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absolutebl · 2 months

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These Weeks in BL - This Is Very Late, Or Right on Time depending on where you sit on the temporal debate team

Sorry I got distracted by work. In my defense: I was paid.

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

March 2024 Wk 1 & 2

Ongoing Series - Thai

Cherry Magic (Sat YouTube grey) ep 12 fin - Unfortunately, there was singing. But what can we do?

A soft charming warm hug of a show about crushes and mind reading and self worth, with no-fuss execution from a consummate team and an OG lead pair proving why they remain eternal and deserve to grow up. Look, here’s the thing, Cherry Magic is a great Thai BL in its own right not comparing it to any other iteration. But even when I do compare (and I've seen all the Cherries and read the manga) it still stands. This is a great show, a solid adaptation, and a pleasing take on the original yaoi. I personally like it better than the Japanese live action, but I think that’s because I just really like Thai BL and I LOVE TayNew. I doubted them for this and I shouldn’t have. They did a great job, as did the sides. I will say all the kissing was both present and better than any other iteration. As it should be. Definitely one for the rewatch rotation. 9/10

Deep Night (Thurs iQiyi) ep 1 of 8 (10?) - Damn it, I love it. And I don't want to. It’s more classic BL than I thought it would be, and far less Only Friends or Playboyy. (Thank fuck.) We got a big cast and a lot of tropes going down out the gate, including SMITTEN popular hot guy versus nerd with secret identity. (Incidentally, Khem did drop into rude / informal when arguing with his Aunt and defending his ma. Bratty boy.) The leads have good chemistry (First always does), and everyone is very pretty. The main boy reminds me of J-Min's role (and look) in Love Class 2. I am entertained. (And faintly wonder why this isn't a MosBank vehicle.)

To Be Continued (Thai C3 Thailand grey) eps 1-3 of 8- High school sweethearts who had a bad break up reunite a decade later when both of them have full time jobs (celebrity & doctor). Dr Ji is a familiar face (hi Dream it's been a LONG time) and everyone is way too old for high school, but I guess I prefer this to child actors?

I'm enjoying it, actually, the cast may be older but they're solid as a result and the chemistry is on point for a pulp. Whether our celebrity is on the DL or cheating or something else remains to be seen but he sure is smitten. The way he LOOKS at Ji = hawt.

Frankly? Celebrity/doctor is a good pairing and this is a solid Thai BL. I hope we have a nice angsty reason for the break-up and we're not in another Promise situation. I like the sides too. Carry on, little show, I'm disposed to be pleased with you.

City of Stars (Fri iQIYI) eps 5-6 of 12 - I am enjoying it, actually. It’s incredibly silly. But I don’t really mind. STOP SINGING.

1000 Years Old eps 3-4 of 12 - I love that these kids basically adopted a vampire pet. And one of them accidentally got a vampire boyfriend. This suddenly turned from a PNR into a family drama about domestic gays opening a food stall and I'm not mad about it. Nothing makes sense and I don't care because... rainbow umbrella!

A Secretly Love (Thai WeTV grey) eps 1 of 10 - I don’t love it. I make no bones about the fact that a pining uke rarely works for me, especially if he’s younger (cute supportive besties not withstanding), the power dynamic isn’t good. I always like Kimmon, he’s a stiff actor but v pretty. (I shallow af.) Still it’s time he started acting his age… literally. Having to watch ads again as well… for this? Ooof. I'm not sure I'm strong enough.

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Perfect Propose (Japan Fri Gaga) ep 6 fin - It was very cute. I liked that there was uke instigated kisses. However I have some reservations on this one, much as I enjoyed it.

Adapted from Mayo Tsurakame’s manga, production team included Tadaaki Horai (My Love Mix-Up!) and Takeshi Miyamoto (Old Fashion Cupcake). Essentially Perfect Propose was about finding hope in a person when all other hope is gone. This show focuses on apathy, and perforce is somewhat apathetic and un-engaging especially as the pacing was off (and with only 6 episodes? now) However, this is countered by great visuals, good archetypes, and a clean story of childhood sweethearts reuniting after loosing their way in life. I landed on 8/10 mostly for a demanding younger seme and some great kisses.

Unknown (Taiwan Tues Youku YouTube) eps 2-3 of 11 - Oh it’s great. I love it. I’m still worried by how gritty and "Taiwanese short-esk" it feels, but wow does this hit all my favorite taboo tropes and buttons. I also adore the little found fam, they the cutest gay older bros ever. The younger one who wants so bad to grow up and take care of the older one and pushes himself because into self sacrifice that’s the only model of love he has. ARGH. BOYS. Why so much pain, just smooch already! Sheesh. It's on YouTube for some of us, here's the schedule.

AntiReset (Taiwan Fri Viki/Gaga) eps 6-7 of 10 - They remain questionably cute, and that is probably going to be my ultimate review of this show. Awe cameo! (Hi babies, hope the ghosts are leaving you alone.) The irony does not escape me that the person in the relationship with the most emotional acumen is, in fact, the robot and not the human. I'm sure that's meant to be deep.

Love is Better the Second Time Around AKA Koi wo Suru nara Nidome ga Joto (Japan Gaga) ep 1 of 6 - A tortured second chance romance featuring a reported and a successful celebrity(?) academic. The kid actors look nothing like their adult counterparts, but they do look much younger. So, okay. Ah the utter embarrassment of first love. Oh I like it a lot, so very messy Japanese emo. Sigh. Here we go again.

Although I Love You and You AKA Sukiyanen Kedo Do Yaro ka (Japan Thurs Gaga) eps 8-9 of 10 - They are a cute couple. They both trying so hard and so confused and awkward and polite in trying to understand each other but TERRIBLE at communication.

My Strawberry Film (Japan Thurs Gaga) eps 3-4 of 8 - I don’t know how I feel about this. But I do know it’s not my thing because it’s not BL. I’ll finish it because it’s short but… meh.

It's done, ready to binge, but I have no time

What Did You Eat Yesterday Season 2 AKA Kinou Nani Tabeta? Season 2 (Japan Gaga) 10 eps - will binge when I have any spare time. 2024 is crazy busy for me so far.

The Servant and the Young Master (Vietnam YouTube) - I will try when I have a window of time.

Began Beginning (Myanmar YouTube) - A Burmese BL? @heretherebedork vouched for it, so I will watch eventually.

It's airing but...

Dead Friend Forever (Thai iQIYI) - finished it's run and I won't be watching it. It's horror with BL elements and the ending, well, let's just say that's a "no thank you" from me.

Ossans Love Season 2 (Japan Gaga) - 5 years later, will anything have changed? This is Japan so… no. I'm not watching this. I dislike this franchise.

Time the series (Tue Gaga/YT) 10 eps - dropped it at ep 4.

Takumi-kun (2023) movie version AKA Takumi-kun Series 6: Nagai Nagai Monogatari no Hajimari no Asa released on FOD 3/5/2024. The original project was a 6 ep series. Having seen all the previous iterations and read the (terrible) yaoi I admit to being intrigued. If anyone finds eng subbed please let me know with a link in comments or in a DM? For those intersted in this show, probably the world's first true BL franchise I chat all about it here.

Gossip

James Supamongkon has withdrawn from the series Love Upon A Time and the NetJames pair is no more. Net Siraphop will continue with the historical BL project alongside a new partner. Can I interest you in Tod Techit... almost as pretty, legs for days...

The Complete Chronology of the Assault Case Against GMMTV Actor Win Pawin

I'm merely directing your attention to these articles, I do not wish for discussion of this content on this blog. Please don't ask for further info, I don't know the answer, follow the link that's why it's there.

Next Week Looks Like This:

Still Coming

3/21 Two Worlds (Thai IQIYI) 10 eps - announced here. One of those "he's dead Jim so time travel" thingames staring MaxNat. I'm over them but Asia flipping loves this trope and I do adore MaxNat. Phupha (Gun) and Khram (Nat) love each other but Phupha is murdered. Then Khram is pulled to a parallel world where, 12 years ago, Khram and Tai (Max) were in love. However, Khram was killed by Thai’s dad. Now Tai finds alter-Khram apparently alive. But then there is ALSO an alter-Phupha (played by Gun Thanawat who is Khom the repressed butler bodyguard from Unforgotten Night).

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

How flipping adorable is this vampire with his big gay umbrella? SUCH A DORK and we got more vampire dorks coming.

Thailand has found its vampire line and it's awkward and geeky and quite cheerful. 'Bout what we expected, to be fair. It's a good look for them.

And vampires.

In other news...

That's your random moment of thirst, Lim Jimin shirtless AKA my Just B bias (I mean, I could talk about how good his extensions are and how I love a husky voice in Kpop but really, just LOOK at him). I'm very very very shallow, remember? Full vid is here.

Why am I mentioning Lim Jimin (aside from the obvious)? If Just B doesn't break soon, I could some of them transitioning to BL. Jimin in particular would be a win for us, obvs.

Also, can we talk about Bain (my bias wrecker) KILLING it on Build Up? I had no idea he was that good. Anygay, this has been your Kpop end note.

Seriously tho, is ANYONE else watching Build-Up?

(Last week - well, 2 weeks ago)

Streaming services are listed how I'm (usually watching) which is with a USA based IP

The tag bragade: @doorajar

If ya wanna be tagged each week leave a comment and I will. Easy peesy.

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welcometothejianghu · 9 months

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Welcome to another round of W2 Tells You What You Should See, where W2 (me) tries to sell you (you) on something you should be watching. Today's choice: 成化十四年/The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty

(The) Sleuth of (the) Ming Dynasty (it's hard to get an agreement on how many definite articles should go where) is a beautiful, high-budget 2020 drama about a weenie genius detective, his long-suffering and deeply traumatized sugar daddy, and the eunuch with the most difficult job in the Great Ming: keeping these two dumbasses from getting their fool selves imperially executed.

Depending on how you like it, it's either an OT3 or an OTP with an intense, underage third wheel, and either way, it's delightful. I wouldn't call it a comedy, but it has very many funny elements that keep the drama fun and engaging. The first half is full of shorter mysteries that are clever and thoughtfully plotted, and the second half goes in on the longer mystery that ties them all together.

I've already done my quick guide to the early-episode characters, if you want a taste of just how many people are running around and how wonderful they all are. But in case you want to know a little bit more before you commit yourself to a 48-episode series, here's five reasons I think you should watch it!

1. The whole thing smacks of gender

Yeah, this was originally going to be selling point #2, but I know what the people want.

This is not a show about gender. But boy it is a show that has a lot to say about gender, and not just by way of critiquing premodern Chinese gender roles (though it does do that!). Many of the cis characters are either a) somewhat gender nonconforming, b) canny enough to weaponize binary gender expectations, or c) both. Sui Zhou's entire third-act storyline is about how expectations of masculinity exacerbate PTSD in veterans. Three different AFAB characters either dress or live as men. The part where one of the male characters goes undercover in drag is played for laughs, but the joke isn't 'ha ha, a boy in a dress,' it's 'ha ha, this particular boy in a particular dress, and also he's terrible at it.'

And that's even before we get to the eunuchs.

There are several professionally dickless, permanently unmanned characters running around. One-third of the OT3 canonically had his external genitalia nonconsensually removed when he was five years old, and because of this, he has been given unimaginable authority. He's basically the second most powerful man in the entire empire, and he only gets that way by being unquestionably, ostentatiously, and genuinely submissive to the first most powerful man.

I have seen other Chinese media where eunuchs are treated like sinister clowns, good only to be the bad guys and the butts of jokes. Sleuth's main eunuchs are real and complex characters, and because of this, the show gets to explore what it is to live in this weird third-gender category of incredible power and powerlessness.

Now, don't go into this expecting woke gender treatises. Wang Zhi's never going to sit down and go, "You know, my friend and fellow eunuch Ding Rong, because of my lack of a penis, I understand my relationship to masculinity differently than other men do." But the show understands that even if he doesn't say it, it's true. And that makes a lot of the characters and their relationships just so much more interesting.

2. Uncle Jackie Money

Sleuth was the was the fourth c-drama I dove into, following the Untamed, Word of Honor, and Guardian -- or, Some Money BL, Less Money BL, and No Money BL. So imagine my absolute wall-eyed shock to find this was All The Money BL, courtesy of its executive producer, Jackie Chan (seen here with some of his handsome boys):

Sleuth looks good. The costumes are amazing. The sets are stunning. The cinematography is beautiful. Everything is so detailed, and while I can't speak to the absolute historical accuracy of all those details (see point 3), they're still gorgeous. In fact, you know what? I'm going to shut up and show you some of the promotional images.

(For actual screenshots, I'm just going to point you at @rongzhi's tsomd photoset tag, as they have done a tremendous service to the fan community -- though do beware of spoilers.)

Uncle Jackie's influence doesn't end with the money, though. Even though things get a bit goofy and wirework-y near the end, most of the drama's fights are shows of real martial arts skill. You can see his fingerprints on a lot of the choreography -- I'm thinking particularly of the time Tang Fan tries (and fails!) to stab Sui Zhou three times, which is pure Jackie Chan high-speed dexterity.

Add this one to the category of shows your Average American Television Enjoyer Who Can Handle Subtitles would like. In fact, I have shown the first episode to my normie father-in-law, who was impressed. Show it to your dad! See if he picks up on the gay!

3. I am from ... HISTORY!

The Chinese title translates to "The 14th Year of Chenghua," which works out to the year 1478. There are some clear anachronisms, but they tend to be played for comedy, so it's hard to hold that against them. On the whole, though, the show is trying real hard to evoke a very specific moment, and I feel it does so beautifully.

This does, however, mean that several of the characters are real people. I don't even have a good sense of how many of them are based on historical figures, that's how many. Hilariously, Wang Zhi's tag on AO3 used to read "Wang Zhi (?-1487 CE)."

Moreover, these are characters I've seen pop up in other media, played very differently! In particular, Noble Consort (up there in blue) tends to be written as an uncomplicated villain elsewhere, whereas Sleuth gives her a chance to add some goodness to her badness, until, damn, you can't but root for the bitch. (It also downplays the cradle-robbing, which, honestly, is for the best.)

You may have guessed from the eunuch section earlier, but it bears repeating: Wang Zhi is straight-up the best character in the show. He's smart as hell, and he has to be, because the second he's stupid, he's dead. I actually consider it helpful to know ahead of time that he's never going to do a heel turn -- I feel like on my first watchthrough, I was holding my breath for the first two-thirds of the show, waiting for his sudden but inevitable betrayal. It does not come. Wang Zhi is one of the heroes.

He's also, like, evil. He orders people flogged, tortured, and executed. The very first thing you see him doing is sinister as hell. And the show clearly doesn't think this is good, but it also doesn't judge him for it. He's a traumatized seventeen-year-old who has not had a normal moment of his entire life. He's working thanklessly for a boss who could kill him on a whim -- and he's doing it because he literally, physically was made for his job. He's mildly freaking out because he has no emotional grounding to help him understand that these weirdos want to be his friends.

Was the real Wang Zhi like this? That's beside the point. The point is, you get to see how someone in that position could wind up as the war-crimes-committing platonic ideal of a little meow meow.

4. oh my god the food

Warning: This show will make you hungry.

Again, beware of spoilers, but @peppersandcreamsicle and @qinzai have put together an entire cook-along Google Doc so you don't just have to drool -- you can do something about it! Or you can just read it and learn about Chinese cuisine, which is a little more my speed.

But it's not just about how good the food looks. Food is a vital emotional part of the series. People bond over it. They make and share it as a sign of love and care. It indicates status, ethnicity, interest, personality. The show's message about the healing power of cooking for the people you love will bring you to tears.

And yes, Sui Zhou is the main one doing the cooking, so get ready to drool over both the dishes and the handsome man preparing them.

Oh, and as though that weren't enough, Fu Meng Po can actually cook in real life. He's so dreamy. Absolute unreal handsome man with a devastatingly sexy voice. (I know my opinion might be different if I could hear his Taiwanese accent, but I can't so it's not!)

5. An Unsunk Ship

So like I said, my intros to c-drama couples had been WangXian, WenZhou, and WeiLan. That meant I'd basically come to terms with the idea that you can't have a main couple in a BL-but-not-really drama without splitting them up at least a little in the end, for no-homo plausible deniability reasons.

Tang Fan and Sui Zhou are still definitvely, unequivocally together when the story ends, as the iconic pentultimate scene of the series confirms with beauty and simplicity. I refuse to give any more details than that, but that ship's afloat.

(These shirtless pictures aren't from the end, but I wanted to include them, and I didn't have a better place to do it. ...Also, you know, ships and water? Yeah?)

And I think their winding up together reflects Sleuth's entire attitude. Tang Fan is made of sunshine, and the series loves him for it. There is tragedy aplenty in this show, but there's no misery. It is ultimately a hopeful show that believes in the power of second chances, if you're willing to take them. Time and again, the moral of the story is that you are only ever as good as the people who have your back -- but you have to be willing to let them have your back. Let people help you. Let people cook for you. Let people give you a reason to keep living. And then keep living.

Also, Sui Zhou gets two good kabedons off on that little twink, which means they're legally married now. I don't make the rules.

Bonus: Banger opening theme

youtube

This is one you will watch all 48 times.

Bonus #2: The Halo Video

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This is the video that made me go, huh, these Sleuth boys seem like other boys I've enjoyed! Perhaps I shall enjoy them as well! And then I did. So if that might be convincing to you too, well, have at it. Even if it isn't, it's a fascinating three-minute study of shared those-boys-are-in-love visual language across these shows.

Fair warning that it contains shots from right up to the end, so if you'd rather go in completely blank, give this one a pass until later. (Excuse me while I now go watch it for the 10000th time.)

Have I convinced you to watch it yet?

It originally ran on iQiyi, though Viki's got it as well, and Viki's is free if you're willing to put up with some ads about it.

...I just noticed iQiyi's description of the series reads, "When the two handsome leading actors Darren Wang and Fu Meng-Po work together, what will happen? A lovely prefectural judge and an arrogant embroiered [sic] uniform guard join hands to crack unusual cases! Are you going to choose a new idol?" And you know what? Yes. The details are a little off, but that is the correct spirit. Thank you, thirsty blurb.

#sleuth of the ming dynasty #the sleuth of ming dynasty #tsomd #成化十四年 #sloof #i made this #rec post

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kaz-oooo · 2 months

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I’ve already done music recommendations so, you can check out these posts (playlists and list of artists) if you’re looking for that specifically. But Wilbur made a lot of content over the years and idk, i figured I’d make a a list of recommendations for similar content to fill that void as well :)

Minecraft SMP’s (specifically DSMP)

The same SMP’s but other POV’s — I’ll just start with this cos it’s the most iffy. There’s plenty of enjoyment to be had with these fandoms still, and I personally don’t think we need to let the actions of a couple shitty guys ruin the silly Minecraft roleplay we all enjoy. That said, if you aren’t comfy watching these anymore that’s perfectly valid as well, especially since Wilbur’s character will be lurking around in the background of plenty of these. But yeah, we can also uplift other creators by watching the fun stories they made, especially those who got buried by bigger creators at the time. So Dream SMP, QSMP, Origins SMP, SMP earth, SMPlive all have content you can enjoy.

Different, completely unrelated SMP’s — hermitcraft, the life series, empires SMP (shubble was involved in this one, I’m planning on watching her POV when I find some time) etc. I’ve had plenty of people recommend these to me before, from what I’ve seen they’re very enjoyable :)

Hamilton — not even joking, if you enjoyed the L’manberg era of DSMP and you didn’t watch Hamilton, I’d heartily recommend it. Great music, lots of politics but all in a fun and silly way, also tragic endings!

Editor Wilbur ARG (I’m a massive ARG fan so I have tonnes of recommendations here)

Generation Loss — Ranboo’s very awesome Horror project that they’ve been working very hard on!!! Ranboo’s been teasing new content lately as well so that’s exciting

Analog horror series — Local 58, Gemini Home Entertainment, Mandela Catalog, Kane Pixel’s Backrooms videos, etc. All very good and spooky videos, definetely an inspiration for Gen Loss, and I know Wilbur enjoyed this content as well (though the editor Wilbur arg predates a lot of this genre) those are some of the biggest on YouTube atm, and some of my personal favourites, but there’s plenty more to find (I recommend channels like Nightmind and Nexpo who do analysis videos for all this horror and ARG stuff if you wanna find more)

Marble Hornets — gets its own category! One of the original analog horror genres (predated the genre actually) it’s basically one of the biggest and most comprehensive Slenderman series out there. There’s a LOT of content here and lots of lore and mystery (though a lot of the game clues have been lost to time) (Jack Manifold also reacted to this on stream, it was very chill and good fun)

Horror podcasts — Magnus Archives and Magnus Protocol, Malevolent and Archive 81 are some of my favourites, but there’s plenty more out there to find and enjoy :). Also very spooky with lots of mystery to involved, the Magnus Protocol is very new as well so great time to get into that!

Just Chatting / Geoguessr / other chill content

Geoguessr streamers / YouTubers — honestly I genuinely didn’t watch much geoguessr content outside of Wilbur’s streams so, I don’t have many recommendations here. I know Eret has been doing geoguessr streams lately and their content is very good and chill. Jacksuckatlife plays as well and last I watched he was fairly good at it (like similar skill level to Wilbur), otherwise Rainbolt is a geoguessr legend, he terrifies me a little ngl.

Other streamers — I think the thing with the just chatting streams is that we watch for *that specific streamer’s* personality. It’s hard to really make recommendations other than just saying go watch more of the streamers you enjoy. Personally I enjoy Phil’s hardcore streams, and Sneegsnag’s Crime Time the most, but there’s plenty of other people both in this MCYT space and outside of it that you’ll probably enjoy :)

Sorry boys (unlike horror I don’t watch much comedy so, sorry, this’ll be lacking)

Just Roll With It — Charlie Slimecicle’s DND podcast. I’ve only listened to a little bit of this but it’s really good and REALLY silly (oh, and emotional sometimes, gotta have a bit of angst y’know) Wilbur was a guest on a couple of episodes, but you can always skip past those if you want.

Tommy’s videos — so Wilbur features in a lot of the early vlogs and *minecraft but* videos, but Tommy’s content has always been good fun, his recent stuff is excellent as well! He’s been doing a lot of comedy content lately, specifically a live show so definitely check that out if you want :)

Smosh pit — not something I’ve watched a lot of, but I’ve seen clips of their try not to laugh videos and they’re definitely on par with the bat shit improv you get from Sorry Boys.

Game changer — again, not something I’ve watched much, mostly consumed through osmosis, but the show is funny, the cast is always silly and it’s a lot of fun all round

Whatever else Sorry Boys make after this — judging by some of the responses to Wilbur’s “statement” I think it’s fair to assume if Sorry Boys do continue making content Wilbur will be cut from the group. Of course don’t feel obligated to stick around if you don’t want to, but Wilbur won’t be compensated if he’s kicked and the rest of the guys are still fun :)

YLYL and similar goofy stuff

Just… other streamers again — Jack Manifold does YLYL streams with his friends. James Marriott does a lot of reaction videos as well, sometimes YLYL, sometimes reacting to content his viewers send in (like TikTok’s and break up texts), those are my favourites atm.

YouTubers — that niche between video essay and reaction content, people like Danny Gonzales, Drew Gooden, Kurtis Conner, Pinely, all good fun YouTube channels that make good, silly, and easy to consume content.

Other gaming streamers and YouTubers — Slimecicle, Ranboo, Games Grumps, RT games, and SneegSnag all play a wide variety of games, they’re all relatively chill but none of them take the games all that seriously either so it’s fun and goofy as well :)

And of course Fanfiction!!!

I might be a little bias here cos I write myself but fic is created by and for fans and it exists to give you even *more* content about the stories you love, whether it be reimagining canon events or just dumping your favourite characters into a silly au.

I know a lot of authors (myself included) are feeling super conflicted and weird about writing Wilbur in the future. Plenty of authors have been moving onto new fandoms so if you find something you enjoy make sure you check out the author’s other work and who knows, maybe you’ll find some cool new fandoms that way!

And do the same for artists and other creators, or even go check out some of your mutuals fandoms, you guys might have more in common than you originally thought!

#wilbur soot #dsmp #the sorry boys #editor wilbur arg

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snoozepotato · 1 year

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We’ll Be Fine -13- (Simon ‘Ghost’ Riley x f!Reader)

Disclaimer: I do NOT own the original source material or any of its characters.

she/her pronouns

Category: slice of life, slow burn, mutual pining

Warnings: awkward, embarrassment, love confession, kissing, teasing, FLUFF

Masterlist

Summary: After finding out Ghost is leaving for a while you accidentally confess your feelings, let's say he's more than a little pleased. ( ˵ •̀ ᴗ •́˵)

Part 13

~STORM~

When he showed up today offering to walk you back to your room, the gesture seemed a bit unusual. It’s just that you’d been seeing a lot of him today, not that you were complaining. You’d finished up a bit early so the halls hadn’t quite cleared out yet, but walking beside his grim figure you felt at ease.

Ghost’s never been the most talkative guy, but something seemed off today. Besides an initial greeting, he had said little of anything, and you’d been mulling over the potential causes the entire day. In moments like these, you wished your social skills were a touch sharper. Instead, you’re just quietly sauntering off toward your room, the air thick between you. Words tumbling around your brain but lacking the audacity to just spit them out.

You’d been studying him out of the corner of your vision, how his pace slowed well before your door came into view. This rather standoffish demeanor, despite clearly wanting to be near you, you just wished he would tell you what was wrong. Your thoughts are halted as he turns towards you, dark eyes catching yours.

There’s a storm raging within them.

“I’ll be gone for a few weeks.” There’s a long pause. “Leaving asap,” the last bit spoken quieter.

“It's alright, I would have probably figured it out after a few days of not seeing you.” Having spent more time pondering the situation than choosing your phrasing, the statement comes out rigid. As though you’d plucked the wrong cue card from your clutter-filled head. Though true, you hadn’t meant for it to sound so disinterested.

He doesn’t normally tell you this kind of stuff…

“Thought you’d wanna know,” he says in an earnest tone that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end.

This unanticipated hurt erupts in his eyes, and you're left clawing through your mind for something to atone for the unforeseen damage of your words. That 1000-yard stare of his drifts off down the hallway, far away. Panic-stricken, you blurt out the first thing strewn from your thrashing heart.

“Sorry, I’m just not used to the people I love telling me when they’re leaving.” It slips out before you even realize what you’ve done.

Dread setting in and your gaze becomes wide and fixated on the ground in front of you. Lips still parted, internally mortified by your untimely confession. Feeling as though all the heat had drained from your body in one fell swoop. Cold with shrinking fear, before color slowly starts blossoming in your face, radiating outward to envelop your chest in a gripping fervor. Heart puttering away as embarrassment seeps through you.

After recovering from the initial blow of your own confession, you fumble to unlock and open the door. He’d relayed his message, maybe if you retreated quietly he’d forget this and you could scrape by with a shred of dignity. Your thoughts race as you reach out to flick on the light in your night-shaded room. Anything to break the unbearable tension of your own doing, but he’s now standing right in front of you.

“Don’t shut me out this time,” he asserts, breaching the entryway to take a slow step forward, backing you into the room. Locked in his gaze, you’re starkly unaware as he reaches past you to flick the light back off.

The storm had cleared in his eyes.

As you’re plunged into darkness, stunned and disoriented, his solid form collides with yours. Mask bunched up over his nose to capture you in a brief but heated kiss. You’re lost in him, mouth hot against yours, his hand buried in your hair. Just barely out of the hallway but concealed behind the wall of his back. There’s that fleeting itch again, to draw him further into the room.

But it’s gone in an instant, as he pulls away.

“So embarrassed when you let your heart do the talking,” he tuts, heated breath against your cheek. Parting from your disheveled form, as you stand there flustered and breathless.

Caressing the top of your head as he withdrawals, you catch a fleeting glimpse of his lingering smile before he’s shrouded once again.

“See you in a few weeks, love,” his closing words before he disappears into the hallway as if nothing happened.

“Be safe,” you hastily call after him.

After THAT, this felt like some kind of cruel payback… Left standing alone in the quiet of your room, releasing a heavy breath as the overwhelming pressure slips from you.

“RUDE,” you grumble, turning the light back on and shutting the door. Sitting down at your desk and slumping forward onto the surface, face buried in your crossed arms.

You’d never felt so touch-starved in your life.

Thanks so much for reading, kiss kiss fall in love, am I right?!

(˶ > ₃ < ˶)♡

@tallrock35 @violet-19999 @hypernovaxx @k4marina @sebsbee @d4z01 @ramadiiiisme

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petewentzisblack1312 · 6 months

Note

I was gonna ask you this anyway actually bc you know a lot of artists but I just kept forgetting bc adhd is kicking my ass rn but since you wanted asks: do you know of any cool online stores or artists selling stickers? im trying to decorate my new laptop and I bought a few on etsy but I wanna get more

made in a lab to answer this question bc all i do is look for artists that skew cool. i will also give artists that skew cute. some artists are in between these categories, that is, they have a cute artstyle with subject matter that at least at times skews cool. my metric for whats cool and whats cute is pretty much 'based on aesthetics if this were being sold at a basement show in the 90s to 00s would someone get called gay'. if the answer is yes, its cute. if the answer is no, its cool. i dont know if this makes sense but im gonna use this categorizing anyway. i will tag the artists who are on tumblr but otherwise im naming everyone by their instagram handle because thats where i look at art and im on my phone and cant link everyone without losing my sanity

coming back after writing this list i have GOT to put this under a cut

@cursedluver: cute/cool, mostly cool to me, very bright and colourful and his starpions are really fun

ummmheather: cute/cool, mostly cute but shes got some stuff thats silly in a more cool way if that makes sense.

strikegentlyco: cool, they only recently started making stickers so the selection is a bit limited but they do have lots of enamel pins

sheselle: i would say firmly on the cute side of things in aesthetics but i think her sense of humor can be interesting. new to me though. i think you will really love some of her stuff and not really be into others.

@sweatermuppet: cool, lots of queer political stuff

luluvanhoagland: cool but with a soft artstyle so it feels cute.

@sofftpunk: cute/cool, lots of lgbt stuff

thegraveyardrave: mostly cool, they do have a tumblr blog but its specifically for clownposting so i will not tag him

leestrawberrryshop: cute with a cool tilt, mostly white and pink with just lineart but its an interesting scribble/doodle style. memey at times

prettybadco: cool but lately this guys been doing so much i think you should leave fan merch and its not bad but i dont watch i think you should leave and its not what i followed for. the original stuff is pretty neat though

catcoven: medieval. giving this one its own category on the grounds that thats pretty self explanatory and more precise than cool/cute

interrupted by finding a bee in my bedroom while drinking slightly warm tea (house is closed and the windows in my room (also closed) have mosquito nets)

@verdant-succubus: cool but there is body horror and guts and stuff so tread lightly if youre sensitive to that sort of thing.

radhia rahman (knivesmeow): cute but i feel cool when i look at her art

abprallenuk: cool but the colour palletes are strictly pastel

svv.art: very cool

smdefelice: cool. mostly does screenprinting but i am pretty sure they do stickers also. however the shop is currently closed for con prep do i cannot confirm

lilboatboutique: cute/cool has a homesick at space camp sticker which is currently on my water bottle and which i own in 2 variants as an enamel pin.

kerin cunningham: cool. emo. the goat. what else is there to say.

@darbydraws: cool. quite like her stickers although her bread and butter is t shirts. also emo

xraeart: cool. alt streetwear brand so. yknow.

skullingway: cool. theyre one of my favourite artists hands down. not a lot of stickers tho

jordandebney: cool. this guy makes the coolest stickers but most of it is for his subscription box which is fine. theres 2 stickers not behind a paywall

elrosabel: cool stuff, cute style. she kinda like. soft closed. to do polymer clay sculptures. but she might have reopened? i know shes selling stuff under this project again

piratesarrrt: cool but in a soft style. similar subject matter to luluvanhoagland. which is to say weird girl heads.

seankeetonart: cool.

@moonlume: cute. the concepts are cool though

jimibiscuits: cool. this is one of my favourite artists i have. so many of his pins. he doesnt have a ton of stickers though iirc

@8pxl: i am going to invent a category called 'pretty'. i love pixel art and this is my favourite pixel artist ever.

i gotta fuckin stop

go forth and get some stickers

#dils declares

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mariathechosen1 · 1 month

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Seeing a lot of people criticize Netflix’s 3 Body Problem for its casting choices (which I understand, they’ve definitely made an…….interesting decision), but when it comes to criticizing it as a show I think many are being a bit unfair.

I get that a lot of people don’t like it when adaptations change elements of their favorite book, but this show was honestly pretty well made! Not to mention visually stunning!

I watched it with my dad, who has read all the books and who’s a really big fan, while I’m only vaguely familiar with the book plot, but we both really liked it! I definitely agree with some critics that the show sometimes struggles (especially in the first episodes) with giving us proper direction and motivation (something/someone to root for ya know?) but that fixed itself a bit as we got to know the main cast more and more. The show’s biggest flaw (except for all the weird af adaptation choices) is that they don’t give us more time with our main cast. They can be a bit flat at times, and I really feel like most of them carry a lot of unexplored potential.

Onto the positives: The way these guys do dialogue is just *chef’s kisses*. It’s smart, it’s layered, it’s funny and they never made exposition boring. I think a lot of the characters were ‘saved’ by just how great the dialogue was. Characters like Wade very quickly became favorites because of just how entertaining they were, while, on the other side, characters like Auggie seemed a bit ‘dull’ at times (though Auggie definitely became better once they gave her more agency). The show’s characters almost seem divided into two categories: Those with emotional depth, but dull dialogue, and those with no depth, but awesome dialogue. Sometimes it balances itself out, other times it’s a bit frustrating.

I was also pleasantly surprised by how they handled the horror element of the story. While probably not as effective as in the original book (converting written to visual horror is a challenge of its own caliber.), there were several scenes that very much scared the shit out of me.

I also cried……several times. Kudos to Alex Sharp for a breathtaking performance.

I think this show is best suited for two types of people: 1) People who haven’t read the books, but who are interested in some nice sci fi, and 2) Book fans…….who aren’t too emotionally attached to the original storyline.

#I completely understand that a lot of book fans hate how they’ve removed the context of the setting though #As a person who hasn’t read the books I’ll probably never understand how important they are as a political backdrop to the story #but I still really wish they’d kept in more of the culture revolution #…and I wish they gave us more time with the main cast #no idea how they’d manage to fit both but hey #3 body problem #I’m not the one doing the writing #tv review #maria talks about things

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dirtcube · 2 years

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The great fabric vs forge ramble

two people want to hear my ramblings im going to ramble now.

Essentially, my main thoughts about forge and fabric is that they’re two modloaders for entirely different audiences of minecraft playstyle. I’m speaking from the perspective of someone who’s been playing minecraft since the indev versions, and thus a lot... a lot of hours playing modded minecraft.

Putting this under a readmore because it became really long lmao

From my experience with making modpacks for my friends and digging through pages upon pages of fabric mods, Fabric is GREAT for general-audiences type packs. There is rarely anything very complex in there. Almost every fabric mod is easy to understand and get into. There’s very little truly gameplay changing mods, save for some outliers that have recently sprung up/been ported from forge. If I have to mention the biggest gameplay changing mods for fabric, that was native to fabric, i’d have to say tech reborn, bewitchment, and origins are the ones that immediately come to mind.

This makes fabric, as I mentioned, great for general audiences type gameplay. Vanilla+. Friendly for your-average-streamer server and for anyone that wants to play modded with their friends that aren’t as familiar with the game. It’s the people pleaser modloader, because nearly all mods will have people generally go “yeah I like that.” You won’t have people fighting over a selection in your modpack you made for your little server. And that isn’t bad! It’s very good that we have a much more accessible modloader and library of mods.

But by god is it boring and disappointing sometimes to go through curseforge’s fabric category and see vanilla+ upon vanilla+ mod. “More decorative blocks”, “more furniture”, “more mobs”, “QOL tweaks”, “dimension mod that is essentially an excuse to add new blocks and mobs and nothing else”, “biome overhaul/biome mod”.

Want to find a magic mod? Tough shit. You get incredibly, incredibly basic magic mods. Or, you get things entirely unbalanced for multiplayer. Or its literally just “here’s another new oretype past netherite thats OP as hell and doesn’t’ actually change gameplay.”. It’s like people don’t know how to make mods that aren’t just decorative or making the player overpowered.

And then you look at Forge, and you see the wild shit that they have going on there. And I know that a part of it is that forge has been around for much longer and thus has a lot more experienced devs on it that can do crazy shit, but there’s still that part of me that’s just sad.

From thaumcraft to electroblob’s wizardry, we just don’t see this in fabric. Except for this guy trying to bring thaumcraft over to fabric as practice big props to this guy me and my friends are quietly cheering him on.

Moving on- Forge is the modloader for people who want complexity in their gameplay. Who want a different gameplay experience from vanilla.

Forge is for experienced players, and focused groups. Forge is generally, not great for easy youtube or stream content, nor is it good for pleasing a general audience. It’s not great for servers that have varying skill levels of play, because by adding complex content (and often difficulty enhancing) mods you alienate the players that aren’t as good at the game. This doesn’t make forge worse, however, but it makes it visibly different when you’re looking to mod your game.

Now, to talk about the elephant in the room, forge is perpetually stuck at 1.12 for the most part. There’s some movement and there’s some newer ones at 1.18 and 1.19, but a majority of known forge mods are for 1.12 and below. This further adds to the feeling that forge is for experienced players that seek gameplay different from vanilla, because those kinds of players would mind the older versions a lot less compared to someone who is less experienced and thus wouldn’t be so inclined to seek gameplay that differs from vanilla- because they haven’t experienced vanilla as much!

When you look at the repertoire of forge modpacks and forge mods, so many of them are big, gameplay changing mods, and nearly all forge modpacks make sure to include them too, meaning that you are stuck at older versions.

Now, back in the day I didn’t mind this very much as I primarily played singleplayer. But now that I mainly play multiplayer with my friends, this is painfully noticeable. My friends dont’ want to play older versions! And that’s perfectly understandable. But that means we’re forced to stick to fabric, because ultimately fabric has the most mods for latest and updates the fastest, and they prefer being on latest! And honestly I don’t want to play on older versions all the time too because certain recent updates sure were good!! And there’s no way to play on latest *and* have those gameplay changing mods that would make my gameplay more interesting *while* having the latest update on.

And I think that’s really just the main point of that whole debate. Forge players would love to update, but they can’t because of how slow it all is. And that’s not the fault of the forge modders or the modloader, because development teams all work differently. And telling them to move to fabric isn’t going to cut it, because fabric lacks the things they want, and being told to move to fabric and abandon the things you like and care about because “fabric is better” when it does not fulfil the things you want in a modded game is annoying, and shows a lack of understanding of why they even play those older versions and mods in the first place.

The weird war between forge and fabric is not because one is inherently better than the other, its because people don’t understand that one does not appeal to the other because it’s lacking what the former had.

And SURE. Fabric has a great repertoire of mods, but as I mentioned before- A majority of it is vanilla+. And if you’re a years-long forge player with the wildest and most complex modpacks, vanilla+ wont make you happy no matter how many of those mods are there.

That’s essentially the end of my ramblings. Hope it was comprehensible at any point lmao.

#minecraft #mineblr #mc tag #modded mc #dirtcube chat #this was mainly sprung from how badly i want thaumcraft to be on fabric okay #tomcraft is the only thing keeping my hopes up #also it'd be nice if electroblob's wizardry and ars nouveau could get official fabric ports but i doubt we'll be seeing that anytime soon #at least fabric is starting to get more tech mods now so that category #is no longer so empty #but the magic category is so empty and devoid still #q

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parsnipling · 2 days

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vocaloid songs i think are really really cool that you might not have heard

there's also UTAU, one SynthV, one VOICEVOX, and one CeVIO voice in this thread dont yell at me we're all friends here

idk what a genre is. i'm gonna tell you what i like about the song

youtube

MAN i love this song. i can't stop listening to it. i love the quieter vocals outside the chorus and the louder voclas in it & near the end. this song gets stuck in my head so often you have no idea

break bc long

youtube

TOXIC YURI TETO. also PLEASE check out jamie paige its music is so incredibly good. this song is so awesome and cool and AUAUGHH

Origin - 初音ミク https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm43596219

THIS SONG AAUUUGGGGHHH it's so full of light and hope and it's beautiful and everyone needs to listen to it. the vocaloid version is only on nicovideo (here's the self cover on youtube, it also has english subs). also the MV is beautiful (cw: small mention of suicide, it's nothing graphic but i feel like i should give a warning anyway)

youtube

this song. makes me cry every time i listen to it. it's also very full of light and hope. need me a community like this

youtube

this song is so cool. it makes me think about playing animal crossing late at night (sound wise, anyway. idk japanese so no clue what the song is about). until that second half and it just ?!!;):$:& WOAH. go listen rn

youtube

sooo a few of this person's songs used to be tagged backrooms, not sure why they aren't anymore but that's how i'm gonna sell it to you. it's cool liminal space/backrooms/whatever you wanna call it music! it's just as weird and slightly offputting as backrooms themed music should be. they have four songs i think fit this category, and you can probably tell by the thumbnails which ones they are. go listen if you like things a little weird (i think this MV needs a flashing and vertigo warning so. be warned)

youtube

WHY DOES THIS NOT HAVE MORE VIEWS HELLOOOOOO this gets stuck in my head constantly!!! please please go listen to it it's so cool and very much underrated

youtube

this song Also gets stuck in my head a lot. i get the feeling the lyrics are relatable but i don't have proof. the MV reminds me a lot of Slump. i'm underselling this one Please listen i love it so much

youtube

i love this one :] the chiptune(?) instrumental goes very well with adachi rei's voice. i wish i could think of more to say but i just Really Like It

youtube

(flash warning? it gets glitchy) alright alright i know this one is over 100k but it's one of my most favoritest songs ever in the world so whatever. look at her sing :] i love her. god this song is good

youtube

this one's fast paced and has a really cool tone shift at one point! i like it a lot (help me i'm running out of things to say)

https://youtu.be/y4GORKV_aOw?si=5PFrraW0xQ5GN0nE

GUYS. BGUYS. HAVE YOU HEARD OF WINTERMUTE?????? one of my favorite artists EVERRRRR. no one knows where they went unfortunately, but all their music is still up to listen to and it's all so good. here's one of my faves

https://youtu.be/Gd4eR3jYCdc?si=j8ao16jeAzW7Dukc

ohhhh my god. higma. higma i love you. i love this song and the MV so much. higma is amazing please go check them out

https://youtu.be/wDFynhbltHk?si=x7D_p6z-9MDFCnLe

(flash warning!!) i love vocaloid artists with black and white aesthetics they're always good. Kangoku Catastrophe by the same person is also fantastic. squeak freak.

https://youtu.be/heVsAZ6w1-s?si=cRjLgC10MzHyt0_-

this song, out of all the songs in the world, got me through a real rough patch. i was unmotivated and really sad, but this doggy and the catchy melody kept bringing me back and cheering me up. 732 views at the time of this thread. please go support this song

https://youtu.be/-rgRqU0ujSQ?si=XwHeCRUwk5cXE2t0

i also found this song during that rough patch. i really like the more subdued vocals and the fast pace. (possible flash warning? it's not awful but the picture blinks on and off sometimes)

https://youtu.be/WE3TWosFOCk?si=bJ9dWJHvLbGjtEAp

wow Another song from that time in my life. i think the rest of this thread is gonna be dedicated to the songs that got me back into vocaloid. this one's incredibly catchy and i've never gotten sick of it :]

https://youtu.be/WDxvgUiq7PE?si=OxIuVzMl3JN1hJmo

another one over 100k, but god what a lovely song. idk what it is, but those boops in the background sound so sad. i think this one especially kickstarted me into a full-time vocaloid listener

https://youtu.be/MGZokrLIniA?si=o9sp0_2aPeprC8vl

oh my god i didn't even realize this person made Mesmerizer!! (HUGE flash warning for that one). please listen to this song too it's awesome

https://youtu.be/4Egmp6MCmSg?si=yevFcjnkG2IPWJHy

(flash warning!) this one is so nostalgic sounding to me. i love the unresolved note the first chorus ends on. this song sounds like it needs a hug

https://youtu.be/CRmj1vJNR6A?si=NqasRAXRmEH1Z-Fs

i love me a song with drowned out vocals. this one's really relaxing :] i like it a lot

https://youtu.be/dMdYxvl-wMw?si=nXqmU_SLjlJXkuMC

(idk if i should give this one a flash warning, but it gets a little blinky. so be warned) a really good fast-paced one minute song. idk what else to say go listen

https://youtu.be/m3ganYA9_lc?si=npl_ActsG8TfO9eF

a slower paced, boopy song with a music box. i love it a lot

https://youtu.be/P3PrQCIanxw?si=YhaQFEcnEKOUGj9J

oh man, this song and it's MV. where do i even start? first of all: i think the song has some disturbing elements (maybe suicide, death, possibly miscarriage) and the MV is a little spooky and has some blood and violence.

but WOW this video. the song is weird and dissonant at times, the MV is beautifully animated, and it's 5 minutes long. i'm absolutely obsessed with it. please check this person out

https://youtu.be/DUpJgdGe1Pc?si=wZN8jgUGYeoEffGv

(flash warning!) last one. i'm cutting myself off before this thread gets too long (it's already too long). this song is sooooo catchy :] i luv u

SORRY FOR THE LONG THREAD. idek if this will reach that many people but i have over 500 songs in my playlist at this point and so many of them are underrated.

k byeeeee *explodes*

#vocaloid #utau #synthv #voicevox #cevio #hatsune miku #kasane teto #vflower #adachi rei #kafu #kafu cevio #kaai yuki #gumi megpoid #gumi vocaloid #teto synthv

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roachleakage · 2 years

Text

So. What's the deal with Malroth's human form in Dragon Quest Builders 2?

AKA "but why does he look like that?" (Spoilers ahead for Dragon Quest Builders 2 and Demon Lord Dante.)

If you're a fan of Dragon Quest Builders 2, or otherwise know a little bit about its lore and cast, you probably know what Malroth looks like in his human form. And if you also know what he looks like in his original, monster form, you might be kind of puzzled by the design they chose to give him. If you're not - well, first of all, fair, but here's a quick comparison image to show you what I mean:

It's not that Malroth's human form is a bad design or anything, and it does have a few neat callbacks to his monster form - most notably, the color scheme, and his bone necklace in place of the original giant skull necklace. But apart from those admittedly minor details? The two really look nothing alike. Original Flavor Malroth looks like Ray Harryhausen's Kraken with extra features and a different face, while Human Malroth looks like nothing so much as the average Japanese concept of a demon, with his oddest features being pointy ears, a pair of hair antennae stylized to look like horns, and red eyes that his original form notably does not share.

If I didn't know these two guys were the same character, I never would have guessed. Your average white twink Tumblr humanization has more in common with the source material than this guy does. And that had been bugging me for a while - again, not because it's bad, but because why? What was going on in the character designer's mind that led to these choices, in particular? It was a mystery I had no idea how to solve.

Luckily, that's no longer an issue. Due to a turn of events that involved the original Devilman manga being misfiled as yaoi on a manga site, I am pretty sure I know exactly what is going on with Malroth's design, and am prepared to explain it with attached evidence. But in order to do that, we're going to have to hop in this little time machine and go all the way back to the far-flung past of 1971.

Part 1: Nagai Go and Demon Lord Dante

For those who are unfamiliar, Nagai Go is the artist and illustrator behind the original Devilman manga. If you know what that is, great, but if not, it doesn't particularly matter - we're not here for Devilman. We're actually here for its predecessor, the equally weird (and unfortunately incomplete) Demon Lord Dante, also known as Mao (or Maou) Dante.

The premise of Demon Lord Dante is similar to that of Devilman - an ordinary human fuses with a demon, gaining supernatural powers and the ability to transform into a demonic form, while retaining his human consciousness and morality. Unlike Devilman, however, who mostly looks like a funky dude or perhaps a Batman-themed stripper, Dante - as Ryo's demon form is known - is a building-sized amalgamation of man, bat, and beast. And, pertinently to this topic, his face looks like this:

If you haven't already noticed the resemblance, go up and take a look at that picture of Malroth again, then scroll on back here. Yes, they have the exact same face, and if you were wondering if that's a coincidence - not remotely. Toriyama Akira's monster designs for Dragon Quest, particularly in the 'demon lord' character category, draw a lot from Nagai Go's artwork - you can see a lot of the details he likes to use for his demon lords in the original Devilman manga, for instance.

Now, while this tells us a little bit about where Malroth originally came from, it's still just setup for the main event. And for that, we'll have to jump ahead to 2002, where the tragically cancelled (and honestly kind of dodgy) manga finally got the adaptation that it, and its main character, deserved.

The anime of Demon Lord Dante starts off basically the same as the manga (albeit with far fewer plothole-inducing timeskips). The protagonist, Ryo, keeps having dreams where he sees (and sometimes is) the demon Dante, escalating in him finding the demon in question, setting him free from his frosty prison in the Himalayas, and immediately getting vored. Next thing he knows, he's been summoned back to Japan by the Satanic cult who's been trying to bring Dante back for ages, only now he's taken over Dante's body and is himself a monstrous hairy colossus. He goes on a confused rampage, and then I run out of manga so I can't really tell you what originally happened next.

In the show, though, another demon explains what's happened to him, and he eventually figures out how to use Dante's powers to regain human form and return to his home. This kicks off a storyline in which he tries very hard not to be a demon, because Angst Angst Angst, while fending off multiple demons whose voices he keeps hearing in his head insisting that he is totally the really real Dante, he just needs to "regain his memories" to supercede the personality of Ryo and get back on track with the whole monstrous rampage thing.

Hopefully this is all starting to sound familiar.

Now, there are pretty big differences between the plots of Dragon Quest Builders 2 and Demon Lord Dante. I won't go into them, because they're pretty major spoilers and aren't really relevant to this topic, but it definitely isn't 1:1. However, there are also some striking similarities, what with the exploration of who is really good or evil, themes of religious violence and exploitation, and so forth. There is also a very cute plane in one episode, which I have to show you not because it's cute, but because... well. See for yourself:

It's not exactly the Buggy Buggy, but it is an adorable animal-shaped flying vehicle, armed to the teeth and ready to fight G*d. I'm not kidding, that's what they use it for. Hopefully they don't keep pushing the wrong button and accidentally shooting beams when they meant to descend.

Anyway, I've been building to a point here, and it's finally time to bring it all together. Because while Ryo spends a little bit of time in his gigantic monster form, and a lot more looking like a normal human, there are points in the show where he needs to demon out without turning into an entire skyscraper, and when that happens, he looks like, well This.

Beefy pecs, pointy ears, fluffy hair, and of course, horns.

It's not exactly Human Malroth, of course. The most obvious difference is that, well, this guy isn't terribly human-looking - he's got wings, furry beast legs, and other assorted features. He also isn't as tan as this screenshot would seem to imply; his skin simply looks darker because, like most of the scenes this form appears in, the ambient light levels are pretty poor. (This particular shot was taken at night.)

But it is a lot closer. Like, weirdly closer. Check out the curve of the horns, which is mirrored in Human Malroth's hair antennae despite appearing nowhere on OG Malroth himself. And while this screenshot doesn't show it very well, his eyes in this form are red, like Human Malroth's.

So... yeah. I won't say there's no possibility of my being wrong, because it's impossible to know 100% of what goes into a game's creative decisions, but it looks like Dragon Quest Builders 2 drew a good chunk of inspiration from Demon Lord Dante - including the design for Malroth's human form.

#dragon quest builders 2 #dqb2 #malroth #dqb2 malroth #demon lord dante

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absolutebl · 1 year

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This Week in BL - Things are Very Mixed

May 2023 Wk 1

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. Organized by which ones (in each category) I’m enjoying most.

Ongoing Series - Thai

Step By Step (Thai Tues WeTV & Gaga) ep 3 of 10 (MDL still says 12, but Gaga still says 10) - The subs are janky on YT, so you might want to watch this on Gaga. This is such a good show, it just feels so much more authentic to an office environment and first job then anything else I’ve seen in BL. Now that might be because it has western source material, or it might be because it is actually kind of old-fashioned (it’s been years since I worked as an office grunt). While the authenticity may be a little triggering for some, I love how much tension it adds to the leads’ dynamic and the quality of the narrative. I also really love the brothers’ relationship, now that we got to see them on screen together for a bit. Walk of shame was great! Oh look, character development, how novel. This is what Boss & Babe should have been. Not sold on the sides tho it’s nice to see a faen fatal as the main character in a dynamic for a change.

La Pluie (Sat iQIYI) ep 2 of 10 - This one is really grabbing me by the throat. I love the starter concepts, what a fantastic twist on a meet cute not to mention soulmates. I hope we spend more time with the vet and his coworkers, they seem awesome. And another surprise, the guy we think is being set up to be the brother’s love interest is now clearly interested in the wrong brother. I love the trope subversions going on with this show!

Our Skyy 2 (The Eclipse) eps 5-6 - FirstKhao are just ridiculously cute as a couple. Honestly? Aye just seems like he would be a lot of work as a lover. I’m not as wild about the premise of this installment, with the film clips and stuff (as I was of NlMG’s installment). And then, the singing. Oh well, you can’t have everything. I gotta say, First is a great crier, although I don’t think this story warranted his tears. In the end? My feelings on this installment were mixed, the movie storyline didn’t grab me and the birthday storyline seems a touch mean spirited, but I do think it adds substantially to the original Eclipse rather than feeling superfluous or slapdash like many of the other Our Skyys. So I’m going to go with 8/10

Future (Thai Sun YouTube & Gaga) ep 6fin - More of the same (which I like) but I’m glad it ended. Didn’t need to get dragged out. Such drama over nothing. In the end? This is just a soft sweet cotton candy fluff piece about a younger boy who pursues an older boy and then manufactures silly gay drama. Nothing wrong with that. But I don’t think this style of BL really appeals to a very large market share. Will I rewatch it? Sure. Will anyone else? Nope. 7/10 RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS.

Pastsenger (Thai Weds Gaga) ep 9 of 12 eps - And now the amnesia trope. I’m not a fan. This is such a pulp. At least it ends next week? Groan, no 3 more eps.

A Boss and a Babe (Fri YouTube) ep 10 of 12 - one thing I realize I like about this main couple’s dynamic is that the seme/uke seems earned, where it didn’t in Echante. I don’t have much else to say except it’s crazy when a narrative betrays its characters like this and why to poor ForceBook keep having to deal with it?

The Promise (Thai Weds YT & WeTV) ep 7 of 10 - Honestly, who wears an all white outfit to play around with coffee beans in the countryside? I LOVE the faen fatal, he’s so good, courageous, honest, and morally sound. He even gives his rival fair warning. Nan should totally go out with him. I made awwww noises over the faen fatal! I NEVER do that. I guess Phu was right all along? Nan won’t date a friend. Ultimate friend zone. Well shit. This show. Ouch.

House of Stars (Thai Mon iQIYI) ep 1 of ?? - There seems a slight horror element which I do not like and it’s also confusingly like Melrose Place or something. Everyone is sleeping with, or wants to be sleeping with everyone else. It’s kinda hilarious to watch something where all the actors are supposed to be good actors but it’s a pulp so they just really aren’t. So far my main issue is I can’t keep them all straight in my head (pun intended).

Tin Tam Jai (Tues Gaga) ep 10fin - There is very little I enjoyed about this show. The entirely forgotten side dishes gave us 5 min of excellent high heat and then vanished, but otherwise this show sucked in the wrong way. It’s forgettable and I intend to do just that. 5/10

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Our Dining Table AKA Bokura no Shokutaku (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 5 of 10 - The way these two are very quietly yet thoroughly falling in love with each other is executed with such grace and subtlety that only Japan could have handed this out. It’s not even “falling” it’s more like sliding gradually into love.

Love Mate (Korea Thurs Viki) eps 1-2 of 8 - Launched very much openly gay so that’s fun. Also very much bubble too, so no one around them cares. So: Seo is a player jaded older uke (fun character type we don’t see often) and his seme is a romantic if arrogant weirdo. Can you see my hands clapping? Combative trope activation! Absurdity. How fun. Also workplace harassment but hayho that’s BL for ya. (Also a nonBL Kdrama specialty.) ALSO whole office in on seme-stalker’s side? All in all, it’s odd and questionable, but I’m into it. Why am I like this?

Happy Merry Ending (Korea Thurs Gaga) eps 3-4 of 8 - OK I’m not super into the main couple but I love all of the surrounding characters. The overly protective best friend with a crush is giving bad advice but it’s understandable and he’s super hot so I forgive him. And the idol character is a wonderful addition, he is my baby. Also, evil ex is v evil.

Vian the series (Vietnam YT ) - I thought this was gonna be Tiktok only but apparently it’s showing up on YT too. It’s cute! My cat boyfriend (which is more common that it should be) and this seems to be Vietnam’s installment (we got Thailand’s last year). The boy playing the cat is the prettiest human being on the planet. Fight me. No fight him, get scratched. Serious tho. Holy hairballs. Look I don’t really like vertical content but I am watching this for him. Meow, indeed.

The Day I Loved You (Vietnam YouTube) eps 2-3 of ? - BL Express’s first impressions mirror mine. Niks is so flipping cute. Rich kid is so into him, so is bestie. So much gay macho posturing. So much bi fear and het shame. But also it’s killer to get a femme main characters who isn’t being mocked. Dancing trope continues (better than singing together). It is kinda Heartstopper goes Pinoy BL. Honestly, I prefer kids a little drawings to terrible sound effects. This is better than it or we have any right to expect.

Naked Dinner AKA Zenra Meshi (Japan Fri Gaga) ep 4 of 12 - There is a lot I like about this drama, except the weird central conceit of the naked dining. But the romance part is cute, if a tad simplistic.

My Story (Pinoy Sat YouTube) ep 4 of 10 - chukchuk went missing and so did my interest in this show. I’m DNFing this one.

Dancing together, the baby sub-trope of 2023. (The Day I Love You)

It’s Airing But ...

Love Syndrome (Thai Sat WeTV) stopped at ep 2 of 12 - I’m just not into any aspect of it (except Lee Long Shi) - saving to binge if the end is solid.

Venus in the Sky (Sat YouTube) pilot/tester?) 0 of 10 - not entirely sure what’s up with this one distribution-wise, but the pilot was classic university-set pulp. I hope it happens because the leads are cute with good chemsitry and I thought it was fun. However, this pilot holds together as its own little short too.

Stormy Honeymoon (Vietnam) - meh

In Case You Missed It

Actors Bas Suradej (2 Moons etc...) and Copter Panuwat (so much BL) have left Starhunter. So Copter and Kimmon will part ways as an on-screen pair (RIP KimCop). Their upcoming show Boy Never Smiles will still air, but will likely be their last together. (source)

Restart After Come Back Home (highly recommended), Athlete, Capture Lover, Tkumi-kun, His the movie (recommended) and also a bunch of the dark stuff like Forbidden Love and Shortest Distance are all leaving Gagaoolala soon. So watch ‘em while you can. A few are also on Viki, but many will be difficult to get hold of without Gaga.

I finally finished the second season of The Reason Why He Fell in Love with Me (Japan Gaga) and gave it a 4/10. I just don’t like or recommend any of the installments of this franchise, but if I had to pick, it’s season one.

Make a Wish finished at 6 eps. Stars Fluke Natouch (OhmFluke UWMA etc...) & Judo (The Miracle Of Teddy Bear) in medical-fantasy about a doctor who sees ghosts and a deity who resides in a Bodhi tree that earns merits whenever he fulfills a wish. Based on a y-novel by Sammon (Manner of Death, Triage). I will watch it if I get hold of it, but for now... who knows how it went?

Here’s a really interesting podcast ep from 99% Invisible on captions and captioning.

Next Week Looks Like This:

Coming in May 2023:

5/18 - Starstruck (Korea ????) - A boy has had a crush on his childhood friend for a long time. Stars Zuho (Kpop SF9 - noted good egg) opposite rookie actor Kim In Sung (the one with the crush).

5/27 The Luminous Solution (Thai ????) 10 eps - Thana is having trouble at work and in his relationship. He can't seem to catch a break. So he makes a wish to change everything. The wish has a price.

5/27 Takumi-kun Series 6: Nagai Nagai Monogatari no Hajimari no Asa (Japan) - NO ONE ASKED FOR THIS (but that has never stopped Japan before) and no, I have no idea where to get it, why would I ????? (Say it with me everyone: Oh Japan, must you?)

2023 forthcoming BL master post (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED)

Defining Gut Wrenching from The Promise

Honestly you gotta be so careful who you case as the faen fatal, sometimes he steals everyone’s hearts. I caught a BAD case of second lead syndrome.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

Future reviewing itself for us.

Tiny king of the GMMTV cameo. (Our Skyy et al)

Frankly if this weren’t such a bad story, Cher might be one of my favorite BL characters. (Boss & Babe)

(last week)

Current Kpop earworm? BTOB's - Wind & Wish (I don’t consider myself Melody but I make no case for that statement)

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entityupdates · 2 months

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Post-DI, what's next for Masking series?

This post is going to be attached to the last Chapter of Destructive Interference (written 3/18/2024).

First of all, thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed. As I've said before, I don't really like posting WIPs, I thought I was going to finish DI far sooner than I actually did, so I'm going to make sure I finish the next installment in its entirety before I post it. But, I am going to take a break from this series first so I don't force myself and lose interest.

After I posted Masking, if you recall, I posted a fic called Immortality is Hard on the Mind. I'd originally intended to post a different submas/pla fic first and carry over the hype from Masking but I didn't like the ending so I abandoned it for several months. I picked it up again and I'm taking it in a new direction.

The fic is called We're Not the Monsters of Your Dreams. It's not posted yet but I have talked about it a little bit here. It's got some similarities to Masking (*cough* me turning Ingo into a creature) but thematically very different so I'm going to take my time on it to make sure I do it right. No real expected posting date, probably a few months, and I'm going to spend the next while working on it.

But back on Masking! Lots of ideas, nothing really in the works yet. When I finished Masking, a lot of you expressed interest in some kind of sequel about Ingo in the modern world and I think that is the logical next step but I'm not super inspired. Most of the ideas I have fall into 3 categories:

Sequel

Spin-Offs/What-Ifs

Other species AUs/Spin-Offs

I have ideas for a sequel with plot and stuff but I might just do something like 10 ideas from comments and write them as a slice of life fic.

Spin-Offs/What-Ifs would be more stuff like Destructive Interference that branch off from the main fic. What if Emmet went looking for Ingo? What if Ingo's ghost kept screaming? What if Ingo didn't leave Hisui? That sort of thing.

I'm most interested by non-Zoroark AUs but I do feel like I can write that just as a separate fic. Stuff like Alpha failed to make Ingo a Zorua so he became a Spiritomb wisp and Rei stuck him in the Odd Keystone or Hisuian Zoroark were used as blueprints for Type: Null so Ingo and his siblings ended up in the future via science revival.

I might do a poll? Let me know what you want to see though! I wrote down all the stuff you guys mentioned when I asked after finishing Masking and I plan to do something with it but I would like some recent stuff too.

#zhingo posting

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shinahbee · 1 year

Photo

BL Uke Tier list

Alright, here we go with the BL “Uke/Bottoms” tier list ranking, there was a lot of them but again I picked out the ones that I know of and read and uh...didn’t realize that a lot of them were tsundares.lol.

I don’t know about you but a guy tsundares is more tolerable than girl tsundares just my opinion of course, but to me they seem more tame versus the girls get really violent for no reason in particular and that is annoying. This is just years of phycological damage from anime exposure to that type of girl.

anyways again trigger warning if you hate people ranking and talking sh*t about your favorite character don’t read.

Okay so lets start off with the “bottom tier” first this time

Put me in the hospital:

Cha on -Shadow realm

Jooin- yours to claim

Seonwoo -punch drunk love

Dan- Jinx

Mokhwa - beware of the full moon in march

put me in the hospital is literally that because some of these boys don’t seem to care about their mental and physical wellbeing, not that they are bad characters but they let people do sh*t to them without retaliating and that does not sit well with me, most of these are due to traumatic experiences but they should not be treated like a doormat.

Basically I want these boys to realize what self worth is

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Pretty but zero personality:

joo...something I forgot at this point - turn off the camera

Beom - Full volume

Chunwoo- Lucky paradise

Jiho - insatiable man

yeonju - steel under silk

Ian- ...omg blanking on the name... wet sand

yeah they are pretty but they have that type of dry personality that does not really attract me, this personal preference of course cause there are people that think its cute..i’m not one of them...

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does not feel one way or another:

Suha - My suha

Nakyum - Painter of the night

kyungjoon - Dear door

Yeonwoon - Omega complex

Youngjin - The origin of species

hmm...not really sure how I feel about them in general, they haven’t left a strong impression on me to really categorize them so I guess I’m neutral.

well suha started off really bold but then literally dies down near the end so that was a disappointment, same with kyungjoon.

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Tsundare tier...let’s go.lol.

there’s a alot of them

Jooha- pearl boy

Wonyoung- secondo piatto

Iru...omg that’s wrong isn’t it? - Don’t get me wrong boss

Byeol- between the stars

Nok- The ghosts nocturne

Taeui - Passion

Felix - hold me tight

Ohn - seeing double

Shin - Kings maker

ibeom- what’s with this strange dream?

Victor - Liveta

Seohyun- Runway hit

Yian - Butler

Jungseo - 100% Mr. perfect

lee won- Roses and Champaign

Yoohan - Payback

I swear I’m entering my aujima era cause literally yesterday I was able to remember their names and today writing this, I was struggling so hard lmao.

What can I say I like the male tsundares...lol. even though they can be annoying at times and would be 10x intolerable irl. I think they deserve their own list because the list will continue to grow somehow, and if you are one of those people who think they are not you are in denial.

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and lastly everyone favorite topic to discuss...the must protect at all costs characters...lmao

Must protect at all costs

Neil- Path to you

Sungyul- willow love story

Seoan- the pizza delivery man and the gold palace

Euijoon - Dangerous convenient store

Yoonshin - no moral

Joon - the third ending

Inseop - Love history of willful negligence

Dawol- insecret

I love these boys they are so kind and smart and all round characters that suffer a lot because that is what their creators like to do to them. but luckily their partners are compatible with them and it makes their dynamic interesting to explore. They are often treated really bad, emotionally damaged to some degree and don’t deserve any of it so the must protect at all costs category suits them.

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alright that’s my tier list and I would share this on my twitter but I don’t like how people are just a pain in the a** when they don’t agree with anything. actually seeing what other people ranked and their categories made me a little angry cause talk about sh*t takes. yikes...

anyways, hope you enjoyed and I’ll work on my monthly favorites and get back you when that time comes

follow me if this is the type of content you like

#bl manga #bl manhwa #shonen ai #yaoi manga #yaoi manhwa #tier list #character ranking #bl webtoon

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gailynovelry · 11 months

Note

5 and 9 for Crislie? :D

5. How did you figure out your oc's identity?

In stages, slowly, over time!

I started writing Heralds of Rhimn when I was about fourteen-fifteenish, and the thing about a story you start at fifteen is that it's probably going to change a lot as you change. It's pretty wild to remember this now, but originally;

There were five main characters, all the same age.

No gods, oddly enough.

Crislie's weapon was a sword, not an ax, because she was The Mainest Character and everybody knows that's who you give the sword to in tropey YA stories.

Navaeli was a boy. (And half-dragon!)

Meparik was Crislie's love interest, not Navaeli! That's probably the weirdest thing that was going on with these early drafts.

So, Crislie started off with two base identity traits; girl (pugnacious) and boyliker (romantic).

Over time, I adapted the story and shifted things around. The extra main characters got ported over to Toybox (Saph & Vio!), Meparik aged down, Crislie & Vae aged up and subsequently paired up.

By that point, I'd wised up to the fact that i was a girlliker and that girlliking was Fine Actually. So I began to think to myself . . . was if . . . Navaeli was girl . . . and what if . . . girl kissed other girl still? And that's how Navaeli became metatextually (and textually, but that doesn't get talked about until later in the series) trans! And also how Crislie became bi.

As I started to write their relationship, I realized that they were both approaching their attraction differently. Navaeli was quietly thirsty under the surface. Meanwhile, Crislie . . . didn't have that? At first I thought I was writing the chemistry wrong.

Then it kind of hit me like a brick; Crislie does like Navaeli, she's just not thinking that much about it in a "becky lemme smash" way. So I plonked "ace" down at the end of her label, and bam. Bi ace.

And also poly now that Gildhe has entered the picture.

And also maybe not just girl now that I'm exploring the wyfwolf thing?

Gender on Rhimn is it's own neon-labeled can of trolli gummy worms, so I think I'll touch on it in the next question!

9. Are there cultural or lore specific aspects to their identity? If applicable, does their species affect it?

At the beginning, there wasn't, but now there is.

Okay, so! There are a few important things to know about how Rhimn does gender;

Rhimn is matriarchal. This was true before the Reckoning, and is still true afterward.

For "Alluari had a bad time after the Reckoning and took it out on a whole gender" reasons, conservative parts of Ullua are very strict about gender roles.

For "technically the god ruling us is a Guy, therefore let's pretend that Sexism is Solved" reasons, Gadhi generally doesn't think too hard about its gender norms, even when it should.

(TBH I think Gardhe has the same sense of gender as Nathaniel Finch, ie "it is irrelevant to me but you can call me he, sure." Diversity win, the main antagonist is agender!)

For a variety of reasons (lots of intersex fey, culture of picking their own names & genders, being seen as being below/above human social norms, etc), gender nonconformity is more accepted in feyries than humans.

Due to the influence of feyrie culture, Rhimn has four separate gender categories; male, female, ungendered, and bestial.

The categories are generally associated with he/him, she/her, they/them, and it/its pronouns respectively, but that's not universal. Most wyfwolves consider themselves bestial but use she/her, and Tincre identifies as ungendered while using it/its.

I am probably going to write some in-universe sociology papers about the gender stuff, but bestial in particular is an interesting gender!

It would probably be considered nonbinary/xenogender on Earth, along with the ungendered category, but it's actually grouped more closely with female on Rhimn. Both femininity and feral gender norms lean on aggression. Also, Lykari, the divine being most associated with this gender, is still verifiably a goddess, though not a lady about it.

(Also connects to why Meparik gets "he acts femininely how cute" comments in Ullua; Meparik doesn't necessarily identify as the bestial gender, but he doesn't identify as a human, certainly, and his pent-up aggression gets interpreted in some different ways.)

I think at some point in Book Four, Crislie's going to end up in a conversation with Tincre & some of its students about Actually We Have Four Gender and go "Huh. Kinda into this new gender, actually."

So! Bestial gender Crislie! Yeah!

#thank you for the ask!#good ask good ask i am having so many Want To Write Some Fake Scientific Papers For This World Now that future!Meparik has on his desk #heralds of rhimn #fantasy genders #fantasy worldbuilding

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im-smart-i-swear · 11 months

Note

If funky guys had become paladins of voltron which one would be in which Lion?

back in the VERY early days of this whole au(like. buddys-name-was-still-ryou early) i wanted to base every clones personality/character on a diffrent lion.... but over time it slowly stopped fitting their personalities and i kinda abandoned the concept lol. though you can still see some remnants of that in . certain design choices...

going back to this concept after uhhh two years?? i think? was definetely interesting! all the characters changed WILDLY since then and i tried to re-assign the lions to fit the changes........ it was surprisingly hard

i couldnt for the life of me decide in a few cases, so instead im just gonna give the most suitable options lol

tashi & soup - im putting these two together beacuse- and i have NO IDEA how that would work- theyre copiloting the black lion! they function the best as a duo and separating them would NOT be a good idea in a situation as stressful and complicated as piloting voltron. they barely manage to keep everyone alive on a good day... also picking only one of the two as The Leader just feels wrong

buddy, ideally, would like to stay as FAR AWAY from voltron as psyhically possible, thank you very much- but nothing in this cruel world is ideal, so they get the red lion:) i actually have this whole story idea where basically stickbug ""goes rouge""(like. some sort of 'sleeper agent mode' left over by haggar gets activated by accident??) and runs away to do some evil shit so buddy goes after him(on a whim)(alone)(without telling the others) and while searching for him they bump into fUCKING VOLTRON- so they form a very uneasy truce until they find stick. and at some point buddy finds out he can pilot the red lion! its awful he hates it:/ he pilots anyway cause his loved one is in danger(this whole thing is way too complicated to talk about here lol)

i had A LOT of problems figuring out the last three..... they changed so much that i just cant rlly fit them into these categories anymore... but i tried!!

ORIGINALLY stickbug was supposed to be based on the green lion but he doesnt fit it as well anymore....... i think taks does pretty well tho! shes very bold and iquisitive and a pain in everyones ass<3 plus loves learning about diffrent planets' unique ecosystems n stuff. stick IS very curious and likes exploring so he still kinda fits? but hes not as forward as taks, so yeahhhh im very torn on this one

i have NO FUCKING CLUE what to do with blue. all three of em could propably fit there ngl....

yellow could either be taka or stickbug- taka is the youngest and the brightest, hes what brought all of them together in the first place(it takes a village to raise a child)....... buuuut hes not really a 'puts the needs of others above his own' kind of person? hes still a kid and NOT ready for that kind of responsibility. soup is an OBVIOUS choice here of course, but im not sure- honestly, the more i think about it, the more stickbug starts to feel like the best option here? ok hear me out: stickbug, for most of his life, had very little power over his life. even while with the funky guys(ESPECIALLY in the beggining, these bozos were dysfuctional as fuck) there were moments when the others would talk over him bc 'hes a kid', and even without that theres still his people pleasing problem wnich meant he often disregarded his own good to make other ppl content. so, taking this scrawny guy desperate for control over his life and putting him in the toughest, stongest, most resilient lion- basically i think he deserves to go a little apeshit. as a treat. let him wreck shit for once

honestly it kinda funny im stting here and calculating all of this like a mad man where IN THE ACTUAL SHOW the paladins switch the lions like pokemon cards

realistically speaking i think they would all trade and switch em a lot and then squabble over who gets to pilot yellow bc they ALL want to wreck shit sometimes:)

#thank you for asking!!#i know it took me a while to answer lol #but i did it!!! yippie!!!!#ask #my funky guys #i feel like i dont talk enough about how dysfunctional this family is sometimes...... they love each other and theyre working on it!! theyr #all trying!!#but after everything theyve been through OF COURSE theyre not doing well.....#no family is prefect and ESPECIALLY if they went through so much shit as these guys #i know i mostly talk about how wholesome and caring they all are(and they ARE) but that doesnt mean they dont have a lot of problems also #and thats okay. shit happens sometimes y'know? what matters is that they make the effort to change and grow #its messy and complicated and Not Fun sometimes tho- love is never easy.......#im propably going to go into more detail about the whole 'buddy teams up with voltron to get stickbug back' thing someday cause MAN i have #a ton of thoughts on that one #i dont have the energy to explain All That rn.........

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bestgirlinc · 1 year

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Kingdom Hearts Review

After long last I am back with another review! This time with a review of Kingdom Hearts 1! Kingdom hearts is one hell of a large series. the game back in the day was marketed as a Crossover between Final Fantasy and Disney. An odd mix to be sure, but it sure intrigued my Disney loving, Final Fantasy loving ass as a kid. I remember playing this game over and over again as a kid. That is to say that I'll be honest that while I will attempt to be critical of it, I am not perfect and I am sure bias will peek through.

Gameplay: The gameplay of KH1 is definitely not as good as KH2 or 3. That's not that controversial to say of course. The series WILL get better over time as they explore and expand the gameplay. That said the gameplay is definitely good. The game is a simple action adventure rpg. It has elements of a platformer here and then but mostly just action adventure, with a heaping helping of hack and slash. The gameplay is pretty simple and even on the hardest difficulty isn't hard to understand or get over. I'll say the biggest criticism I have is of the game having such drastic effects on the game such as how fast you level or what moves you learn at all being behind quiz answers and such that at the time you'd never know and even now only if you do research is a very bad idea. It makes the game very annoying and punishing for those that want to go in blind. That is a VERY bad idea that I do not like at all. But IF you have help with that, then you are golden. The game is good, not great, gameplay wise.

Sound: The music in most of the levels is simple. Lots of KH music in the Disney levels are kind of mindless. Mostly just ideas taken straight out of the movies the levels are based on. Halloween town has the "This is Halloween" for example as the easiest choice of "yeah that's what I expected" choices. That said in THIS game most of the songs are BASED on the movies and not actually just the straight songs. But the music is still very much BASED on the music there and blends in a lot in my opinion. Tarzan and Peter Pan being the best levels in the game for music in my opinion. I think the music while very much of the movie it is based on is still rather nice. That said the big stand outs are the songs made for the original levels. Hollow Bastion's level having the best in the game to me as the music is intense and grand. It fits the concept of this being Maleficent's castle. This is where the greatest evils in Disney and the KH universe as a whole call home! It also makes you feel like "Yeah, I hit the final stretch of the game. Things are moving to the finish line now!" For that and much more the game's music STILL is something I'd consider good. Just don't expect top tier music from the Disney levels.

Story & Characters: We've reached the category that non KH fans dread: The STORY! So allow me to explain the complicated plot. A kid gets a giant key weapon. The kid fights Disney and FF characters with Donald Duck and Goofy to help his friends and saves the world from a guy who wants to conquer all worlds. Like I could go into unnecessary detail on the plot to make it seem more complicated but it really isn't that complicated. The worst of it is that the keyblade weapon Sora, our protagonist, uses sort of has a mind of its own. But that's sorta common for magic weapons in fantasy media. Really KH1 is very accessible for newcomers (obviously). You wanna play KH1? Don't do chronological order, just start here. The story overall is good, well written and hits the right beats. The Disney levels mostly are original plots that service the overall story too. So yeah, overall good.

Extra Segment, Is it worth it?: Why this segment? Because I played this game on the HARDEST difficulty after being bullied to do so. Now I wish to truly show my thoughts on Proud difficulty. Is it worth playing? No, not really. Like, it's not THAT hard. But not really worth it either. Just play it if normal difficulty is too easy for you. So yeah, no, I don't think it's worth it. I'll probably play on normal mode if I go back to it again. That way I can relax and not die over and over again. Don't get me wrong though I did nearly everything in this game on hardest difficulty. Only didn't do the synthesis and Gummi missions.

Final Thoughts: Kingdom Hearts 1 is a whimsical game that is easy to see how it became such a big thing that Sora being in Smash was the most requested character ever. It's fun and actiony and has a little something for everyone. I don't have much left to add except yeah, if ANY of these things intrigue you, go give it a shot. The game is dirt cheap nowadays.

#video games #game review #disney #final fantasy series #kingdom hearts

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