#literally every time they talk to each other in this arc has me losing my mind

[ginalinettiofficial]

hey what’s up hello okay so i finally just finished s2 e52 of dndads (had a very crazy work week so was listening in bits and pieces) and here’s the thing is that im also currently relistening to the whole season and earlier in this week, the most recent episode i finished, was halt and catch fireball, and before that ya know was mrs. swallows oak garcia’s home for peculiar teens or whatever that one is called where they are just. at normal’s house and we got to actually get to know rebecca a little bit and i have got to say that i don’t know if i could’ve picked a more painful and wild older ep to listen to as a precursor to dood riddance i really don’t!!! literally half of the shit in dood riddance just circles back to that arc in the swallows oak garcia home and it’s CRAZY

like first of all. the red vines, which they called twizzlers the entirety of e52 which was MADDENING as a person who legit just finished e30/31 where the red vines were introduced

but then like. e31 is where taylor gets the anime sword from nick!!! that he loses in e52!!!

there were a few other things that i’ve forgotten in the half an hour since i finished the ep because my brain is a sieve on a good day and i’m just getting home from two back to back 13 hour shifts (with an extra 1hr10/20 each day for the commute) so the brain machine is so fucking broke rn

but mainly. i wasn’t loving e52 esp after dood left i just was not vibing with it, i feel like the vibes were off in the room in a way that translated into the ep for a bit there, but then anthony in those last like three minutes brought it back around and with the roll of rebecca??? after i legit JUST finished listening to the eps that feature her the most prominently and like truly showcase not only normal’s relationship w his mom but also, as is said several times in e30/31 and their teen talks, just how similar normal IS to his mom and how he really clearly is a total momma’s boy and very much so seemed to be a kid who sought solace with his mom more than anyone else in his family and just. having legit JUST reestablished that in my own, made the end of e52 DEVASTATING for me in a way that idk if it was for other ppl??? idk haven’t checked the fandom yet im very disconnected this season but just.

like

i think that okay so we have ten parents it could’ve been, right? and five of those are the kiddads, and none of us want to see them die, so in that moment when anthony was telling us what was gonna happen, obviously my instinct was like “oh god don’t do this don’t do terry jr again but truly permanent” and then my next instinct was that it would be potentially even MORE awful if it was scary’s dad because finally there he is and that’s ALL she wants and for willy to take that moment from her would be INSANE and then (mind you this was my thought process over the course of literally 10 seconds, my brain is ping ponging in my head and has been since the second i got in the car to head home i need to sleep) and THEN my next thought was, oh god, but how fucked up would it be if it were marco??? oh god, how fucked up would it be if it were cassandra?!?!?!?! and then it was time for the roll and truly in those brief seconds basically my brain flicked through every potential victim and said “oh god THAT one would be the WORST”, EXCEPT for veronica and rebecca, and it made the hit of it being rebecca who was low down on my instinctual list to think of but then the second he said her name i was immediately ricocheted back to earlier in the week when i was listening to halt and catch fireball and mrs. swallows oak garcias home and how many emotions i had about normal and his mom just relistening to those episodes and then the fact that i DIDNT think to worry about her just

all of that combined to make that a CRITICAL HIT FOR ME OKAY like i am SO fucked up over this truly that was WILD and i applaud anthony burch for it and now am excited for the finale even though ive spent the last three eps just dreading it for several reasons but now im excited and devastated and i love that

anyways. that was word vomit i just NEEDED to get this out because the connections between those two episodes really will not stop hitting me in the head and i need to impart that onto SOMEONE. if u read this. ur a real one. rip rebecca swallows oak garcia you were a legend and i am so sad about u

#d speaks #dndads #dndads s2 #dndads spoilers #dndads s2 spoilers #normal oak

[trooperwrites]

Solo Leveling

Enjoyment: 8/10

Quality: 4/10

Link

Genre: Action

Synopsis

Sung Jin-Woo is an weak E rank hunter barely making it in low rank dungeons when he faces a bizarre dungeon which leaves his party mostly dead and him as the only survivor. However, as the old saying goes, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Sung Jin-Woo has now acquired the ability to level up and he is on his grind to become the strongest hero of all time.

Review

I think this is probably the biggest gap I've given between the enjoyment of something and the quality. Firstly, lets talk about the positives. Solo Leveling has really nice looking art and panel composition. The fights are well framed and executed and everything looks very cool. Secondly, Solo Leveling is a very effective power fantasy. There is just something deeply satisfying about watching this guy level up and seeing the tides of battle immediately be reversed upon his arrival. In a world where good does not always prevail, it is satisfying to read Sung Jin-Woo triumph against what look to be hopeless odds. However, I think in terms of writing on a technical level that make the text worse even when considering genre and the tfact that it is suppose to be a power fantasy.

First, I want to talk about the fact that the text spends time foreshadowing things that are never developed. There are two cases that I think best exemplify this. The less egregious one was with the case of the Chinese hunter Liu Zhigang. His abilities where shown multiple times and there were numerous instances where it seemed like it he would become important in the later story. However, ultimately literally nothing happens with his character and he just gets dropped as the later arcs focus entirely on Sung Jin-Woo.

Secondly, in this case of Sung Jin-Woo's romantic interest of Cha Hae-In. Following the Jeju Island Arc, there is significant development of the relationship between the two. It appeared that she was going to his guild and maybe we would get a story arc between the two. However, some other random character ends up joining the guild and no arc happens. What makes this particularly egregious is that the new character that ends up joining the guild ends up being unimportant to the story and she doesn't actually do anything. What is the point of introducing this new characters to the guild if they aren't going to contribute meaningfully to the story. Not only is nothing done with the new character that has been introduced but also this ends Cha Hae-In being meaningful to the story. After this moment, she also disappears from the story and basically nothing happens between the two of them until shortly before the final arc where they go on a date and the epilogue where they are married. Ignoring the rest ending and epilogue for a moment, I'll get back to that at some point, there isn't enough development done between Jin-Woo and Hae-In for me to care about their relationship. They are basically strangers who haven't talked to each other in months by the time of their date. By not having Hae-In join Jin-Woo's guild, what was the point of them getting closer during the Jeju Island arc. She could basically be cut from the story and nothing would change. We lose out on having two characters interacting and developing as characters. Her character just feels like a prop to indulge in the power fantasy of the strong conventionally attractive woman falling for the main character.

This brings me to my other major critique in that Sung Jin-Woo morphs into a story warping character. This isn't true at the start, early on there are a lot of compelling supporting characters with their own struggles and goals but as the story progresses they become less and less important. Eventually, Jin-Woo is the only character that actually matters and the only character with any meaningful development. Hae-In's fate is the same as every other supporting character as they no longer become relevant nor are their arcs developed or focused on; it becomes, in essence, a one man show. This leads into the ending where Jin-Woo resets the world and everyone forgets about the hunters.

This ending is really bad; I really hate the ending. The story basically ends by wiping out every character arc other than Jin-Woo's and resets the world to what it was before the story began. To highlight why I think this story is bad, lets again focus on the epilogue where Jin-Woo gets married to Hae-In. The reason why these two characters had a connection as hunters because they were both absurdly powerful and they were both isolated. They both have dealt with the struggle of being a hunter and the isolation that comes with said power. But this Hae-In is the not same Hae-In that he marries; the Hae-In that he marries is essentially a stranger with no connection to him. However, the failure of Solo Levelling to actually develop any of its side characters means that this is failure becomes blunted. Very few characters are actually different than when we first met them so nothing much is actually reset as all the character development that actually happens is about Jin-Woo.

All in all, Solo Leveling is a very power fantasy to read but it doesn't actually do anything substantive or interesting with its characters.

#manhwa #review #spoilers

[shootingstarrfish]

Omg hiii I looove oversharing about my blorbos 😋

Anyway Simeon is my favorite guy ever and has been since the beginning I'm completely obsessed with him bc he's literally perfect tell my WHY on gods green earth he's always getting swept under the rug. Why does this man never get any attention and when he does why is he mischaracterized. He's got it all. He's tall and handsome in kind of an ethereal effeminate way, he's sweet and kind but not a pushover, he's one of the most tragic characters in the game, he's the perfect muse for a religious trauma arc, a corruption arc, a "the calm collected one who's always having a good time finally snaps and goes apeshit" arc, I mean come on. Come on. Every time I remember that his main sin is wrath despite him being SO chill and gentle on the outside I want to giggle a little bit. My beautiful princess with identity issues and slutty waist I'm so sorry everyone ignores you

Solomon though. I don't remember how I felt about him at first (other than lots of gender envy) but he wasn't a favorite until I came back to the fandom after being absent for ages. Like damn this man is everything. He's so complicated /pos that I cant even articulate why I love him so much but he's so well written (maybe one of the only ones who are written halfway decently) and SO tragic. The way he's so desperately in love with the mc and is forced to watch them go for literally anyone else but would still do anything for them and ask for nothing but a little bit of loyalty in return is scrumptious. Also the way immortality just kinda fucks you up after a while when you're only human. I've been very tempted to put him in a poly ship with my mc and Simeon bc he deserves it but for now he just has to watch from afar as the man he loves endlessly makes out with his best friend that he also kinda sorta has a little crush on bc making the gays suffer brings me copious amounts of joy. He's also the "always totally calm and collected no matter what but actually has really strong feelings that he works to keep in check" type like Simeon and I love that for him. One of the fics I'm reading has him once become so panicked over the MC's wellbeing that he completely loses his composure. Yelling, trembling, the whole nine yards and it was fucking glorious, I love seeing characters like him break.

Also I have to talk a little about Lucifer. He's not generally a favorite but I just think it's funny how I went from hating his guts bc I thought he was an asshole to to liking him a lot bc I have a weak spot for big brother characters. He loves his family so so so much and just has trouble showing it properly!! He's still an asshole and an uptight prick but I like that about him now. My mc had the same development with him as I did, he went from "I hate this motherfucker I wanna kill him also he kinda scares me" to "this is my big brother we are holding hands :)" in the span of like a year and a half and it's really funny. Lucifer thought he was finally getting a sensible housemate and friend but ended up getting another insufferable, headache indicung little brother figure instead. Also I kinda have a non canon ship between him and my MC's father bc the idea is SO funny but also a little cute bc they compliment each other real well. My mc would become homophobic so fast if he found out and thinking about it is incredibly entertaining

thank u for oversharing teehee <333

the side characters are sooo fun and interesting i wish so badly that theyd get to be ever so slightly less on the side :,D

the dynamic between your mc and simeon and solomon PAIN UGH i love it.. <333 my heart hurts for solo but the yearning.... MMM

and absolutely felt about lucifer, i wish i could hate him and leave it at that but he makes it so hard. i have such a complicated relationship with this man but i cant bring myself to genuinely hate him hahaha

#ask box #obey me simeon #obey me solomon #obey me

[chainofclovers]

biscuits 😭

Literally just staying up all night crying about the end of an era and attempting to wrangle 7800 layers of feelings into a thing that can come out in English

But I've been thinking about the biscuits

Not just the croissants she's eating in the scene where we think they've slept together (I refuse to feel baited by that scene btw, even though it and Beard's entrance made me feel like I'd ascended to a new plane of reality; the scene happened for a reason; I'm too tired to go into it; my relationship to heterosexual ships is interesting enough as it is and I don't need to develop a fucking straightbaiting chip on my shoulder and walk around with that; also Ted/Rebecca's incredibly intentional yet incredibly unconsummated-within-the-three-season-arc connection is like every femslash ship I've ever loved; I've decided to just lean into T/R's story being unfinished and to treat the rom-com leave-cute reference as a fond homage to what could be; I'm allowed to be as generous as I want to be with this show and these writers; LMAO; crying my ass off [stilted Scorpio version]; but genuinely--I can be as generous as I want to be and I don't have to hate this if I don't want to hate this)

Anyway

I've been thinking not just about the croissants she's eating in the scene where we think they've slept together, and how those aren't biscuits, but also about how she doesn't tell him she'll miss the biscuits and he doesn't talk about the ritual and he never bakes her biscuits again as far as we can tell and he doesn't give her the recipe

And it hurts but I love it

[[[[ The biscuits are his dick (-- @boglady ) ]]]]

Because it's so intrinsic to who they are that they just don't talk about this ritual engrained in the last 2.5 years of their lives, I think...and sure, sometimes we see Ted reference the biscuits when he walks in with some...but no one notices. Ted's mom doesn't notice. Trent doesn't notice. Higgins notices, but he was involved in the early s1 biscuit taste-testing, and he's all-seeing in a lot of ways so it's different. Lord knows Sassy isn't getting a biscuit even if she's gotten to enjoy Ted's actual dick a few times. Keeley is close enough to notice, but she's suspiciously quiet about it. Beard has to come over and fix Ted's oven all the time, but we never see him comment.

So how perfect is it that in everything Rebecca has to process about Ted leaving, she almost becomes another person who has taken for granted that Ted performs this absolutely deranged gesture of love in baking her biscuits every single week and delivering them to her in a pink box every day...because that's really telling. She puts a lot of work into asking him to stay. She's feeling all kinds of desperate things. She isn't at all like the people who don't see what he's been doing for her; her reasons for never mentioning the biscuits again are nothing like the biscuit-invisibility everyone else experiences. She just can't or won't say anything because the biscuits are untouchable

And in the season 4 that will exist in my head but will almost certainly never be a reality, someday, when they see each other again, he makes her some biscuits and she's so angry she can't eat them

(And then things get better and she does, but not at first)

(This is why I had to take Wednesday off work)

(I'm fuckin' losing it)

#ted lasso #ted lasso meta #ted lasso s3 spoilers #ted lasso 3x12 #ted x rebecca #meta by me

[pythoria]

something about bg3 i find fascinating is just How Many characters are good and compelling. Usually with most media, be it games or tv shows or movies you have one or 2 characters you get attached to, but with baldur's gate i love almost every single character in their own way.

Astarion is instantly charming and witty, he's the sassy vampire who most people find themselves drawn to, but he's not the only compelling character by far. Gale takes some time to grow on you, but after you actually see how his story unfolds and maybe even romance him, you start understanding that he's just as hurt and sad as any of the other characters, groomed from a young age and misunderstood because of it. Astarion sees himself as just a body to be used, but Gale also thinks he's worthless deep down, especially after losing the bulk of his magic. He's passively suicidal and thinks his abuser is worth sacrificing everything for, and needs the whole camp to yell at him for being stupid to realise he might deserve to live and even, get this, find happiness.

Shadowheart's story and ending isn't talked about a lot, but it is HEARTBREAKING, and both endings for her are the only ones that actually brought tears to my eyes. In a similar way to other characters, her bad ending gives away a lot about her character, almost more than her good ending, and without spoiling it, i'll just say: it's impossible to make her character evil. she will always be governed by a sense of good and justice, and the only thing that goes wrong for her is being misguided and unable to turn back. Whatever she does, she does it because she thinks it's good and just.

I can't go in depth about every character, although they are all incredible, but honourable mentions for me are literally all the villains. Gortash is instantly compelling, and how could he not be with a voice actor like That. Him and Orin are also incredibly visually interesting, as well as their personalities being so magnetic. Ketheric is deeply tragic in his own way, act 2 is practically dedicated to his shattered family and it's so fascinating to see the shards of a broken man scattered across a broken, cursed land.

Raphael has the best theme song by far, he's overflowing with charisma, he speaks in riddles and verse, he's the perfect devil. He draws you in, you almost start to like him, and then you arrive at the House of Hope and the illusion both shatters and builds even further, because his lair is by far the best map in the entire game. You find out he only ever wants to sleep with himself, but that he's terrible in bed according to his succubus. You see people's lost souls pop in and out of existence, and you can only watch them beg for reprieve, but cannot interact. You see debtors crawling around rabidly on all fours, or worshipping his toilet, or sitting in front of his budoir, endlessly bound to watch him and his succubus through the peep hole but never allowed to join. And then there's the final fight, with its incredible song that everyone should experience for the first time in game.

So many compelling characters and i could write an essay about each one. i've barely scratched the surface, and i haven't even mentioned all the origin characters. it's just insane to me how detailed every story is, how they all have their own individual arcs and motivations and they're all fully fleshed out, and feel so god damn REAL. Yeah, bg3 should get GOTY, but honestly that's not even enough. The voice actors need oscars, the composer needs a grammy, and so on and so forth. what a game.

#pythoria.txt #bg3 #astarion #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 gale #bg3 spoilers

[dorizardthewizard]

Galactik Football season 3 rewatch, eps 10 - 12

Episode 10:

So we open up with Yuki getting mad at Micro-Ice and thinking Zoleen is his girlfriend, and Mice is dumb enough to not reject that claim when she asks him directly if they're going out. He also barely acknowledges Yuki's birthday despite previously rehearsing this dramatic confession of love to her. Thran and Ahito are literally, and I mean literally the only Snow Kids that don't have any love drama going on (I know Mark's got something coming) and every single one has revolved around love triangles, whether misunderstood or not. I can't take this anymore, I'm at my limit.

Anyway, *hits play again*

Since when did this Cyclops dude have a wholeass funded show, when he wasn't even a proper journalist before?

WOOWAMBOO RETIREMENT RUMOUR?! SAY IT AIN'T SO!

Oh christ this is the start of the Sinedd parents arc isn't it. Holy shit they try to stuff so much into this season. But happy we finally got the backstory on Sinedd with him not being born on Akillian!

I can barely watch this segment holy shit it's just so awful (in universe, I mean, not the writing). Not just because I know they're con artists but it's so sudden, Hush Sharky making a whole spectacle of this on live TV in front of an audience and Sinedd had NO IDEA that he was going to meet his freaking PARENTS. WHO HE THOUGHT WERE DEAD ALL HIS LIFE. This emotional and insanely personal moment being used for entertainment fits with the corporate hellscape that the show takes place in, but what the hell. He has the full right to be pissed at Sharky.

Not the con artist parents running off immediately when the ground starts shaking 😭 Parents my ass

lol of course Micro-Ice has to fall in the cake. I think they use him for slapstick too much in this season

Tbf I quite like the villains in this season, it's an interesting dynamic with Lord Phoenix having his own motives but losing control of Vega

Sinedd's reunion with his parents is a pretty sweet moment if it weren't for the fact that IT'S A LIEEEE ToT.

Aarch yelling at Artegor about Adim... all this drama...

THE GIRLS ARE FIGHTIINNNNGGNGNGG and it's so silly

This is how I picture it

Is that the fucking Netherball music

The little TV spots with Yuki and Mei talking about each other before the match are cute! Makes the world feel more lived in and gives us some more interactions between the girls, even if not directly face to face here

I like Mei berating Sinedd for taunting Yuki when she's injured but... girl. He was always like this. You knew this. Why are you surprised?? They never actually showed him becoming a better person, just that he suddenly liked Mei and convinced her to join the Shadows. And Mei does not strike me as a poor judge of character so why would she date him....?

Wow Elektras not letting Mei through to help her friend? Why? They were literally celebrating her birthday together tf??

Poor Yuki, what a shitshow of a match for her although she did score a goal (I'm guessing the Breath is more powerful than the Elektra's flux since she's running in to attack). Loved her lil' chat with Mei though, I will say this season gave us more of the girls in the team being friends which I really do appreciate.

Here for the other Shadows players cooing and awing at Sinedd with his parents, I want to see more of what the team dynamic is like since they seemed to welcome him quickly back in season 1

Thran coming through with his tech knowledge!

Episode 11:

Does Bennett just carry a harmonica on him all the time haha

Harvey fought in the flux war?? ok cool lore I guess?????

Corso wondering whether to trust Sonny just because he didn't bring up Magnus straight away is a bit weird? I just feel that with all they've been through, it would take more for Corso to start questioning his faith in Sonny. This is also like, a 5 minute plot point that goes nowhere so why???

Tia talking with her parents about her concerns is an improvement from what their relationship used to be like in season 1, it's good to see!

Oh so Mei is a striker now. Is this implying that Mei's decision was influenced by her mother? Weren't we over that?? Still kind of sad to see her mum dismiss the SK and seem like she's still the same. Mei probably feels she'll never be good enough for her.

Not Sinedd complimenting D'jok just to be polite to Maya 😂 But what do you mean they haven't met yet? It's literally this season (I think?) that shows Sinedd was friends with D'jok when they were young kids! Maya hangs out with Mama Ice at the cafeteria as well, there's no way they've never interacted before!

Yeah Tia, it WAS stupid of you to be jealous of Lun-Zia. Weird though bc the show previously implied Lun-Zia liked Rocket but turns out she had a boyfriend all along?

Aarch: Artegor? Aarch: I'm sorry we started a bit earlier today, I forgot to mention it

Aarch you're such a petty bitch 😭

Oooo Micro-Ice is up for kick-off. Seeing them antagonistic towards each other is so sad :( Although season 1 Micro-Ice would have found a way to roast D'jok lol

I just realised team Paradisia and the Elektras probably have visors so they can have more diverse character designs in the 2D animation, while still copy-pasting models in the 3D scenes lol

Go Mark! Why did the goalkeeper run out from the goal I don't know anything about football

Nice to see Mark and Micro-Ice working together and having fun

D'jok's plan being to pass to Nikki-4 because the SK will think he's too selfish to let someone else score is so fucking funny

Oooo you don't get penalty shootouts that often in GF

I do love and miss sassy D'jok

Nikki-4: I guess you'll always be a Snow Kid at heart D'jok: At least I've got one

Bold claim with the way you've been acting, D'jok

Niki-4 threatening physical violence on D'jok lmaoo I guess she is a cyborg but it's weird D'jok actually held out until now with the way he's been acting towards the SK. Why does he suddenly now have a moral dilemma?

Episode 12:

Now to rant about the Ahito betrayal plot <3

Ok this how to beat Ahito thing is dumb from the get go. It's treated like some big secret and it would be a big betrayal to reveal it, but that's not how sports work. They could easily have figured out his weak points by just watching a load of videos of his saves, in fact they SHOULD have been doing this anyway – the best teams don't win just by playing their best, but by knowing their opponent's strengths and weaknesses and being able to exploit that! It's not dishonest it's just... how it works! Rocket was doing this back in season 1 when he was suggesting tactics!

So to treat it like a big betrayal to reveal something that's easily obtainable public knowledge is dumb. And also, they're treating this as if knowing a player's weakness is some magic key that means they can definitely beat him if they exploit it, which is... also not how sports work!! It's not like he'll definitely fail to save your shot if you hit in a certain way, and it's not like he can't adjust his play after you score a goal. It just.... it makes no sense!!

It was also kind of weird to hear D'jok talk about wanting to win honestly when he was fouling Warren last match and got scolded for disrespecting the game, they made it look like D'jok fully only cared about winning now, whatever the cost, but now suddenly he's having second thoughts and doesn't want to betray a team he's been shit-talking all this time?

I also don't like that what made him cave in the end was mind control, it takes away a lot of accountability. It also would have fit more for D'jok to continue doing anything it takes to win, so he can realise he's wrong later and that he's just been using that to run away from his feelings. As stupid as this “betrayal” is, it should have been his low point showing how far gone he is, his big mistake, that he can then work up from.

Rant over <3

Nork, commenting on a player's health problems is just rude

Of course Rocket starts feeling ill the second he has to go up

THRAN SCORES!!! Nice to see him do some shots

Goooo Lun-Zia! She's been a good addition

Last season I got sad that Micro-Ice was the first to flunk his shot, please don't let me down this time

YESSSSS

D'jok: Ahito always jumps in place, a little more to the side he's gonna leap to. He can't control it, it's stronger than he is!

And THAT's the way to beat him? Totally foolproof? Bruh. If all the SK knew this and it's sooooo easy to score against him once you figure it out, surely Aarch should have.... I don't know, helped him train so that he doesn't reveal which way he's jumping as easily?? THIS IS EASILY DISCOVERABLE INFORMATION GUYS THE POINT OF TRAINING IS TO IMPROVE ON YOUR WEAKNESSES

NOOOOO TIA OF ALL PEOPLE???!!! I HAD TO TRADE A MICRO-ICE GOAL WITH THIS? 😭😭😭 It happens though. Also weird she's the first to use her flux so far for this like, it's penalties. You don't have to conserve your energy, just use the goddamn Breath!

TT^TT Nooooo they look so devastated :( On the other hand, kind of crazy it took three seasons for them to actually lose an important match lol it's been win win win the whole time so far, so kind of refreshing.

I want to cheer on Mei for putting Sinedd in his place after shit-talking the Snow Kids but like, girl, HOW IS THIS SURPRISING?! HE'S BEEN LIKE THIS IN EVERY MATCH YOU'VE PLAYED AGAINST EACH OTHER, YOUR LAST INTERACTION BEFORE SEASON 3 WAS HIM PUSHING YOU TO THE GROUND AND THREATENING YOU!!!

She thought he only hated D'jok and now she's realising he's just nasty to everyone? Girl where were you when he was bullying Micro-Ice on your team lol. I mean she didn't care back then but she does now! Mei is not dumb, writers

That was a pretty good pick me up speech, Aarch

The animation makes this kind of funny out of context but, Artegor hesitantly reaching out to Aarch but then thinking better of it... aarrrrgh </3

Quick shoutout to the background designs in this show, they look really cool and I love how it's futuristic while still being colourful and bright. There's some beautiful art of the natural scenery too

What's up with reporters immediately wondering if a team is done for, or the coach might be resigning, after ONE loss? They're still GF champions, losing once doesn't mean it's all downhill from there

Adim standing up for her man <3

In this dub he calls her Mum-Ice lmao. So I guess it is just Mama-Ice? I do prefer the novelisation with her actual name, she's not mum to everyone, although I wouldn't mind having -Ice at the end of a name being some family tradition or cultural thing. Also love seeing her hanging out with Maya!

Poor Kernor just can't eat her ice cream in peace huh 😭

Aww Mama-Ice's speech is so sweet

Aarch needs a new start now more than ever? Why exactly?

Norata dancing in the back <3

Holy shit, Brim Simbra actually intervening?

Oooooo secret supplier guy was Harris all along, who would have guessed?

Huh looking at the ending screen of this youtube upload, I didn't know Robotboy was Gaumont animation too! Well probably Alphanim back then

#galactik football #dori watches galactik football #my posts

[rawliverandgoronspice]

"And I genuinely don’t think either of you understand HOW Zelda turns back to a Hylian at the end of the game.

I’m sorry but these are exceptionally poor analysis and criticisms of the game and it’s cut scenes." As the anon who wrote the ask who started this, I'll just say... nah. Also, pro-tip, don’t be angry, eat a banany. 🍌 You say that all the elements give a lot of insight into Zelda, her relationship, and all that… and then just explain it in the most barebones accusatory way possible, instead of just giving a polite counter and constructively explaining WHY you disagree. Since you apparently just wanna be angy that someone doesn’t like what you likes, and explains why they criticise it, I don’t think there really is a point to argue.   Honestly, my best tip is: Eat nanner, shhhhhhh, touch grass, go sleep. Move on. Ps: Banana’s are the worst.

Also, lemme add, add some spice to your salt: “It reveals Zelda’s feelings for Link which have clearly significantly changed since Breath of the Wild.” I did not feel like they changed much at all, Zelda still feels like she’s simping for Link hard, it's just a few years later now. 😜 Extra bonus: Yeah we know why Zelda got turned back into a Hylian with no repercussions. Bc it had to happen, bc reasons-McGuffin.

Hey!

Yeah, sorry this thing escalated on your ask anon. It got significantly worse after that, so I did block the person because at some point it becomes clear they were having an argument with someone who was simply not in this virtual room and might probably not exist at all anywhere, so there was no point in engaging with a brick wall who was hurling insults based on half a paragraph taken out of context. Pretty sad way to use your free time or deploy love for the media you enjoy, but! To each their own I suppose.

But yeah, I did look it over to see if I missed something, because somebody's tone being inacceptable doesn't mean their arguments also are, but. Yeah. Zelda had her arc of going from being cold and angry with Link to learning to rely on him in Breath of the Wild already, and then literally holds the fort for a hundred years just holding on to the desperate trust that he will arise and become a hero and be capable of defeating the scourge if only she can buy him as much time as she can, which is *crazy* devotion-wise (and also active! in TotK she mostly talks about how much she trusts Link --I guess she turns into a dragon to restore the Master Sword for him, but again I don't believe she really has any other choice and it's not a struggle she must maintain over a hundred years always relying on her own resolve all the way through, so it doesn't translate as hard in my opinion). It's literally her affection for Link and her urge to protect him that awakens her powers! This arc worked great in Breath of the Wild! But TotK loves nothing more than to rethread every character's arc, except again, but less compelling and complicated and without emotional rises or character changes.

Also: a kind tumblr user out there who did not play any game but TotK, believing the marketing that you could basically jump in blind, pointed out to me that there is *no way* to catch onto any of that complexity of their relationship if you haven't played BotW (not that I think it particularly helps). Same deal with the parental thing: they did not bring up the relationship between Zelda and her dad at any point, which makes it a non-information for newcomers. While it is fine to lose some degree of nuance and be a little confused if you jump in a second videogame after the first videogame, you still need to provide something for people to hang onto, and, as I feared, the refusals to expand on BotW backstory didn't seem to help the newcomers familiarize themselves with Hyrule particularly well. Even in extremely well known IPs, it is important to re-establish the bases: jedis are sensitive with the Force, the Ring corrupts its bearer, etc etc. And this was not particularly well done here (for example: it is never explained that Ganondorf is a sorcerer on top of being a Huge Guy that will break your spine with a punch, which makes the appearance of Puppet Zelda *before* he grabs the stone extremely confusing --this relies on pre-assumptions about Ganondorf and a familiarity with the series and its tropes to make any sense, and this is yet another example of what I mean by: this game is awfully self-referential while not really standing on its own two feet).

As for the argument that Zelda was returned to a hylian because of Rauru's arm, Rauru again but ghost (??? hello again?) and Sonia (??? WHY are you here) are actually using recall on the Secret Stone? It's a cool headcanon, and honestly that would have been great and made sense (I mean, a little empty thematically again but at least a cool setup and payoff), but I see nothing that supports that in practice beyond that the power deployed is the color of gold, which, yes, is the color of Recall, buuuut it's also the color of Light and good things and the Triforce and divinity and a billion other things.

If this was what we were meant to take away, then: 1) the actual particles and sound effect of Recall should have been used instead of a vague halo of magical sparkles and 2) the Secret Stone should have hovered and glowed above her chest Laputa-style (thinking of Sheeta from Castle in the Sky, which I'm 99,9% sure was the visual inspiration anyway).

This does not happen. If them using Recall was the intent, then it's badly conveyed. But I see no textual reason to believe this is what's going on.

#asks #thoughts #totk spoilers #totk critical #when will my brain return from the imprisoning war... #zelda #botw #thanks for the ask! #general note however: #I always welcome nice asks that are kindly showing support in uhhh trying times haha #but try to not attack the other part anonymously through the ask system #it puts me in pretty awkward situations where I want to be !! thank you!! but also not. stir up the flames. #I don't particularly want to foster an atmosphere of vindictiveness if I can help it!!

[injwecti]

!! OP CHAP 1110 SPOILERS !! Little rant abt zoro & egghead.

this has been in my mind for a while hold on let me ramble to my audience of 0. Throughout the egghead arc, Zoro has been called a burden 3 times now. THREE. and his reactions are varying. the first I’m pretty sure was Sanji near the start with him & zoro bantering and being childish like they usually are. the 2nd time is when zoro is fighting Lucci. And you can see he’s VISUALLY taken aback. AND WITH THIRD TIME BY SANJI, HE LITERALLY STANDS THERE AND PAUSES. TO GET HIS SHIT TOGETHER.

(There’s 3 points I wanna put out throughout this)

The reaction to it.

the reason I’m so obsessed over this is because roronoa zoro, luffy’s first crewmate, I was always trying to get stronger pre-time skip. not once was he ‘useless’ or a ‘burden’ to the crew during a fight. After alabasta, he’s meditating with 2 huge ass boulders on top of his arms - and talking (or beating himself up) about getting stronger.

and post-time skip, he’s stoic and serious towards the crew to act serious when fighting. We can see this when he tells Luffy off in punk hazard to take his fight with Ceaser more seriously.

But not ONCE. has he ever been a burden to the crew. Sure, he’s gotten worked up after sanji calls him names or insults. But he’s never been a burden. (And idk if sanji’s ever called him a burden pre-egghead!)

His reaction to sanji & lucci calling him a burden is so off-putting.

With lucci, it’s just back talking him to piss him off more and lose his composure during the fight. And this is why zoro doesn’t think much about it. we see a little “!” Bubble on zoro as it pans to him after lucci calls him a burden, but the dialogue doesn’t continue on it.

however, with sanji, he psychically stops for 2 panels. you can see another “!” bubble to see he heard it. with no dialogue, but a sketchy shading over his face.

ESPECIALLY WITH THE “. . .” BUBBLE AROUND HIM.

and he takes a second to fix his composure and defeat (?) lucci.

From this, I’m pretty sure he thinks that he IS A burden, (which he isn’t.) and is letting the crew down.

but wait… that sounds familiar…

DING DING DING!!!

2. The continuing pattern of self-blame & ‘leaving’ the crew.

as we’ve seen from east blue, water 7, and zou/wholecake island, each member that left had blamed theirselves for burdening to crew, or becoming victim to higher powers. (I expand on this later)

the representation of mental health and blame in one piece is so fucking spectacular. As someone who took 6 months off school because of my mental health, and more specifically guilt of being useless, Oda conveys this VERY WELL. each and every character in one piece that has left the crew has explored that feeling of guilt, and worry of essentially feeling an anchor to others.

that they weren’t enough.

or that they got in the way.

or they were going to bring pain and hurt to the crew because of something (or someone) else.

NOW, IM NOT SAYING THAT ZORO WOULD WILLINGLY LEAVE THE CREW. BECAUSE HE WOULDN’T.

not in his dizziest daydream, would he ever leave the crew. Leave luffy.

(Post-Long ring island, he said “now that I think about it, There’d be no point in me being a pirate if not on this ship.

thriller bark, he faced almost guaranteed death to save his crew.)

However, here’s a quick fact.

Almost every ‘human’, (nami, ussop, robin, sanji) in the crew has left/tried to go seperate ways after self blame of higher powers demanded it.

this is almost the full east blue crew, excluding zoro. and they had their reasons for it.

Nami - Arlong pirates and her hometown. (Higher powers)

Usopp - Merry and not being strong. (self-blame) Robin - Ohara and CP9. (Higher powers) Sanji - Vinsmoke Judge and Big Mom. (Higher powers & self-blame)

**they all experience self-blame and being a burden to the crew. These are just the main reasons.** (Nami when she broke down infront of luffy in arlong park, ussop when his suspicions of being useless to the crew were confirmed because he wasn’t strong enough, robin when she was on top of the tower in enies lobby saying that they’ll be hurt if they stay with her, sanji overall.)

which sounds familiar, right?

now let’s do a checklist with zoro.

other than wano and the shimotsuki bloodline, zoro isn’t blood related to any higher powers or organisations. So we can mark off higher powers.

zoro has been called a burden 3 times during this arc, and looks like he’s under a bit of pressure.

zoro currently, of chapter 1110, falls under the self-blame category.

Oda loves to have continuing patterns in one piece. We know this.

(the continuing pattern of liberation, found family, etc.)

what I’m saying here is basically-

leaving the crew is a pattern that has only happened to the ‘humans’ so far, because of higher powers and self blame. Zoro is feeling self blame right now. it wouldn’t be far fetched to assume it could happen to him too!(zoro would also complete the east blue gang all leaving the crew at one point!) and I can back this up with point 3 !

3. Chapter numbers & number coding

If you didn’t know, one piece characters usually have stuff (colours, food, etc.) that coordinates with their character!

for nami, it’s tangerines.

for robin, its books.

etc.

this is done via the SBS question corner, or collective thoughts via the community.

With numbers, it can either be their birthday or just a number that suits them!

Luffy’s number is 56, and his birthday is the 5th of may! (5/6)

see what I’m getting at?

it’s also the same with zoro!

his colour is green, usually based of his hair or haramaki, number is 11, and food is booze.

What I find interesting correlating with the events of egghead, is his number.

His birthday is the 11th of November. (11/11)

His bounty is 1,111,000 beri. (As of the egghead arc.)

and as we know, the chapter we are currently on is 1110. What’s the next chapter?

1111.

which is his number.

I think chapter 1111 is when something happens to zoro!!! (Gasp!!!)

Oda ALSO likes to correlate some chapter numbers when they come back around.

(E.g. for the 1000th chapter of one piece, Oda redid a colour spread that was in chapter 100.

Dorry and Broggy were introduced to us In chapter 116, and pulled up to egghead in chapter 1106.)

SO!!

To summarise this whole thing -

I think that chapter 1111 will feature something happening to zoro that might make him seperate from the crew/leave, that correlates with him being called a burden 3 times this arc.

that’s all from me, if u have some to add or correct please do so!!! 🫶🫶

#one piece #ronoroa zoro #zoro #one piece spoilers #op spoilers #monkey d. luffy #egghead

[crackers4jenn]

Got some Ted Lasso thoughts

Keeping in mind I've only watched a few s1 episodes, even fewer s2 episodes, and now 6 or 7 s3 episodes in total and totally at random:

The show seems to be hinting at Ted/Rebecca, what with its lack of subtlety when it comes to those psychic-predicted cues (it's like an anvil falling from the ceiling every time Rebecca comes across a green matchbook, lemme tell you) but I still have to squint to find even a hint of romantic interest between them onscreen, like they're La Croix personified. You know, lacking any real flavor. More the suggestion of a otp than an actual otp. But!! I also wouldn't be surprised if Ted and Rebecca have some very last minute revelations about the other, considering how often this show seems to like to pull the move of having very important moments happen offscreen. Like the team's winning streak, after losing so long and so hard. Like Nate quitting. Like Roy and Keeley getting back together. Etc. Anyway, I'm incredibly indifferent to Ted and Rebecca as a ship, they literally are as bland as🧍‍♂️🧍‍♀️ to me, but I already told @dollsome-does-tumblr I will suppress my feelings and hope she gets some hail mary endgame so! That's what I'm doing! Here I go!

Speaking of Roy and Keeley getting back together. They're great, I do like them, but I'm also curious what the point of having Keeley clock Jamie's character growth in earlier episodes was if theyyy weren't the ones who were getting back together. Just another instance of lack of subtlety? Like the character growth isn't real if it's not being blatantly addressed?

I can be one of 3 people on tumblr.com who like Sam and Rebecca together, that's fine!! I found their awkward run-in quite delightful. It gave vibes of Jeff and Annie, forcibly platonic pats and all. I gotta say, this show makes no sense, though, because I thought for sure that scene, plus the appearance of Edwin Akufo, would lead to Rebecca intervening on Sam's behalf somehow. But, no. The dude really showed up to mock Sam, just because. And Rebecca got pulled into a meeting with him without ever connecting any dots about how cruel he was to him. So that means the moment between her and Sam was there just to... I don't know, remind the audience they used to bone? For no reason????

I skipped past most of the Nate stuff. I didn't watch his descent into villainy so I don't care about this redemption arc. I also don't care about his thing with Jade, who comes off more like a prop than a person.

Trent sitting in with Ted and Rebecca for girl talk was a highlight. I just like him so much. All he does is stare adoringly at the players (slash mostly Ted) and I think that's swell. This show doesn't have a Jim Halpert stare into the camera, it has a Trent Crimm reaction gaze.

The storyline I laughed over most was Dani inventing an intense rivalry between himself and Van Damme simply because they were playing opposite each other. To have the most darling guy on the team so ruthlessly switch to maliciously competitive? Soooo hilarious, especially played against Van Damme, who went from friendly, to wary and confused, to fearful 🤣🤣

#ted lasso

[initiumseries]

i've been doing a charmed rewatch and i can't make it all the way through season five because i am just in a state of disbelief about cole's whole storyline because the writers really shot themselves in the foot with that one. each and every time the girls are evil it's due to transformations/evil taking over and it's treated as such they could literally murder someone and you'd get a verbal reminder that no actually it's not their fault evil took over it was too powerful

but then they have cole be tricked into letting the source of all evil (OF ALL EVIL) possess him and we are shown multiple times that it is possession because the source in cole's body refers to cole as separate from them (he, his love for phoebe, etc) and yet the show wants us to just forget cole's previous arc of becoming human/losing his demonic powers on purpose (literally makes a potion to lose his powers) and go actually he was evil all along oh and btw all the shit he did as the source? his fault. possession? we don't know her. even though we are shown and told that cole is fighting a losing battle sharing a body/mind with the source of all evil. and at that point cole isn't belthazor so he is depowered as fuck it's not a fair fight at all. he tries but he literally cannot win. i get that julian mcmahon was leaving to be in nip tuck but truly this entire arc was so ridiculous and it also did paige no service because they introduce her and cole helps save her life and then with her all but three months intro to magic or whatever she decided that he must be evil because he's half demon despite him saving her life, helping defeat other demons, being on the side of good since she's known him. make it make sense.

_______________________________________________________

Uh, so I'll be honest, it's taken me a while to answer this ask, because I'm pretty confused about it. I'm not sure if this was an ask meant for Zal, that was sent to me, something that has happened quite a bit on here, especially if I'm active on days she's not, which is what happened the day I got this ask. Which brings me to my next point of confusion: I haven't talked about Charmed much if at all on here. Which isn't to say I can't get asks about things I've watched, but not really talked about on here, it's just another thing that leads me into thinking this ask wasn't mean for me, because usually anons seem hesitant to engage with me on things they don't know I've actually watched, or have watched recently. Usually they'll ask first. Which leads me to my last point, which is, I haven't watched Charmed all the way through since it was on air, so I don't feel adequately prepared to respond to this ask with the same energy it's giving, because...well, a lot of these details are fuzzy for me, because I'm not the one who did the Charmed rewatch recently.

[aihoshiino]

whats your favourite thing about each of the onk characters?

As a person with ADHD I am ontologically incapable of picking Just One Thing but I'll do my best!!

Ai: oh my god she melts my brain too much to pick just one thing!!! If you really put a gun to my head though I would have to say her warm, persistent kindness in the face of a life that has often been abnormally cruel to her. She always goes out of her way to be kind to people even when it has absolutely no benefit to her, just because Ai is a deeply kind person that even abuse and neglect couldn't tarnish. She understands loneliness and abandonment to such a deep degree that even when she can't exactly understand the ins and outs of why or how other people feel the way they feel, when she sees people suffering or in pain, her instinctive response is to reach out to them and try and make sure they feel heard even if she can't actually do anything to ease their pain. For all the BS she says about calling herself cynical, people hating and all the rest of it, Ai is such a deeply and actively kind person to such an incredible degree.

Also her fangies. Can't forget the fangies.

Aqua: Aqua Hoshino Is The Funniest Guy In Oshi No Ko And He Doesn't Even Know It. This sort of falls under the more serious header that is the cavernous gap between Aqua's stated goals and intentions and the reality of his actual feelings that often slips out via his actions but more specifically I'm obsessed with the hysterical comedic gap that is Aqua larping as Light Yagami during season 1 of Love Live. Like ugh yeah I have to kill my dad but what am I gonna do, NOT wear matching TWINS tshirts with my sister? Or shit like him being the one to go and get his copy of Sweet Today and start paging through it while Ruby and Miyako watch it and then immediately tattling to Kana that Ruby talked shit even though he toooootally doesn't care you guys :/// Mfer dressed up like a buff chicken and did a squeaky voice for a week because he can't handle having a crush on Kana!!! HE'S THE FUNNIEST GUY IN THIS WHOLE SHOW AND NOBODY UNDERSTANDS Ruby: The way Ruby's history as Sarina - or I guess more specifically, as a person who grew up both disabled and under a toxic mother - informs her zest and energy is soooooo sweet and tender to me, but especially in the ways in informs her deep, deep love for Ai as her mother. The inheritance of Sarina's despair and its transition into Ruby's joy and empowerment is such an incredible and powerful beat - I watched episode 1 with a friend last night (hi Silvie!) and the scene of Ruby realizing that she no longer lives in a body at risk of betraying her at any moment and that she has a mother who loves her and values her happiness and positive growth over all else is still one of the most powerful scenes in the whole story for me. The way that realization of euphoria and power continues to form the foundations of her arc going forward is a big part of why the first stretch of the manga is still the strongest material to me.

Kana: my little failgirl <3 Kana is another one of those characters where I could say a lot of deep and introspective things about her incredible resilience, her intelligence and determination and the way she continues to try and make herself big in a world that has only ever operated by making her feel small but the truth in my heart is just that I think she is the funniest bitch on the planet. If Aqua did not exist she would take the crown as Funniest Character In Oshi No Ko. The consistency with which she takes Ls and gets fed her own hair emotionally speaking (UH AND LITERALLY I GUESS BECAUSE I WROTE THAT JOKE AND THEN REMEMBERED THAT SCENE WITH THE DIRECTOR) just really gets under my guard and makes me fucking lose it every time it happens. I'm a simple guy, ok? Memcho: Mem being a woman in her early 20s and the perspective and emotional intelligence that comes with that experience, especially when contrasted with the teens, is soooooo fascinating to me. In general it's just really refreshing to see a girlie in her mid 20s in an anime still being portrayed as just as fun and cute and silly and energetic as the teens; anime in general has a really bad habit of having two ages which are Teen and Middle Aged Adult but Mem just feels like an actual person in her mid 20s which is SUCH a nice change. I also just think that, like I said, the way her emotional intelligence contrasts the kids who are still going the fuck through it as teens experiencing huge, fucked up emotions for the first time in their almost-adult lives; Mem's a lot smarter and sharper than folks give her credit for and it's always so interesting to see her snap into 'adult in the room' mode. The fact that this doesn't at all interfere with her friendship with Kana and Ruby is also really sweet - I actually do not remember ever seeing one of these age gap friendships in an anime that didn't come with some weird maternal overtones but the way B-Komachi's friendship kind of supersedes and makes their age gap a non-factor really reminds me of my own friendships like that - both when I was Ruby's age and had older folks looking out for me and now that I'm Mem's age and some of my besties from my real life DND group are babies LMFAO

Akane: The way OnK portrays Akane's acting technique is really fascinating to me! This is maybe a bit of a silly comparison to draw but I find that I weirdly relate to Akane and the way she portrays characters because I've been doing some form of online text roleplay or another since I was licherally 11 years old and the way she talks about like... sewing up internal inconsistencies and reverse engineering a character's thoughts, feelings and general worldview from their portrayed actions, making connections between aspects of their character that may be unstated by the text but make your portrayal cohere and feel richer and more vibrant. This is literally exactly the way I handle writing canon characters right down to the unhinged canon review, to the point that it is a running gag between me and my friends that Akane's serial killer ass Ai research session is Literally Just Me when I'm doing my Oshi no Ko canon review. It's about the weirdest and most unexpected way I have ever felt represented by a piece of media LOL Miyako: The absolute character development W this woman had!!! Admittedly I feel like the glowup is only so strong because Aka clearly had a very different Miyako in his brain when he started writing Oshi no Ko vs the one she actually became but I still absolutely love the ways Miyako grows over the series and how smart, competent and fiercely driven she is when given a reason to motivate herself. I don't have a huge to to say about Miyako just because she so effortlessly speaks for herself but God I Love Her. Ichigo: i just love it when a guy is a faildad to a fucked up teenage girl There we go! Admittedly this wasn't Everyone and I mostly just stuck to the main cast I had strong enough opinions about to voice but! If you're ever curious about what I think about someone in the extended cast, please do feel free to drop me some asks and prod me for my thoughts!

#oshi no ko #oshi no posting #this one has a lot of characters in it so i'll just slap it in the main tag LOL

[garrothromeave]

“oh, right… i need to put aside my mourning for now… after all, if anyone is to mourn it is cadenza…”

this line from laurance literally shatters me every time. he’s referring to hayden’s “death,” a man who was very much so a father figure to him after the death of joh. it bothers me because it’s sort of pushed by aphmau that laurance needed to focus on solving the case, while cadenza was allowed to stay home and in bed all day as she coped with her father’s assassination. laurance wasn’t given that opportunity just because hayden wasn’t technically his father, adopted or not. which, y’know, is pretty bullshit.

this definitely didn’t help with his mental state, which was already in turmoil thanks to shadow knight stuff, so overall — during this arc, i don’t think he was given either proper justice in terms of his reactions, or i don’t think he was given proper justice in terms of how he was treated. either or, it was obvious this event impacted him emotionally, and jess didn’t focus on that as much as she probably should — or, hell, maybe she did, we just didn’t get to see it because the show isn’t from laurance’s perspective, it’s from hers.

but knowing jess, this probably isn’t the case. mcd season 1 is plot driven, not character driven — so instead of focusing on individual characters and how each event impacts them, we’re focusing on the event, and how is impacts the people around it. it might not seem like much a difference, but the priorities are very different, and that’s how it is in mcd. (this changes in mcd s2, where it becomes more character-driven than plot-driven - but i’ll talk more about how this affected the quality of the story + characters in another post.)

because of this, laurance doesn’t get that time to stop and mourn the loss of his father figure. he’s essential to the plot itself, and is needed there for it to continue forward. now, i’m not saying he has no reactions towards hayden’s death, because he certainly does. we see him lose his temper more over the course of the arc, we see that he’s tired, and that he’s just not his usual self. but he still doesn’t catch a break, because he’s obligated to solving this mystery.

in the end, if this was an intentional detail that laurance didn’t get to properly mourn or not, we’ll never know - mostly because it’s literally in his nature to keep pushing through. that, and well, hayden didn’t turn out actually dead, so we’ll never know. however, it’s also important to note that he was driven by revenge through this arc, not necessarily sadness. i’m convinced this is purely an act of the shadow knight in him - and i’m pretty sure we can all agree there - but like, if not for the shadow-knight-anger aspect… goodness, that’s just a whole other can of worms.

#aphmau #minecraft diaries #laurance zvahl #cadenza zvahl

[gloriousmonsters]

Hey btw I absolutely want to hear that Yu-Gi-Oh propaganda. Hit me

*sam reich voice* you have until I cut you off to sell me a manga about a Japanese teenager being possessed by an Egyptian pharaoh

Honestly, recommending Yu-Gi-Oh is a bit hard just because of its multiple forms; the manga, the first anime, and the second anime. All of them have good points; some more than others, but there's a few things each has done that I prefer. If you got into just one, I'd rec the manga; if you go anime only, you HAVE to watch at least a few episodes of the original anime before the follow-up.

This is because Yu-Gi-Oh is two (or three. four?) stories stuffed in a trenchcoat and if you miss out on the story it was at the beginning, what happens later will not be nearly as good. I have a lot of other things I want to say but I'm going to put a short version after all my screaming so ctrl-f 'give me the short version' for that, lol

HIT ME WITH THE LONG VERSION. I WANT A TED TALK

Yu-Gi-Oh is a horror story that takes a swerve into shonen through the Power of Friendship, but never loses its horror elements. You might know the basics, but I'll lay it out--Yu-Gi-Oh focuses on a sweet, shy boy named Yugi, who has no friends and gets occasionally bullied by another student, Jounouchi. But when an opportunity arises to take revenge, Yugi passes it up, choosing to treat Jounouchi as his friend instead. Jounouchi turns out to be a golden retriever at heart and immediately becomes his ride or die for life (their names put together literally form the word for friendship. it's stupid i love them). Oh, and a dark personality takes over Yugi and engages the guy who hurt the two of them in an unhinged 'penalty game' where the guy's left tormented by visions :)

Yu-Gi-Oh does a few laps through the grubby teen horror genre, and it's amazing. People are in danger of getting stabbed daily at this school and ALL of them want to stab the protagonists (or beat them up, or steal their spot at the school fair, or--). The only thing that makes Yugi's 'dark personality' the good guy is that the people he tortures are so awful. Yu-Gi-Oh Season 0, as the first anime is usually called, captures this vibe beautifully, everything is dark shadows and bloody sunsets and glowing eyes. It pretty much went wherever while the manga struggled to catch up, so it really builds its own little world; not something you need to watch more than a handful of eps of if you want the overall canon, but delightful in itself.

The horror era doesn't end, but peaks before it really mixes with shonen, with an arc villain called Kaiba Seto, an unhinged rich boy who's taken over his adoptive father's company and is in the process of converting it from a vague business + military tech operation to gaming and theme park related stuff + vague business (king shit) and who after suffering a penalty game from Yugi's dark side proceeds to construct a revenge that involves a death amusement park where he tries really hard to kill all of them, and an attempt to beat Yugi('s dark side) in a card game in front of an audience. Yugi('s dark side) promptly wins and shatters his mind, shrugging that he'll pick up the pieces if there's anything left to salvage.

Then everyone starts playing card games all the time. 

The thing with Yu-Gi-Oh is that you have to buy into the central narrative, which is that this card game is essentially sacred. It's called 'dueling' for a reason; it's about honor and proving yourself and philosophical argument and Friendship and, rarely, about actually having fun. If you can buy into this, dueling is SO fun I promise. Although I'm always nostalgic for the wild west 'different game/toy every time' of early Yu-Gi-Oh, many of my favorite moments in the series are duels.

And when you've bought into the premise, Yu-Gi-Oh rewards you with ALL the juicy emotional moments and dysfunctional characters fumbling toward better things and gay shit you could want. I love it primarily from two angles--one, it's at its heart (especially in the manga and the last-ish arc of the anime) about becoming a better person in whatever way you can. It sounds cheesy, but I will go on record as saying that the Battle City arc is one of my favorite narratives about trauma and finding ways to move on from it.

The other angle is that it's batshit and LOADED with characters that are just. So fucked up in various ways. It's a kooky Ancient Egpytian fantasy narrative stuffed into a sports manga about cards continually being stalked by its horror roots, you can pick and choose your own elements of worldbuilding because shit does NOT make sense, and every villain is a GOLDMINE of not only delight but noncon opportunities (*mabel voice* noncoppurtunities). We've got somewhat hinged sadists. We have unhinged sadists. Combat sadomasochists. We have mind control that's actually pretty inventive and creepy. We have people with all-consuming grudges and pretentious depressed bitches who sublimate their trauma into murder. The more consensual ship options are just as varied and delightful.

Kaiba Seto also crawls out of his coma to become the third main character and trust me, if you like Kinnporsche you will almost certainly LOVE Kaiba, especially in the manga. He is a Kinnporsche-ass character. Narrative about trauma and cruelty and power and daddy issues up to here. Huge asshole. My sweet baby boy. Every filler arc the anime added is basically about him and he deserves it, even if they don't fit with the overall narrative.

Oh, and in the fourth season of the anime the writers do a bunch of drugs, watch Atlantis: The Lost Empire, notice that the censors have gone out for lunch, and rapidly assemble an arc where you put up with about forty-five combined minutes of pure stupidity in order to get a urban fantasy horror shonen fusion where we talk about the horrors of war and the fate of humanity and how cults pull vulnerable people in and radicalize them, and do some of the most glorious indulgent fanfiction bullshit ever. It's the horniest and darkest season and will probably punch you in the gut if you have depression and gives us the best filler villains in existence (one of whom was the guy I originally made that post about, lol). Despite its flaws, it functions remarkably well as a conclusion for the story, which is good because the last arc of Yu-Gi-Oh mostly doesn't exist? Like there's a little bit of content at the beginning of the manga arc but other than that it's just. Not there. Weird!

THAT IS A LOT OF WORDS, VIC

I apologize, I have a lot of feelings.

GIVE ME THE SHORT VERSION

Yu-Gi-Oh is a paranormal romance bundled with a story about friendship and personal growth wrapped in a horror story masquerading as a shonen manga and it FUCKS. There are so many little guys you look at and go 'wow! there's something incredibly wrong with you!'. If you can get into it it will Get You. Also I need more people in this fandom that aren't solely into my NOTP or twentysomethings that call ships 'illegal' please for the love of God. I will write fic for you if you get into it. Yes, this is a bribe. pspspsps

WHAT ARE YOU EVEN SAYING I SHOULD READ/WATCH

bare minimum is read the manga best minimum read the manga up to the end of battle city and then watch YGO season four and then read the beginning of the last manga arc as if it were a gradually fading ancient text that crumbles into the dust the moment you say 'wait, what the fuck' out loud. you can also just watch the anime with the background assumption that everything was 2x darker and 1.2x gayer in the manga

THAT SOUNDS DAUNTING, HOW DID YOU EVEN GET INTO IT

Honestly I don't know how I got into it either but this pit's great once you slide down to the bottom. 

WHAT IS YOUR PARTING WISDOM, SAGE?

I don't know if this needs to be said but never expose yourself to the English dub it's horrendous

#yugioh #replies #don't mind the opening if you don't watch dropout.tv it's a game changer joke #i'm sorry that you asked for propaganda and i wrote you an article but in my defense: #it was nearly 2x longer #vic talks

[shopcat]

funny to me when people criticize steddie as having ‘no chemistry’ or as ‘not liking each other’ like? sorry? were we watching a different s4? also this might just be my gay brain but i literally cannot interpret the ‘for your modesty’ and ‘big boy’ scenes as anything other than homosexual behavior. not to mention!!! the smile steve has when eddie gets all up in his space!!! sorry i’m gay and smarter than u or whatever….like at least i’m having fun. at least i don’t ship steve and the racist that tried to kill him 🥰 or two people who have never spoken who would also hate each other.

i was going to wait til the morning to answer this but literally i never got when girlies said they had no chemistry like okay u did not have to admit you get 0 bitches 0 play no action no reaction like that. also i was LITERALLY there when people were like "crackshipping" it within the first couple days it's honestly so harmless but by the end of vol 2 i was like DUDE they coulda been something... it makes me lose my mind. and i used to kind of indulgently roll my eyes when people were like he's staring at his lips but he's literally GAZING he's like weoah... and eddie is like talking about nancy or whatever cuz he's insecure and wants steve to like him. and even IF you interpret that platonically like omg steve didn't hate him the entire point of their actual canonical little arc was that they became friends!!!! truthfully trying to deny that they aren't friends is denying the actual text and i know the average stranger things fan needs their hand held about what's on the screen in front of them but come on now... and there's no reason therefore why they can't go from friends to 💞 friiiiiieeends 💞

also the FUNNIEST defence every single time people try and talk about this is they're constantly being like STEVE didn't like him/steve thought he was annoying/they barely spoke or whatever and NO ONE defends eddie's boyliker gymnastics it kills me 😭😭

#asks #definitely people defend eddie but like statistically it's more steve focused idk it's just so funny how everyone subconsciously doesn't #even bother #i don't think i've talked about this on here but i do have a proper thought process for why i think they like each other and also why i #think they LIIIIIKE each other. but tbh i think a large part of the steddie appeal was the transformative aspect #bc he died. duh. and the ultimate fix it is gay love which is true #hence part of why it's so popular :) #sts

[storiesofsvu]

Well… that was… *something*

Law & order premier event thoughts…

Okay, here we go!

(Fuck i just realized i never did a “what i hope/wish to see this season! I’ll do it after)

oh. Okay. We’re diving *right* into things with Ukraine? 😳 jfc

Cosgrove(?)’s daughter & all this talk about gunshots is terribly foreboding

SNIPED BY DADDY BENSON JEEESUS

I just do not like Cosgrove….

Oh GOD & NOW he’s fighting with Stabler?! We couldnt have gotten through this ep without a “whos dick is bigger” contest, could we? 🙄🙄 like i was *just* gonna say how frank’s acting like stabler & then stabler shows up… ugh. Bring daddy benson back pls

Ayannaaaaaaa lookin like a SNACK as per usual!😍

This “crossover” really is more like a 3hr movie. First 30mins moved pretty slow like the OG l&o vibes… now we’re into the OC feels. Where are my svu babies? Bring them in pls.

I cant decide whether this CI is a complete idiot or a genius.

Why are we being forced to deal with so many low neck, chest exposed outfits for stabler 🥴

Oh so we’re putting Amanda in oversized blazers this year?

Watching them do raids on l&o after watching so much Chicago pd is just pathetic. Like, they’d lose so many cops with how bad it is.

I’m sorry. But if i was going to raid a house of a very dangerous criminal… i’d put my hair up to make sure i could SEE what i was doing…

Loving this style update for Jet😍

Did ANYONE think the CI was gonna make it through the ep?? Like cmon that was obvious

There was 3:44min left on the timer & that was WAY less than that….

Are velasco & fin just like, kickin it back at the precinct watching tv or something rn?!

Yessssssss Sam is here now! 😍😍

But also hate the other ada

Wait… this perp (in pt3) has DEFINITELY been on svu before… he sold liv & elliot a baby… right?!

Sir… you are sitting like a lesbian…

WOW we just jumped two months!!

Where TF is carisi??

AMANDA ROLLINS IS ANTI TAYLOR SWIFT??!! I *NEVER* WOULD HAVE THOUGHT! Like she would be the number 1 swiftie…

FUCK.

Okay like i KNEW something like this was probable because dw wanted her killed off BUT COULD WE GET THROUGH A SEASON OPENER WITH**OUT** SOMEONE IMPORTANT GETTING SHOT??!!

Carisi’s gonna show up now, right??

UGGGHH PEEEETTEERR YOUR ACTING!!??? GOOD GOD. JUST SO SCARED & worried & 🥺🥺🥺😭😭😭

Wtf is this jacket olivia has on? I cant tell whether its leather or denim or leather posing as denim??!

Liv did what was right. Putting nicole out of harms way was way better than making her testify when she’s already almost been killed multiple times.

Oh fuck you mccoy

How is NO ONE from the da’s office even TALKING about/worried about rollins?!

THANK YOU SAM!!! I KNEW I LIKED YOU BETTER THAN ANYONE ON THIS DAMN SHOW (also she’s looked *bomb* in every outfit so far..)

I feel like we might be starting to learn more about Sam’s history/childhood thanks to this ep? Or like, this might be hinting at some future character arc?

UCK. I literally just said “at least elliot’s gone” and WOW he feels the need to come back…

There are TEN mins left & we still havent gotten an update on amanda??!! Come ON

Yo, dick wolf, tell me you hate amanda rollins without telling me you hate amanda rollins 😒😒😒

ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?! The crap scenes we GOT instead of:

a panicked emotional carisi at the hospital, a sympathetic & just as worried liv who’s trying to hide it to be the bigger supporter, a worried fin who’s watched her take a bullet already!! The REUNION & relief when they’re told she’s out of surgery & going to be totally fine. The CONVERSATION between amanda & sonny, the heartfelt confessions of how scared they were to lose each other, how carisi was internally freaking out about the girls and legally who would take care of them if amanda died, and how it should be him over anyone from her family. How the only thing aside from the girls amanda could think of was that she wished she had told sonny she wanted to be with him forever, be the dad to her girls, how life is short & they’d wasted enough time already. Followed by an untraditional proposal, one that neither of them expected & sonny doesnt even have the ring, but they agree to marriage anyways. FOLLOWED by liv, fin, velasco, jessie & billie coming into the room in a big happy found family wrap up…

Brb… just wrote a one shot that was better than the wrap of this damn episode.

Ugh 🙄🙄🙄

@bookpillows here ya go

#law and order #law and order svu #law and order organized crime #law and order spoilers #spoilers #svu #law and order special victims unit #law and order svu spoilers #amanda rollins

[strangertheories]

I have to be honest here and say that I think Bylers are being extremely disingenuous while criticizing Mlvn. It's really not that badly written in comparison to other ships. And Mlvn is the only ship that's been there since S1, sorry but this is a fact whether or not they are separated or deal with issues in their relationship. And i think it's disingenous to claim that they fight all the time when they have one of the best and cutest moments given to them in S1-S2. And in S3 every couple have fought. Oh my god, Joyce and Hopper fought in that season all the time, they were bickering. Lucas and Max were said to be broken up like 6 times. I think judging Mlvn based on S3 and saying they were falling apart in that season is disigenous when they were not portrayed that differently to other romances. Like... Jncy, anyone? They were certainly not fine at all in that season either.

And the 'being separated' thing that ppl talk so much about? Well, look at Nancy and Jonathan now in S4, they spent the entire season being separated and having problems, in S3 they were having problems as well and fought. Jpper also had a 'separation' arc going for them. Lucas and Max technically broke up, again, and were not talking up until the point Lucas decided to go to Max.

I love Byler and I support the ship but I also have to be real here when talking abt something or analyzing the narrative and relationships. Just bc a couple is given problems does not mean that that couple is 'falling apart for 2 seasons', when the writers did make a point of getting that couple together in S4 after initially breaking them up in S3, and then giving them a monologue moment in S4... Let's be real guys.

I semi agree? I do think a lot of people are super hypocritical when slagging off Mlvn or when they act like people are stupid or have no media literacy for shipping it. But the issue for me is not that they're given problems; it's what those problems are. Because I preferred Mlvn to Byler in S1 and S2 and to be honest I still feel so happy when they get together at the Snow Ball. Also this post is gonna be a long one, sorry guys!

But in S3, the relationship problem is that Eleven does not know how to exist outside of her relationships to other people. Her whole perception of the world is based on Hopper and Mike and in breaking up with him and becoming friends with Max, she's able to realize that she has a certain fashion sense and likes Max's comic books. When I saw that for the first time, it made me root against Mike and Eleven. Eleven has spent her whole life inside of a lab and has not been able to discover herself; her character had the most development when they were split up. In S4, she needed Mike in order to defeat Vecna. She's reliant on him and bases her identity off of him. I don't think the relationship is toxic, that's too extreme, but I don't think it's good for Eleven. At the very least, I think her and Mike need a break pre time skip.

Then in S4, Mike is unable to say I love you to Eleven not because of commitment issues or a fear of losing her but instead because he needs to feel needed. Which is not a good thing! And I mean this absolutely for Byler as well. It makes it seem as though Mike's relationship is based on a need for validation but not love which makes the I love you come off as disingenuous. And this isn't me, I know tons of people who went off of them in this season because people thought Mike didn't love her or only loved her for her superpowers and they weren't Byler shippers; they were casual viewers.

I just feel like each season they picked an end point with Mike and Eleven and worked backwards. And that worked amazingly in S1 and S2 where they were kept apart firstly because they didn't love each other yet and then because Eleven literally couldn't see Mike. But once they had no external force keeping them apart, they settled on the idea that Mike and Eleven would say I love you in S3. But in S4? They just wanted that big climax scene at the end so they worked backwards to come up with a reason why Mike wouldn't say I love you to El and in my opinion it made it feel more like he didn't love her.

So yes Jopper argued but it was because Hopper was a bit emotionally stunted and needed to acknowledge his true feelings and be more emotionally open. Lucas and Max broke up over petty things but clearly knew they were still together and later were forced apart due to Max's depression (the relationship helps her recover, not getting away from it, but Max still pushes her loved ones away anyways). Johnathan and Nancy had a really interesting conflict where both of them were in the wrong. But the writers, accident or not, created a plot about Mike stunting El's personal exploration and then a plot where they decided Mike had a compulsive desire to feel needed to the extent where he wouldn't have confessed his feelings if not for a lie from his best friend. Because Eleven didn't even need him, Will did (but again, he shouldn't need that validation regardless).

So when I say they're falling apart, I don't mean that having problems is bad. The issue is that the writers in my opinion did not put in enough leg work to meaningfully fix those problems so now their relationship just feels like it is making Mike and Eleven miserable and that they are both needing development. And I don't think it's inherent to the dynamic, I just think the writers struggled to resolve issues so made them up, accidentally undermining the ship. It just feels like the only way to fix these problems is a break up or even a break or anything. That or these problems were intentional for Byler.

And this is all subjective of course, but yeah that's my thoughts. I am being real because these are my genuine thoughts and I'm very not disingenuous. I say exactly what I think on my blog and I will critique every ship, not just the ones I like. These are just my honest thoughts on why Mike and Eleven have been falling apart for me in S3 and 4. And it does make me sad because I think there is definitely an alternate version of that season that would've made me like Mike and Eleven because I really loved them before S3 and was excited to see where they'd go only for the writers to highlight the biggest issue in their relationship and not really fix it. Sorry if this comes across as harsh, I have no disrespect for people who ship them, these are just my personal thoughts. Thanks for the ask, it's nice to hear your perspective (:

#again this is all personal nobody get annoyed at me please #anti mileven #byler