#i hold this movie very near and dear to my heart

[upsidedownwithsteve]

hi! im so glad ur doing well, my dash did feel a lil empty without your blurbs and random posts c:

if you're still in the writing mood, steve and unconsciously searching out each other’s hand while sleeping or not realizing they’re holding hands till someone points it out got me all soft and i think you'd write something cute w it :(((

🧡

Maybe it was paranoia. Maybe it was that animal part of your brains, the one Murray always spoke about, the part that quietly told you all there was safety in numbers.

Maybe it was because you’d all gone through enough to realise there were indeed very real reasons to be scared of the dark.

Movie nights turned into sleepovers, never really planned, but always wholly accepted. Bodies on couches, on the floor, sleeping bags pulled from attic spaces and kids crushed together top to toe on the pullout in the Wheeler’s basement. Someone on an old recliner, a blanket pulled from a picnic basket to use to keep warm, heaps of pillows making a patchwork on the floor, socked feet pressed to thighs because even in sleep it was nice to know your friends were close.

Maybe that’s why it happened.

A night of watching Jaws, everyone chewing on popcorn and pretending that there wasn’t something evil outside, something lingering in the dark that was so much worse than a big fish called Bruce. Before the credits could roll, before the spilled candy could be cleaned up, people would nod off one by one, soft snores becoming a well heard lullaby.

It was only you and Steve left, squished in the corner of the floor, sandwiched against the couch that Max and Eleven had claimed, your backs only just saved by a mismatch of sleeping bags and cushions reserved for the patio furniture in the summer. The TV buzzed with static, an indigo glow barely lighting the room and Steve had long lay down, cheek pressed to his pillow as he whispered back to you.

The conversation was never light hearted, not anymore, not even in the midst of a sleepover. Worried words always exchanged, knots between brows and an unsettled feeling in stomachs because everyone was past believing it might actually be okay this time.

Something had to give. Right? Right?

So sleep didn’t come easy, not when your last words, last thoughts were about survival and risk taking, about your friends getting hurt or worse. The chocolate coating your tongue turned to dust and everything tasted sour, so you stared into the dark until you felt it staring back, and only then did you close your eyes.

Sleep still didn’t come. It taunted you, teased at you from behind your eyelids, pulling you downdowndown until the sharp prod of the beginnings of a nightmare jerked you back awake.

At some point, when you lingered between sleeping and not, something touched your wrist. Something warm and heavy and comforting. You barely registered the feeling of it sweeping over your pulse, fingers bigger than yours curling over your palm, catching at the spaces between your own until you were holding on for dear life.

Something in the back of your mind told you it was safe, it was better now. You could sleep, it was okay, someone was looking after you.

A body, nudging a little closer, careful not to touch, but a solid wall of warmth beside you, a familiar scent, a thumb running circles over the back of your hand.

You didn’t wake until morning, after Nancy had stepped over your sleeping frame to start making coffee. You would’ve followed too, offered to help by pulling out mugs and cups, but something kept you tethered to the floor.

A hand in yours, fingers intertwined a little looser than before, but there all the same.

Steve.

The boy was still beside you, closer than when he’d fallen asleep, his nose dangerously near your own, his soft breaths huffing out warm air over your joined hands, clasped between your faces. He looked the most peaceful you’d seen him in months.

The lilac bruises under his eyes were still there, but his pink lips were parted lazily, lashes kissing his cheeks, his hair softer than you’d seen and falling into his eyes. He had a crease along his jaw from the sleeping bag zip, an indent of each stitch, pushed into his skin beside each freckle.

Someone stretched and groaned and the boy shifted, only just, nose wrinkling, lips pouting, his hand grasping yours a little tighter - as if even in sleep, he didn’t dare lose you.

You heard Nancy crack some eggs into a bowl, the coffee machine gurgling.

You stayed, holding onto Steve as tightly as he held onto you - if only until it was time to wake up.

#steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x you #steve harrington x y/n #steve harrington fic #steve harrington fluff #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington fanfic #Steve harrington fanfiction #Steve Harrington oneshot #Steve Harrington blurb #Steve baby blurb

[cherubfae]

Hello! I'm not sure if you do single characters or not but What if the reader (who's a big fan of horror) wanted to show Alastor some classic horror movies. Their reasoning? "So you can make fun of it," If you do a collection of characters, then it can be like a movie night for the hotel.

Hiya love!! Yes, I do! In fact I'm currently working on a longer Alastor fic at the moment :)) it's like this request was made for me bc I 100% will force Alastor to watch the Scream franchise with me 😭 it's my fave. I'm a mega horror fan, haha! Maybe I'll have to write for slashers again like I used to! I'll just write Al since he deserves some love for himself!! Pls excuse me bc now I'm gonna be thinking about 1920s GhostFace Alastor 😩😩🩷💕

What's Your Favorite Scary Movie? || Alastor x reader

tags: fluff, gn!reader, Alastor critiquing horror media, plot to the Scream franchise, my horror obsession might be showing lmao

Getting Alastor to have anything to do with post 1930s technology was a task and a half. He might've made a deal with Vaggie not to have anything to do with such frivolous technology, but you weren't Vaggie. You were his sweet, dear partner. And he'd never admit just how tightly wrapped he was around your finger.

He seemed to genuinely enjoy the first few Halloween movies as well as the first Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Alastor took a great of interest with Hannibal Lector from The Silence of Lambs. He was deeply considering watching the television series you told him of. He thinks Freddy Krueger is a piece of shit and wished he could do him in with his own hands.

The next movie, however, seemed more susceptible to being torn to pieces by his ever-watchful eye.

"So the point of this picture show is what... Billy is angry because his mother abandoned him and he doesn't know how to deal with those big feelings at his age?" Alastor gives an indignant snort, looking bemused at the old television screen currently playing a VHS of Wes Craven's 1996 slasher classic Scream. That's as new of tech as Alastor would allow, so you made do.

Snorting out a laugh, you lean against his arm. Alastor's crackling gaze flickers to you his smile softening around the edges. He did very much adore your laugh.

"That about sums it up, yes," you grin, biting down on the corner of your chocolate bar.

Alastor leans his back against the sofa, pulling the blanket wrapped around you two closer. "I don't know how that Macher boy thinks that peer pressure is a justifiable defense for murdering people." He unwraps his own piece of bitter chocolate and pops it into his mouth. "Own up to your choices, for Heaven's sake. And people find these two attractive? Are they not in love with one another? Surely anyone with two good working eyes could see this."

The sixth Scream movie damn near has Alastor foaming at the mouth, each and every movie felt as repetitive as the last with slight twists and changes. He was polite to keep most critiques to himself, eyeing how much you clearly enjoyed showing something so near and dear to your heart. While the plot was rather lackluster, he had to admit he was interested in the severe brutality of the sixth and despite his opposition to new media, felt that it was a decent enough film. With such a repetitive storyline, he didn't really expect that sort of twist.

"There's one more we can watch!" You grin, holding up your copy of Scary Movie. Alastor's eyes look ready to pop out of his skull as if to say 'Oh god, another??' "I don't think you'll guess who the GhostFace is!"

"Is it the man called Doofy?"

|| I DON'T GIVE PERMISSION FOR MY WORKS TO BE REPOSTED, RESHARED, OR EDITED. TUMBLR IS MY ONLY ACCOUNT AND THE ONLY PLACE WHERE I POST MY WRITING. ALL CHARACTERS BELONG TO THEIR RIGHTFUL OWNERS, THE STORY BELONGS TO ME. || CHERUBFAE © 2024

"What the fuck-- how."

#hazbin hotel imagines #hazbin hotel x reader #hazbin hotel x you #hazbin imagines #hazbin alastor x reader #alastor x reader #alastor imagine #alastor headcanons #cherubfae 2024

[lollytea]

Love the idea that the feral, hormonal Willow post and the dress measurements post take place simultaneously, so you have this teenage girl holding onto her restraint by the skin of her teeth and then suddenly getting a text from her boyfriend with his measurements because??? what???does she do with this??? Is he making a move?? Is something happening here?? It’s probably too forward to send her own, right?? Should she just go for it or gather intel from her friends first?? meanwhile Hunter is just like “I’m gonna make Willow such a pretty dress :D”

YES!! That is exactly what's going on here. I have this vision of how Willow and Hunter's romantic relationship started off. Things moved quite slow, because Hunter got overwhelmed very easily and Willow liked him so much and didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable in what should be a safe space. It's very new and neither of them really know how to approach romance immediately, but one of them desperately wants to practise and one of them needs more time to ease into it.

Willow is always watching Hunter with sharp eyes, intently reading his body language, waiting for any kind of signal that he'd like to do a little more than hold her hand. It's usually Willow that initiates the less nerve wracking stuff like hugs and hand holding and casual affection, but she let Hunter kiss her first. She's very proud of herself for noticing the way he glanced at her mouth or she wouldn't have asked "do you want to kiss me?" and then he wouldn't have done it. Whenever Hunter initiates something, Willow knows he wants this. She knows they're making progress.

Once during a group movie night, he fell asleep resting against her side and she laid in that uncomfortable position all fucking night. He eventually started sleep snuggling her and she she was fucking EXHILERATED. This is what she's been starving for.

A headcanon that I hold so near and dear to my heart is that Willow is secretly batshit insane. Totally bonkers. Off the fucking rails. Yknow just in general. And Hunter definitely makes the crazy flare up. But she's always been good at hiding it so nobody suspects a thing.

Hunter is not very good at articulating how he feels about Willow but he's desperate to express it in any way that he can. So he's always doing nice things for her. And making her laugh. And supporting her in any way that he can. And surprising her with little gifts that he made.

Willow also isn't all that good at articulating how she feels about Hunter. "You're cute" and "You mean a lot to me <3" and other casual flirty lines are used a lot but she's not quite covering the extent of emotions. She feels a lot more intensely than that. She can't really put it all into words. All these feelings give her the unbearable urge to start gnawing on his flesh like a fucking damn griffin drumstick.

The texts make her wanna act up somethin fierce

Hello_willow: what are these?

RULERZREACHF4N: My hip, waist and bust size <3

Willow at her fucking LIMIT:

What does that MEAN?? WHAT DOES THAT MEAN??? Is this flirting? Maybe Hunter's idea of a scandalous text?? She knows from whispers in the hallways that sometimes significant others send pics when they wanna get bold. Like shirtless pics. She has been hoping every damn day that one day her scroll is gonna buzz and its her shy boyfriend, deciding that he likes the way his chest looks today and he wants to show it off to her. But it can never be that simple, can it? NO. Her fucking tailor of a boyfriend it trying to speak to her in tailor language and she can NOT fucking fumble him right now because there's a chance that if she gets this right, she might get to put her hands on the areas that he has given her the measurements of.

Hello_willow: Oh

Is she supposed to compliment him on his beautiful measurements? His broad chest? His slim waist? Should she say that she'd have no problems wrapping her arms around him? That he is the perfect size for squeezing? That she wants to come over and see for herself if he's being honest? Is that what he wants to hear?

RULERZREACHF4N: Is there something you want to tell me? :)

Willow panics, suddenly feeling the pressure to answer quick. What does he want?? WHAT DOES HE WANT????

She quickly decides that she CANNOT be bold here. Because all of the things she wants to say are shockingly indecent.

That's when she realizes. It's Hunter. Hunter, who told her yesterday that he used to be scared of the dark when he was little. Hunter, who might be trying, in his own weird Hunter way, to be a little more vulnerable. Give her more personal details about himself, so she knows that he trusts her and feels safe with her. Like when a beast rolls over on its belly.

A little of Willow's tension melts away. He's very sweet. She likes him an awful lot.

Not knowing how to proceed, Willow awkwardly tries to let him know that she appreciates him telling her things that he thinks are important.

Hello_willow: thank you

Feeling a little unsure, she adds a question mark at the end. And then, upon getting a few seconds of silence on the other end, she panics again and hurriedly types another message. A little more upfront this time.

Hello_willow: I love learning new things about you Hun. You have very elegant measurements <3

Another twenty seconds pass.

RULERZREACHF4N: Thanks. You're sweet <3

HALLELUJAH TO THE TITAN, TO THE SON AND TO THE HOOTY GHOST!!! HE THINKS SHES SWEET!!! SHE IS GONNA GET TO HOLD HIS HIPS TONIGHT!!!!

RULERZREACHF4N: Can I have your Dad's number?

NO!!! HOW THE FUCK DID SHE FUMBLE THIS!!!!

#huntlow

[twogyuu]

Second Chance

Pairing: Junhui x fem!reader

Synopsis: World-class professional boxer, Moon Junhui has everything a man could desire: good-looks, money, fame, power, and a beautiful fiancé. Yet, there’s a void in his heart that cannot be filled despite the countless number of golden trophies and diamond encrusted belts lining the walls of his home. If he had a second chance to do this all over again, would he have chosen differently?

Genre: Fluff, crack(?), angst, boxer!au, time travel!au, forbidden relationship, amateur boxer!jun, coach's daughter!reader, older brother figure!Cheol, inspired by 'Tear' by BTS

Warnings: Fist-to-fist combat, minor inaccuracies about boxing (I did some research and pulled from what I know from watching with my siblings), reader cheats (playfully), italics refer to a past life (if this were a movie, imagine the scenes of both lives being shown simultaneously in parallel - yet the outcome doesn't change . . .) 

WC: ~1.5k

A/N: I think the FML ver. 3 album was my sign to post at the very least a drabble/snippet from this giant writing project that I've been working on and off on for the past year and a half 🤧 Surprise :') There was a reason I never really wrote for Moon Jun. I was invested, but on and off writing for this fic that's already gotten to 22k words, but is still less than halfway finished 😭

If people enjoy this enough, just maybe . . . I'll consider turning it into a series? Idk . . . with the new job and all the transition stuff, I can't make any promises like I did with 'Terrifyingly Innocent.' Do know that I hold this fic near and dear to my heart and would do it in a heartbeat if the circumstances were different.

Last but not least, I'm also sharing this small snippet for the lovely @sleeplessdawn - though we met under "special" circumstances lol, I'm glad we did 💙 Thank you for always indulging in my insane dreams and writing ideas hehehe.

A long time ago, Jun decided he didn’t believe in fate. 

If fate was real, his then selfish decisions wouldn’t have led him astray from you. 

If fate was real, he wouldn’t have followed his head and his greed and chose you instead. 

If fate was real, despite the challenges, it would've been you by his side at the gala, dressed to the nines with a heavy rock on your finger wrapped around your finger, signifying the promise of his undying love for you. 

Yet, everything that has led him here, back to you in these moments in his youth that at the time he didn’t know were precious and fleeting, has him questioning his own beliefs. 

The loose bands of the ring snapped against the corner board and vibrated the floor as you swung your legs inside. Hands wrapped in black and the soles of your feet dusted in chalk, you rolled your shoulders back and bounced on your feet to loosen your muscles before the fight. 

Jun cleared his throat and turned so his back was facing you. He grabbed onto the thick rubber band, clenching and unclenching his fists around it as he strategized his plan against you, his mind wandering back to his first life when you had challenged him to a fight. 

The conditions were the same: if Jun won, you would go on a date with him. If you won, he’d mop the floors in your steed for a month. 

It started much the same as today: the gray hoodie with the sleeves cut off, the black hand wrapping, the plume of smoke that fogged over your feet with every hop, your hair swept back and the few strays of hair that made you look like a dandelion. 

You cracked your neck with the tilt of your head to the right side, raising your arms into position.

“Break a leg, Moon Jun,” you taunted.

He found it endearing – trash talk didn’t suit you, but the attempt was appreciated. Jun only responded with a small smile as he took a few steps closer and mirrored your stance. 

Seungcheol, refereeing the fight, stood relaxed to the side with a stopwatch in his hand. With a quick flick of his wrist, he started the time and announced the beginning of the game. 

Jun was quick to learn, you weren’t strong, but you were swift. Your reflexes were a boxer’s dream – Jun was fast, but you happened to be a beat faster. Every hook, every jab, every cross, you were able to dodge, returning them on the opposite side with a quick slap of your knuckles against his rib cage or a tap on his shoulder. 

Lips parted in a pant, beads of sweat starting to roll down his temple as he tried to keep up with you, Jun grew frustrated, his chest burning with both fury, and well, frankly, heartache. The tight squeeze around his heart every time you slipped out of his reach was just another painful reminder of how much he wanted you, but couldn’t. 

His heart yearned for you – at least just one fair chance. 

The situation wasn’t ideal and a part of him wanted to believe Seungcheol. 

You were the coach’s daughter and though it could go very right, if Jun pursued you out of lust, this could end very tragically and jeopardize not only his career, but that of his team and his coach. 

Yet knowing this, a part of him wanted to take the chance, and he’d like to think you did too. Perhaps he was being dramatic, but you seemed to fit so perfectly into his life – as if everything fell into place and felt whole since meeting you. 

It’s why despite Seungcheol’s look of disappointment and behind your father’s back, Jun had mustered up his courage to ask you on a simple date. 

But why did you have to make it so difficult?

Jun noticed a weak point in your defense as you tried to steady yourself on your feet after ducking under one of his hooks.

It happened so quickly, yet so slow. 

A smirk painted his lips as he took note of the opportunity. Eyes flickering to you, he met your own gaze of horror as this once, you were the one a beat behind. Jun swung his left arm, his plan to take you down once he unstabilized your stance. 

Yet, it seemed like you had one more trick up your sleeve – an illegal one, but still one more trick. 

Just as his fist was about to meet your side, you fell to your right knee, extending out a leg and sweeping it right under him. Jun felt his legs give out, the slip of one foot and suddenly he was on his back. A groan left his lips as he squeezed his eyes shut in pain. It wasn’t only his heart aching now, but his back too. 

He attempted to get up in all his stupor – a fight had to go on if he wanted this date to happen, but he found himself unable to. Eyes squinting open, he was met with your own sweaty face hanging inches above his own, your weight settled on his lower abdomen as you straddled his hips from getting up. 

When you finally came into clear view, Jun noted a mischievous glint in your expression. His lips fell agape like a guppy fish – stupidly mesmerized by you, yet embarrassed to be in this compromising position. 

His ears were ringing, but he was still able to make out muffled sounds of Seungcheol’s worried shouts and the intermittent scolding of you using your legs when this was boxing. You were quickly ushered off of Jun, Seungcheol waving a hand and calling his name to make sure the former was okay. 

“Yah! Moon Junhui!” Seungcheol shouted as he jolted his friend’s shoulder. 

He blinked a few times before shaking his head and coming out of your trance. Even though it was Seungcheol in front of him, his eyes followed you, lingering in the background – the triumphant smirk slowly melting off and being replaced by a look of worry the longer Jun stayed down. 

“Moon Jun–”

“I’m fine! Stop!” Jun waved off his friend. 

“How’s your head? Can you see okay? How many fingers am I holding up?” Seungcheol rambled. 

“I’m fine,” Jun repeated himself as he tried to get up. He winced at the ache between his scapulae. Noticing, Seungcheol supported Jun’s weight on one side, muttering a string of curse words and scolds about your sweep kick. 

“I’ll see you for ice cream tomorrow,” you called from the side of the ring. Jun looked up to find you, one leg hanging in the ring, the other one already ready to hop out. Perhaps he was still seeing stars after the fall, but he could’ve sworn he saw you wink.The corner of your lip twitched up into a small smile. You chortled, “Consider it a date.”

If fate was real, it didn’t matter if you beat him or if he beat you. 

In this life, it was now Jun straddling your hips, an elbow gently pressed across your chest to stop you from struggling against him though you had already stilled. You stared back at him, cheeks warm and eyes wide in surprise at the way his own flitted across your face, the crease between his brows forming ever so slightly as if to seriously memorize every subtle feature and every crevice.

Because fate was real and it led him back to you. 

You tapped his arm with your pointer finger to signal that you yielded and end the fight. However, he remained in the position, inquisitive – you wondered what he was thinking and what was going through that beautiful mind of his. 

“Hey, hey, hey!” Seungcheol shouted as he hurried into the ring. He pulled off Jun by the elbow. “You won, get off her and let her breathe, geeze!”

Jun blinked blankly at Seungcheol a few times, dazed. The older man shook his head, clicking his tongue against his teeth and pushed the lovestruck boy aside.Seungcheol extended a hand to help you get up. 

You feigned your cool and content, stretching out your back and paying extra attention to the chalk that had dirtied your black leggings, patting away the white. 

“Are you okay?” Seungcheol took you by the shoulders and scanned you up and down. “You know your dad is gonna murder me if anything happens to you, right? At the hands of his prized boxer too!”

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” you pushed his hands off your shoulder. You waved your limbs around to prove a point. “Nothing’s broken – see!”

Amidst your bickering, Jun cleared his throat, commanding silence in the ring again. You both looked up at him. He couldn’t help, but notice the way you had suddenly grown sheepish, inching ever so slightly to hide Seungcheol’s broad shoulder. 

Like you that day, he smiled. 

“I’ll see you for ice cream tomorrow,” Jun announced. He winked, his smile spreading into a grin. “Consider it a date.”

Like you that day, he walked out of the ring with his heart full and warm, but giddy and thumping off-beat than what he was used to.

#jun x reader #junhui x reader #junhui fluff #junhui angst #seventeen x reader #seventeen fluff #seventeen angst #seventeen scenarios #junhui scenarios #jun fluff #jun angst #jun scenarios

[flamingo-writes]

Coffee & Cinnamon — r.l.

Remus Lupin x Fem!Muggle!Reader

Drabble: In which the weather is bad, and it only gets worse, forcing Remus to stay overnight at your place. (1977, near the end of the summer)

A/N: i just word vomited this. And the my app crashed while I was uploading it so, this is a second attempt at it…This is not proofread btw, I’ll do that sometime soon.

Coffee & Cinnamon Masterlist

In this very moment, Remus thought about the anxiety he’d felt of telling you he was not only a wizard and that magic was real. He’d also told you about his condition. And while the day he’d decided to tell you all about it, he was not only shaking with anxiety, he was also nauseous, he’d hardly managed to keep his breakfast in his stomach. And now, three weeks later, you were still there. In fact, he now felt better than ever.

Having being dating you for about six months now, although hardly seeing you because of school, you two started dating towards the end of the winter holidays. Shortly after your first date shortly after he’d returned home from Hogwarts for Christmas. And while you two had spent the rest of the school year apart, he kept the random letters delivered by owls constant. Writing almost on a daily basis, and you replying with the same frequency. And for as long as he’d been back for the summer, he’d spent every minute of his free time with you. Basically only getting home to sleep.

By recommendation of his friends —and his parents too, when they noticed Remus was serious about dating you —, he’d told you three weeks ago everything about him. Why he was away during most of the year, why it was always owls who delivered his letters instead of the regular mailman, and most importantly, his condition. While Remus had been terrified that’s you’d perhaps get spooked about him being a wizard, and after you turned out to be actually fascinated with it; now he’d convinced himself that you’d be completely terrorized by his lycanthropy.

But you didn’t.

You’d told him you didn’t care, and while at first he didn’t quite believe you, now he could rest assured you meant that. As you were deeply asleep in his arms. While it was a rather cool day for the summer season, it was due to the strong wind and the rain pouring outside. The movies playing on the background now that you were deeply asleep. Remus want paying attention either, as he was focusing in the moment. Your warmth, your weight resting on top him, your breathing, your smell, your everything. Convinced that if you were scared of him, you wouldn’t have fallen asleep on top of him, while watching movies on the couch in your house. He wished he could freeze time like this, and stay with her in his arms for the rest of his life, feeling almost drunk with his feelings for you.

As he was slowly starting to feel drowsy, your mother walked into the living room. "Oh dear—" she stopped as she noticed her daughter was deeply asleep. "Is she…?” She asked.

Remus felt his heart skip a beat as a sudden adrenaline rush woke him up and he looked at her mother. He nodded shyly, as he still wasn’t used to be seen in such intimate—although innocent— moments with his girlfriend. Holding hands in front of your parents, or even kissing her cheek felt weird, despite them knowing he was dating their daughter.

Remus nodded.

"Oh, okay…let her sleep. I was actually coming to talk to you, Remus," She said politely, sitting in the couch besides the one the two of you were cuddled.

"Me?” He whispered nervously.

"Yeah, the wind is awful and the rain is actually getting worse…"

"O-oh…"

"I wouldn’t like to send you home with the weather like this…" Your mother sighed softly as Remus blank-minded didn’t know what to expect. "You think you could give me your home;a phone number so I can ring your parents and ask them of it’s okay for you to spend the night here?”

"Sta-stay?” He stuttered shyly, as your mother chuckled.

"I mean, the it’s raining dogs and cats! Even driving would be dangerous under this conditions. But don’t get too excited, you g man, I’m going to ask you to keep the door to her room open at all times," She said.

"Ye-yeah…yes ma’am…" He stiffened. "I-I ca-can stay here in the couch and—"

"No, you can stay with her. She’d get mad if we left you to sleep on the couch. They’re not the most comfortable to spend the night on…For short naps they’re okay, but not for a full night sleep…" Your mother said with a cheeky smile. "Just promise me, no funny business, and door open at all times…"

"Yes ma’am. No funny business, door open always. I’ll give you my word…"

Your mother smiled softly and got up from the couch as she gently patted his shoulder. "I suggest you go to bed soon, or else, the both of you will get stiff necks and back pain…" She giggled. "Let me bring a bit of paper to write down your phone…"

Remus chuckled and agreed in a low voice as he watched your mother leave back into the kitchen. Shortly after she returned with a small notepad and Remus decided the phone y bed from memory before she returned to the kitchen and heard her half of the conversation regarding his stay and the bad weather. Perhaps his parents would be slightly scandalized and worried, but ultimately, he knew they’d appreciate your parents’ worry and good intentions. He’d already had the talk with his parents, and he knew that when he returned home, he’d have it again. But it was a price he was willing to pay if it meant spending the night with you. Even if nothing happened.

After the movie had ended, Remus woke you up slowly, gently, as he convinced you in your still half-asleep state to go to your room. He’d explained what had happened, but you were far too groggy with sleep, he guessed you wouldn’t remember the entire conversation the two of you had before you collapsed on your bed, falling asleep instantly.

To Remus it was hilarious, the ease with which you’d fall asleep, and how soundly you’d sleep. Keeping the door open as he promised, he took off his shoes and snuggled next to you, wrapping an arm around you, as you moved closer to him, and sighed deeply. You groaned something in your sleep, Remus couldn’t understand.

"What was that, bunny?" He whispered, calling you by the pet name he’d call you, somewhat convinced that if you were a witch and could transform into an animabas, or cast a patronum, it would be a bunny.

"Did you use magic to make it rain?” You slid your tongue lazily and tiredly. Remus chuckled.

"No, not really…But it sounds like a good idea for the future…" He chuckled.

"Hmm…" You moaned. "Either way, I’m glad you’re staying…" You yawned, making Remus yawn as well and making him smile.

"I am too, bun…" He purred.

"I love you, Rem…" Remus’s heart stopped for a second as those words escaped your lips for the first time, as he felt his cheeks blush. He cursed under his breath as he wished he’d been the first one to say it. He smiled and kissed the top of your head.

"I love you too, bunny…" He whispered softly as his arms tightened around you and you hid your face against his neck.

#remus lupin x you #remus lupin fanfiction #remus x you #remus lupin imagine #remus lupin x reader #remus lupin fluff #remus lupin #remus x reader #remus x y/n #the marauders imagine #the marauders fanfiction #the marauders

[justanisabelakinnie]

Okay so I know I haven’t been posting in like forever about Isabela Madrigal or Encanto despite this blog originally being meant as an Isabela appreciation blog, my interest in Encanto has kinda died down for the time being due to no new stuff being made and me hyoerfixating in other things to my own detriment(so if you’re wondering why I haven’t updated my fics in a while, this is why), and I’m sincerely so sorry about that…but also a thought has been with me for a while and I have to say it now especially because it’s exactly on topic for a blog such as this and it’s something near and dear to me that makes me so happy.

The headcanon that Isabela is a lesbian makes me so proud and grateful to be a lesbian. In fact, it’s actually what originally helped me realize I was a lesbian myself. And I’m not saying this in a “thirsty” way mind you(although she is also my cartoon crush), but seeing so much of myself in her and seeing her as a lesbian and knowing that so many people in the Encanto fandom, lesbian or not, also see her in the same way, was a huge comfort to me. I didn’t have any idea of the true reason it meant so much to me to see a character like Isabela—portrayed as the most graceful flower, unambiguously and unapologetically feminine in her own way even after her transformation, as the most beautiful and also darkest-skinned of the Madrigals, and who has my same sassy but sweethearted personality and wears my favorite color—being viewed as a lesbian, but it was. And it’s a headcanon that I’ve always held near and dear to my heart ever since I first heard it.

And it was that headcanon that lead me to start educating myself about things like lesbophobia, compulsory heterosexuality, femme erasure, labels like butch/femme, and other things related to lesbians, as my respect for the lesbian community only grew and grew. And eventually I came to the epiphany that I was also a lesbian! Crazy, right? Well, if you’ve known me long enough then it’s not crazy at all lol. So, in conclusion, whenever I think of the headcanon that Isabela is a lesbian, especially a femme lesbian, it always makes me think of my own journey accepting my femme lesbian identity and how important and beautiful it is to me. Even if it’s just a headcanon, it makes me so happy to project that identity onto a character so similar to myself. It’s cute to imagine that I have something in common with my favorite character of all time even if it’s only in my head. It helps me feel seen and validated. So thank you, Isabela Madrigal! And to all of the other people out there who also hold and support this headcanon, thank you as well!

Anyway, that’s it, so have this cute little Isabela gif to top the whole thing off!

(obligatory disclaimer that this is only about my own personal experience and feelings towards the “Isabela is a lesbian” headcanon, it is NOT meant to be taken as gospel, nor to erase the inherently cultural message that the movie sends about generational trauma in Colombian families, it’s literally just me gushing, I KNOW very well that Isabela being a lesbian is NOT CANON by any means so please don’t try and come onto this post to derail and accuse me of being racist or only having the headcanon because she didn’t want to marry Mariano, which I don’t. if you do, then you will surely be blocked. this is my own personal anecdote and is to be taken as such, don’t read anything into this that isn’t there, thank you. 😉 ik that discourse is deader than ground beef now but i just wanted to say it just in case anyone gets any smart ideas.)

#isabela madrigal #isabela my beloved #isabela is best girl #encanto #lesbian #encanto headcanons #encanto queer headcanons #isabela madrigal is a lesbian #gifs #encanto gifs #isabela gifs #my post

[jester-lover]

SLENDERVERSE CHARACTERS: giving you a hug!! (Everyman HYBRID ver.)

Warnings: BLOOD, fluff, lore spoilers, mentions of violence, habit

Characters featured: Vinny, Jeff, Evan, Damsel/Stephanie, Alex, HABIT, Slenderman

Vinny Everyman

Bear hug, every time

Homie doesn’t even think, he just sees you and pounces

He’s so warm too

Industrial space heater

Cuddles get a lil tough because of that

He’s so sweet though

Always loosens his grip if he thinks you’re getting uncomfortable

Will accidentally hit his glasses on yours's (if you have them)

“You’re finally here!”

Jeff Koval

At the beginning of your relationship, he’s anxious towards affection

But when he’s comfortable, he’s comfortable

Will be behind with you at every moment he gets weirdly paranoid, hugging you close

Sometimes, when he gets so anxious he can’t sleep, he’ll stay up so late it’ll mess up his sleep schedule, he’s very affectionate when he’s sleepy

“I’m so tired, please don’t let go of me.”

Evan

Before HABIT, he’s really your average college kid

Hugs before and after classes

Smiles at you during any classes you share (not a thought in his head)

He’s rather short, so usually he’s resting his head on your shoulder, but if you are even shorter, he’s definitely putting his head on top of yours

Holds you whenever you watch movies together or play video games

After HABIT, it all changes

He’s so terrified of hurting you he backs away, he’s no longer affectionate because he feels like he can’t trust his own body

This is where you step up, you reassure him that he is still deserving of love and support

He breaks down in your arms, everything is going to be okay

Even for a little while

“I don’t know what to do anymore, I don’t know what’s real.”

Stephanie

(Could not find a gif of her:(

In my own opinion, damsel/Stephanie seems to be a bit more of a serious character, one who is hunting down Slender without a laugh in sight

She’s a sucker for hugs, especially if she wants to calm down after a tough day

Will be so happy if you hug her while she’s painting (be aware that you will have paint on you)

Has off days, usually when her nightmares get worse

It’s better to leave her alone on those days, she just wants to cry in frustration

After she feels better, she’ll give you a hug and ask to draw something with her

“Keep your pencil there, the shadows aren’t deep enough.”

Alex Koval

Since Alex is another character we know little about, I have read his wiki and rewatched his appearances in the series, I will choose to portray him as the more timid Koval brother, one who is haunted by the events in his life. If you don’t like this characterization, please consider leaving suggestions for a better characterization, I’m always open to kind criticism.

Alex has never been in a relationship as serious as he has with you.

He holds you so dear to his heart, it almost hurts him every time he sees you go

Alex tends to talk to himself a lot, he gets picked on a lot by his colleagues for his strange behavior

But not you, you never pick on him

You are soft and kind to him, he hasn’t felt like this before

He holds you, unless the thing by his bedside is near, he gets strangely, almost aggressively distant when the scratches start appearing

One day, when you finally break and ask him why he won’t give you affection anymore, he shows his scars to you

He tells you he won’t let it happen to you

“You mean more than anything, you can’t get hurt. I won’t let it hurt you.”  

HABIT

Absolute little degenerate

Homie will jump on you the second you walk through the door

Will go off about everything he’s done that day, even if you want to hear it or not

Definitely hogs the bed, will not give you an INCH of blanket, he also grips on to you like you’re gonna fly away

I’m so sorry if you like cooking, he will come up behind you and scare you before hugging you

On a more positive note, he deeply enjoys dancing around in the kitchen, Frank Sinatra playing in the background, it’s one of the few times the both of you feel content

“Humans are so soft.”

Slenderman

My depiction of Everyman Hybrid slender is a slightly more modern creature than a puritan eldritch, like, he’s still been around (and smart) for a long time, but he’s learned to stick with the times. This also helps me put together some of his hijinks in the series.

He does not give hugs !!!

He is pure evil !!!!

But I choose to ignore that !!

He has extremely long limbs perfect for hugging

Def will make you climb him like a tree to hug you though, out of spite

He also is a gentleman who will always ask for your consent before initiating larger displays of affection

Plays music while you cuddle, but not like classical, he listens to the smiths.

Look at him and tell me this isn’t a Smiths fan

If you give him a lil kiss he’ll be very happy it’s heartwarming

“*silence*”

Thank you for reading! I’ll be working on creepypasta content too, Laughing Jack is on the list (my personal favorite), but I need recommendations!! Who would you like to see in future posts regarding creepypasta?

#slenderverse x reader #habit x reader #vinny everyman #vinny everyman x reader #jeff koval #jeff koval x reader #evan meyers #evan meyers x reader #damsel x reader #stephanie everymanhybrid #damsel emh #alex koval #alex Koval x reader #habit everymanhybrid #habit emh #slenderverse #slenderman x reader #slenderman #reader insert #new fanfic blog #fanfiction #fanfic #female reader #gn reader #fem!reader #gn!reader #affection #love #hugging

[the-slasher-madame]

Can you pretty please do a part 2 of the slashers with a significant other like Eleven from stranger things? I love the first one so very much 🥺🥰❤️

Part II of slashers and an S/O with powers like Eleven from Stranger Things

HI!!!! I'd love to dear <3333

This is honestly really popular!!!! And thank y'all for bearing with me and my lack of a schedule, my brain is a bit of a walnut. Anyways!!!! Here we go

CWs: blood, mentions of violence and gore, slashers, Otis Driftwood, let me know if I'm missing anything!!

Lester Sinclair: you are so right, this man is freaking the fuck out. If you pass out? He's right next to you, Vinny is going to have to take care of the both of you. Will get advice from Vincent on how to take care of you. Definitely crosses himself the first time you use your powers, but he's not really scared of you, just the whole supernatural piece freaks him out. Will, like his older brother, will have a little aftercare kit ready to go. He'd damn near fistfight Bo if he asks you to do anything as a party trick or to help with the tourists. Absolutely babies you, and cuddles you, and is just the softest boy ever. Loves you very much and is always just making heart eyes at you

Billy Lenz: I feel like he'd be really excited and think it's the neatest thing ever. I think he's still childlike, especially when it comes to you doing shit with your mind. I think he'd worry when your nose bled, because he's probably had a few himself due to less-than-pleasant reasons, so he would gently clean it away while murmuring. "Sh sh sh, Billy will clean piggy's nose. Billy will be very gentle." He would not appreciate the effect your powers can have on telephones, because he really likes that thing lolz. First time you do it, particularly if he didn't know, he's gonna be kinda scared and pretty excited and babbling on quite a bit (I fucking LOVE how everyone writes how it talks, it scratches my brain grooves really good). Will drag you to the attic if you pass out and hold and rock you until you wake up. Quietly mumbles to you and pets your hair. 10/10 sweet excited lil kid

Billy and Stu (poly): oh boy, I think we allllll know how these 2 are gonna be. . . Both will tease you endlessly. Stu will beg you to do tricks and will randomly imitate you (really badly, using like fishing poles to make things float). Billy will just tease you anyways, no matter what, and he'll try to keep Stu in line so you don't overdo it. They both get a little freaked when you get the nosebleeds, Billy will be cleaning you up and be like "you should be more careful, huh Professor X?" Stu is gonna be less chill and more freaked and feel kinda bad, particularly the first time you get a nosebleed. If you pass out? Ohhhh boy, you will wake up to them standing over you yelling at each other. Stu is like wailing and so so scared and Billy is like "get your ass together damn it, go get the first aid kit I DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY NEED JUST LISTEN TO ME DUMBASS-" Just pure freaked out mother hens. Would feel like they're in a horror movie when they find out, not quite scared, but maybe startled.

Pyramid Head: No reaction from Geometry man, none. Would probably think you're another punisher lol. I mean he's used to weird shit, and blood, and passing out. He's a little startled when he sees it all at first, but I think he would be more comfortable after finding out, I think he'd feel more like he can relate to you. Is also more relieved because he sees you aren't entirely helpless in Silent Hill. He doesn't freak out if you bleed/pass out, just drags you out of the way if you're unconscious. May need to be asked if you need help cleaning up the blood, he's just so used to having blood all over himself and seeing blood all over everyone/thing else. I just don't think he is familiar with anything from outside of Silent Hill, people (and geese) included.

Otis Driftwood: another one that is terrified. He's gonna go through every reaction that the Hewitt's went through lol. He's terrified, he think's Satan is finally after him, he's just a mess. Might point a shotgun at you until you explain you're A) not going to hurt him and 2) not Satan. More tough love, he's like "oh a nose bleed? That's it? you're fiiine." Would freak if you passed out, but he would never let you know that (Baby would fill you in and laugh a bit with you). Will ask you to help with victims, but is understanding if you don't want to use your powers or are uncomfortable with the Firefly Family Business. After the first time you pass out, he'll be soft when y'all are going to sleep that night. Holds you close and whispers in your ear about how worried he was.

Pinhead: just like Pyramid Head, but I think he's more with it when it comes to knowing that nosebleeds and fainting aren't super good things (he was human at one point, right? I think he sort of remembers but not like entirely). Also feels a little closer to you after he sees you have powers, cause hey so does he, ain't that swell- Would probably also smirk a bit while you bleed. Feels more comfortable having you in his little corner of hell, around his fellow cenobites, like he likes knowing you can hold your own. Feels unpleasant when you pass out, but will make sure you wake up in a soft bed, feeling refreshed and with whatever you need awaiting you. He cares, but is a bit distant and that shows through in how he takes care of you (definitely thinks you can handle your nosebleeds yourself, will not clean you off or baby you unless you lose consciousness).

That's the rest of them!!! I really hope you like it <33333

#slashers #slasher fucker #slasher community #slasher comfort #slasher x reader #billy lenz #bill lenz x reader #pyramid head #pyramid head x reader #billy and stu #stu matcher #billy loomis x reader #Billy loomis #stu matcher x reader #billy and stu x reader #otis driftwood #otis driftwood x reader #pinhead #pinhead x reader #lester sinclair #lester sinclair x reader #stranger things #eleven's powers

[popculturebuffet]

Disney 100th Birthday Special: Top 12 Disney Television Animation Shows

Happy Birthday all you happy people! And it's a very special birthday as it's the 100th anniversary of a company that, while I routinely mock on a regular basis for impaling themselves about a dozen time a year, has brought me a lot of joy. It was a 100 years ago that the wonderful world of disney began and 100 years later it's still bringing us some of the finest and funnest animation around and will likely continue for a hundred more as they create a whole disney planet serving up mickey shaped foods for all time around a disney owned star.

So before we can look forward to happiest dystopian future off earth, I thought hard about what I wanted to do for the 100th. I've covered disney a LOT on this blog: season 3 of ducktales AND the arcs for the two seasons before that, seasons 2 and 3 of both amphibia and owl house, classics like the Lion King and A Goofy Movie, a whole year worth of house of mouse reviews, shorts, various comics great and donald being pro illteracy.. the list could go on for an entire article itself.

So while I had PLENTY of options, from a shorts marathon to another movie, I decided the best way to honor this occasion was by focusing on a portion of disney near and dear to my heart: Disney TV Animation.

Way Way Back in the 1980s, DisneyTVA was formed by fresh faced executive overlord Michael Eisner. Eisner was looking to expand his new empire, and found a clever way to do it. See at the time while there were certainly good cartoons, most had the budget of a paper clip and a piece of string. It's why Disney took this long to get into the game: Walt thought he just coudln't get the quality needed on a tv budget and while he WANTED to at some point, he passed before that could happen.

Many laughed at this decision, citing it as a huge money sink waiting to happen.

Yeah critics not taking animation or kids watching it seriously isn't new and assuming they'll just watch anything is laughable. Yes low budget shows like Transformers got plenty of views... but transformers also put in high quality voice actors and intriguging designs. Take both of those and make the animation bouncier, and kids would notice.

And they did: The first Disney TVA show, Gummi Bears, was a massive success, leading to the planet sized one that was Ducktales and a whole legacy of classic shows.

There is a double edged sword here though: While most of these shows are high quality and well loved.. Disney tends to.. ignore they exist. They don't make merch, think adult and teenage fans aren't a think, and when it comes to merch don't usually tend to make it for these shows during or after their runs. There are exceptions and they are reviving stuff.. but disney has a bad habit to prefer cashing in on nostalgia than on what they have now unless it fits their narrow perameters

For me though.. Disney TVA is home to some of the best, most game changing shows in the medium. From shows I grew up with to shows that sadly just ended, Disney has made a ton of shows permeanntly embded in my heart. My doctor says I should get that removed but what does he know. At this studio are creators who are passionate, create unique works, and work very hard to stand out. Even when shows get slapped with the dreaded 2 season limits, they still stick in our hearts not just because of that nostlaagia pop disney wants, but because they were just that good and still hold up into adulthood. I've covered a lot of this library, owe my career to these shows and will never sotp being impressed by them.

So out of the 42 i've seen I whittled it down by 30 which was way harder than it sounded down to the very best. A few shows like Gargoyles I sadly just.. hadn't watched, so if something's missing it was either that or a very hard cut. Whlie the top 8 was shockingly easy, it was hard to narrow this list down to the very best. I'd also like to point out that this is my opinon: feel free to send me your own lists, i'd be curious to see how your own personal experinces shaped yours. But for now this is mine... and this is my top 12 best disney telvision animation shows.

12. The Weekenders Created by Doug Landale 2000-2004 4 Seasons, 76 episodes

Our #12 is a childhood faviorite of mine.. and also one of the two shows your most likely to hear me bitch about disney+ not having. IT'S BEEN ALMOST 4 YEARS.

But bitch complaning about disney being disney aside, the Weekenders is a charming classic that needs more eyes on it and it's weird I haven't covered frankly.

At any rate Weekenders is a slice of life show with a good yet simple hook: it follows 4 middle schoolers, Tino, Carver, Lor and Tish, as through their weekends from Friday after school to monday morning. It allows for the show to do pretty much whatever it wants, and what it wants is to be a fairly lowkey slice of life show. The only really zany element that I can remember, or that I saw in ToonrfiqTariq's excellent retrospective of the series, which you can find here, is main character Tino, a sarcastic but kind guy played by voice acting royalty James Marsden, talking to the audience zack morris style, which is really just a neat way to move things along so it's not that obtrusive. I highly recommend that retrospective by the way. Tariq is awesome and it helped jog my memory on the show.

The series is a fairly low stakes affair: our heroes have a fairly typical problem, they talk it out or deal with it as the weekend goes on, and at least once an episode they go for pizza at an ever changing pizza restraunt with a fun new gimmick each episode, something I loved already as a kid but love even more NOW as an adult knowing that gag was likely a LOT to do. Keep in mind they had to draw new backgrounds, exteriors, and a new costume for the guy running it every time. It's the kind of joke you think a series would've given up on for those reasons but nope, every episode has one.

Weekenders is a throughly charming slice of life show, helped by it's characters: In addition to tino we have the egotistical Carver (Phil LaMarr) thickheaded jock Lor (Grey DeLise) and immigrant nerd and vegtarian Tish. While the four coudl've easily fallen into their sterotypes there's just enough depth to the cast to make them work. Tish in paticular was my faviorite, not only being one of the first immigrant stories in a show I saw that was largely respectful and not just

It's a great show I genuinely wish I had more to say about. Find it somehow if you can, it's entirely worth it.

11. Phineas and Ferb Created By Dan Povmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh 2007-2015, 20XX- 129 Episodes, 2 Movies, Upcoming Revival

At a time when kids animation wasn't in the best place, Phineas and Ferb was the smash hit we all badly needed. Done by vetran creators and Rocko's Modern Life Alums, Phineas and Ferb was a fun, creative show about two boys who simply wanted to make the best out of summer... and happened to be child progidys only limited by their immgination, so they could do anything and the utterly catchy theme song helpfully outlined it. Having only watched the first three or four seasons, I still don't know if they ever found Frankensteins' Brain. It was over there.

While the a-plots with the boys were great most of the time and had a great supporting cast: Helpful scout Isabella, shrill voiced nerd Baljeet and bully turned buddy Buford, the real draw for most of us was the b-plot: each episode the boys Platapus Perry would sneak out, don a fedora and foil the plots of his arch enemy and best buddy Heinz Doofenschmirtz, an awkward mad scientest who rather than therapy decides to deal with the many, MANY traumas in his life by building various inators and talking to Perry. Their shenanigans inevitibly undo whatever our heroes did in time for their mom to never notice and just think their sister Candance needs help as she tries to bust them.

The show mostly used this loop for it's lengthy run, ocasionally mixing up the setting by visiting the kids grandparents or with a special, but it mostly went like this. This started as the shows strength as the repitition allowed them to REALLY play with the formula: lampshade it, subvert it, and play with it. Sometimes Perry would go to foil doof but it ended up being something benign like Doof trying to do a party for his Daughter or go on a date. Sometimes the boys would genuinely be trying to help Candance or she'd have her own concerns outside of bustin making her feel good. The show packed this with tons of lampshade hanging, catchy songs (after an early one made the network want it once an episode), and genuine heart. It's hard not to root for Phineas and his optimism and genuine cheer. Depsite "driving our sister insane" being a main lyric.. the kid has nothing but love in his heart for his sister and that simple goal of just wanting to do something fun or help someone each day makes this one of the sweeetest shows around.

So your probably wondering why it's so low. And it's really simple: it's constant status quo.. kind of wore it out for me. After a while there was no real reason for Linda NOT to know the boys were doing this. We never got any indication she'd care beyond "Maybe wear a helmet" or "Have candace watch you", neither of which would really STOP what they do every day. While Across the Universe was a great movie it having a MASSIVE snapback at the end is what eventually got me out of the show. It was hard to invest when the show wasn't willing to really change anything. In hindsight I do get some shows just function better as status quo shows and my bitterness has lessened and it's why this show ended up making the list: it's status quo could be frustrating.. but no one had more fun playing with it at the time than these two kids. And the hunchbacked old man what fights/is common lawed married to their platypus.

10. American Dragon: Jake Long Created by Jeff Goode Developed by Eddie Guzelian and Matt Negrete 2005-2007 2 Seasons, 52 Episodes AmDrag was part of the teen superhero boom on kids shows in the 2000's. Classics like Danny Phantom, My Life as a Teenage Robot, El Tigre and more came about at this time, with disney only dipping it's toes in twice with this show and another we'll get to soon enough.

That said.. American Dragon is an excellent show, mostly down to it's core: The show follows the titular Jake Long, a guy who on surface, from rapping part of his theme to his frosted tips to his skateboard comes off very much like an energy drink came to life and starred in it's own show. Which given the 2000's i'm very suprised never happened. But jake is somehow likeable.. he's a bit arrogant sure, but his arrogance is only in his skill: He genuinely does try his best as protector of new york, cares about his friends and cares heavily about his crush Rose. He's got a heart to him beneath the layers of axe body spray and Dante Basco's standout performance, what would easily have been his defining role as a VA had avatar not come along soon after, helps make this guy feel human.

What also helps boost it's show is it's myth arc. Like Danny Phantom a year before it, AM Drag breaks from the style of the time to have a dedicated arc and continuity. There's plenty of monster of the week stuff, some better (like the oracle twins, easily my faviorite side characters , who also have the fun gimmick of one being super cheery yet predicting horrible things and the other being jaded but seeing only good, with their powers being why (If you see every good thing that you'll ever get it makes it hard to enjoy them and if you see every possible horrible thing that happens to you, it makes the other stuff easier to swallow), some worse, and that can be a weaker part of the show.

But it's core arcs are what make the show it's most intresting. For the first season and a half we have the shows best: Jakes battles with the huntsclan, the foot clan.. if they were violent racists who slaughter magical creatures. Granted we don't SEE that on screen but the show does a good job showing us that no, that's what they are.

This itself would likely work.. but what makes it special and standout for the time it came out.. is the wrinkle they throw in: Huntsgirl, the Huntsclan's #1 guy and sidekick to the huntsman.. is Jake's crush Rose, a fairly well adjusted kind girl who simply dosen't know what she's been indoctrinated into, thinking Dragons are evil. This is a nice change of pace as at the time most relationships with teens and tweens in cartoons were either between some popular slab of cardboard of the characters best friend.

Instead Rose SEEMS to be the cardboard type.. but not only has depth outside of the hood, but the fact the audience can easily tell who huntsgirl is, Mae Whitman has a distinctive voice after all and as usual does a fantastic job only adds the tension: We know who rose is, but Jake doesn't and early on we don't know how much of her is real. And once the secret breaks we get the drama of both dealing with not only being on opposite sides but Rose realizing she was on the wrong one.

The arc after, focusing on a dark dragon isn't as strong in comparison, but it's also not entirely fair given they likely though they'd have another season and a half to wrap it up proper. That being said the series also has an interesting arc with Jake's overachieving younger sister, who goes from knowing about the dragon thing (his whole family does minus his dad for.. some reason) and showing some powers.. to being a dragon herself and often her brother's sidekick.

The show had it's weaknsesses, outside of the big bads there was never really much of an interesting Rogue's Gallery, Trixie felt a bit flat as a character, and again there was no good reason Jake's dad shouldn't know so we got stupid groundings and such. But we also got a compelling enemies to lovers arc with a lot of tension, a nice mythology, and profressor rotwood, Jakes teacher and magic hunter, a fun butt monkey for the show. It's a solid show that i'd love to see get a revivial.

9. Wonder Over Yonder Created by Craig McCracken 2013-2016 43 Episodes

Wonder Over Yonder is one of Disney's more infamous cancelations. Despite being DisneyXD's #1 show they not only barely promoted it, I wasn't aware the second season was going on till it was almost over and still need to get around to watching it, Disney cancelled it. Despite being well loved Disney cancelled it. It's not the worst cancellation on this list, that comes later, but it's still a pretty dang bad one. The fact they didn't put the show on Disney+ for some time dosen't exactly help.

Why Disney hated this show so much I'll never know as Wonder is one of the most heartfelt and creative show's disney put out. And keep in mind as I said i've only seen season 1. I know it gets even better with season 2's dedicated story arc and the introdcution of lord dominator. I've seen the musical number.

Wonder took inspiration from, of all things, dr. seuss, with Craig being an admitted fan of 60's and 70's astetics already, it just flowed naturally as we got the tail of a gentle tumbleweed whose kind and thoughtful to everyone he meets wether they desreve it or not and his tough as nails steed and best friend sylvia. The rolls are easily the best of Jack McBrayer and April Winchel's long careers, nicely contrasting each other in perfect ballance: Sylvia fights the battles wonder can't win with kindness or is too oblvious to realize he's in, Wonder wins fights simply by being too cheery and oblivious to beat.

Over their journey's they repeadtely run into our other main characters, Lord Hater, played by the awesome Keith Fergeuson, an over the top skeletial manchild who badly wants to be taken seriously but is too impulsive, stupid, and easily angered for him to actually achieve that depsite the help of Commander Peepers, his #2 and put upon lackey. Add in tons of great sets, fun scnearios and creative uses of animatoin and you have something unforgitable. McCracken really loves to play with storytelling here, from your standard genre breaks to simply taking a conventional tale like a kinight rescuing a princess.. and turn it into our heroes accidently assitating a stalking jerk and said princess easily clocking him one before they can all unite to save him. The show had so much fun with it's cast and heart in it it's really hard not to like and while it sadly ended too soon what we got... is something magical.

8. Clerks the Animated Series Created by Kevin Smith 2000 6 Episodes Like most of you are as you read this entry, I was suprised to find Disney TVA made this. To date this is Disney's only adult animated series, and the fox acquisition giving them a full studio for that tells me it'll likely stay this way unless they do something actiony for disney +. It's also far and away the shortest lived show on this list. only airing two of it's 6 produced episodes, neither of which was the actual first episode. ABC didn't like what they got, they buried it, standard corprate procedure, and thanks to DVD and Comedy Central airings the show went from quickly forgotten weird relic to one of the best animated adaptations out there and one of the poster children for shows too good to last.

I grew up with this show. Since I was too young for the kevin smith movies my brother was obessed with, the series was the first Kevin Smith related thing I ever watched and it's stayed with me since. The show's short.. but it's 6 episodes are absolutely STUFFED with great jokes. I could honestly spend the rest of the article quoting this series, from "Hey, it's ted danson" to "Why are we walking like this" to "The weed of crime bears bitter fruit you old hag!".... and that's just the second episode. Admitely in terms of tone, Clerks TAS.. is nothing like the movie. The original Clerks was a fairly low key film mostly driven by our leads Dante and Randall's conversation and the various people who came in. It was a character piece about being stuck in a dead end job, about ignoring rules versus blindly following them, and about two stoners who were in it for 5 minutes but became the backbone of this cinematic universe because their the best.

Clerks the Animated Series instead is a gleefully wacky romp where our heroes can't say fuck but do get into sitcommy hyjinks, from clipshows, to a rival buisness across the way, to the deadly motava virus, to a pastiche of the last starfighter turning into a pastiche of the bad news bears then a pastiche of temple of doom. As you can tell this show is kinda nuts and really just Kevin Smith getting to be all kinds of redicluous in the funniest way possible. He replaced being able to say fuck and talk about sex with hyjinks and turned randall from a charming if assholish slacker into one of the best dumbasses in animation. The show is a near constant laugh riot, beautifully animated too. It also naturally has the boys, with Jay and Silent bob still getting in lots of neat antics even if they can no longer deal on screen. Clerks the Animated series is one of the funniest shows there's ever been and I highly recommend seeking it out.

7. Milo Murphy's Law Created by Dan Povemire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh 2016-2017, 2019 46 Episodes

Meet the show disney somehow treated WORSE than the last two. I swear when I put this list together I did not realize these three would be clustered together.

But yes, when I said there was a worse cancelation I meant it: Milo Murphy's Law was the dwampy duo of Phineas and Ferb.. and got utterly buried because Disney was mad it wasn't the mega hit that show was, forgetting that was also a fairly slow burn, or that you kow THIS IS A DIFFRENT SHOW. So they not only barely promoted the second half of season 1.. but then just sat on season 2 for a full year, with many an episode airing elsewhere long before that and released it over a few weeks. They then just.. straight up ended production to make a phineas and ferb movie. In fact despite a full soundtrack apparently existed only ONE song's gotten released from the show in full thanks to said movie's soundtrack. To say Disney screwed this show over is putting it lightly.

And it's a huge shame this show got buried as it did as Milo.. is freaking awesome. I mean I gave it a shot from episode one simply because it had Weird Al attached. Even if i'd gotten burned out on the previous show, i'll give anything Al's in a shot.

And that shot was worth it as from the first episode to the last, Milo is a truly charming show with, say it again ya'll, "a truly unique premise" . Disney has a knack for those don't it?

MML follows Milo Murphy, a happy go lucky 6th grader who meets new kid in town Zack.. who soon finds out Milo has a family curse, based on, of course, Murphy's Law; if something can go wrong, it will. So the universe bends over backwords to try to murder this tween and anyone around him... hence why while everyone likes Milo well enough, only his feisty hustler best friend Melissa really hung around before Zack took a chance on his new pal.

What makes the series great though is that Milo... dosen't ever angst about having murphy's law. You'd think with his life being a constant never ending string of disaster dominos, the guy would give up or we'd have one episode of him bedguging all he's missed out on. Instead.. Milo sees his life as an adventure, enjoys in the shenanigans he gets into and simply packs his backpack to be prepeared and keep his spleen in tact. He's a sweet, kind, optimist who helps people no matter what and dosen't let his curse get him down or stop him from living his life. It's milo that makes the show this good, having to both work around his jinx as well as many an adventure coming from people's reaction to him: From his love intrest Amanda intitally avoiding him due to being a perfectionist only to let him in more once she realizes what a kind guy he is, to the local security guard played byc hristan slater being an absolute dick to him, we see how it impacts his life.. but how he also enjoys his life regardless.

The series also has it's own perry equilvent, Dakota and Cavendish, who genuinely drive the seasons story arcs, two time policeman and ambigously gay duo who try to prevent pistachos from being destroyed.. then do the opposite once i'ts clear it'll cause the end of the world. They add to the story.

What puts this show up here, and way above phineas is that it's not afraid of change: the basic status who dosen't, but the show has a story arc for each season, characters grow and change with Zack getting more used to the chaos around his bestie, the relationship with amanda I mentioned, and most importantly Dakota and Cavindish finding out about milo fairly early on and vice versa, allowing their plots to intersect. It's also really damn funny.

Honestly the show's only this low because the top 6 are REALLY that good.. and because season 2 kinda crams Dr. Doofinschrmitz in there on what feels heavily like an executive mandate. Sometims he cab be a bit overbearing.. but the show's still up this high because frankly, Doof was the best part of his previous show and still gets a LOT of great material, paticuarlly this bit.

Also his friend there is Jeff. Jeff is a man who lives underground. He's great. And this series is, badly underated. I can't wait to see these characters again as it's been directly said that while their tabling it for the first two seasons apperances by characters from the previous two shows aren't off the table for hamster and gretel, they just learned from this one to wait, but while I wait.. what we got.. is still damn magical.

6. Kim Possible Created by Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle 2002-2007 4 Seasons, 82 Episodes, 2 Movies, 1 Live Action Reboot Film

Kim Possible was one of my faviorite shows as a kid, and for good reason. Even over two decades later, the show still holds up as a smart, hilarious, and well done spy show. I also will gladly count it as part of the teen superhero boom as it hits a lot of those tropes too.

The setup however is nicely unique: Rather than work for a big spy orginzation (Though she does freelance in a few episodes for SHIELD expy Global Justice), or for money or what you'd expect from a world class adventuerer and super spy, Kim is just an above average teen whose fairly smart, popular and really damn good at both gymnastics and kicking people who does the job because it's the right thing to do and her organization is really just four people: herself, Wade, a child progidey who finds jobs for her, Ron, her best friend, eventual love interest, and overly panicky but loveable goofus, and Ron's pet Rufus who counts because he saves their lives quite a bit simply by being in ron's pocket and being smart enough. He's also a naked mole rat and the reason I know those exist.

While the show has a strong supporting cast with screen legends Gary Gole and Jean Smart as Kim's Rocket Science and Neurosurgeon parents, her annoying twin brothers, her sarcastic best girl friend monique, her annoying rival bonnie and my personal faviorite her authorative yet still resonable and utterly hilarious teacher Mr. Barkin, played by my boy Patrick Warburton, one of it's biggest strengths is Kim's Rogue's gallery.

Like I said with americna dragon a lot of the weakness for these teen hero shows is that they genuinely only have one or two major foes that are actually you know.. memorable. In contrast Kim has a LOT of intresting and fun villians of the week, not a huge pool but enough to keep it intresting with plenty of fun one offs. The main one is Dr. Drakken, played by John Dimaggio in one of his best parts and Shego, played by Nicolle Sulivan in her best role, an over the top , hammy shortsighted blue mad scientest and his snarky assitant who does most of the punching and is easily kim's physical equal. The two show up the most out of Kim's rogues, and while this on paper could get reptitive the two's banter is great, they play off our heroes fantastically, and they frankly never seemed to run out of great schemes for Dr. D to do.

There were other greats too, my personal faviorites being Senior Senior Senior and Senior Senior Junior, character actor Ricardo Montalban in his best role as a rich old man who after accidently blacking out paris, takes ron's suggestion he had all the makings of a super villian to heart and using his vast wealth to arch our heroes for fun while Junior.. badly dosen't want any part of this. Ther'es tons more I could gush about from DNAmy to the bebes, to my boy Frugal Lucre, a guy who works at a wallmart expy and barely spends money on his arching suplies.

The show's other weapon is it's writing: it's clever, hilarious, and the main duo are incredibly likeable: Kim is incredibly compitent but just as prone to teen angst as anyone her age, while Ron is incredibly panicky and goofy but far more compitent than he seems or he thinks himself to be. Our leads, Kristy Carlson Romano and va god Will Fridle in my faviorite role of his, have an effortless chemstriy between them, even before it turns romantic. You see how valuable their friendship is and how much they need each other even when they bicker.. and it turning romantic just feels.. natural. There's a risk there, and i'll likely go more into tha twhen I eventually cover so the drama (Either later this year if I can squeeze it in or early next year), but needless to say their the gold standard for friends to lovers and I love them.

The show is just.. damn good and worth checking out if you haven't. It's on Disney+ , all of it including the reboot film which is.. alright. not as good as the series but thanks to great casting and the creators involvment , still solid. Call it, beep it, reach it, it's a masterpiece and I badly hope those revivial rumors are true as i'd love to see this cast as adults.

5. Amphibia Created by Matt Braly 2019-2022 3 Seasons, 58 Episodes

Anoyone whose seem this blog before probably saw this coming. I mean I covered two whole seasons of the show and deeply love it's main cast. And Maddie. God bless my creepy frog daughter. So it being this high up isn't a huge shock.. but damn if it dosen't deserve it. Amphibia isn't perfect: some of the one off episodes, even those important later, aren't the best... but the show still plays one of the best long games in animation. The character arcs are well set up from the get go and we follow our lead Anne Boonchuy from reckless and irresponsible teen plunked into a frog world to a strong empathetic heroine who has to save both worlds from a tyrant and his abusive computer dad. Along the way there's betrayal, slice of life shenanigans, and lots of cleverly done worldbuilding. And some padding. There's just a touch padding. But the strong character arcs not just for Anne but her friends (With Sasha being my easy faviorite but Marcy not exactly far behind and complex and engaging enough to get her own spinoff journal), found family and even her earth family. It's a beautifully done three act story: what seems like a lonnnng time spent in the rural town of Wartwood ends up not only buliding up the show's supporting cast but characters who are vital to the world's salvation later. The second season shows how far anne has come while also building out the world, continuing Sasha's arc as she spirals further and giving us the glory that is marcy, cumilating in season 3, a fantastic season that reverses the premise to amazing effect and ends with a truly satisfying conclusion.. even if SOME of the getting there is messy. Hey it's #5 for a reason.

IT's a well built, hilarious, and heartfelt human into swamp water story, and one of my faviorites. I only don't say TOO much as I want anyon ewho hasn't to try this themselves. Amphibia is a masterpiece and if you haven't seen it it's WELL worth the binge with one of the best voice casts in animation (Something that's really true for everything from far out), really choice world building, and a satsifying ending. This section may of been short but damn if i don't love this show with a lot of my heart.

4. Gravity Falls Created by Alex Hirsch 2012-2016 2 Seasons, 40 Episodes

Another fairly obvious pick.. but one I weirdly HAVEN'T covered on this blog. I'll really have to fix that next year. Still just because something's obvious dosen't make it any less true. Gravity Falls is easily one of the most influental animated series of the 2010's, right up there with adventure time in kicking off the animation renaissance of that era and several of it's crew, including Matt Braly from the previous entry and a certain someone else coming up, going on to make stellar shows of their own.

It's rep and influence is well earned: Gravity Falls, like, as i've realized writing this, EVERY show on this list has a very simple elvator pitch: two kids spending the summer with their weird elderly uncle at his toursist trap get into paranormal shenanigans: Dipper as he tries to unwrap the mysteries of their temproary home and Mable as she tries to make friends, find a boy to smooch and genuinely ambles through life. She also gets a pig.

The simple setup belies not only a fairly intriguing mystery with a truly amazing twist halfway through season 2, but a fun arc villian in LIttle Gideon, the con artist next door, town hero and phony psychic, but a one of a kind, memorable and all time great vilian in Bill Cipher, a little triangle man who also happens to be a mad nightmare god trying to get into our dimension whose Chucky levels of deeply disturbing and terrifying as he is incredibly funny and charastmatic.

The rest of the cast is no slouch: Dipper and Mable are incredibly likeable, Wendy is great, played by personal faviorite of mine Linda Cardenlli and criminally underused and Soos, voiced by Hirsch along with Stan, Bill and MANY other characters, is a loveable dum dum 20 something who treats our heroes like surrogate siblings.

The real star of course, and the show stealling heart of the show is Stan Pines, the kids corrupt uncle and one of the most hilarious, and once we learn his deal heartbreaking and suprisingly complex, characters in all of animation. This show is on this list on it's own merits but woudln't nearly be so high without stan, a constant laugh machine, quote factory and powerhouse performance by Hirsch, who despite being new to voice acting steps into it like he's done this for decades. From teaching a bear to drive, to wondering if it's wrong to punch a child to "yes yes burn the child" and of course his greatest folly

Stan constantly boosts the show by existing. Add in strong character ties, a compelling mystery and, like most shows this high up a hell of a finale, and you have a true classic that understadnably changed animation forever.

Also i'm pretty sure Stan killed at least two people in that clip. No one ever talks about that. I mean I knew he had a body count but still.

3. Recess Created by Paul Germaine and Joe Ansolabehere 1997-2001 4 Seasons, 65 Episodes, 4 Movies

Recess is the oldest work on this list, ending just before KP and American Dragon started (though it'd air long into their runs as this show ran forever and rightfully so). It was also part of my childhood, airing long after it finished and being tender the whole way through.

Recess is a masterwork: while many a show stuck with me from childhood this is one that thinking back I can remember the episodes vividly, and given my memory is spotty that says something. It's a show with a lot of style, having it's characters dressed out of the 50s and 60s, with a cold war subtext I never had, but keeping it in the present to relate to kids when it's airing. It creates a vibe tha'ts both of it's time (the monstickers ep is very much of the pokemon boom), and timeless (kids STILL collect pokemon cards and despite some morons best efforts have recess and still form little clicks).

It takes two simple things kids grapple with, unfair teachers and authority figures and cliques and social circles and simply blows it up to be as big as it was in our heads: I remember having epic duels with the kids I played with , wars, whole conflicts and recess meets things on that level: the world of recess is one where the playground has a lineage of kings, the kindergartners are a feral tribe, two kids can reguarly acess shovels, and the local snitch is some sort of combination of gollumn and a weasel while keeping it just grounded enough for adults to relate to. Where rebelling against authority involves elaborate heists.

It's a perfect kind of show for kids: it meets them on their level, as it did when I was a kid.. but is smart enough that as an adult you can still enjoy it. It helps that most of the cast is three dimensional:

TJ is a loveable scamp.. but a good chunk of his schemes aren't just to stick it to the man or get some reward for him and his running crew, but to help kids. TJ's just as likely to break out of detention as he is to help a kid this week simply because they need it. He'll even help Randall, the local snitch I mentioned, despite his better judgment, simply because it's the right thing to do. He'll have to be talked into it because.. it's Randall. Randall sucks, But he'll do it. Spinelli is the tomboy of the group and will fight everyone, but has a good side to her and struggles with being a girl when she relates more to being masculine, something that's only become more relevant with time and can be read a lot of ways. Mikey is the big kid.. but a soft kind giant who deals with being sterotyped for his side. Vince is the sports kid... and okay most of his plots are around that, but we do get neat bits like him being ashamed his brother is basically urkel and having to learn his brother still slaps because unlike Urkel he dosen't harass women. Gretchen is a massive nerd, and the first role in Ashely Johnson's long and storied career, but also gladly paticipates in the schemes, has a lot of heart, and struggles.

And finally we have my boy Gus, the new kid at the start and the one I related most to being a nerdy nervous wreck myself: but he's gladly accepted into the rest of the gang, and finds a home at long last after moving around his whole life. He's got layers to him: he's a military brat, he's never really had stablility int erms of friendship, and he's often put upon, having to deal with King Bob being a jerk to him for being the new kid or bullies. Yet he's got a good heart despite being the nervous one of the group the biggest heart of them and will gladly stand up for himself when the chips are down.

Not only are these 6 fleshed out and relatable.. but they have a wholesome friendship. They'll fight sometimes, kids do, but despite being vastly diffrent people who on paper shoudln't really be hanging together.. you never doubt they like each other or would drop everything to help one another. Mostly because a good chunk of episodes are just that. Gretchen and Gus are never picked on by their friends.. teased a little, maybe , Spenelli be like that, but these six kids love and respect each other on level that's just heartwarming. You never doubt for a second these six are friends, even with Gus not having their shared history. He just fits because they like him, he's willing to do what's right, and he's a good kid. TJ is brave and noble, Spnelli is tough but dosen't punch down, Vince is cool, Mikey is insightful and kind, Gretchen is smart and clever and Gus ahs a good heart. You see the good they see in each other and it shows our diffrences.. make us better. There may be cliques at recess, but when the chips are down, TJ can get them to work together.

The series also just had a knack for creating really memorable episodes that feel entirely relatable: a trading card style boom leads to TJ becoming a rags to riches tycoon, swinger girl who always swings trying to do what all kids did and reach the other side leads to a tale about things we can't explain when she seemingly dissapears, a simple punishment leads to TJ"s teacher psychologically torturing him, a fake swear word leads to an ENTIRE COURT CASE, all stuff that's somehow realistic. The show's premise was a tool box that allowed them to tell a ton of diffrent stories, a lot of which with really adult, meaningful lessons, and the show never really got old. It only ended because Disney's attempts to continue it simply didn't work out and even with the 5th grade eps as an epilogue, it has a hell o a finale in the movie. The whole run's on disney+ and I.. really need to revisit it.. and to review it next year if possible.

2. The Owl House Created by Dana Terrace 2020-2023 3 Seasons, 43 Episodes

Let's face it even if the article image hadn't tipped my hat here.. this one being high up .. was a given. I've gushed about this show at length, covering it as season's 2 and 3 ran out, written fanfiction on this blog, and since I started doing them the show's always ranked decently on my 20 best animated episodes lists I do each year, and will likely have a spot this year for the finale. My love of this show is something I don't remotely hide and have no reason to. So it being #2 on this list is an obvious pick.. but one i'm happy to be obvious with. In fact with these last two their pretty nearly tied in my heart and it was one inching out the other.

And the weird thing is.. I didn't even watch all of season 1. I watched the first half much as I could, but while I liked it I didn't get really heavy into it. The characters were charming, the designs great and it was nice to have a show where Wendy Malick was not only voice acting, but had a MAJOR role that really let her show off her chops. I've always loved her and it was a lot of fun to get a roll this good. It was also nice to have Alex Hirsch back. The show wasn't without style, a compelling lead, a hell of a romantic arc or other attractions.. but it wasn't till later in season 1 when classicsl ike encahnting grom fright and the finale REALLY made the show into what it became.

This lead to season 2.. which is one of the best seasons of television i've ever seen, and tha'ts with the fact that halfway through they had to massively reorganize the plot to fit into 10 episodes and 3 specials, something that's only really noticable in hindsight. And i'm not hyperbolizing: the show was good before.. but season 2 enriches everything, giving the characters more depth, paticuarlly king who goes from an afterthought in season 1 to the emotoinal core of the season and Alex Hirsch's best roll... which given Stan above says a LOT. Season 2 takes the foundations of the show and really plays with them, with pretty much everyone getting a deeper character, the school stuff forced into season 1 downplayed into just showing up as needed, allowing for way more story freedom and belos increased presence and hell of a true self reveal giving us one of Disney's greatest villians. Add in hunter as a new main cast member and best good soft boy, and you have a riviting saga that kept me enthralled the whole season. Even the weaker episodes add something, and the result is something that can't be topped: a show tha'ts funny, heartfelt, unmistakably queer and unquestionably well crafted.

It also managed to pull off one hell of an ending, not only introducing my murder child who learns his lesson the collector, but doing so with only three specials to wrap up what they shoul'dve had a season to. It's a show that like Gravity Falls before it is bound to really shake up animation and influence many a show to come an dI can't wait to see the results. A true epic about finding yourself, religious indoctrination and eldrich owl and tube shaped parasites, this show is something that may never be topped and was an utter joy while it lasted. Hoot.

1. Ducktales Based on DuckTales by Jim Magon /Uncle Scrooge by Carl Barks Developed by Matt Youngberg and Francisco Angones 2017-2021 3 Seasons, 69 Episodes Like #2... #1 is a show my love of has been transparently obvious: Covering season 3 started this blog, i've covered seasons 1 and 2's story arcs, and done a ton of other duck stuff from a full three cabs retrospective, to donald shorts to the very duck adjacent goofy movie. While I haven't done as much duck content this year, a shame really, and still need to finish my life and times retrospective some day... my love of Disney's Ducks has been something i've had since college and this series not only revitalized it but sent it into the fucking stratosphere with the gold standard for reboots. DuckTales is the only show here based on an existing IP, but still manages to be super creative with it. Matt and Frank took nearly 100 years of Duck stories (not hyperbole, Donald turns the big 1-0-0 himself next year), taking from the legendary barks comics, the worthy successor rosa comics, the giant pile of European duck comics, the shorts, the movies, anything Donald , Scrooge or the Boys had been in, every bit of the disney afternoon, and everything else they could shove in to creat the defintive duck universe: Something that fully and lovingly respects what cames before but uses it all to create something fresh and wholly it's own. The cast is a nice mix of reinventions of old characters and brand new ones just as good if not even better.

This can be seen well with the core cast: Scrooge only gets changed slightly, but those slight changes were BADLY needed: Scrooge is still a guy with flaws: he can get far too focused on the goal ahead and not the human cost, is egotstical as all hell, and disconected from the common person. He can raid a tomb better than anyone, sorry Indy and Lara, but god help him if he tries doing an interview or produce a film. It's a nice ballance: he's out of touch and crotchety as usual, but far less of an abusive asshole. It's also clear that while the bin stores a lot of his treasures, and he won't take one if it's owners need it, being more than happy to give Djinn his family's lamp for instance, with it only being a whole thing because Louie sold it. It paints him more as a historian than a theif and robber baron, while still keeping the nice flaws that make him who he is: he's still cheap, he just won't underpay his staff and in fact mostly recurits people other employers give up on for being too weird.

The rest of the cast is given a more extensive but needed overhall: My boy Donald is less of the likeably selfish ass he usually is, instead a loveable dad who still destroys everything he touches, but spends the first two seasons living entirely for his kids. He's more mature while still being the idiot we love.

Everyone else.. is a huge change as I said. The biggest and best.. is the boys. Usually Huey, Dewey or Louie are a hive mind of goody goods.. or obnoxious boys. Depends on what the story needs. It always annoyed me that when you have three characters there their not at all distinct and there's no real need for them. Thankfully the creators of this show understood that and thus evolved the boys into three seperate people: Huey is more like the barks comics versions, a junior woodchuck, close to his mom and uncles, and exitable.. but with a nice fine pace of neurodivergence and anxiety that not only makes him relatable to me but a fairly likeable kid: one scared of change but with all the potetial in the world. Dewey takes ab it after the more sterotypically 80s moments of the boys in the show, being a rad dude with a penchant for acting out.. but instead of a sexist bully or jerk like the boys could be, Dewey is a pure theater kid who badly wants attention and has no impulse control. He's basically Hank Venture , age 12 and i'm here for it. Finally Louie takes the boys more scheming moments from the comics and shows and boils it down into a gen z slacker who wants to work smater not harder, and not work at all if needed, who evolves from heartless lazy schemer and evil triplet to a keep observer whose just mildly shady.

While the barks 5 are all acounted for we also get nice overhauls for the ducktales three original core characters: Webby gets the best, going from just "small baby child babY" to a hyperactive girl who is easily near scrooge's level in adventureeing.. but has no idea how to socalize and still loves sparkles. She's empathetic, brave, and a contrast to what woudl turn out to be her old man: instead of growing to shut people out , she starts out badly wanting to let everyone end. Beakley likewise gets a glow up from "old lady stertotype whose constantly flustered" to "badass british former secret agent, only sane man and gender swapped brock sampson" , with Launchpad being made a loveable doofus, but still compitent since Donald's here to be the everyman.

The cast.. only gets better as it goes: Ducktales took a huge leap and decided "Hey what ABOUT the triplet's mom" turning della from a question mark that was answered all of once across nearly a century.. to a character just as vallad as her brother and uncle who have said near century on her: Della is Donald's opposite: brave, confident.. but a mess herself and stuck on the moon for half the series. Paget Brewster does a phenominal job.

I emphasise the series characters.. because tha'ts it's heart: it has solid plots, revamps and what not.. but it's a giant, instnatly loveable cast of characters: The side cast is MASSIVE pulling from all over duck history: Fehtry makes his debut, Gladstone is taken from easily one of my most hated characters in the comics to a far more loveable schister, Rockerduck finally debuts, Glomgold is turned from "Scrooge but evil" to someone badly trying to copy scrooge and the most glorious weirdo in all of fiction. Seriously Keith Fergusons glomgold is fucking majestic, and while he's never really a major threat his overinfalted ego, lack of planning, obessions with sharks and bombs and general haminess made him one of the best parts of this. You also get Magica as a genuine threat , and a mess later, Scooge's parents having a more active roll, Fenton having more of his own personality and weird swing for the fences complete and utter makeovers like Doofus Drake going from doofy kid to a very weird child who needs therapy, Donald's neighbor nemisis being his therapist or taking the zombie from voodoo hoodo, one of th emost racist and questionable things in duck comics history.. and instead making him into an unstopable juggernaut frankenstein curse ont he rich.

And of course the original cast.. is impecable. My adopted Daugther Lena is the clear standout, having covered her whole story arc on here and loving the character a lot, A cool teen TM who ends up being a traumtized girl badly needing a home, her stoic and neurodivergent sister violet, the egon to her venkman, fuckboy Mark Beaks, great final boss Bradford, gay icon Storkules, gay icon Selene, everyone's least faviorite dick Zeus.. I really coudl go on for some time and easily could but this article has taken a while. The show just had a knack for memorable loveable characters and making this world feel truly alive and humungous and scope, with gorgeous art designs.

It also had a great throughline, with Scrooge going from a man who pushed everything a way.. to the man who truly has everything, everyone growing along the way, and a finale that while a bit messy and leaving us hungering for more, really got to the hart of the show: a family that comes together after being torn apart and adds a LOT to them. It's a show unlike any other, and was truly the dream of a life time.. and I coudln't put anything else at #1. Thanks for reading.

#ducktales #the owl house #recess #kim possible #amphibia #american dragon jake long #the weekenders #clerks the animated series #milo murphy's law #gravity falls #wonder over yonder #phineas and ferb

[bardicbeetle]

hey. Hey. You got any analysis of the Lost Boys or thoughts on the movie to share? who's your favorite character in it and why??

@abalonetea

Analysis on the movie I've been many levels of obsessed with since age 14 you ask?

...this is going to end up undercut for length I can already feel it.

The Lost Boys is my comfort movie, my I-feel-like-shit-nothing-is-fixing-it movie, my I-can't-write-please-help movie and my go-to for when I am inflicting media upon a new friend. I know it backwards forwards, upside down and inside out, I own the out of print novelization written by Craig Shaw Gardener, I posted the original prequel script to fanfiction.net in the early 2010s because I found it buried in a forum post and wanted it to be easier to find, I have listened to every version of cry little sister that G Tom Mac has ever put out in addition to the entire stage musical he produced. The fic I wrote for it in 2011 is still on Wattpad and to this day for some fuck ass reason gets 1000s of hits per year. I have another fic for it on ao3 that still takes up brainspace for me on a minimum weekly basis.

I.

Honestly do not know who I am as a writer if not for this film.

It is such a huge part of who I am as both a fan of media and a vampire writer and as a horror enjoyer in general.

And it is undeniably, baked into its bones, queer as fuck.

Not just from the overt point of here is a film in the 1980s about men sharing blood, directed by an openly gay man, hands us platonic and familial and romantic interactions between male characters, who are allowed to hold one another, allowed to express emotion, allowed to exist freely and without shame I am--so very abnormal about this movie.

I'll be the first to admit it's not perfect by any means, it very much exists a time capsule of its era, but also, to momentarily put the bar on the floor, it isn't slur laden and full of take-backs for any of the emotional vulnerability like other things around then were (see: Once Bitten, which while unarguably very much more on the comedy side of horror-comedy, i'm going to put into the same category by virtue of Camp Vampire Movies of the 80s).

It hands us one of my favorite mothers of all time. Lucy Emerson is a treasure, she spends the whole movie trying her goddamn best to remember that she is stronger than anyone gives her credit for. That she chose to divorce an abusive man, pick up her two sons, and leave without more than signing the papers and getting out. She doesn't care if they're poor, she doesn't care if she could have gotten something from her ex-husband, she wants her boys safe and there is a very large implication that sticking around to do the whole song and dance would have ended badly. Lucy lives for her sons, she wants so badly to make the world easier for them than it was for her, she wants to be part of their lives and part of their interests even if she does not understand them, and I maintain that Had Max Actually Succeeded, it would not have been long before the Lost Boys themselves were Lucy's as much as her own two sons, and that would not have ended well for Max. Protecting mother, lioness, made to be underestimated so you are always caught off guard.

Edgar and Alan Frog are near and dear to my heart, these idiot vampire hunter children were just so very much what my brother and I were in terms of Making Up Games To Play--ignoring the fact that for these two it's real, not that it ever had been before the Emerson family rolled into town and Sam's brother got mixed into the Lost Boys group. Edgar wanting to be in charge of things and wanting to protect the people he cares about and the town he is too stubborn to admit he loves despite being what, 12? 14? Alan being quieter but just as absolutely ready to go "yeah we are totally experts at this" as his twin, the fact that neither of them have any idea what they are getting into. Dipping barely into the sequels territory (which...they aren't good. by any definition. but Edgar and Alan are the best part of them both) we get Edgar dealing not only with his perceived loss of Alan to half-vampirism, but his whole loss of Sam after having to kill him and I just.

Ugh.

NOW, dipping into the main event there is Michael, who spends this whole movie just trying to figure out where the hell he's supposed to belong at this point. He doesn't see any point in starting a new high school in his senior year, he doesn't want to upset his mother by just absolutely dropping off the planet, he cares deeply about his family and wants to help however he can because they are struggling for money. So what does this seventeen year old kid do? He starts picking trash up off the beach for eight hours a day. He gives that money to his mother under the guise of it being "leftover from christmas" because he doesn't want her to worry about him working. He feels so fucking lonely without the friends he left behind in Phoenix and he feels like he's too old to supplant himself into a new friend group in Santa Carla before everyone goes their separate ways after high school anyways.

Enter Star and the Lost Boys.

Yes, Michael is taken in by Star because she's beautiful and mysterious and he's a teenage boy seeing nipples through a tank top, but beyond that he sees in her, in David and the others, how self sure they all are of the decisions they've made. This group is all within his age, they're all living in a goddamn sunken hotel half claimed by the ocean, they have motorcycles like him, they smoke weed and eat chinese food and Marko keeps pigeons and Dwayne can skateboard and Paul is a music nerd and what the fuck how do they manage to seem like they have their lives more together as a group of teenage runaways than he does?

He's enamored with it, obsessed with it, the movie speeds up a timeline of something that does in fact happen over the course of a couple weeks, of him hanging out with them, slowly experiencing more and more symptoms of vampirism from the blood he drank the first night, unable to stop coming back, unable to really figure out what it is they have figured out that he doesn't, and hoping that maybe if he stays with them he will eventually feel the same confidence in his own existence that they do.

But couple that with the horrifying reality that he is becoming a monster. His younger brother is terrified of him, the family dog bites him, the horses won't go near him, he pulls a mouse out of a trap freshly dead and squeezes it like a spent juice box into his mouth, he is falling apart at the seams by the time David decides it's time to finish things. And that's what David wants, he wants Michael in a position where he is no longer lucid enough to resist once there's blood in the air.

And it almost fucking works.

I stand by my belief that the entire movie hinges on the beach party where the Lost Boys kill a whole bunch of Surf Nazis. The whole thing, the outcome of the final fight, the failure of Max's plan, all of it hangs on that one night, and whether or not Michael can actually manage not to give into the bloodlust. He does manage, obviously, he leans into the shock and fear and near throws himself out of that tree because he knows that if he doesn't, he will join the blood bath happening not ten feet away. He is starving and exhausted and everything in him is screaming that if he just gave in, it would all feel so much better.

But he doesn't.

He lays in the sand until he cannot hear any heartbeats left.

Lays there clawing his hands into the ground like if he can hold himself still enough then maybe this will stop being real.

Three of the four boys don't pay much mind to this, Dwayne Paul and Marko have slipped back into regular antics despite being coated red. Their faces have returned to normal, their eyes no longer brilliant gold rimmed red, they are laughing and shoving and having a good time.

But David is furious. He's quiet about it, he isn't loudly angry, something I think he probably absorbed from Max over the years, he tells Michael what needs to be done if he wants to stay with them, and then he and the other Lost Boys leave him there in the sand, burnt flesh and ashes drifting down to him on the breeze.

The thing about David is that he realized the night on the train bridge that he didn't care about Max's bullshit plan. He didn't care that he was originally going to feed Michael to Star. He is fixated on getting Michael to join them, not just for himself, not just to keep Star around, but also because there's a refusal to give up in this kid that has him excited, a stubbornness that he wants to break. It's the thing that eventually leads to his death.

ANYWAYS.

I think, perhaps, I have yelled enough.

Oh, shit, favorite character.

I think without any doubt it has to be David. Especially after reading the novelization, the comics, the original prequel script, he's just, he is such an interesting character and his motivations are so obvious despite how much he would appear to hold them close to his chest. He's a root character I can trace a lot of the tropes that carry over in my own antagonists to, and some of my protagonists as well.

double anyways, camp vampires from 1987 my beloved.

Thank you Katie <3

#the magician cries #questions concerns and or rotten tomatoes #piles of vampire bs #tlb #the lost boys

[destiny-smasher]

Stuff From 2023!

List of things of note I experienced in 2023! A few things didn't technically release in 2023, I'm sure, but yea. Will contain my 'Top 10 Games I Played in 2023' as well.

Firstly, something I played a lot of this year in bursts but doesn't quite crack my Top 10 is Vampire Survivors. Very addicting, did some very fun goofy shit that had me laughing and engaged in a lizard brain way. Appreciated the many Castlevania references and jokes, too.

A couple of games I played every weekend for a few hours across many weeks this year were Project Zomboid and Roots of Pacha, both in a group 4. We had lots of fun with those two, and I think they're both great co-op time-sink games. Zomboid is a zombie survival sim that has way more attention to detail than its graphics may imply. It's still in early access but the depth to its is honestly pretty dang impressive. Pacha iterates on the Stardew Valley formula in a ton of small but deliberate, thoughtful ways that make for a nice twist on that Harvest Moon style game.

REMAKES

There were so many great remakes this year, on top of just amazing games in general, I can't fit them all into my Top 10. So here's a segment dedicated to most of the remakes I loved this year.

The remake of Super Mario RPG was such a surprise, and turned out very damn well. That game, turns out, is very near and dear to my heart and I did not fully appreciate that until this remake was revealed. It comes just shy of cracking my Top 10 list and that's honestly only because I finished Mother 3 finally right at the tail end of the year. This game manages to still feel weirdly fresh even today just due to how fucking strange it is, and the remake speeds up the pacing a bit while also adding in some new mechanics and a chunk of new post-game content. Everything was handled so well. This is like the new gold standard of complete one-to-one remakes of sprite-based games imo. I will admit the artstyle is a bit 'off' in some ways but I think it's very clean looking and captures that 90's CGI spirit really well, all things considered. And the music, OOF, so damn good.

The remake of Dead Space I don't have much to talk about, but it's very well produced. It's remade so well, in fact, that it felt like my memories of the original, even though I know it's not an exact recreation. Very well done and still holds up as a great horror action game with these improvements.

The remaster of Metroid Prime is so impressive it feels like a remake, even if the game is identical to the original aside from presentation and some control changes. It's an iconic classic, and yet I have no patience to do the Chozo Artifact stuff, so I actually did not roll credits on this version BUT still thoroughly enjoyed reliving the game with a very nice new coat of paint. It makes me excited to see what Prime 4 will look like on, I expect, more powerful hardware.

SHOWS/MOVIES

The year started strong with a TV adaptation of The Last of Us. While I've come to have conflicted feelings with the franchise at large, mainly due to its leading boss man, I thoroughly enjoyed the first season of this series. Very well done adaptation that picked and chose what to keep and what to change and honestly makes for a better story as a whole if you ask me, while not really replacing the game's tactile interactive tensions. Cannot wait to see what they do with Part 2 tbqh. I loved that game more than the original but also felt it was worse as an overall game/experience/narrative. But a fresh take on that same plot could potentially address a lot of the issues I had with Part 2, while simultaneously not really 'replacing' it, either.

The Bear. If you haven't seen it, it's just. Very good television. Two seasons in and it's sitting up there chasing Mr. Robot and Better Call Saul as one of the best live action series I've ever seen. Season 2 did such a great job of giving us deeper dives on the various characters and building toward an organic and rewarding conclusion that still leaves room for another season to theoretically wrap things up. Nothing too crazy with this show, it's super down to earth, and it owns that very well with editing and pacing that varies per episode, kind of in line with the different character perspectives.

Super Mario Bros.: The Movie had me worried for a while, mainly due to the animation studio and casting. And while I'm still not 100% sold on this celebrity casting, I will admit it didn't weight the experience down -- even if it's still the second weakest element by far. The weakest element is the writing. It's not, like, offense -- it's loyal to the source material and works, it functions. But it's not doing anything beyond pushing us from set piece to set piece. If anything, the movie is a bit too short for all of the stuff it's cramming in. But on the upside, there is a lot of amazingly rendered visuals and music to take in. A real treat for fans of the franchise, and the most loyal gaming adaptation in movie form, I would say.

Across the Spiderverse is in essence the first half of a two part film. That makes it kind of difficult to talk about, especially when it's also a sequel, and the production sounds like it was marred with bad management and crunch. But the results they came up with actually met my hopes and expectations for a sequel, and that is saying something, as I had very high expectations. I completely adore this film's stupendous sense of style, editing, framing, writing, and the way it's making meta-commentary on multiple levels on top of just being an effective narrative on its own. This is animated storytelling running at full capacity in my opinion, and in general just film doing all of the kinds of things film can do. So it's no wonder that there's still a rub -- this is the first half of the story they planned. The editing, animation, framing, effects, acting, action sequences, music, writing, theming, just Farore's sake, this is SUCH a damn banger of a film and one of the best movies I've ever seen, which, again, is kind of insane given the circumstances. I can only hope they don't fuck up the conclusion.

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off was quite the surprise announcement, and as it turns out, quite the surprise adaptation. I won't spoil much but I will say that by the end of the first episode, it becomes very apparent that this series is no mere by-the-books adaptation, and does something unique and edifying, even if it still maintains a certain surface-level depth I wish the franchise would push beyond. Either way, I enjoyed it way more than I expected to going in, and I think it makes for a great companion to the rest of the series. The animation style was super fun, as well, with some great action sequences.

But Blue Eye Samurai sucker-punched me, having released before I'd even known about it. This show is something else, something unlike any other animated show I've seen besides Arcane. And it's not like it's mimicking Arcane, it's just the closest I can think to compare it to: a quality, thoughtfully framed, thoughtfully written, made-for-adults animated series. It tows the line between fantasy and realism in a refreshing way, its protagonist is great, its cast is compelling, its plot goes to some neat places, and things just feel very well thought-out and well-executed. Slap this in second place behind Arcane as the TV series I am the most excited to see more of in the future, just ahead of The Bear.

Something I did near the end of the year was watch The Hunger Games movies, back to back over the course of like, a week. Have not read the books but man, watching these sure made me interested in doing so at some point. I totally get why people were so enamored with this franchise, and honestly, I think its themes and messages are more relevant now than they were when this franchise was at the peak of its popularity. The films certainly have glaring issues for my tastes but yea, I managed to really enjoy them as a whole despite my lack of mainstream sensibilities. Looking forward to reading the books eventually.

Another thing my wife shared with me was 花ざかりの君たちへ (often called 'Hana-Kimi' for short). Specifically, the 2007 version, as, uh, apparently there are multiple adaptations of this. It was a live action Japanese drama about a high schooler who was born female but transfers into an all-boys school, identifying as a boy while she is there. There's more to it than that, and I won't say it handles everything the best (it's from the mid 2000's) or concludes things in quite the way I'd have preferred. Not to mention it's kind of weird seeing many tropes I'm used to seeing in anime rendered by physical, real actors. BUT it was overall a really sweet, adorable, funny, heartfelt, and reached for pro-queer expression in a time and place when that wasn't mainstream yet (and honestly kinda still isn't depending on who you ask).

Good Omens Season 3 also dropped this year. I actually don't have much to say partly because I think a big element of it is just not knowing what to expect going into it! But it was also very good, very fun, pretty damn gay, I really enjoyed it and am crossing my fingers hard they get to wrap it up the way they want.

All right! Onto my personal top 10 GOTYs.

TOP 11 GAMES

(I played and finished in 2023)

11) Mother 3

The one entry on this list that did not actually come out this year -- in fact, it's never technically released outside of Japan. Originally release in 2007 on the Game Boy Advance, this quirky RPG has developed quite the reputation. I started playing the fan translation back in like 2020, and only got around to finally finishing it this year. While that likely did tarnish the experience a bit for me, so does the final third or so -- it kind of drags on a bit, and any old school format RPG that requires grinding to progress can become a bit of a chore.

Thankfully, Mother 3 did earn its hallowed reputation in my eyes now that I have experienced it. I totally get the passion for this game now, and I am a convert. It makes me want to finally finish Mother 2, aka Earthbound. But here's the biggest thing about Mother 3 I weirdly did not expect going in, yet smashed my face in like a hammer by the time I finished it:

without Mother 3, there is no way Undertale/deltarune would exist.

The DNA for Toby Fox's works is achingly obvious in its relation to this game, specifically. I won't spoil anything and I won't go into my long list of evidence like an Ace Attorney case, but trust me, there is ample evidence to make this claim.

And that also means that Mother 3 stands on its own merits as doing things that RPGs just plain were not doing in 2007, and in some ways still aren't today. Aside from some pacing issues further in, the characters in your party aren't as developed as much as I'd like. BUT the overall narrative it tells, especially in those opening chapters, have a rare kind of earnest, human magic to them that most games just don't let themselves fall into. And it concludes in ways I did not expect and yet offered clarity as to why it is so beloved, and how Toby Fox was so inspired to put his own mark on the gaming landscape.

I owe a great deal to Undertale, personally, and as such, I also owe a great deal to Mother 3. You don't need to have played others in the series to enjoy it, you'll just be missing some referential stuff here and there. It's quite playable and unique by today's standards and I strongly recommend it if you want an RPG that is heartfelt, funny, fun mechanically, and has some simple but hard-hitting things to say about the world we live in, and what we are doing to ourselves and that world.

10) Super Mario Bros. Wonder

What can be said that hasn't been said already? Nintendo knocked it out the park with this one. This was everything I've wanted in a 2D Mario for like 15 years. The only thing 'missing' from it is playable Rosalina, but hey, we finally got Daisy in a mainline Mario game, so I'll take it. After a decade or so of dragging their feet with low-effort but enjoyable 2D games, Super Mario Wonder finally, at long last, captures what makes Nintendo games great and with their best foot forward. They haven't done 2D Mario this well since World on the SNES in 1991. And they have never put this level of production into a 2D game since... ever?

This is one of the all-time best 2D platformers out there, and for once it finally feels like 2D Mario is running on all cylinders as a big budget passion project kind of game. You love to see it.

9) Scarlet Hollow

This game isn't technically finished yet, as it is episodic, and its developers wanted to release Slay the Princess in the interim, but that doesn't stop its quality from being good enough to make my list. This game is doing the kinds of things visual novels should be doing, the kinds of things I wish to do in a sense with my own visual novel development.

It's a horror themed experience but balances the high tension with actual real stakes very well against mostly down-to-earth conversations, with lots of great tricks and touches of presentation you don't typically see in indie visual novels, along with a fantastic art style, charming characters (my favorite character has turned out to be the one I immediately disliked at first, and that's rare for me), and meaningful choices.

I can't wait to see how this one wraps up but even as it stands it's one of the best things I experienced in 2023.

8) Xenoblade Chronicles: Future Redeemed

I will admit I skipped Xenoblade Chronicles 2 after giving it an honest go in like, 2019 or so. A few hours in and i couldn't stomach it, the tonal whiplash from Xenoblade 1 (one of the best RPGs I've ever played) was too much for me. But then Xenoblade 3 came out last year, and is also one of the best RPGs I've ever played, even better than the original for my tastes.

But I wasn't prepared for the DLC to drop a whole ass side-game on us, a self-contained prequel to 3 that serves as narrative cohesion to tie the whole trilogy together with a bow on top, complete with perfectly tuned fanservice (and not the sexy kind, although grown-up Rex and Shulk, well, yes) that really respects its fanbase for investing hundreds of hours in this franchise.

Matthew is easily one of my all-time fav RPG main characters, probably the favorite RPG main character when I think of it (as main characters specifically go, anyway), and his game is a fraction of the length of many RPGs out there. But as usual, the entire cast had their charms, the story was nicely paced, the gameplay and overall length was just about damn perfect for what I could want from the genre.

As an expansion to a pre-existing game, this is one of the top 3 best expansions/DLCs I've ever played. When taken as a side story to an overarching trilogy, I'm not even 100% in on the lore and I still enjoyed the hell out of it, it's just the kind of thing that hits a tone of 'damn, video games are a fucking unique medium that we can do specific narrative things with across years of telling a story.'

I don't know where Monolith Soft is going next, though the ending certainly offers some intriguing teasing, but I suspect I will be there day one to see it, and am looking forward to it.

7) Pikmin 4

Given the long wait (10 years!) one might understand fan concern over the state of Pikmin 4. Turns out, that extra time was spent making this game fucking good. It's not the largest, most impressive, most complex, most inspiring, most 'anything' game I played this year, and yet I can't help saying that this is a damned good video game. It really nailed what it set out to do as a sequel, incorporating just the right ideas to spice up the formula while bringing things back to how Pikmin 2 was, and improving on the series in basically every way -- including stuff to do!

This is easily the most Pikmin game... in a Pikmin game. I still haven't 100%'d it. Without giving away any details, I'll just say that when a game rolls credits and you're only like, halfway through its content, and it just keeps going, that's just kind of wild. It would've felt like a great game even then, but the breadth and depth it ends up going to in order to keep giving you ways to engage with its wonderfully detailed world and addictive mechanics, I love it.

I just want more of it. Give me DLC with more Dandori content, the formula and feel just works so well at this point.

6) Sea of Stars

How the hell I forgot to include this one on my list initially is boggling. Easily one of the best indie games I've ever experienced. The writing is nothing to, well, write home about, but it's not bad. And in fact the story has a lot of great things going on, from an interesting world to a very potent arc with the leading support character (who, let's face it, is kind of more the main character than your two main characters).

The game's art and music are phenomenal, capturing the essence of 90's era RPGs but clearly doing things not capable back then. Made even sweeter, the game is a prequel to the studio's prior work, The Messenger, which I also played and adored in tandem, kind of going back and forth between the two once I was partway into Sea of Stars. The way this RPG repurposes songs from Messenger as well as all kinds of seemingly superfluous elements but makes it feel cohesive is pretty great.

The game also trims a lot of the fat you'd find in older RPGs, as well as lets you customize your experience in a modern way using collectibles you can toggle on and off to grant all kinds of effects, like increasing or decreasing the difficulty in various ways.

The homage paid to classics like Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG is clear but it's not at all copy-cat-ing, instead wearing those inspirations proudly on its sleeves and forging its own path with its own ideas. A fantastic collection of party members, a wonderful world, amazing presentation, and environments and pacing that help it stand apart from the genre that inspired it. I wish we got to know the leads better, there is a lack of character growth in many ways, but that's me grasping at straws to critique, it's just a fantastic experience and the studio should be very proud of what they've accomplished.

5) Hi-Fi Rush

This is gonna be a running trend from here on out, but on any other year, Hi-Fi Rush would've been my GOTY, easy. From this point on, we're talking measures of inches rather than miles in terms of my love for these games.

Hi-Fi Rush finally delivered on something I have waited like 20 years for: a rhythm action adventure where playing the game in sync with the music felt fucking cool and gave me emotional resonance in a way only this medium can. The humor was charmng. The visual aesthetic is almost peak 'my taste.' The music was groovy with a few tracks I did not see coming but loved seeing how they were incorporated. The story was surprisingly fun! The characters were fantastic, I loved the entire main crew in a way I rarely ever do and would jump at the chance to spend more time with (and hey, there's a whole bunch of post-game I have yet to do, so I intend to in 2024).

The only real thing I could reasonably ask for from this game is a way to play as those other party members in post-game content or new-game plus or something. And who knows, maybe we get that some day. Even if we don't, what they came up with here is the next best thing besides. And what we got is one the most video-gamey video games I have ever played, a real classic and one I think will go down as one of my all-time favs. A passion project given meaningful time, budget, and creatives to bring it to life.

Had this game offered multiple playable characters, a bit more development in its story, and maybe a stronger climax, it'd be higher. I still love it to death and want more games like it regardless.

Hi-Fi Rush is exactly what kind of game we could have gotten more of if the Internet hadn't pushed gaming into a 'live service' direction. It is literally the spirit of a PS2/GameCube game given modern form. And either way, we did get it, at least, in that form, and it fucking rocks.

4) Resident Evil 4 (Remake)

This year was big for remakes and remasters, but one stands tall above the rest, if you ask me. The original RE4 has stood as my fav in the franchise, the one that got me into the franchise, the one that got me into M-rated games in the first place. Lots of nostalgia, but it's held up surprisingly well over the years despite some limitations of the time (mainly the controls) and some older-fashioned sensibilities ("with ballistics, too~").

But Capcom fucking nailed it with this reimagining. Like Final Fantasy VII: Remake, this game is not a remaster, or a one-to-one recreation. It is a brand new game, built from the ground up, reimagining the original entirely, complete with new mechanics and story. But unlike with FF7, this is also shockingly authentic and loyal to the original at the same time. It remixes elements from the original game, maintains most of the original's map design, adds in new stuff, removes some of the more goofy shit -- and even 90% of what feels 'removed' is revealed to be repurposed for the Ada side story DLC.

It looks great, it sounds great, the adjustments to characters and story are improvements across the board, (except for Hunnigan, RIP) the gameplay is improved in intensity and feel and action and replayability. And yet despite all of this, it balances that campy tone of the original just enough to still evoke what I loved about the original's tone. And it doesn't outright replace the original game, either. The two are now like different recipes of the same sandwich or something. There's reasons to revisit the original, though for me this has now replaced the remake of RE2 as my fav in the franchise.

I really don't know where they go from here but I will look forward to it, and regardless, they fucking nailed this one.

3) Street Fighter 6

Two Capcom games, back-to-back? They had a fucking good year in my eyes. The interesting thing about this particular entry is that unlike the others on this list, I will be continuing to play this one for hours and hours into 2024, especially with more fighters still planned. And in another year, this would've easily been my GOTY.

After all, Street Fighter 6 is the single-best traditional fighting game I think I've ever played. And while fighting games are my overall personal favorite genre, I'm more of a Smash player who also loves the hell out of Street Fighter and then dabbles in Tekken and whatever else releases. Street Fighter has always been one of my go-to top multiplayer games since I got into the franchise with SF4 in 2010. While I did enjoy SF5 well enough, it just didn't keep me hungry to come back for more like 4 did. SF6 has fixed that problem by way of a multitude of changes.

It has easily the most fun single player mode I've seen any fighting game have. Like, yea, The Subspace Emmisary (and even then, I don't love that mode like other folks do, I kinda think it's... fine?) but tbqh World Tour is just better in most every way. You get to build your own fighter, earn and mix and match different costumes and individual character special moves with each fighter's fight style. You get to just hang out with the SF characters, get to know them as people, their hobbies, their fears, their insecurities, their passions besides just beating the shit out of each other. On top of this, the realistic art style shift (a by-product of the RE Engine) seals the deal on what Street Fighter 6 is aiming to do: humanize its cast.

Is it still wacky as fuck? Is it still comical and weird and goofy? Hell yes, it is. Is the story mode deep in its narrative? Not in the slightest. But it's still stepping confidently in a direction fighting games should be trying to, not being too self-serious, but also being earnest.

And I haven't even touched on the mechanics! The Drive System alone is a brilliant addition that adds a sort of 'stamina' system that works so well to add an extra layer of decision making and tension. The game's not perfectly balance imo but for how much is here it is surprisingly damn well balanced, especially given they have insisted on not pushing out a single balance patch since it launched in June. For most any other competitive game, that would be like suicide for the scene, but the game seems to be thriving and selling extremely well for the franchise. And it's earned it.

I will absolutely be continuing my warrior's journey into 2024 and I can't wait to see what else Capcom has in store for this game.

2) Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Out of every game I played in 2023, Tears of the Kingdom is easily the most technically impressive. From a design standpoint, from a 'how in the hell is the Switch doing all of this without exploding' standpoint. From a 'holy hell how is there this much stuff in a single player game' standpoint. From a 'oh my goddesses that stupid batshit idea I had 100% worked because it actually did make sense' standpoint.

Where Breath of the Wild opened our minds as to what an open world game could be -- fully designed like one giant interconnected 'level' -- Tears of the Kingdom replied in much the way I expected: it pulled a Super Mario Galaxy 2. What I mean by that is that this is a direct sequel, building directly off the foundation of the original. You know. Like video game sequels almost always used to. And which many very successful ones still absolutely do.

But Tears of the Kingdom somehow managed to wow me all over again by adding to that open world's verticality in insane ways -- the Depths alone are probably my favorite 'mechanic' from any Zelda game ever besides the time loop of Majora's Mask (and what that did for the story and gameplay). But beyond the scale of the world basically doubling and then some (floating islands and caves on top of Depths), I was curious how this game could stand tall after Elden Ring, which is easily in my top 10 favorite games of all time at this point. Elden Ring was Fromsoft's reply to BOTW. And yet Tears of the Kingdom still managed to have something new to say in spite of that very strong reply.

Tears of the Kingdom opened the door to let players essentially create their own mechanics. By removing the abilities Link had to engage with the world before, and replacing them with a brand new toolset that includes abilities you just... don't see games give you, because they'd be 'overpowered,' TOTK designs its massive world in ways that invite you to use those 'overpowered' abilities however you see fit.

Being able to interact with the world and objects in this way, being able to fuse them together to create all kinds of effects, or new methods of transportation, even interacting with things not just spacially but in respect to time, it's nuts and fun and I've already poured like 130 hours with still so much I haven't done. And that's the thing: this game wasn't designed to be 100%'d. It was designed to just... be experienced, as much or as little as you want. And games on this level of scale/budget just do not have the guts to let so, so much 'content' be missed out on. And this game does.

It's a technical achievement and while I had my doubts with how strangely little Nintendo had to show, I am very glad that the experience itself manages to breathe new life into one of my all-time favorite games while improving on it in so many ways. It won't convert you if you didn't love the original -- this is a Super Mario Galaxy 2 style sequel, after all. But it's essentially replaced the original in ways I didn't think would be possible.

The story? Oof. Uh, not so much the story, let's ignore that part. That's what Nintendo wants you to usually do, anyway. But everything else, just. Din-damn.

It expands upon the first game's already fairly open-ended nature in an exponential way that I suspect developers will spend years to come trying to pin down, much like how they've spend the past 6 or 7 years trying to replicate BOTW's open world design.

For much of this year, I thought this was personal GOTY. And for many it will be, because it's just an extremely impressive video game.

Number 1...?

Going into this list, I kept telling myself, 'man, on any other year, this would be my GOTY. And if you know me personally you likely have already figured out what my GOTY is by omission. But the more I've thought about it, the more I've realized just how close these top 5 games are, it really is like centimeters instead of inches, and they each -- well, every game I've mentioned here, beyond the Top 10, as well -- offered something edifying that I was very satisfied with.

And no, it's not Baldur's Gate 3. While I have spent hours playing it in co-op and a little bit solo, that game's just not really for me, exactly. Like, I can enjoy it, and I have massive respect for the dev team and what they accomplished with it. But I don't much care for D&D, and the game just didn't do very much for me personally, I lack the motivation to finish it. Remove Karlach from the game and I have next to nothing to really attach myself to, personally. I definitely get why it's many people's favorite game of 2023, though, and I do think it's a bit of a wakeup call for what can be accomplished by just making a GAME instead of struggling to contort it into a service etc.

Street Fighter 6 is fucking fantastic but it could still use some more actual fighters and incentives to keep playing besides monetizing its players in weird ways. I love it, and it will be the game from 2023 I end up playing the most (it already is, I think). But if it ended as it is, I would be very satisfied.

Hi-Fi Rush is oozing with originality and style and I adore it to death, and when I finished it, I was very satisfied.

Resident Evil 4 kept me addicted for over 100 hours, had an amazing DLC expansion, oozes replaybility in the specific ways I like for a single player action game (rogue-likes besides). I am extremely satisfied by it.

Tears of the Kingdom is so massive and fun to just explore that I know I will continue to play more in the months to come. Will I ever revisit it entirely? I'm actually not sure! That massive length does lend some repetition, even if it's the kind I find therapeutic and satisfying.

And that's what made me realize something. My personal GOTY did not just satisfy me. It made me hungry. It filled me up in a way I didn't think was possible and yet I still hunger for more, because I enjoyed it that fucking much. I played through it twice and still hunger for more. I know I will play it a third time eventually, but mainly I just have not been to remove from my brain the particular ways it made me feel, ways that only a video game can. Nothing about it felt like it needed to be overlooked.

SF6 and RE4 had dubious monetization, TOTK had a story I found to be like 90% boring and it still maintains many of the flaws of the original. And Hi-Fi Rush, while amazing, just didn't scratch the particular itch this game did for me.

1) Lies of P

If you told me that Lies of P was a game developed by some sub-division of FromSoft, I'd believe you. Which is to say I would also believe that it was made by people who wanted to break free from some of the shackles of the now infamous 'soulslike' genre.

A narrative that actually makes sense by the end? Opening up options for the player without requiring specific stat levels? Encounters and boss fights that feel ravenously challenging without just feeling like cheap bullshit? Music that crosses borders beyond 'angry chorus, angrier orchestra'?

Lies of P doesn't quite eclipse Elden Ring, but that's an absolutely unfair comparison given the utter scope and scale and variety that game packs. But Lies of P improves at the FromSoft formula in specific ways, while making concessions in others, and as a result it's just an experience that seeped into my brain like no other game this year, not even Tears of the Kingdom, despite that I put half the hours into this one.

I love all of the games I have mentioned here, you could honestly swap around the order of this top 5 and I could mentally meander a way to justify why, no, actually, this one was my favorite game of 2023. In a year so awful for the people who make games, yet so amazing for games themselves, Lies of P is exactly the kind of game I needed. I needed someone to show me that you can make something directly inspired by someone else's work, yet fine tune it in all the right ways to make it stand just as tall in terms of quality and design. Lies of P made me feel things in ways only a handful of games ever do -- and I would actually count Hi-Fi Rush among those in a regard.

But Lies of P also told a story I found compelling. It had mystery, tension, buildup, it started off seeming like it would do the vague FromSoft schtick only to 100% come together, make sense, be rewarding, and offer a 'true ending' that I got on the first playthrough, organically, without looking things up, because it just... felt right. Not only is the game adapting FromSoft's formula into something its own, it's also doing that with the story of Pinocchio. The gameplay and the story congeal together not in the 'perfect' way that it does with games like Celeste or Undertale, but rather in a more... messy way, like a puppet aching to become a real boy.

The game is full of loss, in its world and for you as the player, who will die many times. But unlike much of FromSoft's catalogue, I never once felt like I died because of bullshit. Was I trolled? Sure, the game definitely 'trolls' you in classic FromSoft fashion, lulling you into a sense of security only to sweep you off your feet. But unlike how FromSoft does it, these circumstances can always be avoided if you're cautious. And if you're not? Hey, 'We got you! We gooottt youuu, haha' and you lose a couple minutes of progress, rather than like fifteen minutes and also an entire level's worth of souls because oh right, this section you just got through is kind of bullshit cheap.

Don't get me wrong, I love Dark Souls. But the thing is, Lies of P takes the parts I love about Dark Souls, admits it can't pull off quite the intricate web of level design, but then throws away everything I do not like about Dark Souls, improves on the things I already liked, and then pushes me to meet it on its level.

The satisfaction of being a boss you spend an hour, two hours on, cannot be understated. It's a feeling unlike any other, and one only this medium can provide. And Lies of P kept me motivated, like Sekiro before it, to keep improving, keep growing, keep trying. And unlike Sekiro, it gave me so many more tools to play with, to learn, to balance in an arsenal with intent. Enemies have elemental weaknesses if I so choose to exploit them, the moveset of one weapon's handle can be applied to a completely different blade, my robotic arm can leverage things in a pinch, or be the backbone to dealing with a boss. Mastery is rewarded with practice. A vicious boss that annihilates you in five seconds can be defeated without a single scratch if you practice enough. Mastery, creativity, quick thinking, and reacting are all rewarded here.

I am more than the hands pulling the strings, I am more than a puppet, I am human. And games like this can only be made by humans, who get that specific itch that only video games that challenge us can scratch. It's not an itch everyone has, but that's why it's my GOTY and not yours, innit?

With its unique setting, its wonderful music, its cozy hub area, its narrative that offers just enough to make me care, but not so much that I am bored or feel misled, its amazing boss designs, and its wonderfully tactile and engaging combat, Lies of P is a game I just can't stop feeling something about whenever I am reminded of it.

It epitomizes so much -- not all, but much -- of what I love about what video games can do, what adaptations can do, and much like how Toby Fox was inspired by Mother 3, what people can do when they are inspired by someone else's work.

As far as I can tell, this is developer Round8's debut game, and just. Holy hell, what a way to come out swinging. I haven't seen a debut game hit this hard since, I don't know, Bastion.

Close your eyes. Come to me. Feel all right.

I did, and I do, and given what you teased at the end of this game, I have extremely high hopes of what you come up with next. And in a landscape where things feel more difficult to get excited for with each passing year, much less new IP, it's so damn refreshing to have both Hi-Fi Rush and this game standing out as signals that, hey, some folks are still willing to invest bigger budgets into new games, new ideas.

Again, a battle of centimeters here and at this point I should wrap this up and go to bed.

But yea, Lies of P reminded me of what makes me, specifically, human, in a very particular way that only it has. And I honestly think out of all of single player games of 2023, I think it will actively stand out in my heart the most in the years to come.

#GOTY 2023 #goty #video games #gaming #Mother 3 #scarlet hollow #super mario wonder #future redeemed #Pikmin 4 #Hi-Fi Rush #re4 remake #TOTK #LOZ TOTK #Tears of the Kingdom #Lies of P #long post #Sea of Stars

[streaminn]

Enid tries to not take scenes too seriously while filming. Her whole thing is being a good actress, someone who can give it their all, not take it heart, make it feel real.

But fuck. It hurt to pretend fight with Wednesday. It hurt to shout at and be shouted at, it hurt to see Wednesday's face tighten and constrict with well-fsked anger.

It hurts.

She tries hard to hide it- very hard, and very well.

She's a good actress. She hides it. She doesn't want Wednesday to think she can't take it. They're so far into filming! A replacement now could push this project back months or even years!

She tries extra hard to push it down at home. Don't bring work home, happy wife, happy life, all that good stuff.

But one day it just hits.

It was so small. Enid wasn't watching where she was going and hit a doorframe and Wednesday was there and called her an idiot with that fond tone but Wednesday also called her an idiot during a shoot earlier and it felt real and-

She bawls. Wails. Breaks down in the entrance of their shared kitchen.

Wednesday's got a hand in her hair, another rubbing her ribs and it helps but also doesn't but it does-

Enid cries for a good while. The sun was nearing it's drip over the skyline, and by the time she's done, the sky's gone black.

It's nearing winter. Maybe she isn't as pathetic as she thinks she is.

"Dear," Wednesday starts, soft voiced in a way only Enid is privy to. "Are you alright? Do you wish to talk?"

"You yelled at me." It's all she can muster, meager and weak and pathetic.

She's pathetic.

"When, Cara Mia? I never mean to raise my voice."

"Durin' the fuckin'- the- the shoot. Part of the shoot. It was part of the shoot, part of the shoot, part of the shoot, part of the shoot, part of t-"

"Enid." Wednesday's voice has a finality to it. A sturdiness. "I understand you are distressed. But breathe, sweetheart."

Enid hadn't even realized she'd stopped breathing or that her claws were out or she'd been scratching her arms bloody.

"Right, right, right yup, you're ri- correct. I need to breath."

"You need to breath." Wednesday parrots.

They sit sit for a bit. A few moments. Minutes, maybe. Wednesday's thumb rubs circles into her forearm, the other hand placed lovingly on her cheek, cupping it warmly.

Loving.

"I know you didn't mean it," Enid starts, careful and slow and shaky and hurt, "but you yelled during the scene earlier -and it's part of the fucking script- but you sounded so mad-" tears in her fucking eyes like she's a fucking child.

"My wolf," Wednesday wipes the tears before they fall and it's such a tender action it makes Enid cry just a little harder. "I.."

She kisses Enid's forehead quietly, brushes her bangs back.

"I'm sorry. I meant nothing of the anger I gave you. It was fake."

"I know!-" Enid sobs, and her body rattles with it, "but it -fuck- it felt real!"

She takes a big breath to calm herself. Swallows air and spit and hurt.

"I know you never meant it- always give me kisses to make up for it, but you sound so convincing and it hurts so bad. I didn’t want to say anything because I didn't wanna hurt you or make you feel bad or like you had to delay or end the movie just because of me!"

She pants.

"It makes me feel like shit because both our characters have good points and it feels like we're having a real fight. It makes this part of me feel like our relationship is on the rocks and about to end and i want to break down and cry because of it."

Wednesday holds her.

It helps.

It's real.

"We're taking a break." No room for argument in her voice. Enid swallows. It's just spit she swallows now.

"A couple of weeks, maybe 3 or 4 if you need- and you will not lie."

"Okay. Okay." It's the first time in a few weeks she feels like she can breath unrestricted.

"Okay."

(Apologies if this isn't lore correct all the way through- I'm still new to your blog and AUs and what-not.)

man anon, you got me teary and shit. This is amazing! its totally alright for stuff to not be lore correct, i'll prob just offhandedly mention it but this is definitely how i'd do it too

i love it so much, just the way enid tends to shoulder things and just how willing Wednesday is to help her through it

its amazing man 😥you write them so well

#streamer enid au #writing #exquisite asf holy shit #my followers really be talented as hell #Writer anon

[bleachbleachbleach]

Maybe you've answered this before, but which of the bleach movies are you favorites? Do you like them in general? I feel like I've watched the DDR 100 times, but the movies aren't really talked about much in general it seems....

Neither of us really think about them as discrete "movies"—we take them more as a collection of elements, many of which we find very appealing. I think we’ve rewatched them almost annually since 2020, but I’m not sure either of us could actually explain to you what happens in them. We’re too distracted by the dazzling glamor of the Elements.

I will say, like you, Diamond Dust Rebellion holds a special place in my heart! It was the only one that premiered during my first stint with Bleach, and I definitely have vague but fond memories of watching a raw copy on an 11" iBook that I assume was approximately 120p.

Here are my personal favorite Elements from all the Bleach movies—some of which are scenes, some of which are character moments, and some of which are honestly… the laundry lint equivalent of "things that were part of this movie" that I still really love because, as this post will immediately make clear, I have serious Blorbo Disease.

MOVIE 1: Memories of Nobody

1. Commuting: Honestly obsessed with the fact that Hitsugaya and Matsumoto spend so much of this movie commuting. They just keep… going back and forth between dimensions? AND FOR WHY. Peak Gotei efficiency!

2. Bridge Whimsy: The scene where everyone jumps off the bridge into the water and are super duper extra about it. @dont-look-up has a great gifset of Renji and Rukia trying out for the Soul Society Diving Team. 

Hitsugaya and Matsumoto are also great in this scene. They’re both crouched in the same nook of bridge for some reason? And when Matsumoto encroaches on Hitsugaya’s space he wordlessly moves her arm out of the way and it’s so casual and non-eventful. Love that for them but also love that for the animation, because it’s an "unnecessary" non-eventful movement that got to be drawn and animated. You can’t have unscripted movement in this medium—it adds nothing and everything! Unfortunately, searching "bridge" on B3 didn’t turn that gifset up, so it wont’ be includd in this post.

3. Blobby Hisagi: Speaking of animation, Hisagi basically only appears in this movie as a blobby smudge of color in the background. My co-blogger put together a comprehensive account of every time Hisagi shows up in this  movie, and it is a post I love dearly.

* Honorable mention to the kidou cannon, which comes up a lot in conversation, considering how little reason there is to do so. But THE KIDOUUUUU CANNONNNNN

MOVIE 2: DiamondDust Rebellion

1. LAWSON TRUCK!!!!

There’s a transition scene where a Lawson truck randomly drives by and I am OBSESSED with it. I mean, I love Lawson, which is a Japanese convenience store chain. But most of the stores/brands in Bleach are either generic or made up, as is true of many anime. Yet there’s a real, honest to god Lawson Truck in this movie. It makes me wonder if there was some kind of Lawson promo that went with DDR’s release. Anyway, I see you, Lawson Truck. I love you.

2. Hitsugaya's Bow: After finding himself in Ichigo’s bed after passing out in the forest outside Karakura (and, one assumes, bleeding all over his sheets), Hitsugaya leaves without a word in the dead of night. But he still takes the time to bow at the Kurosaki house, as thanks for its hospitality. I love this quiet, quotidian gesture in the midst of a whole lot that is neither quiet nor quotidian. 

3. DETECTIVE BYAKUYA. BYAKUYA, ON THE CASE. This is best explained by my earlier post about this.

It’s best dramatized by the second music video I’ve ever made in my life, a tribute to Detective Byakuya and Law and Order: Soul Society.

We have a whole tag for Detective Byakuya (and more posts to yet to be written!):

4. Hisagi/Kira vs. Hitsugaya is one of my favorite short fights (maybe one of my favorite fights, period??) in Bleach. Hisagi gets to be incredibly cool and use a bunch of kidou and backflip onto a torii gate. Hisagi and Kira are then immediately annihilated by Hyourimaru’s shikai once Hitsugaya decides he doesn’t have enough HP left to deal with this shit, but Hisagi and Kira were very cool up until that point!

I’m certain Hitsugaya is capable of annihilating Hisagi and Kira whenever he wants, but I do want to note that it wasn’t exactly a fair fight. Hisagi and Kira didn’t want to hurt him, particularly since he was already heavily injured. Hitsugaya, uh, did not have similar qualms.

5. ZABIMARU EXPREEEEEEEEEEEESS

Soul Society’s most exclusive, breathtaking way to travel. (cue Jrock cover of Disney Aladdin’s "A Whole New World")

MOVIE 3: Fade to Black

1. Byakuya Discovers Doors: One day I’m gonna get it in gear and make a gifset for this, because this scene is the BEST THING THAT’S EVER HAPPENED TO ME IN MY LIFE. There’s a full sequence of Byakuya combing through the Kuchiki Estate and opening every single door. Just walking around. Opening all the doors. In the dead of night.

And OKAY, the context for this is that he’s in Detective Byakuya mode; he can sense that something is amiss but isn’t able to discern what—he’s searching for anything that will help the missing pieces fall into place. (The missing piece is Rukia’s entire existence.) But it’s not like he tells any of his retainers this so for all they know he’s just going around opening all the doors in the dead of night, and they have to quietly follow behind him and close them all, murmuring, "ah yes, our Lord Byakuya, always working. Very thorough examination of doors and hinges tonight." I love him.

2. Hitsugaya is 11th Division's Foster Captain: Hitsugaya is working with Ikkaku and Yumichika in this movie for some reason—like, goes out to Inuzuri with them, even as he’s left Matsumoto behind to do work with their actual division. This is important to me only because it’s not the only time he’s been the 11th’s foster captain?? I’m not even talking about the Advance Team arc, which is something else entirely. In the Bount arc, when Zaraki is similarly indisposed/unreachable, Hitsugaya also ends up in charge of the 11th. Like, who decides this???

Anyway thank you, whatever bureaucratic processes makes this happen over and over again; I appreciate you. I’m sure Hitsugaya Suffers every time. (But he also probably prefers this over any other option, because the second option is probably just "idk 11th go freeball it do whatever you want!!". Also, Hitsugaya is always volunteering for this stuff.)

MOVIE 4: Hellverse

Okay, we just saw this movie (well, we just saw all of them, but this one was last!), but I’m not remembering a lot of it right now because it’s low on Blorbo Disease triggers. I do very much enjoy the Six Hearts gang running around in Squarespace (Hell)!! But this post is very long, so I’ll just say:

1. Byakuya Projecting by offering his fairly lengthy opinions about Ichigo and Yuzu, considering he’s known of Yuzu’s existence for about 2 seconds and she has been bereft a soul and comatose the entire time. 

2. Why is Hitsugaya even here, edition 90009: I love the fact that Hitsugaya is part of this Hell Portal team at all. Byakuya and Ukitake make some sense, in that Rukia and Renji are the Gotei officers most involved with this. But why is Hitsugaya there lol. I like to think that he thought it would be a good opportunity to learn about portals, and considers this professional development.

#If there'sone thing I can say about this post #it certainly offers a vivid picture of what it's like to be me lol. #really just a portal into the brain #'my favorite part was the part where hitsugaya was in it in spite of or perhaps because it makes no sense for him to be involved' <- me #bleach movies #bleach anime #hitsugaya toushirou #kuchiki byakuya #hisagi shuuhei #lawson truck #asks #no brain just bleach

[viilpstick]

╰┈➤ 𝐟𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭: Imagine having to pretend to date your ex you got into prison? That is what Fellow Honest is experiencing. Without warning a lovely lady he known for a long time knocks in his door asking for help, it couldn’t be that of a problem, right?

𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔: Fellow Honest, Giddel, Lacy Darling, Twisted Wonderland oc

𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔: Oc x canon

𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒓𝒆: Hurt or angst (?) Hopeful ending

𝒂/𝒏: This will be getting at least 5/6 parts tbh + I REALLY DON’T KNOW WHAT GENRE THIS IS

Part 1. | Part 2.

"So?" Fellow asks Lacy, who sits down with a two towels wrapped around her, this was sure an unexpected move. The thought of him doing what Lacy has done to get to him, was surely not an imaginable thought, for her and him, it would easily be the other way around. "Hold the thought a second, how you got in here?"

"I have my ways." Lacy answered awhile Giddel showed up holding two cigars, one given to Fellow the other to Lacy, who shook her head. "Thank you for the offer, dear. But, I don't smoke."

The little beastman nods, noticing Fellow not lighting up the cigar and even putting it away.

"You must really need my help, don't you?"

It was a quick sigh, but deep enough for they hear it coming in and out of her. "Sadly, yes."

The comment made Fellow turn his head away from her, maybe, this time it wasn't the best thing to remember the past.

With a take breath, he awaits for her to speak, wondering what made her choose such drastic way.

Does she need money? He would give her gold bars. Does she needs a shoulder to cry? He is already grabbing tissues and her favorite movie. Does she-

"I need you to pretend we are faking dating."

He is ready for the kiss.

"I beg your pardon?" Surely, it wasn’t NEAR what he expected. Not just doesn’t make sense, nor makes sense her choosing him.

So many other people would have a clear background with, instead of him.

"I won’t repeat myself." Lacy straightness her posture, right before after sighing once again, as Fellow raised an eyebrow. "My boss has been pressuring me to show up with a date for the upcoming social event. And for that, I need to show up dating someone, it is a really bad reason, and I understand you not accepting, but my job is on the line."

"Why me-?" He clears his throat. "Why is so important you be dating someone?"

"According to him, I must look professional as possible. And without a partner will look like I am slacking and not worrying about my social life."

"What is this? Queen of hearts’ hierarchy?" Fellow sighs a hand covering his face as if making sure this wasn’t a dream. "Why not Crewel, or Crowley? Any of your actual friends?"

"All busy in NRC."

Laying back in his chair Fellow had no idea of how he supposed to agree or disagree with this ridiculous idea. It was certainly the toughest choice of his year, he could say yes and on the way, try to gain her trust, on a hope for a second chance or he could say no, and expect himself to move on.

"Sure." But we both know that isn’t the situation. Fellow’s voice rings her and him back to reality. "We can pretend to fake date." Lacy automatically seemed more relived by his words. "Yet, you have to fake pretend in my job as well, you know to attract costumers."

His smirks is now placed on his face, of course this was a lie. But, this time a good one, or so he hopes.

"Deal!"

Poor Lacy, still ingenue. Yet, he promises that this time he won’t use it for the bad choices of his own life.

"Now, tell me more when this event will be and what will be."

And, so, let it all start. The chaotic situation where forced by an stupid job idea, Fellow and Lacy will have to hangout again for the very first time in years. Will it stay for the ideals of Lacy? Or will the vexer fox get the second chance he hoped for?

Too many questions, but that stays in the future, that holds down a tight rope.

DO NOT COPY, TRANSLATE OR REPOST IN OTHER MEDIA MY WORK viilpstick © copyright 2023

#💜 ! felcy #💜 ! fellow honest #💜 ! lacy darling #💜 ! barbs' writes #💜 ! twisted wonderland

[queennai714]

Random hcs I have because I may be cringe but I'm free part 24 (Ninjago)

My hcs on side-interests the ninja have. There will be little to no reasoning for most of these except I got the feeling (I'm not even going to attempt further explanation) Enjoy 👍

Kai: I've always thought that weapons (especially swords) and blacksmithing are def a huge special interest for him but I also feel like he would be into spiders and scorpions. If anybody else on the team started freaking out about a spider in the house (or the occasional scorpion on a mission) that he knows is harmless, he would definitely pick it up and chase them around with it (Jay is his most frequent victim). He's also into mixology. You know why.

Jay: Not gonna lie, had a hard time thinking about one for him, then I remembered he said he was into model building in the pilots and we never heard or saw of it again so yea, he gets to build little models. Considering how stressed out he gets in tough situations, I think he would really enjoy feeling like he's in total control of every little detail, and its probably good for blueprinting/practicing for new inventions.

Cole: This one kinda relates to his canon art interest but I feel like he would be really into old school cartoons. I'm talking black and white stuff. He would probably really enjoy that style and how outlandish some of those old characters could get in an age where there were a lot less boundaries. He would never try animating for himself but if he sees something he likes, he'll sit there and analyze one clip frame by frame until he understands.

Zane: BIRDS (I feel like these are just getting more and more canon compliant but whatever) You cannot tell me bro isn't an avid birdwatcher. Why else would Dr. Julien specifically choose a bird design when the aim was to make a friend for Zane? Bro could name all the native bird species for any region of Ninjago without needing to look it up. The birds like him back, too. Dude looks like a whole Disney princess everytime he relaxes outside cause all the nearby birds just flock to him and rest on his shoulders.

Nya: Much like Cole, Nya's into the classics, except she's strictly into movies, and not so classic that they're black and white. Annie, Braveheart, Alien, Predator, Crocodile Dundee, Lethal Weapon, Die Hard, Rocky, etc. if it came out before the year 2000, she's seen it and enjoyed it (she cried during Braveheart because we're actually really similar and I cried during Braveheart so now she does too). Despite how offensive some of that older stuff can be, she's never started a movie (or even sometimes a series of movies) that she couldn't finish.

Lloyd: Whatever the Ninjago equivalent of Pokémon is. You saw how much of a nerd he was, especially when he was still little, and especially about Starfarer. You're telling me he wouldn't freak out about something that has a show and a card game!? Even after he's been aged-up for a while, he still has and adds to his card collection and he still holds it VERY near and dear to his heart. After seeing how well the Starfarer thing worked, he has been slowly recruiting Jay so he can finally play against someone and get some use out of his collection, and its working.

#ninjago #random hcs #this took longer than expected #random hcs: shitpost ver #kai ninjago #jay ninjago #cole ninjago #zane ninjago #nya ninjago #lloyd ninjago

[smokeybrandreviews]

Bone of my Sword

Scott Pilgrim is a franchise I hold near and dear to my heart. I was already a fan of the comic when it dropped way back when as I WAS those kids. When the OG graphic novel first released, Scott Pilgrims’ Precious little life, I was that twenty year old, hipster douchebag, who knew everything but absolutely nothing. I, personally, didn’t struggle with relationships (fortunate to have met the great love of my life early on and never looked back), but I had friends who were desperately trying to maneuver that mire of self-discovery and intimacy. Scott Pilgrim is the distillation of the Millennial experience during out prime years (if you buy into that sort of thing), captured perfectly on the page by Bryan Lee O’Malley. That said, the film adaption? Scott Pilgrim vs. The World? That is a Millennial culture milestone. When that movie released back in the early Tens, it spoke to me, directly. It spoke to a lot of us. We were those wayward idiots, living in garages, spinning our wheels in terms of careers, just vibing away to dope music and life experiences. I remember being that young, discovering The Killers and Kid Cudi, moving out of state on a whim just chasing new stimuli. Seeing that film, was like watching a crib notes of my entire life experience to that point and it left a strong impression. If I wasn’t a fan before, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World definitely made me one. I showed that movie to anyone who would watch it, gushing about its overlooked genius, and lamenting how there wasn't an anime or something, which adapted the entirety of the comic. Fast forward thirteen years later and, as if the Netflix gods heard me pining all those years ago, they delivered unto us Scott Pilgrim Takes off. I have feelings.

Scott Pilgrim Takes off is a goddamn masterpiece! I absolutely adored this show. It's exactly not what you think and i thought making that choice, was a brilliant one. Don't get me wrong, i am a Scott Pilgrim purist but, if we're being honest, with two decades worth of perspective behind me, the OG Scott Pilgrim story is kind of bullsh*t. Scott is the worst and never really had to reconcile for that sh*ttiness. He dated Knives and never really caught any flack for it on his end. He mooched off Wallace until he started mooching off Ramona. Scott was a scumbag on par with e very other Evil Ex, with the exception of, maybe, Roxie. Removing him from the equation not only gave Scott the distance from his would-be actions to grow into a solid, redeemed character, but gave the rest of the cast that very same opportunity. It gave Ramona that opportunity, one she sorely needed. One that we, as fans, didn't even really KNOW she needed. Giving the big chair to Ramona allowed her to reconcile how terrible she was toward her Exes. It gave her so much more agency than just being "won" at the behest of the weirdly gross and aggressively abusive, Gideon Graves. Takes Off is as much Ramona's story as it is Scott's and that sh*t makes for the overall narrative, becoming something more. Adding Ramona's story to this tale, adds a layer of maturity, which makes sense considering it's been twenty years since Scott first punched Matthew Patel into pocket change. Altering the perspective from Scott to Ramona, taking the narrative from one of destruction to healing, absolutely MADE the entire franchise. Altering the perspective from Scott to Ramona, taking the narrative from one of destruction to healing, absolutely MADE the entire franchise.

This take on the story sees Scott actually "defeated" by Matty Pat and the ensuing mystery of his perceived "death" sends Ramona on a quest to find the truth. During this journey, SHE is forced to "fight" with her Exes, and by fight, i mean actually apologize to them for being a sh*tty person. Ramona finally stopped running after she met Scott and he basically murdered all of her evil exes. That made for, at the time, some cool imagery but it was, objectively, an absurd way to properly unpack your traumas. Especially the ones you create yourself. And let me tell you, that League of Evil Exes? Yeah, Ramona definitely created that sh*t. We get hints of each villain origin story in the film and graphic novels but Takes off is ABOUT those relationships and why they ended the way they did. It doesn't take long to understand that Ramona, too, is just as terrible as Scott, but in a different way. Seriously, Roxie's episode hammers that home with such intensity, you don't have a choice but to accept it as gospel. Every Evil Ex gets this treatment. Mostly. Once again the Katayanagi Twins get shafted but that's their thing and they kind of don't seem like assholes anyway. Not really in the previous takes on the story, either. Like, those relationships should have keyed us into just how f*cking destructive the trail to Ramona's flower truly was but we were kids back then, too, and that's the brilliance of Scott Pilgrim Takes Off: We're not kids anymore and neither are these characters.

I'm thirty-nine years old. While i love Scott Pilgrim for what it was, as a dude two decades removed from that time in my life, i can honestly say i was a f*cktard. All twenty-somethings are. We haven't figured out life, at all, and some of us won't even as we approach our mid-Thirties. By the time you're my age, however, once should hope you have a handle on your sh*rt enough to recognize that, maybe, way back when, during your Twenty-something scumbag days, that you were a little bit of a scumbag. That's what Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is doing. That's what the story is about. It's catharsis and acceptance which comes with the benefit of time and space. Bryan Lee O'Malley published the first Scott Pilgrim story when he was about twenty-five. That means he wrote it at an even earlier age and it reads as such. That narrative reflects the emotional maturity of someone who had experienced a handful of years unto themselves, outside the protective bubble of their parents, give or take. Takes Off is written by a mid-Forties, adult man, who has had a life. O'Malley has been married, found success with his goofy little story about wayward love, walked the Hollywood red carpet, made a name for himself, and suffered the sting divorce. He's not punching his problems or running away from them anymore, he's confronting them head on and accepting that, a lot of the issues in his life, are because of his choices. As i approach the cusp of the big Four-Zero myself, i recognize that. I accept that. I've been doing that. To see it happening in one of the most culturally defining stories of my generation, is both comforting and surreal. Scott Pilgrim Takes off is a wonderful show. It's the most appropriate period on a sentence we Millennials started writing way back when we took our first steps into adulthood and i love it for that. That said, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game is the best thing to ever come out of this franchise. Fight me about it.

#Scott Pilgrim #Scott Pilgrim vs. The World #Scott Pilgrim Takes Off