had a child before either of them earned their bachelors degree. MIKEY and ANNIE repeated this while getting their masters degrees. GIGI was born a month before they got their degrees.
MIKEY and ANNIE have the healthiest relationship out of the members’ parents. GIGI loves her parents and wants them to come visit Korea.
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kimberlyannharts · 2 years
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LAST TIME ON POWER RANGERS: The Omegas are getting kind of fucked up because Andros freed a non-binary icon named Death Ranger to revive his twinksicle, as you do.  So who is this Sans Power Ranger guy running around possessing people and making zombies?  I guess we’ll find out here!  Power Rangers Unlimited: The Death Ranger!
- as we saw in the previews, the framing device for this book is a bedtime story being told to Andros and Zhane by their adopted....mom......which is still really weird to say because i don’t know if they’re intended to be romantic or not!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  but I think it’s kind of funny because this story seems PG-13 at the very least
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- Little shot of the original Omegas.  The designs are..........well.  They’re okay.  I can’t really be so hard on one-off characters that we’ll never see again after this book fjkfd but I’m so tired of technicolored humanoids with maybe a couple physical quirks, guys.  Why couldn’t Apophee have a beast face rather than just the lovechild of Goliath and Elisa.  Red being Kiya’s species is just rubbing salt in the wound 
Me: Can I have Kiya please Boom: We have Kiya at home The Kiya at home:
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- also fun fact i thought the original Yellow was a Xybrian because of the thing on her forehead, but it’s an eye, not a gem.  so okay
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- So Spa’ark’s species operates on a big hivemind situation.  this will probably be important
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- UH-OH SISTERS
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- oooooh nice morphing panels!!  the art and coloring are really cool an
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- oh.  bye Haza.
- Shoutout to the Supernova Sister for beating the “why can’t the villains just attack during the morphing sequence” allegations
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- so my thing here is.  Is all of this going to be important to the Xi of the present.   because this is a lot of potential for fleshing out Xi as a character but it’ll be moot if they just never address it outside of here
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- .....................Dark Specter???  Question mark???????
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- .......the Omega rangers have had sidearms this whole time??????????  I guess that makes sense since literally every ranger ever has a sidearm but.....where are they on the current Omegas.  Why don’t they have holsters.  Can they turn into a knife I bet they can’t.
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- some people???  make a deal with the devil to bring back their friends as zombies????  to cope?????????
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- oh??  Hi, Death Ranger suit??  That was kind of sudden
- also i have to admit the skull face on the helmet always kind of confused me....I thought the implication was that somehow their whole face turned into a skull but I guess it’s just the mouth plate?  And some of the previews for #100 support this.  Even though when Zhane was possessed his head was clearly supposed to be a skull on the inside?  So maybe that only happens to their zombies?  Am I thinking about this too hard?  idk
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- So this answers some questions I suppose.  They’re basically just using the Morphin Grid as an engine for the dead bodies that they can operate.  Makes sense, even if we’re going all in on the “the Morphin Grid is just The Force now” with it powering all living things 
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- BETRAYED!!!!!!!!!!!
- this will probably also be important
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- damn I guess I understand why Spa’ark went all murder mode the second Andros let them out.  They didn’t even get to kill ANYBODY here (even though I thought them killing all the originals would explain why the powers were dormant when Blue found them but i digress)
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- gay baby jail
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- Replacing blue rangers is apparently a time-honored Omega Ranger tradition, as well as just locking away their problems and never addressing them ever again <3
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- tfw your sons don’t have basic comprehension in media literacy 
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occult-roommates · 1 year
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The strange case of Adem Zaoui
In the French town of Brin-de-thon, there was a powerful spellcaster of the name of Gwenaelle Lorgnez, or Gwenn. While she was beloved by the local community, she had always lived alone, at least as far as people knew, and had been doing so for decades. That morning, just like she did every morning, she read the newspaper while drinking her coffee. Nothing that interesting ever happens in her small town, however that day, something did catch her attention, though it was in the national news section.
Basically, in the Paris area, a young man of only 20 years had recently woken up one morning to see that his previously brown hair had turned completely green. As if this was not strange enough already, he later realized he had some telekinetic ability, which is the first power young spellcasters tend to develop as infant. Now, he is able to do a few simple beginner spell and even talk to animal. The twist in this story, he previously was 100% human, absolutely no history of spellcasting in his family. Sure, it gets a bit murky as one of his grandmother was adopted, but considering spellcasting genes tend to be dominant, it’d be highly unlikely that after four generations, he was the first one out of all his relatives to be born with them. 
There is so far no explanation as to how this happened to him. Just to make this more mysterious, no such case had ever been recorded. Maybe it happened before, but wasn’t recorded for whatever reason, though since it seemed to be the first time in modern time, this phenomena has a high chance of being extremely rare. Yes, some spellcasters develop their power later in life, but usually they’re from a spellcasting family and are not really considered human, at least in the cultural sense. Also, their physical trait don’t change all of a sudden. The fact his hair changed color does imply something in his very DNA has been changed.
Gwenn: Uh, interesting. I should try to contact him.
Gwenn could relate a bit to that. While she was born a spellcaster, she was also the only one in her family...Well, in her case, she later on found it’s because mom had cheated on her human dad with a spellcaster, but she did spend the first 40 years of her life thinking she was a case of spontanous spellcaster in a human family. Which while rare, does happen sometime. Once again however, these people are born, they don’t randomly become one at 20, and those people tend to have some recent ancestor who was one.
Below the article was a picture, a selfie of that young new spellcaster. The caption saying the following: “Adem Zaoui in March 2021″. 
The day before, Adem had been interviewed at the university he was studying at by a local news station. That interview had been translated in several languages and had went around the globe pretty much overnight.
Journalist: So, Mister Zaoui, tell us, how did this happen? Adem: Well uh...I am not too sure to be honest. I will say however that I think I can pinpoint the triggering event. Unlike what some news outlet are claiming, I did not suddenly woke up and boom, green hair. You see, my dad is Algerian, and around five years ago, we went to visit some relatives still living in Algeria. One evening with two of my cousins, we went outside the city and ended up lost. I don’t really remember what happened next except that we were panicking, but I did found a weird gem on the ground, which of course I picked up cause it looked like an emerald and we were joking about selling it.
Adem put the gem in his pocket, but as to make this even weirder, when he and his cousin finally made it home, the gem had...melted? And now it was oozing a glowing green goo all over poor Adem’s leg. He tried washing it as well as he could, but the part of his skin that had touched the goo was still shiny and greenish. Falling asleep that night wasn’t that easy, he was worried on what on Earth he had found, but eventually he got too tired and sleep did win. When he woke up, the mark on his leg had disappeared, but he had one, very noticeable strand of green hair around his hairline.
Adem: Over the next five years, my hair slowly turned green. Not just the one on my head, like, all of my hair, from my eyebrows to those weird little hairs on my toes. They’ve only been fully green since last month however, and I developped my power uh...like a year after coming into contact with that weird gem I’d say? It was a shock to my family at first, but they got used to it eventually. Also I got very lucky, as both my girlfriend and best friend were spellcasters, so they helped me adapt to me new life.     Journalist: Thank you, Mister Zaoui, what a fascinating story. This was all the time we had however. Adem: I wasn’t really do- Journalist: This was Noémie Larose, reporting from Paris.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, Daniele and Dawud were watching an English translation of the interview on the local news. To Daniele, This was incredible, a pure miracle. A human, a human with zero history of magic, became a spellcaster! When it was done, he turned around towards Dawud, with a big smile on his smile.
Dawud: Wh-What’s going on, you’re scaring me. Daniele: Dav, do you know what that means? Dawud: No? Daniele: There might be hope for me! 
At first, Dawud was still confused. And then it clicked. Yeah, Daniele is right, what if this was a first sight pointing towards a cure for his disorder?
Though, let’s say, to Dawud, the idea of a human turning into a spellcaster was also interesting, but for very, very different reason. Uh, if only he had knew two years ago...
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seadradoodles · 2 years
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So, uh. I think that red gem on Red Velvet’s sword might be a Soul Jam. This will contain spoilers for the Tower of Sweet Chaos, and Chapters 9 and 10. My reasoning is this:
Red is the only character, aside from the Ancients, who has been around since the beginning of the Dark Flour War who has not aged past “indeterminate aged adult”. He seems like a young adult still. With the new confirmation that the Soul Jam grant eternal youth, this would make sense. Red Velvet is meant to be older than Custard’s dad. He was a child, possible even older considering how long the war went on for, when Custard’s father was a baby (seen during the time loop scenes of Chapter 10)
In an unused line, he mentions that his enchanted breadknife will never rust or break. Hollyberry’s shield, which appears to be a normal shield, never broke while the Soul Jam was in it despite constantly being used against dragons. The King and Queen couldn’t use it until all of the Soul Jam pieces were found again, so it’s seemingly unbreakable quality was likely because of the Soul Jam.
Red Velvet’s interactions with Pastry seem odd as well. She just broke into a highly guarded, major base, and killed over 100 soldiers by herself without a single injury to herself. That oven is everything to the army. If they lose that oven, they lose their way to get new members quickly.
And yet Red doesn’t bat an eye and starts teasing her. While it could just be him being overconfident and trying to avoid a fight, with the added context that he might have a Soul Jam, it hits a lot different. He’s a general. He should know better than to not take her seriously after the damage she had just caused. And yet he didn’t take her seriously until after she immobilized him with her crossbow. If he really has a Soul Jam, even a small one, then of course he wouldn’t take her seriously. Because without that crossbow, she wouldn’t have stood a chance.
Not only that, but he also took multiple hits from that crossbow, and was still well enough to talk, even though it only took one to kill each of the Cakes. I highly doubt she hit every single Cake in a fatal spot given how quickly she was firing and how many she had to manage. Maybe it was because he was half Cookie, but I think it might also have something to do with his possible Soul Jam considering how the other Ancients frequently survive supposedly fatal injuries so easily with their own Soul Jam.
He’s also oddly not allowed to interact with any of the CoD except the fiercely loyal Pomegranate outside of the April Fools Event. And we don’t know how canon that event is. At the very least, it seems Red doesn’t know the other members of the CoD very well. Despite being in the Vanilla Kingdom at the time of the other CoD, he was not at the dinner meeting, nor did he ever partake in any of the other meetings between the members. Even after DE was freed. This makes me think DE is keeping him a secret, which would be very odd given he is the general and her adopted son to some degree.
A friend of mine also pointed out that White Lily’s Soul Jam is still missing. We have no idea where it went, and there hasn’t been any mention of it. But Red Velvet’s gem is vaguely shaped like the bottom of it. It could be entirely possible that Dark Enchantress repurposed part of her own Soul Jam for him.
We’ve never actually gotten to see him fight in the main story. And I feel like that’s because they’re waiting. As much as I would love to see him switch sides or go completely rogue, I think it’s more likely that he’s going to be a pre-final boss battle, and the last one standing between Brave’s army and DE herself.
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wingsofhcpe · 2 years
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SNOWPIERCER S3 EP5 THOUGHTS: TICK TICK ....BOOM
*inhuman screeching*
The entire episode really sold it to me that Zarah was going to kick the bucket and I'm a little disappointed it didn't happen. I have not gotten over my dislike for her but at this point, dislike or no dislike, I just felt it would be the best narrative option. Even if it was a character I liked I would have hoped it would happen because it was just set up very well and idk. It just felt wrong that she and the baby both survived.
Till and LJ rivalry is what I live for, and Os just awkwardly standing there while his sister and his wife duke it out.
PIKE YOU FUCKING IDIOT. I. UGH. IM SO ANGRY RIGHT NOW.
I can't believe this show gave us PikeRuth, sold it to us so well, and then did... whatever the hell this was.
Also idk if that's just bad writing or if I'm missing something, but their first interactions were actually so nice and genuine and now both seem as that didn't mean anything and I'm like??? Bruh???
Ben and Josie....ugh. I love them both I just don't think they have chemistry as a ship...
Also, fine, maybe I just want Melanie back.
Sykes teaming up with Javi and supporting him through shared trauma is actually a pretty neat detail, their interactions were short but I really appreciated the vibe.
Ben 🤝 Audrey: stage 100 of depression.
Audrey looked sexy today and frankly the show is starting to get me sold on her and Till as a thing.
I feel bad for Wilford, which is a sentence I didn't think I'd ever say. Plus we gotta love Alex's snark, she and Dr. Pelton CARRIED this episode idgaf.
Speaking of, Dr. Pelton is a gem and I hope we get to see more of her.
Also not to be that person but her and madame Headwood.... Sapphic vibes is all I'm saying.
Btw mrs. Headwood my poor little meow meow tying the laces on her dead husband's shoes in the end... I love how they barely had any screentime, one of them is gone, but you can just see how much in love they were and how much they cherished each other.
Tristan in the intercomm scene: who are you and what have you done to Ruth.
Btw I know the ship sunk before it even sailed (at least seems so by what we've gotten today) but pls consider Pike and Ruth adopting Winnie. Pls. The crumbs we got in this episode... Please tell me Pike won't get himself killed and he'll actually see he's being a bit unreasonable about this.
I mean yeah sure he's got a point (and as a fellow Ruth simp I just gotta say he's got The Point that Ruth should lead the train) but like...maybe setting fire everywhere isn't the best way to go about it??? Just saying???
Jumping from one point to the next here but Ben missing Melanie and vocalising his emotions on her death broke me.
Also wait I've a question, did Ruth lie to Layton when she said that "Ben mentioned a fire"? Or was the dude that Layton met undertrain another Ben? It's a common name so I wouldn't be surprised if it was just...another Ben, but my mum thinks Ruth just lied to Layton. Which is honestly what I hope is the case, because if we had to see all of Ruth's awesome character arc JUST for her to return to hospitality and stay there, even as a better person, staying in the same position she was in s1e1, I'm going to be angry™.
Anyway all I'm saying is I want Ruth to rebel against Layton just... without setting the train on fucking fire (Pike, cmon, really? That's not how you persuade your gf to join your cause). Like if anyone can make this work without blowing everything to pieces (PIKE) it's her.
Whoop-tee-do until next week I guess!
EDIT: HOW COULD I FORGET UNCLE TILL!!!!! MY BEAUTIFUL GNC BUTCH GF!!!! I'M IN LOVE!!!!
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twistedlymad · 4 years
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Headcanons for lilia as a dad to an adopted human daughter please.
Lilia is best babysitter/dad hands down. I can only imagine a baby Silver/Malleus drinking milk in his arms UwU
Again, this is not a reader insert and Lilia is also aged up! Or, at least he had already graduated from NRC.
But anyways, thank you for the request! I hope this little headcanon lives up to your expectations! Thank you again and have a lovely day!!
Lilia Vanrouge
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After taking care and raising both Silver and Malleus, one would think Lilia would be done with babysitting. Unfortunately, they’re wrong. Lilia loves babies! So it wouldn’t be a surprise when he suddenly adopted a young girl.
Lilia absolutely loves this young one! Like Malleus, Lilia would dote on his precious jewel 25/8. He would never let the young child leave his sight no matter what! In his eyes, he sees the young girl as the most adorable, precious, pure and innocent child. He will do anything to preserve that innocence forever!
Because of previously taking care and raising Silver and Malleus, Lilia actually kept all the kid toys he used and would most certainly use them again while taking care of his little one.
Fake tea parties are 100% a real thing. If the young child says it’s tea time, Lilia would literally drop EVERYTHING and sit down at the table with his young one, surrounded by dolls and plastic china. Sure, the tea may be nonexistent, but the joy and happiness were as the smiles on both the young child and Lilia’s face are genuine. 
Dress-ups? YES! ABSOLUTELY! Lilia would shower his little jewel with dresses and little trinkets such as cute hair ties, little tiaras, accessories, you get my point. Each day, his little one would be dolled up and Lilia would take several, and I mean SEVERAL, pictures his precious little gem.
Silver would absolutely see the young child as a younger sister. He loves her as much as Lilia would love her and Silver would do ANYTHING to protect the young girl from any harm for she is so fragile.
He’s like... The meme where a person says: “I’ve only had XXX for a day but if anything happens to her I would kill everyone in the room and then myself.” Yeah. Silver’s that protective!
Music will be a part of the young one’s life. Due to Lilia’s ability to play almost, if not, all instruments, the young child would also pick up an instrument or two as she watches her father play all these fascinating instruments. And when she does, Lilia would teach her all that he knows about the instrument that she picked. From learning how to read notes to playing full pieces, Lilia would be so proud of his little one for patiently learning and trying her absolute best to fully understand and grasp the instrument. 
BEWARE OF LILIA’S COOKING! I REPEAT, HIS COOKING IS LITERALLY TO DIE FOR.
But for real, Lilia WILL cook for the young one. And since Silver and Malleus knows what it tastes like, they will protect the young girl from ever tasting Lilia’s cooking.
If Lilia had to cook that night, either Silver would bring in take out, or Malleus would invite the Vanrouge’s to have dinner at the Draconia’s. ANYTHING to protect the young girl from tasting Lilia’s cooking at such a young age.
When the young one gets older and knows the difference between good food and bad food, only then will she know the power of Lilia’s cooking.
Of course, being a human with no magic, the young gem will of course face a few bullies. Do not fret though, remember how I said Silver was like that meme? And I said Lilia would do ANYTHING to preserve his young gems innocence? Yea... There’s no way a bully can surpass both Silver and Lilia’s glares towards them.
In conclusion, Lilia would love his little precious one with all his heart. He would treasure his time with his little one as much as he can by taking pictures and making memories with them. Of course, his little gem loves him with all her heart because Lilia was the one who took her in and the one she could rely on no matter what the problem was. She’s very thankful for having Lilia as a father and Lilia knows it.
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secret-engima · 4 years
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A Dissidia AU where all the Good Guys(tm) are various Noctis’ (allowing you to have the Noct’s that make you say, “interesting, but what’s the rest of the story? Hello? Hello?”). Regis, via Crystal-o-Vision is simultaneously a joy (so many sons!) and a sad (I can’t be with the sons). And the opponents? Eh, uhm. Hadn’t got that far. Nox and Ardyn’s? With maybe a few Glaucus? (The hell am I doing on this side? I have Idiots to Sheppard in a vaguely ordered fashion.)
Hmmmmmmm I’m still not sure what to DO with this but like- okay?
-Materia tries calling for Champions and it goes ... not well.
-All the various Nocti stare at each other. Canon Noctis, who has never done this before is an Internal Scream. While Nox is chill with it until he spots Little Nox. Noxtaur has jumped into the nearest perch and is Staying There while he laughs himself sick, N!Noctis is gently patting his big brother’s shoulder in sympathy while sporting big eyes, LN!Noctis is holding his little brother’s hand protectively, and NT!Noctis has joined his brother up in the rafters. Night King (NK)!Noctis is spacing off into the distance hoping if he ignores this problem his sanity will return, Yoru has broken out the sake and is looking honestly amused by all this, Au Ra Noctis is slowly climbing up to join the Taurs in their Perch of Hysteria, Youkai!Nox is looming in the far side of the room because he’s in his animal form and that animal form is Big™, and Deleantur-
-Deleantur, sitting in the corner watching this madness unfold, just kinda- sighs pathetically as he realizes that he’s technically the eldest and that means he’s theoretically in charge of this fiasco. Then he spots Fem!Nox & Fem!Noctis skulking over to his corner for peace and quiet and his brain shorts out.
-There’s also a Noctis lurking in the background who looks like he’s halfway daemonified but doesn’t FEEL like the Starscourge. Nobody is brave enough to ask for clarification and he doesn’t seem too keen on answering (he also seems about 80% Feral and none of the time-traveling Nocti want to think on those implications so they don’t). Next to him is a Noctis dressed in what looks like an Imperial uniform and while he’s acting polite enough he’s also welding a cane like it’s a weapon and his smile is DEFINITELY just this shade of Ardyn Scourge Crazy.
-Nobody is talking to that Noctis.
-Which suits him just fine.
-Eventually Deleantur and Nox (the OG Nox) manage to call order among all the Nox and Nocti and confront Materia about this issue. Materia very confused and apologetic but they ARE here now so maybe they could fight for her anyway?
-Since a minimum of all the Nox’s + Deleantur have lived through this plot at least once in their lives before, they are chill with the idea. The others less so.
-Imperial Noctis just kinda laughs in a way that gives no one any reassurance and the maybe-daemon Noctis has joined Youkai!Nox in his corner, they appear to be conversing via growl. All the Nocti elect to ignore this for their own sanity.
-Spiritus calls up material and he kinda laughs at her for accidentally calling so many copies of “the same soul” while HE managed a diverse cast (aka the regular Dissidia baddies) but Nox spots both his Ardyn and a Taur Ardyn at their respective Titus’s so hah jokes on you Spiritus.
-The Ardyns, of course, insta defect with the Titus’s following along behind Sighing™ at all the stupidity in their lives and OH LOOK AT ALL THE MORONS THEY HAVE TO BRAINCELL. At least Regis isn’t here.
-More than a few brains break meeting fem!Ardyntaur (and Fem!Nox & Noctis), but it’s STILL not as creepy as Imperial Noctis lurking in the back staring at Ardyn in a way that’s simultaneously Death™ and Perfectly Blank™ so.....
-Also Maybe Daemon Noctis has abandoned the strategy of “Stick Together and Get This Over With” in favor of chasing around the Clown Guy trying to rip his spine out. Or maybe eat him. No one is 100% sure.
-The Nocti and Noxs take turns holding Little!Nox and staying in the back under the watchful, massive eye of Youkai!Nox, and Deleantur leads a small group of Nocti to retrieve the various summons so they can get info on the World-Eater. it still takes a few days to get Materia and Spiritus to agree to cooperate and then a few more to find the World-Eater, during which such shenanigans occur as-
-All the compiled Nocti, Noxs, and Ardyns taking a nap on Youkai!Noctis because he is Large and Fluffy.
-The Titus’s exchanging tips on handling their idiots.
-The Ardyn’s having too much fun weirding people out with their existence (especially the Noxs and Nocti who are used to a male Ardyn)
-Fem!Nox, Fem!Noctis, and Fem!Ardyn all having some Girl Time because Female Solidarity in this Insanity.
-Little!Nox befriending Maybe Daemon Noct.
-Little!Nox getting a piggyback ride on Noctistaur’s back while Noxtaur quietly dies in the corner from embarrassment and cute.
-Little!Nox in general being an Utter Gem of Cuteness and leading the charge in all the Noxs adopting a very confused Sephiroth en masse.
-Little!Nox managing to befriend Imperial Noctis via having a sick day and suddenly deciding the only lap he can nap his sickness away in is Imp!Noctis’s. Who bears it with a grace more born out of bluescreening but hey.
-Everybody gets confused about Deleantur, who refuses to answer their questions (the Noxs figure it out and are kinda a Horror tho).
-By the time the World Eater is found and it’s time to fight, all of Spiritus’s champions minus Sephiroth and the Ardyns and Tituses are thoroughly terrified of anything Lucis Caelum. XD
-The fight is big and Epic and there are armigers everywhere and somehow Deleantur manages to out OP everyone else present with OG Nox, Imp Noctis and the Ardyns as close seconds.
-Needless to say, the World Eater is Very Very Dead™ by the time they’re done and honestly Spiritus and Materia are very glad that these lunatics are going home.
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I Decided To Watch The Walkthrough Of Deltarune Chapter 2
I was really happy that Chapter 2 was finally ready, but because of reasons... I wasn't able to play it, I mean I wanted to.
but whenever I clicked on it, it ended up showing that small blue message. saying that it might put the PC at risk.
I don't know if I should try to play it or not, maybe nothing will happen and it will just play the game with no problems.
but that message did pop up before,
when I wanted to play that Undertale Kissy Cutie fan game.
the Undertale Don't Forget Fan Game, it works just fine.
those two games didn't have that blue message pop up,
when I clicked on them.
so something must be causing it to happen,
I want to know if it will be okay to play those games.
if others have been having the same problems, but were also worried about playing it because of the blue message.
maybe someday they will have a update for those games where that blue message wont pop up and everything will be fine.
also I wonder if my seeing Toriel as a off-white purple colors, might of been a trick of the eyes...?
what I mean is, that maybe it was....I don't know.
also ya know like the Pie Was Canon, cause  someone's fan animation ended up predicting what was gonna happen in Deltarune.
turns out that Kris really did eat the whole pie.  and by the looks of it, from what I have seen in the walkthrough of Deltarune's Chapter 2.
I think that one of the Comics of Deltarune, might of predicted the future......
well Semi-Future.
so what happens at the school in Deltarune, is canon in the game.
of course there are still some differences from what happens in Chapter 2
and the AU-Comic.
maybe it is me that thinks that a comic predicated what was going to happen in the very start of the Chapter 2....
it took some hours, but I was able to finish watching it.....still wish I could of played it.
but like I said, that blue message that pop up made me decide not to at the moment because it says it might put The PC at risk.
so I'm not sure if it really would, but I don't want to risk it.
so I still have chapter 2 of the game, but I just can't play it right now sadly.
I got to say that the romances in the game was sure interest...
can't wait to see the ships.
well with any hope, all the chapters of Deltarune will be on a Nintendo Switch Game Card someday, maybe in a few years.
hopefully the Cuphead Game will be on a game card too, I still haven’t beaten that game sadly....I really need to try to get one of my family to be my player-2
so that I can maybe beat the hard bosses.
yeah know, Cuphead and Mugman should have common sense not to go into a casino that is run by the Devil.
well them and the debtors, the debtors should of had some sense not to make a deal with the Devil.
I wonder if it’s weird to have thoughts of flipping off the Grandpa Watchers and Nephilim.....? 
or the whole having thoughts of flipping off the Devil himself too...?
and in case there is any confusion, the “Watchers” were Angels....
well I think I would have it in my right to do a double flip the birdy off of them...
for some odd reason a little bit of the song “it’s my life” pop into my head just now....
guess you could say history repeats itself lol.
I mean, if what those mortal men wrote about it is true....
but it is likely one of their fibs.....maybe?
the song it’s my life, it’s by Bon Jovi.
as soon as that song pop into my head, I just had to listen to it.
  even though I might not be able to play Chapter 2 for a while because of the issues that prevent me from playing it.
I did enjoy watching the walkthrough of the chapter 2.
it was worth watching it for hours, plus I was surprised by what happen in the start of the chapter 2....well it happen when Kris went to school and there was something that happen there, which reminded me of well Paper Trial.
I do plan to read more of it on here, of course there is still differences.
but a certain thing that happens at the start of the Chapter 2,
reminds me of it but I wont say what....but what happens in that game that reminds me of Paper Trial, also reminds me of the The Pie Is Canon.
cause of that fan animation that had Kris saying that they were going to eat the whole pie, and it turns out the Chapter 2 Trailer shows that they did in fact eat the whole pie.
so The Pie being ate by Kris at the very end of Chapter 1, is 100% Canon.
 if there was fight between Susie from Deltarune and Cuphead from the Cuphead series.
I think Susie would win, at least I think she would.
plus Cuphead would have to be out of his mind to pick a fight with Susie.
I’m also starting to wonder if Asriel (the one from Deltarune)
might be a bit of a perv...? ^_^;;
if that book he borrowed from the library is a clue and him NEVER returning it.
well, I say it is possible.
Flowey: Has He Have No Shame!?
after finishing listening to it’s my life, I started to listen to some other music.....I’m listening to Equestria Girls songs now.
the magic of friendship is a wonderful thing, but like Sunset said before....
it can be turned into something else, and with how most of the problems in Equestria was solved by turning the “Bad Guys” to stone,
instead of just talking with them and trying to understand their point of view...
I think Sunset and her friends are a bit more better in reforming the bad guys.
I know that not all bad guys from a movie or cartoon or video game series
can be redeemed, that is because they are too far gone or have been really dark from the start.  
  but sometimes a villain, is just a tragic villain who has been hurt by someone either physically, psychology and or emotionally......or all of the above.
it might not be very easy to heal from the wounds.
it might even make you, not as happy as you use to be.     
and when you see a picture of how happy you seem before,
you can just tell that the you that is now, isn’t as happy as the you that is in the picture.
does that make sense...?
but you might still have happy moments and still be okay, and at some days
I don’t believe it is good or right for a Hero or Main Character,
to cross a line when it does not need to be crossed.
like making Magic the scapegoat, and having it be destroyed.
I mean Star Butterfly’s family had been the ones to misuse the magic,
so the magic itself was NEVER the problem....it was her family that was the problem because of their misuse of it.
and Cozy, Tirek and Chrysalis could of been reformed if they were spoken to and asked why they were doing it....I still think the “Magic of Friendship”
did cause Chrysalis some trauma, and that is why she broke out of the feeling good bond she was forming with Tirek and Cozy.
I get it, she was hurting, what she’s been through made her distrustful towards friendship and the ponies that took her family away from her.
even if she does have trauma, she might still care about Cozy and Tirek deep down.....well that is what I believe anyway.
 cause in a way, those three are a adoptive family and they need each other.
 what Discord, Celestia and Luna did to them,
I will not agree was the best course of action.
at least in Steven Universe Future, they solved the problem with Steven the right way....and like it was pointed out in that video I mention from Youtube.
the problem started at the VERY beginning in the Steven Universe Series.
even if Pearl, Amethyst and Garnet love Steven,
they still Semi-Neglected him, but not as much as Greg had.
and the video did point out some very important facts.
all the stuff that happen in Steven Universe, was going to erupt in time....
and when it did, it started to in the Steven Universe Future.
we can’t pretend that there was nothing wrong with Steven,
or like after he got back from space and after the whole Lars dying and coming back to life....
Connie didn’t try to see that Steven was trying to act like everything was fine,
and she shouldn’t just make it about herself, yes she had a right to her feelings and to wanting to be there for Steven, but Steven had been through a lot and he was hurting too. it is still good that they made up at some point.
and it is good that Connie finally figured out that there was something wrong with him, and they ended up as boyfriend and girlfriend at the end of Steven Universe Future.
maybe there is a lesson in both Steven Universe and Steven Universe Future.        
if we re-watch Steven Universe, we might can see why he ends up the way he does in Steven Universe Future and how it ended up causing him extreme emotional pain that would at some point make him view himself as Monster to the point of transforming into a type of Gem-Kaiju. 
it took everyone of his friends and family, to get through to him and give him what he needed, for them to hug him, and to be there for him when he was at his lowest.
Steven was at his lowest, it is possible the breaking point might of started at the first episode of Steven Universe Future or maybe in the Movie...who knows.
but at least he is seeing a therapist, he did say that he is seeing one now.
we can’t pretend the problem that Steven was having, didn’t first start at the early series....we just need to try to understand that it was going to break him past the breaking point and that it was gonna become too much for him.
even if Pearl, Garnet and Amethyst did technically  live with him
(and Amethyst became mature enough at some point to comfort him a bit more, and not just act like the teasing older sister.)
they still were half the cause of what happen to him, even if they made sure to help him with his gem powers and with other stuff.
they still ended up not taking care of him when he needed it.
and he might of thought it was normal, at least until he learned later on in Steven Universe Future, that it wasn’t.
even what his Dad did wasn’t okay, I get that Greg’s relationship with his own parents wasn’t perfect, but he is just as bad as them.
yes there could be reasons why Greg never got his way,
like one of the theories being that one of his parents had very sensitive hearing and couldn’t take really loud music.
another theory I have is that Steven might of went to go live his Grandparents when he left Beach City.
even if his Grandparents could be disappointed with Pearl, Garnet and Amethyst, they might still see them as a bit more responsible than their son Greg.....who could end up having their full disappointment.
  Greg ended up with so much money, and yeah he could of still treat himself.
but he could of send Steven to the hospital, and even hire a tutor for Steven.
but no, he doesn’t do that at all.
and we know what happen in Steven Universe Future
when Doctor Maheswaran points out some very important facts to Steven.
and Steven ends up getting really mad at his Dad, which I don't’ blame him for getting mad, plus the wreck wouldn’t of happen if Greg had stop being so insensitive to Steven’s feelings of wanting to have what he had and took for granted.
Greg only made things worse, with his talk of “freedom”
and even the whole “Gem” thing....
being a Gem, is only half of who Steven is.
and all his life, he was made to think he was only made to be like a replacement for his Mother....and even question what he is for, like with the whole Nora episode.
I still love Steven Universe, as well as the Movie and the Steven Universe Future. 
even if it takes myself and other fans to finally realize that Steven’s problems didn’t first start in Steven Universe Future, BUT in the first series.
and over time during Steven’s childhood it was only getting worse.
we want to believe that Steven’s life was perfect in the first series,
and the bad times he had in most of them, he got through with a smile on his face with no problems at all.         
who knows what the next show will be that Rebecca Sugar will make next,
but I know I wouldn’t mind seeing what comes next, just got to keep a eye out.
also you know how I believe the Darkners from Deltarune
are Tulpa, and from what we see in Chapter 2,
the new Darkners we see in it, are also Tulpa
and there are many different type of Tulpa.
well, I can’t help but wonder if Chara might be a Tulpa.
it is possible that the Red Soul in Undertale and the one in Deltarune,
are one in the same and are Chara.
and when the Player meets Chara after a Geno-Run....
they are really meeting them inside of Frisk’s Head.
I think it is possible that in Undertale, memories have been rewritten by the Man Who Speaks In Hands.
and the human that Prince Asriel befriended and became family to,
wasn’t Chara......but Kris.
with no soul, the Chara-Soul was placed inside the empty body that was buried under the bed of flowers.
 that is possible, but it might just be a theory that might not end up being true.
unless it is....well I do have a theory that Undertale will be one of the chapters.
if that happens that means Crossover, or not....it is just a theory after all.
it be really awesome if that turn out to be true.
a future Chapter having a Crossover between those two games would be really interesting.
I think it might be possible that the two games could be cleaved worlds, once being one in the same before splitting and breaking apart.
we can think about what was originally going to be in the original version,
as the original world before splitting into Undertale and Deltarune.
Chapter 2 was Awesome, well even if I could only watch a walkthrough of it and I couldn’t play it because of what I spoke about before in this....
but I hope that I will be able to play it sometime.
but for now, I am happy with just watching it until I am able to play it myself.
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Survey #444
“the monster you made is wearing the crown  /  i’ll be the king, and you’ll be the clown”
Do you take off from school, or work for your birthday? Ha, I used to try to talk Mom into letting me stay home from school... It only sometimes worked. Have you ever created ‘open when’ letters for someone? No. That'd be cute for an s/o, though. What is the best thing about being in the relationship you’re in right now or about being single? Not having to fear my partner leaving because of the struggles I'm going through. Not having to worry about not being enough for another person, because I'm not even enough for myself. Do you have a favourite painting? Not by a historical artist, no, but there is a piece by a deviantART artist called "Denialism" (by NukeRooster/Tatchit, if you're interested) that I adore so much I've actually gotten her permission to get it tattooed one day when I can afford a brilliant artist to do it. What are some of the best life hacks you know? /shrug What makes you smile without fail? MARK LAUGHING laj;sdkafjwlk;erj Do you know what you’ll be getting your loved ones for the holidays this winter? No clue. That's still a whiles off. What is your biggest short-term goal (within the next month)? Just lose a decent amount of weight for a month's time. What will your next tattoo be of? It depends on what cash I have available, really. As much as it sucks, I think my next tat is a whiles off because I just have more pressing things to pay for. Has anyone very close to you ever died? Besides pets, the closest human to me that's ever died was Jason's mom. If you were throwing your significant other/best friend a themed party, what would the theme be? Uh, Frieza-related, obviously. Do you feel prepared for the apocalypse? I don't believe in the apocalypse in the biblical sense of it being determined by an ultimate power, so this isn't something I really think about. Whenever humanity ends, it ends. I don't have a say, so I may as well not obsess over it. Do you think you will have children naturally, adopt, or forgo having children altogether? I'm not having kids, but if I did, I know that either I'd have to give birth to them or my hypothetical wife would for me to feel *properly* connected to them as a mother should. Oh, or if my male partner had a kid from a previous relationship, but I'd have to be REALLY in love with him to feel like that child is also my own. Do you take pictures of yourself on a daily basis? Oh god no. Do you believe in angels? No, but rather just spirits. Is there anything in your past that you used to regret, but now you don’t? Hm, maybe? Does your knee hurt? My knees always hurt. Has anyone ever called you sexy? Yes. Do you like raisins? omg nooooo What is your favorite bug? Butterflies! :') Do you like Scrabble? Sure, it's fun for a board game. Do you have a printer? Yes. What is your favorite food? Cheeseburgers or pizza, probably. I know, so American. Have you ever overheard a conversation you weren’t supposed to? Yes. Do you like ants? They are very fascinating when you really think about it, but I still find them incredibly annoying. Did you like the movie Antz? I loved it as a kid. Have you ever drank goat milk? No, I don't believe so. What’s your favorite video game? Silent Hill 2 and Shadow of the Colossus. Do you like cats? I love kitties!!! :') Are goldfish your favorite fish? No. I think my favorite is probably the lionfish. Do you like vanilla pudding? No. I only like chocolate pudding. What is your opinion on gay marriage? I 100% support it and would fight to the death for it. What is your opinion on gay adoption? Don't even fucking look at me if you see a problem with a parentless child finding a home with two people in love. Who was the last person you had a crush on? Sara. What’s the most expensive piece of clothing you own? I have zero clue. Why do you drive the car you have right now? I don't have my own car. Have you ever seen your best friend cry? Omg yes and it sucks. Are you friends with your neighbors? No. What is your current desktop picture? One of my favorite pictures of my late pup, Teddy. What’s the coolest thing you’ve seen out the window of an airplane? Mountains! Does your neighbor have any pets? *shrug* Have you ever swam in a mountain lake? No, but that sounds VIBIN'. Has a cat/dog ever thrown up on your bed? alksdjflk;a;jdfalwe yes Have you ever had a concussion? One or two. Do you know anyone who has a pet gecko? Not currently, I think? I want a fat-tailed gecko, though. :( Would you ever go bear hunting? I wouldn't dare hunt ANY animal. Have you ever seen two movies at the theater in a row? I have not. How many teenagers do you know who have babies? I know no teen personally that has a child, but there were some pregnant students in high school. If you could keep your parents or trade them for other parents, which would you pick? I would NEVER change my parents. Is there a piggy bank in the room you’re in? It's not a "piggy" bank, per se, but my sister got me a skull one that she says is for my tattoo funds. :') How many sets of twins do you know? Two, off the very top of my head. If you have younger siblings, are you very protective of them? Yes. No one fucks with her for as long as I live. If you have older siblings, are they very protective of you? Not especially. Who is your favorite Disney Channel person? Uhhh, maybe Raven Symone? How many pets do you have? Just two. Do you think you will be successful in life? No. :/ What do you have pierced? My earlobes, twice, and my bottom lip. I have been dyinnnnggg for some new ones lately. :/ Does techno annoy you as much as it annoys me? No, I actually enjoy quite a bit of techno. What’s your comfort food? Ice cream. Do you like paranormal stuff? YES. Do you have a favorite stuffed toy? Rebel, my adorable meerkat plush from Jason, and Brownie, my moose from Cabela's. What’s the most exciting project you were given? In a way, my senior project since you got to choose your own topic, but I dreaded the presentation. Do you have a good sense of direction? Not at ALL. What are your favorite colour for a cat? Orange! If you had to live your life carrying a shield, what would its design be? This is gonna sound super, super cheesy, but probably a heart to symbolize how love should and could block the effects of hate and general evil and that we should pursue that instead of violence. Out of all the cancers, which one do you think needs to find a cure first? Oh god, they all do. If I had to pick one though, it'd be one of the inevitably fatal kinds, like pancreatic. What are your general afterthoughts when you’ve finished a book? I feel accomplished for actually reading to a story's completion. How many pairs of glasses (not sunglasses) have you owned? Two, I think? What color is your flash-drive? Hot pink. Have you ever built a sand castle? Yeah. How many houses have you lived in? Six. One I have no memory of. Do you shut off the water while you brush your teeth? Yes. What video game should everybody play at least once? Amnesia: A Machine for PIgs for the symbolism. It blows my mind how most horror fans hate it; it's like they totally miss the point. 100 years from now, what modern things will people look back on and say, “WTF?” Hopefully things like homophobia, racism, misogyny, concepts like those. What is impossible to understand until it happens to you? Mental illness, to name only one thing. What fictional food item from a television show, cartoon, movie, or video game have you always wanted to try? Hm. There's a lot that has looked super good, really. What’s something that gets much more hate than it deserves? Nickelback, lmao. What phrases or sayings drive you crazy? "Everything happens for a reason," "it could be worse/some people have it worse," "it's all part of God's plan," "just think positive"... a lot of stuff. Do you have a deviantART? I do, even though Eclipse made it fucking suck. I only really stay because I cling to the dying hope of being at least somewhat successful on there, and I enjoy keeping tabs on the artwork of the hundreds of people I watch there. Who is your favorite character in your favorite movie? Mufasa, even if he doesn't last long in the movie. :''''''( Have you ever been to Germany? No, but I'd love to! What is your favorite holiday? Christmas. Have you ever been ice skating? No. The blades on the skates scare me. Have you ever taken a karate class? No. Do you have any nieces or nephews? I have a lot, if you include my half-siblings' kids. Do you own an Xbox? Nah, I've always been a PlayStation gal. Would you date someone who’s well-known for cheating? Nope. Would you break up with someone your parents didn’t approve of? No. I'd consider their reasons, but ultimately, it's about me loving the person. Could you be in a relationship without sex? Yeah, sure. It's not ideal, but I mean if the other person is just very opposed, I'm certainly not forcing them. Emotional intimacy is more important to me, anyway. Have you ever been “friendzoned”? Yep. :') Briefly, anyway. Jason tried for my sake, but it was VERY short-lived by no one's fault but my own because all I know how to do is fuck shit up when it comes to him. Which “famous couple” is your favorite? LOOK Mark and Amy are FUCKIN GEMS Have you ever “destroyed” a relationship? Pretty fucking much. Are you the “dominant” or the “submissive” part in a relationship? I'm submissive by nature. Do you think Valentine’s Day is overrated? No, I think it's a cute holiday. Which do you feel is worse of the two to smoke: weed or tobacco? Well, weed has more carcinogens, but at least it has actual health benefits. Who did you last see that you haven’t seen in ages? *shrug* Are you photogenic at all? God no.
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iatheia · 3 years
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EDA reviews Part 5 - books 38-46
Previous part 1, 2, 3 & 4
38) Casualties of War - a lovely story. In form and in function it is pretty much identical to the previous story, and even reveals pretty much the same info verbatim. The plot is similarly nothing outstanding, from ~5 minutes in you can tell pretty much exactly how it is going to turn out. That said, it has a much better atmosphere than the Burning, and Doctor’s characterization is also much stronger. Nice and relaxing, if a bit gory at times, and veering off towards supernatural by the end. 8/10
39) The Turing Test - Wow, these stories keep getting better and better! It is overwhelming and exuberant. Only a handful of books have even attempted to get anywhere near close into the Doctor’s psyche as this one has. Moreover, it has multiple narrators, and all three have a very different relationship with the Doctor, you get into the different facets of his persona, multiplicity of his character. You have a dashing and breathless romantic whose mere presence sweeps you off your feet, a reckless hero, an enigma, at the same time, there is a rather selfish and cruel streak as well. He is a manipulator, someone who knows more than he should and willing to use this knowledge to achieve his aims, willing to play people against each other and show a side of himself that they would be most accepting to see. It is never to the degree of Seven, this behavior is all Eight through and through, the core of his characters never sways, it’s just viewed through a different lens. The previous novels have established these facets, but more on accident, due to lack of consistency between different writers, picking one and going with it. But this is the first one I feel they were actually explored in full, though, certainly, there will be other stories to tackle this in the future as well (Caerdroia in particular comes to mind). An outstanding story through and through. 10/10
40) Endgame - Hot off the heels of the previous one, another fun story - or, at the very least, something that would have been a gem if it had managed to sustain the energy it had at the beginning. Doctor’s claustrophobia and depression were very poignant, and, as much as I loved Stranded already, it does make me look at that story in a new light with a newer appreciation. And, on top of that - this book is funny, the Doctor evading spy agents with ease is the comedy of errors. That said, in the second half there is too much runamock it’s a bit repetitive, not very well organized, they needlessly cross the ocean so many times, the situation at a given location is resolved the second the Doctor shows up on a scene, and it all ends in deus ex machina. The authors note says that the original draft was submitted unfinished, and boy does it show. Still, I had fun with it. 8/10
41) Father Time - It is hard not to notice though that some of the novels come in pairs (or trios). The Burning and the Casualties of War had a lot of overlap. Turning Test and Endgame were both based on political intrigue. And now, Endgame and Father Time, both feature some mysterious entity that know the Doctor from before, with him not knowing who they are. They are even called similarly, “The Players” and “The Hunters”. When these overlaps are so close to one another, it does rather stick out. This ark is not the first time this happened, obviously, there have been a number of stories before that makes you pause and go “wait, you’ve just done this in the previous book, too”. It’s probably more to do with how quickly the books are released one after another, so as the writers discuss some ideas, they end up being in several places....
That said, the first third of the book had me singing its praises. After going through the five stages of grief, and battling against the depression of the previous novel, the Doctor is finally reaching acceptance of his situation, and possibly nurturing hope for the future. It’s exactly the type of a fluffy story I have a weakness for. But then... you have a time skip, which gets all the pacing torn into shreds. Not only the conclusion of the first part is too abrupt, everything falling into pieces as if by accident, but also, none of the things that happened in the first part (or most of the characters that were introduced) matter for part two. It turns into a chess match play by numbers, moving characters across the board almost without any transition in service of “plot”, without much of consideration for their head space, keeping everyone rather ooc. The change in visuals is very abrupt - it’s hard to accept the Doctor as a millionaire business consultant living in a grand mansion, new family situation or not. It’s not just at odds with his bohemian persona, it also begs a question, if he is so famous, what do the UNIT and Torchwood are doing about it? And also, *sigh*. You have a sixteen year old girl, who, in the previous chapter, just been ten. And you decide to spend the next two chapters on little else than musing how “she hasn’t been interested in sex, even though she is SO HOT”, only to decide that she is interested now, actually. It comes across more than a little fetishistic, and the story continues to follow her around with the male gaze. I’m not here to follow sexual exploits of minors - not in a Doctor Who novel. It is utterly unnecessary, doesn’t add anything of value to the plot, not character driven, and made me lose pretty much all of the good will I had from the first part of the story (and I had a lot of it, because the start of it was basically perfect). In the third part, it just turns into a discount Taken story, somehow managing to lose any cohesiveness and suspension of disbelief, and fizzles out in the end. 4/10
Amnesia watch: #7. It’s a bait and switch - the Doctor was just pretending, but I’m counting it anyway.
42) Escape Velocity - I wonder, how much sponsorship did various fast food places paid for this novel.... 
And we are back with Fitz. I didn’t really say it before, but it was really rather a dick move leaving the Doctor all alone for over a century. I mean, it worked, narratively speaking (more on that later), but, still, in an option between traveling through space & time BUT leaving them alone for that long, without any idea who they are, without any network of support, letting them slowly go mad, only being there for the fun bits, versus staying with them to help them through it all, you are kind of a bad friend. Sure, Compassion was in the driver’s seat, but Fitz didn’t exactly protest all that much, did he? And why 20th century earth? If the conditions for Doctor’s maroonment was that he had to stay somewhere for over 100 years while the TARDIS repaired itself, then any other technologically advanced era that didn’t have two world wars would have sufficed? And, psst, Doctor, your adopted kid has a space armada. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind giving you one ship that would allow you at least space travel, you didn’t have to spend last 11 years on Earth - you could have went traveling, TARIS in tow on that ship, and only checked in at the deadline.
Also, I get it, memory loss is a traumatic experience, and the Doctor isn’t human, and there is a sense of wrongness. But, he has lived on Earth for over 100 years. In that time he had more memories and experiences than any human alive. After a while, this entire thing of “I don’t know who I am” should start wearing a bit thin, don’t you think?
This rant aside, the book is a bit play by numbers. A lot of unnecessary runaround, traveling from London to Brussels and back several times for no particular reason. A rather boring “aliens invading earth” plot that left me checked out for a vast majority of it. Nothing bad about it, but nothing stands out about the plot either. But, it did have several heartfelt emotional scenes - the long awaited reunion, seeing TARDIS interior again, the finale. They were fairly brief, and it’s a bit of a pity they weren’t savored for a bit longer, instead letting the plot get in the way, but the little that was there was nice. 7/10
43) EarthWorld - I was hoping to enjoy this book a bit more than I ended up, I usually am quite fond of Rayner’s works, but I guess it is one of her first books. It’s a bit monotone, landing on the side of quirky, whether it was suited for a scene or not. Also dwelling on the past quite a bit, invoking the imagery of Unearthly Child, War Games, Greatest Show in the Galaxy in a rapid succession, for no specific reason, and then dwelling for quite a long time on several previous novels in a not entirely organic way. Instead of using this as an opportunity so start afresh now that we’re finally back in the TARDIS, it feels like it is focused more than ever on recapping how they got here, especially as the previous novel offered a way out by letting Fitz forget most of the previous “ark”. There were a lot of lovely character moments - but some of it did feel overly gratuitous. Still, it’s a decent book, even if it doesn’t quite reach full marks 8/10.
44) Vanishing Point - Easily the best Steve Cole novel of the ones I’ve ever read and/or listened to. This is the fresh start to the team adventures that I was hoping for. The alien world is interesting, with great worldbuilding (which is actually kind of rare in the novels). A lot of exciting imagery. The characters are a joy to behold. Not just the trio, but the secondary characters too. The first half of the book is basically perfect. It... kind of fizzles out in the second half, never really delivering on its set up in an entirely satisfying way.
A big part of the difficulty of suspending disbelief, though, was Fitz’s leg. I twisted my ankle once. I could barely walk for several days afterwards (so it having happen at a beginning of a trip was Awful), it took months for it to fully heal, and even now it feels more wobbly than the other one. And a colleague of mine ended up getting a special boot, because she keeps twisting her ankle (always the same one). Fitz had twisted his ankle, and then he was shot in the leg. And he is running about mountains and waterfalls almost immediately. 8/10
45) Eater of Wasps - You have to give it to Baxendale, he has a very particular style. Everything described so masterfully you couldn’t help but imagining every single detail, like painting a picture before you. Even though a significant portion of it is body horror that is described exactly as lovingly as the British countryside. Never before has the title been this appropriate. Very careful in setting up the conflict and tension between the protagonists. 10/10
46) The Year of Intelligent Tigers - This story is just nice. Another one with incredible visuals and incredible feelings behind it, exuberant and overwhelming, like a hurricane. The ending is particularly strong. This is peak Eight - a force of nature, alien and unknowable, and yet, you can’t help but being swept off your feet. Stories like this one is exactly why he is the platonic ideal of who the Doctor should be.
Overall impressions so far: This was like a breath of fresh air. The “stuck on Earth all on his own” ark was not only beautifully executed, but it was also badly needed. The last time I was complaining that few novels actually did anything with Eight - he would react to the plot, but never really be affected by anything. And at the heart of it was the issue that the writers, through trial and error, did come to a consensus about who he should be, but rarely took time to actually get into his head - they started out somewhat flat-footedly, and then got swept up in other things. Here, though, they were forced to slow down and focus his undivided attention just on him, what makes him tick if you break him down to the barest essentials - so even after reuniting with the TARDIS and the companions, his portrayal is all the stronger as a result. Rather than merely reacting to the world at large, he is now an active participant.
The companions are great. There is nothing particularly special being given to Fitz to chew upon, but his presence is always welcome, especially with him being as mellow as he has been back in Autumn Mist. What is it about the Doctor that attracts so many companions with an acute case of praise kink, I wonder? Anji is also interesting, and I love seeing what’s being done with her. She slots in perfectly, delivering so sorely missed snark Compassion had in her pre-Shadow of Avalon outings, all the while having a rather unique relationship with the Doctor - acknowledging his eldritch horror moments, being one of the few who does stand up to him. Especially after the last couple of books, I’m curious to see where this goes and how it continues to build.
The books themselves are a significant step up to what was there before, which got pretty joyless for a short while, alternating between mediocre to awful. In this batch, tough? Sure, there are some weaker offerings, but even there there is at least one stand-out scene that makes the book. Even if the plot isn’t exactly the most revolutionary thing in the world, it is being made up with solid character work. Honestly, for any new readers I would recommend just starting with #37 Burning and going from there - at least so far.
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ramblingguy54 · 4 years
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How do you feel about the sudden shift in pacing in SUF? Personally, I was so disconcerted at first, I thought that it was /worse/ than the original series, then I rewatched, and realized that it was just really different. It's definitely a lot more blunt in the humor, and of course there's the whole Steven-not-knowing-everything-anymore-thing. What do you think?
The overall pacing of Steven Universe Future has been very enjoyable!
I genuinely find it to be pretty damn good actually, as its focus is crystal clear on where it should be. That being Steven Universe’s inner dilemma of what he’s supposed to do now the whole massive conflict with the Diamonds has been solved. As much as I loved Steven Universe’s story when it focused on the main conflict surrounding the Crystal Gems against their own planet and learning more about each of them, along with Rose’s entire backstory too, it still suffered from some of the Beach City episodes dragging it down in the pacing when it could’ve focused more on the other characters, like further exploring Lapis and Peridot’s chemistry for example. That isn’t to say I hated every single one, as some were actually enjoyable and gave me an appreciation for them in a sense. Sometimes it’s okay to take a breather and have a simple slice of life episode. Fun fact, I didn’t get into watching the OG series, until the movie was released last year, so that gave me more of a tolerance for the Beach City episodes. Makes me very glad that I waited this long because hoo boi some of the hiatus issues I’ve heard about from a close friend of mine, who got into watching this series when it first aired back then, weren’t pretty. LMAO!
Anyways, the idea surrounding Steven’s characterization of not-knowing-everything-anymore-thing, as you’ve put it, isn’t actually as weird, from I’ve heard some people make it out to be for a form of criticism that people on Tumblr have made rebuttals against before. It’s wonderfully consistent with what Steven’s character is all about and that’s trying to figure out his place in the world. This has always been a consistent struggle for himself, like the lyric mentioned in the full version of the series opening from Steven.
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“I will fight to be everything that everybody wants me to be when I’m grown!”
Steven’s whole internal conflict surrounds not knowing whether or not he can exactly be like his mother, which puts a shit ton of insecurities on his own self-worth into trying to fit in with the other Crystal Gems because he’s not your average-every-day-kid that you see in society. He’s a special hybrid of human/gem that neither side of the species connected to him has ever seen before and that puts a ton of pressure onto how the boy feels a need to connect with both sides of himself. While he already has a deeply loving relationship with his father, Greg, Steven also wants to better understand that Gem lineage and why his mother was so revered by what he perceives to be these amazing warriors, who fight evil. Never mind putting this onto a kid’s existence, as soon as he or she’s brought into reality, but even an adult would struggle a lot with all this stuff. As the original story progressed, Steven learns all of the hardships the Crystal Gems faced many centuries ago and what his own mother did to protect the Earth in exchange for many issues Steven would have to handle, as soon as Pink Diamond gave up herself to create the child.
Holy shit, did he ever have to handle the baggage from Pink Diamond.
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You should’ve shattered me back then. At least if I were in pieces, I wouldn’t have to know how little I mattered to you. You didn’t even tell em. You bubbled me away and didn’t ever tell your friends! MY friends!
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I’m going to tell them. I’m gonna tell them everything.
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Then you really are better than HER…
Pivotal moments, like in the episode centered around Bismuth, paint everything in an entirely different light for Steve’s ideals based around his mother. At first, Rose Quartz was implied to be an individual who could do no wrong to any living thing, but hindsight from Bismuth’s trauma paints everything in an entirely different light for this poor boy having to take on the entire blunt of this figurative dagger. A question that is represented in the episode, Storm In The Room.
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Did you make me, just so you wouldn’t have to deal with all your mistakes!?
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Is that all I’m here for…?
I’ve went into more detail about this episode in a previous ask surrounding this topic, so you can check that one out in your free time, but the point I’m making here is Steven has centered a lot of himself around the idea of Rose Quartz being a self-less individual and helped many others through her actions that put this entire series into motion in the first place, but when all of that from this kid’s perspective is thrown out the window through tragic events that also happened in part because of her decisions, Steven starts questioning everything about his life. I’d like think in these moments Steven’s internal dialogue is worded around these types of statements.
“I wanted to be a savior, like her. Although, she did bad things, too! Am I no different from her? Can I truly help people without hurting them in the process?”
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That’s why he helped the Crystal Gems in The Test Season 1 episode feel better about their own issues, while hiding how hurt the boy felt about being lied to about the obstacle course being 100% percent un-failable because Steven adopted the selfless image of his mother in this important moment. Steven listened in on a private conversation he had no business hearing from Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl that fueled this idea further of becoming a savior to all living things and put into perspective that these “amazing warriors” were in fact very insecure like himself and needed Steven in their lives, just as much as he did.
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That’s why he helped heal Lapis before.
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That’s why he helped Peridot open her eyes and come outta her shell.
I could go on and on, but in a nutshell Steven has made life revolve around others so much that feels only natural to help anyone he can, considering that’s what his mother believed in. Even if they’re morally questionable individuals, Steven still tries to see the good in everyone. His angry statements against Lars attitude about Rose put all of that into perspective to contemplate about.
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What do you know about my mom!? I didn’t even get to know my mom, but I do know she saw beauty in everything! Even in stuff like this and even in jerks like you!
Steven’s only known what to do because he’s adopted the ideals of his mother so much. Kind of like being brought into existence like your typical Gems, where they’re programmed to feel that way and commit the actions they’re all built for. It’s poetic honestly that he’s helped everyone, but not himself in the long run. These issues were piling on since the start because Steven didn’t have to worry about feeling inferior because he could always help everyone in this series, but now that the events of Steven Universe Future have occurred this puts everything into a more deeply poignant light for the kid entering a more mature phase of his life now and is going to reflect on every little aspect of himself.
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There’s no such thing as happily ever after. I’ll always have more work to do.
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But if there’s nothing to work out…
Steven Universe Future is a brilliant character study pay off to all those five seasons that were paving the way to this cementing the idea that Steven has issues that are spiraling outta control from putting all of independence into the idea that he has to be a savior like his mother was. Much like how Spinel was so attached to Pink Diamond as a “best friend”, Steven puts so much faith into the mindset that he has must stick his guns and stay that perfect savior everyone knows/loves. It’s unhealthy emotional attachment that is coming to light with these Pink outbursts of his. While he still loves what his mother stood for, despite feeling very conflicted about her in general these days, still strives to be the best parts of her and not the worst, hence the ending of the Rose Buds episode where he puts the painting of her pure persona into Lion’s mane realm.
It’s entirely reversed roles now where the Crystal Gems and mostly everyone are fine, but Steven is far from being emotionally stable currently in recent events. Steven Universe The Movie built the subversive punchline that this epilogue series has been delivering strongly on so far and hope it will continue to do so. I’ve loved how they’ve deconstructed Steven’s characterization.
To end this lengthy post, I’ll refer to these words from Jasper that sums up everything on Steven’s issues. She may have been seriously harsh, but Jasper aint wrong in some ways about Steven feeling very low on himself in general.
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You think everyone needs help, but its only you! No one is as pitiful as you!
On a side note, regarding the humor real quick in Future, I can see why you’d think its more blunt. It’s very on the nose with how much it pokes fun at itself, but honestly I don’t have issues with it all. I don’t know about you, but I find it fucking hilarious how they’ve been openly taking potshots at their previous ideas in the story line. I’m always down for a creative team being snarky with themselves!
Thanks for taking the time to read this detailed post of mine! =)
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randomfandomfamily · 4 years
Text
So this is a post about what I think might happen during the sequel to the Sonic Movie.
This started out as a few thoughts , turned into a lot of ideas, and eventually manifested into… whatever this is.
Look, I have exactly zero self-control, and hyperfixation is an absolute monster at this time of all the time. So like… oops, I guess? Enjoy? Maybe? I dunno. Just gonna yeet this out there and scoot.
Warning: This is a really long friggin’ post. How long? Nearly 3,000 words of pure hyperfocused writing long. I would say I’m sorry, but I don’t think you’d believe me if I did.
I know everyone is freakin�� hyped that Sonic is going to have a pal for the sequel. If past incarnations tell us anything, it’s that Sonic and Tails are 100% going to click, no problem. And I don’t doubt that is exactly what’s gonna happen this round too.
But here’s the thing. The premise for pretty much all of Sonic and Tails’ meeting before now has been Tails looking up to Sonic and Sonic deciding he’s gonna look out for Tails. They see each other as total equals, of course, but a lot of it stems from Sonic’s confidence in his abilities. Tails admires him for it, and Sonic knows he can keep Tails safe because of it. It gives Tails more confidence in himself. And that gives Sonic more confidence in Tails. They give each other the confidence and reassurance that they need.
This Sonic? This Sonic is a child. And he’s pretty much always been a child, a teen of fifteen in most cases, but we rarely see any incarnation of Sonic acting like a child. He’s usually just saving the world, and when he’s not doing that, he’s saving the world again. But the Sonic in the movie genuinely loves being a kid. And confidence in his abilities? Not so much. He used them once on purpose, and only after he had nearly died.
He’s not the usual thrill-seeking, needs to constantly be on the move, adrenaline junkie that we’re used to. He lives in house. In a small town. With friendly people and no one to fight (anymore). And he likes it that way.
Because of this, the set-up for Tails and Sonic’s relationship is going to have to be different. It’s most likely going to rely a lot on Sonic just being excited to see someone from his home planet. He might not question how Tails knows him. He might not question how Tails found him. He might not question anything at all.
The first movie taught Sonic that he absolutely does not have to be alone in life. It is, in fact, the worst way to live your life. He learns that it’s okay to rely on people, and he didn’t have to do this alone. The first movie taught him trust.
Sonic relied on blind trust in the first movie and it worked out. He trusted Tom. And in true Donut Lord fashion, Tom not only helped, but he and Maddie had pretty much adopted Sonic by the end of the movie.
Tails comes along. A resident of Sonic’s old home. Tails is nice, crazy smart, seems super interested in his powers, and also doesn’t want to kill his parents. Great! Immediate trust for Tails, too.
Now like I mentioned it before in another post, but I’m willing to bet that Tails found out about Sonic through the Echidnas. Though I’m also willing to bet that it was one specific Echidna that told him.
Gonna intervene on the Sonic/Tails analysis to bring you some unscheduled Knuckles. In all of Knuckles’ lore, he is the last known Echidna. Now they might throw that specific part of his history out for this incarnation, but it’d be interesting if they kept it.
Super Sonic was nearly a part of the movie, but they decided the main focus of the movie should be Sonic the character, not Sonic the classic hero archetype. That doesn’t mean Super Sonic will never be introduced, it could still happen. The thing is, that requires Chaos Emeralds. And who was known for his connection to those? Exactly.
Y’all wanna see somethin’ neat?
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We gotta map with eight planets on it and something that looks nearly identical to a Chaos Emerald in the corner. Rings are used by advanced civilizations, and Earth ain’t one of them. Ta-da. Seven planets. Seven Chaos Emeralds. And that that circle in the middle looks like a great place for a Master Emerald, doesn’t it?
‘Wait a minute’, I hear you protest, ‘the mushroom planet is uninhabited! Why would a Chaos Emerald be there?’
Sure it’s uninhabited. You know, unless it isn’t. What proof do we have that it is? Because Sonic said it was? Because he opened up a portal, looked through it, and saw nothing?
Look, Robotnik is a brilliant scientist, I’ll give him that, but no way in New Heckistan is he going to find a way to find a way home with mushrooms alone.
But say he stumbles across a poor soul who’s trying to protect one of the seven most powerful gems in existence. Say he steals that gem and uses it to find a way back (as a mad scientist do). Maybe he even stole the set of rings that the poor unfortunate soul had. After all, there were six more gems to find. Why settle for 1/7 of the power when you could have it all?
How long has Sonic been with Tom and Maddie now? Long enough for him to be enrolled in school? Long enough for them to fix the house and start repainting? Long enough, perhaps, for a mad scientist to start fixing the remnants of his busted ship and power it with an alien source? I mean, probably. He is pretty smart.
Actually, hang on. Maybe the planet is uninhabited as far as living creatures go, but isn’t Eggman (Robotnik’s nickname from Sonic) known for having two robot assitants? That’d be an interesting way to introduce them. And they’d know the other planets, and could open the portals.
So perhaps Robotnik finds a planet with another Chaos Emerald ripe for the picking. It’s protected by, oh let’s say… a tribe of Echidnas? All sworn to protect one thing. The thing he wants. They put up a fight, of course they do, but they don’t know who they’re up against.
But maybe, just maybe, there’s one left behind. Knuckles. Who had heard tales of a being that could harness the power of the Chaos Emeralds. His tribe had tried hunting him down years ago in fear that he might steal the power for evil. They had failed. Thankfully. Because it looked that being they tried to hunt down was going to be their only chance of stopping the psycho with the mustache.
So Knuckles confides in a local inventor that he knows. A clever little Fox named Miles Prower. He tells Miles that there is someone that could help them, but it was going to be difficult to find them.
If I’m right, and Tails did find out about Sonic through Knuckles, that explains his timing. If he was just tracking Sonic’s power, he could have found Sonic after the incident at the baseball field. But he needed a reason to find Sonic, and a scientist destroying a tribe of people for a gem seems like a good reason. Might also explain why he’s hoping he’s not too late. Who knows how long it would take Robotnik to find the other Chaos Emeralds? They had to get to them first.
Sonic meets Miles, nicknames him Tails, and they hit it off immediately. Sonic is more than willing to help Tails track down the rest of these things. No way in hell Tom and Maddie are letting him go alone, so they’re coming too.
Tails doesn’t think to mention that it was an Echidna that told him about Sonic. Tom and Maddie are kind of suspicious about it at first (I thought no one else knew about him? Who is this guy and how does he know?) but Tails seems like a good kid and Sonic trusts him.
They find the first Chaos Emerald (there are probably many shenanigans that ensue, but I don’t know what the other planets are like so I can’t predict them). No one really knows what they should do with it. Keep it with them? But what if they’re confronted by Robotnik and he takes it somehow?
So Tails tell them that a friend of his back on the island that could watch over it. Robotnik wouldn’t think to go back there because he already attacked it once. That seems like a solid plan, so they go back. Sonic is thrilled to be back. Everything looks the same as it did. Except for… that part. That part looks like a warzone.
Now, why is Knuckles not part of this mission too? Not sure. Maybe he’s injured after the fight. It’s very probable that he would be. So he’s injured, grieving, worried sick about the eight year old he just sent looking for the one person that can stop Robotnik.
He’s relieved when he sees Tails with a hedgehog, who he correctly assumes is the being who can control the Emeralds’ power. He’s even relieved to see the two humans. At least someone is looking out for the kid since he’s not able to.
You know who’s not thrilled? I’ll give you three guesses, and the first two don’t count.
The phrase ‘eyes glowing with rage’ is all too literal when it comes to Sonic. And he looks ready to explode on the spot. He immediately accuses Tails of betraying him, leading him to the people that killed the only person on the island that cared about him. He even throws in a spiteful ‘Miles’ because the name ‘Tails’ was only for friends.
Tails and Knuckles don’t have time to explain before Sonic takes off like a bullet. He’s out of sight in milliseconds, but you could hear the electric energy from a mile away.
Tom and Maddie decide to hear them out, because they obviously did need their help with Robotnik on the loose. Tails explains that Knuckles is the last of his kind and really isn’t much older than Sonic. He had nothing to do with what happened to Longclaw.
So Tom offers to go talk to Sonic (huzzah for fatherly life lessons), and Maddie offers to help fix up Knuckles as best as she can. Being a vet paid off in the weirdest ways sometimes.
While Tom explains what actually happened and that no one betrayed anyone, Knuckles and Tails have reluctantly opened up to Maddie.
Knuckles has been trying to keep up that rough and tumble attitude we know and love, but it’s kinda breaking down with this nice human  wrapping his arm with the bandages she brought (because of course she brought bandages, she’s a vet and a mother) and asking if he was okay. He was not okay.
And Tails… well, where was Tails’ family? Did they know where he was? Any friends he could think of that might be able to help them? That ends in a solemn silence. Tails is family-less too, and his inventions aren’t always well received on an island that is almost completely organic. There was a very kind Rabbit mother and daughter that checked on him from time to time, but other than that? He was on his own.
Maddie makes a mental note to tell Tom that they’re adopting two more alien children and no it’s not up for discussion, they’re doing it (not that Tom would have argued with her anyway).
Tom returns with Sonic, who apologizes for accusing them of betrayal and murder. That’s when he and Knuckles finally realize they’re about the same age. (I’m gonna guesstimate Knuckles’ age at around 15/16). It’s baffling to the both of them.
When Knuckles heard about the powerful being his people had hunted, he had expected… not a teenager. And worse, it happened a decade ago.His people had hunted down a toddler and, apparently, killed his parent. He was a little more understanding of Sonic’s anger.
As for Sonic, Echidnas were pretty much cold-blooded murderers to him. He had never stopped to consider that there were also, you know, kids. And this kid had just lost… everything. He instantly feels terrible about his outburst. This guy didn’t even know who Longclaw was, much less what had happened to her.
But, emotional breakthroughs aside, they still have a huge problem and his name is Eggman. Or Robotnik. It really depended on who you asked. Either way, they needed to figure out which planet Robotnik was going to be at next. They decide to just collect the Chaos Emeralds they could and worry about Robotnik later.
Sonic gives Knuckles his set of rings, just in case. They have Tails’ so they should be fine. Off to the next planet to find an Emerald. It becomes clear that they’re gonna need a more efficient way of doing this, so Tails modifies the tracker he made for Sonic to track the Emerald’s energy instead.
It works, obviously, because Tails is a precious little genius. But no one stopped to consider how the mad scientist was finding the Chaos Emeralds. It makes sense that he would find a way to track their energy by using the one he found on the mushroom planet, but nobody thinks about that until Tails finds a way to do it.
Then they remember they just left Knuckles alone with a Chaos Emerald. They open up a portal to get him, but Robotnik is already there with a monologue about how how stupid they all were for assuming he wouldn’t return to this planet, he was the smartest individual, not just on Earth, but in the entire universe, and blah blah blah, psycho scientist banter, he’s Jim Carey and his blood is made of cocaine, you get the picture.
Cue rescue sequence for the resident Echidna of the group. They manage to get Knuckles and the Emerald away from the crazy doc, maybe even steal the ones that Robotnik has, Perhaps we even get a heartfelt response from Sonic because ‘you idiot why didn’t use the rings to escape, I told you to use them, we are not losing anyone else to this fight’.
And not to bring us to an abrupt halt right there, but as I’ve said earlier, we’ve got no idea what the other planets are like, so I can’t make any solid predictions. Though I guess you can’t call anything about this solid. It’s literally all speculation.
But, you know, they get the seven Emeralds somehow because teamwork. There’s probably a bunch of cool aliens to meet, some Chao maybe? That’d be rad. And, of course, tons of fight scenes because that’s what the Eggman vs. Sonic thing is all about. Who wins: A ex-government hired genius fueled by spite and pure rage or one Spikey Child and his Fam?
I’m thinking the final fight would have to take place one that circle in the middle, which I’ve already speculated could be a possible location for the Master Emerald. And that fight would. be. dope. I mean, it’s Super Sonic, for cryin’ out sideways!
Since the good guys always win the fights, Sonic and crew win. They probably wouldn’t kill him. Why would they? They’re the good guys. Knuckles very seriously considers it though. Like, Tom kinda puts a hand on his shoulder just to make sure he doesn’t because homeboy looks like he wants to shank the local nutcase, not that anyone blames him.
(this also serves a purpose for something else that always bugs me about Knuckles’ character, which is that he is very gullible when it come to Eggman, we see it all over the place with him. a scenario like this? eradicates that odd quirk in his personality without erasing any of his other good qualities. harmless pranks? sure, gullible as all get out. Tails and Sonic could even prank him at the end of the movie, and that’d be just the sweetest thing. but when it comes to Eggman? hell nah. nah nah nah, get that outta here.)
So they beat Eggman, maybe yeet him back to mushroom planet again–this time without any kind of tech. No ship for you, Eggy-Boy.
Then it’s time to go home. Here’s where it could go two different ways. Tails is going with Sonic, that seems pretty obvious at this point, and Knuckles could go back to Earth with them too if he wanted.
I don’t think he would, though. Being Guardian of the Master Emerald is an integral part to Knuckles’ character. And while, yes I would love to see him hanging out with Sonic and Tails more, I think this is something that will have to stay part of his history.
But if you think they aren’t inviting him over for Movie Night you are mistaken, sir. Knuckles is always invited to Movie Night. He doesn’t always accept, and that’s okay. They visit him too, just to see how he’s doing.
Sonic taught Knuckles and Tails to floss and that is a vital part of the sequel, shut up, yes it is.
And viola! Sequel! Oh, but of course we need a post-credit scene, don’t we? See Sonic being around the age of thirteen does have its benefits.
Because you see, that means we can give him two years of peace with Tails and his parents before before he’s fifteen, the age most Sonic incarnations seem to stick with.
Fifteen is old enough for a rival, right? Teenagers, you know what I mean.
And I’m not saying that Robotnik had the technology to replicate DNA and modify it, but I am saying… that he probably has that kind of tech laying around somewhere.
The government seems to fund the science department pretty well. And there’s a certain individual who followed Dr Robotnik around for a while, learning all his tricks. Mmmmmmmmmm-hmmmm. Agent Stone.
And I’m not saying Agent Stone is evil….
I’m saying:
What if Agent Stone created Shadow?
*aaaaaaand fade to black*
Now, if you made it this far… wow. Thank you! Like, seriously, holy shit. This was so long. I appreciate you for sticking it out with me. It took… a while to write. I don’t wanna admit the actual amount of time it took. But really, thank you for giving this a read.
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letterboxd · 4 years
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How I Letterboxd #3: Dave Vis
If you are one of the thousands of Letterboxd completists attempting to log every film on our official top 250, you have Dave Vis to thank for keeping that list current. He tells us why he adopted ownership of the list, how he felt when Parasite “dethroned” The Godfather, the curious case of A Dog’s Will, and several Dutch filmmakers worthy of discovery.
You wear your tenure proudly on your profile (“Member since 12/11/2011”). How did you come across Letterboxd way back then? I joined in the beta days when I got an invitation in November 2011 from a good friend who knew I was into film. Up to this date, I have no idea how she got a beta invitation for a movie geek website from New Zealand, but I’m happy she did!
Here’s the $49 question: How do you Letterboxd? I joined because I found it useful to keep track of everything I watched. At that point, I was probably still ticking off films from IMDb’s Top 250, and Letterboxd was a cool way to make other lists and see how I was progressing. When I started using the site more often, I also got to follow more users and enjoyed reading their takes on films. I don’t follow a lot of people, just a few that I know in real life and some other early adopters of the site whose opinions of film I got to value.
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Talk us through your profile favorites. What spoke to you about these four films? The pragmatic reason for these four is that they were the last films I watched that got full marks from me. So the four favorites on my profile keep changing as I come across more films that I think deserve five stars. About the current ones: Jaws, of course, is an absolute classic, maybe even Spielberg’s greatest. How he creates that much tension with minimal exposition is masterful. Blade Runner 2049 baffled me, especially on an aesthetic level. I love how the story slowly unravels in probably one of the best world-building efforts of the last couple of years. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring doesn’t need much explanation, I think. Peter Jackson did what was generally thought impossible and in a way that had me walking out of the cinema in awe of the spectacle and production design. Last but not least, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. I’m a huge fan of the Studio Ghibli films and this one, [as well as] being the studio’s unofficial first, is probably my favorite. You can just tell that they worked years to get Hayao Miyazaki’s life’s work to the big screen.
Let’s get down to brass tacks: for the past six and a half years, you’ve been running the Official Letterboxd Top 250, one of our most popular and important lists. What prompted you to start the list? Did you think you’d be keeping it going this long? At least part of the credit goes to someone else on Letterboxd, because even my list is a cloned one! A great deal of thanks goes to a member called The Caker Baker, who sadly isn’t part of the community anymore, for having the idea of doing this list even before me. On the exact day Letterboxd introduced a sorting option by average rating on the Films page, he created the first top 250 list.
I decided to clone that list [Dave has archived it here], because I wanted to filter out the documentaries, shorts and miniseries. As long as I am interested in film and won’t have completed the list, I do see myself keeping it. I feel the overall quality of the list is outstanding and for my taste and film-watching experience it’s probably the best combination of blockbuster hits, timeless Hollywood classics, non-English spoken gems, and some pretty obscure entries.
What’s involved in keeping the top 250 up-to-date? What’s the hardest thing about it? Have you ever found the responsibility a burden—your ankle chained to Letterboxd each week? (We’re grateful!) These days it isn’t much of a bother at all, actually. I’m still so grateful for you guys introducing the ability to sort lists by average rating when editing them a while back. That was a huge relief, I can tell you! And apart from the odd comment when I’m a bit late on my weekly update or when I’m on a well-deserved holiday (yes, even the ankle chain comes off once in a while), I don’t feel like it’s a burden at all.
Let’s unpack it a bit. What are the best films you’ve discovered because of the list? Shoutout to my choices: A Special Day, Harakiri and The Man Who Sleeps. Harakiri is an excellent choice! If it wasn’t for Letterboxd’s top list, I would probably not even know about it today, although it also cracked IMDb’s top 250 last year. What a beautiful film. If I have to name two other, one would be The Cranes Are Flying. I’ve rarely seen a film about war being depicted so beautifully. The other is It’s Such a Beautiful Day, the animation by Don Hertzfeldt about a stick figure you get to care deeply about in a time span of just over an hour. Very different films that, without Letterboxd, the chances are next to zero that I would have checked either of them out. Joining a Kickstarter to finance my own Blu-ray edition of the latter was special too.
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Béla Tarr’s 1994 masterpiece ‘Sátántangó’.
So, what’s your percentage-seen of the top 250? Which films rank highest on your list of shame? Are there any that you don’t think you’ll ever watch? At this moment I’m at 175 of 250, so 70 percent. I rarely consider films as being on a ‘list of shame’, but as I scroll through the unseen ones, there are a few that stand out. La Dolce Vita and Sátántangó [Editor’s note: recently re-released in 4K, nudge nudge] are ones that I feel I should have watched by now. Both are magnum opuses from legendary foreign filmmakers. Don’t really know why I haven’t though, but all in good time. Any that I think I’ll never watch? There’s not much I wouldn’t watch, but some are just so daunting in their runtime, that I’m not sure if I will ever feel up to the task (yes, La Flor, I’m looking at you). Probably also the reason I never popped Sátántangó in.
Has the way Letterboxd’s membership has changed and grown affected what’s in the top 250 in any interesting or unexpected ways? That’s not a very easy question to answer, because different people will be surprised about different things. However, you do see a trend—surprising or not—of traditional western cinema classics giving way to more non-English language films doing well on the list. Asian and Brazilian films have skyrocketed to great heights, often at the expense of western classics. Films that are traditionally doing great at IMDb, such as Pulp Fiction or The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, were in Letterboxd’s top ten for a long time, but have both dropped out of the top twenty. Beloved classics among film critics such as Citizen Kane, Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans and Casablanca aren’t even in the top 100 anymore.
We now have a top ten with three Japanese films, one Taiwanese, one Russian, one Brazilian and a South Korean film at the very top. The only English spoken films left there are the two Godfathers and 12 Angry Men. I do tend to suspect that the growing community causes more diversity while also fuelling the more traditional moviegoers to broaden their interests. I personally think that’s a great development.
How did you feel when Parasite overtook The Godfather to become Letterboxd’s highest-rated film of all time? Do you think it’ll ever sink at this point? To say I was surprised is quite the understatement. For something to even come close to The Godfather’s record borders on sacrilege, let alone dethroning it. What you usually see is that new movies with overly positive reviews enter the list’s higher ranks with a bang, but when they are introduced to a bigger crowd, they slowly descend. For example, fellow acclaimed Best Picture nominees 12 Years A Slave, Her, Call Me By Your Name and Roma all peaked in the top twenty and only Call Me By Your Name is still in the list, at number 232 for now.
In these days of ready availability it is extremely hard to create something that has such a large following. That’s why this takeover by Parasite is so extraordinary. Seeing it rise day-by-day—even after the masses took it in—was something I didn’t think possible. I, for one, am very slow to watch new films, so when I got to watch it, it was already in first position. Safe to say my expectation level was through the roof, which probably wasn’t really fair. While I thought it was an excellent film, I personally wouldn’t rank it among my favorites. However, it’s not only the highest-ranked film on Letterboxd, but also the most popular one [a measure of the amount of activity for a film, regardless of rating]! So don’t expect to see it sink lower any time soon.
The top 250 is home to the largest comment section on the platform. Congrats! What’s monitoring that mammoth thread like? Thank you! Although that’s hardly an achievement on my part. I have to be honest, I don’t read everything in the comments section anymore. I try to keep up as much as possible, in order to respond to people who have an actual question. However, when I sign in in the morning and see dozens of new notifications, most probably about A Dog’s Will being in the top ten or about recency bias or about objective quality versus subjective quality, I let it pass me by every so often.
What is your take on A Dog’s Will’s rise to Letterboxd stardom? (At the time of writing, the 2000 Brazilian film from director Guel Arraes holds the number eight spot in the top 250.) Ah, there it is: the elephant in the room… My honest answer is a politically correct one, but also the truth: I haven’t seen it yet, so it’s impossible to pass judgment. However, from the comments section on the top 250, it seems clear that there are two camps: the Brazilians, who adore the film and continually claim the importance it in their cultural heritage. And there’s the other group, mostly non-Brazilians of course, who think it’s a fine film at best, but in their opinion not deserving of a top-ten spot. I’m quite impartial: if the statistics say that it is one of the best-rated films of the Letterboxd community, why would it not deserve to be there? I am curious though if more non-Brazilians will see it and if so, if that will have a significant effect on its rating. We can only wait and see.
Are there any films you’re surprised to have stayed in the list for so long? Conversely, what are some films that we’ll be surprised to hear have never made the list? If I have to name one film that I’m surprised about, it’s one I haven’t seen yet: Paddington 2. Every time I scroll past it, I find myself asking: “wow, this one still in?” It’s probably because I haven’t seen it, but it always strikes me as an odd one. I really have to seek it out some time. Some films that might shock people never having made it… Well, if you look at IMDb’s list for reference, you could say it’s shocking that a film like Forrest Gump never made it onto the list, but that might not be as much of a shock to Letterboxd members. Other popular crowd pleasers that never made it include E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Gladiator, all of Disney’s non-Pixar animated classics, and one of the films that also sparked my interest in movies, The Usual Suspects.
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Dave has not seen ‘Paddington 2’.
I’ve actually been working hard on completing the list during quarantine and I finished it yesterday. Has anyone else gotten to 100 percent yet or am I the first? I have no idea, to be honest! There will probably be others who have, but I wouldn’t be able to name one. I suspect Jakk might have reached 100 percent at some point.
My completist streak will need a new avenue. What are your next most essential top lists? If you ever feel up for a challenge, I recommend Top10er’s 1001 Greatest Movies of All Time. He combined the average ratings of critics and users from IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and Letterboxd, and then weighted and tweaked the results with general film data from several services. I have no idea how, but it’s a terrific list. Also, the directors’ favorites lists that are on Letterboxd are awesome. Edgar Wright’s 1,000 favorites and Guillermo del Toro’s recommendations are especially worth your while.
The top 250 list is the tip of the iceberg for the lists on your account. What is it you enjoy about keeping ranked lists? It’s a compulsion. I just really enjoy making lists, ranking films by certain directors, franchises or studios. Not really useful, mostly just fun to do! And I’m not the only one, it seems. Although, of course, lists like the Letterboxd Top 250 will always be an inspiration for finding well-rated films I haven’t seen yet.
Which films got you hooked on cinema? I do have a few titles that were important in terms of my film-watching development. Films like Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Jurassic Park came out when I was an early teenager and those were the ones luring me to the cinema to see and experience things you just couldn’t in the real world, both with groundbreaking special effects—I’m a sucker for those. Not much later, titles like The Shawshank Redemption and Pulp Fiction were popular and that’s probably around the time that IMDb’s list got my attention. That top 250 gets a lot of criticism, but the overall quality is fine and for me it was the perfect step in broadening my film-watching.
So, for a long time I watched a lot of films on that list and went to the cinema for your usual blockbusters, probably until Letterboxd arrived. That’s when I started watching the artsier stuff and foreign cinema of which, of course, all classics eluded me up till then. It was films like Seven Samurai, Persona and Werckmeister Harmonies that sparked that particular period. Now I just watch everything that comes my way that seems interesting or entertaining, from the new Marvel instalment to classic Godard.
Tell us about the one and only movie you’ve given a half-star. Ha, that’s an odd one… Once there was a challenge on the site that you could ask a fellow member to pick the next ten films for them to watch. I participated once and, of course, there would be underseen gems or personal favorites on that list, but also one or two that would be almost unwatchable. In my list that was Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny. If that title alone doesn’t give away how bad it was, watching the first five minutes will.
In your opinion, what’s the most underrated film according to Letterboxd average ratings? One that comes to mind, which was in the top 250 once, but has dropped substantially in the last few years, is Gravity. I also have a list where I collect all the films that were once in Letterboxd’s top 250 and it’s at the very bottom there. For me, seeing that film in a theater is what cinema is all about—finding new ways to immerse your audience into a movie experience they have never had before. Oh, did I mention I’m a sucker for special effects?
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Dave is a sucker for special effects, including those in Alfonso Cuarón‘s ‘Gravity’ (2013).
As a Dutchman, please educate us: what are the greatest Dutch films people should see? The Netherlands doesn’t really have a thriving movie industry that brings its films across borders. If I have to give the essential tip, it would be Spoorloos, which was remade starring Kiefer Sutherland and Sandra Bullock and was not half as good. Other than that I would recommend Paul Verhoeven’s early work, such as Soldaat van Oranje and Turks Fruit, and the two Dutch films that won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, 1986’s De Aanslag and 1997’s Karakter. And to top it off, I want to mention two Dutch filmmakers worth your time, Alex van Warmerdam, director of De Noorderlingen, and Martin Koolhoven, director of Oorlogswinter.
What comfort movies are you watching whilst in quarantine? Are you working on any viewing projects? I actually am in a viewing project at the moment. One of mine and my wife’s guilty pleasures is superhero movies! So currently we are, again, on a Marvel Cinematic Universe rewatch streak. They just provide a wonderful form of escapism and are definitely deserving of the term comfort movies. Some are better than others of course, but the perspective of rewatching The Avengers, Thor: Ragnarok or Guardians of the Galaxy after a while still tends to fill me with excitement. In a way, there’s still a bit of the twelve-year-old in me that was so thrilled to see T2 or Jurassic Park.
How do you plan on inducting your kids into the cinephile life? Well, most important is that they just enjoy going to the movies like I did when I was young. Let’s hope we will be able to do so again in the near future. They are still young, but their access to screen time with Netflix, Disney+ and (mind-numbingly stupid clips on) YouTube is so different than the days when we were young. So having them watch some Ghibli classics is already quite a step. And then I think the rest should come naturally. If not, so be it.
Which, for you, are the most useful features on Letterboxd? Did you know they have a list with the 250 best rated narrative feature films? That’s basically all you need to know… All kidding aside, just reading reviews once in a while by fellow members whose opinions I value is still the heart of the service to me. That and the statistics pages. And browsing other lists.
Does anyone in your real life know that your list is kind of a Letterboxd big deal? Not really! Mostly because I don’t exactly feel that way about it. I mean: my wife knows, but other than that it’s pretty much still my pet project. To me, it’s still just a film enthusiast’s list that so happened to become the site’s official top 250. I do have to say that it is humbling to see the numbers of new followers every day—especially when Letterboxd mentions the list on her social accounts—and to realize that apparently almost 23,000 people around the globe have taken a liking to it.
Please name three other members you recommend we follow. Fellow countryman and longtime member DirkH. He is not as active as he was before, but writes beautifully personal reviews, always with his trademark witty humor or sometimes cheeky sarcasm, not always to the liking of everyone. You all got to know Lise in the first How I Letterboxd, but I’d definitely also recommend following her other half Jonathan White. His reviews are great, he knows so much about film and is always willing to share his thoughts or answer questions. And damn, that man can rhyme. Then there’s Mook, if only for his franchise lists. Check out his MCU list, it’s my go-to place when I want to read up on anything Marvel.
Related content
Official Top 100 Documentary Feature Films
Official Top 100 Narrative Features by Women Directors
Letterboxd’s ‘Official’ Top 50 of 2020
Several of the films mentioned in this interview—Sátántangó, La Flor—are (at the time of writing) available for virtual screenings. The details are in our Art House Online list.
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destinyweb-rising · 5 years
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Hi. I'm fairly new to the game, and by fairly new, I mean I just started because I saw some of your posts through someone else and thought Evangeline looked adorable, and wanted to adopt her. Idk how I would do that, but this seems similar to a game I used to play, so I'd like to try it. I also went ahead and used you as my reference (dunno if it matters). So, how would I adopt Evangeline (if she's still available), and do you have any tips for a newbie?
hello to you! :D welcome to Dragon Hell~
using me as a ref is perfect, i assume you’re Rydander on FR? in that case, i can send her to you via crossroad without problems as a welcoming gift ;>
as for tips, let’s see... i usually play FR mostly to write lore for the characters, but i got a thing or two that might help you ;>
always remember to gather items whenever you log in for the day. at the beginning, try to spend most of your gathering turns to catch food, perhaps keeping two or three turns at best for scavenging and digging. while food might not give you money, it’s very helpful to keep your dragons well fed, since at 100% energy you recieve a daily gem reward
give your dragons familiars and bond with them everyday. they always give a tiny amount of treasure and chests when the bar is filled, probably the ‘easiest’ way to get some cash
don’t be like me and check out everyday the trading post. pinkerton gives away free items, crim and swipps trade stuff for money and other rare items, tomo’s trivia can let you gain up to 3000t per day (and if you want to get them easy, the forums have all the answers of the quiz), and god bless baldwin and his potions tbh...just stay away from roundsey, or give ‘em as little money as possible. i won once and it was when i got just two tickets, so it’s not really worth it
baldwin is yet another easy way to get items. i often keep at least one or two pieces of food per day to transmute, but you can shove pretty much anything in the cauldron and then use the slimes and sludges to create new items....and even selling big amounts of the transmuted objects is quite profitable tbh.
learn to use the coliseum quick, instead of being like me and ignoring it for months :°> always keep in your team a mage and a fighter dragon (you can check their abilities in the ‘organize party’ section of coli), aka one that starts with “meditate” and another that starts with “scratch”, with an extra third to make sure to keep fights balanced, and focus on the proper stats for them. give a mage intelligence points and stones that raise it, and give the fighters strenght points and eventually give them good attacks.a good idea for a mage is to eventually unlock enough stones to give them:- for the mages: three scholar, two discipline, meditate, aid, regeneration and two attacks of their element (my mage is an ice dragon so he has congeal and frigid bolt, for example)- for the fighters: at least one berserker and two might fragment stones of their element (but it’s way better three berserker), two ambush, scratch, rally, shred and eliminate
the fairgrounds games aren’t the most entertaining, but they’re always a fun way to gain money and spend some time too. glimmer and gloom is probably the fanfavourite to get some easy cash, if you follow the right instructions to win quickly
often check the forums if you’re in need of something! dragon trading and sharing is the best way to check some good lairs and dragons, the adoptable shops are filled with goodies (and also a great way to get cash if you’re into drawing!), the skin and adoptable shops have really good stuff... basically, explore the heck outta it B)
the encyclopedia can be very very useful :D check it out every now and then if something confuses you ;>
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theregoesjodariel · 5 years
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Supergem: Writer’s Notes, Chapters 1-10
Hey gang! It’s a long time coming, but I finally got off my ass and finished the full notes for chapters 1-10 of Supergem, my big huge SU fic. I’m just about to finally get to work on the next batch of chapters, so I figured now would be a great time to look back on what I’ve done so far and provide some hopefully interesting commentary. Read on for that stuff!
Chapters 1-5
Right off the bat, chapter 1's title is a reference to the now-famous single-page retelling of Superman's origin story from All-Star Superman #1. There, "kindly couple" was used to summarize Clark Kent's crashlanding on Earth and discovery by the Kents.
Chapter 2 features what I feel would be the natural result of trying to fire bullets at a Gem: absolutely nothing. While Gems are obviously made of hard light and have been shown to be capable of being hurt by conventional means-- see Peridot getting Wile E. Coyote'd by the corrupted Gem in Beta-- I like to imagine that bullets are simply so small and so high-velocity that they'd pass through Gem bodies harmlessly. The science is probably wrong, but let me have my Rule of Cool.
Aside from sporting the amalgamated personalities of Lapis and Peridot, the two superheroes Turquoise takes the most inspiration from are Superman and Spider-Man. She shows at least some compassion for all people, even bad guys, like Superman, and she throws plenty of quips, especially when getting it handed to her, like Spidey.
As stated in the notes, I do not have a set design in mind for Turquoise, but I DID end up canonizing elements of a couple of designs I really like within the story. She sports the unique five-pointed hairstyle and orange suspenders of ahhween's design, as well as the cool cyan color scheme and water cape of cheerkitty1410's. Those two are just fantastic.
Axinite is a Gem OC of mine, a gladiatrix who fights in arenas on Homeworld, which function as the world's equivalent of recreational sports. A lot of the lore I have for her is regurgitated in the narration.
There are, of course, a couple of lines from "Stronger Than You" in chapter 4. There's the title, plus Turquoise correcting Val that the fight is one-on-two.
When I created the character, I actually completely failed to notice Val's considerable resemblance to Jasper, both in appearance (big, bulky and orange) and personality (haughty, judgmental). Naturally, when it hit me, I wrote in a nod to it in chapter 4.
Chapter 4 sees Turquoise and Val's fight spill into a mall, the very same one from Pearls' Night Out, currently my only other multi-chapter work. Rhiannon and Diane, both OCs from there, also make cameos (Rhiannon is the employee who points Turquoise in Val's direction, Diane is the journalist who interviews her on the street).
Pearl and Jasper handle city planning like military tacticians, because, well, they are military tacticians. They're also very overdramatic about it, natch.
Amazonite is a close friend of mine's gemsona, a former Crystal Gem who retired to become a seamstress after the corrupted Gems were all cured.
A couple of things involving Jasper take inspiration from the excellent Back to Beta. Pearl acts as Jasper's parole officer of sorts, rewarding her with Pearl Points for doing a good job and Jasper has an attachment to Earth music for its ability to say what cannot be said through simple speech, just like in there. Go read Back to Beta if you haven't, it's outstanding (it's also Jaspearl-- look at me go).
In one of many instances of Jodi Doing Too Much Research Into Things That Don't Matter, I actually broke out my copy of SU: Art & Origins to study its map of Beach City to determine just how nitpicky Pearl and Jasper were being.
Why do the Nephrites want to talk to Pearl? Maybe we'll find out....
Garnet "borrowed" Andy's plane to go to Empire City. That's a step up from "finding" a phone, don't you think?
I like to imagine that Bismuth has been rooting for Lapis and Peri to get together since the moment she met them. Her gaydar is just that good.
Believe it or not, I genuinely considered having Turquoise adopt a secret identity at one point during planning. I call myself out on it through Steven in chapter 5.
I knew I just couldn't do this story without Jasper since she is, in a way, the villain (or at least a villain) in Turquoise's origin story. As an abuse survivor, showing the ramifications of her and Lapis' time as Malachite as best I could was tantamount to the main storyline.
Chapters 6-10
The foreshadowing in chapter 6's identity should make Ms. Knight's identity a no-brainer for seasoned SU fans. No one spoil it if you figure it out, though!
Ronaldo is absolutely, positively, 100%, one of the guys who doesn't shower before the convention. That's so him it hurts.
The generally meta premise of chapters 6-9 were the result of me drafting them right after I got home from my city's local big convention, which I had a wonderful time at. I did my first ever cosplay (I was Pearl!) there and managed to hold decent conversations with Zach Callison, Deedee Magno Hall, Michaela Dietz, and Estelle. The layout of DelmarvaCon is even copied from the layout of that convention center.
In one of many moments of narrative intersecting with reality, I did some sleuthing and found that Paulette was, in her very brief on-screen appearance, voiced by Deedee Magno Hall, Pearl's voice actress. As said above, I met Deedee at the con I went to. You know how everyone on and off set never stops talking about how nice she is? They're not exaggerating, she's a fantastic person. Kim Tan is fully based on her, taking her name from a couple of Hall's other roles (Kim in Miss Saigon and a bit character named Lori Tan from an episode of Third Watch) and Lapis and Peridot's encounter with her is based on my own; while she didn't usher us ahead of the line to meet her, she did take pictures of my friend and I's cosplays for free when she was supposed to be charging for them. Seriously, nicest celebrity I've ever met.
Chapter 7 has Peridot riff that she can "observe 800 moving objects and compute their direction of travel," a phrase long used to describe Prowl in the Transformers franchise. It has no character significance here, I was on a Transformers kick at the time of writing.
The uncomfortable pulling sensation mentioned in chapter 7 is called an "itch," a callback to The Itch, the oneshot serving as prelude to this fic. There, "the itch" is used to refer to the deeply unsettling feeling a Gem gets when fitted with limb enhancers-- think the feeling you have or would have felt from a dentist fitting you with those awful rubber bands to help with the braces process, it's that kind of feeling. The feeling being given off by Ronaldo's control device is similar, "adding" to a Gem when nothing need be added.
The long opening narration in chapters 8 and 9 were inspired by the writing style of comic book writer Scott Snyder, who has a tendency to start, end, or intersperse his comics with long, expositional comparative musings on seemingly simple or mundane things (seriously, count the number of times one of his Batman comics opens with narration explaining the philosophical meaning behind the rocks used to make buildings in Gotham City).
The cost of Connie's sword is, as stated in the story proper, a rough estimate borne from around half an hour of research. While there are other pink stones that could've been used, I picked pezzotaite because of its extreme rarity, just to drive home how absurdly all-out Bismuth went on it.
Give Jasper a metal-style song in Season 6, Crewniverse!
I like to think Jasper and Greg would be good friends. Think about it: you've just found out your former moral enemies were not only led by, but had close relationships with, the person you spent your whole life idolizing. Who do you talk to about it? Why not the person who knew her more intimately than anyone else?
At the end of the Turquoise and Steven segment in chapter 10, the two sit down to watch Crying Breakfast Friends' extra-length season finale, in which a number of characters get new outfits. Now what could that be referencing?
The narration of Jasper's thoughts makes reference to the exiled Hessonite, antagonist of Steven Universe: Save the Light and a criminally underrated character.
I'd like to preface this point with a content warning for abuse, as I'll be discussing that a bit here.
So, as I mentioned briefly in the 1-5 notes, I'm an abuse survivor; I broke up with my abuser, who I had been with for just about 3 months, in February of this year. An acquaintance of mine has since drafted a document exhaustively detailing all of the bad shit they did for which receipts could be found, and my abuser has reacted with avoidance, victim blaming, and a refusal to apologize. I wasn't yet aware of just how in denial of her own mistakes they were when I wrote chapter 10, so I tried to write Pearl and Jasper's conversation as how I wished the conversation my abuser had with themselves would go, in a perfect world.
To get reflective for a moment, writing that has taught me, in a way I hadn't seen before, how Steven Universe's real, heartfelt redemption arcs, as fantastically-written and just generally good as they are, don't always apply in real-world scenarios. My shitty ex is not Jasper and they never will be.
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