#i feel this subplot on a very deep level

[riddles-n-games]

So, I wanted to make this as an appreciation post for the fandom. Looking at all the reveals we've gotten in the last few days and seeing how much the world of TIG has expanded so quickly, I've been getting a bit nostalgic.

When I joined this fandom, it was August of 2022, barely a month out from the release date of The Final Gambit, the finale of The Inheritance Games. I found out about TIG at a random bookstore on a road trip and I had immediate interest (the hot tub scene sold me so quick). I was also still somewhat new to Tumblr back then but I wanted to see what the hype was here.

Back then, we were still in the Averyjameson vs Averygrayson era even though I'd say things were cooling down a bit. But, that's not my point. The community was getting ready for this; there were chapter reveals, theories, and oh, it was awesome. I was so happy to be part of it. And some of the people who made it a lively place back then are still here, but unfortunately, some have gone quiet. @averysjameson, @guppyclato, @lesbianator3000, @margolovescoffeeandbooks, and @cherryschaos, thank you for making my days back then. I know you may have moved on, but I thank you for the contribution you made at the time.

The only thing I will not miss is the toxicity that Averyjameson and Averygrayson fans plagued this fandom with and divided us so much. We had a lot back then to still savor, why did we have to do that to sour the tag when this series had so much more to offer than just the romantic subplot? There was a mystery at large and so many other characters to love. We only seemed to agree on hating Emily and the old man. Moving on, let's never do that again and if there is another love triangle, let's try being more mature about it. I know we can. If Gray, Avery, and Jamie moved on, so can we.

When we were told of The Brothers Hawthorne back in October 2022 and given those first chapters for the new book, I was over the moon. We were going to finally see the POVs of two favorites; Grayson and Jameson. I was so excited to see from Jamie's perspective, to get a mystery set in London and for him to solve it with Avery; it was an Averyjameson dream. However, come the actual release of the book and I was honestly so disappointed. I'm not sure why it didn't hit the levels it should have but I already said my piece on that and while I still have some disdain for that story, I look fondly at the parts I did love. And funny enough, I told myself Grayson's story will just have to do only because I was feeling sour over Jameson's plot. But low and behold, I loved it! It was deep, funny, interesting, and held my attention as if I was in TIG all over again and it hit more high notes than Jameson's. I may attribute that to the familial connections we see displayed there but it felt more rewarding and even if JLB still had more for Grayson's development, that didn't mean Jameson had to suffer for it. However, I'm hoping that this story here was a fluke and I'm putting my best foot forward in believing that maybe reading Averyjameson through Avery's POV again in Games Untold will give back that familiar feeling I've been missing for two years. I never said I wouldn't try again.

Now, we've entered a new era and this is a third for me; The Grandest Game and Games Untold. During this period, I met @hathorneheiress, my fanfic bestie, and a lot of my current supporters have been with me since TBH. I thank you very much for sticking with me by liking, reblogging, and commenting on my posts. You make my day in the same way I assume my content makes yours. I haven't said that enough and I don't think it will ever be. I'm happy that we're all still here now and going into this new unknown with our theories, headcanons, new characters, and plots. I'm sure it will be a blast. Thank you for giving me that feeling again these last few days; it felt like being with Avery and the gang, running through the House, finding another clue, waiting in anticipation what it reveals.

I hope that this next series is everything we hope for it to be, a new start for Gray, a chance to bond with the new characters we met in The Brothers Hawthorne, and an opportunity to make it feel like the hay days of the first book. I hope that Games Untold lets us relish that feeling with the original cast, to relive the good old days, to meet up with some old friends we haven't seen in a while, and to have that final hurrah that leaves us on the highest of highs in the best way possible. Maybe it'll make it easier to say goodbye to the ways it used to be and embrace the new storytellers but of course, with the way JLB leaves us hanging with every story she gives, who is to say that'll be it?

Thank you to everyone who makes theories, headcanons, fanfics, fanart, and so many other things that leave us wanting more. Thank you to everyone who showers that content with support in the form of likes, comments, and reblogs. Thank you to everyone who has been here from the beginning, in the middle, and now. You all made this a special place. Thank you to everyone who made this community that way and continue to do so every day. I'm happy to be a small part of that. See you in the next post.

-Mystery Girl's Red String

#appreciation post #tig fandom appreciation #tig fandom #tumblr journey #the inheritance games #the hawthorne legacy #the final gambit #the brothers hawthorne #the grandest game #games untold #tig #thl #tfg #tbh #tgg #gu #tig headquarters #TIG HQ

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

What if in New moon Bella had a one night stand with Jacob? (She losses her virginity to Jacob) Does she feels more insecure of her relationship with Edward in Eclipse? Does she still hangs out with Jacob? Do Edward and Bella even marry or have sex in Breaking dawn?

Oh, anon, you know not what you do.

The Thing About Bella and Sex

Remember, Bella only looks as horny as she does because she's a) a romantic b) Edward's over there not wanting sex at all. She had no boyfriends before Edward and sex was all about "sex with Edward" specifically to cement their relationship and having this validating, romantic, human experience before she went out/potentially lost all ability to want Edward in a sexual manner because of vampirism and blooooooooooood.

What I'm getting at is that sex is not a casual thing to Bella.

She wanted it without marriage because Bella has very mixed feelings about marriage and never wanted to get married at all/saw it as the death knell of her relationship with Edward and what she wanted with him.

If Bella wants to have sex with Jacob it will be because she at least believes, if not is, in love with him and wants to take their relationship to the level she was at with Edward/past where she got with Edward.

Specifically, giving her virginity to Jacob, Bella would see explicitly as choosing him over Edward, giving up on Edward, and giving away something she can never give a second time to Jacob over Edward.

This is not a casual thing and if it is a one night stand it's a very romantic "and then I sneak out the window romantically and we never speak to one another again but hold this moment in our hearts forever".

(As a reminder, Bella in New Moon wasn't ready to even think about dating Jacob until after the cliff jump/just when she spotted Carlisle's car at which point she still ran out like he was yesterday's news. We're talking holding hands level, after months of seeing him as her only friend and emotional support through this time, she's nowhere close to casual sex.)

But, There Is a Way

Oh, Hallucination Edward, my favorite character.

"Bella, don't have sex with Jacob".

Jacob doesn't realize it, but he gets to have sex with severely depressed Bella who keeps staring over his shoulder instead of at him because she's watching Edward watch her have sex with Jacob, not because she enjoys his pain (and Hallucination Edward is Hallucination Crying), but because the longer she does this, the longer Edward sticks around watching her do it.

It's almost like having sex with Edward.

The thing is...

This ain't a one night stand.

This is the most successful Bella has been with Hallucination Edward throughout New Moon. He stayed for--however long it took Jacob to get to completion.

"Jacob, we should do that again" Bella says on realizing Hallucination Edward has vanished in the aftermath.

Jacob, deep down, knows something is wrong about this but he can't pinpoint what exactly that is and having Bella as his girlfriend/having sex with her can't be a bad thing, right? This means she loves him? Right?

"I think you should also whip and or suffocate me" Bella says, because Hallucination Edward is attracted most to danger.

:/ Says Jacob who... didn't have that in mind.

Bella Still Jumps off a Cliff

New Moon remains the same, except there's a BDSM subplot in which Bella asks Jacob to make their sex life spicier and spicier while also riding motorcycles/everything else she's doing. Jacob's starting to feel used and uncomfortable in a weird way, but he still can't pinpoint what, exactly, is wrong and thinks that Bella's just... a little messed up from Edward and kind of wild.

He assumes Edward, the leech, and evil incarnate, beat her in the bedroom and that Jacob is now in the plot of Blue Velvet. This explains why Bella can't talk to him and is also doing... this stuff...

But she still jumps off a cliff and oh there's Alice. Bella doesn't confess about her wild sex life with Jacob Black as Alice is already judging her/she doesn't want to admit she rebounded on Jacob within only a few months of Edward leaving and oh my god she rebounded on Jacob and she never realized that because she was just summoning Hallucination Edward through BDSM.

She's even feeling increasingly awkward that Jacob was around where Alice could see him and... trying to tell Alice that he and Bella are together and "no, don't tell her that, Jacob I... don't want the leeches to know. Wink."

Alice is actually fooled by this as she hasn't seen Bella with Jacob/doesn't see them because Jacob is a shapeshifter. She just thinks Bella is being weird because Edward left her (and she told Edward this would happen).

Fast forward, Bella has to save Edward's life, Jacob is even more appalled as Bella's leaving him to save Edward then we get back and oooooh Edward did want to get back together. Bella hadn't realized that.

Now, in her bedroom, Bella is having a crisis. She's accepted that maybe she's rebounded on Jacob but the thing is that Edward's the love of her life but she was untrue to him. In a panic, I imagine Bella latches on to Edward and still holds the vote. She has to get turned into a vampire so Edward's stuck with her for good er before it's too late.

Afterwards, Bella realizes she has a problem, she has to break up with Jacob.

Bella Doesn't Want to Break Up with Jacob

The thing is, as in canon, Bella values Jacob's friendship and doesn't want to give it up even for Edward. She tries to back peddle with Jacob and go back to just being friends without the, you know, BDSM stuff.

Jacob can't even even more than he did in canon.

Which means he blurts it to Edward at the first opportunity. He blurts that a) he knows Edward's a sick perverted fuck in the bedroom who makes Bella do things like whip herself b) he's been sleeping with Bella while Edward's away.

Edward loses his goddamn mind.

Bad enough that Mike Newton was a hypothetical human who could hold Bella's hand while she's getting stitches. Bad enough that Jacob has appeared out of nowhere in Bella's life and Edward can't get rid of him. Now Jacob is Bella's lover, who truly cares for him, and Bella thinks Edward's a pervert weirdo?!?!?!

Edward can't get over this. He confronts Bella who tries to set the story straight but makes it worse. See, Edward, she liked adrenaline things when he was away and discovered um her sexuality and BDSM. Jacob just thinks it was because of Edward for some reason and that reason is totally wrong.

Edward now feels like a prude, emasculated, and dying that JACOB CAN HAVE SEX WITH BELLA AND EDWARD HASN'T. I imagine...

Nothing actually changes, Edward still wants to marry first, then have sex, but this will always haunt him and always come up in every argument. He pointedly 'forgives' Bella for cheating on him (which Bella's grateful for because she feels like she cheated even though Edward had very much left), he still pressures her to marry him to have sex with him/turn her, and so we get the rest of the plot.

Just that when Jacob's a mind whammied thrall he tells Renesmee "I've been in your mother's human vagina just like you :)"

#twilight #twilight meta #twilight headcanon #twilight renaissance #bella swan #edward cullen #jacob black #anti edward cullen #anti bella swan #bella/jacob #anti bella/jacob #bella/edward #anti bella/edward #meta #headcanon #opinion

[greenerteacups]

If there was one major plot element that you could change in the original canon what would it be?

The Marauders' deaths. With the exception of James, I don't think any of the Marauders die in a way that's narratively suitable — or, to be more particular, they die in a way suitable for a narrative I don't like very much. James is an acceptable (though, obviously, tragic) death to me because it completes his arc: he's an obnoxious, arrogant bully who grows into a selfless soldier on the side of the light, and lays down his life as a final gesture of abnegation. It's not Proust, but it's good, right? His death represents a symbolic triumph over Voldemort because it's something Voldemort would never do.

None of the others make the same kind of sense for their subplots. Sirius dies at the Ministry because Harry fucks up and lets his abandonment issues override his judgment, and while that's a compelling moment for Harry — whose hamartia is a trauma-forged combination of hot-headedness and desperate fear of losing people — it's not for Sirius. Sirius's problem in Book 5 is that he's emotionally stunted by his years of imprisonment and refuses to grow up, because he's clinging to the life he thinks — rightly — he should have gotten to have. This is made painfully clear in the Department of Mysteries, wherein some of his last words to Harry are "Nice one, James!" He refuses to treat Harry like the child he is, and he keeps acting like he's this fun-uncle type, blowing off rules and pissing off Mom (Molly), because that's the dynamic he should have had with Harry if Lily and James had lived. Sirius doesn't want to be Harry's guardian and role model. He wants a brother and a nephew, and he's trying to force Harry to be both, because he's all he has left of that family. His death doesn't tie any of those threads; they're left dangling. That's a valid narrative move — every death cuts a story short, and you can't give everybody an arc — but I loved Sirius. Giving Harry the "grieving loss of a parent" arc that was originally meant for Ron (Arthur was the original Big Death of the OOTP, in JKR's drafts) also means that Ron spends a lot of Book 6 without anything to do, whereas Harry goes through what's essentially a more intense version of the grieving-and-recovery arc he did after Cedric's death.

Remus, on the other hand, is just — first off, a Mess, I agree with so few of the choices made with Remus in the later books, but let's say he's deep in the trauma, the grieving, and whatever living among werewolves as a spy does for your mental health. So he gets into this will-they-won't-they with Tonks, gets married, tries to abandon pregnant wife, then goes back and gets to be with his wife and son for about half a year before dying, with said wife, in battle. Okay. So like:

I think the Remus Weirdness in Book 7 is actually an attempt to close a plot hole, which is that the Horcrux Hunt happens completely without adult supervision, despite the fact that there are lots of adults the Golden Trio could and should ask for help. Harry's insistence that he doesn't want to risk anyone's life except for Ron and Hermione's is, while understandable as a character move, utterly ridiculous, because the other Order members are risking their lives anyway. One of the biggest holes is Remus and Tonks, who are (a) both already targets for Voldemort because of who they are, and so have nothing to lose, but also (b) both care for Harry on a personal level, and would never accept his reasons for pushing them away. So Teddy Lupin is conceived in order to bench Tonks, who's safely out of commission while pregnant. But that leaves Remus, who probably in fact would have super complicated torn-loyalty feelings about the situation, and who is scarred and traumatized and probably has enough abandonment issues to try and walk out, but — in my view — never resolves any of those things. He doesn't suddenly realize that he loves Tonks and wants to be with her, or feel a sense of duty to his son; when Harry's justly furious at Remus abandoning his kid in Harry's name, Remus gets pissy about it and goes "well, if you don't want my help, fine," and leaves. Which is, again, fine, a character flaw, it's childish, he's allowed to be, and he is, in fact, similar to Sirius and James — but it left a bad taste in my mouth, because that's one of the last conversations we get with Remus, and it's such an impoverished vision of his bonds with others. It doesn't delve deeply into why he loves Tonks or Harry, or the substance of his conflict between them; like always with the Marauders, he just invokes James, and Harry throws James's name right back at him, and it ends there.

And then he dies, so that baby Teddy Lupin can be an orphan, and we can do a parallel to baby Harry Potter. Even though we don't see Teddy Lupin on the page ever, so we have no idea what that comparison means, or how their experiences compliment or contrast one another, or literally anything more substantive than the series beginning and ending on the same event. Which: great. Okay. To quote a Roger Ebert review that I think about, on average, once every thirty-six hours:

"J.K. Rowling has learned from better novels that authors sometimes create narrative parallels, but she has not learned why."

#greenteacup asks #sirius black #remus lupin

[parachutingkitten]

Okay, this has been bothering me, and I'm gonna go into it, cuz I feel like being mad that the fandom didn't get better is friggin valid, so imma get negative here at some serious missed potential, if that's not your jam, 100% get it, please scroll past.

We have a season with 20 episodes, each of which are 20 minutes long. That is an unprecedented amount of time for a ninjago season- I would argue maybe too much time, but that's not what we're getting into here. Even just the first half is the length of your standard ninjago season back in the day. There is no excuse for not taking your time with ideas that deserve time. You've got time. You've got too much time.

If you're gonna do a mystical mind prison that traps you in your worst fears, you gotta do it! You can't do this wimpy half commit thing you're doing here. What is this cop out that's like three minutes long? This is a top tier trope! Loads of stories do this- for a good reason, it's a great way to get lots of new insight into your characters, not to mention have fun with environments, hypotheticals, bend logic, and do some creative filmmaking. And here you are, inventing a whole weird fictional animal to facilitate your nightmare state, and it legitimately takes up so little screen time that it hurts! What? Did you not have enough to say about your characters to fill out a full subplot? You thinking that surface level about things? Or was the basketball tournament fake out with the dragons so important to the story that you couldn't cut it out for some character introspection?

It's so short and pointless, it doesn't functionally do anything except tell us very directly "Here's what this character fears, and will have to get past this season!" No looking into why or making some progress/losing progress on the issue in the dream state. We don't even get to see everyone's visions, let alone see any interconnectivity between them. It's just such a waste of a classically exciting set up. And why on earth would you place this concept at the beginning of the season? Put it at the turning point man! That's what this scenario is made for! Literalizing characters overcoming mental challenges so that it's interesting to watch! Using the nightmare dream sphere for exposition in the most boring possible version of the trope is just dumbfounding.

I mean seriously? The black void? That's all you've got? You gonna go the Cars 2 route and set our supposedly deep nightmare sequence in a black void? No symbolism to the void even? No distorting of visuals within the void? Nothing? Can you get any more basic? Did you really put that little creativity into this? Like, the whole point of the nightmare dreamscape is to get creative! So much symbolism and messaging that you can easily tie into things! the possibilities are literally endless! But yeah, I guess Arin running in place is pretty meaningful too, I'm sure it took you a while to come up with something so profound.

There's a reason this story beat usually makes up at least half the plot of any given episode it's in! There's so much room to explore. The potential for crosscutting between nightmares is so high, drawing parallels between characters. Maybe they're all interconnected, and the mentally strongest of the team breaks free to help the others in their nightmares. Maybe it's a revelation point for the rest of the team as they see a dark past of another character they didn't know about. Or maybe it's just the audience who gets new insight into a sheltered corner of a character's mind, or a way to reveal to them a dark secret someone is hiding. You can also have fun subverting expectations, maybe one of the nightmares is just objectively pretty funny. And, the best thing about any dream environment you're creating, you can have the characters get involved in insanely creative fights and action scenes where they literally beat up their mental roadblocks with cool looking and symbolically important powers or tools.

Like, I know the fandom is losing their mind over this scene because 'omg Nya's gonna be so sad cuz of the memory loss(that hasn't even been revealed in narrative yet, so the irony doesn't even really work)' but I just need you to understand that the full fledged angst, character growth, and introspection y'all are speculating could have theoretically happened in Kai's plot is what we could have had for everyone. For a full episode. Like it deserved to be. And it would have been really cool, and really satisfying, and beautifully and symbolically stunning, because countless other people have done it, it's honestly not too difficult. Stop freaking out like they did a good job with this- they didn't do a good job with this. They couldn't even bother to give everyone a vision, they just gave up on the concept halfway through.

Not to mention how accessible and valuable this type of storytelling is to kids! Literalizing some of the big abstract issues these characters are supposedly battling this season would be a great way to get kids to grasp these ideas, but instead it's literally like two and a half minutes of slightly ominous stuff to bate us before we move on.

Stop teasing us with interesting stuff and then not actually following through! This is not how you do storytelling!

#ninjago #Dragons Rising #drs2 spoilers #ninjago spoilers #beyond the phantasm cave #no hate to anyone #obviously #/lh

[adracat]

GWitch 23 thoughts

Sorry for the wait on this, I had to rewatch a few times to really drink in everything that was going on. I didn't have the best knee-jerk reaction initially ( I enjoyed it ofc but was a bit ambivalent about some things) and wanted to give it a fair shake.

First up, seeing Suletta zip around like the ace pilot she is was quite rewarding and fun! Now all those auto-pilot rumors can be laid to rest. However, the circumstances weren't the best and it broke my heart she was gasping for air the entire time. I had no doubt she'd live but it's still miserable to witness that

Ah Lauda. Your tomfoolery knows no bounds. We knew this was coming after the last ep, but it's still a bit frustrating. On a technical narrative level, it works since we're seeing two sets of siblings confront their simmering tension with one another. On a personal level, I wasn't very amused. I first saw this at 4 in the morning and had no patience for Lauda lmao. But rewatching it a few times gave me a deeper appreciation for what's going on. He's really intent on scapegoating Mio for everything wrong in his life. Fitting for her role as the Rose Bride and Lauda's demonized witch

This little aside from Chuchu is so suspicious tbh. Considering Mio's failure at piloting, this seems to imply either she does not have a permet implant of any sort or a flat intolerance. I have a sneaking suspicion it'll become a factor in the next episode.

Mio staring wistfully at Cool-san/etc memento of Suletta will always grab me by the throat. Girl wants to wife up Suletta so bad. And really, who could blame her?

Schwarzette is so pretty and cool. Unfairly so. Like, why did you make that thing so unique and cool? For dipstick Lauda?? Who is that pink permet for and why does it look like Utena??? ANSWER ME OKOUCHI

That's nice of Delling to rise from his sickbed to try and negotiate with the SAL. Unfortunately, this would be for naught because they're here to purge and replace. Not make nice. It was the thought that counts, I suppose.

Speaking of, the debut of a solar ray blindsided me. I mean, yeah it's Gundam, but I kinda thought we were skipping the big death ray lmao. After sitting on it, I think I know where it's headed. Totally on brand for SAL too in hindsight. They like to act removed, but they're just as entrenched as Benerit in the skeevy corpo politics. Allying with Ochs and now Peil cements it

Check the link above to see my Utena related thoughts on this moment btw. It might be the highlight of the episode beyond the Prospera confrontation. Stunned they finally stopped playing coy and seemingly confirm Notrette is indeed a GUND entity residing in pseudo hell, and likely a GWitch newtype like Eri

This was very sweet and I enjoy it more on a rewatch but I also understand why I and so many people had a gut-deep aversion to this subplot. The issue is entirely investment based imo, and tbh I just don't care that much about the Jeturk family dynamics. At best, I don't mind them. Guel is a bro but Lauda is SO exhausting on multiple levels. His misogyny and gross negligence of Petra in favor of revenge doesn't help.

If something came of this other than Lauda/Guel sibling closure, I'd consider it fulfilling. But if you lack investment in the conflict, it's going to feel limp or frustrating in comparison to the siblings you want to see. So while I appreciate the parallel with Suletta/Eri and the continuing subtext of witch coded Mio, that's it for me. But hey, it serves a purpose. A tragic cycle was broken after all, thanks to love and MVP Felsi!

The one big gripe I have after consideration is this man's continued existence. Kenanji doesn't deserve to play buddy buddy with the cast. He's a dirty space cop who bullies children and murdered Nadim, now he's joking with 5lan? The hell. I get the theme of the show is forgiveness and not perpetuating the cycle of revenge but... really? KENANJI gets to be happy but Norea/Sophie don't? Sigh

It was so dirty of Eri to use Suletta's love for Mio against her. She knows Suletta would panic over their mother possibly 'gaining two'. It's crafty and unrepentant, but Suletta holds fast. Her faith in Mio is greater than her idle fears

Mio scolding Prospera over her favoritism was great. We love a fiancé willing to take a stand against her shit in-laws. Speaking of, looks like Mio has fully embraced becoming a Mercury one day. 'All of us will be family' YEAH YOU WILL so suck it up Prospera. The holidays are gonna be so awkward

Btw love Mio was shouting at her while having an emotional breakthrough deciphering her mother's QZ riddle. This moment was excellent and easily superceded my minor gripes. UGH when will you reveal Notrette's whole deal GWitch? We're waiting

Such a bittersweet moment. We know from the Blessing and Cradle Planet that Eri loves her sister but it may not have been until this moment that Suletta understands her feelings. Now, I don't think she's 'dead' tbh. Or deader anyway. I suspect it's a false flag to hook you until the finale. It would be quite anti-climactic if she passed without a proper goodbye. I'm still holding out on a Tempest end where Prospera voluntarily sets her free.

The next Sunday will be our last. Hard to believe tbh. Feels like just yesterday we set out on this spectacular journey. Que sera sera! I'll see y'all in the finale~

#Wish Eri had the endcard tbh but oh well #maybe they're saving it for the end #g witch #g witch spoilers #suletta mercury #miorine rembran #gundam witch from mercury #sulemio #prospera mercury #ericht samaya #guel jeturk #lauda neill #g witch episode 23

[whoredmode]

for the ask game 002 for troy

Send me one of three prompts

let’s smoke cigarettes. together.

How I feel about this character: 

i love him. when i first got into sr1 i definitely enjoyed him just fine, but over time just thinking about his role and development and his general character it really turned into a very deep love for him. he’s such an interesting character to me and he plays an important role in my canon for a reason. one of the characters i’ve enjoyed developing and using for stuff the most bc he has a unique position in the context of the story that has a lot of potential places to go, and since the actual games just kinda. ignored him. it’s fun to give him an actual role and arc.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: 

troyteros is the most obvious. i didn’t even intend for it to happen, but it did and now their relationship and history is super important to both his and anteros’ respective developments. i think this just goes for troy/boss in general. i think it’s a fascinating relationship even just on a surface level. as far as others, none immediately come to mind? troy’s a loner.

i’ve seen troy/johnny before and i’ll say i’m mildly intrigued by the idea but that would have to be a dynamic that would take like. decades.

My non-romantic OTP for this character: 

does dex and troy count? bc i could talk about their dynamic for HOURS. i love bitches who hate each other and go through hell together and still come out the other side hating. i love it so much. i love how painfully connected they are, how their dynamic is based on the cyclical nature of the relationships in sr1. it’s like they’re both aware they’re trapped in a time loop w a person they can’t stand. it’s so compelling to me. way more than it ever could be romantically, imo.

also! from my own canon. shaundi and troy. they have a minor subplot that starts in saints in hell/GooH side story where shaundi is helping troy become sober. this goes into sriv where she’s still helping him w it. i think they’d end up having a really interesting friendship all things considered. it’s a dynamic i think about A LOT!!

My unpopular opinion about this character: 

he’s an important member of the cast?? maybe more targeted towards the how the games ended up treating characters like him and dex. i guess that kinda plays into the next prompt.

ig as an actual answer to the question. i think he was more than happy to quit his job in srtt. excited even. i don’t think he ever had any friends in the SPD, and i genuinely think a lot of ppl actively disliked him. it’s why it was so easy for ultor to convince several cops to be on their payroll and work against him.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

i wish he got an actual conclusion. like he doesn’t have to appear in every game, but holy shit i hate how sr2 handles him. he should’ve had an actual confrontation w the boss, not just relegated to homie you get after completing an activity. where is their reunion? where is their conversation? there’s a million things left we deserve to see w him and the saints and we get none of it.

also a bit of a nitpick but. like i have him do in my canon, i think in sr2 if you call him for help he should be disguised or in normal clothes. like be serious. no way in hell he or the boss should be fine w him all dressed up like that while they go commit crimes

My OTP:

for him? troyteros. like hands down. no contest. there’s a reason they seem to get together in like all my AUs.

My crossover ship:

not really a crossover person….does santo ileso blues count as a crossover bc it features the reboot….can i count it in this case so i have an answer and say him and jimrob have a vague friendship. like the one friend he’s made in santo ileso after 10 years.

A headcanon fact:

like all my family lore for him. he’s the youngest of his family. has an older brother and sister. anteros saw a picture of his brother once and was like oh i could’ve had this bradshaw……..

#could’ve had the big muscular bradshaw who owns a construction company instead he got the depressed one that smells like cigarettes….. #asks #anon #thank you!

[prairiedeath]

Threads was brilliant, and fucking horrifying btw

This is going to be a spoiler review, so proceed with discretion

For those unaware, Threads was a BBC tv film from 1984 about cold war tensions rising to the level of nuclear war, from the perspective of british civilians. As far as I know, when it came out it wasn’t very popular, but with time critics now have nothing but praise for it. What’s so disturbing about it is how grounded it is in reality; it wasn’t just put together by a hollywood director looking to make money off of an apocalyptic action horror. It was made by people who know what they’re talking about, who fully intended to warn the world about the horrors that would come from nuclear war. There is no sensationalizing or romanticizing of war in the movie, there’s no heroic macho-male soldier protagonist or objectified love interest. There are subplots about the relationships and personal lives of the civilians, but they’re all rendered all but meaningless in the face of nuclear annihilation. It’s about as “unbiased” as it could have been considering where and when it was made. it’s just a deeply, unsettlingly realistic answer to the question, “what would nuclear war, the aftermath, and the events leading up to it look like from the prospective of everyday people?” The occasional words from a narrator and those eerie ass dead-silent text cards that pop up between scenes to let the audience know which event you’re at in the timeline make it feel more like a documentary than a horror film. There isn’t much of a soundtrack at all after a certain point. You’re left with mostly empty, windy ambience, occasionally interrupted by explosions, crying, screaming in pain or in anger and this deep, disturbing trilling sound, scenes of charred corpses, bloodied people who remain in shock, burning and ruined buildings, dead pets, people trying to pick up the pieces and find their loved ones. It’s gorier than I would ever expect from a TV movie of the time; and it’s realistic gore. There’s no way that whoever worked on the gore researched slasher films rather than actual explicit footage of war-zones, because that’s exactly what it looks like. It shows the ensuing chaos of public unrest in response to the inevitable government mishandling of the crisis, even the brutality that the remaining British authority would inflict on the angry, desperate surviving masses who demand food, water and medical care. It lists, and shows in scary detail at times, the epidemics that would result from the squalor of living conditions post-nuclear war: typhoid, cholera, dysentery. At times it flashes black and white, film photography-style images on the screen for a few seconds of the destruction and the bodies. It horrifically depicts the power grab and the executions that the british authority would carry out. It shows the mass animal death from nuclear radiation, the utter lack of safe food anywhere. It shows the horror of pregnancy and birth in a nuclear wasteland, and just how terrible the winters would be: mass hypothermia which leads to death, especially in children and the elderly. The ending is…. Devastating. The film really doesn’t get anything wrong in terms of the execution of it. I love the directing of it, how almost the entire way through it’s filmed as if it’s a documentary rather than a fiction film. While I ultimately think it’s good that it was on cable and thus more accessible to the public, It’s criminal to me that this was just a TV movie and that it wasn’t also in theaters. Going to have to jump on the bandwagon and give it 5/5 ⭐️

#threads #horror

[triviareads]

ARC Review of Bed Me, Earl by Felicity Niven

Rating: 3.75/5 Heat Level: 3.5/5 Publication Date: November 9th

Premise:

Lady Caroline Haskett knows she will never marry, but she wants one night of pleasure with her brother's friend, Phineas, the Earl of Burchester. Phineas has no idea who she is after their one night together, but when he finds out, he quickly decides he wants to see more of her, any way he can.

My review:

This book felt quieter and more introspective compared to the two previous books in Felicity's Bed Me series. A part of that is because the external plot is fairly staid— they meet, there are some fundamental misunderstandings, they marry, and then finally come to love and understand one another. Another reason is because Caro has a lisp and a stutter (which the author wrote out phonetically in dialogue), and as a result she does not speak very much and a lot of her development is internal. It doesn't help that her father ensured she was isolated from society because he was ashamed, and that insecurity runs deep within Caro.

That insecurity also rolls over into her perceptions of love. Caro is self-possessed and very determined when she wants something (see: her initial seduction of Phineas), but she fundamentally doesn't believe anyone could love her, nor does she wish to love anyone because of the example her parents set for her. It was a little heartbreaking to read Caro agree to marry Phineas when she doubts that he truly understands her and thinks he will cheat as soon as he tires of her.

Phineas is a himbo hero; unserious, genial, and very much a sybarite. In some ways he is the partner Caro needs because he's honest and openly affectionate and nonjudgemental, but his attitude predictably hinders him as well. Caro does not take him seriously when he tells her he wants to marry her and tbh, neither did I, especially when he initially claimed to love her while barely knowing her.

I did come to appreciate the financial subplot that took up most of the latter half of the story— Phineas is spending beyond his means and Caro's disappointment in him and her brother for not making her aware of this before marriage felt all to real for the time period. Also, I DEEPLY appreciate the "you're pulling out until we're financially secure enough to have children" moment this led to. Again, it feels very realistic, and also, it made me laugh.

The sex:

Felicity Niven heroines tend to be super frank about their sexual wants in a way I find refreshing for the genre, and that pattern continues here starting with Caro swanning into Phin's bedchamber in the middle of the night and basically communicating her intentions by letting Phin grope her. This actually starts a pattern of communicating-by-way-of-groping which does go a bit awry when it ends with him dragging her to a corner of a bookshop for sex lol.

Felicity Niven had teased that Phineas uses the third person to refer to himself in bed. I was initially unsure how well that would work going into the book, but I can honestly say it did. Phin's a dirty talker and a talker in general, and Caro loves that.

Caro has a praise kink and a praise kink only; she genuinely does not like being called "bad" or "naughty" in bed and I'm glad Phin clocked that because she couldn't quite communicate that herself. Also, she has a spectacle fetish.

Bed Me, Baron had a couple who used sex as means of communication when other means of communicating failed them, but I think this book has a couple who have sex despite their inability to communicate. Even when they were in the depths of a misunderstanding, they had sex, however, it still emotionally dishonest if that makes sense. Caro and Phin actually had to talk it out afterwards

Overall:

Overall, I enjoyed Phin and Caro's romance. I think there were some middle bits, particularly after their marriage that felt like they dragged a little for me, but overall, this was another solid addition to Felicity Niven's Bed Me series and I look forward to the next books!

#felicity niven #arc #arc review #historical romance #romance novels

[welcum-to-sp]

season 26 rating from worst to best

before we get into it i need to say that all episodes were at least very mid and forgettable, yeaaah. this season was better than the previous but it really doesn’t mean that it’s any good😭

6. “Spring Break”

I think that this is the only episode which I can call “bad”? It’s boring, it’s unfunny, it lacks interesting characters, it doesn’t discuss something interesting. They just brought the old joke (Garrison - Trump) back. Can someone tell Trey Parker that if you tell a joke two times it won’t get two times funnier. Especially if it was never funny. Randy subplot reminded me how much Randy sucks as a character. I didn’t know that it is possible to write Randy OOC but they did it. Also god I hate so much what the writers did to the Marsh family! What is the point of turning them into a family from the 80’s sitcom? Ugh.

5. “Japanese Toilet”

I think the fact that I literally couldn’t remember what the episode was about says enough. Unfunny shit joke, some weird conspiracy about toilet paper, blah blah blah.

4. “World-Wide Privacy Tour”

Okay, I think I don’t know enough context to “get” the episode? Like I didn’t know what the Royal family is doing right now, I barely heard about the book prince Harry wrote?? I didn’t understand the subplot about creating your own brand and stuff.Like I get it in theory but I have no idea what the fuck was going on in the episode. Butters and Kyle were soo underused. Anyway maybe I don’t have enough context to enjoy the episode, even though it’s very unlikely.

3. “Cupid Ye”

This episode is not worse that the next two, honestly. It’s on third place only because of my preference. To simply put it, I don’t like Kyle and Tolkien as characters, I don’t find watching them entertaining. And this was Kyle, Tolkien, Stan centric episode. There sure are some jokes, some characters and there sure is ehh plot?? It’s very mediocre, that’s what I’m trying to say. Also I really don’t understand how tf Cupid me works.

2. “DiKimble’s Hot Dogs”

Okay, first of all the only reason why this episode is higher than “Cupid Ye” is because Butters and Cartman are my favorite duo and Butters, Cartman and Kenny are my favorite trio and, well, it’s their episode. This episode feels more well-rounded than the others, it follows the good old structure of something small (butters getting a job) turning into something big (they try to open a restaurant). Kinda sad that an episode with a plot that works gets a point from me, because it’s a bare minimum. There are some decent jokes ig. The whole thing with Cartman and mental health has got very tiring and feels kinda forced at this point. Also I kinda hate that the moral of the episode is basically “nobody wants to work these days but a few”??

1. “Deep learning”

The episode is kinda good, okay? Simple plot: boys are in school doing school stuff and dealing with their little problems. I missed it. Also thank god it’s not focused on the politics, I’m so tired. And I kinda relate to what was going in the episode? I mean, I already know a few people who cheat in school by using chat GPT, hell, I’m thinking of getting it myself! Also I relate to Stan on many levels haha. So yeah, small episode about everyday problems with a fun ending, pretty cool.

#south park #i cant believe i wrote it #compensating for barely blogging about the new season

[mozillavulpix]

Lycoris Recoil

It was just such a weird show (in the good way)

especially when I’m looking at the things people got out of it

to be fair, it never fully settles down to be one thing, so it’s almost like it’s trying to attract both people who like ‘yuri slice-of-life anime’ and ‘hardcore gun anime’

and it’s not like it’s necessarily trying to convert fans of one to fans of the other, but both aspects are done in perhaps the same level of overall competence, so it doesn’t feel like it dips in quality when it has to go from one plot to the other

But yeah, Lycoris Recoil is about

slice-of-life about some cute girls running a cafe and doing odd jobs with heavy yuri overtones

but also there’s an actual explicit gay romance between two older guys that’s an important part of the plot. they literally consider one of the girls their adoptive daughter

a really well choreographed action gun anime with snipers and assassins with just slightly superhuman reflexes

with a story about a political system that enforces peace by suppressing any information about violent disturbances from the public, also by using child assassins

and also a subplot about a shadowy organisation that scouts and funds talented individuals throughout the world for the sake of nurturing that talent for the sake of the world, even if it’s a talent like “being an assassin”

This is all in 13 episodes.

Hearing all that makes it sound like a total mess, and while I wouldn’t say it comes together perfectly, it manages to go through them while very clearly having deep respect for each plot point and wanting them to be strong enough that they could stand on their own. Nothing feels like it’s there just for the sake of dragging the story out a bit more.

#lycoris recoil #lycoreco

[tsuki-sennin]

*Deep breath* Wahahahaha~! Make way, peons! It's a festival, a festival I say! Coming to Sorashido City whether you like it or not! Wahahahaha! So... Princess Elle of Sky Land is feeling great sorrow? Well now... we can hardly have that now can we?

This tremendous sweet sixteen for Hirogaru Sky PreCure! Is it a worthy telling of such an iconic legend?

Oh, by the way, by the time you're likely reading this, it's the birthday of our very own Tsubasa Yuunagi~!

By the way, here be spoilers! You'd best tread with caution!

-Everywhere I go... I see his face. Tarou-san...

-Bwuh? Oh yeah, Ranborgs.

-And Captain Shalala just dipped.

-By the way Sora, I'm very proud of you for kicking so much ass last episode, you were awesome.

-Ageha, now hardly seems the time for puns.

-The birthday boy grits his teeth.

-Hello, Yoyo-san.

-"What's their fucking deal, Grandma?"

-Light and shadow. Heaven and Hell. North Carolina and South Carolina.

-Ohhhhhh!

-K

-Kira Kira Energy.

-...this feels oddly familiar.

-An apothecary~!

-Papa, Mama, yes~!

-Aw :(

-Kanashimi o taiji shite yu- No Tsuki! Restrain yourself. It's not yet time.

-Uhhhhh, theme song! I forget if I talked about it yet, but it's delightfully hopeful and (as expected of a Toei franchise) masterfully composed. The percussion especially is immaculate, a good percussion section knows exac

-Onitaijin.

-Ohhhh, puppet show~!

-Pretty Princess Butterfly.

-You are very based, Tsubasa. I forgive you, you filthy crimin- *Smack!* Focus!

-Momotaro~!

-We must hurry to Onigashima.

-Well, we could retell the story with an odd cast from previous seasons... Love/Peach would make a good Momotaro just off her name alone, you could make a strong argument for casting Kokone/Spicy or Akira/Chocolat as the dog, Asuka/Flamingo of course could be the pheasant as it's a neorinthe like a flamingo...

-I'm not quite sure who'd be the monkey in this case. ...Ako/Muse, perhaps? I'm genuinely not sure, I only started watching Suite a little while ago, but she does give me monkey vibes. Minori/Papaya'd make a good substitute if you don't think that counts though.

-She shreep

-Puppet play~!

-Don! Don! Donbura ko!

-Don Elletaro~! Fully formed and armed to the teeth!

-Prop recycling~! Wouldn't be a Toei production without it, huh?

-Well, you know how it is, Mashiron! Everybody loves to play with the tropes of fairy tales~! It's why we as a society love Shrek so much. And RWBY... and I guess if you're me, Saber.

-Yooooo! Nippon Ichi!

-Dango~!

-Furry Sora Jumpscare!

-Keep your face out of the kibble and we'll be just fine.

-Free Bread~!

-Elleeeetaro Zan, Elletaro Zan!

-And now... a Haiku.

Light from the blue sky

Caught in the shining prisms

Rainbows gayly form.

-Y'know, Shinichi would be giving Mashiro girl advice. And she'd go for it.

-We're all going pretty quick, eh? Mmmm... Momotaro had to do a bit of walking after.

-...there is a surprising (read: distressing) level of similarity between Tsubasa (Yuunagi, moderate amount of issues) and Tsuyoshi (Kijino, lots of issues).

-Y'know, male character in a predominantly female role, used for comic relief fairly often, being wildly popular among fans on Tumblr... all I'm saying is you might wanna keep an eye on Wing's love life. For his sake, and ours.

-We laughed, we cried, we had wacky misunderstandings, we had insane romance subplots, people died and came back, Kaito was there...

-To the port!

-Onigashima! Where the ogres gather.

-Ohhhhhhh

-There's something about the Underg, huh Granny?

-Elletaro's companions stand resolute in spite of their fears.

-This is the good stuff.

-...apparently the princess isn't quite a big fan. ...give it a few more minutes, it'll be really good.

-Here comes creepy Battamonda~! Who... most assuredly is not a Noto analogue. That's probably better reserved for Captain Shalala or from a certain perspective Kabaton.

-Oniiiiiiiiii~!

-Ageha may be voicing the Oni, but she's definitely no Haruka. ...if anything, she's much more of a Jiro type. Arguably even more so than whatever Fifth Cure we'll be getting.

-Hirogaru-ki!

-The special effects are ruined! Your suit budget is in shambles! The shippers are going apeshit!

-She walks!

-She speaks!

-She's done it!

-Baa~!

-The cloud has lifted.

-For Elletaro! Princess Elletaro~!

-...so uh... where're Sora's parents in all this?

-I don't mean to ruin this nice moment, but I find it a little concerning that they don't seem to have been appearing much.

-BIRDS

-"What up, fellas?"

-Instead of kidnapping, Battamonda prefers a spot of murder.

-Whoa, perfect catch!

-Hell yeah, Prism Punch!

-I love how floaty these fight scenes are.

-Down they go!

-Eat my ass, Battamonda.

-Keep moving forward! The princess says so!

-Wahahahahahahahaha! Shine on, dear companions!

-Whoa! Flash Bang!

-Man, the Sky Mirage just seems like a really neat little toy to play with.

-Into the mirror~! Okay!

-Mermaid Aqua Pot Moment.

-Have you considered maybe you're just a moron?

-Thank you again, Elle-chan.

-Walk style.

-Elletaro-san~! Elletaro-san~!

-Bread...

-So let's get the party started~! Don Don, Iitokomikke~! Tokuige! Ni mune harou ze Brother! WOO!

-Ah, uh, outro, outro! Very catchy, love the rhyme structure, the Butterfly teasing is making me seethe and cope, get your skinny ass in there already babe.

-Mashiron must run! And never look back!

-Now if you excuse me, I do believe I have an installment of a certain other franchise to get back to. One that also involves floating sky kingdoms, ancient legends, knights and heroes, a pig-themed villain, wildly bucking franchise conventions, gender stuff, and horrifying underground monstrosities.

-...look I could've just said "Zelda" and there'd have been no question, but that's okay, see youuuuuu~!

#Hop! Step! Jump! Hero Gals Dream of the Everlasting Sky! #hirogaru sky spoilers #hirogaru sky pretty cure #hirogaru sky precure #precure

[spinningbuster98]

I brought this up to Beevean, but I might as well with you as well: Ever noticed how a lot of fans who feel so-so on the Shahra/Erazor thing because they think it's too weird for Sonic, tend to be absolutely fine with the zombot arc and other edgier aspects that were handled objectively less tactfully? XP

Well on the one hand the subject matter of toxic/abusive relationships is, by its very nature, more....personal? Real? Squicky? Than other kinds of dark topics.

You can write a story about the nature and consequences of war and greed to a young audience more or less easily withou needing to delve too much into uncomfortable territory, mostly because the kind of violence you depict doesn't need to be overtly shown in gruesome detail in order to get the point across (as with SA1's story with Tikal and the Echidna tribe).

However stories about abusive relationships can be much more personal and it can be far trickier to correctly depict them in a way that would be appropriate for a young audience. In that way I would technically agree with the idea of being somewhat more critical of their inclusion in a Sonic game when compared to stuff like a water monster killing a tribe off-screen, or Dark Gaia influencing people to be their more negative selves every night. Technically speaking a story with a fictional virus that turns furries into robot-zombies should be just fantastical enough to fit into this series without needing the same amount of...extreme levels of carefulness that a story about abuse necessitates. What I mean is: imagine if Secret Rings had screwed the pooch with the Shahra subplot in a way that it would've depicted her treatment by Erazor as "cutesy" or "not so bad". The resulting implications would've been disastrous and far more insulting at a basic moral level than most shit the zombot arc threw around.

Of course this is the Sonic fandom and I have little doubt that about 95% of the reason why many fans are seemingly more critical of the Erazor/Shahra subplot when compared to other dark stuff in the series can be summed up as:

It's not the "cool" sort of dark. Maria getting gunned down by soldiers led to Shadow becoming his edgy. brooding, vengeful self and that by itself is so #deep man! (Desclaimer: this is not a criticism towards Shadow, not even his backstory in and of itself, just that i don't think many people like it for the character, but simply for being dark and edgy and that's it)

It's not written by Flynn or Maekawa or any other writer whom the fandom has decided can do no wrong

We don't get many scenes where we see Shahra angsting or being sad and, as such, people are not interested since, at least from my experience, many people like dark stories where characters suffer simply because they want to metaphorically pet them on the head and hug them, rather than caring about what this means for the character, if it's being written properly, if the elements being put on the table and the way the character reacts to them are organic and fitting. I like stories where characters are put through a meat grinder because I wanna see how they can pull themselves out of tough situations, or at the very least I can appreciate them as in-depth studies into how a person being put into said meat grinder would think and act, even if they don't necessarily evolve much. Shahra's story mostly works (despite my relative dissatisfaction with its execution) because it's not about her being #sad, it's about giving us a glimpse at how destructive these kinds of relationships can be and why it's important to break free of them/ avoid them.

Then again I haven't kept up with the fandom's shenanigans in ages, mostly just watching things unfold from an outsider's perspective, so what do i know? :/

#sonic the hedgehog

[drcuriouslxix]

DRV3 characters from worst to best at sex

N/A: Himiko. Sorry, this is a child. This thing is, like, 12 years old.

15: Miu. Horny, but actually absolute dogshit in bed. Doesn’t matter how many toys and weird kinks she tries to spice things up with (a lot); she’s still the absolute worst lay you could ever find.

14: Kiibo. No dick. No experience with friends or basic humanity to approach even the most tepid erotic forms of intimacy. The only reason Miu has a good time with him is she’s a fucking desperate freak and he’s obligated to be around her for it.

13.5: Tenko, if you’re male and submissive. She’s going to kick you really hard in the junk, and this will be your only sexual interaction. Like, we’re talking ‘holy shit call an ambulance’ levels of kick. If that’s what does it for you, congrats, I guess.

13: Kaito. The whole ‘severely dying’ thing really did a number on his ability to perform. He’d have decent potential as a pillow princess, but his weird masculine pride means he’ll never try anything but domming and topping.

12: Gonta. This is going to be easily the most controversial ranking on the list. I think he would be a very lovely person and partner, like a true gentleman! But I don’t think he could ever learn genuinely good physical technique, and I have a deep conviction that he’s not actually as big as his stature suggests.

11: Shuuichi. We never get to actually see how he performs during the love hotel scenes, but he seems pretty reluctant to engage in any of the actual sexytimes. I don’t want to definitively state anything since I’m not part of this community, but I feel like he might be asexual? In any case he’s a protagonist for you to project onto, which means definitionally he can’t be particularly exceptional or interesting.

10: Korekiyo. Absolutely one of the most perverted characters, but his heart belongs to another, and I think once it gets to the actual dicking down his performance would be average at best. He’ll do weird obscure foreplay shit with you all night, but the actual pounding will largely be forgettable, if it happens at all.

9: Rantaro. The entire subplot pertaining to this character is about learning that he is Literally Just Some Guy. Have you had sex with some guy? Just a regular dude? A bloke? Congratulations, you know what it’s like to have sex with Rantaro Amami. 

8: Tsumugi. Like Rantaro, conspicuously plain and regular. Which of these two is better is going to just come down to what gender you prefer. WILL NOT have cosplay sex with you.

???: Mastermind Tsumugi. A few baseline points above regular Tsumugi by virtue of evil women being hotter, but more relevant here is the cosplay/transformation. Her mimicry is perfect to the character, and that includes their skill in bed. This ranges from impossibly bad (Leon), to really quite good (Peko), to unbelievably off the charts incredible (Celeste). She WILL be changing a minimum of a dozen times over the course of the night, though, so be prepared.

7: Kaede. Also has relatable protagonist syndrome, but to a much less intense degree. Enthusiastic, adventurous. Probably inexperienced but very earnest, I want to say she mentions it being her first time during the love hotel? Not the best night of your life, but a fine person to lose your virginity with. Don’t try choking, though.

6: Tenko, if you’re a girl, or if you’re genderfucky and submissive. Getting into the ‘legitimately good’ tier. Very, very enthusiastic lesbian, athletic, eager to please. Kind of pushy and clingy, though, so it may not be worth it in the long run. This isn’t even her final form…

5: Maki. The kuudere thing can be a little off-putting, but if you get her to open up she’ll be very sweet and affectionate, and training as an assassin gives you remarkable flexibility and control over your body. Also, given the big secret she’s already hiding, who knows what kind of freaky shit she might be into?

4: Ryoma. He’s been to prison and I am going to choose to assume that he got the good kind of prison sex experience. He won’t be much for aftercare, and he doesn’t have the body to assert a lot of physical force, but he has learned a GOOD number of things.

3: Angie. The obligatory unnecessarily sexualized tan-skinned girl for the game. Definitely worth critiquing from a Doylist perspective, but from a Watsonian perspective, she’s definitely a very very tempting, attractive, and fairly eager option. Probably there will be weird Atua-related kink bullshit, but if you can put up with that, her execution of the actual sex parts is top-tier.

2: Kirumi. MAID MOMMY MAID MOMMY MAID M- ahem, sorry. Elegant, accommodating, very very submissive and very very talented at basically everything. However, it’s rare that she’ll take the initiative in anything. Whatever you ask her for, kink or sex act, she’ll do with all her skills as SHSL Maid, but she’s not going to do anything you don’t explicitly request, and her creativity might be a little lacking. But. Come on. She’s a maid!

1.5: Tenko, if you’re a guy or genderfucky, and dominant. Secret free use/full time submission fantasies OFF THE CHARTS. Imagine Kirumi but genuinely horny for all of it and aggressively submissive. How long you can put up with this depends on how long you can stay in domspace, but if you’re into having power and exercising it, then you - and she! - will have a very, VERY good time. The well-trained body of the SHSL Aikido Master is yours, as long as you have the will to take it.

1: Kokichi. It is unfair and infuriating how good this man’s pussy game is. He does not fucking deserve the natural talent he possesses. You’ll have the best night of your life and then regret it every moment thereafter

[clarkgriffon]

OBX Season 3: Jiara

Okay, let’s do it. Let’s talk Jiara. This one might get long.

Jiara fascinates me on a fundamental fandom level and always has. As a long-time Bellarke, one of the things that roped me into the show was ship gifsets (mainly JJPope and Jiara). So, when I first watched Season 1 to see both of those relationships be comparably so small in screentime, I was surprised. I’ve been neutrally positive on Jiara over the seasons (definitely with a boost after S2), but have watched this ship have such a huge fanbase after S1 alone, so much so that writers rerouted their own course to respond to fans. It’s fanservice, but that doesn’t make it bad. In fact, it makes it fascinating to me because I’m just so unused to that concept. (Legitimately, this is something I’ve discussed with my IRL friend because I’m just so intrigued by it.)

So, I’ve paid attention to Jiara, knowing that the writers were pivoting and being extremely interested to see how they’d pull it off.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I think I’d give it like... an 8.5? It was a really good pivot in my opinion (not the concept of Kie/JJ together generally, but how well executed they were in changing their flight path).

Starting with my gripes, Season 2 was used to put closure on Pope & Kie and to slightly build up JJ & Kie, especially in the late season. Retrospectively, I could’ve used something a bit more explicit in late Season 2 about Kiara’s feelings because we jump into Season 3 with the longing glances and heavy focus shots on Kie and JJ’s reactions to each other, which I think could be jarring to people who haven’t really been paying attention to this relationship. (Another mini gripe is that I wish we’d stayed a little longer on the “We never should have left Poguelandia” thing with JJ & Kie. I feel like it gets one mention and then let go even though it felt significant for both of them. Like I thought maybe JJ would get mad/be disappointed in Kie for helping flag down the plane, something like that.)

Additionally, OBX... well, they pulled an OBX. The main ship of the show fell in love in an episode. So was I surprised to JJ/Kie almost kiss by episode 2? No. And I don’t think it’s great writing, we skip the “figuring out their feelings” part and go straight into acceptance/denial. HOWEVER, I think they accidentally made something really unique out of OBX’s tendency to fast track their romantic subplots. A full season surrounding a romantic storyline fully about the aftermath of realizing that you have feelings for someone. It’s less of a “Will they/won’t they” and more of a “They almost did. Now what?” And to have that for a full season feels very unique, which I loved.

I adored the scenes they had. Starting with the JJ going into full panic when Kiara gets kidnapped (the first time) and then progressing from there. I really don’t know that they had a scene that missed? JJ’s freakout once they’re back in Kildare is one of my favorite scenes of the season because of how telling it is of JJ’s character. A great choice, in my opinion, to use the relationship with Kiara as an exploration of JJ’s low self-worth. He trashes her, calls her the worst thing imaginable (*shudders* Kook), and even though she’s mad, she still sees through it. Because she knows he’s just scared and vulnerable about fucking up AND has the added insecurity that he’ll be stepping on Pope’s toes. I think the one falter is maybe the money clip storyline, which I think was actually quite smart in JJ’s intentions (intentional self-sabotage), but was better in theory than execution.

I think the relationship was definitely a better exploration of JJ’s character than it was of Kie’s, but it did display Kiara’s deep levels of compassion, empathy, and understanding.

Overall, I’ve been fascinated to see if the writers could pull something that fans made out of one-off lines and actor chemistry and make it work and I think the answer is very much yes. As for the Bellarke to Jiara pipeline, after three seasons, I am finally jumping on (maybe not as rabid as the rest of you but yes I am finally here).

#obx spoilers #mira watches obx

[shardsofthebroken]

Henry Creel and D&D

Do... Do you guys think Henry would have loved d&d. How would it have affected his mental health? Or would it have entered his life too late? Damn do we ever see Eleven play d&d? She deserves it, too

I think... Eleven would start playing & have 0 idea what to do and what character to be because she’s never been let loose to just enjoy silly possibilities, like she’d probably start with a young elf girl (bonus easter egg but in french, El’s nickname “El” is elf instead for some reason lol) with a buzzcut and uhh prob the cursed/psychic background whichever it is where the character is haunted by some supernatural deep sated evil that scars them, if not then a military background I’d say. Or wait it’s the first edition of D&D isn’t it, are there even any backgrounds- ANYWAYS- But then eventually she’d make like, a femme halfling mage that always wears huge dresses and has a speech quirk and is called Buttercup or something. Max plays a no-nonsense but sassy barbarian-warrior and she sticks with the same character for every one shots (she can’t handle anything but one shots bc it gets way too long and convoluted for her taste) and by now she’s like level 10 or smth (which is high in d&d).

But Henry... With Henry I have two thoughts, either he starts off vicariously trying to make the best, most powerful version of himself and it’s very uuuh... True neutral alignment if I’m being generous. In the sense that “the ends justifies the means” and he doesn’t care about pretend people’s lives or fictional morals. He’d play a sorcerer probably, a tiefling or human, and he throws away the main quests to follow the odd tiny details the DM didn’t think twice about, all in a personal mission to gain artefacts and influence, and become the most powerful in the lands. He both arrogant but tense (aka stressed). Very invested in the outcome, but prideful that his choices are the best, missing the point that choices are just that, choices from an infinite pool. His character would eventually die an ungraceful death and Henry is both shocked and enraged, but the DM is wise and Henry has lived a very thought-provoking experience indeed.

Second idea is in en environment where Henry feels more at ease, where he truly sees it as a game, a means of entertainment, and/or thought experiment rather than a way to (subconsciously or not) vicariously have power and control over his life, satiate inner issues & insecurities and plan war strategies. He’d be a druid from an hermit background and probably seeks to unravel the mysteries of the main plot, as well as explore various places and details he takes an interest in. He never has anyone else in his party, a lone guy, but that doesn’t mean he minds npcs. He even gets attached to some, probably even eventually brings one or two alongside him in quests. With that kind of fantasy secluded world from the rest of his life, I think he’d progressively allow himself more self-indulgence. He’d start helping npcs where he can, because why not, break them out of jails in dungeons and going to their rescue against monsters. There’s no reward, but strangely he has found that it can make him feel good to do so, or that it gives him a sour taste in his throat to leave the misfit young boy behind to die. And maybe when that same boy ends up murdering his family, he is silently very pleased with it, but he’s taken aback when others mourn the deaths and violence, and when the boy makes an enemy out of Henry’s character, too, emotions swirl. And he wants to leave it all to go back to his seclusion, but he has something other than himself to fight for now, too. [This prob sounds too on-the-nose for a subplot of a campaign he’d end up playing, but that literal plotline happened in the first d&d campaign I’ve ever played sooo... That wasn’t even my intention lmao] The campaign ends and he’s surprised when the DM closes the book. "That can’t be it."  "Can’t it?" "Can I... Can we play another campaign? Please?"

Hehehe... I have fanfic thoughts. The labs start a new, recurring one-on-one experiment. One for psychological observation, and of intellectual, situational testing. The kids get to play d&d. "As a new play activity", Papa says. Henry knows Papa lies, but games are to be cherished in this prison. For this I imagine him to be younger yeah, more in the midst of the trauma than set in his ways... Adult Henry would def be way too distrustful to even reluctantly engage genuinely imo. In this, he’d def end up hyperfixating on the d&d he plays, aka the 1 good thing in his life. And Papa could use that, too, like "If you can’t do this much, then you won’t be getting your hour in the d&d room." and man, an hour for d&d is already way less than enough. And he always hungers for the new horizons it gives him. (/pos) Henry would end up using his powers to mold/craft d&d figurines! :]  Idk if the DM would get special clearance to bring him materials, or if he’d make them out of staff tools that he’d steal, or if he’d get by by making them from little things like color pencil wood, or the little round things that they move in the exercice-game we see Eleven use in the show. He’d eventually want to make his own figurine for his character, wanting to mold it exactly as he sees him in his mind, which is important to him (the one thing he has control over at that point in his life). And he could turn it into a hobby! Make multiple poses, make higher and higher quality ones. A creative outlet, and a healthier way to hone his powers for sure lol! I’d imagine the labs wouldn’t have gotten the best d&d material out there, so the character and enemy figurines/pawns as well as the maps would be very minimal I think. There are multiple ways you could imagine the DM, a benevolent and wise, truly man who’s unfortunately working for a shady organisation, even if the task he does is harmless/does bring good to the kids’ lives. Or if he’s cold, calculated, emotionally detached/distant, the executioner and observer of the experiment, always thinking of how to challenge the kids in his campaigns and what useful data that could bring. But... I really do enjoy the thought of Henry getting a decent mentor figure. I love the “good and caring, but still ambiguous morally and has to be some level of cold and detached due to his job and how they’re, of course, always monitored” take, and I think since the labs are the one to hire him and all, it couldn’t be much better than that realistically. I think in many ways, Henry could easily connect with that attitude of his (especially since it’d be very similar to Peter Ballard’s vibe and situation), even if at that moment he’s a bit too young to really get it, but still desillusionized and on survival mode enough to understand that the man isn’t as genuine as his friendly facade would like him to believe, and that he has his agenda too, like every other staff in that place. I might develop the lab DM guy as a Stranger Things oc and actually write that fanfic lol... And hey, maybe he could convince Papa to let his d&d sessions with Henry be monitored if he makes reports, because Henry refuses to engage with the game otherwise! So many fun stuff to play with here

Tldr: In the labs, dnd would def be good escapism <3 better than murderous cynicism hah. And once he’s out, it’d be a good way to actually work through things now that he’d have the chance to I think, and also just a nice hobby overall to enjoy of course.

I truly believe that if Henry could have had better coping mechanism like d&d, he’d have been better for it and like, could have seen an alternative. Options. Other choices than becoming the dark overlord of evil. Because that’s the life mission he latched onto when he could find nothing else. Nothing. When no one else would allow him to become anything but. But in a world where he can be anyone, become anything, a world of possibilities, which is the very base of what D&D was made to be, he could find new doors opened, have experiences he could never had had in the labs, or even before in his limited world where everyone shunned him to take as little place as possible. He’s finally allowed to live and let live, and his horizons get expanded upon and he learns lessons that shake his world view to the very core. Possibilities. He has access to endless possibilities.

You know what. Henry deserves to get reincarnated as an average spider and live a life, that is all. I wish that for him. Gghdcbhd no- no I’ve got it. The therapy that Henry needs is farming simulator games. Give him Harvest Moons and Stardew Valleys and Rune factories. I’m a longtime Rune Factory stan, the therapeutic peace is unrivaled, Henry would looove how the game is endless, you can rise to like, level 1000 if you play enough hours I think. He’d get monster barns full of all the spiders and bugs he can find. And he’d spend days fishing and farming, and make friends with all the townsfolks <3 Does he have a waifu or husbando? Maybe perhaps >:] But in general I like the thought of Henry healing without romance, and learning to be at peace by his lonesome, and a relaxing daily routine that is his own. Very cottagecore, lone recluse living on the edge of town and comes by every day to get his bread and greet everyone. Bless.

I think Henry, once he gets past his trauma response of "this world isn’t for the weak and I’m not weak so I will not allow myself to relax and play games and be vulnerable and have fun", could get to play dnd and farm sim games, and learn a type of freedom and way of life from them, because what he desperately wanted and needed was, beyond everything, just to live a peaceful life free of burdens and judgement, where he could be anyone and be liked. Where he could, for once, be accepted and just be. And farming sims & dnd are 100% that  

#stranger things #d&d #dungeons and dragons #henry creel #eleven #max mayfield #essay kind of #headcanons #fun #wholesome #angst #my posts #analysis #i guess #fanfic idea

[generic-fandom-name]

My personal take on Andor. Now I don't normally do these kind of things, as I am very much a "You do you" kinda person. But I'm just frustrated I guess with the andor tag and my personal expectations of what I expected this show to be like.

I'll preface first by saying: I enjoyed the show,it's not my favourite but I enjoyed it. I've also not been into star wars very long, I'd say I really got into it about 7 months ago so I have no nostalgia attached to the franchise.

Summing Andor up in 1 word: fine. It was fine. Beautiful cinematography, incredible actors.

The glaring one for me is, that is just felt like "generic Dystopia of earth in the future." Rather than a galaxy far far away, and I'm not referring to the lack of jedi or vader and such. This isn't that story. But it didn't feel like it was in the actual universe. My partner summed it up quite well (he has not connection to star wars) when the fight in Aldani happened and they started shooting. He went "oh, why are they laser guns not bullets?" This is because as beautiful as it was Aldahi felt like a WWII drama.

The story seems to start threads and then drop them as soon as the story no longer finds any use of it. What was the point of giving him a sister if all we are told is to forget about her? What is the point of the flashbacks to show cassian from a small tribe stolen from all he knows by strangers if this action is never bought up?

There is a huge applause for diversity in this series but we need to take a step back and see where this diversity is. Within the Empire...the empire is meant to be a foil to white supremacy. This isn't the fault of andor alone the sequels also have women in high imperial roles. Also if you look beyond the surface Cassian a POC character is almost overshadowed by this white man saviour. Luthen.

Luthen is my biggest gripe to the story. He is a man full of pretty words and very little substance. In my opinion they replaced the importance of Mon Mothma ans Bail organa with luthen. Also something I've seen in the tags is how andor does not bow to fan service and yet his whole shop is filled with Easter eggs. Holocrons, sith holocrons, padme's headdress, a temple guard helmet! The jedi are meant to be completely erased from history and then you have this guy in a high end shop selling jedi goods. It would make sense if we only saw them in the back like back door dealings. Luthen is going to be a former jedi if I had to make a prediction.

Mon mothma's whole character has been reduced to "money and family issues." We only see her in her home. And again I feel her importance to the rebellion has been swept away.

It also felt like everyone was talking in deep statements the whole time and so other speeches or monologues lose their value.

They have made Cassian in this series to be something great and truly the spark of revolutions, so how come he is not known in rogue one by the empire? They have his face they have his details.

I also just feel like the show was treating me like an idiot. It felt like having to explain in details what was happening. A good example is the torture scene, you don't need to tell me how evil you are as an empire.

There was a significant lack of actual alien's in the show which is just personally bit annoying. You're set in space use it. Like even the scene with syril in coruscant Airport not a single alien mingling about. And when we do see them they are the lower levels of coruscant. Why wasn't that explored?

I really has high hopes for syril and the exploration of extremism in the mundane. Was he going to snap and spiral further into the fascist mindset? Or will he see the floors in the empire now? Nope he becomes obsessed with a woman and from the last clip it seems they are building up a romance....so another lady with a romance subplot.

I keep seeing posts of "this is the greatest star wars show ever." And its just not something I agree with personally, I felt not connection to the characters or the world. Yes I have a personal preferences to my favourite show and set of films. But I was so excited to see how this could build upon that.

To me...Andor hasn't done anything that hasn't been done before in the films or the shows I've watched. It's just given it a grimdark filter.

Like I said, I dont normally do these things but the andor tag is just filled with comments kinda being rude about other parts of star wars...and like I get fans are toxic everywhere. But this is really the first time I've seen it so obviously. If you enjoyed the show and think it's incredible that's great! But don't shit on others just to make yourself feel superior.

Like I said I did enjoy andor, but I won't be giving it a rewatch anytime soon..probably Will watch rogue one again though!

#andor #andor critism