#he's just not as cool as jon and karl

[chronurgy]

10 characters, 10 fandoms

Thanks for the tag @rowanisawriter!

Tagging: @weavewithshadow, @bhaalsbabe, anyone else who wants to play!

Oooo this is going to be hard because I tend to get really into multiple characters from the same thing, but let's go! In no particular order:

1. Essek Thelyss - Critical Role

He's a war criminal. He's a prodigy. He's a traitor. He's a time and gravity wizard. He's a heretic in a theocracy where his mother is a living saint. He floats everywhere instead of walking. When the gang asks if they're going to have to kill him, he laughs and says "I'd like to see you try". He crushes someone to death with gravity simply by closing his fist. "My reasons [for treason] weren't good, but they were important". He goes from not having cared about anyone in 120 years to caring so much about a bunch of weirdos in like, 6 weeks. He made his father so mad during an argument that the guy stormed off and died. What's not to love? He makes me so insane.

Honorable mention: Caleb Widogast

2. Anders - Dragon Age

My favorite chaotic bisexual disaster man. The contrast between awakening anders and da2 anders is so fascinating for me. He's this carefree guy, except he isn't really that carefree, is he? He escapes over and over and over, swimming across the lake even. He hates the circle and hates the Templars just as much, he's just funnier about it. When you start adding up the year in solitary, Karl, the fact that he must have seen all the injuries in the circle as a spirit healer, it starts becoming very clear why he is the way he is. He also sucks! He's petty, he's mean, and he's so up his own ass about how right he thinks he is about everything. But he also runs a clinic for the poorest of the poor, dodging Templars and freeing mages all the while. He does the excellent wizard hubris thing of taking the future into his own hands, even if it kills people (suck my nuts elthina). He loves a romanced Hawke so much, even as he experiences this greater calling. Plus Grey wardens are cool as hell and he loves cats.

Honorable mention: mage!Hawke

3. Merlin - BBC Merlin

This show manages to be both ridiculous and sad. Merlin is such a happy go lucky, cheerful character at the beginning, then we watch as things just keep getting worse. He cannot seem to win. By the end, that cheerfulness seems much closer to a mask he's desperately clinging to than anything else. He's an expert liar and manipulator, he's a killer, and he's so, so alone. If he ever tells anyone that he's a sorcerer, he'll be executed. And he lives in the shadow of that for years, unable to be himself even with the people he's closest to. Also characters who have their eyes change colors when using their powers my beloved.

4. Daenerys Targaryen - ASOIAF

I love her chapters - there's so much interesting and human depth to her struggles (even when her struggles are fantastical). She struggles to know how to rule, and rule well. She takes hostages but loves them too much to kill them. She struggles to create and maintain a peace for her people even as that peace asks things of her she cannot bear. She worries what it says about her that her children are monsters and she both loves and fears them. She desperately wants a simple, loving life but is also so, so doomed to never have that. She's a queen and a dragon rider and a young woman trying to understand the world. She's great. (I don't care about the tv show I'm talking books here)

Honorable mentions: Jon Snow, Cersei Lannister

5. Gale Dekarios - Baldur’s Gate

Oh yeah, another hubris wizard. He's funny and has this easy, good natured charm that makes it possible to ignore that he's an absolute FREAK. He's got one of my favorite wizard traits - a strong ends justify the means streak. He points, very genteelly, at all the ways power and knowledge drive and corrupt. He's a sweetheart but he brags all the time. Except it isn't bragging, because he can back it up. He can really, genuinely, become a god. His relationship with the dark urge also makes me insane, because I think in some ways he's both the clearest eyed about what will happen to them and the one most willing to meet them where they are and also desperately wants to believe they're a good person, even when it's clear that they aren't. His line about how their life is no longer theirs to lead, only to follow to a dark urge who embraces Bhaal is incredible. The diverging paths of who he can become over the course of the game are fascinating and there's so much depth to him. He's great. Oh, he also excuses his cat's crimes. Love that in a man.

Honorable mentions: Enver Gortash, The Dark Urge

6. Camilla Hect - The Locked Tomb

She's the most composed, controlled, meticulous batshit fucking crazy woman in the world. Unstoppable force vibes. Instead of moving on after her necromancers death she pieced together tiny fragments of his skull and then shared her body with him. She's a genius and she can't let go of her insanely codependent relationship, even when it kills her (but honestly Paul seems pretty cool and I'm excited to learn more about them)

Honorable mention: Palamedes Sextus

7. The Jovial Contrarian - Fallen London

A little more niche, this one! I sometimes find that characters in fallen london can sort of pale in interest compared to the overall lore and happenings, but the Jovial Contrarian is one of my favorites. He loves arguing and will argue with anyone about anything at any time. If you have regular debating lessons with him, people will hide behind couches rather than face you. He's part of the calendar council and hates the masters but also wants a solution that isn't the liberation of the night. Anytime his name is mentioned you know you're about to read something ridiculous. Fun guy!

Honorable mentions: Poor Edward (incredibly narsty. great villain), The Eagle, Ascendant (they have like, 3 lines of lore and they're all fantastic)

8. Midna - Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

I remember playing twilight princess for the first time and I just immediately fell in love with Midna. She's snarky, she's mean, her design is cool as hell, and I really loved her arc as she grew to really care about people over the course of the game. She remains firmly the best Zelda companion in my mind.

9. Elim Garak - Star Trek

You always knew it was going to be a great episode when Garak showed up. He always feels 30 seconds from chewing on the scenery and it is fantastic. He's an exiled spy and maybe a little bit of a monster and he never pretends otherwise. His lines to Sisko in "In the Pale Moonlight," telling him that he must have known what Garak would do, and that if the price of winning the war is Sisko's self respect then he'd call that a bargain are some of my favorite in an episode that already has a lot of really good lines. Aw man I wanna watch DS9 now.

Honorable mentions: Julian Bashir, Captain Picard, Tasha Yar (but wasn't she lame and poorly written? Yes. But young me was extremely taken with this aggressive short-haired woman for reasons I could not articulate at the time 🥴)

10. Morgan Yu - Prey (2017)

Okay so if you haven't played Prey stop reading right now and go buy it. Don't look up any spoilers or plot or anything just do it. If you liked dishonored or deathloop you'll love it. Now: who IS Morgan Yu? Who WAS Morgan Yu? Are they even the same person any more? How culpable are they? How culpable were they? Part of the reason Morgan is so endlessly fascinating to me is because we'll never know. How integral are memories to the continuity of the self? Why did you do what you did? Did you, the person standing here right now, even do it? The game just delivers gut punch after gut punch to Morgan and I love it and I love them (whoever they might have been).

Overall honorable mentions: the outsider from dishonored, garrus from mass effect, vimes and vetinari from discworld, and all my dnd characters (shout out especially to Hermès Montclair who fucked a dragon, died (unrelated to said dragon fucking), then came back wrong and fucked the dragon again! No one's doing it like you baby)

#Ask games #Thanks for tagging me I had a lot of fun! #Picking just one character from each thing was soooooooo hard

[scruffyplayssonic]

Are the ArchieSonic comics actually an 80's/90's syndicated cartoon? Episode 40: The one episode that's unique to the show's premise and characters (part 2: Return to Angel Island)

Welcome back to my look at the ArchieSonic comic series, and how it shared a lot of the same story tropes as a typical ‘80s or ‘90s syndicated cartoon! Last time I had a look at one of the most well-known and popular ArchieSonic stories of the 90’s, Mecha Madness. Today I’d like to look at one of the other most memorable arcs pre-Ian Flynn (memorable in a good way, that is).

My first runner up is Return to Angel Island, written by Karl Bollers and published in Sonic the Hedgehog #138 - 141. This arc featured fantastic cover art by Patrick Spaziante depicting the characters in the Sonic Heroes style, as well as amazing interior art by Jon Gray, whose cartoonish style added some great humour to the story. The story involves Sonic, Knuckles, and the Chaotix going on a rescue mission to Angel Island to save Knuckles’ dad from the Dingo regime, now working for Eggman. When they get there, they find that everything they knew and loved about Angel Island has been turned on its head.

As Ken Penders was busy writing Mobius 25 Years Later at the time, this gave Karl a rare opportunity to write a story using Ken’s precious echidnas in the present timeline. He was able to build on some plot points that Ken had established but not done anything interesting with as well as throwing out some of the stuff that didn’t work. And Ken hated it. It’s a well known fact that Ken Penders and Karl Bollers had a very unpleasant rivalry, and it was this arc that most likely was the cause of Karl Bollers leaving the comic afterwards due to the unhealthy working atmosphere. Whether or not the changes Karl made were done deliberately to spite Ken or were purely done with the intention of improving things, I don’t know. But if it was spite, then I salute you, Mr. Bollers. xD

This story arc is notable for:

Actually exploring the consequences of giving Knuckles god-like powers, and what effect that would have on how people see him.

Bringing Charmy back to the Chaotix. Charmy had left the team years ago after the infamous Chaotix Caper arc in the Knuckles comics (oh don’t worry, I will be getting to that one eventually), and I always felt like Ken got rid of him because he just didn’t know what to do with him (as if he was making good use of Mighty, Espio and Vector :P). Bringing back Charmy, especially since he’d been recently reestablished in Sonic Heroes, seemed like a natural choice.

Getting rid of the Brotherhood (or as I call them, the cabal of mysterious grandpas). I felt that these characters really weren’t necessary to have hanging around in Knuckles’ stories all the time, and they took away much-needed page time from other characters (see again, the Chaotix). The Brotherhood were originally established as being stationed in key locations around Mobius, monitoring for trouble. They only came to the Floating Island when Knuckles’ chaos powers started to grow at an alarming rate, so that they could all discuss what course of action would be best to take. But after that they just continued to hang around in Haven, and mostly did nothing except argue with each other. Getting rid of them was the right move, no matter how cool Spectre’s design was.

Having the dingos join forces with Eggman.The dingos as written by Ken Penders were… a little confusing. They were introduced as clear antagonists but also as the underdogs in their war against the echidnas. And then their city was erased from existence and they were left homeless and they became somewhat more sympathetic, even though it seemed obvious that General Von Stryker would have led a revolt against the echidnas if he had the firepower. It wasn’t a bad plot point and gave him some nuance, but it got confusing at times to see them in a sympathetic light considering they were introduced with pretty obvious Nazi parallels. Having them join forces with Eggman so that they could take power again made perfect sense, and Stryker was quietly moved to the side so that a new, clearly evil and unsympathetic leader could be put in his place.

Removing the echidna technology hypocrisy. Ken Penders established that echidna society was firmly anti-technology, and yet they lived in a pretty futuristic city with lots of fancy technology. Karl solved this problem by taking their city away from them and having them all living as refugees in the Hidden Palace zone. 

For that matter - the Hidden Palace zone, and its prophetic tapestry depicting Super Sonic vs Eggman! Marble Garden! Lava Reef! Warp rings! This story actually used stuff from the games! You’d almost think it was a comic book about Sonic the Hedgehog!

Locke getting a makeover. His Jedi bathrobe was thrown out and he was given a design to make him look more similar to how the echidnas were shown in Sonic Adventure, complete with tribal tattoos.

Developing the Dark Legion more. One plot point that was brought up in the Knuckles stories prior to his death was that Dimitri wanted the Dark Legion to rejoin echidna society. A little weird that he would consider doing this peacefully, considering that the Dark Legion were a group of echidnas who had refused to conform to the ban against technology and had in fact integrated cybernetics into their own bodies and went to war against the rest of echidna society to have their rights recognised. But who knows? Maybe Dimitri legitimately had a change of heart after forming an uneasy alliance with Knuckles and honestly wanted to have a peaceful resolution. It wasn’t actually shown at any time how his feelings might have changed, so this kind of came out of nowhere. It’s also possible this plan was just another scheme with the goal being for the Dark Legion to take power. But on his deathbed Dimitri did honestly seem to want peace and urged Lien-Da to not try anything conniving. Karl developed on this in Return to Angel Island by having the Dark Legion protecting the echidna refugees and the Master Emerald from the dingo regime, with Sonic, Knuckles and the Chaotix quite justifiably suspecting they had ulterior motives.

Lien-Da’s character and her relationship with her half sister Julie-Su was also further developed, and we were introduced to Dr. Finetevus, a character who would become a fan favourite later down the track when Ian Flynn took over writing duties.

Introducing Knuckles’ baby brother, Kneecapeon Mace (aka Kneecaps the Echidna). While Ken Penders had already established that Knuckles had a younger brother called Mace in Mobius 25 Years Later, having Karl introduce him as an infant with that name was absolutely hilarious (and considering his brother’s name, I think it works!). Once again, if Karl did this just to spite Penders, then I am totally on board with it.

Bringing back Hunter from the final arc in the Knuckles comics, and show him being a badass instead of him just talking about being a badass. Although most of his victims were just helpless echidna refugees, so your opinion may vary on just how bad his ass is.

This was the second last story that Karl Bollers wrote for ArchieSonic before leaving, and it’s widely regarded by fans as one of his best. It’s funny, it’s memorable, it takes characters that were spinning their wheels under Ken Penders and takes them in new directions, and the art is sensational. So many of the little touches Jon Gray put in are just so memorable, such as Mighty casually flicking away a dingo he'd finished with. xD

That’s all from me for today. Next time I’ll be looking at my next runner up. What arc do you think it will be? It’s a secret! Debate it in the comments for my entertainment! Scruffy demands debate!

#archiesonic syndicated

[wrestlingisfake]

Dominion preview

Kazuchika Okada vs. Jay White - Okada is seeking his 5th successful defense of the IWGP world championship. On May 1, White and Bullet Club attacked Okada and issued the challenge for this match. The winner here will likely respond to Adam Page, who challenged Okada for the title at Forbidden Door, an AEW-NJPW co-promotion in Chicago on June 26.

These two have a vicious history. After White rebuffed Kenny Omega's offer to join Bullet Club in January 2018, he was recruited into CHAOS by Okada. From day one Jay made it clear he was only out for himself. He finally proved it eight months later, when he turned on Okada alongside Okada's hype man Gedo. After Bullet Club turned on Omega and the Elite, White took over as the new leader and Okada's personal nemesis. White has had Okada's number ever since.

In singles matches, White is 3-1 against Okada, and even in tag matches White has a considerable advantage. Okada has only handed his ex-protege a single significant setback, but it's a big one. In April 2019 Okada defeated Jay in the main event at Madison Square Garden for the IWGP heavyweight title (the forerunner to today's world title). Naturally, White glosses over that loss when he crows about "singlehandedly" selling out that show.

The pandemic has helped keep these two apart, with White being largely absent from Japan during March-September 2020 and May 2021-May 2022. In the past year Okada has scored big wins over EVIL, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Shingo Takagi, Will Ospreay, Zack Sabre Jr., and Tetsuya Naito. So Jay is the biggest challenge he has left. It's easy to imagine a title change happening so White can swoop in and shake up the main event scene with fresh matchups.

The one thing going for Okada is that he's Okada. He was the final boss of New Japan long before Roman Reigns made it cool in WWE. He's not unbeatable, but nearly every time you think it's time for him to lose, he just wins anyway. I gave up betting against him a long time ago. So I'm picking him to retain. And if I'm right, Hangman Page had better pack a lunch for Chicago.

SANADA vs. Will Ospreay - This was originally booked to be a three-way with Juice Robinson defending the IWGP United States title, despite reports that Juice suffered appendicitis on June 3. On June 9 Robinson did a promo refusing to do the match and claiming he's scheduled an appendectomy, so New Japan stripped him of the title. This is weird, whether the appendicitis thing is real or not--NJPW essentially advertised a three-way they must have known wasn't going to happen.

This championship has been snakebit for months now. Sanada and Ospreay last met in the New Japan Cup on March 17, in a match that had to be stopped when Sanada suffered an orbital bone fracture. The injury forced Sanada to vacate the US title on April 9. Ospreay was set to face Hiroshi Tanahashi for the belt on May 1, but Will was sidelined with COVID-19, so Tana beat Tomohiro Ishii to become the new champion. On May 18 Juice beat Tana, Ospreay, and Jon Moxley in a four-way to capture the title. Shortly thereafter, Ospreay was sidelined again with a kidney infection. So by the time Sanada returned on June 3 to issue a challenge to get his belt back, it wasn't immediately clear that he'd have anyone to challenge.

Ospreay returned to the ring earlier this week to make his AEW debut, so it looks like he's none the worse from that kidney problem. Assuming both guys are healthy, this should be a good-to-great match. Either guy would make sense as champion, so it's tough to pick a winner. I suppose I'm leaning slightly toward Sanada reclaiming his belt.

Tama Tonga vs. Karl Anderson - Tonga won the NEVER openweight title on May 1, and was immediately attacked by Anderson, so now Anderson gets a title shot. Both men were founding members of Bullet Club when the group was created in 2013. However, in February 2022 Jay White betrayed Tama and Tanga Loa to welcome Anderson and Doc Gallows back into the fold.

This feels like a crucial match for Tonga. He's been higher on the card before, but being third for the top as a defending singles champion is a big step up. A loss will probably knock him back where he was, further down the midcard. I'm pulling for Tama, but Bullet Club is dominating most of the championships in New Japan right now, so it would make a lot of sense for Anderson to pick up this one.

Shingo Takagi vs. Taichi - Shingo won the KOPW 2022 trophy from Taichi on April 25, so this is the rematch. KOPW matches always have wacky stipulations, so in this one pinfall counts are cumulative--the count in each pin attempt is added together, and whoever has the highest total after ten minutes is the winner. It sounds kind of stupid to me, but the April 25 match was similar (first man to 30 wins) and was surprisingly well received.

For most of its existence the KOPW title has been an excuse for Toru Yano to do wacky matches in the undercard. When Taichi captured the trophy things started to feel more serious, but a big part of that is the fact Taichi immediately offered a title shot to Shingo. With all due respect to Taichi, keeping the trophy on Takagi will make it mean more. Then again, for all I know New Japan doesn't want it to mean more, and would rather keep it at Taichi's level for a while. So this one's pretty tough to call. I'll be rooting for Shingo, though.

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hirooki Goto - The winner of this match will face Jon Moxley on June 26 in Chicago, to determine an interim AEW men's world champion. The official titleholder, CM Punk, was originally scheduled to face Tanahashi on June 26. But Punk is sidelined with a foot injury. Whoever wins the interim title should eventually get a unification match with Punk down the line. So Tana may still get his chance to beat Punk to become the undisputed AEW world champion, but now there are a few more hoops to jump through.

In one-on-one matches, Tanahashi is 11-2-1 against Goto. But that's a series stretching back to their Young Lion days in 2004. In the past four years, they're 1-1. So although Tana has had a far more prestigious career, you can argue that he's slowed down enough that Goto has caught up to him. All the same, Goto doesn't have the star power to headline Forbidden Door, so there's very little chance he's going to win this one. I think these two can make us believe Goto could win for a few minutes, but he definitely won't win.

Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens vs. Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb - Fale and Owens won the IWGP heavyweight tag team title from Khan and Cobb in a three-way on May 1, so this is the rematch. Cobb and Khan already have a feud with FTR and Roppongi Vice brewing for Forbidden Door, so I would expect them to win this match. Unless they're going to add Fale and Chase to that feud and book a four-way, in which case anything might happen. I think this show is bound to have at least one AEW run-in, and this match is probably the easiest place to do it.

EVIL & SHO & Yujiro Takahashi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado - Evil's team is defending the NEVER trios title, after Sabre and Kanemaru each scored wins over Sho during the last tour. It's vaguely interesting that they're pitting Evil's House of Torture (a subgroup within Bullet Club) against Suzuki-gun, since both factions are defined by their sadism. I'd rather see them beat up each other than the other factions, I suppose. But we'll see if this really lasts. I want Sabre's team to win, so I expect Evil's team to go over to frustrate me.

Doc Gallows vs. Toru Yano - Gallows is normally Karl Anderson's partner, so he doesn't have much to do right now while Anderson is chasing Tama Tonga for a singles title. (Tama's partner Tanga Loa is out with an injury, it seems.) So I guess he's looking to beat up Yano, but Yano isn't a pushover just because he's a comedy guy. I expect Gallows to win, but Yano should keep him on his toes for at least a few minutes.

Taiji Ishimori & Ace Austin & El Phantasmo vs. Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI - Ishimori is the IWGP junior heavyweight champion, and Hiromu just won the Best of the Super Jr. tournament. Normally that would mean Ishimori vs. Hiromu for the title on this show, but for some reason the match was booked on June 21 instead. So for Dominion we just get a glorified preview match. All right, I guess.

The other big storyline here is that Austin has joined Bullet Club, turning on Alex Zayne in the process. But that issue will be addressed over in Impact Wrestling, so I don't expect much will come of it in this match.

Takahahsi should probably get the win here.

Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. TJP & Franceso Akira & Aaron Henare - This is a preview of Wato/Taguchi vs. TJP/Akira on June 20, for the IWGP junior heavyweight tag team title. Not much else to this. I think we're getting a title change, so I'm expecting Wato to get pinned here.

#njpw #dominion #kazuchika okada #jay white #aew #forbidden door

[fictionallyinparadise]

The beloveds and their pride HCs, part one!! I also couldn't get all the tags lmaoo

Satine: Pansexual and demisexual!!! I always thought she was pan, but then learnt more about demi and that,,,fit her? If that makes sense?

47 (both): Bisexual! Because being ace is canon BABEY!!! Anyway!!!!!

Diana: Pansexual!! So cool.

I don't have HCs for Ella and Charming

Erik: Bisexual and genderqueer! Yeah<3

Charles: Pansexual and demisexual! I watched the movie and went "that man is demi" and then continued with life?

Arthur Morgan: He's queer!! He doesn't identify with any particular identity. He just Is.

Lucifer: Agender, and he's canonically pansexual!!!

Geralt: Pansexual, non binary!! Totally wasn't projecting when I HCed him as non binary NOOO-

Jaskier: Bisexual! Is this canon? It feels canon. Anyway.

Scully: Polysexual!! Ahh,,,

Volga: Omnisexual and trans!!

Gordon: Bisexual and trans. Also I adore how everyone HCs him as trans that's so,,,,

Karl: Queer and trans, preference towards men?? Yeah.

I don't have HCs for Jon and Martin

Sully: Abrosexual!!

Alice: Cupiosexual!

I don't have HCs for any of my Narrator f/os

Amanda/The Pig: Bisexual and graysexual!

Dewey: Bisexual!!

Jason: Asexual!!

Brahams: Questioning!

Slender: Agender and queer

Warren: Gay and trans,,,!!!

Arthur Hastings: I think I've said this before but bisexual!!!!!

Luigi: Pansexual, demisexual, trans!!! Aaa.

Daisy: Bisexual and non binary!

Ray: Abrosexual,,,man I feel bad for not talking about my Sharktopus f/os...wack.

Nicole: Queer? Idk I've never thought about it.

Thomas: Gay!!

I don't have HCs for Harvey?

Lucio: Pansexual and non binary!!!

Revan: Bisexual!!

Nihilus: Queer and trans,,,

Sal (Support Agent): Bisexual and genderqueer!

Therius: Queer!

I don't have HCs for all the Cookies lmfao

Bazz: Gay!!

Cian (Lone Soldier): Bisexual!

Luke: Queer!!!

Din: Unlabeled,,!

Nate (Phone Guy): Polysexual and trans!

Miles Upshur: Gay and non binary!

Bigby: Trans and bicurious!

Snow: Questioning!

Mireal: Omnisexual and asexual!!

Fawkes: Bisexual and graysexual!!

Izold: Polysexual and non binary!!

Alna: Lesbian!

Lyca: Pansexual and trans

Sofia: Bisexual,,

Maleficent: Bisexual and genderfluid!!!

Bruce: Bisexual and demiboy!

Wadsworth: Bisexual

Yvette: Queer!

I don't have a headcanon for Abraham

I also don't have headcanons for my AC:NH f/os

#✨; star crossed #💜; the a team #🌱; three idiots #🌼; his lawman #💘; devil's dancemate #🗡️; questing together #🔥; gentle fire #🥽; goggled and dangerous #🔨; oh beloved #💰; he's my treasure #🍰; whimsical whirlwind #🪚; I want to hold you close #🏒; softly killing #🧷; sweather weather #🌲; down in our forest #🗝️; handsome knight #🍞; just two downers #🍄; dearest #🐚; cruising #🌊; for the love of sea #📃; to brighter days #🖤; oh goatman #🔮; fire within our lungs #⚔️; there will come a soldier... #💠; o captain my captain #💐; petals #💚; love me green #���️; hello my honey! #🥀; we're wretched but celebrated #f/o pride month 2022

[vievecorcityrp]

VIVIAN AMBROSE is looking for her EX-FIANCE and possible SIRE

CHARACTER NAME: First name is [up to player], last name is [up to player] (I’ve been calling him Daniel, but it can totally be changed)

FACE CLAIM: UTP, Suggestions: Jensen Ackles, Alexander Skarsgard, DJ Cotrona, Karl Urban, Jamie Dornan, Reggie Jean Page, Jason Momoa, Joe Manganelo, Chris Pine

GENDER: Male

SPECIES: [up to player- Just not human] 

AGE: 77 +

SEXUALITY: [UTP- has to like females at least, lol]

OCCUPATION: [up to player] 

DISTRICT: [up to player] 

BACKGROUND:

Daniel was born/grew up in VC, background and family dynamics are UTP. Daniel eventually moved to South Carolina for some reason which is where he met Viv. 

Daniel’s headstone is in VC which is one of the reasons why Vivian moved to VC to feel closer to him (she thinks he’s dead). 

Before Vivian was Vivian, she was sweet and innocent Nora Simmons, an ER Doctor from South Carolina. She and Daniel met a few years after Nora was turned via getting  in the crossfire of a hostage situation in the ER. How they met and fell in love with one another is TBD. One of the reason’s Vivian loved him so deeply was because she’s always struggled with her identity as a vampire (even before she was cursed) and Daniel was one of the first people to ever truly accept her. He got to know the Nora under the vampire and it’s a feeling she’s been chasing ever since. 

Headcanon: He proposed to her with a princess cut Emerald that was a family heirloom. Once Vivian was freed from Marius, she tracked down the evidence lock up it was in and stole it back. She melted the ring down and made it into a necklace that she never takes off. 

Nora was sought after by a trader on the Supernatural Black Market (SBM) and was kidnapped. The kidnappers made it look like a murder-suicide/disappearance, but the bodies of Nora and Daniel were ever recovered, which left their case unsolved. What happened to Daniel the night of the kidnapping is TBD. Suggestions: He could have also been kidnapped if he was a supe, he could have been killed and became another species, he could have been in on the kidnapping the whole time.

Headcanon: The tragedy that night became a notorious true-crime mystery similar to that of Jon-Bennet Ramsey or The Black Dahlia. They even have a special on The Original Unsolved mysteries.

Other Possible Suggestion: I’m cool with changing Viv's lore to where Daniel  is Vivian’s maker.

PERSONALITY: [up to player] 

RELATIONSHIP WITH CHARACTER:

Vivian Ambrose: Daniel is Vivian’s ex-fiance. Regardless of their lore together, it’s gonna be angsty. 

Jaxon Reed: Jaxon and Daniel were friends prior to Nora’s kidnapping. Jaxon had actually been invited over for dinner by Daniel in order to meet Nora later in the week that the kidnapping took place.

Players who wish to play this character should contact @vivian-ambrose to plot before sending in an application!

#supernatural rp #vampire rp #mature rp #literate rp #tumblr rp #vivian ambrose #retired wanted

[qsmp-slime]

FNAF!!! The brainrot is real. Actuay just. Horror in genrql man. Like we have Backrooms bdubs. AND a phasmaphohia/ghost hunter wilbur. TWO jon sim fictives. We've got 10 fnaf / fnaf fangame fictives. (8 r fnaf the other 2 are dsaf) A TWF KIN ASWELL. Felix our BOY. uhh who else. No-one so onto KINS. Cam has a Ben-Drowned kin with MULTIPLE timelines. The host has an yandere!osana kin. So horror ^^ -🍎🧃🍎

OUGHH THATS SO COOL!!!! /GEN!!!!! we have uhh.. a few ??? we like horror it just squicks us out a lot of times so we dont have a whole lot :c but!!! maybe.... if they would like friends /silly /nf

backrooms! karl AND backrooms!dream

phasmo!fundy

this one ghostbur who was basically like. "the monster under [his tommys] bed". hes babey /pos

cecil palmer !!! kevin !! we also have a khoshekh

thers other ones i know i just cannot recall them

#ghostieren.txt #ghostieren.ask #applejuice tag

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

The AR-15, the Rifle Revered by the Christian Right

BUFFALO AND UVALDE BOTH APPEAR TO HAVE INVOLVED THE AR-15, THE RIFLE REVERED BY THE CHRISTIAN RIGHT

https://religiondispatches.org/buffalo-and-uvalde-both-appear-to-have-involved-the-ar-15-the-rifle-revered-by-the-christian-right/

For the second time in almost as many weeks, a mass shooter used an AR-15-style rifle to kill innocent Americans. On May 14, PG allegedly used a variation of the AR-15 to shoot 13 people, 10 of them fatally. Just 10 days later, SR carried an AR-15 and a handgun into Robb Elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, where he allegedly shot and killed 21 people and wounded over a dozen others.

Though most firearm-related deaths in the United States involve handguns, people—nearly always men—who commit mass shootings (defined by the Congressional Research Service as involving four or more victims) increasingly prefer AR-15-style firearms, including the shooters who killed 58 people in the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, who killed 26 people in the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, and who killed 26 people in the 2017 shooting at First Baptist Church in Texas.

AR-15s aren’t just popular rifles for people who commit mass shootings, however. The National Shooting Sports Foundation estimates that AR-15-style rifles account for one out of every five firearm sales in the nation and Americans own an estimated 15 million AR-15-style rifles. The rifle is so popular among firearm enthusiasts that the National Rifle Association nicknamed it America’s Rifle.

▲ Tattoo of Jesus and AR-15. Image: David Watts

AR-15s are also increasingly the firearm of choice for Christian gun owners who arm themselves—in their minds, at least—in defense against both tyranny and evil. Their admiration for the AR-15 is the result of the convergence of several parallel and related movements, the first of which is simply the rise of American gun enthusiasts who embrace the AR-15 as their preferred firearm.

The ArmaLite company created the AR-15 in the 1950s with the intention of selling it to the U.S. military. They soon sold the design to another company, however, who sold versions of the weapon to the military, police departments, and the general public. The AR-15 immediately proved popular to U.S. gun enthusiasts who admired it—and continue to do so—for its comparably low price, for its customizability, for its aesthetics (“it just looks cool,” one collector told me), and for its overall usability.

Today, the term “AR-15” refers to various rifles and pistols based on the original design that multiple companies manufacture and market—Pepsi versions of the Coca-Cola original. Journalist Jon Schuppe summarized the AR-15’s unique place in America’s gun culture when he wrote, “the AR-15 remains a jewel of the gun industry, the country’s most popular rifle, irreversibly lodged into American culture.”

As gun enthusiasts increasingly embraced the AR-15, the Christian Right emerged as a sociocultural, economic, and politically active force in the U.S. Members of the Christian Right tend to believe that the United States shares a special relationship with God and that current political and sociocultural trends threaten this relationship. They increasingly agree that a violent upheaval will be necessary to reset this relationship and that God will sanction this violence.

Reverend Karl Jones from the Fellowship Church of God in Cleveland, Ohio, summarized this militant God when he said, “Some people say, well, ‘God is only a god of love,’ [but] no, God was a god of war. God is a god of vengeance. Very few people like to talk about God in his totality. God took judgment, several times…[T]he god that I serve was a god of wrath, vengeance, protection; watching out for his own.” This god demands justice and is willing to use violence to achieve His ends.

For people like Rev. Jones, the same God who sanctioned mass killings in the Hebrew Scriptures is the same God who destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah; who came to Earth in the form of Jesus and who (according to Matthew 10:34) came not to “bring peace, but a sword;” who will return as Jesus with a robe dipped in his enemy’s blood (Revelation 19:13); and who will violently eradicate evil on Earth in a final apocalyptic battle. The Bible and even Jesus’s teachings provide a template for restorations predicated on violence.

As the Christian Right developed a military mindset, “America’s Rifle” emerged as their preferred firearm, making the AR-15 a common fixture on the Christian Right. Rev. Sean Moon instructed his congregants to bring the AR-15 to a blessing ceremony at his church; preachers and pastors extol the virtues of the AR-15; Retired Lieutenant General Jerry Boykin told a room of evangelical activists that when Jesus returns, he’ll be armed with an AR-15 as the Biblical “rod of iron”; and several churches have raffled AR-15s both to raise money and to encourage attendance. Events like raffles and blessing ceremonies highlight a larger and growing movement of people arming themselves with AR-15s (among other firearms) in defense of Christian America.

While many Americans embrace and even celebrate the AR-15, proponents of gun control increasingly view the AR as paradigmatic of everything wrong with American gun laws. Their animosity toward the AR-15 is evident on social media, where one need only search #BanAR15 to see some of the memes and signs people have created to protest it. In these images, critics repeatedly link the AR-15 to the rise in mass shootings, to the murder of children and people of color (African Americans in particular), to the nation’s relaxed gun laws, and to what they perceive as political overall apathy unwilling to address gun-related violence.

The collective interest in the AR-15 suggests that “America’s Rifle” will continue to occupy a unique place in American culture. For people who use AR-15s in horrific crimes, it perhaps symbolizes ultimate power capable of taking life. For people who criticize what they deem America’s obsession with firearms, the AR-15 symbolizes everything wrong with said obsession.

For many Christians, however, the AR-15 is God’s preferred firearm, best wielded by God-fearing Christians ready to enforce God’s laws on Earth. The collective interest in the AR-15 suggests that, for better or worse, it is indeed “America’s Rifle,” a controversial firearm lying at the intersection of American politics, culture, and religion.

Brad Stoddard Brad Stoddard is an associate professor at McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland. He is the author of Spiritual Entrepreneurs: Florida’s Faith-Based Prisons and the American Carceral State. He also edited or coedited several books and is the coauthor of the primary source reader, Race and New Religious Movements in the USA: A Documentary Reader. He is currently researching entheogenic communities in America and beyond for a project tentatively titled “High for a Higher Power.”

#AR-15 #Brad Stoddard #Religion Dispatches

[darlingshane]

FRANK CASTLE in The Punisher 2x01 vs BILLY BUTCHER in The Boys 1x07

#the punisher #the boys #frank castle #billy butcher #jon bernthal #karl urban #thepunisheredit #theboysedit #bbelcher #cinemapix #* #*gifs #edit: tps #edit: the boys #parallels #no i did not forget affleck #in the accountant or batman #he's just not as cool as jon and karl

[omegatheunknown]

AEW Double or Nothing 2021

In which the spirit of WCW is alive in confusing and delightful ways and we are left to parse whether overbooking and extracurriculars are offset by having actually very good wrestling happening at the same time.

- Lessons learned from Revolution on the production side? Maybe just cool it on pyro, though the rappelling adventure in the Stadium Stampede showed some of that now-characteristic 'trust us it'll look better on TV' flair. Hot crowd tends to paper over most woes, and the crowd was pretty hot. My one gripe is that the casino theme is hanging around like yesterday's takeout containers. Nothing wrong with clinging to a theme, I just think it's time for season 2. My suggestion? Under the Sea.

*Pre-Card Serena Deeb (C) v Riho for the NWA Women's Championship (***1/2) - Serena Deeb's star has finally risen. She's a remarkably consistent technician and she can get a match out of anyone at this point. She's working at the level of Mercedes Martinez or Madison Eagles at this point, it's amazing that she was overlooked or considered fit only to be a coach for so long. With the NWA belt she has this new swagger, she's basically everything Tessa Blanchard might bring to the table with none of the downsides (Serena has a lot of friends and seems like a lovely person, even!) - Riho's back and here to stay. Her time in Stardom didn't do much for my evaluation of her, which is that there are many better wrestlers that would be better representatives of the joshi style and she's merely pretty good. - The match was very good. Serena showcased a champion's aggression against a sympathetic Riho, they really work well against each other, Deeb's technical prowess against Riho's flexibility led to a very dynamic finish.

*Main Card Hangman Adam Page v Brian Cage (***1/2) - Here the shenanigans start. Brian Cage is on Team Taz, Team Taz has nothing else much to do tonight, so why wouldn't Team Taz flex their muscles, bait us with HOOK, etc? (Because it would be nice to have some variety in the card in terms of a match where one competitor stands across from another competitor?) - Hangman is (checking notes) yeah, still over as fuck, as befits the Anxious Millennial Cowboy. Cage terrifies me, he's a child's drawing of a body builder. He do be very agile for a man of his immense musculature tho. They match up well, Page is biggish for a flyer, Cage loves to play catch. Nothing much to write home about, other than Hangman's beautiful moonsault to the floor and what was overall a very good curtain jerker. - Okay fine, I am curious about Cage's reluctance to lean on the goons, Starks can't come back soon enough.

The Young Bucks v Jon Moxley & Eddie Kingston (***) - I will not be referring to Mox & Eddie as (The) Wild Things because it gives me 'he calls it the wacky line' flashbacks for some reason. - The Bucks have to cheat and abuse Rick Knox's attention span constantly to be on even footing with Mox & Eddie, which is a clever sort of thing that gets washed out by the appearance of LG and Karl Anderson, which again, is cool in a vacuum but was the story of the evening. - Pace was weird - repetitive in eliminating Eddie, then Mox fights back, failed hope spot, Bucks team up, Eddie saves x2/3 in a row. - Mox, unlike Cody (in so many ways,) will probably actually be taking some time off with Renee, which is the kind of thing I would prefer not to know in terms of booking, but they really uh, put him down on the canvas here, and it felt pretty finale-esque.

Casino Battle Royale (n/r, but on the balance pro) - Any changes to the theme of the PPV would likely include changing up the nonsense suit format of these largely joyless slogs. - Obviously anticipating a NJPW talent, or... I dunno, actually -- Lio Rush was a surprise. Got in a quick demonstration of his otherworldly quickness, and you know what, there's probably a fun place for him in AEW. He'll need some friends, of course, feel like Team Taz might fit his temperament. I wonder if he was aware of the Mark Henry news... - Christian does not need to win this kind of match to get a title shot, obviously, but that said it was super lovely to use him to give Jungle Boy the shine. Jungle Boy would be a license to print money if he was even as big as Hangman. - Could register some continued griping about how Penta is not getting his due in AEW but he also literally was dressed as the Joker so I'm low on sympathy on this one particular night.

Anthony Ogogo v Cody Rhodes (*) - I did not like this. It's hard for me to read jingoism as a face move to begin with, and Cody's was egregiously tone deaf and kinda silly yet delivered without a trace of irony because Cody doesn't do irony on purpose, ridiculous neck tattoo aside. - Great argument to be made that Ogogo just isn't experienced enough to be winning matches against Cody. But like, what are we doing here? Cody needs to take some time off, maybe. I thought that's what was happening when he had his mini feud with Penta that really just ended in quick decisive Cody win. I though maybe Cody was being turned when QT and The Factory snapped-- sure, they're a group of impotent player 2s, but Cody is an out of touch elitist with a callous and manipulative streak. Alas, also no. America #1. - Cody is approximately 8 times as tough as Billy Gunn based on his weathering of the one punch man. Match ran a bit long given how little there was to go on. Cody gigged? Quelle surprise. - Cody had the best match on the card like, 3 out of the first 4 AEW events or something, and that was all booking and storytelling. I do hope Cody follows Moxley's lead into a little sabbatical.

Miro (C) v Lance Archer for the TNT Championship (**1/2) - Card's hossiest hoss match, a quick burst reminiscent of a car wreck. Absolutely hit on what it should've hit on but a little slow moving considering it went all of 10 minutes. - I will not complain about Jake the Snake, who I love. And also the gimmick spot, with Miro very astutely yeeting what was definitely a snake in a bag (surely.) back down the tunnel.

Dr Britt Baker, DMD v Hikaru Shida (C) for the AEW Women's Championship (***) - Picked up a lot of steam toward the end but seemed a little toothless (heh) until the last five. - Shida 'deserved' some more time as champion in front of crowds but also it's time to let heel Britt reach her peak, I can't even imagine how obnoxious she can be as the champ, it's going to be great.

Sting & Darby Allin v Ethan Page & Scorpio Sky (***1/2) - Such is the power of STING that I feel like I might be underrating this match... I mean it was an okay match about very simply getting some revenge and the sixty year old man did a very subdued Code Red and a slightly less subdued dive. He's also Sting. They missed an opportunity in calling it the 'Scorpio' Death Drop, but the main takeaway here is you see something like this where it's The Icon and you start to understand why WWE trots out their legends to come out of incredibly still kick ass without bending their knees. - The difference, I guess, is that Sting is absolutely being used to build up Darby Allin, whereas it's not like the fed brought back Goldberg and his attendant aura to pump up... anyone but Goldberg?

Kenny Omega (C) v PAC v Orange Cassidy for the AEW World Championship (****) - Off the top I have to say I'm very sad that the rest of the Galaxy's Greatest Friends were seen only very briefly, nice of them to bring OC's backpack. - Also have to point out that PAC's promo featured one of my favourite jokes, that Kenny must be short for Kenneth as a sort of legal/birth name belonging to a professional wrestler. (See also: Samoa Joseph) - And Mr Cassidy certainly did try in this match, ragdoll sells and all. Kenneth and PAC are absurd talents who bring aerial, power and technical maneuvers in equal measure and OC is not doing any of those on the same level, but he picked his spots, showed his genre savvy and hung in there to the point that he wasn't just the fall guy. - The extracurriculars continue in a match that was already a little overboard for silliness due to asymmetry... I think if you're the Invisible Hand it would've made sense to save up all your tricks for this match, but who am I to question the golden goose? - Sure, Kenny and Don ran the classic heel manager interference spot and taking out the ref in desperation spot but having to take out the ref because PAC wouldn't break the hold is fun, as is the stupid/inspired sense in running the 'smash opponent with the belt' spot four times so as none of your heavy gold prizes feel left out. (I love that AAA Mega Championship, they weren't on TV so we get to see it?) - "Fuck You, Don," indeed.

The Inner Circle v The Pinnacle in 'Stadium Stampede II' (***1/2) - This one had to grow on me for two reasons, first that it's usually pretty unforgivable to co-opt the main event spot from the championship match, and second to law of diminishing returns on dumb gimmick matches. - But grow it did. There's a full on meat locker? Commentary will refer to a cardboard cut-out of Shahid Khan as Tony Khan's father (that's canon now,) and Jericho will lovingly pat it? Konnan happened to be the DJ at whatever night club there is a Jaguar Stadium? Spears surrounds himself dramatically with chairs and his hoisted by his own petard? - Ultimately it comes down to letting Sammy shine. His involvement with the Inner Circle has sometimes come at the cost of being able to showcase that prior to AEW he was an ascendant talent in PWG, on his way to Ricochet level feats of acrobatic excess. Still feel like Sammy could've/should've been the one tossed off the cage a few weeks ago, but even better is being the guy getting the pin in the ring.

#aew #aew double or nothing #kenny omega #jon moxley #sting #chris jericho #mjf #Sammy Guevara #orange cassidy #PAC #hikaru shida #britt baker #jungle boy #christian cage #darby allin #ethan page #scorpio sky #hangman page #brian cage #miro #lance archer #jake the snake #cody rhodes #anthony ogogo #eddie kingston #the young bucks #serena deeb #riho #wrestling reviews #aew spoilers

[wrestlingisfake]

Resurgence preview

It's been a year now since New Japan launched their US-based show, NJPW Strong. I'm sure the original plans involved running US tours with a mix of American regulars and visiting stars from the main Japanese roster. The pandemic, however, limited the scope of Strong, mainly featuring minor leagues on a closed set. It almost felt like a parallel universe with little relationship to the "real" NJPW. Now, finally, the brand gets to do a show in front of an actual crowd, and we get to see this concept the way it was meant to be seen.

The show airs live on NJPWworld (999 yen for one month--about $9.12 US) at 11pm EDT. Or, if you just cannot handle setting up your payment on a Japanese website, you can get the show on FITE.tv for $19.99 US. Both services should make the show available on-demand later, in case you want to wait until you're done watching Triplemania.

Lance Archer vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi - Archer is defending the IWGP United States champioship. The title was in limbo through most of 2020, as Jon Moxley was unable to schedule a defense in either New Japan or AEW. That changed in 2021, as thawing relations between the two promotions led to more Moxley title matches, until he lost the belt to Archer on July 21. Shortly before Archer's first defense on July 28, AEW aired a video of Tanahashi challenging the winner of that match.

This is Tana's first show outside of Japan since the pandemic began, and his first match in California in nearly three years. I'm not sure anyone expected him to be here, given that the New Japan of America operation has focused on building up North American talent rather than bringing in big stars from the home promotion. So this is a special treat for the live audience, above and beyond Archer coming in from AEW.

I expect a pretty straightforward match with Archer killing Tana with big power moves and Tana rallying for a big babyface comeback. In a vacuum I would think either man could end up with the belt. However, the real story to this match is that Tanahashi went out of his way to make a challenge for the US title, but not until after Jon Moxley lost it. So Moxley has accused Tana of ducking him, and it stands to reason that he'll confront the winner of this match to close the show. That feels like a formula for Tana vs. Mox for the title, maaaybe at the AEW pay-per-view on September 5. Everyone sure seems to hope that's where we're headed, so I don't think a lot of people will be pulling for Archer tonight.

Jay White vs. David Finlay - This is White's first defense of the NEVER openweight championship. It's also his first New Japan match since May, as the quarantine procedures for entering Japan have made travel pretty rough for the non-Japanese talent. As I recall, Finlay received this title shot because he pinned White back in March. Finlay hasn't been back in Japan since that tour. Both of these guys have been in Impact Wrestling as of late.

Originally, the idea behind White winning the NEVER title was to set up a match with Hiroshi Tanahashi at one of the Wrestle Grand Slam stadium shows that New Japan scheduled this summer. The aforementioned travel problems seem to have scuttled that, so now White is facing The Other Guy From FinJuice.

The biggest buzz I've heard surrounding this match is that Finlay appeared on Wrestling Observer Live to promote the show and ended up giving fans the impression that he wanted to go to NXT. I mean, Finlay could be fucking with us on that. But it's not a good sign when people are mainly interested in a match because they're looking for signs that one of the participants is fixing to leave the promotion. Not that it affects the finish, of course--Finlay could sign with NJPW for a million years, and he still wouldn't be booked to beat White for a title in 2021.

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Moose - This match kind of came out of nowhere. Ishii isn't exactly a top guy in New Japan but he's always right below that level, clobbering most of the roster and getting clobbered to set up new contenders. Most of the NJPW Strong roster would be underdogs against him. But then, Moose isn't on the Strong roster--he's coming over from Impact, where he's been pushed as a top heel for months. Moose is a 6-foot-5 big mean guy and Ishii is a 5-foot-7 big mean guy, so this should be an interesting contrast. It's easily the most interesting match on the show.

I'd like to see Moose win, since it'd be a slight upset and he could use the momentum for whatever he's doing next. But if he is gonna win, Ishii is going to convince you that he had to work his ass off to earn it. I'm looking forward to this.

Tom Lawlor & JR Kratos & Danny Limelight & Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs vs. Lio Rush & Chris Dickinson & Adrian Quest & Fred Yehi & Yuya Uemura - Lawlor is the NJPW Strong champion and his team is the New Japan version of "Team Filthy." The babyface team originally featured Brody King, but he was pulled from the card at the last minute due to "unforeseen circumstances", so Adrian Quest is substituting for him. That's a real tough break for the good guys.

There are several storylines at play here. Lio Rush stepped up as the next challenger for Lawlor's title, and they'll have that match at the August 16 tapings. Dickinson was kicked out of Team Filthy, and is currently aligned with Brody King's Violence Unlimited stable. Uemura had been working on the Japan roster as a Young Lion, but he's just begun his excursion so he has a chance to really express himself as a performer.

If Rush wasn't already positioned as Lawlor's next challenger, I might think this match could end with someone pinning Lawlor. As it is, though, it probably makes more sense for Team Filthy to win in a dominant fashion. Yehi and Quest are basically undercard scrubs, and Uemura just now graduated to that position. Rush and Dickinson aren't going to be able to carry so many weak links.

Juice Robinson vs. Hikuleo - Juice has spent most of 2021 teaming with David Finlay over on Impact, whereas Hikuleo has been wrestling on Strong and more recently on a few AEW shows. Given that Hikuleo is 6-foot-8 you'd expect him to squash everything in his path, but New Japan isn't afraid to have more established stars get the better of him. Whether Juice is one of those more established stars remains to be seen.

Juice biggest career highlight was winning the IWGP US title, and Hikuleo's was challenging for that title a few weeks ago. If one of them is going to be in the hunt for that belt, then winning this match should be step one. As much as I'd like to see Juice back in the chase, I get the feeling it'll be Hikuleo taking that role.

Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows vs. Jon Moxley & X - The Good Brothers (Gallows and Anderson) are the Impact Wrestling men's tag team champions, but their title is not at stake here. I think Moxley was originally booked to team with Syota Umino on this show, but travel restrictions prevented Umino from coming into LA. One way or another, Moxley will have a mystery partner that won't be revealed until the match begins.

The backstory is that Gallows and Anderson have been a thorn in Moxley's side every time he's tried to fight Kenny Omega, or really anybody in Omega's stable. With that in mind, the most logical partner would be Sami Callihan, who has a history with Moxley and unfinished business with Omega's group. People have been asking for a Moxley-Callihan reunion from the minute AEW and Impact started collaborating, and there's no reason it can't happen here. On the other hand, I wonder if that's something New Japan would do as a surprise, as opposed to advertising it ahead of time.

If Moxley's partner isn't Callihan, there's a serious risk that the live crowd will start chanting for Callihan and disrupt the match. So if they're going with someone else, it'd better be good. I suppose Eddie Kingston would be accepted, although again, why would that be something you do as a surprise? Personally, I'm all about Moxley and the cold, deadly eyes of Shooter Umino, so I know I'll be disappointed no matter what. :(

Anyway, it'd be stupid for Moxley's team to lose this match.

Rocky Romero & Fred Rosser & Wheeler Yuta vs. TJP & Clark Connors & Ren Narita - This is a pretty good sampling of the NJPW Strong midcard. Of this group, Romero has the most clout with the main New Japan roster. Rosser is still best known as WWE's Darren Young, the guy from the Nexus who looks exactly like John Cena. Yuta has been making waves on AEW, filling in for Trent Beretta with Orange Cassidy's group, so I guess he and Rocky are both Best Friends Twice Removed or something. TJP is a former WWE cruiserweight champion and Impact X division champion. Connors is one of the guys from the Gekiochi-kun ads--I think he's the one who snaps his fingers to teleport everybody. Ren Narita is the guy who used to wrestle Syota Umino all the time, but Syota is not on this show. :(

Alex Coughlin vs. Karl Fredericks - When Strong started, Coughlin, Fredericks, and Clark Connors were the three Young Lions from the LA Dojo who worked as prelim guys. Since then I believe Connors and Fredericks have "graduated," and Coughlin is still working on it. I'm pretty sure Fredericks is the one in the Gekiochi-kun ads that says "that's pretty cool." I don't remember what Coughlin does in those ads, so clearly he needs to get his ass in gear. Anyway, I guess Fredericks wins.

Bateman & Mysterioso & Barrett Brown vs. The DKC & Kevin Knight & Jordan Clearwater - This is scheduled as a dark match 30 minutes before the live stream begins. I've heard most of these names, but the only one I kinda know is Bateman from whatever goofy stable he's in at Ring of Honor. I dunno, I guess his side wins.

#njpw #njpw strong #njpw of america #resurgence #lance archer #hiroshi tanahashi #jay white #david finlay #jon moxley

[disneytva]

Bright Lights, Big City Greens – Everything You Need to Know About Season Two

We’ve seen the Green family get wrapped up in a lot of hilarious shenanigans and adventures, but that was just the beginning. With their Gramma Alice and their mom and dad, Nancy and Bill, 10-year-old Cricket Green and his sister Tilly continue to navigate life in the bustling city with heartwarming zest. Created by comic book creators and brothers Chris and Shane Houghton, the animated comedy series Big City Greens centers on the heart of the show, the core Green family, but season two aims to expand their world and relationships a little further.

Ahead of the Big City Greens season premiere on Disney Channel and in DisneyNOW on November 16 (9:30 a.m. EST/PST), we spoke with Shane and Chris about what’s next for Cricket Green and the gang, their holiday special, and why taking risks is ultimately pretty good.

In season two, the city gets a little bigger.

“We continue to expand the world because in season one we spent a lot of time with just the core Greens, so in season two we really deep dive into some of the characters,” Chris said. Remy and Andromeda—Cricket and Tilly’s best friends, respectively— and Gloria are a handful of characters who will return with expanded roles. Even the cocky Chip Whistler comes back as “an even bigger and badder bad guy,” Chris teased. There is also a new character named Gregly (voiced by Tim Robinson), who Shane describes as “an angry, spiteful child that no one wants to hang out with.”

The guest stars of Big City Greens give it their all.

The first season of Big City Greens saw incredible guest stars, from actors Jon Hamm and Raven-Symoné to The Muppets’ Fozzie Bear, and season two follows suit with Christopher Lloyd, Lucy Lawless, Alfred Molina, and Jameela Jamil, just to name a few! In fact, NBA All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns guest stars on a future episode giving an all-star voice performance. “We had two roles for two basketball players and needed someone who could come in and do two different voices,” Shane said. “And Karl-Anthony Towns was so down to do this. He came in with two drastically different voices that turned out great and were so funny.”

Queer Eye’s Jonathan Van Ness also makes a guest appearance in a role he was born to play: Confident Stylist. Well, maybe not born to play, but the role was specifically written with him in mind, said Shane. Chris chimed in, sharing, “It was a bit of a swing on our part, but I think those big swings make a difference. It’s been so cool to have these folks who’ve been on high-profile projects come in [for Big City Greens] and give it their all.”

One guest star inspired a new storyline for their character.

Then there is Gwendolyn Zapp—the show’s version of a rich tech mogul. Voiced by Cheri Oteri of Saturday Night Live fame, Zapp is introduced in the very first episode of the season, “Car Troubles.” Shane describes the character as “a little kooky, with big dreams”—and his brother Chris jokes that Zapp “is absolutely insane!”

Oteri’s character was originally slated for only one episode, but the brothers agreed she was too good to let go. “She absolutely kills us every time she’s in the booth… and was just too funny, so we had to bring her back,” Chris said. “Now, Gwendolyn Zapp has become a big part of season two.”

Get ready for a Big City Greens holiday special complete with seven original songs.

It’s almost a rite of passage for a hit show to debut its own Christmas special, and now, Big City Greens will have its very own “Green Christmas,” which is fittingly the title of the episode as well. As big musical theater fans—both Chris and Shane did musical theater all throughout high school—the brothers and Big City Greens composer Joachim Horsley made sure the seven original songs were crafted just right.

“Normally, the score for Big City Greens is digitally created, but for this, we got to go to Capitol Records and Chris and I got to sit in with a full, live orchestra playing the score,” Shane adds. “It was a truly magical and mind-blowing experience. We’re so proud of how the holiday special turned out.”

When it comes to their upcoming CG-animated episode, it’s game on.

In another first for the series, Big City Greens will debut a video game-themed episode with CG animation. Normally the show is animated in 2-D, but when it comes to Big City Greens, the brothers gravitate to challenging and unusual concepts like moths to a flame. “Whether it’s weird creatively or risky, if we come up with an idea, and it scares us, we usually get excited by it,” Chris shared.

For the CG-animated episode, the crew collaborated with an outside studio to produce this uniquely weird-looking episode, which Chris said is exactly what they were going for. “I think we pulled it off?” Chris questions, jokingly. “I think so,” Shane answers, with a laugh. “It’s a challenge to do something outside of the normal pipeline, but it’s really fun.”

#Big City Greens #BCG #Disney Channel #Shane Houghton #Chris Houghton

[hazyheel]

NJPW G1 Climax 2019 Day 8 Review

We started up with Toru Yano vs. Juice Robinson. These two have met twice, both in the G1 and both with Robinson winning. Juice was very skeptical to even lock up in the early portion of this match, while Yano desperately tried for some rollups Juice wasn’t having any of his cheating ways and was mostly annoyed, but Yano nearly snuck a countout win early on, thanks to some athletic tape tying him to the barricade. Yano kept trying to hit a low blow to get the win, which only angered Robinson more and more. After Robinson caught a low blow, he nailed the left hand to god and hit pump friction for the win. Robinson: 6, Yano: 4. 

After the match, Robinson shook Yano’s hand as he lied on the ground. 

Grade: C-. Normally I really like the stupid Yano matches in the G1, but this was not really a fun one. They didn’t really blend together super well, and they didn’t go long enough to be very funny. That’s fine though, they won’t all be winners. Good for Juice to keep winning his matches. 

Then we had Taichi vs. Hirooki Goto. The record going into this match was 2:1 in favor of gotoBefore the match, Taichi made sure to beat the crap out of one of the LA Dojo guys, because Goto trained there for the G1. These two had a rivalry over the NEVER Openweight championship late last year, and that rivalry was renewed in this match. And naturally, anyone who has had problems with Taichi absolutely hate him, so Goto was vicious here. They quickly fought on the outside, Taichi continued to hit Karl Fredericks and even threw him into Goto to get the advantage. He brought the anger right out of Goto, who absolutely destroyed his chest with overhand chops. The two then exchanged a series of strikes and kicks, which Taichi actually came out on top of. We actually saw shades of big match Taichi in this match, as he busted out some huge kicks and often refused to let Goto put him down, but that didn’t stop him from cheating. At one point, Taichi pushed the ref into Goto to stun him, and then nailed a saito suplex for a near fall. Taichi then grabbed the mic stand, but Goto grabbed it and threw it out of the ring. Goto then nailed his mid kick, and went for the GTR, but Taichi grabbed the ref. They struggled a bit, and eventually the ref went down. Taichi then caught a kick to the gut and nailed a low blow, followed by a Gedo clutch for the win. Taichi: 4, Goto: 2. 

Grade: C. This match started off pretty week, but got better towards the end. They didn’t seem to have the fire or the chemistry that they had last year, but when Taichi started some shenanigans, I got into it a bit more. Goto’s run in the G1 this year makes sense. He hasn’t been doing all that much, but he beat a big rival already, and now he is just doing the job for a lot of his compatriots. Taichi was the correct winner here. He is having an entertaining run for sure, one that I am happy to watch. But this match was not the best. 

Then we had Jon Moxley vs. Shingo Takagi. Exciting stuff, and they were in the same stable in Dragon Gate USA a while back, so that is interesting. The two squared right up the second they were both in the ring together. And they started the brawl before the bell even started. Moxley quickly resorted to his now signature bit to the eyebrow. The two blasted each other with strikes and chops in the corner, before trying for a quick test of strength that Moxley came out on top of. Moxley then overextended a bit, going for a suicide dive, but Takagi caught it and hit a death valley driver on the outside. After Moxley gained the advantage again, he set up a table on the outside, but it wasn’t used right away. Instead, Moxley started to target the leg a little bit to weaken the base. Any time that Shingo started to get some momentum, Moxley went right to the leg and knee. It absolutely crippled Shingo’s offense. He was able to get flashes of offense, such as a nice german suplex, but it would be immediately countered, such as when Moxley responded with one of his own. At one point, Moxley tried for an Irish whip, but Takagi just collapsed as he ran. Moxley tried to follow that up with a regal knee, but Takagi caught him with a noshigami. He followed that up with a pair of pumping bombers, the adrenaline pushing the pain to the back of his mind. However, when he got Moxley up on his shoulders, Takagi couldn’t finish the move. That allowed Moxley to hit a short death rider for a near fall. The two then spilled to the outside, and Moxley started to use weapons to attack the knee. He dropped him knee first on the table, and then wrapped his knee in a chair and smashed it. He was nearly counted out, but when he got into the ring, Moxley blasted him with a regal knee. He tried for another short knee to the ribs, but Takagi grabbed it, and was able to twist him around for a short Made in Japan for a near fall. The two then battled in the middle of the ring, countering several attempts at finishers, before Moxley forced Takagi to the mat with shots to the knee, and then hitting a pair of regal knees to the back of the head, but still a near fall. Moxley then wrapped Takagi up in a cloverleaf for the submission victory. Moxley: 8, Takagi: 4. 

Grade: A-. Really good stuff between these two. Moxley is phenomenal with other brawlers, but it also showed an interesting side of him that has technical prowess. He worked the leg in an interesting and exciting way, which seemed like it was only to weaken the offense, but he got a submission win. It was such a great finish, because Moxley never gets submission wins. It came out of left field but it made a lot of sense. Takagi suffered his first submission loss, but it was to the strongest competitor in B block right now. Takagi is having a rough tournament, but moving up a weight class isn’t easy. Match of the night. 

Next up was Jay White vs. Jeff Cobb. Neither have had a particularly impressive tournament so far, sitting at 0 and 2 points respectively. Gedo was of course out to corner his protege. White started the match by retreating out of the ring, but unlike opponents before him, Cobb opted to stay inside of the ring. Cobb totally manhandled White, throwing him all over the place, and only pursuing him to the outside when White was on the backfoot. Gedo still tried to interfere, so Cobb threw him into the ring and was about to beat on him when White came soaring in with a knee to the back. White opted to target the neck of Cobb, which is an interesting part to isolate due to his massive neck muscles. Of course, White tried to intimidate Red Shoes when he went for a pin after an illegal move, which made me sad. He is just doing his job. The damage to the neck actually made Cobb slow down quite a bit. His power moves took that much more energy, so he couldn’t go as fast as he usually does. However that did not lessen the impact of his suplexes and throws. He still ragdolled White around like anyone else I’ve seen him handle. White too showcased his strength, giving Cobb both a saito suplex and an uranagi. At one point, Cobb was trying to give White a suplex out of the corner, but White was holding the ropes. So, Cobb popped him up into a cradle position and just chucked him halfway across the ring. He then tried to give Cobb a superplex, but Gedo held White’s leg. White thought he had escaped to the apron, but Cobb then gave him a deadlift superplex. He went for the pin, White kicked out with probably the weakest kickout that I’ve ever seen. He just barely lifted his shoulder off the mat. Cobb and White then battled as Cobb went for tour of the islands, which ended when White was accidentally sent into the ref. Was the ref down, Gedo tried to blast Cobb with the brass knuckles, but ate a slam for his troubles. However, the distraction landed white a low blow, which he converted into a sleeper suplex. White then went for a blade runner, but Cobb countered that into a German Suplex. Cobb went for Tour of the Islands again, only for White to slip out once again and land Bladerunner for the win. White: 2, Cobb: 2. 

Grade: C+. Very slow match. It was cool to watch all the power moves from Cobb and seeing how strong White is, but other than that it was just too slow for my liking. I thought the closing stretch was pretty nice, always love to see Gedo taking bumps. White’s losing streak is over, and I’m sure that will transfer right into a winning streak. As for Cobb, I don’t know. I don’t see him passing six points. But this match was fine, nothing worth going out of your way to see. 

And in the main event, we had Tetsuya Naito vs. Tomohiro Ishii. Intercontinental Champion vs. NEVER Openweight Champion. These two are longtime rivals, and unfortunately, I can’t look up their record against each other because of spoilers. Drawbacks of falling behind in the G1. Of course, Naito took his sweet time removing his ring attire, but Ishii was cool as a cucumber. They started with a striking contest, going until one of them was worn out and then continuing as soon was they could. Naito was naturally fighting dirty during the match, stomping on Ishii as he was grounded and spitting in his face when the mood struck him. Naito targetted the neck in order to nullify some of his power moves. The attacks on the neck, however, did not affect his striking, where Ishii had an advantage. Both men took loads of punishment whenever they started to hit each other. The forearms were stiff, the chops were blistering and they moved very quickly.  Naito was taking advantage of his speed and agility edge in the match, using some high flying offense like in his junior heavyweight days. After escaping out of a powerbomb situation, Naito started to disrespect Ishii by slapping him lazily and spitting on him. In response, Ishii trapped him in the corner and destroyed him with chops and strikes. Even when he was about to collapse, Ishii would pick him back up and keep going. He followed it up with a saito suplex for a near fall. He tried for the powerbomb again, but Naito countered with a spike hurricanrana. Naito then tried for a flying forearm, but Ishii countered this time with a straight jacket suplex. Ishii then tried for a superplex, but Naito slipped out and hit a hangman’s neckbreaker off the top, and followed it up with a hurricanrana from the top rope for a near fall. Naito continued to target the neck with his offense, and Ishii was starting to slow down. The injuries were piling up. Naito went for Destino, but Ishii caught him. He tried to go for a lariat, but Naito countered with a high angle german suplex. Ishii popped right back up, but Naito nailed a poison rana. Ishii’s strikes became absolutely desperate, which is normally a bad thing, but with Ishii’s strength, he was still able to floor Naito. He converted those huge hits into a superplex for a near fall. That allowed Ishii to get his second wind, and he just annihilated Naito with various headbutts, strikes and lariats. The two exchanged blows back and forth, when Naito hit a short Destino out of nowhere, but Ishii kicked out! Naito tried for the full hit, but Ishii caught him. The two battled for control, each trying to hit their finisher, ending with Naito hitting a DDT, and Ishii popping right up and hitting the sliding lariat for a near fall. Naito then nailed a brainbuster of his own, but still Ishii kicked out. Neither man was willing to lose here. Naito then hit Destino one final time for the win. Naito: 4, Ishii: 4. 

Grade: A-. Another great match out of these two. Ishii was actually fighting from behind a lot in this match, and I think the only reason why he was actually able to stand up to Naito in this match was his raw strength and endurance. He was at a disadvantage from the start, because Naito picked the best body part that he could have to work over. It nullified a lot of his offense, and given how much he uses various suplexes, Ishii injured himself over time as well. Naito played this one smart. In the end, Destino did it. He broke the neck down and got the win. Good stuff from Naito, glad to see that he is coming into his own now. Ishii is still the MVP of the G1 in my opinion, delivering his fourth great match in as many matches. Definitely the best in the block. Great stuff from both guys, two of the best in the entire tournament. 

Overall Grade: B-

Pros: Moxley vs. Takagi; Naito vs. Ishii

Cons: Robinson vs. Yano; Cobb vs. White

#hazyheel #njpw #new japan #new japan pro wrestling #g1 climax #g1 climax 29 #g1 climax 2019 #njpw g1 climax 2019 day 8 review #pro wrestling #njpw review #new japan review #new japan pro wrestling review #g1 climax review #g1 climax 29 review #g1 climax 2019 review #pro wrestling review #jon moxley #shingo takagi #jeff cobb #jay white #tetsuya naito #tomohiro ishii

[justwinginoverthings]

So I haven't actually seen GoT's season 7 but I feel like I can get by with what I've seen by gifsets and what I've read from my mutuals and I gotta say...

I hate that they took a concept that is actually fascinating and destroyed it with rushed and cartoonish plotlines. I love the idea of Dany being received with wariness. I love the idea that she may have allies but at the same time people who will look bad on the dragons (because Targaryens are as revered as they have been villified due to their greatness/madness), I love the concept of people not knowing what to think of her Unsullied (slaves? But freed slaves? Will the people of Westeros care for the difference?) and her Dothraki (certainly there will ve xenophobia, and I wish it didn't always come from the hand of Clearly Evil People like Tarly and Cersei, let other people be like "but don't Dothraki sack cities? Is that what will happen if we don't kneel?"). I know show!wise the Faith died with Cersei, but a huge thing was made of her crimes of incest, Dany is the product if incest! Even better, show me lords and commonfolk be like "listen it hasn't been a string of good rulers since Tywin Lannister was the Hand of Aerys so as long as you don't give us more wars???" but then Dany has to war people like Euron and Cersei which puts everyone at risk cause they're both unhinged so DRAMA.

Have Dany facing the fact that despite the speach of Karl Varys and (Somewhat)Idealistic!Tyrion, she may not be as wanted as she may have believed.

And why I hated it is because by having this villains be the only ones objecting, all the images I see of Dany is of her marching her dragons and be like "kneel or burn" and like, fuck I am not complaining of her burning that piece of shit Tarly cause fuck that guy, but like... Uhm? Show me Dany winning over people? Like she is kind and good and a good part of her characterisation is being like "my people, gotta protect them!". There has been so many lords and lands and people screwed over by the War of the Five Kings, gimme those people hurrying to kneel to her side because she is good? The Maesters don't like magic, and every holdfast in Westeros has a maester! Like I hated that her only allies were the Ellaria&Sand Snakes (who murdered their lord! slayed their kin! killed an innocent girl!) and Olenna (who is cool but had the selfish desire of revenge and... That was it really like I hate that the reason this people allied with Dany was just to screw over Cersei look, people flock to Dany cause she's good ok???). Like, I get it, show!wise (and book!wise too) people will eventually look at her as their hero for helping defeat the Others/White Walkers/ Night King/ (WHATEVER THIS SHIT IS CALLED) but honestly I feel like it does Dany a disservice cause the thing is I feel like she will be beloved by some and rejected by some and this would give ample opportunity for both her to show her skills and charisma as winning people over (because she's KIND and she's a savior at her core!) and Tyrion's skills as Hand in securing her a pacific realm that respects and loves her and fucking functions and is not filled with internal conflict rather than always live in fear of dragons?

(I get that the last bit is always the argument from the misogynistic hate forever thrown at her but the whole point is that I think Dany is a mix of both? Like yeah the dragons inspire fear but DANY herself inspires love as seen as a savior. Why does only Jon get to be a hero you get me?! I feel like the show goes to great lenghts to be like Arya/Dany/Sansa/Cersei do all these stuff that pushes them to be grey-ish/evil-ish but hey it's cool Jon Snow is such a hero that he even voices regret for the justified "bad" stuff that he has done!!!)

Anyways long story short I get that screentime is limited but the whole point is that it would've been useful and nice to see character-wise to have less-asshole-ish characters voice concerns regarding Dany and her army/motivations/character and then be proved wrong, have her and Tyrion win over the Oldtown maesters, the squabbling lords, the commonfolk, someone other than Jon Without Dragons We're Fucked Snow (& his merry band of male characters who, Gendry and Davos aside, are still problematic AF) and the We Only Wanna Kill Cersei Squad.

#it is a strange day when i write about dany #but honestly it fucking irks me #s1 and s2 dany were very nicely written and delivered by emilia #and while s3 and s4 were a bit less to my like #her plight to save people and her concern flr them became so clear #her efforts (and Tyrion's advise) in pacifying Meereen were appreciated and in character #bring that back maybe??? #not with unrepenting dicks like Tarly but with ither people?! #//daenerys targaryen

[nuttyrabbit]

Unorganized Archie Sonic ramblings

I’m perplexed by the existence of Ash the Mongoose. In a comic that already was filled to the brim, damn near BURSTING with characters, Karl Bollers decides that he needs to make ANOTHER character solely to formally close the Sonic/Mina/Sally love triangle......that he already closed 11 issues prior by having Mina herself admit that Sonic didn’t like her in that way....and then almost dying but I digress.  That’s all Ash was there for, to block Sonic from Mina. He had no other role outside of being “Mina’s boyfriend”, no personality outside of that, nothing. He was an average joe type, which is an interesting idea in a world like Sonic’s, but nothing much is really DONE with it.  He just...EXISTS, and it’s so weird too because he’s even like that in the fandom wherein Mina herself is shipped with all sorts of characters, from the semi-canon ones in Sonic and Tails to characters like Shadow, Honey, and even Nack, but NEVER Ash.  Most fics I’ve seen that even reference Ash tend to demonize him or make him look like a total dick a la Sally in Sonamy fics and Fiona in anti-Fiona fics.  It’s just weird man

Speaking of weird, has anyone ever brought up the fact that Sonic Forces kind of used the “Sonic disappears for a long period of time thanks to villains, things go to shit, then he comes back to fix it”  thing from the pre-reboot when Sonic disappeared into space because of the Xorda? And the fucked thing is that both of them bring up the fact that when Sonic was gone, Eggman took over 99.9% of the world (The exact same number in both). Honestly, I can’t tell which one was done “better” because both honestly really fucking sucked in execution.

Also can we talk about how Sonic just....fucked off to space for 5 or so issues? Because that happened. He almost died, got warped to the other side of the universe, almost lost his ship in a foot race, met E.V.E again, fought Fleetway Super Sonic, met these weird ant aliens, and just all sorts of shit.  And these issues could be argued to be more interesting that most of the shit that happened between #75 and #125 because a lot of THAT shit was just either meandering or stupid drama shit that went nowhere interesting (And also that Tails clone thing seriously WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT THAT CAME OUTTA FUCKING NOWHERE). And you could argue it was better than a lot of what came after because 134-159 is unarguably the WORST part of the comic’s history. With exception of RTAI and the one ghostwritten by Jon Gray, pretty much every single story in that era is absolute fucking GARBAGE with some of the worst ideas ever conceived of in the comics.

Remember fucking Kodos? I always thought he had a pretty okay design but was just boring as fucking sin and was only there to die in issue 100 and chase the Sword of Plot I mean Acorn (That was a dumb thing too what the fuck was that anyways?)

You know, I really wish one of these days Ian would just tell us what the fuck Maw’s deal was, because for all the fan content and shit he’s gotten, he realy has very little in the way of actual character and shit which is a shame , because he had a lot of potential that was sadly never capitalized on. Kind of like Cassia and Clove but they had more character to begin with and I REALLY WISH THEY GOT SOME CLOSURE GODDAMMIT

You know, I wonder how Bunnie felt that not only was she from the Sol Dimension, but that her parents died in battle like Antoine’s probably did (They never specified how they died I think), and definitetly against the thing her and Blaze fought.  I wonder where they were going to go with that and I’m pissed it was cut short because like the other arc of Bunnie’s that didn’t concern Antoine, it was REALLY GODDAMN INTERESTING AND NEVER GOT TO GO ANYWHERE.

Oh yeah, Uncle Beau was fucking cool as hell and a really unique idea. One of the FFs relatives being an Egg Boss/Grandmaster isn’t the most original concept, but having him actually be a decent person caught in a bad situation is a really interesting take on it, and gives Bunnie more of a reason to try and help him than “He’s family”, especially since it’s implied her and Beau were really close. More lost potential I suppose.

One last thing, isn’t it interesting how the only Chaotix in the pre-reboot to not really GET a backstory iirc was Vector? We don’t know who his parents are other than that he was “raised” in the same place Barby was (I think) and that he has SOME ties to Downunda that never got explained.  He just....IS and it’s so jarring to me in a comic where EVERYONE had their own families and societies and secret backstories and what have you that Vector was just....Vector.

I just needed to ramble about this shit it’s on my mind, especially after talking about the comics more as of late, I need to get back to this

#archie Sonic

[jaimistoryteller]

OC/Author PrideFest Question Mess Part 3

Thanks for the tag @raevenlywrites​​ ! Ended up sleeping longer than expected, here’s the last part of the set of questions.

Rules I am going with: answer the questions you know or are comfortable sharing, tag others, add a question if you feel like something is missing.

Note: I will be answering in three different posts, one per section, rather than all together because of how many questions there are.

Questions for you:

Introduce yourself! Tell us a little bit about you and what you write

Why do you write LGBT+ characters?

Have you always written LGBT+ characters? If no, what inspired you to start? Is it a deliberate representational choice?

Do you use modern labels in your work? Why or why not?

World builders: do you have any neat societal twists? (unique names for IDs, different marriage practices, etc.)

Do you write outside your own experiences? (cis writing trans, wlw writing mlm, etc.) If yes, how confident do you feel about it?

Tell us about a favorite book/character someone else wrote that inspired you (or just plain gave you a warm and fuzzy)

Any advice for someone else writing LGBT+ characters?

Would you like people to ask you more questions when this is over?

Free space! Wax poetic about something near and dear to your heart.

Questions for your Ocs (in character or out, dealer’s choice):

Say hi! Let us get to know you, you big beautiful person, you!

How do you feel about the world your author has created for you?

Are you out? To whom, why or why not, etc?

Tell us a little about your journey. Have you always IDed the way you do now? Are there parts of you you’re still figuring out?

Do you feel settled in your ID, or do you think it might change as you and your author go on?

Did your author always know you were [blank], or did you have to tell them? If yes, oh please, please tell us how! :3

Is being [blank] particularly hard in your world? How does your society treat you differently than ours might?

Tell us a little about your unique experiences with your ID. Do you experience dysphoria? Is it impossible to find a date? Just want to find that special someone for snuggles but everyone expects sex? Unload for a minute, it’s okay to struggle sometimes.

What’s the best part about being [blank] in your world?

Do you like getting fan-mail? Would you like people to ask you more questions when this is over?

Grab that mic! Drop some truth on us, something you’ve just been dying to share! Shout out to your besties!

Questions for either you or your OCs:

Going to answer these like I would a Q&A post, with the first three characters that comes to mind for each question.

What’s your orientation and gender? Wave that flag!!!

Tichina - female and pan. I’m proud of both. While I have not yet met my soulmates, I have had a variety of partners over the year that covers the spectrum of genders and sexualities. 

Quin - agender and queer. I am much more comfortable with my gender then I am my orientation. 

Stepan - male, demisexual, pan or poly romantic, never quite sure which is a better fit. I’m good with my alignments and try to always be respectful of other peoples. If my patient has one I am unfamiliar with, then I make sure to do research so I can help my patient to the best of my abilities. 

When did you realize you were LGBT+?

Jon - as a preteen. The others on the gymnastics team were talking about how cute people were and I didn’t see it.

Isa - in my mid-twenties. I’m older than I look.

Nazreen - after meeting my soulmates in my mid-twenties, prior to that I just thought there was something wrong with me.

What makes your heart melt?

Nazreen - not technically related to my orientation, but seeing Akaal with the children, particularly the smaller ones. He’s so big and yet I know he’s never going to harm them. 

Sitara *chuckles* Nazreen beat me to that one, *thoughtful look* I’m going with the way acceptance is the norm and not the unusual within the Balakhnov Building.

Tichina - any time I am able to get one of my high risk kids off the street, bonus points for the ones who find themselves and do so proudly. 

Do you have a favorite LGBT+ song? Movie? Book? Artist? (comic?)

Marie - too many books to list them all, the beauty of being an editor. I’ve always enjoyed All the Things She Said by t.A.T.u

Ioanna - Father would have been horrified if still alive to know I play games like Saints Row 2. I think that Gat, Aisha, and the main character are a triad. Since the main character can be anything the player ones, I take them to be genderfluid, so no matter how the relationship unfolds it’s bi

Sparks - Wonder Woman, Superman, and Batman. You know she keeps them in line and makes Bruce stop brooding so damned much. 

Do you have a secret crush outside of your own work? Some wild crossover OTP?

Aither - I spent my teenage years shipping myself with Buffy and Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and there was that one time I wondered what it would be like to be an Aither sandwich with Squall and Seifer from FFVIII. . Of course, as an adult I have also shipped myself with Sam and Gabriel from Supernatural. 

Aaron *tries not to fidget* Q from the Craig!Bond movies is quiet adorable and I wouldn’t mind a good snuggle with him. 

Diego - I don’t know if I’d like anything more than friendship, but I’d love to get to know Stiles and Lydia from Teen Wolf. Maybe Even Scott if he could get his head out of his rump long enough to actually act like the friend he’s supposed to be. 

Tell us about your LGTB+ headcannons (I’d really love to see someone’s character answer this)

Karl - I always thought that William and Geoffrey from A Knight’s Tale were boyfriends. When Jocelyn joins them, they form a proper triad. 

Isaak - no one can convince me that Bones, Spock and Jim weren’t a space-husband triad!

Vara - I’d like to think that Nathan, Audrey, and Duke in Haven are a triad. Most of Nathan and Duke’s conflict coming from the fact neither of them wants to admit it for whatever silly reason.

What’s your favorite thing about being LGBT+?

Vasilia - I’m myself and able to accept that I am myself, rather than trying to be someone I am not because I hadn’t accepted being transgender.

Isa - there is a community of people like me.

Keywon - pride in my friends and community. 

Is there a cool place you like to hang out with your squad? Maybe an LGBT+ meet up?

Keywon - well, our team hangs out at the basketball court a lot, we also spend time in the community center where we are able to get help with any school work we need. We’re encouraged to bring others our age or orientation to hang out and what not. 

Quin - before meeting Aither, I spent a lot of my time at the queer book store, I didn’t really have a squad, but at least it was somewhere safe for me in public. Not that I like being in public too often. 

Molon - while I do spend a lot of time at the community center and at the basketball court, I also spend a lot of time at the nomyn san (Mongolian Library) where a lot of people of a similar descent hang out to share culture.

What are some things you do to keep positive?

Tichina - I help those in my community and the communities around mine. Every time I do so, I know I am helping someone else avoid the hardships that I and others before me went through. They’ll have a chance at a better life. 

Tzvia - prayer and regular worship, I am active in the both my faith and sports. 

Isaak - studying helps me keep positive because it means I can reach for the stars (literally)

Do you have any advice for young LGBT+ people?

Jon - you’re not broken, wrong, or otherwise odd. No matter what some people might claim, they’re idiots. 

Aither - own whatever space you are in, most won’t know how to take it.

Jamie - be yourself, it might require leaving what you know, but in the long run it’ll be far better for you. 

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Isaak - hopefully on the moon, it’s going to take a lot of hard work and study, but my Uncle and Aunt are making it possible so I’m not letting them or myself down.

Falco - retiring, I hope. I sometimes feel far too old for position within the Network that I hold. 

Ioanna - I happier and healthier me, preferably. 

Welp, that took way longer than planned because of a host of reasons. Still, have some more information on my massive world.

Tagging some peeps I am getting to know off the writer peeps spreadsheet so they can see my answers or do them as they feel fit.

@authordai @forlornraven @lagamerita @writing-at-dusk and @wordsbysarah

 Part 1 and  Part 2

#long post #OC Pride Prade #tag game #thanks for the tag! #CLV Tichina Esmeralda Mattos Tyler #CLV Quin Porter #CLV Stepan Nadiyavovich Yarosh #CLV Isa Qari #CLV Nazreen Awn Dastyar #CLV Sitara Misra #CLV Marie Kahl #CLV Aither di Straiti #CLV Aaron Wren #CLV Diego Varela Ros #CLV Karl Mohanjit Pudovkin #CLV Isaak Uuno Ahola #CLV Varvara Viktorovna Balakhnova #CLV Keywon Benson #CLV Molon Maral #CLV Tzvia Shine #CLV Jamie Gray #CL Falco Mace #CLV Ioanna Anatolievna Balakhnova

[neonapologist]

Fic Recs!

@enter-remiges did a recs post awhile back, and it introduced me to the the incredible dystopia AU that swallowed my life for a few days. It was great, and I feel like I owe the world a recs post of my own! So here, months later, are a couple fics in a few different fandoms and ships that I have enjoyed recently.

you should see the things we do by threeturn Fandom: Pod Save America RPF Ship: Tommy Vietor/Jon Lovett Words: 5,461

Look I”m not saying you should be reading PODSA fic, but like, why aren’t you reading PODSA fic? So fun! So funny! So witty, so banter! And the characters (uh, people) are so THEMSELVES, its charming. This fic is a very good version of those things. Its so funny it makes me laugh out loud REGULARLY and it incorporates actual details nicely, and its sweet and perfect. You should read it.

“It was weird because usually Tommy only had gay thoughts about men in uniform and Barack Obama. Tommy darted a look over at Lovett, who was probably the most civilian person he had ever met. He had fallen asleep.”

A Case Study in Non-Traditional Pack Dynamics by 7iris Fandom: Hockey RPF Ship: Carey Price/PK Subban Words: 7,449

PK and Carey are a good ship (RIP!) but this is the best version of them. It is! Carey Price is obviously a werewolf, recalcitrant but good at it. PK is having a great time. The story of the two of them is lovely and has just enough like, animalistic scent nonsense, but more than anything this is just one of my favorite little built worlds ever? I would very much like to go to this conference, and the author does such a good job of making it real and charming and fun. Its gorgeous.

“Carey sighs deeply. "Pernell Karl Subban, will you pretend to be my alternate pack-leader--"

"And mate," Kayla says.

"And mate," Carey repeats dutifully, "at the Greater Pacific Northwest Werewolf Symposium?"

PK grins. "Absolutely."”

puttin' on my shades (to cover up my eyes) by electrumqueen Fandom: Hockey RPF Ship: Adam Henrique/Taylor Hall (but it doesn’t really matter. Taylor Hall/growth and emotional understanding.) Words: 26,844

Honestly, this is just a fic about Taylor Hall being sad in New Jersey. It is a WALLOW. I love it quite a bit.

Eventually he like, learns to love again and that part is cool too but its just so well written and so evocative and like the feelings are so SHARP. It manages to be funny and clever even while its unbearably sad, and watching him pick himself up is…its great. Also, Mikey McLeod. Ok.

Taylor’s puking in the gutter on a Monday night when he runs into the kid. They stare at each other for a second and then Taylor, bent over, hands on his knees like he’s fifteen again, lifts his head to make eye contact. His mouth tastes fucking foul. His stomach hurts.

The kid blinks at him, and then bolts.

What Will Survive Of Us by Ferritin4 Fandom: Hockey RPF Alexander Ovechkin/Nicklas Backstrom Words: 26,093

Oof. OOOoooooffff. No one does Nicky and Ovie like Ferritin does. All their fics are so good, this one is just the newest and its…its….*groaning noises.* Soul bonds, huh. Telepathy and shared emotions and buttoned up careful composed Nicklas Backstrom leaking his feelings all OVER the place.

Also its hot af. Like, telepathic plane blowjob hot *monkey with hands over its mouth emoji*

“They win against the Habs off a classic Ovechkin snipe, and Nicklas looks at him in the locker room and thinks, I’m sorry. He doesn’t know why.

He’s been radiating apologies for a week at least, but now: now, with Alex looking at him, his face a mystery, Nicke can only think it, and hope.

The room feels different, suddenly. Nicklas’s skin feels warm, like sunlight in the wintertime.”

Seven Universes: Remember by quigonejinn Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe/Captain America Ship: uhhhh Words: 1,609

I don’t always want fic to rip my heart out, but when I DO. This is 7 possible ways things could have gone at the end of Winter Soldier and man they are all bad. REAL Bad. As the author’s note says, “This is not a fic about fluffy unicorn puppy cuddles. The first universe involves suicide. Things proceed from there.”

But its so gorgeous, these heartbreaking chiming possibilities, these explorations of a single moment and the ways that the moments before and after can affect them, the people these characters all get to be, the ideas it explores. It’s so cool. I’ve read it many many times.

“Steve Rogers puts his hand on the Tesseract, and he wishes for the Winter Soldier to remember.

It has the effect that he wants. The Winter Soldier comes to a skidding stop about twenty feet away. He crumples; he goes down on his knees, and he makes long, terrified noises of fear. Steve hesitates, but sees the Winter Soldier yank his mask off and throw it on the floor. There are real tears. There appears to be real anger. Steve steps close, then a little closer; the sight of his old, best, childhood friend on his knees, weeping, feels like a knife in the heart.”

Please to enjoy!

#fic recs #mine #hockey rpf #marvel cinematic universe #pod save america rpf #captain america #fanfiction #maybe i'll do this again some time #it was fun #it took a long time