#like i love this screenshot so much. the entire moment is fucking hilarious but this screenshot is just Good

[wtfforged]

made it to enies lobby with my friend:)

this is a redraw. heres the original screenshot!

#wtf... art #See You Later... Sogeking... #Sogeking... blasting off Again.... #like i love this screenshot so much. the entire moment is fucking hilarious but this screenshot is just Good #um/ it feels unfair to tag sanji(just his stilts) and usopp(nothing but a booger in the mddle of the screen). so i wont. LMFAO. #idk its late im too sleepy to do my usual tag rambles and i did this all in one sitting and dont want to look at it anymore #one piece art #straw hat pirates #roronoa zoro #zoro #one piece zoro #cat burglar nami #nami #one piece nami #tony tony chopper #one piece chopper

[aprillikesthings]

oh god oh god

HEY GUESS WHAT I'm down to the last two episodes of She-Ra in my rewatch

On a related note, should you desire to read them all starting from s1ep1 for some godforsaken reason, here's the link. Please be amused at my claims that I would not do this for every episode and my repeated attempts to cut back on how much I copy/paste dialogue and/or explain the entire plot instead of just making jokes and commentary

If, somehow, you are New Here, I've been rewatching all of the 2018 She-Ra, ostensibly for fic-writing reasons as I had forgotten huge quantities of the plot. I have since become deeply obsessed, as one does.

I make a lot of adult jokes, random asides, references to other things, commentary, and a lot of cursing and crying. I love Catradora and I love Catra especially and have a tendency to add a screenshot every time they so much as look at each other. It seems silly to warn for spoilers at this point, but yeah, this is a RE-watch. It's just that I forgot a lot of it because I watched it the first time as it was coming out (pun intended). The shit I did remember is so fucking random tho lol

The last time I tried to do a two-parter in one post the number of times I had to reblog it because tumblr only allows 30 images per post got real stupid, so while I do still assume I will have to reblog multiple times per episode, I'm doing each episode separately.

HERE WE GOOOOO

s5 ep12 Heart (pt 1)

jfc i'm full of adrenaline lol

Also I have a beer, it's a citrus IPA because I live in Portland and it's required by law

(not really I just genuinely like them. that and IPA's that taste like gnawing on a douglas fir. also fruit sours.)

LOL I was so anxious I looked away from this post and consumed most of my beer this is gonna be hilarious

ALSO my goal is to finish these two episodes before the Easter Vigil service tomorrow night at 8pm

Theoretically I should be able to watch two episodes of TV in a day and a half, right? AHAHA

Bow should play Wonderwall

she always looks so soft with her hair down

but also having that thing just floating in front of your chest like that has gotta feel weird

ON A RELATED NOTE I know I made the joke in the last episode about how many people have the failsafe as a tattoo but the PROBLEM is that now I literally LIVE with a tattoo artist whose work I like--I already have two tattoos they've done, here and here, and the temptation is extremely high?? but I don't have any other obvious fandom-related tattoos (unless you count the title of a Björk song) so it feels weird to start with this one???? Like I don't have any LoTR or BBC Sherlock or SU or K/DA tattoos (to list off a bunch of fandoms I was devastatingly obsessed with at the time) so getting one for THIS fandom feels kinda weird. But like, also, if I got it kinda small on one wrist it would look kinda cool and be a nice loud DID U KNOW I'M GAY kinda thing. Gyahhh.

She's struggling to do She-Ra, and I'm sitting here YELLING because IT'S BECAUSE CATRA LEFT and UGH I want to murder Shadow Weaver

(eyyyy I won't have to, ha ha oh god)

Oh she manages to transform anyway. Without making any noise or glowing lights, just pop, She-Ra

awwww but also lol

related aside but like, every culture that figured out bows and arrows invented at least one kind of string instrument. Literally archers just fidgeting with their bows and going "oh this makes a nice sound, what if I put more strings on this thing." So many different places and cultures invented things like a guitar or like a harp or like a violin. But also I want to know who the FUCK figured out the hurdy-gurdy??? oh my god I just looked up the hurdy-gurdy and I'm cracking up because one of the earliest depictions of it is from the 1100's, in the Santiago de Compostela cathedral. A place I have been. Because I did the Camino last year.

oh right plot

I would like to take a moment and be grateful for the people who put together the transcripts on the fandom wiki for saving me typing up long bits of lore-heavy dialogue

She-Ra: "Prime is getting closer every day to figuring out how to access the Heart of Etheria. If he succeeds, he can use it to destroy worlds, galaxies, maybe even the entire universe. The Failsafe is our only chance at stopping him."

"His hold over them grows stronger every day they're chipped. If we don't free them now, we might lose them forever. Prime holds every advantage in this fight. He'll be ready for us. But we have a plan. Entrapta?" Entrapta: "I finally succeeded in cracking Prime's signal pattern. If I get access to his Spire network, I can use it to broadcast a jamming frequency that will disable all of the chips on Etheria, freeing everyone at once!" She-Ra: I need you all to get Entrapta to the Spire and keep Prime's forces distracted while she jams the signal."

"We're going to make sure that Prime can never hurt anyone ever again. We're ending this today. For good."

oh lord so Shadow Weaver is still there, sulking and looking away, and she looks over at her and starts almost losing She-Ra and being Adora again

have I mentioned how much I hate Shadow Weaver >:(

Adora goes outside...and looks around. I know who she's looking for. *sobs into a pillow*

NO. she's LOOKING for her GIRLFRIEND

I made that joke and then Glimmer literally says "Any sign of Catra?" I have to remember that at this point in the story literally everyone knows how in love they both are. Except them. Of course.

Adora: "She's not coming back." ;_;

Adora: I mean you don't have to come with me this could be dangerous Bow: the fuck are you talking about of course we're going

And she turns into She-Ra again, roll intro

Okay so they go to the Crystal Castle thing where Light Hope was

it doesn't look so good

but also that's creepy

anyway they tell the hologram (not Light Hope, the other one) that they're looking for the Heart of Etheria and that they're Friends of Mara. She-Ra gets scanned and then a door opens into a passageway. Bow and Glimmer take her hands and they walk into the hall but:

she's still looking for someone

I have to deal with another episode and change of her looking for Catra ghghggh this hurts meeeee

OH SO OF COURSE they literally switch to showing us Catra

bahaha okay so she sits up and looks behind her kind of sadly, and Melog just skids to a stop so hard they throw Catra off

And Melog looks at Catra like she's fucking nuts. Catra's like, wtf is wrong with you??? and Melog looks back like BITCH WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU??? Catra what did you think was going to happen when you got a therapy animal that can literally read your moods. Melog knows you're being a dumbass and has NO reason to pretend to believe your surface "I don't give a shit" act!!

Melog does airplane ears at that. And then just pounces Catra.

Time for pressure! Just like a real therapy animal. Big weighted blanket!

oh shit I forgot about this bit

Catra just immediately starts crying.

Catra: "You saw what happened! Adora chose Shadow Weaver, okay? Not me!"

*sobs into hands* you useless fucking dumbass that is your abysmally low self-esteem talking literally every living semi-sentient thing in the galaxy knows Adora's in love with you EXCEPT YOU

I can get frustrated with AU fics where these two both pull this "but what if she doesn't like me back" thing for ages while everyone around them is face-palming in frustration, but like. You have to admit. It's accurate to canon.

(It's also accurate to lesbians in general, lbh. Either fucking on the first date or doing the "but what if she's not into me" thing for months-to-years. Sometimes both, including in some of the fics I've written, heyooooo.)

Melog purrs and licks her face. A clone approaches and they both go invisible and then follow it.

MEANWHILE

the rest of the rebellion is attacking Horde Prime's ship thing

Wrong Hordak helps Entrapta get into the spire. The whole point of this fight (which I didn't bother screenshotting lol) is to give Entrapta time to disconnect everyone's chips from Horde Prime.

Lol once inside Entrapta does another one of those "holy shit this stuff looks so cool...OMG FOCUS" things

Back at the Crystal Castle Glimmers like "omg are you scared" and She-Ra says "No, I just hope this works." Liar.

Bow: "It'll be okay. And when we get back, it'll be a whole new world."

this poor girl. she's so heartbroken.

(meanwhile the plot of my fic-in-progress is literally them breaking up. (not forever.) but it's hilarious of me to get SO UPSET over this scene when I'm going to force them to repeat it. like it's a mutual decision in my fic but it doesn't make it hurt any less.)

PFFT I unpaused it, and IMMEDIATELY:

I just said OH SHIT out loud lol

oh god I saw someone talking about this in a youtube video right around when I started my rewatch

It's a hologram, she's not actually there. And Catra goes through multiple other ages, including her kid self, being chipped on Horde Prime's ship, when they were Horde cadets, etc; before going back to looking like she does now.

Adora's sharp little gasp of shock here

Adora goes to touch Catra's hand and the hologram disappears

(good lord she's beautiful here)

And I think I agree with the youtube video: Adora knew she was upset about Catra running off, but this is the moment she specifically realizes she's in love, and it breaks her heart into tiny pieces.

(Hah, I actually say a very similar thing in part of my fic that they mention in the video--that previous to this, she refused to let herself want this or even think about it. "I didn't even realize this was something I could want.")

BUT ALSO so like is this a remnant of Light Hope's programming that tortured them with childhood flashbacks in season one (in order to drive them apart) or what

LOL NO

I know I made this joke before but I'm suing Nate for emotional damages

She-Ra: "We need to be careful. It looks like this place can still project memories."

oof

A still-invisible Catra follows the clone to where Horde Prime's ship is and is visibly terrified and shaking. A clone who might be Hordak turns around with that white in his eyes that means Prime is using him to see, and Catra just tries to be quiet and not move but she's obviously triggered, and I mean that in the literal PTSD sense.

Horde Prime (via Hordak?): "My brothers. The time has come at last. No longer shall She-Ra stand in my way."

oh okay so Horde Prime's actual ship is still in space (just orbiting Etheria I assume) and the planet-side thing is him speaking through one of the clones via the hive mind.

"Begin the acquisition process!"

are they just gonna straight-up drill into it?

apparently yes

the whole area lights up with that sickening green light, including all the lines that characters kept noticing on the ground that looked like some combo of circuit boards and First Ones' writing.

meanwhile, Adora keeps slipping out of being She-Ra for split seconds and is clearly stressing The Fuck Out and possibly walking in the wrong direction in her distress, only to walk into another memory/hologram.

And I've predictably hit the image limit, but 13:30 to go which is better than last night pfft okay gonna reblog

#april rewatches spop #heart pt 1

[frecklystars]

I have more Ken-questions for you! What did he do that made you laugh the hardest? What part made your heart soar the most? What part was the cutest? What was the best outfit?

🥺🥺🥺 AWWWWWWWW...... thank you so much for asking!! I LOVE talking about my sweet boy, I really can't get enough -- or should I say... Kenough™ HAHA AM I RIGHT-- [gets yanked off the stage]

What made me laugh the hardest?? Oh my gosh... there's so many moments to choose from... that's like, nearly every line he says... I gotta list a few, I can't pick just one!

There's that scene where Barbie says "you're very brave, Ken", and he WHIPS HIS HEAD AROUND SO FAST. And just stares at her for a long moment before saying breathlessly, hand over his heart, "thank you, Barbie." It makes me laugh because there's NO music, you just hear the creak of the medical table and you see him whipping his head so quickly I'm shocked he doesn't sprain himself. Then, even more dead silence, him just staring at her with widened eyes for a few more moments. That scene will make me laugh so much that it's kind of concerning. I don't think that scene is supposed to be as funny as my brain is taking it. I will be inconsolable every time that scene shows. I have to try to laugh as silently as possible in the theater as if I'm not fucking dying. Afterward the way Doctor Barbie says to him "and what a GOOD JOB you do at beach :)" her tone is not unlike the way someone praises their dog for being a good boi 😭💖

The expression he makes when dancing next to Barbie. my god. it makes me crack up every single time 😂 I couldn't get a good screenshot without it being blurry, but here is a gifset of the scene. and the little disappointed rejected dance he did when walking away during girl's night makes me giggle...

Can't forget ☆ "SUBLIME!" ☆ because that made me laugh so hard the first time I heard it in the theater, I had tears in my eyes

Ken walking away from Barbie and staring at her the entire time. His swagger in his stride. The little "not now, Margaret" imitation he did. The growl when Barbie told him not to get into trouble and his excited "I'm gonna see if there's any books on trucks :D" smile DROPS into a snarled "I WOOOOON'T!!!!!" A lot of moments in his western outfit were hilarious. Oh my God. "Do you have the time?" "You respect me?" The -- what was that little bow/tip of his hat when he walked away saying "I shall seek my fortune there" for!!! god everything he did in the real world was just so fucking funny

So many other things made me laugh so hard I was wheezing but I'd better stop here.

What part made my heart soar the most??? Oh my goshhh ummm... wow lots of parts... I think the time I can feel my heart really physically swelling in my chest, genuinely to the point where I am SO FULL OF LOVE that I can't help but SIGH it all out of me, every single time, is when I'm Just Ken is playing. Especially when they show that move in the beginning where he folds his hands over his chest, and when he's rolling his fists toward the camera. OH. And when he's crossing his hands over his face while running, showing that he's hiding/running from his own vulnerability as he suppresses his emotions while falling further and further into toxic masculinity... I'm sighing a LOT during that song but I know it's consistent when it comes to those three scenes specifically.

THE CUTEST! THE CUTEST THE CUTEST SCENE EVER THE CUTEST IS HIM GIVING BARBIE THOSE PUPPYDOG EYES WHEN HE SAYS "HEY BARBIE. CHECK ME OUT 🥺" AND THIS NERVOUS BREATH HE TAKES TO PREPARE HIMSELF ... and when he pleads Barbie "what if there's beach? 🥺" and the little smile he gives her after. oh my god. oh my goddd!!!! and the HUGE smile when he asks "can I sit in the front?" 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 AND THE PROMO PHOTOS WHEN HE'S LOOKING AT HER SO FONDLY AND AND AND WHEN HE'S 🥺🥺🥺🥺 SMILING SO BIG JUST SO HAPPY TO HOLD HIS GIRLFRIEND 🥺🥺🥺

THE BEST OUTFIT??? Oh. Okay. Okay. Okay. I have many favorites. My Ultimate Favorite™ changes everyday, rotating between his denim outfit, sailor outfit, faux mink, western outfit (I love the swagger in his step when he wears it)... also LOVE the all black in I'm Just Ken, also when he wears nothing but pants in the beginning of that song while dramatically sitting on the bed slkfjsfsdf I love so many of his outfits. His Barbie jumpsuit... his camper van shirt... that swirled magenta & blue shirt he wears when he's standing at Barbie's pool... the iconic Kenough™ sweater... basically anything he wears, I'm looking at him with big ol' heart eyes and appreciating them all for one reason or another 😍😍😍😍😍😍

I MUST mention that I have a certain fondness for his... I call it his "lightning jacket"? I think he looks so soft in it. I wanna hug him so bad. I know he's the BIGGEST ASSHOLE during the scene when he's playing the guitar at Barbie for 4 hours straight (a song about an unhealthy relationship, no less) but hear me out: he looks SO hot while doing it 😩 I like to imagine him having a protective, even somewhat possessive arm around me when he wears this jacket, his collar barely covering my sparkly lipstick mark on his neck. He'd learn all of Nick Blaemire's songs on that guitar just for me, I KNOW it!!! I think I'd pick this outfit to be my Top Favorite if I was forced to pick just one...

I always think about him giving me his necklace too, because of Ryan saying in the "Top Ken Things" video "who knows, maybe one day, you'll get the baddest Barbie in the game to wear your chain" and I rly rly RLY love to think about him being SO PROUD to put that pendant around my neck and he tells me to wear it everywhere I go so everyone (especially the other Kens) knows I belong to him. Even when the patriarchy thing is over and he's somewhat "better" (I cannot bring myself to say the word "redeemed") he says to me "you don't have to wear it, Keri, I know I messed up and I lost your trust" and I'm like "no bitch are you kidding this thing is mine forever wtf no take-backs!!! my love is unconditional babygirl!!!! now let's get you some therapy <3"

Anon, YOU ARE SO SWEET!!!!! Thank you so much for letting me ramble about my Ken 🥺 my sweet boy 🥺 my stallion 🥺 my EVERYTHING!!!!!! 🥺🥺🥺 god this was so fun to write and my heart kept squeezing in my chest and I smiled every time I took screenshots... thank you thank you thank youuuu I LOVE getting any chance to ramble about Ken and this movie just in general!!!!! 🥰🥰🥰🥰💖💖💖💖💖💖

#anonymous #asks #keepsake #love notes #barbie movie #ken #💕 I'll fight for you!! - ̗̀🐎🏖️✨ ̖́- #long post #i spent like 2 hours last night taking screenshots and then getting distracted #SIGHING LIKE A LOVESICK FOOL #FEELS SO GOOD TO BE IN LOVE AGAINNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 💖💓💞💞💝💝💟💘💝💗💗💗💞💓

[invisiblegarters]

So Just How Present Has This Ex Been, Anyway?

Out of curiosity to see how much my opinions have evolved about OF and its characters over the course of the series (season?), I've been going back over a bunch of my own posts since the beginning. While I will probably make another post about how wrong I was about some things (and how right about others, I do so love being right and pointing it out), what really struck me in light of all the back and forth about Sand (even if most of it doesn't actually seem to be about him at all, which is darkly hilarious to me in an episode that goes out of its way to highlight how Sand regularly ignores himself to make way for others) is just how early they started laying the groundwork for what's going on with Boeing.

This is an excerpt from something I posted in episode two. Please ignore the part about Ray (I know it's hard but we all have to make some sacrifices here) and think about it for a sec. As early as episode two there was groundwork that was laid down thick enough that I was picking up on it - I say this because I am not exactly the most observant person and I do tend to miss a TON on my first watch of these episodes. There's no background at all given yet, this is entirely based on the way that Sand looks during this "interview". Which is basically like he's Seen Some Shit (as an aside, I just love watching First make expressions and I think Sand is some of his best work. He's just so damn good at conveying so very very much with just the subtlest changes. First what even is your face).

I also noted in this episode that Sand...doesn't talk about himself. That he answers direct questions but he doesn't volunteer information (and I'm getting ahead of myself here but we see this in action again in ep 5 - he says he has dreams but explicitly does not elaborate until Ray asks him directly what his dreams are. At the time I was not as cognizant of that because I was too busy being surprised that Ray would even ask - I had a Ray hating reputation for a reason, guys - but in hindsight (and while thinking about this post) it struck me. We also see him really hesitate before telling Ray about his dad even though it's in response to a direct question (and he doesn't give him the entire truth, as we find out later). It's also the ep where we see Sand treating his own birthday like it's any other day, nothing important).

The second is that there are still times when he's looking at Ray that I don't see fondness, reluctant or otherwise. I see a man assessing how likely it is that the animal in front of him is going to bite. But more and more I am beginning to think I'm delusional because the guarded, emotionally unavailable man I sometimes think I see in Sand is not the one I'm getting in scenes like one in the car after the party

This is not a screenshot because it's in the middle of a paragraph and would look weird but it's from episode 3. Because there was this way Sand had of looking at Ray (you know the one: head tilted, taking him in like he was a bug under a microscope) that made me feel like I was taking crazy pills in between all the ways he was already folding for him at every moment.

But now, with the power of hindsight, it occurs to me that I might have been supposed to be seeing that. I just didn't have the information to know that it wasn't necessarily a reaction to Ray himself but a wariness he might be showing with anyone that he started falling for. Because Ex Trauma. Also I think now we see that in some ways Ray in the beginning especially was very like Boeing - getting into Sand's space regardless of how Sand may feel about it, ignoring Sand's attempts to put him off or tell him no because it's pretty obvious that if he pushes enough Sand will cave, etc - and maybe a part of Sand even registered that and reacted to it. Or maybe he's still just very fucked up from his last relationship and those feelings that he hasn't dealt with are already spilling into this new thing (for what it's worth, the second option feels most right to me).

By episode 4 it was very clear to me, apparently, that Sand had a metric ton of issues surrounding the ex.

Of course it was. That's the episode where Nick plays that far too often used recording. It's the episode where Nick says that compared to Top he feels like nothing, and Sand gets his patented War Flashbacks Look (TM) and says he knows exactly how Nick feels. It's also where we find out exactly what Top did that makes Sand hate him so much: "He stole my ex."

And I remember reading tumblr at the time (for my own sanity I do not have a twitter account and never ever will), as well as a few youtube comments and seeing people taking him to task for that line in particular. And while I agree, it's true you can't own someone so they can't be stolen and Boeing probably left all on his own (very clearly did, as we find out in future eps), to me this was the moment when I realized just how not over the whole thing (and I thought at the time, the ex himself) Sand really was. Because you don't hang onto that kind of anger if you've come to terms with something. And usually (not always but usually), you aren't quite so eager to keep the blame hanging all on the person that the ex left you for if you've moved past what happened. Even if Top actively pursued Boeing knowing that he was with Sand (and as of yet we have zero indication that was the case, and honestly probably won't unless they plan to drag Sand's Boeing Shit into another season), surely some of the blame would have to go on Boeing too, since he was the one who was actually in a relationship? But nope, that's not what Sand's doing, which told me all I needed to know about where his head was at regarding said relationship.

Just putting this here because this was me in episode five. LOL had I known how much the reaction to it would annoy me I might not have been so eager (that is a lie I totally would have I am HERE for what this might be able to do for Sand guys you have no idea).

And if Episode 4 hadn't given me an inkling of where Sand's head was (or very much wasn't) at regarding his ex, episode 6 would have done the thing.

The man is so angry after he speaks with Top in the hospital (after the ex is directly and indirectly brought up) that he goes and straight up steals a sex audio and then uses it to point good old volatile Ray at Top's new relationship like a missile. That was unhinged. Utterly.

And the use of Ray was definitely deliberate. Oh, I know that there are schools of thought that Sand was also trying to torpedo Ray's chances with Mew while he was at it (and I guess that's why so many people were so weirdly smug about RayMew happening and Sand seeing it?), but I don't believe that. I do believe, however, that he knew that giving Ray that information would guarantee Mew would find out, and he had no issues blatantly using him to make that happen...but for me it leads back to Boeing.

Hear me out. I know that everyone was very focused on how Ray was trying to move on from Mew before Boston dropped his bomb and I get that, it makes total sense, but it might help to remember that he wasn't the only one. Here Sand is, taking what he thinks are steady if slow steps to having something real with Ray, letting him in in spite of still being guarded and taking care of those burns he got from Boeing, and then it's dropped in his lap that nope, all that was a farce, this guy he's been focusing on as a real option (maybe the first person he's done that with since Boeing) is in love with someone else and has been all along.

Now I'm not saying that he's correct in thinking this - but I am saying that Sand doesn't have any information that would make him think otherwise (and no, Ray being sweet with him is not it. Ray also made very sure to clarify over and over to Boston that he and Sand were just friends, they weren't like that, etc - whatever reasons he might have for doing it, that's what Sand hears, and he isn't psychic and can't intuit if Ray's lying to save face just in case Sand doesn't like him too or if he's lying because he doesn't want news that he's not entirely single to get back to Mew). At that point Ray didn't even know how he felt, lol, how on earth could Sand be expected to? He's drawing his conclusions based on the evidence he has - filtered through his own biases and past fuck ups, yes, but who isn't guilty of that?

Even though the situations aren't quite the same, it must have felt like Boeing all over again. And I will say until I'm blue in the face that Ray owed Sand nothing at this point, it really doesn't change that. And I completely understand why Sand's reaction was to retreat, to build back up his walls and to decide fuck it, I don't matter so why should he? Didn't matter before, don't matter now. And frankly he was way more upset about the end result than just about anybody else involved save Mew and Top. Possibly Nick. More than anything, what Sand's behavior in episode six told me was that whatever issues he had with the ex, he hadn't dealt with them.

And we've seen zero evidence of that changing. What we do see, over and over, is Sand letting the past affect his present. What we see is him being wary at best even when he has what he's clearly wanted almost this entire time - Ray right there next to him, all in on him and happy to be so. I said this episode that it did not escape my attention that Sand doesn't reciprocate Ray's affectionate words at all - he loves hearing them, but there's a way he responds that reads (to me) as rejection - not of Ray, he'd never, but of fully believing the things Ray's saying to him.

I've said it before and I'm going to say it again now: I do not believe that Sand's hesitation is about Boeing. It has nothing to do with Boeing beyond what Boeing did to him making him gun shy. This isn't a fight between Sand's feelings for Ray and his feelings for Boeing. It's a fight between his feelings about what happened with Boeing and what he wants now with Ray.

What I want, more than anything, is for this to be about Sand. Ray had his whole epiphany, he knows he's in and he's committed. But Sand hasn't had that. Even now there's a part of him that isn't fully in this thing - hence all the not really responding beyond smiles and shakes of his head when Ray's being ridiculous and calling him boyfriend every five seconds and telling him that he's got a mental rolodex of things about Sand, etc. I don't think it's a Ray issue specifically I think it's because he was all in once and not only did it break apart, but it did so in a horrible way, and even though he's moved on from *Boeing* (sorry but if the show wants me to think that he still loves that man it's doing a horrible job of it), he's not moved on from that pain and disappointment. I would love it Boeing pulls double duty once again and not only tests the foundation in this relationship but also breaks Sand out of that particular barrier.

What happened with Boeing has been, to my mind, woven through so much of this drama that I don't even think we need a flashback here. We don't need to see what their dynamic was like to see why Sand is so fucked up right now - it's all been there from the beginning. Sand put off really dealing with his feelings about what happened with Boeing, and now they're here smirking at him and making a bunch of insinuations that Sand has no real defense against. It's not surprising or confounding to me that Sand is dealing with it by trying his best not to deal with it, or that he wants to keep his new, shiny thing untarnished by the past (even though as I've gone to great pains to point out, it already has been). But he's not going to be able to get away with it this time. He has to deal with it in some way.

Personally I hope he deals with it by braining Boeing with his old guitar, but then I do have a violent streak when it comes to fictional characters.

#only friends #only friends the series #sand ofts #ex trauma man #boeing has been present this entire time #just not physically #which is why now that he is present physically it's fucking sand up #i needed to get this out because it's been bugging me a lot #hopefully now i can enter the last episode a lot more chill #i will defend sand's actions and reactions to the end just watch me

[branwendaughterofllyr]

branwen please share with us some more BNFs/JoLa tea ☕️ thank you kindly x

I’m probably going to regret this but I couldn’t resist lol.

I actually feel bad for a lot of the BNFs, including JoLa. The end of GoT wasn’t really fun for most of them, and most of them have left the fandom. JoLa has pretty much abandoned her tumblr, and good for her honestly. I think she’s a very silly, even over sensitive person, but she genuinely believed that she was going to be right. She hates being called a BNF and denies she ever was one, which is par for the course for her. She would alternate between denying she was invested in jonerys as a ship and commissioning jonerys fanart.

Her takes on Dany were honestly pretty hilarious in their tone deafness, which led to a lot of joking about her in my circle. She was really, really into Tyrion, which, uh, okay. The “curtain of light” theory has become pretty infamous now, and I cannot emphasize enough how seriously it was taken by some of the BNFs on tumblr. Big BNF poorquentyn (is he still around? Didn’t he convert to Jonsa at one point?) responded a lot to JoLa and nobodysuspectsthebutterfly back in the day.

I’ve screenshotted some of my favorite posts, most of which are from like 2015-2018.

I mean come on, Dany and Jon bang and have baby Drogo to save the world beyond the curtain of light? SPECTACULAR. I wish I was on those drugs.

And it’s amazing because on one hand I’m like “yes! The power of love as humanity’s greatest strength is a theme of ASOIAF!” And on the other hand I’m like “and where do Dany and Tyrion come into this at all????”

Beloved, read a single Sam chapter, I’m begging.

My personal favorite is how she justifies Dany ditching Meereen after she’s wrecked the place. Look, slavery was an inherently unsustainable system, and Dany did everyone a favor by wrecking everything and then flinching off.

Which, like yes, Dany did a good thing by trying to end slavery but also it’s a millennia old system??? It’s pretty stable, and Dany hasn’t really done a great job implementing change, and things are going to be way worse after she leaves, and any positive changes aren’t going to come at her hands. (and also has she really ended slavery? really, really?)

The Titanic comparison????? AMAZING. 

Dany is the lifeboat come to save the entire world. 

The best part is by far the tags

NEVER SAY THE BNFS DIDN’T GIVE US ANYTHING.

I loved these tags so much that one of the lovelies on the Jonsa discord made me this back in the day.

SHE’s SHOOTING STAR<3

THERE ONE MOMENT, GONE THE NEXT BUT FOREVER WONDEROUS TO BEHOLD

Who needs permanent political change, long lasting growth, and tree planting when you could have her <3

She can’t stay and actually fix any problems, she has a continent to set on fire and a curtain of light to fuck under. 

It’s crazy how such wildly different interpretations can come about from the same text, and it’s rather satisfying to me personally that I am in fact not crazy and what I was seeing the narrative is actually there.

The Tyrion humping and the refusal to acknowledge that maybe magic nukes bad actually are what cracked me up to no end.

Yes, the real enemy is the cold, but also maybe Fire and Blood is not the end-all be-all solution???? Like, just think about it for more than five seconds. Did the chapters about the destructiveness of fire mean nothing to you? Did WF, the home of the heroes at the heart of the story, going up in flames ring no bells???? Did Arya’s escape from a fire described like a dragon, where she desperately kissed the mud when she realized she was still alive not set off any alarms???? Literally anything that has to with trees??? No? Okay.

I cannot even begin to unravel her Bran takes, so I’m not going to try. 

And lest I forget, JoLa also supported Sansan and even Creepyfinger at various points, sooooooo. I took her assertions that she’s a big Sansa fan with a pile of salt.

But nobody go harass JoLa’s account please. The only reason I’m talking about this is because it was literally years ago at this point, and she’s moved on and I’m reminiscing about the horrible old days. JoLa was actually a pretty civil and nice person (I think it was nobodywhosuspectsthebutterfly who was the combative one), if very silly and wrong. 

#I don't even want to talk about JoLa's Tyrion takes because they make my head hurt #the Dany ones just make me laugh #Branwen answers

[unhinged-nymph]

Ok next was Mind Blowing Eargasms: Aural Sex Edition and this is definitely where I started to get a lil too high not pay attention too much and the secondhand embarrassment def kicked in lol. But anywhere, here's some thoughts (along with some crappy quality screenshots!)

Definitely not one of my favorite parts of the evening, just because of said secondhand embarrassment. However I did love hearing Link’s little squeals and whines because that’s exactly how I would imagine him to sound in real life lmaooo

Link stood SO CLOSE to Rhett the entire time it was actually insane? You’re whining and grunting and thrusting and you’re gonna be so close that sometimes your entire sides are touching? And Link put his chin on Rhett's shoulder for no reason? What the heck is up with these dudes lol

Thoughts on the mean comments defense:

I was genuinely laughing the entire time hahaha

Rhett saying “this isn’t even fun for me” when Stevie read the first mean comment was kinda cute lol

Protective/back up Rhett was so fucking funny and adorable

The way they were looking into the camera was so fucking intense lol I could barely handle it like, don’t look at me like that 😳

Link saying “You can’t get enough” and then licking his lips almost took me out

Link’s tattoo looks SO FUCKING HOT and I actually can’t handle it

Rhett laying his HEAD ON LINK’S SHOULDER while saying “it’s a symbol of love” has KILLED me and I can’t believe I missed that the first time !!!

And I also missed the comment about having sex in his living room?? And how Rhett said they cut the nest cams for that while looking so intensely at him??? What the everloving HECK??

And then Rhett putting his hand on Link's shoulder and leaving it there until he bent down to get his jacket 😩

"Thanks for the notes" was hilarious lmaooo

The whole thing was so cute and wholesome despite the point being to read a mean comment to Link? I feel like Rhett was probably super concerned about it not tanking Link's mood but they both did such a great job making it funny and yeah, this is one of my fave lil moments of the night.

Also, look how cute Link looked right after he put on his jacket and collected himself, lookin all proud of himself 😂:

#i'm realizing that there's *so* much more that happened that I've yet to get to lmaoooo #what a wild night #will I finish in time for the streamy's? who knows #rhett and link #rhink #gme 3 #good mythical evening

[anantaru]

hello lovely its ur favourite (DUH) 🤠 i am extremely apologetic for current circumstances, however, the proposal will come underway in the foreseeable future (i am a woman of my word 😤) because i am DYING OVER MY EXAMS MAN HOW ARE U TELLING ME I HAVE 22 EXAMS IN THE NEXT MONTH nahhhhhhhhh at least i get a 2 month break after that best believe ill just be staring at kaeyas face in game for at least 24 hours of that time and ur kaeya smuts FUCK HOW AM I LEGIT GETTING HORNY OVER THEM? skills = unmatched fr fr what a blessing u are to my life they were SO. GOOOOOOOD. i feel like ur writings are the only thing thats gonna get me out of this exam period bc i cried six times yesterday and i just cried 5 minutes ago life is so great man but genuinely dont stress urself out either darling ur posts are so consistent and ill say it again YOU ARE SO HARDWORKING but dont burn urself out ur not obligated to be writing here but you do and we appreciate it A LOT also UR TASTE IS SO IMMACULATE LIKE WHAT?? no bc THE MINUTE I SAW JING YUAN I WAS LIKE smash. SMASH. he's so scrumptious i would let this man TAKE ME. after kaeya does first lmfao but SMASHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH why arent men like this reallllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll ffs man anyways mi amor im going to leave to revise for tomorrows exam, one down 21 to go and im being so fr when i say 21 now btw like yus this is the situation im in bubye ly U ARE AN ICON A ROCKSTAR A LEGEND U ARE THE MOMENT anyways bae adios <3 also i saw ur reply to someone talking abt jing yuans breeding kink and thats AGREEEEEEED WITH LIKE HIGHKEY AGREEED and kaeya its the men with the breeding kinks man fucking hot also im sorry i write so much its cos im a waffler irl but i hope it entertains youuuuuuuuuuu ur a cutie btw i forgot to mention even if its just ur immaculate personality we see ur 1000000% a cutie i just know it inside and out ALSO OMFG I NEED TO SHOW U SCREENSHOTS OF WHAT ALHAITHAM WAS DOING ON CHARACTER AI I WAS IN TEARS i was just saying bby gyal bc he's a bby gyal and then he started calling me it and i was like ew no stop it i shall reveal the screenshots at some point in time maybe when i have a revision break or smth anyways bubye for REAL THIS TIME 🤣🤣

OOOMG LOVE ABQBQJQWJJWQH IM LAUGHING SO MUCH YOU‘RE SUCH A BLESSING I ADORE YOU 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻💕💕💕💕😭😭😭 please this is so sweet the way this literally made my entire night you‘re so so cute and i agree so much!!!!! kaeya is a breeding kink champion don‘t even 👹👹👹👹👹👹💕 breeding is on his mind 24/7 he needs it just as much as he requires air AAAAAAA and please the character ai, i love hearing stories about ai conversations they‘re hilarious, if you have some good ones go share i‘m all ears 👼🏼💕

#˚✩彡 🤠 — anon' #꒰୨ 𖤐 ୧꒱ answered'

[discotreque]

LwD 2.05: An Embarrassment of Dooplers

So I was a little nervous about this one! I hadn’t heard any spoiler-spoilers, but screeners have been out for weeks now, and I’d heard a bunch of individual, vague, non-spoilery hints about (1) big character moments, on the scale of a mid-season finale even though the show’s not taking a mid-season break; and (2) an ending that would make me cry.

I guess I imagined something relatively serious and dramatic, like “No Small Parts”? This show makes me cackle with laughter and giggle with nerdy glee and “d’awww!” at heartwarming friendships every week, but it’s only ever made me cry once—and then I was impressed that they were going to get there from the wacky hijinks we saw in the brief teaser.

The lack of a cold open made me apprehensive too—in my experience, that’s typically a sign that there’s so much plot in the rest of the episode that they need that extra scene—but after ~21.5 minutes of aforementioned hijinks, I was having so much fun that I’d completely forgotten about the alleged tear-jerker at the end…

…and they were not the tears I was expecting.

I didn’t think I’d be smiling and crying!!!! That was wholesome as SHIT!!!!!

I almost can’t believe they earned that—but they totally did.

After a Mariner–Tendi episode and a Boimler–Rutherford episode, we’re back to the “usual” Season 1 pairings… except the relationships between these characters have changed since Season 1. Mariner still feels thwacked in the abandonment issues by Boimler bailing for the Titan, and Rutherford’s having a tiny little existential crisis about losing an entire year of his life.

Both of which are extremely understandable and very heavy situations—and both of those situations get resolved because everyone in them is vulnerable with each other and honest about their feelings—AND that honesty and vulnerability brings both pairs of friends closer together. Are you kidding me?? I would watch SEVENTY seasons of that shit. Put it in my veins.

Onto the notes:

So basically Dooplers are Tribbles, but for cringe comedy instead of slapstick? Ohhhhh boy.

Look at Ransom the diplomat, tossing his own fork on the floor! I like that he’s actually a pretty competent Starfleet officer, despite also being a completely ridiculous person.

Wait a second, is that—OH HOLY SHIT, THE DOOPLERS ARE VOICED BY RICHARD KIND.

It makes sense that B. Boimler would find William annoying—who likes seeing their own flaws reflected back at them? And who could be a better reflection of one’s flaws than one’s literal duplicate?—but most interesting to me is that it implies on some level, Bradward knows the stick up his butt is a flaw. (Does William?)

Why does the Cerritos model have working phasers?!?!

I’m loving hot pink as the currently en-vogue colour for “dangerous sci-fi energy” in animation (cf. almost every previous episode of this show; Into the Spider-Verse; other stuff I can’t remember right now). As a former child of the 80’s, I’m living for it… but as a former teenager of the 90’s, I can’t help but wonder if it’s going to age as poorly as the harsh neon green of The Matrix, every Borg appearance on Voyager, and like 80% of the websites I made in high school…

SKANTS! SKANTS! SKANTS!

That fake-out joke with the fly-by over the Cerritos model was in the season trailer weeks ago, and I was so enthralled by that handsome lady that the sticker coming into frame still got me good 😂😂😂

BECKY Mariner????? omg yes

Some top-quality Boimler screams in this one. Poor Jack Quaid must drink gallons of throat-coat tea when he records.

One of the great things about Star Trek to me is that you never know what you’re going to get from any random episode. A murder mystery? A road trip? A spooky thriller? A cheesy romance? Broad comedy? Body horror? Didactic political screeds shrouded in tissue-thin science-fiction metaphors? Brain and brain, what is brain??? And after this many years of watching, you’d think I’d be hard to surprise. But if I ever told you I thought I’d see a Blues Brothers–style car chase through a frickin’ shopping mall on an episode of Star Trek, I would have been straight-up lying to you. I loved it, it worked for me, my jaw was on the floor and I was clapping with joy—but I’m definitely comfortable calling this one “unexpected.”

It’s CAPTAIN SHELBY!!! And an ancient babydyke crush rose from the depths of my childhood subconscious… (Also I think her Number One is based on the original makeup—eventually deemed too complicated—for Saru? Now that’s a deep cut.)

In 20th-century Trek, you almost never got to see what was going on inside a starship from the outside. Even after they switched from physical models (where it was next to impossible on a single episode’s budget) to CGI (which was still in its infancy, still not exactly cheap, and still broadcast in SD anyway), it was a rare thrill to see any meaningful interior details in an exterior shot. Disco’s modern VFX have given us some tasty, tasty treats in that department, but nothing quite as sublime as all the pink Doopler light glittering through the Cerritos’s windows.

Mariner says she’ll take her contact Malvus down with her, and threatens that they’ll end up “in the same cell.” Malvus is a Mizarian, a species introduced in TNG’s “Allegiance,” in which Captain Picard is held in a mysterious prison with one. I think I see what you did there, McMahan?

Bartender… so hot… lesbian circuits… overloading…

The Tendi and Rutherford C-story was, well, a C-story within a 22-minute episode, so there wasn’t much to it, but the one scene that mattered actually mattered a lot. I’m ambivalent on whether they should end up romantically involved—I’d prefer they don’t, but they’ll be one of the cutest couples in Trek history if they do—and as long as they keep that pure, sweet friendship between them at the heart of whatever else happens, I’m on board.

Carol Freeman was already one of my favourite captains before this season, and she’s been steadily moving up the list. The quiet throughline about her ambition to be on a better ship has been fascinating so far, and it’s starting to actually make me feel a little conflicted: I’m of course rooting for Captain Freeman to recognize her worth, make Starfleet recognize her worth, and become the ass-kicking captain of a hero ship that she’s clearly ready to be—but that almost surely means she’d be kicking ass off-screen, because LwD isn’t about those kind of adventures, and I’d be devastated not to have Dawnn Lewis on the show every week. So I’m kind of on the edge of my seat about this one!

I had so many favourite jokes this week I put them in a separate list:

“Even the replicated water on the Titan tasted better” is a low-key brilliant dunk on people who can’t shut the fuck up about the cooler places they used to live.

“Ooooh, they have a Quark’s now! That used to just be an empty lot where teens would make mistakes!” ← That’s literally me every time I go back to where I grew up. I felt so Seen™ I almost hid under a blanket.

“I would never go down the stairs!” (evil grin) (goes up the stairs)

The “well, shit” expressions from Mariner and Boimler as their crashed car sank right into the water… which started to bubble innocuously… and then the bottles of Data bubble-bath popped up, paying off a joke I thought had already been paid off—that was the one that woke up my poor cat this week. Just exquisite timing.

“YOUR PAGH IS WEAK, AND IT DISGUSTS ME!” “I don’t even know what that is, but I don’t like your tone!”

“Okona’s in there? He’s not even Starfleet! This is outrageous!” made me shout “NO!” at the screen like I was scolding my cat for scratching furniture. (She did not wake up that time.)

Best background joke: the neon sign at the dive bar advertising FREE SHOTS & BEERS. (Get it? Because they’re on a Federation starbase? Where nobody uses money?)

And of course Quark merchandised DS9.

This wasn’t just a standout episode of Lower Decks, this was a brilliant episode of Star Trek, period. The Dooplers, though extremely silly, are nevertheless also a clever sci-fi metaphor for real and relatable personal/interpersonal issues, and an effective plot catalyst for meaningful character growth from all four of our ensigns and the captain.

The jokes were hilarious, the action was kinetic, the A-, B-, and C-plots linked up thematically, the visuals were consistently and thoroughly gorgeous, the character beats—between Mariner and Boimler, Tendi and Rutherford, Mariner and Capt. Freeman—were all genuine, heartfelt and wholesome, and the references to other Trek canon were both deep and deeply affectionate.

Only 15 episodes in, and this series knows exactly what it is, exactly what it wants to do, and knows that it can knock our socks off doing it. Mike McMahan has said in recent interviews that the back half of S2 (and the apparently almost-fully-written S3) is a straight line uphill in quality from here—which surprised me at first, because McMahan seems like a pretty chill dude who doesn’t normally brag about his own work like that.

But then the Prophets sent me a vision of my space dad Ben Sisko, who reminded me of the words of 1930’s baseball player Dizzy Dean:

“If you can do it, it ain’t bragging.”

[Thanks to cygnus-x1.net for the screenshots this week—I was too lazy to do my own.]

#star trek #star trek lower decks #lower decks #lower decks spoilers #lwd spoilers #amy's episode notes

[daxieoclock]

Also! If you like to! Top 5 Hunters moments so far?

(Screenshot isn't from the scene but it', i dont think i can put this question in any particular order

honorable mention to the moment where everyone collectively realized Puck was a child because it's a player moment and not a PC moment but it was still fucking hilarious to experience. Literally everyone but me thought he was an adult and I assumed everyone thought knew was a child and it was...really fucking funny to watch

A: Sammy meeting privately with Prim.

(Screenshot isn't from the scene but it's related and also very funny)

I originally planned for Prim to be a character who showed up before each major boss fight to give a bit of cryptic lore and vaguely steer the party in the right direction or keep them from overextending themselves, her introduction in the first dungeon was so impactful (and fun!) that I felt I couldn't resist and included her as an "Arcana-holder" for the party to bond with. And especially seeing her friendship with Sammy develop from that very first encounter has been...fucking amazing, I love it so much.

B: Blake requests that Prim spare their teammates.

On the subject of Prim, her introduction was one of the most fun parts of the campaign to date, just having this mysterious individual psychoanalyze the entire cast, upping the stakes in almost every possible way, it was so fucking fun. But Blake's response stands out to me as a fucking amazing encapsulation of their character, through all their development. The pride, and anger, and absurd intelligence and – beneath mountains and mountains of shame – the unwavering compassion for their friends. It's a fucking amazing bit of writing, and I love how much it just...epitomizes Blake Leto in a single paragraph.

C: Lena breaks Lucien's nose, and Ilse meets with Stephen.

The introduction of Team Trinity was a fucking blast, and while Kaya had some fun moments too (and will hopefully have a few more soon), both Lucien and Stephen's introductions were absolutely fucking iconic. I knew from the start of the campaign that I wanted to have a rival team of Persona-users show up to periodically harass the party, and give an insight to the type of people who Daedalus's structure cultivates and rewards, and Ilse having a named childhood friend in their backstory was too good of an opportunity not to return; and I feel like the reveal of their shared history went really well. Lucien wasn't planned to have too impactful of an introduction, mostly just as the most abrasive of the three to start things off on the worst foot first, but Dave's snap decision to have Lena punch him in the face for a borderline skeezy comment was...fucking amazing, and perfectly in character for Lena.

D: Camellia and Sakio at Frey's grave.

It's a quiet moment, one that I didn't expect at all at the time, but it definitely sticks out in my memory as just...solemn, and beautiful, and potent. (And it definitely makes me so fucking excited for @shinyvibrava to return to the campaign so we can have a ton more moments like it!)

E: Sammy's introduction.

I don't think there's been a more hype reveal in the campaign so far as Sammy's existence, everyone lost their fucking mind and I don't blame them! It was a blast to plan things out with Nyanko in secret, and I adore how excited everyone was to see everyone's favorite goat friend for the first time.

F (because I couldn't limit myself to five + honorable mention I'm sorrryyy): The Hunters unite with the common goal of Fucking Up Jabberwocky's Day.

Sammy getting KO'd and promptly revived, leading to the most fucking triumphant, amazing fight scene in the entire campaign so far as every Hunter took their turn in the round to land a chain of really fucking high-roll attacks (while I had changed the boss battle music to Counterstrike from P5 Strikers on a WHIM) and Sakio pulled out a taste of her own strength – which she'd been limiting in front of the party up until that point? It was just fucking AWESOME and probably the most jazzed I have been during a session so far.

#the hunters #erin sakio #sammy cabra #blake leto #camellia pavel #ilse belanger #lena tarr #prim #lucien punicia #stephen alting #kaya nari

[mrslittletall]

Time for my Ghost of Tsushima Review: Graphics To make it short, the game looks absolutely GORGEOUS. It goes with a realistic style. I didn’t had trouble with the character models, they looked good and unique and the facial expressions were well done. What got me, though, is the scenery. Tsushima is lush with nature and there were trees, flowers, pampas grass. You clearly could see what was a japanese settlement and what was a mongol camp, though I have to argue that they resuded a lot of assets for the buildings, like if you you knew one of them, you knew all of them, but that is nitpicking.  The water looked great, the fire effects looked great, the foxes were cute, the flowers were gorgeous. It was a joy to look at and I made some scenery screenshots which I all forgot to upload, oh well...  The last area was a bit duller though, because it was full of snow, but I like snow and we got footprints in the snow, so I was fine with it ^^ Sound/Music Sadly this game suffers from western Triple A problems... the music is generic and doesn’t stand out. I think I remember one song of the entire OST and that was in Yarikawa, when you unlock the Ghost Stance.  The music is generally played with japanese instruments which was a very nice touch though. It wasn’t there all the time also, leaving you room to listen to the atmosphere, which was nicely done. It never really was quiet in Tsushima, but it made me feel at ease. I am also amazed at the voice acting. The voice acting was really really good, though both me and my husband had one gripe with it... Ok, so I put them on english, but they are still talking japanese with each other, it’s just dubbed for our listening comfort, so why... why did so many VA’s speak with a fake japanese accent?! That didn’t make any sense at all!  It got even more hilarious when I read the names of the credits and Jin, one of the few who doesn’t sport a fake japanese accent was spoken by a japanese man! That was the only gripe I had with the voice acting though.  Gameplay  The game feels like a classic Open World game. I heard a lot of people got tired by it, but they probably have played like a hundred Open World titles already. I only played Breath of the Wild and Death Stranding (and Death Stranding is not a typical Open World title), so it felt all fresh and new enough for me. I am a person who really likes to see progress in games, so it always felt great for me when I found one of the locations in Tsushima that would give me some extra and make my Jin stronger. I loved the exploration part of the game.  The quests of the games? They were a bit generic, at least the optional quests. Lots of the same to do. The story quests were more interesting, for they sometimes forced a certain playstyle on you or gave you certain weapons to use. Like, sinking the ships with the hwacha was really cool and having to sneak out of the shogun’s castle was nerve wracking. I wasn’t bored with them though, for I liked the little stories behind the quests.  The combat was really fluid and played well, though the standoffs at Act 3 got ridiculously hard. I thought it was my problem, but I wasn’t the only one failing the standoffs in Act 3, the game really just made them super hard, apparently to encourage stealth? Yeah, but I don’t want to stealth the mongol patrols...  The boss battles in the game... they kinda felt like a dance. You had to find out what your opponent does and react accordingly and if you did it right, it felt like a beautiful rythm of a sword battle. I was pretty impressed by how fluid it felt when I didn’t mess up. The stealth mechanics were good. I hate stealth in games where you normally don’t do stealth, but here the stealth was a big part of the game. You had a lot of options for stealth, you could hide in grass or behind walls, you could assassinate the foes one by one, you could hide on a roof and shoot them with your bow, you get access to poison later in the game (shooting a brute with hallucination dart was always fun) and and and. It really hammers home that your character took up the practices of a shinobi to save his home.  The early game hell was pretty bad though... you start with not much of course, and that made me almost give up on the game because I did nothing but die... only when I found out that I can run up to archers and hit them with my sword instead of having an archer battle, I had fun again. Like, the game starts you out with low health and resolve and then gets you into missions with five archers shooting at you at once? You are dead before you could even aim!  Overall, I had fun with the gameplay.  Story/Characters Ok, that will be complicated, because I like the story and I dislike the story at the same time... But let’s talk about the characters first. I loved most of them, especially Jin, Yuna, Kenji and Norio. Every main character got their own questline which you could follow and it showed a lot about them, also that none of them a honourable hero or anything, but they all had their flaws and troubles... Especially Lady Masako’s quest made me thinking... for it was extreme that her family got slaughtered like that, but after hearing that she left her sister in an abusive marriage I couldn’t hate Lady Hana for it... she must have tremendously suffered and sadly all her negative energy got channeled at innocent people... Their stories went through the whole game and were a good thing to deepen them, because in the main story they felt a bit side lined in favour of Yuna’s and Jin’s friendship as well as the storyline about Ryuzo and the relationship between Jin and Shimura.  Ok, let’s talk about the story now.  The story is set on the 13th century of the island of Tsushima with the mongol invasion. Because the mongols fight not fair, the honourable Samurai lose the battle... almost all of them. Jito Shimura gets captured and Jin gets dragged away by thief Yuna who nurses him back to health. Of course he makes the decision to save Shimura, who is his uncle, but now he hasn’t an army in his back, he’s only one man. So Yuna teaches him the tactics of stealth and dirty fighting. More and more over the span of the game, Jin takes up the practices of a shinobi, with a lot of Ghost Weapons that get unlocked and a stealth based game play.  Jin, who has been raised as honourable samurai, has trouble with this and can’t accept his new role at first. He tells himself he stops doing it once the mongols are driven out, but...  A legend is getting spun. The Legend of the Ghost. I really like how this happens, for Jin does nothing supernatural to get the mongols down, he simply changes his tactics. But the people hear about it and they rumour and soon after they call him “The Ghost” and everything gets exxegerated a LOT. That is pretty much how legends must have started, so I loved this aspect.  And I loved how we see Jin’s inner struggle and how he thinks about the land first and his honour second and that there is a friendship with Yuna which never turns into romance, which is a plus as well. Act 2 was really epic and I loved the whole Yarikawa moment, when like everything screamed “For the Ghost”, that was POWERFUL. What I dislike is the story since the end of Act 2 and in the start of Act 3.   See, there’s Ryuzo. Ryuzo is Jin’s boyfriend childhood friend and he is a ronin. Jin asked him to join his forces, but Ryuzo betrays him and joins the mongols for his men hunger and the Khan did promise him food.  And during the second act, Ryuzo and his strawhat ronin act like secondary villains... and I was very much hoping for a redemption arc for Ryuzo, but instead the story lets Ryuzo pathetically cry for his life and Jin has to kill him. Um, what was that?! You missed a GREAT opportunity for a redemption arc here and it feels like you didn’t use the potential of Ryuzo at all...  And then Act 3 happened... see in Act 2 there is a mission where Jin gets poison and it is a powerful weapon, most players will probably use it. But there is a scene where Jin uses it without player control and his uncle is like “WTF Jin?”  The issue comes when we enter act 3 and now the mongols use the poison that Jin used on them... And the story turns into a “Oh Jin used poison, how horrible that is! Now the mongols have poison! Why did you use poison, Jin? You are clearly the villain now.” Which I am like... “No? What the fuck? This guy saved thousands of people because he decided that life was more imporant than honour and the narration wants to tell us that poison is bad? What?”  In the end, I liked that Lord Shimura came to help though and the ending tale... had some very powerful lines “You have no honour.” “And you are a slave to it.” Beautifully delivered those lines. My decision in the end was to let Lord Shimura leave, but not for the reason Jin had, for he said he wouldn’t kill family. My reason was the following: “Live! See the pain and suffering of your people and help them. Live with your shame and survive, because that is what Jin does. You don’t get an easy way out, old man.” Yeah, my reason was lot more spite...  Anyway, I wish the story in the later acts would have been better... it started so strong... Overall This isn’t a perfect game of course. But I had my fun with it and I wanted to explore the map and see the end of Jin’s story. Characters were adorable and fun, gameplay is smooth once early game hell is over. I would totally rec this game if you aren’t fatigued of open world titles.

#ghost of tsushima #ghost of tsushima spoilers #ghost of tsushima review

[lycanthropicture]

if there is one writer in s15 that can 100% be seen as a finale denialist it is davy perez my king my hero my icon. literally it's uhhh the entirety of 15x04 atomic monsters. ugh atomic monsters <3333 atomic monsters :) my beloved. like just. i realize this has been said to death but!!! i love this episode!!! the entire thing is just him going "i, davy perez, really fucking hate this. fuck this. fans deserve better"

[ID: Screenshot of Chuck saying "I kind of hate me right now." End ID]

chuck is the writers!! and hes also mr perez my beloved!! he kind of hates the writers rn!!!

(this post got really fucking long so i'm putting the rest under here. proceed with caution. warning for an abundance of screenshots)

[ID: Three screenshots. In the first, Becky says "I'm a writer, too, Chuck." In the second, Chuck says "Oh. I mean, fanfic -- it's not really the same thing --." In the third, Becky says "writing's writing." End ID]

[ID: Three screenshots. In the first, Becky tells Chuck "so whenever I have a spare minute." Then: "I write." In the third, Chuck looks into the camera and says "yeah." End ID]

fan stand-in character: "whenever i have a spare moment, i write [fanfic]" and then chuck looks DIRECTLY INTO THE CAMERA - "yeah" (i will remind you this episode was directed by jensen ackles) no joke this episode is entirely just davy perez and jensen ackles looking into the camera going "hey. guys. whenever you have a spare minute, write. write fanfic. writing's writing. you can fix the finale yourself. writing's writing. we know it sucks. pls fix it. writing's writing."

[ID: In the first image, Becky says "In fact, I'm feeling so inspired." In the second, Becky says "I would love to just jump in and get back to my own work." End ID]

becky literally reads the finale chuck wrote, hated it, and then was like "can... can i go back to my fanfic now pls" like he fully just!! legitimately believed that fans would be much more satisfied by their own work than the ending the show's writers had come up with!! davy <3333 davy perez beloved <3333

and then becky's criticisms of chuck's endings obvi she is literally just describing 15x20 (and 15x19 for the second ending)

[ID: Three screenshots. In the first, Becky says "The jeopardy, Chuck--." In the second, Becky says "it's feeling a little... thin?" In the third, Becky says "low-stakes?" End ID]

[ID: Six screenshots. The first: a close-up of Chuck while Becky says "and these villains are just not feeling very... dangerous?" The second: Becky says "Not to mention, there's no classic rock." The third: Becky says "No one even mentions Cass." The fourth: Becky says "The climax is a little stale." The fifth: Becky says "Boys tied up again while we get the villains' monologue." The sixth: Becky says "which, frankly, isn't one of your best." End ID]

[ID: Four screenshots. The first: Becky says "Y-- This is just an ending." The second: Chuck says "I don't know how I'm gonna get there." The third: Chuck says "But I know where I'm goin'." The fourth: Chuck says "The fans are gonna love it." End ID]

yeah the motw-ness of it all, the vampires, the evanescence, "cas helped", the way the episode wasnt even compelling plot-wise, jenny, deans death being endgame, etc, etc. very fun very hilarious. thank you davy perez for essentially just being like "ok fans! i know what your complaints are going to be. you're correct, i see you, and i agree with you completely."

AND THEN the writer stand-in character murders the fan stand-in character and ignores all the criticism she had abt his second ending. im just SAYING uhhh something abt the writer literally murdering their fan onscreen and becoming the villain... mr perez you are serving. i love him i love him i love him. this episode <333333

aaaaalso pspspspsps my personal favorite bit from the episode (its from the beginning but best for last):

[ID: Three screenshots. In the first, Becky asks "Still what?" In the second, Chuck says "Uh, obsessed with my work." In the third, Becky responds "You mean my work." End ID]

#this got so out of hand so quickly #im sorry for loving 15x04 atomic monsters too much do you still think im sexy #NOT sorry for loving davy perez too much tho #ok going back to editing my amv now dont text <3 #15x04 #davy perez #phin.txt

[sleepycoffins-and-benhargreeves]

GUYS WE GOT AN OIL EPISODE TIS TIME (trust me, even I was surprised by it lmao)

Even Steven said it for us lmao

Also, just gotta comment, I find it so fucking hilarious that Adam is just there, staring out at his camera completely silent for a few seconds or minute lol I’m just imagining him at his apartment staying still and silent for this lolololol

I know that Steven likes spicy food, but just this small moment of him being ecstatic about spicy food is super adorable dbjndsked

Their first cheers of the episode and Andrew just casually saying they’re putting oils in their mouth lmao

seriously tho, never in my wildest ideas did i ever think they’d have to randomly taste oil lol

also, I really love screenshot of Steven here, if you edit it properly, you can make it that he’s trying to feed someone  👀

Pls look at how much of a messy eater Steven is, I am crying, ya’ll can see seconds later that he’s just wiping stray mayonnaise on the back of his hand and all the fanfic ideas are just fucking coming to me, i am crying

ONCE AGAIN I AM GOING FUCKING FERAL OVER ADAM  hdsicsnajcnsdkjabnckjas  ❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️

BRO’S HIS HAIR!!! HIS FLOOFY HAIR AND THEIR CURLS AND JUST FUCKKKKKK IT SHOULD BE ILLEGAL TO LOOK THIS GOOD JFC dnjewnfkdjwenj  ❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️ i am fuciing crying i am de-fucking-ceased

goddddd, I wanna see him tie his hair up and just fucking hell, look amazingly gorgeous jfc Adam looks so fucking amazing i can’t handle it fdsfjinvkjadsnk  ❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️

Also BOOM

This exchange between Steven and Adam! Our boi knows his facts lmaoooo sdbcfibdkjca

GET WREKT STEVEN, no jk, nobody bully our precious bby boi lmao  ❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️

Our boys having the same ideas of using sake glass for oil tasting and I just 🥺 ❤️❤️❤️

Also, I hate generated subs so much ughhh I only have them on when I’m writing these posts and it irks me so much that the subtitle they have there makes no sense at all lmao

I wish they also showed Adam doing the oil glass thing and his reaction to how the oil tasted, but I guess us seeing his reaction to it would’ve been too powerful for the human eye 🥺 

Here we go again, with their mind library thing  🥺

This part was hilarious af, missed their cute banters so much sdbfjbsdajk this scene now lives rent free in my mind  ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

and suddenly, I am remembering my my standrew quarantine headcanon 👀

After Andrew said this, Steven immediately goes on about how you need this one thing in life and the way Andrew looks at him?????? jfc heart eyes all the way guys, I feel this so much sdbhacbfdskjads

I keep noticing Andrew’s heart eyes to Steven, like seriously, he barely even looks at the camera, most of the time he’s looking at Steven and I am LIVING FOR IT fbhdsbcjsndckjnsk  ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

Maybe I’ll gif those pics above, when I get the time sdbcjhbsdkjcas

Again, special appreciation to Adam and his beautiful fucking curls, I am going feral once again i amf ucking crying dsbfkjasndkjas

THIS FUCKING BIT, I SWEAR TO FUCK, I CACKLED SO FUCKING LOUD AND IT’S 12 FUCKING AM HERE WHERE I’M WATCHING THIS EPISODE STEVEN HOW FUCKING DARE YOU DO THIS AHAHHAHAHA

tbh, let’s all admit it, we ain’t watching Worth It if they don’t have truffles in their food lmaoooo

Also their smiles here are  ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

Andrew talking about a nightmare of having an uninvited guest over at his place and he has nothing to serve and Steven’s all like, “I always gotta impress Adam whenever he comes over”, this screams OT3 so much i am crying

AND ADAM’S LIL SMIRK HERE, HIS JUST ENTIRE DEMEANOR AND FUCKING GOD I LOVE HIM SO MUCH SOMEBODY CALL A HOSPITAL I CANNOT TAKE ADAM, HE IS SO FUCKING BEAUTIFUL HE IS LOOKING STEVEN ETHREAL LEVEL HERE MY GOD  ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

ANDREW AND STEVEN HERE LMAO, ANDREW THAT IS NOT A COOKING THING 

but also, what do i know, i don’t even cook myself lol

Thier last bit, reminding us of their picnic episode  🥺 hope we get more episodes like that one bcjdbsclkjadsjk wish they could go on more pinics together lololololol

#standrew #stadamdrew #Steven Lim #Andrew Ilnyckyj #Adam Bianchi #goddddd #i need more worth it episodes #their my serotonin dealers #seriously #dsfbjkbdnkfjew

[birdybirp]

👀 Tell me about the grinning man?

YOU DON’T HAVE TO ASK ME TWICE!!

Did you like Phantom of the Opera? Did you think it could use some more black comedy?? Would you like another musical based on another French novel about a tragic/sad man with a face disfigurement??????? 

If you answered yes to any or all of these, The Grinning Man is for you, my friend. 

Let’s start with the players: 

Meet Grinpayne, the titular Grinning Man. Disfigured as a child in an incident he can’t remember, he now performs at the Stokes Croft Fair as a freak show attraction to earn money to go to “a new world” while also trying to come to terms with his past. He is also a very good boy, if not a little dumb. 

This absolute angel Grinpayne is holding is Dea. Grinpayne found her as a baby, clutched in her dead mother’s arms and freezing to death in the snow. She was born blind but has better foresight and intuition than the entire cast combined. . 

As they grew up, Dea and Grinpayne fell in love and are THE CUTEST COUPLE!! LOOK AT THEM!!!!

If you’re not touched by a blind girl and a disfigured man falling in love... I don’t know what to tell you. 

Ursus is a puppeteer and potion maker who took in Grinpayne and Dea that day in the snow and became a surrogate father to them. He’s well intentioned, but maybe not the best dad. But he has a wolf named Mojo, so that’s fucking sweet. Just behind him in this screenshot you can see that Good Good Boy. 

This trio is the main emotional crux of the show and is amazing, but there are even more fun characters!

The Grinning Man has a lot to say about classism (which what we all want in our comedies, right??) so there is a royal family. 

Duchess Josiana is the textbook definition of a hedonist. She constantly tries to fill her life with pleasure and it’s never enough. 

Lord David Dirry-Moir is Josiana’s half brother. He is a bisexual disaster man who spends all his time at the Stokes Croft Fair to laugh at the freaks there. He is consistently one of the funniest characters in the show. 

Angelica is Josiana and Dirry-Moir’s half sister. It’s insinuated that she’s been institutionalized by her father multiple times against her will. 

I swear this show is part comedy. 

Angelica also speaks with an accent no one else in her family has and they just never address this??

And their father, King Clarence.... 

Fuck him. Moving on. 

Finally, we have the royal family’s clown and the narrator of sorts, Barkilphedro. He’s probably the least funny clown in existence, who says at the beginning of the show that he can’t imagine laughter without cruelty behind it. 

Again, I swear this show is partially a comedy. It features such hilarious moments as: 

An Erotic Breakfast Dance(tm)

The phrase “Hubert and his anal snake”

A puppet show performed in the middle of a dungeon

But a musical can have the best characters ever and be total shit if the songs aren’t good, right? 

Not a concern with The Grinning Man because the music is BEAUTIFUL. 

LISTEN TO THESE:

I’m sure this is much more than what this poor anon wanted, so I’ll slap on a TL;DR at the end here:

The Grinning Man is a beautiful and very underrated musical that is funny, dark, and touching. It takes the source material of Victor Hugo’s The Man Who Laughs and turns it into a creative, quirky, and amazing story about love and our place in the world. Slap on some AMAZING puppetry by the team who did War Horse and you really couldn’t ask for anything more.

If anyone is interested, I have a file of the proshot of the Bristol Old Vic run of the show that I would be happy to share with anyone who wants to shoot me a dm. I’m also working on a subtitle file for the performance because I want to make this as accessible as possible.

I am very much a disciple of The Grinning Man and will proselytize to everyone until I have more people to talk about this show with.  

#the grinning man #long post #I'd normally put this under a read more #but dammit I want everyone to know about this show #because I need more people to cry about this show with #hallelujah praise the grinning man #he's the greatest freak in all the land #if you haven't seen him you will never understand #yes I know I left out Osric I'm SORRY #this was already long enough #Anonymous

[sincerelyreidburke]

got hitched

Quick ficlet for my Bencole people. Featuring domestic Quindo. Cross-posted to the ao3 cricket ficlet collection.

//

eight years after graduation | august

 Sebastián is completely unsuspecting, when the Snapchat comes in.

The house is quiet, and he and Quinn are in bed. He figures they’ll actually go to sleep soon, or at least soonish, but for now, they sit up against their pillows, with the light still on. It’s long past Violet’s bedtime; Quinn put her down at least an hour and a half ago, and after sitting out on the patio with him for a bit, Sebastián carried his husband to bed for little to no reason other than he just felt like carrying him.

He’s watching a Coyotes preseason weekly recap on his phone, and next to him, Quinn is knitting. His yarn is royal blue and bright red; he’s working on a scarf he keeps swearing he’s going to mail up to Remy to wear to games when his season starts. To celebrate his contract , Quinn said, when he told Sebastián what he’d be doing, all self-satisfied smiles. I think he could use something new in Montreal colors, don’t you?

His needles clack together every now and then, and the audio on Sebastián’s phone is low, but it’s not like Quinn would be bothered by that anyway, seeing as he took his hearing aids out for the night hours ago. Their house, Sebastián is happily aware, is a safe zone for Quinn, has been since the day they bought it to build their life in together.

A notification buzzes his phone, and the banner at the top tells him he has a Snapchat from Ben. Which isn’t weird, until it is— because what time is it in France right now? It has to be, like, kind of early in the morning, right? In what world is Ben up early on vacation?

He opens Snapchat to investigate. The Snap has been sent into a group chat, but not a new one; it’s one containing himself, Ben, and Quinn, and has to have existed since college even though it hasn’t been used in a short while.

He opens the Snap. It loads. As it loads, he wonders if this is a leftover message from Cole’s show last night. That was, after all, the whole reason Ben crossed the Atlantic Ocean for vacation in the first place. It’s Cole’s first tour outside the US, and Ben and Remy created this whole scheme for Ben to surprise him, which Remy was on board with because he will use literally any excuse to travel to Europe, especially France, and Sebastián has heard about this over several elaborate text exchanges, phone calls, Snapchats, et cetera—

The Snap loads.

Sebastián looks at it.

Wait. Wait . WHAT?

It expires before he can fully process, but he knows what he saw. He scrambles to replay it, leaning forward and off the pillow.

It’s a picture, a selfie, of Ben in bed with Cole wrapped up in his arm. They’re both, like, clothed and everything, and they look all soft and in love, but that’s not the main point of interest.

Because Ben is holding both of their hands up to the camera, and although Cole has had his black engagement ring for upwards of two years, Ben… is also wearing a ring. And Cole is holding a piece of paper. A certificate.

The caption Ben has typed reads: got hitched

Cole is holding a marriage certificate .

Sebastián screenshots the picture before it can disappear again, and then immediately starts tapping-slash-whacking Quinn in the thigh to get his attention. He’s gentle about it, but he still feels bad when Quinn startles and shoots daggers up at him. He drops his needles and signs. What’s wrong?

In lieu of signing a response, he turns the phone to Quinn, because it’s easier than attempting to convey via sign his current stream of consciousness (Ben got married is he kidding how did he just get married in the middle of Paris on a whim oh my God he is going to bust his ass so much but also he’s pissed because he wanted to go to his actual wedding and Ben Shaley Is Actually Fucking Married he can’t believe it like yeah he knew this was coming because he’s been engaged for two years but like— Rho got married !!!!!!!?!??!????!!?!).

Quinn studies the photo, then his eyes widen with realization. In a moment, he shifts from his complete bedtime serenity to animated, excited confusion. He looks up to Sebastián, then back to the phone, then up to him again, and signs, in quick and snappy motions, They eloped? , and then, immediately, Call Ben.

Sebastián nods, as Quinn lunges to the bedside table and grabs his hearing aids. He opens the phone app, and picks Ben out of his favorites, and as it rings, he just sits there vibrating. He can’t believe it. He actually can’t believe it. Ben just went and got married. Like— okay, that’s admittedly the most Ben way he could possibly think to get married, but— is this real life?

Ben picks up on the second ring, as Sebastián is putting the call on speaker. “Helloooooo!” His voice is singsong, like he knows exactly what he did. Which, like, obviously he knows what he did. But Sebastián is still shook —

“ Dude !” he cries, half-laughing, as Quinn leans back over to him and scoots closer on the mattress. “How could you just send that out of context?”

Ben laughs. “In my defense,” he remarks, his voice the picture of chill, “it really doesn’t require that much context, right?”

Quinn fiddles with his ears, and then he must get them turned on, because he chooses that exact moment to cry, “Benjamin Shaley.”

“Mini!” The joy in Ben's voice is indescribable. “I knew you’d bitch me out for this!”

“I cannot believe you,” Quinn says. “You did not elope last night.”

“Oh, but I did,” Ben remarks, every bit the wise-ass he’s always been, and he sounds so happy , and Sebastián is, like, so fucking happy for him right now—

“Rho— congratulations , holy shit,” he tells him. “Did you plan this?”

“No,” Ben laughs. “Not even a little. And I think that’s maybe the best part. Hold on.” There’s rustling and mumbling on his end for a second, and then a fourth voice enters the conversation.

“Good morning, guys.” Cole’s voice is super raspy, like he just woke up. Sebastián tries to do some quick math, but all he can determine about time zones is that it has to be early over there. “Sorry we didn’t tell you.”

“Cole, I can’t believe this,” Quinn says. “How could you let his chaos influence you?”

“Mm.” Cole pauses, contemplatively, and then yawns. “I’ll actually be letting his chaos influence me for the rest of my life, now.”

Quinn takes a deep, therapeutic breath. Sebastián wraps an arm around his shoulders. He has, many times, seen his husband get simultaneously pissed and excited; it’s a hilarious thing to witness. “I love you both,” Quinn says, in a slightly less sharp voice. “And I’m so very happy for you. But words cannot describe how much I wanted to actually attend your wedding.”

“We’re gonna have a party, Q,” Ben replies, like he was ready for this question. “When we get home. Well. Like. Not right when we get home. But we’re gonna start planning it when we get home.”

Quinn pauses, like he’s contemplating this, and in the silence, Cole adds, “It was a spur-of-the-moment decision.”

“Well, I’ll say,” Quinn says. Sebastián thumbs at his shoulder, to soothe the good-natured rage. “My goodness , you two. I should have known you’d get married some crazy way.”

“Tell us the story!” Sebastián adds, because he is extremely eager to know.

Cole lets out a soft laugh. “It’s not a long story,” he says.

“We were at dinner,” Ben explains. “Last night, after the show, with Remy. And Cole just… out of nowhere. He was like, we should get married.”

“ Cole Kolinsky ,” Quinn gasps. “Your mother is going to kill you.”

“She knows!” Cole cries. “She knows. I promise. She’s the only person who knew before you. Her and Remy.”

“Was Rem with you?” Sebastián asks.

“He was with us when we decided to do it,” Ben says. “But not at the town hall.”

“That little shit,” Sebastián cries. “Where is he now?”

“Out galavanting in the streets, I bet,” Ben mutters, and Cole laughs at him.

“I’m sure Remy is asleep,” Cole amends. “We were out so late last night.”

Quinn rubs his temple, leans into Sebastián’s embrace, and whispers, “I cannot believe you two.”

“Oh, you love us, Quinny,” Ben says. “Don’t even try to hide it.”

“Of course I do,” Quinn replies, in that tone so characteristic of him , where he’s firm and kind at the exact same time. “My goodness,” he says. “You’re entirely too much for me.”

Cole laughs again. “I promise, Quinn,” he says, “it’ll be a really good party.”

“Oh, it best be.” The grin on Quinn’s face is so cute, Sebastián could combust. “I have very high standards.”

“Ah, yes,” Ben says, in a posh accent, “nothing but the best for the esteemed Quinny Cooper—”

“ Ben ,” Cole mumbles, and Ben laughs so loud.

“I’m so—” The initial shock has sort of worn off, but Sebastián still feels like he’s processing several things at once. “I’m so happy for you guys, jeez ! Why are you awake so early, anyway? It’s your honeymoon morning!”

“I have to—” Cole breaks his sentence with a yawn, like talking about being up early is making him more tired. “I have to be on my tour bus at eight-thirty.”

“Oh, Cole ,” Quinn whispers. “That’s a real wrench in your morning, huh?”

“Is what it is,” Cole replies.

“Wait, so… what time is it now?” As soon as he mentioned the fact that it’s their honeymoon morning, it started occurring to Sebastián that he and Quinn are… keeping them on the phone. On their first morning as a married couple. He loves his friends to death, but nobody interrupted him and Quinn the morning after they got married. It was just the two of them; even Vi was at Mama’s house for a sleepover. The only thing they had to do was bask in that fresh joy.

“It’s seven,” Ben announces. “Seven-oh-nine.”

“Okay, so,” he says, “I’m gonna, like, hang up the phone now.”

“ Nanny ,” Ben says, with a snort. “We knew you’d want to talk.”

“Yeah, but we talked,” he replies, “and now I’m hanging up so you guys don’t have to, like, talk to us until Cole leaves.”

“Hm.” Ben pauses, and then, in his peak wise-ass tone, remarks, “What if I hang up first?”

“Oh, goodness , you two,” Quinn mumbles, into Sebastián’s shoulder, “don’t get into one of these arguments.”

“Bro, you hang up first.”

“No, you hang up first—”

5,000 miles away, in a hotel bed in Paris, Ben Kolinsky hangs up the phone. He rolls over in bed and grins at his husband. “How did I do?”

Next to him under the nice white sheets, Cole is the best thing he has ever seen. He laughs, with his hand over his face, before he reaches for him. When they meet in the middle of the mattress, Cole presses a kiss to his lips. “You are an idiot,” he whispers.

“Mmm.” Ben kisses him again, and Cole wraps around him, and he thinks there’s absolutely no way heaven could be any better than this. “That’s a title I’ll proudly own, but only with an amendment.”

Cole tangles his fingers in Ben’s hair, long and now sort of messy from sleep, but who gives one single fuck what their hair looks like when they just got married to the love of their life last night. “What’s the amendment?” he asks, between kisses.

“That I’m your idiot.”

“ Oh .” Cole laughs. His eyes wrinkle shut, and Ben is going to be gone on him for the rest of his days. “You’re definitely my idiot.”

“Perfect,” Ben says, and kisses him again, and he doesn’t need anything else.

#ao3 link #ben/cole #quindo #nandoooooooo #mini quinny #rhode island headass #actually he's cole #ficlet #crickets #mel writes

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

If you have sent me an Ask in the last thirty-six hours or so, This post is for you.

I was almost entirely done with answering all your beloved messages, when Tumblr decided to crash. Lost all the paragraphs of my rambling (which is why I’m no longer taking chances and am typing this on Google Docs) and even worse, the Asks seem to have been eaten by Tumblr’s great void. They’re gone, and nothing I’ve tried seems to work to get them back. Thankfully, I’m fresh off of responding, so I’ll try to summarize with one big epic post. Apologies for the inconvenience and unusual style, blame the Tumblr Overlords. 

WARNING: If you don’t read the data-mines and don’t want spoilers, do not go beyond this point. This mainly concerns The Quidditch Cup. 

There were a couple of Asks about Ismelda, someone talked about the head-canon that she’s secretly blonde and dyes her hair. Which I agree with, and really like. It would tie in to how Ismelda saw Penny as being no different from her sister. It would be a sign of her trying to spite her parents and distance herself from her family, to the point of even looking like them. I also think it would echo with Beatrice and how she changed her look to reinvent herself and be less of a “Mini Penny.” Another message was talking about her parents, wondering why they would ever visit her at Hogwarts given how they were portrayed. After all, they’re not about to be the next Ethan Parkin, are they? Not going to turn around and be well-meaning, but oblivious. I think it’s far more likely that they would visit her sister at Hogwarts, and it would be pure chance that Ismelda was there at the same time - if there was indeed any overlap where both sisters were at school. But that’s the real question of the hour - just what is the sister like? After all, it’s not her fault that she’s the favorite, right? Newt Scamander was estranged from his brother, who was engaged to his ex-girlfriend. From that description alone, we might think he was awful, but he wasn’t. Theseus was genuinely caring, he just didn’t know how to connect with Newt. We might have a similar situation on our hands here. Or, who knows, the sister might be the “Dudley” to Ismelda’s “Harry.” She was compared to both Emily and Penny, if memory serves. But until such a time that we meet her, we have no way of knowing who she’s really more like. Psst, Jam City, you getting this down? This would be a great TLSQ, to have Ismelda come face to face with her sister. Could perhaps end with, oh I dunno, befriending her? Just a thought…

I saw another Ask talking about how Beatrice would go back and forth between MC and Jae during their detention and how adorable it was to see her all flustered and excited, how it looked like she was gushing to MC “He’s so dreamy” and things of the like. It’s making me wish they would come back to this sub-plot because it’s funny as hell and a good way, again, to tie in Ismelda. She also fancied someone she had no chance with, she was also jealous of another person. (Chiara might not actually have a thing with Jae, but if memory serves, Beatrice is shown to be jealous of them talking anyway.) 

There was an Ask that talked about punching Barnaby’s father in the face. Or at least, the idea of doing so. But regrettably, he is in Azkaban and it cannot be done. Well, maybe not by MC, but someone who was already there could do it. New head-canon, Sirius decked him on his way out. It happened, I don’t make the rules.

@guppygirl I read the first chapter of your fic! Do you know what you’ve done to me, do you know how many feelz it gave me to see Rowan alive and well and acting so sweet? You nailed their character and I love the inclusion of their parents! Maya’s reactions make just want to give her a hug. Everyone should check out the fanfic on her page, seriously!

I believe there was an Ask lamenting that the Festival TLSQ didn’t come out this week, and believe me friend, I’m right there clowning with you. It seems like every week now, we think, “Okay, this time it will come out, they can’t delay it anymore.” And we’re always wrong. Here I am just starting to worry that my far-fetched theory about them shelving it until next year because it’s no longer “seasonal” isn’t so far-fetched after all…

But the vast majority of messages that were lost were, as I’m sure you can guess, about the data-mined House Cup for Season 2. I wrote a lot about it and I do indeed have some thoughts and feelings. 

Before I get into anything else, can I just say...that first scene with Ethan where he meets MC. I don’t think it’s possible for me to ever dislike Skye. All it ever takes is one vulnerable moment to erase any doubts and have me back in her corner. And you cannot tell me that Ethan knowing everything about MC because “Isn’t this the best mate you always talk about?” Didn’t melt your heart or at least give you feelz. Think back to how hurt Skye was when MC befriended Rath - to the point of snapping a broomstick in half. This is just proof of what I’ve been saying. She has no social skills and hardly any friends. Of course she sees MC as her bestie. The poor thing, oh my god, it’s adorable...

Ethan Parkin….I’m not a fan, even now. As I heard, he’s not as bad as we all feared he would be. He definitely has his moments. Still...he’s still pretty annoying. Ethan is basically a less obnoxious version of Lockhart, who actually has the talent to back it up. But I didn’t like how he involved himself in the practice and took over deciding who should be leader. Seriously, if he knows the game this well then he should know we already have a leader assigned. That’s what a Captain is. He was quite rude to Orion and while his pressuring Skye might have been inadvertent, it was still his fault. He’s also an extremely violent Quidditch player, which I’m not a fan of (Although apparently Penny is? The fuck?) I get that he would never cross the line into cheating, but I’m not impressed by how he lied. Didn’t give his team credit. And seriously...is cheating morally inferior to harming another player in a “legal” way? I guess it’s just a Quidditch culture thing, but I’m not here for it. 

Orion’s reaction to Ethan, though? God I loved it. He took everything completely in stride, had the maturity to say that no, he was happy to learn from a Quidditch master. His concern wasn’t about his ego, it was about Skye’s feelings. Because once again, he’s the only one with the empathy to realize what she might be going through. Orion’s response was measured and thoughtful and god, I love him so much. Side note: Were they seriously debating whether or not keeping Ethan around to learn his mystery move was worth it, even if it was stressing Skye out? My dudes, this is the exact same mistake you made during the Rath TLSQ. Involving someone who doesn’t need to be involved, just for the sake of a potential advantage in a meaningless sports game, regardless of how much it will hurt someone who is supposed to be our friend. Screw that. 

Folks were talking about Erika Rath. Someone brought up how hilarious it was in a previous chapter to see Andre actually tell her to be quiet, and for her to do so. And yeah, I agree. It’s a testament to how close their friendship must really be (Sorry, Depressed Erika Anon) I mean, most people wouldn’t dare say that to her. And I don’t think she’d have such a calm and passive reaction to just anyone. It’s unconventional, but their relationship is a sweet one. Overall, they’re involving Rath more and I’m quite glad of it. Seeing her proud of MC is heartwarming. Seeing her become more of a main character is great - I mean, she is one of the main four, after all. Face Paint Kid is a background character, as much as I love him. Penny is only here to develop Skye, and Andre is only here to develop Rath. There was also an interesting comparison made between her and Ethan, about how they both play pretty violently. Still not a fan of this. Maybe that’s one of the reasons that I’m mostly indifferent to Rath. But I’m coming around on her. 

This was a lovely place to cap off Skye’s character arc. Seeing MC stand up to Ethan (although I wish you could be firm without having to say that stupid “You’re off the team, Parkin!” line) was especially cathartic, and it’s clear that Skye appreciates it. She’s happier by the end, and has actually communicated with her father. I would sincerely like it if Season 3 focused on, say, Murphy a little more. He hasn’t gotten any development since the first half of Season 1. Even Orion got some development in this TLSQ. But...make no mistake, we’re not done hearing about Skye. I know that no one wants to hear this, but...they slipped in that line about her wishing she could play Rath. She still hates her. That hasn’t been resolved. Oh well, at least it’s an opportunity to further flesh out Rath. There’s also the possibility that, if they do give focus to Orion, it might be that Season 3 is his last hurrah. I hope he stays for the entire story, but even if they don’t want to confirm character ages...he could very well graduate. If he does, there’s going to be a story-line about choosing his successor. And again, I know that nobody wants to see this happen, but...the only candidates who matter in the story are MC and Skye. So they could be pitted against each other again. But I hope that won’t happen.

Curse you, Tumblr. Oh well, it should be safe to send in Asks again because I’m quite literally going to copy them onto a Google Doc from now on just to be safe. If I missed out on one that you sent in, please feel free to let me know or re-send it. I’ve also seen people taking screenshots of their Asks and then responding to the picture instead of just responding outright. Might do that too...thank you for your patience, this has been a doozy. 

#Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery #Fandom Asks #HPHM Quidditch #HPHM Datamines #Skye Parkin #Ethan Parkin #Orion Amari #Erika Rath #Murphy McNully #Ismelda Murk #Barnaby Lee #Beatrice Haywood

[joshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

Rewatched Girls’ Last Tour episode 4, it was obviously great, let’s fuckin talk about it.

So our first minisode is Photograph, which sees the introduction of the above stone statues that foreshadow the much later appearance of the Nuko into the show. Their only relevance to this episode though, and I mean the entire episode and not just Photograph, is to give Chi and Yuu the opportunity to talk about god. But we’re not fully there just yet, so let’s finish talking about Photograph.

It’s honestly just another fairly simple and cute minisode that doesn’t have loads to say (”What is ‘cheese’?” is pretty good tho) and the events are pretty much just the pair being cute as always, referencing Kanazawa a bit to remind us that hey continuity, and in the most resonant scene that I remembered really well, we get to see Chi and Yuu take a cute photo together!

These screenshots missed the part where the two scooched closer together and it was great. And the reason they take the photo ends up being really sweet as well, because see...

After this happens, Yuu accidentally sets a timer on the camera, which Chi figures out how to use later. And so when Yuu starts philosophising about the degradation of the world, she notes that the photos will still probably be okay, which is what prompts Chi to get the photo with the pair of them! The two fuck with each other so much but it’s moments like these where we see their genuine love for one another that really sell them as characters, this show’s fantastic.

And then speaking of those moments, the second minisode, Temple, has quite a large one.

So in Temple, Chi and Yuu find themselves inside, obviously, a temple. They conclude as such since it’s lined with statues, and it’s at this point where they start seriously contemplating god, and also the afterlife again, the latter being a theme they’ve touched on before and here we see a fuller exploration of it. We’ll talk about the latter first. 

So based on an old mural on the wall, Chi concludes that the temple they’re in is supposed to be a “paradise”, which is a term we’ve heard used before to describe a world after death. And in this pitch-black room they’re in, when Yuu walks behind the mural, Chi’s oil lamp conveniently runs out of oil. When the pair are separated, the lights go out, they ‘die’ without the other. Which could be foreshadowing the end where we learn more directly that they’re alive because they’ve got each other, but we’re not there yet. In the present, Yuu and Chi are split apart, and alone in the dark, and we actually start hearing Yuu talk about the afterlife as a place that’s got no light, warmth, or people, and while I don’t want too suggest Yuuricide, she does draw her gun before saying “If I lost Chi, what would I do?” so that can be read into. Just in this one scene we see a Yuu that’s still as contemplative as ever, but she’s also more alone then ever, without Chi, she may as well be in an afterlife of nothingness.

Now she does of course find Chi, who only stayed quiet since Yuu’s reaction was hilarious, and the moment they find each other, the temple fully lights up. They’re together again, we can move past the idea of that sad and lonely afterlife. Pretty unsubtle, but god it’s lovely all the same.

It’s such a fuckin pretty temple as well, it really is a delightful moment seeing it all light up.

The contemplation of the afterlife ends with a pretty simple answer - following Chi’s note that the temple was probably designed the way it was so that people can think the afterlife isn’t a sad thing, resident Socrates Yuu drops “Nobody knows what life’s like after death, anyway”. It’s an almost banal answer to what the show’s been posing, but I don’t think it needs to be anything else - no matter how much Girls’ Last Tour wants to and is good at being contemplative and touching on philosophy, it is ultimately a slice of life. They don’t need to find answers, you know?

And then I mentioned that the other thing Temple deals with is god. Doesn’t go as in depth as with the afterlife, perhaps because that idea already has establishment in an earlier episode, but whatever. Anyway, at the start of Temple, Yuu asks Chi what a god even is, and it’s a question that Chi doesn’t even manage to come up with an answer to. Which is fair enough really - religion is so globally prevalent that everyone has a decent idea of what a god is from childhood, but to Chi and Yuu - 2 completely neutral people with no idea of religion, a god’s a bit of a tough one to wrap the head around. And the idea of god isn’t actually brought up again until the temple’s fully lit up - due to the large statue in the middle. Now all that water and the fuckin lily pads and shit are all actually fake, glass and metal type shit, and there are even fake koi below the glass, which Yuu expresses disappointment at since hey she can’t eat them? And where does that lead? Yuu fuckin denounces god baby! Or rather she’s disappointed with this god. It’s cute, it’s funny, it’s a lot easier to stomach the entire discussion than the afterlife stuff even if they don’t reach quite as definitive an answer, and I think the episode balances those ideas together really well for a really digestible experience.

And in the end we actually do get to see god. Delightful episode.

Now next I get to watch episode 5, which if I recall correctly, has the Rain minisode - which is perhaps the single best scene in the entire series. So uh, that’s something to look forward to.

#Girls' Last Tour #25.7.20