#no but seriously the last three episodes of that show are just. designed to take me the fuck out

[eurydicees]

they put the kyoya backstory episode right before the episode where the host club disbands as if i don't know that the person who holds the club tightest to his heart is kyoya and as if this whole sequence isn't going to break me. they really did that.

#ohshc #kyoya ootori #no but seriously the last three episodes of that show are just. designed to take me the fuck out #i think i might reread the manga honestly. im bored and have time

[teeny-tiny-revenge]

It's home cinema manufacturing time! 🏴‍☠️ Gonna put my pirate show on my shelf! (I'm doing an Arts and Crafts Project and I'm making it everyone's problem.)

After seeing how much they cost, I abandoned the idea of getting a Blu-ray writer for now. For the time being, good old DVDs is what it's going to be! My TV is old and not very big, so DVD resolution is gonna be fine.

It's been ages since I last burned a DVD. For the full experience, I'm gonna create nice menus and pretty sleeves for the boxes. Graphic design is my passion! Um.

Well. First needed to find a program to do stuff with. I'm a Linux guy, so I'm using Devede. (Which is free, btw. In case someone else wants to do a low cost spot of putting pirate show on the shelf.)

DVDs fit a maximum of 120 minutes of video. So, four episodes, I thought. But after a quick attempt, the program refused to do more than three (maybe because of the menu also taking up space, and four episodes cutting pretty close to the 120 min mark?). Anyway, three episodes per disc it is. It's a pretty nice runtime for watching the entire disc, IMO. An hour and a half, and then you can return to reality to realise you should probably eat something, or go to bed because it's midnight.

OFMD with its current two seasons has a total of eighteen episodes, which is divisible by three. You get the following setup:

Disc 1: Pilot, A Damned Man, The Gentleman Pirate - That's pretty good, Stede's introduction to piracy all on one disc!

Disc 2: Discomfort in a Married State, The Best Revenge is Dressing Well, The Art of Fuckery - All bangers. Great to watch together, our boys meet and shenanigans happen!

Disc 3: This is Happening, We Gull Way Back, Act of Grace - Many romantic moments, lots of great scenes, shit hits the fan at the end there. Alright!

Disc 4: Wherever you go, there you are, Impossible Birds, Red Flags - ... Pain and angst! What have I done!?! The disc of horrors. Gotta make sure to have tissues at hand when I watch this. But hey, it also has messy bun Ed! Small mercies.

Disc 5: The Innkeeper, Fun and Games, The Curse of the Seafaring Life. - Another disc with all winners. I love all these episodes so much! (You can watch this disc to recover from the trauma of the previous one!) But seriously, this one slaps.

Disc 6: Calypso's Birthday, Man on Fire, Mermen - Great combination again. Season finale! Love and excitement!

... Honestly, except for the psychological damage of putting all the most painful episodes together, this is coming out pretty cool. Says a lot about how good the show is. I actually really love all the episodes (yes even the painful angsty episodes of massive depression). Thinking about this little project really reminded me how much I love this entire show.

So, we got a tracklist, now menus, then we can burn this stuff!

I did the menu backgrounds in GIMP. Realised I have a big folder full of screenshots I took myself, screenshots someone else took and posted on Tumblr, official promo pics for the show, and I have no idea anymore where most of them are from, because I named the files according to what's on them. Which is useful for when you want to find pics (Need a picture of cursed suit Stede? I have files named that, easy peasy!), but not so great if you wanted to give credit to whoever took a given pic you used. (It's probably @sherlockig or @ofmd-ann or @blakbonnet. Please feel credited, your beautiful screens and gifs brighten my day, and some of them are now probably part of my DVD menus. Shrunk down and cropped, but, yeah.)

I originally wanted to structure my menus as having the title of an episode, then some pics from it, then the next episode, then pics from that, and so forth, but I couldn't convince the program to give me the necessary padding between the menu items, so I ended up just putting the episode images below the menu. Still like it.

Anyway, DVD menus can also play sound! Behold a crappy video of my beautiful creation (provided entirely for sound):

It plays Gnossienne N°5!

More crappy pics of my other disc menus:

Gonna make them some nice sleeves next. Some day. Gotta make sure they all work properly first. So. I'll be on my sofa, watching my DVDs. With menus! (Edit: here are!)

#piracy ho! #ofmd #teeny rambles #ofmd dvds

[showtoonzfan]

Okay so I saw S1E2 of HH “Video killed the radio Star” so here’s my thoughts on that, ⚠️SPOILERS⚠️

- So once again, the pacing is all over the place. In the span of 2 episodes we have to deal with introducing Adam and Lute, the main characters of the hotel, the three V’s and Sir Pen, and I don’t like how the three V’s are introduced in the second episode of season 1. Like…can we just let the characters we know breathe and get to know them before you introduce new ones?? Told you this was going to be like Helluva lol.

- So hell is freaking out that the extermination got moved to 6 months later, but Charlie of course isn’t the focus of this episode. It’s mainly the three V’s + Angel/Al/Sir Pen. It still bothers me that the reason behind redeeming sinners is not because Charlie is sick of Hell being a damnation but because she doesn’t want them to be exterminated. It’s such a drastic change from the pilot and the character motivation that it still throws me off sorry.

- So, I actually like Vox. I take back bitching about Christian Borle playing him because while his suave voice may not fit the twink design, he does a fantastic job either way as expected, making Vox an intimidating person. I had thought before that Vox was going to just be this dumb henchman, but I actually like how he’s the runner of things. He’d be so cool if he didn’t curse and talk like every other character in the show though.

- Good GOD Valentino. I already shared how I felt about him when the dialogue leaks came out, but I HATE how his character is just this idiot man baby who throws temper tantrums and legit needs to be “calmed down” by Vox because he’s such an idiot. Like…Velvette calls him a piss baby and Vox legit had to talk to him as if he was one, that’s how dumb this guy is. There’s a scene where Vox asks what they should do about the hotel and Val says “just put something inside, that’s how I get the bitches”- like…kill me. The fan interpretations were better. He was actually someone you didn’t want to mess with and had an intimidating voice, here he’s a whiny baby that you have to remind yourself is the same guy who forces himself on Angel. The Addict and comic version of this character is not the same as the one we have now. His voice is too high pitch, it sucks and his accent goes on and off constantly. Viv can’t write abusers for shit, she sees everything as a joke. Again, how are we supposed to take abuse seriously if this is how you portray your abuser. Crimson is more intimidating than this joke of a cockroach.

- Alastor has been gone for seven years, yeah that “Lilith is Rosie and Al is working for her”- allegation is 100% true like it perfectly lines up together since Lilith has also been gone for seven years. Only for Alastor, it makes no sense. Like…wdym he’s been gone for seven years. The pilot is canon and they state he’s been at the hotel for a week. Alastor was literally walking around town when Charlie was on the news. Do they mean that it’s been years since he’s done his radio show? Viv, when you retcon shit you need to specify. You’re just confusing everyone again.

- They need to explain why exactly it’s dangerous to make a deal with Alastor because all this vagueness isn’t helping the story. The whole reason Vox sends Sir Pen out to be a spy was to make sure Charlie didn’t make a deal with him, yet you literally have Vaggie making a deal with him like it was nothing in the last episode. I also fail to see why exactly Vox cares about Charlie making a deal with Alastor in the first place. Is it because he doesn’t want Al to have more power? Is it because he doesn’t want Charlie to have power? EXPLAIN.

- Yay more retconning and woobifying. So Angel Dust is a whiny wimpy bitch in this episode, he’s very out of character. When Sir Pen comes to the hotel, he’s extra pressed about that, when in the pilot he couldn’t even take Sir Pen seriously and was acting nonchalant towards him. Then when Charlie starts getting all giddy and complimenting Pen, Angel gets sad and jealous??? This is the second fucking episode of season 1. I thought the whole point about Angel and the hotel was that he didn’t trust Charlie nor take the redemption stuff seriously. Now apparently he wants her approval? And then when he finds Pen out, Pen insults him and that causes Angel to just fucking lunge at him and start punching. When did Angel get this goddamn sensitive. Why did the wimpy snake character who’s supposed to be a loser get under his skin THAT much? It’s even more jarring because the last episode Angel was literally saying he loves being exploited and in the pilot he’s presented as someone who could give less of a shit of what other people think, now a simple jab at him being a slut made him go off. Remember when Travis called him a slut in the pilot and Angel just laughed it off? What happened to that Angel lol.

- Vaggie has a line that flat out calls Angel a sexual harasser. And yet we’re supposed to feel bad for him and root for HuskerDust. Makes perfect sense Viv, fuck you. She has no idea what sexual harassment even is because she sees actual harassment as quirky funny jokes and paints it as genuine love. Pick a side. Is Angel an asshole who sexually harasses people or is he an uwu baby who deserves to be with Husk. Clearly Viv chose the second option.

- I liked Vox and Al’s song, tho I wish it was more singing instead of talking. Charlie’s song in the end was boring but at least it was short. I still don’t know how to feel about Pen being at the hotel tho. Like I get he’s a loser and not a big threat but him happily joining the hotel now is way too structurally fast. There’s a lot of things that feel like Viv changed at the last minute compared to the pilot and it shows. Pilot was better.

That’s it, not looking forward to the third one which is HuskerDust focused (female centric show my ass)

#vivziepop critical #spindlehorse critical #hazbin hotel critical #anti vivziepop #Hazbin critical

[skye-huntress]

I’m in Love with the Villainess Reaction

Episode 7

How could I have forgotten about Lene’s teachings on “the Way of the Maid”. This should be good.

I see the other Knights showed up this time. I’m sure at least some of them are regretting not sitting on the last meeting when Rod pushed his proposal.

I will say this about Rod, he doesn’t half-ass things. If he’s going to do something, he’s going to put the effort in, hence why he is one of the top students.

Okay, with the glasses, she reminds me of the François Head Maid. I suppose it makes sense she is to blame for this.

Even as a child, Lene had mastered the art of manipulating Claire.

Hmm, I think Misha wears it best.

Also, putting lipstick on Lorek is just adding insult to injury.

Oh, no, Claire as a butler is more dangerous than I thought. I saw that shot in the preview but hearing her speak is doing something to me. And now I know why so many girls ended up falling for Claire later on in the series.

If Rae didn’t take this opportunity, I’d have been disappointed in her.

Claire, don’t threaten her with a good time, you know how she is by now.

It’s that guy, whose name is not really worth remembering. If it weren’t for the momentary focus on him, he’d blend in with all the background characters.

Hello? That person is here, lurking ominously in the shadows.

Now isn’t that interesting. During an “event” where one of the three love interests shows up, it is actually Claire to the rescue. I mean, if we are talking about the LI with the highest affection level, who else would it be?

I think that covers the Lene-focused flashbacks from Claire’s childhood. We did the ones focused on her mother last episode. I wonder when they plan to show us the rest.

You doing okay, Thane? Sounds like you’re losing the will to live.

This is the closest to courtship that Rae has actually done since she met Claire. To put it another way, Rae finally (kind-of) asked Claire out on a date.

Claire, you really set yourself up for that.

This Haunted House gets an A for atmosphere, and an F for costume design.

Does that boy have a permanent blush, or is he that into Yu and Rae?

Rae may understand and agree with the Commoner Movement, but making sure Claire gets her “happy ending” is her priority. If, hypothetically, the Movement ever became a threat to Claire, Rae would not hesitate to show them what a dualcaster can do.

Seriously, Rae, how do you not get it yet? The first time you properly ask Claire out on a date, which she willingly agreed to, and you close it out by wishing her luck getting with someone else. No wonder the poor girl is so confused and not sure whether to believe in your love or not.

I do get to a certain extent what Rae means when she says Claire saved her. I had a similar life-altering experience playing a certain game. It had such an impact on me, that when I changed my name, I took that character’s name as part of my new one.

Rae doesn’t realise the opportunity she let slip by. Still, Claire did hold on to the necklace.

I see Claire’s ED song has changed, just like Rae’s, which I still haven’t found a translation for, yet.

Guess we’re skipping the shopping encounter with Dole, Claire’s father. I suppose that’s fine. Unless we get a second season, there’s not much point teasing the audience too much if there’s no guarantee of a payoff.

I figured if we had the extra time this episode, we’d have that as a cliffhanger.

#i’m in love with the villainess #i'm in love with the villainess

[the-gateway-to-madness]

Akiridion Courtship

I've seen a bunch of takes on this, so given what little we know of Akiridion culture, what I've seen in the fandom, and what ideas I've picked up from other shows, I'm going to slap together some of my own thoughts.

Starting a Romance on Akiridion:

I think there would be some manner of tradition regarding this. Akiridions being as long-lived as they are, I think the basic, more commonly accepted idea would be that Akiridion relationships are started with eternity in mind, with shorter, more passionate relationships being more of a product of active rebellion than a common thing like they are on Earth. Akiridions are built to last, and I think their love and marriages would be too.

So, how would Akiridions begin a relationship, is the obvious question?

They're a culture with a very particular concept of honor, as we can see from Varvatos and from the way other warriors behave. They're also an immensely creative people, as we know from Krel and how advanced their technology is. The little shrine to the Royals we see in one of the episodes has its own sort of artistic beauty.

And so, I think hand-crafted or self-designed gifts would be a way to begin an Akiridion courtship. I also think secret courtship wouldn't be considered shameful on Akiridion like it sometimes is on Earth, especially for royals; I think it'd be considered a perfectly reasonable act of protecting personal privacy.

Anyway, I think that a series of three gifts, from the person initiating the courtship to their romantic interest, is customary. The first is to express interest (called a "muryt"), the second to express intent of building a solid relationship (called a "dibir"), and the third to ask the romantic interest to accept them (called a "kveca"). The romantic interest is free to reject any of the gifts, whereupon the gifter is expected to back off. This has a certain influence over the dynamic of the more traditional aspects of the relationship moving forward.

Process of Courtship:

In an effort to build a lasting relationship, Akiridion dates, I think, would be more practical than not. I think they'd be focused on cooking and creating things together, learning about each other and learning new things together. They'd be to facilitate interpersonal connection and to figure out what the couple has in common. Of course, these are the focus, but romantic gestures are welcome and encouraged, too.

Akiridion Dancing:

I don't think Akiridions dance to music. I think they have very precise, fluid dance forms that facilitate closeness and conversation. Circular steps and a lot of mirroring movements and hand touches.

Breakups:

There's a couple ways for Akiridions to break up. One is for the receiver of the courtship initiation gifts to return the kveca. One is for the gifts-receiver's House to compensate the gifter's House in some way. One can also just break it off verbally, but it's considered more impolite.

Preparing for Marriage:

This one is a modified version of a Minbari tradition from Babylon 5. If an Akiridion couple decides to consider marriage, the gift-receiver and gifter spend three nights together, wherein the latter sleeps, and the former watches. The belief is that, at some point during those three nights, the gifter's "true face" or true self is revealed to the gift-receiver while they sleep. If the gift-receiver likes what they see, they get married. If they don't like it, they get to decide the future of the relationship.

Proposal and Marriage:

For the proposal, the initial gift-receiver creates three gifts to give to the initial gifter, symbolizing promising themself to them like the initial gifter did at the start of the relationship.

The marriage is an occasion that's taken seriously to a degree, but treated with lightheartness. Mostly it just finalizes if one member of the couple or other is going to choose to join the other's House, or if they'll choose to create a new House together.

Variation for Royals or Nobles:

Not that different, really. Nobles or commoners marrying royals become part of the royal House. Commoners marrying nobles join that noble's House. If royals marry each other, as in the case of Aja and Krel's parents, a new House is formed.

Here's a compilation of all the posts I've done analyzing Akiridions:

#And that concludes my essay. #tales of arcadia #toa 3below #3below tales of arcadia #krel tarron #aja tarron #varvatos vex #zadra #Akiridions

[itsgoghtime]

I have a little story to tell…

*skip past the writing if you only want to see the pictures haha*

I know it’s not like… super important or anything, but I just have to tell someone how this quilt came about cause there really isn’t anyone to tell haha

In November, I found myself in the middle of an endless winter (seriously, the snow piles were 5 feet high and rising, like the Johnny Cash song) and I needed change. I needed something to distract myself with.

During this period, I had also decided I needed a new hobby. I had recently made the dive back into writing, but there was something missing.

As ironic as it is, I was on Instagram - which rarely happens nowadays - and found a quilt pattern that I instantly fell in love with.

this is the pattern for those who are curious - no secrets here haha

I sat on the idea for a month - I’m an anxious money spender (great for my bank account, not so great for any sort of aspiring to new hobbies like quilting) so nothing happened for a while. Then, on the spur of a moment, I bought the pattern.

And the pattern sat in the bottom drawer of my dresser for another month. (Almost two actually)

My friend finally convinced me that I needed to do something for me (for once) and so I made a trip to the fabric store and bought the yellow fabrics.

On the spur of a moment, in early January, I began cutting fabric. There was a moment where I really realized how much I was going to have to cut - and so I recruited a friend and let me tell you, for the next three weeks, we spent almost every evening together cutting fabric. We made a playlist of music we both enjoyed and kept adding to it and watching random films as we did so - it was a LOT.

And then - all the fabric was cut. But now we had to sew all the pieces together.

That took another month - stats to follow at the end because I think they really put this into perspective.

It was during this time I began watching The Mysterious Benedict Society. My good heavens friends, I loved this show from Episode One - and I had to share it with everyone I knew. (There will be a lil part about this at the end, cause I love you all so much)

We spent another threeish weeks sewing pieces together (again, stats to follow) - but we spent literally basically every day together making it happen.

To kinda skip some stuff - I chose the blues/whites on the back sometime in March, and I made the pattern myself (not crazy, it’s just a bunch of squares, and if you look at it at an angle, they’re lil hearts 🥺

I put the back together, which didn’t take long at all, and then got fleece to put in the middle as filler.

Long story short - there’s lots of issues that I had - right before I took it in for quilting, I washed the layers and had some holes that opened since some of the edges weren’t quite 1/4”, so that was frustrating. Also ran into some issues of the backing and the fleece not being big enough to allow quilting.

I ended up finally taking it in to be officially quilted on May 8th - to one of my aunts.

I got the quilt back (she had quite a few before mine haha) this last Monday, June 26.

Made the last trip to the fabric store on Friday, and did the binding yesterday - that was quite the adventure - this thing weighs like… 10-15 pounds, I swear. And not to mention, its 7ish feet by 9ish feet long.

What an absolutely wild adventure.

I have met the kindest, most genuine - and funny people in the history of ever because I watched MBS while I was doing this quilt. If I hadn’t started the quilt, I might’ve not seen MBS - and I might not have met all my amazing mutuals.

Lots of good things come so unexpectedly, you know?

Here, my friends, are the statistics:

- the design is 10x13 - totaling in 130 total squares

- each square has:

- 3 rectangles (390 total)

- 2 lil white squares for the corner of the stars (260 total)

- 2 each of color and white squares, sewn together at an angle to make 4 mismatched triangles that make the sharp pointy edges of the stars (520 total)

this means each square has 9 pieces that are sewn together. two different designs, so they match up to make stars at their junctions.

then, the back’s a lot simpler hehe - 64 pieces, we won’t count the extra white on the sides cause that’s technically part of the binding

IN CONCLUSION - this quilt has a total of 1,234 individual pieces

the front - all the Number Two vibes. when I first started watching MBS, it brought me so much joy that she always was wearing some sort of shade of yellow and that my quilt was just like that.

the back - Nathaniel vibes. the blues and the crisp whites, the fish kinda remind me of the island haha - but @sophieswundergarten bringing up that he wakes up in her childhood room just brought it full circle. two of my favorite characters represented on the same quilt - GAH (again, Nathaniel after his redemption arc, and specifically his arc in @nobody33333333 ‘s SOS, because to some degree, I can relate)

I’d like to think that Nicholas has quilts like this in his house - maybe even a quilt for everyone that represents them cause he seems like the type to have that.

thank you all for coming to this incredibly long TedTalk and for being so kind about it - I’m super proud of this quilt and I’ve been so excited to share it with someone!

#kinda mbs #you guys - I’m just so proud of this #it’s probably my favorite thing I’ve done #thank you for being so supportive and kind and all the things #you are the best

[sortanonymous]

The Heroic Quest of the Valiant Prince Ivandoe is so darn good!!!

It's a shame that the overseas release of this show (which, yes, is from the Gumball staff) has been such a hot mess because it is such a fun time even just two episodes in! It has such a fun cast of characters between the main duo (WE MUST STAN BERT!) and the many one-off characters, the humor is absolutely hilarious, and there's a genuine heart and intrigue to the show and it's world that make it that much more of a great adventure! (Seriously, the second episode made me emotionally invested in the well-being of a giant chicken monster. What have the people at this studio been on for the past 12½ years and where can I find it?) The best way I can describe it is that it feels like just tiny drops of Gumball's tone and 2D character design style (which should be obvious), Monty Python and the Holy Grail's spoofing of fantasy tropes, and even Over the Garden Wall's variety in settings (okay, maybe not much like that last one at all in any other way, but I digress). Such a great start for a show that I will definitely be keeping track of, even if I wish it didn't air new episodes so freaking early. (Seriously, does Cartoon Network even want to have a hit show anymore?)

In fact, the weird and sad thing about CN being at death's door and having so few new shows is that the ones I have gotten off my lazy butt to see have still been so good, between this and Unicorn: Warriors Eternal (I know it was slapped onto adult swim at the 11th hour, but that's a CN show and you won't convince me otherwise, although I'm kinda glad [as] is taking it in if for no other reason than them not being allergic to Blu-Rays and decent scheduling). Admittedly Zaslav being Zaslav does worry me about both shows' futures, but hey, Unicorn at least has the armor of technically being aired as a show on the seemingly safer [adult swim] and the credentials of a legendary creator who wants to do three more seasons, while Ivandoe is apparently already at like Season 3 or something in Italy so at least I already know there's plenty more to come. Regardless of studio locations (or countries) and the company's fragile state, there's still magic left in Cartoon Network, and I really hope these two great shows are not the last we see of it.

Anyways check out new episodes Saturday mornings at 9 ET on Cartoon Network! Considering how good this show is and how bad CN is at marketing it, I have no shame playing the shill here.

Also apparently if an ex-animator is to be believed, Gumball Season 7 is coming out mid-to-late 2024 while the movie is on hold and I have no clue what to think. The way they'll handle that cliffhanger has just looked muddier by the day since it aired, but hopefully the show itself will still be as good we expected because wow I've missed peak Gumball! (Bonus points if it's actually as good as Seasons 2, 3, and suprisingly 6, instead of the kinda disappointing Seasons 4 and 5 although that's all a rabbit hole for another day.)

#the heroic quest of the valiant prince ivandoe #prince ivandoe #underrated #cartoon network #gumball season 7 thoughts at the end #kinda wish to do some kind of discussion or geeky stuff each episode #you know like all the cartoons during tumblr's prime in the mid-2010s

[cboffshore]

Hey there - I'm Lila!

If you're seeing this, it could mean any of the following: you're already a mutual, you like Ninjago, you really like Ninjago's infamous (ha!) sixth season Skybound, or you know me from something else entirely. Or it's none of those and you've just taken a super wrong turn. No matter what - I'm glad you're here!

Join me under the cut for a more detailed look at my account, or just venture off on your own - the choice is yours.

WHO I AM & WHERE TO FIND ME

You can call me Lila! I've been around the Ninjago fandom since 2011 under a whole bunch of different names and accounts, with all the bizarre stories and memories to show for it. Now, though, you can find me under one of two handles: @cboffshore (here and on Twitter, where I'm not as active as I used to be) or OffshoreWriter over on AO3.

My title as Skybound Analysis PhD holder was born from a joke (initially given to me when I overanalyzed Skybound's color scheme and then Flintlocke's development in a Discord server) but grew into, well, not a joke; I take Skybound about as seriously as someone can take a toy commercial cartoon. Through all of my years in the Ninjago fandom, I've never seen a season as misunderstood and contentious as Skybound. Unfortunately, I happen to like it a lot for what it is, and I'm willing to defend it very hard (but don't get me wrong, I know it's got flaws! I'm not completely nuts!).

Outside of Ninjago overanalysis, I'm into a few other things: crocheting, the occasional piece of digital art, music (special faves include I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME, Fall Out Boy, and My Chemical Romance), and Bionicle (but only on a casual "wow cool vibes and killer writing" basis because that timeline does NOT make sense to me.).

SOME STUFF I DO

The best way to get into my work is just to explore all the nooks and crannies of my blog, but for those of you in a rush, here are links to some of my favorite projects:

On Sea, Sunlight, and Sky, aka OSSAS, is what I'd consider the crown jewel of my AO3 catalog: a Nya-centric series diving into her experience during the last few episodes of Skybound. Updated every December until I decide to lay her to rest (which, by the looks of it, will be the 2024 installment), this is my longest-term project that exemplifies how I approach Skybound as a season. If you only check out one corner of my work, make it OSSAS. You can find all things OSSAS under #ossas tag here on my blog (newcomers beware of spoilers!)

Yours To Keep: Rethinking Skybound Through Fashion is an older project of mine that blends fashion design and Nadakhan character analysis. As in, I drew a trio of banger outfits and then wrote essays about what all their details meant. Trust me on this, it's a cool one! (This is a holdover from when my fandom involvement was almost exclusively Ninjago character analysis-based couture fashion art... you can thank Giles Panton for that.)

Sorrow is All The Rage: An Analysis of Sexual Assault in Jay-Centric Skybound Fanfiction is a two (technically, three) part essay detailing my attempts to come to terms with the (frankly rather concerning) trend of gratuitous SA inclusion in a surprising swath of popular Skybound fanfiction. (Spoiler alert: I still think it's weird as hell and I haven't come to terms with it... but I have gotten way better at using the block button to keep it out of my line of sight.) The link in the title will take you to part one; part two is linked at the end, and part three's mini update is lurking somewhere in those tags. Please note: this essay is not an attack, or a condemnation, although it may come across that way at times. This was written largely as a vent piece about an issue that has disturbed me deeply and affected how I go about interpreting Skybound, and that definitely impacted my tone. If you'd like to reference this for any reason, or if you have any questions, please shoot me an ask or DM.

#Lila speaks #Lila writes #pinned post

[staringdownabarrel]

I think the thing a lot of people tend to get caught up on when it comes to whether or not Harry Kim should have been promoted is the actual circumstances of promotion in previous shows. (Yes, I'm aware there's another post going around at the moment about this topic, and yes, that did inspire this one. However, my opinion is a bit wall of text-y and I don't want to derail someone else's post, even if I do largely agree with them.)

The number one biggest indicator that a character will be promoted is if they take on the responsibilities of becoming a department head. It happened to Worf: he went from being a lieutenant, junior grade in TNG's first season to being a full lieutenant in season three, after he'd been head of security for a while. It happened with LaForge as well: he was a lieutenant, junior grade in season one (there were four different chief engineers that season and he wasn't one), a full lieutenant just before season two (which is when he became chief engineer), and a lieutenant commander just before season three.

The second biggest indicator tends to be when the definition of what their role means expands. This is what happened to Ben Sisko. Early on in DS9, he's a commander of a frontier outpost and most of the real decisions end up being booted back up to Starfleet Command. But as the seasons go on and his role expands to include long-lasting tactical/strategic decisions and more and more diplomatic and first contact responsibilities (both previously associated mostly with starship command), he gets promoted to captain. Notice how Bashir and Dax are both promoted off-screen at some point as well.

Harry Kim meets both of these requirements. He's bumped up to chief of operations more or less immediately after entering the Delta Quadrant, and he performs pretty well in this role overall. Ultimately, there's no reason why he shouldn't have been a lieutenant, junior grade by the start of the second season.

The definition of what it means to be Voyager's chief of operations expands as the show goes on, too. Initially, it doesn't seem to be that far removed from any other engineering job on a Starfleet ship, but as time goes on, he's also being dragged into major engineering design jobs. This includes integrating Borg technology into the ship's capabilities, including the astrometrics lab and helping to design the Delta Flyer.

Really, the best argument for Kim not to be promoted is because of potential rivalry with the Maquis crew. Tuvok might have gotten a promotion simply because he'd worked well with both crews in the past--he'd been on the Val Jean with the Maquis crew for a while before they went to the Delta Quadrant.

But even if we take this argument seriously, Janeway still had the option of promoting Torres as well. There's no reason why she couldn't have been a lieutenant commander by the end of the show, given it's not an uncommon rank for chief engineers.

Torres' rank is a bit of a mysterious thing. For most of the show's run, she's a lieutenant, junior grade, but in the first half a dozen episodes or so, she's a full lieutenant. (So was Tom Paris--go look at his collar.) The thing is that in those early episodes of Voyager, there was a production error where Tuvok was wearing a lieutenant commander's pips but was only referred to as a lieutenant in the opening credits and in dialogue as well, and when they changed his insignia, they changed Torres' as well (and also Paris').

The thing is that having her as a full lieutenant made much more sense. Joe Carey, the engineer who was being considered for the role of chief engineer in Parallax, was a full lieutenant and remained one for the rest of the show. Having Torres keep a rank equal to his would make sense in that context.

The other big counter-argument I tend to see is that well, there's nowhere for Kim to go if he gets promoted too far. I reject this argument on the face of it because it ignores how certain officers will go to a certain ship, decide it's home now, and stay there for decades. Picard was the commanding officer of the Stargazer for 22 years for example, and most of his senior staff on the Enterprise-D and -E served under him for fifteen years. Most of the senior staff that served under Kirk on his Enterprise seemed to stay on the NCC-1701 for most of their careers after that point as well; largely in the same positions. There's obviously no up or out policy in Starfleet and it doesn't seem to be that much of a hindrance to gaining rank.

So there was definitely room to promote Harry Kim and still have it make sense in the context of the ship, even though they were 70,000 light years from home. The only reasons to not promote him were bullshit reasons that don't really make that much sense from an in-universe perspective.

#star trek #star trek voyager #star trek voy #voyager #voy #rant

[denimbex1986]

'GamesRadar+ Verdict *****

Inventive, unsettling and the perfect vehicle for its two stars, 'Wild Blue Yonder' is event TV at its best, and everything you could want from an episode of Doctor Who.

Back in 2005, showrunner Russell T. Davies kicked off his first stint in the TARDIS with an Earthbound adventure featuring a familiar villain (malevolent mannequins the Autons in ‘Rose’), followed by a trip to the furthest reaches of time and space in ‘The End of the World’. After bringing back fan-favourite comic-book creation the Meep in last week’s ‘The Star Beast’, he’s followed a similar trajectory by materialising the Doctor and Donna on the literal edge of the universe.

That’s where the similarities end, however, because while ‘The End of the World’ was a fun, knockabout introduction to some of the weird and wonderful aliens who call the Whoniverse home, ‘Wild Blue Yonder’ is a considerably darker affair. In fact, the second of the three 60th anniversary specials revels in bringing scares and some genuinely unsettling moments to Saturday evening TV – just as Doctor Who should.

Davies has said in pre-broadcast interviews that he’s been trying to keep the plot under wraps ahead of transmission, and going in cold really pays dividends here. Even the opening of the episode offers few clues of what’s to come, as Donna’s strategically spilled coffee plays havoc with the TARDIS’s navigational systems, facilitating an entertaining encounter with Isaac Newton and history’s most famous apple. But that’s just a minor detour en route to a spaceship where things are so irregular that the out-of-sorts TARDIS does a runner – the Doctor’s blue box may have a fancy new interior, but it’s still as eccentric as ever.

Much has been made of the influx of Disney Plus money to the show’s production budget, and it’s used to spectacular effect here. Running through corridors has always been a big part of the Doctor Who brand, but the Time Lord doesn’t usually have to negotiate seemingly endless corridors that mysteriously reconfigure themselves on a regular basis – although they’re obviously CG, the ambition and scale of this alien craft’s design compensates for any flaws.

And there’s something seriously weird going on here, as the episode refers back to the horror movie manual to ramp up the tension in an ingeniously family-friendly way. Why is there a rusty robot (who looks a lot like Marvin in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy movie) loitering in the corridor? Why are there no lifeforms on board? Why did an airlock open and close three years earlier? Why are there no stars outside? What’s that banging? And why has the air got a little bit chilly all of a sudden? Director Tom Kingsley also adds to your growing sense of unease by making the camera peer through holes or round corners, as if the Doctor and Donna are being watched.

When the antagonist(s) are finally introduced, it takes you a few moments to realise that something is very, very wrong. And the big reveal, when it comes, is both grotesque and hilariously funny, body horror with a comedic spin, as if David Cronenberg woke up one morning and decided the one thing his movies need is more slapstick. There are also echoes of vampire mythology, Alien(s) and even – in one wonderfully freaky moment – The Exorcist.

In fact, there’s so much going on here that it shouldn’t really hang together. That it does is a testament to Davies, who – after more than a decade away from Who, during which he’s written the brilliant A Very English Scandal, Years and Years and It’s a Sin – is arguably an even better writer than when he left. ‘Wild Blue Yonder’ segues seamlessly from a Thunderbirds reference and an ongoing gag about Newton’s discovery of “mavity” to jump scares and emotional character beats – and then back again.

The sheer volume of ideas is also remarkable, as Davies burns through several sophisticated concepts that would – on most sci-fi shows – be enough to power entire episodes by themselves. Indeed, the idea that 21st century human language lacks the capacity to comprehend the universe having an edge is a genuinely beautiful piece of writing.

Most importantly, however, “Wild Blue Yonder” is the perfect vehicle for stars David Tennant and Catherine Tate, who carry the entire episode, and – for various reasons – get to show sides of their roles we’ve never seen before. As one of the few new Who companions who’s never been in awe of her Time Lord chum, Donna’s never been afraid to tell it like it is. But there’s an extra dimension to her now that she has a family, and is even more desperate to get home than she would have been before. The Fourteenth Doctor, meanwhile, has changed significantly during the three lives he’s lived since they parted ways, and is definitely still carrying serious baggage from the Flux and the Timeless Child revelation.

They’re such a perfect duo that you want to spend as much time with them as possible, making this three-part reunion feel painfully short. The episode’s conclusion – featuring a lovely cameo – and “next week” teaser do enough to suggest they’re going out in style. But after the brilliant “Wild Blue Yonder”, it’s clear that saying goodbye for a second time is going to be just as cruel and painful as it was all those years ago.'

#Doctor Who #Tom Kingsley #Russell T. Davies #Timeless Child #Flux #Wild Blue Yonder #60th Anniversary #David Tennant #Catherine Tate #Donna Noble #The Star Beast

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball GT 29

✨GT Stands For Gimmicks Three✨

I cannot express how much I despise Gohan’s GT design.  His blazer has a zipper. He looks like such a tool, and the perma-sneer imposed upon him by his Tuffle master isn’t helping things.

Okay, so last time, Goku and Pan learned that Baby took over world while they were off collecting the Black Star Dragon Balls.  Gohan and Goten attacked them, and now Baby (in Vegeta’s body) is here to step in.  He’s surprised to discover that Majin Buu and Mister Satan managed to escape his infestation, but Buu seems to be immune to Baby’s eggs, and Satan can seek shelter inside Buu’s body whenever he’s threatened.  Baby could just kill them and be done with it, but instead he decides to let them go, along with the unconscious Pan.  Goku’s the one Baby wants. 

Goku promises to beat all of Baby’s cells out of the Earth’s population, but Baby insists that the process can’t be reversed so easily.  So Goku decides to drive Baby out of Vegeta’s body, kill Baby, and worry about the rest later.  So they fight, and this is some of the shittiest fight chroeography I’ve seen.  Seriously, look at this crap:

Seriously, this is garbage. People give Yukio Ebisawa a hard time for the episodes of Dragon Ball and DBZ where he served as animation supervisor.  The characters were off-model, but you know what?  They looked a lot more appealing than whatever lukewarm mush we’re seeing here.  Also, one of the strengths of Ebisawa’s exaggerated figures was that he could do bigger, wilder movements.   For example:

I picked this one because it resembles the Goku/Baby one above, with a smaller figure struggling against a larger opponent.  Tien looks like he ate several of his other opponents, but this exaggeration amplifies the size difference between them.  You can follow his hands as he blocks, even while Goku’s arms are a constant blur.  The movements are simple, but the precision and speed are not.  Tien seems to have Goku scouted completely.  Meanwhile, look how hard Goku is hammering away.  He’s not getting anywhere, but he damn sure isn’t giving up.  He’s going to keep punching at Tien until he chops that big oak down. 

Flash forward to GT Episode 29, and it looks like Goku isn’t even trying very hard.  I mean, neither does Baby, but at least he has an excuse, since he’s so much stronger than Goku right now. 

Then Trunks and Bulla show up, and Goku tries to warn them about Baby, except he’s too late.  Trunks was doomed from the start, and Bulla’s been Tuffleized for weeks already.  Baby declares that he’d rather kill Goku than convert him, which suits Goku just fine, since he’d rather die than join Baby anyway. 

So Goku finally decides it’s time to get serious and he pulls out the big gun: Super Saiyan 3.  Fuck yeah!  I loves me some Super Saiyan 3!  It never works, but it’s still fun watching him run wild with it.  Baby isn’t impressed, but Goku manages to land a decent hit and--

What happened to his head?  lol

Anyway, Baby’s a tough customer, and he seems to be outperforming Goku, even at Super Saiyan 3, but Goku’s not done yet.  No sir.  He’s in it to win it, and we’ve only just begun to see what he can do as a Super Saiy--

Wait, what? 

Dammit, he changed back.  Yeah, so just like the Instant Transmission, Goku’s kid body can’t maintain Super Saiyan 3.   This show just keeps refusing to let us have any fun.

✨Is this episode worse than “The Roaming Lake”?✨

Yes. This episode fucking sucks.  Roaming Lake doesn’t have any Super Saiyan 3 in it either, but it wasn’t invented back then.  And I’d rather watch “The Roaming Lake” than a show that cockteases me with Super Saiyan 3 mayhem only to peter out.  At least the Roaming Lake doesn’t vanish just as Goku leans in to take a drink of life restoring water. 

So where does Goku go from here?   Nowhere, that’s where.  He refuses to give up, so Baby just starts teeing off on him.  This is so damn dumb. 

Despite having Goku completely outclassed, Baby decides to power up even further, and has the kids all gather ‘round in a prayer circle and give him their energy. 

This gives Vegeta’s body some weird appendage around his shoulders, and his eyes are covered with the opaque lenses that Baby and Dr. Mu have. 

But that’s not enough, so he calls out to all of his slaves to give him the power of their hatred for the Saiyans, which will power him up even further.  Wait, aren’t they just giving him back the hatred he gave them? 

This completes the “Baby Vegeta” look and gives him a black leotard.  Baby then launches a black energy ball called “Revenge Death Ball.”  This is just an evil version of Goku’s Spirit Bomb, so yeah, whatever. 

Baby fires the thing and Goku can’t even move at this point, and then Gohan and Majin Buu separately confirm that Goku’s ki has vanished.   Baby declares victory and prepares for the next phase of his plan: Restoring the Tuffle homeworld.  Hoo-boy.

✨Positivity Page✨

I’m finding it harder and harder to find anything good to say about these episodes, so I’ll go with this shot of Goku biting Baby in desperation.  

✨ “Good” “Ideas”, Poorly Executed✨

This episode su-diddly-ucks, Flanders, and the cheap use of Super Saiyan 3 has a lot to do with it.  Past and future uses of SSJ3 were handled much more correctly, with Goku looking like a million dollars, but getting his ass handed to him anyway, in order to set up a bigger spectacle like fusion or the super Spirit Bomb, or Super Saiyan God.  This episode makes Goku look like a counterfeit two-dollar bill, and someone drew a dick over John Adams’ portrait.  And this was done to set up...... jack shit. 

Yeah, I know we’re getting Super Saiyan 4 later, but it’s going to be several more episodes before we get there, and before that happens, Goku will use SSJ3 all over again, which just makes this episode that much more pointless.  Here, it feels more like an item on Toei’s “to-do” list.   In case anyone was wondering why Goku didn’t try to fight Baby at full power, well, here you go.  They weren’t going to make it look special, or enjoyable.  They just did it to say they did it. 

Which highlights the terrible job Toei has done with handling the Super Saiyan concept in this series.  Trunks has only used Super Saiyan three times.  Once against Mutchy, once against Luud, and then once to purge Baby from his body.  Gohan, Goten, and Vegeta used it, but it made no difference. Goku used it against Ledgic, Mutchy, Luud, and Rildo, but only briefly, and it never seemed to matter much.  He beat Ledgic with it, but the other three fights showed Goku seemed to do better without it.

And Super Saiyan 2 never gets used at all, unless one of the five whipped it out during an episode and I just couldn’t tell.  You’d think they would have at least let Goku do it once just to set up the use of SSJ3 in this episode.   The fact that he can use SSJ3 at all means that he can probably maintain SSJ2 without any trouble.  He just never did. 

That’s really what makes this SSJ3 battle so weak.  Up to now, GT had seemed determined to make the Super Saiyan forms as meaningless and cosmetic as possible.  It’s like Goku just whips it out for a story beat, or because he feels like glowing yellow for a while.  It feels like they’re trying to train the audience to stop caring about the Super Saiyan forms, which seems like a terrible idea for the brand.  But the alternative is that the people writing the show just have no clue what the transformations mean, or how to use them in their scripts.  This episode basically told the audience that they were fools for wanting Super Saiyan 3, because it sucks and Goku can’t even do it anymore. 

Oh, but they made sure to jam pack this episode with whatever the fuck this boring nonsense is.  If you can write a scene where characters stand still, Dragon Ball GT will be all over it. 

✨The Blade Braxton Memorial Haiku*✨

The Revenge Death Ball:

Kills Gokus dead. Next time?  Try

Makankosappo.

#dragon ball #dragon ball gt #really sucks #goku #baby #bulla #gohan #goten #trunks #2023dbapocryphaliveblog #*haiku does not come with crown as illustrated

[toyota12]

My Criticisms of Change Your Mind

These are the problems I had with this episode overall, though I will still attempt to add possible solutions whenever I can.

The Crystal Gems

One of the first things that annoyed me with the episode is the amount of involvement the Crystal Gems had in it. Because outside of each of them fusing with Steven (which I believe is more for fan service, if anything) and all of them fusing to form Obsidian, none of them seem to make any meaningful contributions to the final confrontation with White Diamond. Almost immediately after they enter White's ship with Steven, they're taken out of commission by White until the end of episode.

Also, this is problem I've noticed with the Crystal Gems, especially in the later seasons, they immediately get curbstomped by whatever gem threat they're facing, leaving Steven to be the one to have to deal with them, mostly without help. It gets to the point that even Spinel (a gem with no fighting experience whatsoever) can easily take all three of them out in the movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6fJp-hoH-s I mostly agree with this YouTube video that Steven is the only character who actually communicates and the other characters don't, though I instead believe there should have been ways to work around the first-person perspective, even if it involved characters making decisions off screen. One moment that sticks out to me after this is how the show treated Bismuth's bubbling in her titual episode and eventual release in Made of Honor. In Both episodes Bismuth's fate is left to Steven to decide and the Crystal Gems just accept it without questioning it or offering any input on the situation. Getting back to this episode, I believe it would've been better if the Crystal Gems were written out of it, at least until after White Diamond had been defeated, and have the Steven and co. enter White's ship another, either through being flown or leviatated to the top, by either Lapis or Peridot respectively. Since their goal is to simply talk to White Diamond and not to fight her, this would have been an effective way to enter the ship. Another option would have been to have them contribute more and showing White how gems changing outside their designated roles doesn't have to be a bad thing.

Also rest assured, that at this point, this isn't the only show's finale where I would make the criticism that characters should have been written out of episode until the end or simply contributed more to the story.

2. White Diamond's characterization and motives

One of the few times where I can actually agree with The Roundtable is the criticism of the way White is portrayed from her first appearance in Legs from Here to Homeworld to this episode. In the former episode, while still being slightly condescending, she has a more motherly and welcoming tone in her voice. Also, it seems as though she was going to portrayed as being oblivious to the harm she's causing others as she mostly welcomes Steven as Pink Diamond, back to Homeworld and sends him to her room, which seemed to give off this mindset of focusing on managing the empire and not processing anything that happened in the time Pink was gone. However, in Change Your Mind, she is even more condescending towards Steven (though she still refers to him as Pink) than the former episode, talking down to him by saying, "look what happened last time," and overall appearing more arrogant.

Also the revelation that White knew Pink was Rose Quartz makes her contribution to the corruption beam make no sense because why would she help blast the planet or even allowed something that like that all with Blue and Yellow if she knew? White claims to be perfect, she knows Pink isn't dead, and the End of an Era timeline shows that didn't take the rebellion seriously, but if that's the case why didn't she tell Blue and Yellow Pink was still out there, or was Rose. Why did she instead go through with the attack alongside the former two diamonds, even though it would ruin what Yellow describes as "perfectly adequate gems." Also wouldn't it have already poked holes to White in the idea the she's a perfect gem who puts logic before emotion (more on this later). If White actually thought Pink was alive and was coming back eventually, why would choose to hide in her ship, furthermore, why does she continue to do so even after she thinks Pink is back? One more thing to note is if she thought Steven was just Pink using a kid as a vessel, why didn't she think to remove the gem from him when she first saw him instead of doing so when she sees him again? Overall, I believe most of White's character in this episode seems to contradict what was setup about her in Legs. An idea to resolve this would be to build into this characterization in more subtle methods, as in having Blue and Yellow show more harsher methods of controlling Steven as Pink, which would actually be done in their attempt to keep "Pink" safe from White until she herself decides to take charge, which Legs also appeared to set up with them.

I believe an idea to solve most of White's decision process would be to make it that White actually knew she wasn't perfect and was trying to present the idea to everyone that she was, similar to how Blue and Yellow know they're not perfect, but still try to maintain the idea that they are. Also, I would have it that White did actually buy into the idea that Pink was shattered, but never wanted to accept that Pink was actually dead. Doing so would likely help most of her decisions make more sense as she's prioritizing the image of a perfect empire over actually helping others, which would play into themes of toxic perfectionism (skip to this timestamp for more insight on what I mean: 19:07) seen in the show. She would blast the planet alongside Yellow and Blue to maintain the image that they won't let the Crystal Gems' actions go unpunished and hide in her ship because she refuses to abandon the ideal she wants to show as she believes that would be a selfish decision to make. It may be reasonable to assume that White was just in denial about being perfect, but in the story, it's still left ambiguous about if she really was in denial or if she really was a lot more informed than the rest of the characters since she also knew what "acting like a child" and a mom meant when Blue and Yellow weren't familiar with Earth customs.

3. Part 4 of the episode (or at least, the beginning of it)

Before starting, I don't have any problems in the revelation that Steven is himself and not Pink, as that makes sense. One of the issues that I do have with this scene is that it is noted in End of an Era that the reason White is as controlling as she is towards Pink is because she knew she couldn't use her powers on Pink due to her shield. Also it's revealed in Future that Pink always had a destructive scream. If both of these are true then why is White taken aback by how powerful Gem Steven is than her, and why would still try to use her powers on him if she already knows it isn't going to work? It also makes her defeat come across as too as either easily done or contradictory as part of it has to do with how she isn't able to make Steven into the person that she wants, which she again, should've known she couldn't do so anyway. More on this point, how was Pink Diamond, and by extension Steven, somehow have able to have an entire arsenal of powers at their disposal while the other three Diamonds only seem to have one or two unique abilities, and how are they somehow stronger than the others as well despite being the smallest? One method of resolving this could be to have it be that Pink Diamond really was the weakest out of the Diamonds. That way when she gives birth to Steven and he discovers how to handle his powers, training with them makes him gain more control over them. That way when Gem Steven faces White, him being stronger than her would be due to how he's trained with them, it would also make White's surprise and outrage more sensible opposed to trying something she should already know is going to fail.

#steven universe #change your mind #steven universe spoilers

[leothil]

I think my main issue comes from the back that they promoted episode 13 hard especially the buddie aspect of it and coming from that episode where it looks so promising to the next two episodes where we're introduced to multiple women for buck and eddie it just seems like I'm not gonna say baited but it's like they threw cold water on the fire they themselves started in episode 13 if that makes sense.

No, it doesn't make sense to me. Like, I know what you're saying, but I fundamentally disagree. They were not promoting the poker scene for the buddie aspect of it, that part was all us - and I have a pet theory they might not even have intended to show so much of it beforehand if that one still hadn't been put online so early in the portfolio of the person who helped design the set.

And yes, now they're apparently introducing at least one woman for Eddie to go on a date with (periodic reminder that we still don't *know* that Buck is going on new dates, we're just assuming) and... quite honestly, so what? We don't know what the date will lead to, we know almost nothing about what will go down in the last three episodes of the season, except that there will be some big catastrophe and everyone is covered in dust, and we don't know for how long any of the women getting introduced in the following episodes will stick around. So what we can do is assume, and based on the story they've been telling with both Eddie and Buck over especially the past two seasons, I would assume that going on dates with one or a few women is yet another step in realising they might be ready for a romantic relationship in their lives.

I also think a lot of you are taking the whole dating aspect a bit too seriously. A big part of dating is figuring out what it is you want from a partner and in your life, and it doesn't immediately have to be a big, serious thing. I know that dating in your teens usually means being in a relationship (at least it did in my teens), but when you're an adult it's more common to go on several dates with the same person without ever being in a relationship with them. It's all part of figuring it out. And doesn't that sound like something a certain someone has been talking about during this season? Figuring themself out?

#ask frida #anon #in the fandom we talk a lot about the shift that can be seen between buck and eddie between seasons 2 and 3 #but i'm rewatching with my sister and we're currently on s4 #and i'm pretty certain there's been a shift again between them after or during 5b #i'll have to get back to it once we reach that part in our rewatch but i have a feeling.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Michael After Midnight: Gordy’s Home

[Here’s the beginning of my journey (backstory here). The first Michael blog I accessed hails from what I have designated Earth-2211979, and it seems like this is the world where Jordan Peele’s film Nope takes place. This Michael seems to review a lot of old TV shows for his blog, especially weird, obscure, and even lost media. This right here is the last review on his blog, and it seems like he’s been inactive for several months.]

The 90s was an utter wasteland of either incredibly insipid or outright insane sitcoms, but tonight’s review is about one that landed somewhere in the middle. Gordy’s Home is exactly the sort of bonkers concept you’d see coming out of the chimp-obsessed 90s scene while at the same time being incredibly predictable. But, of course, you know that I didn’t decide to review this because of that. You know what the elephant in the room is.

Or maybe you don’t! So let’s set that shit aside and talk about the actual show before we get into the dark underbelly of this seemingly saccharine slice of 90s nostalgia.

The cast is a very mixed bag. Ricky “Jupe” Parkin definitely the weak link here. Look, we all loved him in Kid Sherrif, but we were like toddlers. He’s just not a good child actor, he just got a stroke of luck. At least his fist bumps with Gordy are pretty fun, but watching a kid do a fist bump with a chimp is hard to fuck up. The other human actors are all giving corny performances, but they seem a bit more self-aware and tongue in cheek, so it’s easier to stomach them. The MVP of the humans is definitely Mary Jo Elliot, who clearly is trying her best with this silly material. It’s such a damn shame we never got to see her go further in her career, especially when she managed to make a “drugs are bad” PSA episode palatable.

Then we have Gordy. Oh, sweet Gordy. Is it even okay to say he was the best part of the show? Because it’s undeniable, he was. But it feels so fucking dirty saying that, all things considered, and keep in mind—this show had an episode guest starring Bill Cosby! How the Hell did THAT age less poorly than the chimp? I look at it like this: He was an animal. I can’t really hold the poor chimp to human standards, can I?

…God, I guess I can’t really beat around the bush. Can’t I talk about the cringey tween romance episodes? The corny episode where Gordy keeps messing up the family vacation? The weird way this show seems to think adopting a chimp and an Asian is something you should think is wacky and whimsical (boy am I glad we left weird racist undertones in the 90s, never to be seen again)?

No. I’ve gotta talk about the incident.

This show is remarkably hard to watch. Like, the only version of the opening theme on YouTube is a poorly recorded VHS rip, and there are at least three episodes that have yet to be found despite lost media aficionados doing their damndest to hunt them down. And the reason for this is because of a tragic incident that happened on set in 1998, where Gordy went berserk and maimed or murdered his costars save for Park.

I remember seeing it on the news when I was a kid and just not understanding it. I remember seeing the magazine covers, the parodies, that fucking godawful SNL sketch… No, seriously, was SNL ever fucking funny? I rewatched that sketch for this review and it is the most tasteless, unfunny shit I’ve ever seen. Gilbert Gottfried’s 9/11 jokes right after the attack were funnier. Who okayed that? Who okayed any of that shit after the incident? A kid had her face ripped off, for Christ’s sake!

There were so many weird rumors and urban legends about the incident. I remember seeing one a lot, that there was some insane fan who’d wandered on set with a gun and that’s what set Gordy off, but that sounds really outlandish and ridiculous. There’s also a rumor that there’s footage of the incident floating around online, and you can see just where Gordy bites Elliot’s face off. I’d honestly rather watch that video where the dude with the ice pick eats that other guy again than see that, so if it does exist I hope it stays lost. Some things aren’t meant to be seen, and this is one of them.

Really, it’s a shame that THIS is what the show is remembered for: An awful, totally avoidable tragedy that has hung a dark cloud over everything. We never got a really clear answer over what happened on that set, but I’m guessing this is the same shit that happens every time an animal mauls someone. They ignored warnings, didn’t treat Gordy with respect, and honestly? Wouldn’t surprise me if they abused him too. Apparently Park has some theme park out in the place I’m going hiking with my buddies soon, maybe I could just drop in and ask him what the truth is. Bet he’d just love to talk about that.

Gordy’s Home is an unremarkable, corny, harmless 90s show forever tainted by a senseless tragedy. Like, I spent more time talking about the chimp attack than the actual show here, that’s how much Gordy’s rampage looms over it. Really, I think what sums it all up for me is how the show uses Gowan’s “(You’re a) Strange Animal” as its theme song, seemingly to imply fun and monkey business… but conveniently leaves out verses like this, ones that tragically foreshadow the ineptitude that led to the carnage on set:

Well, they say I should approach you with caution But not to let you be aware of my fear Never know what you'll find Don't understand your kind round here

They still used the song better than Crowder did, at least.

#Gordy's home #review #tv show review #multiverse

[animebw]

Short Reflection: Summer 2022 Anime

Is it just me, or does summer tend to be the worst season for anime? Ever since I’ve started watching seasonally, summer has consistently been the weakest season every year, with the most high-profile disappointments and the least genuine successes. And that felt especially true this year, with show after how either failing to rise to its full potential or just never showing any potential in the first place. This has been a barren three months, and even after deciding to drop all the shows I really wasn’t feeling, I was left with far more bad than good. If not for a couple spectacular late-minute arrivals, I’d be confident calling this the worst ever season of anime in the modern era. It may well still be that! Either way, fall’s already looking exponentially better, so let’s give this cursed season the post-mortem it deserves and take a look at what gems are worth salvaging. I’ve already given my thoughts on the miserable second season of Devil is a Part-Timer (3/10), the ambitious but amateurish RWBY spinoff Ice Queendom (5/10), and the problematic delight that was Call of the Night (7.5/10). As for everything else... read on.

Shine Post: Unfinished/10

So, I guess the folks at Cygames finally dispense with all the stupid, ill-fitting gimmicks and just make a straightforward idol anime, huh? Forget the unholy amalgamation of horse-racing pop stars that was Uma Musume, Shine Post is pure idol through and through, a story about a bunch of ordinary high school girls chasing their dreams and make the world hear their songs. On the one hand, I appreciate them for finally cutting out the middleman; watching Uma Musume break its own back to shoe-horn all those competing genres into the same space was painful, so deciding to just focus on the idol stuff that was always Cygames’ clearest inspiration was a sound decision. Unfortunately, once you strip away all that genre-blending weirdness that made Uma Musume so compelling in spite of itself, all you’re left with is, well, a basic-ass idol show with no real selling points beyond some admittedly stellar character animation and a unique-but-poorly-utilized gimmick of the manager being able to magically tell when someone’s lying. And then you’re forced to contend with the fact that Cygames writing is pretty uniformly terrible, overwrought melodrama (the second season of Uma Musume nonwithstanding), and all their female characters speak in the most ear-grating attempts at forced, quirky cuteness imaginable, and then you start hyperfocusing on the weirdly sexualized character designs with perfectly see-through t-shirts and prominent thigh gaps and... yeah, suffice to say, my interest in this one is pretty much dead. The last three episodes had to be delayed thanks to an untimely Covid outbreak at the studio, so we’ll see if the finale somehow manages to turn this thing around. But I’m not holding my breath.

Yurei Deco: 2.5/10

Is there such a thing as Oscar-bait anime? I don’t know, but if there is, it probably looks an awful lot like Yurei Deco. It’s an anime original by the critically beloved studio Science Saru! It’s got a unique art style and a eclectic musical score! It’s telling a topical, relevant story about the modern-day surveillance state and how our lives are run by algorithms! It’s a very loose adaptation of a piece of classic Western literature filtered through insane anime goggles (Huckleberry Finn, in this case). It’s a show that practically screams its desire to be taken seriously, to have thinkpieces written about how Deep and Meaningful it is. But all that surface-level posturing can’t hide the fact that this is one of the stupidest goddamn anime I’ve watched all year. The story is limp and fails to connect, the animation isn’t appreciably better than other more generic but better produced shows, the literary references don’t amount to anything and honestly kind of make things worse with their incongruity, and whatever message it was trying to convey ends up so mangled by the end that it feels like you’re being made fun of for even trying to care in the first place. Bad anime are a dime a dozen, but few things are as aggravating to sit through as a bad anime that’s convinced of its own brilliance despite having all the intelligence of a lobotomized monkey.

Shine on! Bakamatsu Bad Boys: 3/10

The easiest way to describe Bakamatsu Bad Boys would be “Akudama Drive in the Sengoku era of Japan.” The premise is similar, at least; seven colorful and color-coded criminals are brought together by an outside force to help change the world that forced them into criminality in the first place. Sadly, the second easiest way to describe Bakamatsu Bad Boys would be “Akudama Drive but infinitely worse.” There’s some good chemistry among the cast, but they’re almost always split off into designated pairs and never allowed to shine as a group dynamic. Plus the animation is weaker, the themes are sloppier, the character arcs are so much more pedestrian, and there’s a real lack of spark to the whole affair. This is a story about criminals taking over the wreckage of the Shinsengumi to help rebuild it into a better force for good, but very little of the juicy potential in that concept makes it on screen beyond some decent moralizing against outright torture. But what really kills this thing is the only female character being subjected to the absolute worst kind of predatory “romance” and gender essentialism. That’s where this show crosses the line from inoffensively boring to outright disgusting.

A Couple of Cuckoos (2nd Half): 3.5/10

Is it just a rule that all harem anime must be cursed to go completely to shit by the end? I remember actually liking A Couple of Cuckoos back when it started out, but by the second half rolled around, it was just completely out of gas. Whatever story it had to begin with round to a halt and stayed there for twelve episodes of mind-numbing, meaningless faffing about, occasionally threatening to sputter back to life before promptly fizzling out all over again, finally belching up one last fart cloud of a non-ending before going completely silent. And I might not even be that upset about it; plenty of great anime have been forged off the backs of watching fun characters just hang out forever, and if there’s one thing I can say in Cuckoos’ favor, it does have some very entertaining character banter. But when you keep threatening to actually do something interesting? With cliffhanger after cliffhanger that are resolved near instantly and accomplish nothing except tricking you into thinking that finally, something, anything is about to happen? That, folks, is where my patience officially runs out. This show is a waste of my time, your time, and the time of every artist who worked on it. Skip it.

Phantom of the Idol: 6/10

Some things don’t need a deep reason for why you like them. Sometimes, just being a good time is good enough. And this heartfelt screwball comedy about a lazy, cynical male idol teaming up with the ghost of a former idol sensation to help advance his career without putting in the work himself is fun aplenty. Sure, it’s no Ya Boi Kongming, and the lackluster CG during the actual idol performances isn’t gonna blow anyone away. But it’s got good jokes, lovably eccentric characters, a sharp sense of comedic timing, and just enough sincerity to balance out the high-tempo wackiness. This is popcorn entertainment at its most easily digestible; it won’t blow you away, but it’s a good time guaranteed if you’re just looking for something to kick back and enjoy without thinking about it too much.

Shadows House Season 2: 6/10

Shadows House was one of last years’ most pleasant surprises, a slow-burn gothic shonen mystery that slipped neatly into the Promised Neverland-shaped hole left by that show’s misbegotten second season. Few anime settings in recent years have been as memorable as the titular house, and the first season left me eager to see Kate and Emilico continue their slowly blossoming revolution. Unfortunately, while season 2 keeps the twists coming hot and heavy with even more fascinating revelations about the systems governing this nightmare mansion, the narrative machinery feels on much less solid footing this time around. Answers come from awkward places and drawn-out exposition dumps, some reveals feel shortchanged, and there’s a frustrating sense that too many of these answers are coming not from the characters putting the pieces together of their own accord, but the narrative just dropping the answers in their laps. If Cloverworks decides to come back for a third season, I hope they’re able to tighten up the story’s structure and make its progression feel more natural. Because there are some damn exciting developments brought about by this season’s end, and I’d hate to see their potential squandered with writing that doesn’t earn their fallout.

Drifting Home: 7/10

Well, this was a pleasant surprise! Studio Colorido has been making this exact kind of whimsical-yet-poignant kids’ adventure flick forever, but this is the first one I’d call an unqualified success (at least from what I’ve seen; I hear Penguin Highway is supposedly pretty great). A bunch of kids break in to explore the worn-out, set-for-demolition apartment building one of them used to live, only for that building to somehow become stranded out at sea with no clear way home. What follows is a far more thematically complex odyssey than one might expect from this movie’s lighthearted exterior. Drifting Home is a story about, well, drifting away from home, about the pain of leaving a home behind and the fear of never being able to replace the sense of love and security that home gave you. But it’s also about those abandoned homes themselves and the emotions tangled up within them, how they reflect the lives lived within them and carry those memories even after they’re left behind. It’s a shockingly heady film, and even at two hours it feels like it could’ve used a little more time just to give it all space to breathe. But it mostly all comes together thanks to the gorgeous animation (seriously, Colorido is really starting to give Ghibli a run for its hyper-romaticized naturalism money), creative high concepts, and instantly lovable cast of child protagonists. Check it out if you’ve got a couple hours to kill; this is one adventure you won’t regret getting swept up in.

The Girl from the Other Side: 7/10

I remember a couple years back when Studio Wit put out a ten-minute short based on this bewitching fantasy manga. Even in such a bite-sized format, it was one of the most evocative pieces of animation I’d ever seen, and I knew I would never know peace until it got a full-length treatment. Well, that day has come at last, and surprising nobody, this movie adaptation of The Girl from the Other Side is absolutely mesmerizing. In a dreary fantasy world beset by curse and corruption, a lost human girl finds solace in the company of a cursed being still trying to hold onto his humanity. The exact details of the world and its greater context are left deliberately hazy; if you’re looking for meticulous fantasy worldbuilding, this isn’t the place to turn. What you get instead, though, is a gorgeous fantasia that makes you feel like you’re wandering the very woods where all those Grimm’s fairy tales took place in. The thick, ink-textured textured animation is like nothing I’ve ever seen before, equal parts terrifyingly supernatural, serenely archaic, and achingly human. And while the story may be as perfectly predictable as any other “jaded old dude takes care of a precocious little girl” plot, the vibes are so immaculate that it doesn’t really matter. If you’ve got an hour to kill, then you absolutely owe it to yourself to give this movie a watch. It’s a dream- or a nightmare- you won’t want to wake up from anytime soon.

Ao Ashi (2nd Half): 7.5/10

I said in my quick thoughts on Ao Ashi’s first half that this show is exactly what I needed to fill the Haikyuu-shaped hole in my heart. While that remains true, the second half has revealed one significant caveat: Ao Ashi has significantly weaker antagonists than Haikyuu. The strength of Haikyuu’s cast was that every player felt like the protagonist of their own story, with understandable goals and dreams, so you couldn’t help but root for them even when they went up against Karasuno. Ao Ashi’s antagonists are aiming for that same kind of energy, but they’re much more one-note and cartoonishly mean. I’m sorry, I can’t take this Akatsu guy seriously as a bully when by all rights he should’ve been kicked off the team for his shitty behavior by now. It’s far from enough to kill the show, thankfully, and the arrival of a shockingly great romantic subplot is more than enough to keep Ao Ashi as one of this year’s biggest delights. And now that the end of Haikyuu’s anime has been announced, I hope Production IG sticks with this one for the long haul as well. With a little stronger production, this could easily become the next sports anime juggernaut.

Made in Abyss Season 2: 8.5/10

You know, it’s funny. I spend most of the first half of Made in Abyss’ second season complaining about how it wasn’t as good as the rest of the series. The Golden City is visually boring and we spend way too much time in it! It’s overly reliant on shock value for the sake of shock value that doesn’t add anything to the overall message! The animation is so much more limited and reliant on ugly CGI (gee I wonder if making this in between seasons of a certain garbage isekai adaptation took a toll on the production)! But then the turning point hit halfway through the season, and it was like nothing had changed at all. The back half of Golden City of the Scorching Sun is as heartbreaking, horrifying, and unspeakably beautiful as Made in Abyss has ever been, finally tying the sixth layer’s meandering threads together into a single awe-inspiring tapestry of loss, vengeance, and what it means to find value in a world that doesn’t offer it easily. By the time it was all over, I barely remembered the awkward, subpar footing it had all started on. Made in Abyss is not an easy show to process, and it’s probably only going to get more and more difficult to stomach as we plunge into the Abyss’ deepest recesses. But while season 2 may be the weakest outing overall, it’s yet further proof why this twisted nightmare of a journey is one of the greatest fantasy anime of all time.

Lycoris Recoil: 8.5/10

You know what I love? When an anime comes out of nowhere and absolutely takes the world by storm. Lycoris Recoil wasn’t really on my radar before the season started, and what few trailers I watched didn’t do much to sell me on its weird mishmash of cute girls doing hardcore assassin work. Well, just slap a big fat egg on my face, because this bonkers original project is one of the most exciting things you or I or anyone else is likely to watch all year. Yes, it’s a little iffy that our protagonists are essentially government-sanctioned child sleeper agents tasked with keeping the peace by murdering anyone who even threatens to disturb it. And while the show does its best to wring some interesting thematic ideas from that concept- authoritarian security vs anarchic freedom, the ethics of killing for government- it’s far from a perfect treatise on the subject. You know what it does do perfectly, though? Basically everything else. Top-tier action, inspired direction and cinematography, consistently spectacular animation for fight scenes and comedy bits alike, a roller-coaster plot that perfectly balances hilarious slice-of-life shenanigans with the intensity of shootouts and car chases, actual canon gay representation (though not in the way you might expect), and two of the most pitch-perfect protagonists to ever share a screen. Seriously, Chisato and Takina own my entire soul and I apologize for nothing. Lycoris Recoil may not be a philosophical masterpiece, but it’s popcorn entertainment at its absolute finest, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Cyberpunk Edgerunners: 9/10

Sound the alarm, folks: Trigger’s back on track to save anime again! I knew Cyberpunk Edgerunners was gonna be a great time from the moment its first trailer dropped: marrying Hiroyuki Imaishi’s iconic directing style with the neon-soaked atmosphere of the cyberpunk genre was a match so perfect you gotta wonder how we’re only just now getting around to it. What I didn’t expect, though, was just how goddamn great the story ended up being. Imaishi’s always relied on the back of his high-octane visual style, and the thematic ideas that style alone conveys, to cover for the actual writing being kind of a hot mess. But Edgerunners gives him a genuinely great script to work with for the first time, and the results are magical. This tale of an impoverished teenager lashing out against the hypercapitalist system he lives under and finding companionship among fellow societal rejects may not break much new ground for the cyberpunk genre, but it delivers the single most exhilarating, heartbreaking, and breathtaking version of that story I’ve ever seen. And Imaishi’s style doesn’t just make that story pop, it infuses even the most played-out plot points with astonishing new life. This may well be his best work as a director, and I do not say that lightly. Cyberpunk Edgerunners is easily Netflix’s best anime since Devilman Crybaby, and I consider it a must-watch for anyone who can handle the intensity of its bloody action. Never before has something so perfectly embodied its genre while simultaneously feeling like nothing else that genre has ever produced.

#anime #the anime binge-watcher #tabw #summer 2022 anime #summer 2022 sr #a couple of cuckoos #kakkou no iinazuke #cyberpunk edgerunners #cyberpunk: edgerunners #shadows house #kami kuzu idol #phantom of the idol #yurei deco #bucchigire! #shine on! bakumatsu bad boys #lycoris recoil #lycoreco #made in abyss #made in abyss rw #mia #drifting home #ame wo tsugeru hyouryuu danchi #the girl from the other side #totsukuni no shoujo #shine post #ao ashi #aoashi

[satansaidmyturnintheh3llscape]

Everything Right/Wrong with Ninjago “Rise of the Serpentine” E11: All of Nothing

Kinda casually dropped some Zane angst in here, and a bit of Lloyd angst too. Disclaimers: Show owned by LEGO. This is not a professional review/critique - it’s mainly intended for comedy.

- Intro ✅

- Does Jay materialize out of lightning? Why does he never use this again?? ❌

- ^ I see what they’re trying to do here but shouldn’t at least one of those weapons be placed behind their head? Doesn’t putting all the weapons in front kinda defeat the purpose? ❌

- “Doesn’t that mean it’ll consume you too?” How have none of the Serpentine figured this out? I know Pythor figured he’d be able to control it, but that brings in the whole other sin of where he got that idea from ❌

- “If all we have to do is just get one fangblade to stop him what if we take back the other three? Pythor wouldn’t risk having them all on him. He’s probably hidden them somewhere while he goes for the fourth.” Lloyd is a genius; change my mind ✅

- “Finally, I don’t have to hold back!” Kai is either a liar, or an a*shole ❌

- “But if he can’t bite through your skin, he can’t turn you into one of them!” Great, so your arm is safe, but what about the rest of your body? Or your other arm? None of that is covered entirely in metal. This doesn’t seem like a very reliable defense. ❌

- “And a little soft shoe doesn’t hurt” ✅

- Also, what happens if one of them has to fight a type of snake different than what they’ve trained for? Like, Zane can turn on falcon vision to escape the effects of Venomari venom, but something tells me the others might not be able to fall back on the same plan. ❌

- “I am concerned my old bones can’t keep up.” I don’t have to explain why this is a sin, right? We’ve all seen season 11 - we all know this is bullsh*t, right? ❌

- “So Jay and Nya rejiggered the design…” In the last 5 seconds?!?!?! ❌

- “Shotg*n” There’s literally only one seat ❌

- How can any of them tell which wall drawing is supposed to be of which ninja? Cole assumes he’s the one given the mustache, but the drawing itself is colored red. ❌

- What kind of files is he transferring? Seriously, what could Garmadon find in that computer that could actually help him in any way? I doubt he’ll be able to take over the world using the ninja’s chore chart ❌

- “Every boy has a choice to grow up to be whoever they want to be… but you still have a choice… your uncle has a plan for you!” Say those last two parts again, but slower this time, Garmadon ❌

- “We don’t want your help! And we don’t need you here. Maybe it would’ve been better if you hadn’t come back at all.” “If… if that’s the way you feel…” Haha, well that hurt 😃 ✅

- ^ Okay I get that if Kai opens his eyes he’ll likely get hypnotized, but he still spinjitzu’s (with his eyes closed) WAYYYY too close to the ledge of this cliff for my comfort ❌

- I know that the ninja all make, like, “fighting noises” during battle, but I specifically love the way Jay always says, “WAHHHHHHH-“ ✅

- Zane’s afraid of food? ❌

- OR is it meant to symbolize the fact that Zane’s a nindroid and is afraid he’ll never be able to experience most “human” pleasures (such as food) the same way most humans will? Probably not, but I’ll never pass up an opportunity to drop some angst

- “I’ll let you have the honors.” “Oh no, after you!” Underrated moment that showcases some of Kai’s character development ✅

- HIS ARM AND LEG SLEEVES ARE ROLLED UP- ✅

- They could update the suit (by adding the metal head piece) but still couldn’t make it fit him correctly?? ❌

- ^ “Ouch…” ✅

- Small detail but during Jay’s true potential episode, Pythor gets the fangblade that glows blue. During Cole’s, he gets the one that glows white-ish/brownish, and during Kai’s he gets the one that glows red. In this ep, he gets the one that glows green. ✅

- That pencil is massive ❌

- And how’d they get that and a bottle of hair oil in this cell? ❌

- “Woah, greaseball, how about warning us before you do that?” No comment.

- “I have faith in Lloyd!” Well that makes one of us (I love him but come on-) ❌

- Lloyd somehow “ninja-rolls” UP a steep slope ❌

- “Ninja recover!” ✅

- I would sin Lloyd for doing an unnecessary amount of stunts that only slow him down, but honestly, he’s kinda just learning from his brothers so this sin is on them ❌

- “Come on, Lloyd. You’re the green ninja. You can do this!” Self-hype ✅

- Between Lloyd falling down literally every step and the ninja bobbing their heads up and down in sync with him, there is nothing to sin here ✅

- “I really gotta grow into this thing…” “You can’t win every single line that comes out of Lloyd’s mouth,” I hear you say. And to that I reply, “f*cking watch me.” ✅

- “Or suffer humiliation against… the Green Ninja!” Stop laughing at him, he’s trying his best!

- Also, this scene is much more depressing when you consider the fact that Lloyd’s likely sensitive to being laughed at from all his years getting bullied at Darkley’s 😬

- “Because everybody hates snakes!” Snake-ism ❌

- Of all the Skulkin, why would they put Krunchaw and Knuckle in charge? ❌

- “We’re moving!” “Yeah, the wrong way!” You’re in a cage suspended in air; what way did you wanna move? ❌

- “There is nothing else I’m needed for…” “I need you.” If you listen closely, you can hear my heart shatter ✅

- I’m not gonna quote this entire scene but I am gonna win it because I am weak ✅

- Ninja dance party… the sequel! ✅

Sentence: Does it count as cosplay if Lloyd’s wearing his own suit?

#ninjago #ninjago lloyd #lego ninjago #ninjago kai #ninjago memes #ninjago jay #ninjago nya #ninjago zane #ninjago cole #lloyd garmadon #ninjago wu #ninjago garmadon #ninjago sins/wins