#to be fair i think i’m like that BECAUSE i’m a classics major and that’s so much of what studying ancient mediterranean literature is

[wesleysniperking]

Usopp Rant 😡 TL:DR

It pains me…

“If Usopp doesn’t do anything in Elbaf, I’m giving up on him. I love Usopp. I do. But if he’s useless in Elbaf, I’m letting him go.”

Or better yet…

“Even if Oda were to throw Usopp a bone, it won’t make up for 10 years of uselessness.”

Heck, this takes the cake…

“When Usopp told Nami to lie that’s when I lost all respect for him. The crew should have left his lowsy a** back in Water 7. He became what he was so afraid of.”

Nah. I was wrong…

“If Van Augur loses to this useless bum, it’ll ruin all of One Piece for me. It’ll be a major a** pull.”

Regardless of wherever and whatever direction Oda goes in with Usopp, I’ll always stand behind Usopp. No doubt about it. It honestly gets my goat when people in snark threads or even official One Piece pages (*cough cough* Reddit, YouTube, Worstgen) continue to criticize Usopp for small things, like they just really want him to lose (nitpick the h*ll outta him). Like, no kidding. But there’s one thing that really bugged me about Wano….

And what that was—was in a famous scene when Nami’s about to get annihilated by Ulti, and Ulti tries to force Nami into denouncing Luffy’s dream, and Nami remains firm by opposing the villainess…and Usopp wants Nami to lie and say Luffy will not become pirate king. He thinks this and urges for this to happen. For her to do so.

Now, I do honestly understand why he said that, and why he did it. If people had good reading comprehension and knew how to pick up on context clues this wouldn’t have to be brought up in anything regarding “Usopp’s bum-a**”.

Point blank, Usopp didn’t want Nami to die.

Lying means nothing to him. They both know Luffy is going to become Pirate King. They’ve seen their captain make the impossible happen!

Ergo, my main gripe is that it seems what Oda did is that he had to paint Usopp in a bad light in order for another character to look good. Nami is awesome. Kudos to her for staying head-strong. But in the same breath I stand by Usopp’s actions and see nothing wrong in them. Luffy wouldn’t look at Usopp badly if he found out what he did, because as the strawhat himself said, there’s no such thing as playing fair in a pirate fight (I may have paraphrased this), and what’s important is Nami making it out alive.

A dead navigator? How else are they getting to Laughtale. F*ck winning the raid/battle when the Strawhats are down a member. It was already looking rough with Luffy…

So, the misconception that Luffy would be mad at Usopp for saying that to Nami is illogical. Besides, how can Usopp force his ideals onto others? Yes, if he’d been in Nami’s same exact situation, he would’ve done what she did. But the point in that scene FOR HIM was about wanting to protect a friend. He loves Luffy, and has already defended his dream (e.g. Arabasta). The first one to do so! But for Usopp, what’s important in that moment is Nami making it out alive. He CAN’T watch a friend die. He can’t watch a friend die in the hands of some b*tch with a power trip; trying to force Nami’s hand. And sure, Nami remained head strong, and she did the d@mn thing. But when other people and fans decide to commend Nami for that moment while also putting Usopp down, things get really ugly for me. Nami fans and Usopp fans should be allies. But it doesn’t happen because they praise Nami and kick Usopp down to the ground.

No, this doesn’t go for EVERY Nami fan, and I’m not saying Usopp fans aren’t guilty of this.

So, I don’t criticize Usopp for his actions. Nor do I criticize Nami for her actions. What I’m trying to come to terms with is how it seems like it’s the whole classic case of painting one character in a very bad light in order to paint another character in a very good light.

Very SEEMINGLY so, Usopp regresses (no he did not regress!), and Nami progresses (cheers! 🥳😕…haters ruin it).

It’s a bit disheartening to have to defend Usopp over such pettiness. But I’ll continue to trust in the process. It just seems like Usopp fans are running on switchblade faith. And sometimes that faith isn’t enough.

But there’s indeed a beauty in the whole concept of retrospect, and at this point, it really does appear that in the overall One Piece narrative, in the overall grand scheme of things, Usopp is the true underdog.

And if people are so certain that Usopp doesn’t a stand a chance against Van Augur then why even entertain the idea? People always maintain (and it STRONGLY appears) that outside of Luffy vs Blackbeard, Usopp vs Van Augur is the most anticipated duel in the Blackbeard Pirates vs Strawhats battle.

Again, why even insult Usopp, if y’all are associating this “sniper with the ice cold drip” with “bum Usopp”? And if Usopp winning would be such an a**pull, will that keep y’all from watching? Will y’all not stop and look? Y’all low key have some big expectations for Usopp (who y’all consider fodder).

The fight might not even happen, yet haters are still looking forward to it. The speculation is strong with this one.

I honestly don’t understand it when people say Usopp is holding the crew back. How??? If that was the case Usopp would be given more focus. The camera would stay on him a little longer.

It’s like Usopp can never win.

Like this BS…

“Yeah, but Luffy and Law wouldn’t have been turned into toys because Haki can counteract DF powers. So, they would’ve been able to successfully mitigate the situation without Usopp’s help.”

Why???

“No. Usopp is still useless. Perona could’ve been defeated by Robin if she were there. Strawhats can make it without Bum Usopp.”

But in all seriousness, I think most of the hate is honestly just bitterness and impatience. And overall, misguided expectations. But people just don’t know how to articulate stuff proficiently in a debate (the comment section) without hate.

If you’re going to like a character, you have to know what you’re getting yourself into. And if you don’t want to do the research, then just pick up on the fine details and know what you want (know who you are). Usopp has flaws, but to just straight up say “I wish he could f*ckin die” and some other hot mess? No dice! If you don’t like him, move on. If you like him, but can’t love him at his “lowest” then get to steppin’.

There are a lot of bitter fans who’ve been unimpressed with Usopp post time skip. But there are even some far more bitter enough to the point to say that whatever he accomplished pre-timeskip was his peak, and that the whole fight with Perona was Oda “just throwing him a bone”. Some aren’t even satisfied with Enies Lobby Usopp, because he didn’t get a decent 1 v 1. “He should’ve had Sanji’s fight”. Typical shonen fan, I guess.

Yet, this bitterness also stems from the upset of Water 7’s narrative working in favor of Luffy instead of Usopp (apparently Longnose was the bad guy here 😒).

Ugh…The Sniper King joke isn’t fun anymore…

“Yeah. I truly just separate Sniper King and Usopp now. Meme aside. They really are separate people, and Usopp is just a bum.” [Proceeds to show panel of when Usopp was on the ground, heavily injured after the Franky family “dealt with him”. And the crew found him. And other racial slurs follow…]

Final + Conclusion

Usopp is still my favorite One Piece character (unconditionally), and I hope he’s given the justice he deserves. I love Sniper King, but I don’t want him to comeback because of the haters.

Usopp needs to get the last laugh.

His fans deserve the last laugh.

We will get the last laugh.

Just wait and see, he’ll come in clutch again.

#i need to stay off Reddit and YouTube #but this is what I was met with #when first getting into OP and still am #met with #no criticism to any OP character #one piece #rant #Usopp #god usopp #one piece usopp #op usopp #sniper king usopp #usopp one piece #straw hat usopp #captain usopp #sniper king #sogeking #Wano #onigashima #Nami #Strawhats #Mugiwara #essay #tl;dr #toxic people #elbaf #Van augur #Blackbeard #cat burglar Nami #wesleysniperking

[waitmyturtles]

Turtles Catches Up With Old GMMTV: TharnType and Gray Areas Edition

[What’s going on here? After joining Tumblr and discovering Thai BLs through KinnPorsche in 2022, I began watching GMMTV’s new offerings -- and realized that I had a lot of history to catch up on, to appreciate the more recent works that I was delving into. From tropes to BL frameworks, what we’re watching now hails from somewhere, and I’m learning about Thai BL's history through what I’m calling the Old GMMTV Challenge (OGMMTVC). Starting with recommendations from @absolutebl on their post regarding how GMMTV is correcting for its mistakes with its shows today, I’ve made an expansive list to get me through a condensed history of essential/classic/significant Thai BLs produced by GMMTV and many other BL studios. My watchlist, pasted below, lists what I’ve watched and what’s upcoming, along with the reviews I’ve written so far. Today, I’ll cover the very controversial TharnType, Asian stereotypes towards queerness, and the very difficult gray areas on how this show has been interpreted by various populations over the last few years.]

TW: homophobic and derogatory ideas and language against the queer community. Critical commentary on TharnType and MAME. This review is NOT for you if you are a TharnType or MAME Big Fan.

(I want to give very special thanks to @so-much-yet-to-learn and @lurkingshan for reviewing previous versions of this post and offering the most insightful feedback I could ask for. Thank you both so much.)

Alright. Deep breaths.

TharnType was a necessary addition to the Old GMMTV watchlist. It was. I had to watch it, for:

- the tremendous IMPACT this show has had on BL culture, along with MAME’s continued influence on the genre;  - how this show affected shipper culture, and the rippling effects it’s had since then vis à vis MewGulf; - how this show continued to define “high heat” and “chemistry” in BL, and -- at least for me, possibly the most interesting point to needle on -- - what fans, ESPECIALLY the majority cishet fandom, are willing to compromise and/or equivocate on in regards to our values towards the queer community regarding what we consume in media, and how safe or unsafe it is for our queer family that this content exists in the first place.

I gotta say some stuff first before I get into this review. This is the worst show I’ve ever watched, in my own opinion. I offer this flag for MAME and TharnType fans in advance, as I get quite critical down below.

I am angry at this show, at MAME, at the BL industry for allowing this show to exist, and I unfortunately hold anger against Tee Bundit, who I know has since made shows, like Lovely Writer, that deeply criticized the BL industry (and I am enjoying his work now in Step By Step, even while I don’t hesitate to criticize it). ANYONE INVOLVED in the making of TharnType needs to hold personal and professional accountability for this show even existing. And I also think that fans need to hold THEMSELVES accountable if they defend it WITHOUT thinking about the long-term social implications of the existence of this show.

I want to also say that I need to check myself, OFTEN, as I write this, because I don’t want to be some fucking loudmouth, self-righteous ally-savior. I don’t. [My AMAZING drama friends, @lurkingshan​ and @bengiyo​, have held me down during this watch. (Friends. Thank you. Good LORD.)]

I want this review to be as fair as possible to the nostalgia of the moment that this show aired; to note that this show gave high heat, which fans clearly demanded, and IS a worthy component of some dramas if it works with the rest of what the show has to offer by way of writing; and to note that many fans saw a chemistry in MewGulf that they hadn’t seen previously. I especially note that there may be survivors of sexual assault who related to certain pieces of this show, particularly through Type’s lens and his own anger.

With that very long introduction, I will note that I’m not going to talk too much about the show details itself. I don’t need to unwind on plot. For me -- FOR ME -- the show’s plot was problematic. 

2019: earlier that year, before TT aired, you had He’s Coming To Me, which was BURIED by GMMTV, and was a TOUR DE FORCE of intricate storytelling and queer revelation. According to this amazing reblog by @so-much-yet-to-learn​ (another longtime BL observer who UTTERLY held me down during my TT watch, friend, I CANNOT THANK YOU ENOUGH FOR THE HOURS you spent me with talking about TT and other issues), shipper fans angry at Ohm and Singto went so far as to SHOW UP TO THE GMMTV BUILDING IN BANGKOK and PROTEST against the split of the KristSingto ship. This is why, in this TT review, I talk about fans needing to take responsibility and accountability for the media we consume. I believe TT exists in part because fans have allowed it to continue to exist in the universe of BL, and many even celebrate TT’s existence -- all while, in my own opinion -- much more compelling art existed before TT (Make It Right, He’s Coming To Me) and certainly after its airing.

In discussion with @absolutebl (yet another drama expert who held me down during my TT watch, THANK YOU, SENSEI), ABL Sensei brings up that, besides a natural tendency to criticize and blame MAME for our needing to have conversations about safety towards queer family, that TT does deserve to be criticized as a standalone piece of content.

I honestly don’t know, Sensei, if I’m mature enough to make that separation, but I will try. MAME herself doesn’t exist in a vacuum: she has an industry, from producers, to showrunners, to actors, to editors, to networks -- that join her in the making of her work. I’ll do my best to separate everything, but.

I noted in my review of Love By Chance that MAME traffics in common Asian stereotypes against the queer community. At the same time, I know that often, we talk about the yaoi origins of BL in Thailand. I think, over time, the explanation of the yaoi origination has been used as a means of explaining WHY certain tropes exist, such as abuse of a partner, bullying, etc. I want to note that while I acknowledge those origins, I also strongly note (as I did in the comments of my LBC review) that yaoi origins are themselves problematic, as created by a majority cishet female artist base, and thus I question the accurate representation of queer themes both in yaoi and in early and/or questionable Thai BL that lean into common stereotypes held by Asian nations. (That being said, I do DEEPLY ACKNOWLEDGE @so-much-yet-to-learn‘s point to me that many in the queer community still consumed this media, as the West was producing next-to-nothing by way of queer love and/or queer perspectives.)

Much of what I saw in LBC and TT -- gang rape, cheating, revenge, derogatory language, hurtful stereotypes of top/bottom and husband/wife -- are repeat, word-for-word stereotypes that I heard from my Asian family growing up. Examples of what I saw by way of problematic stereotypes in TharnType include:

- Tharn repeatedly and casually calling Type “his bitch,” - The use of the F word, repeatedly, by Type, - Type attacking his out classmates, and indirectly attacking his friend, Tum, - The assumption that because Tharn and Tar are gay, that they are promiscuous (even Techno assumes this while leaving Type alone with Tharn early in the series), - Techno himself not calling out Type for his homophobia throughout the series, - The use of gang rape as a means of revenge by Lhong to Tar,

and many more. I will also note that I was incredibly uncomfortable by Lhong’s redemption at the end, as if the story demanded that Lhong’s own actions that drove him to order grievous sexual violence against another man needed to be forgiven. That was a paradigm that seemed apologetic to his actions and did not sit well with me.

As I noted to @bengiyo: us international fans may be lulled to think that Thailand is majority progressive and accepting of the queer community based off of the BLs that we watch. It IS a much more progressive culture in SE Asia in supporting the queer community, and I would assume that gay culture is able to flourish in city centers, as opposed to rural areas. 

But Thailand has NOT legalized same-sex marriage. And I posit that we in the West don’t actually realize that harmful stereotypes against the queer community absolutely still exist and flourish in Thailand, Taiwan, and elsewhere in Asia -- countries that certainly leverage BL as soft power, but nations in which familial or cultural expectations may STILL make ACTUAL coming out and public existence a dangerous or risky proposition. THIS SHIT IS GRAY. BL is fiction -- it is not reality. It is still dangerous -- YES, INCLUDING HERE IN THE STATES -- to be out in very many towns, cities, and communities around the world.

Now. When I went into TT, I understood, AS ASSUMED FACT, that MAME was a sexual assault survivor, who used this style of writing about queerness and queer love to process her own SA experiences. That equivocation gave me the serious jibbles, which I’ll talk about in a second, but I understood it to be the line that most BL observers have made about her work, and/or justification or explanation for her work existing.

I’ve since learned that this is not necessarily fact: that it is not known if MAME is an SA survivor, and that she is notoriously private and has not revealed much, if anything, about her own past.

So, from there, how do I process this? How do I process that it’s FANON -- NOT FACT -- that MAME may or may not write from a survivor’s perspective?

I also note here, thanks to the wonderful @so-much-yet-to-learn​, that many fans who are SA survivors have written in the past about how they related to Type’s anger and/or homophobia after his own assault experience. I also understand that SA survivors have, in the past, had difficulty with strong rejections of TharnType, like the one I have composed here, in reaction to the fear that they cannot tell their own stories of internal anger against their perpetrators and the communities from which their attackers come from.

Thus, I want to note a VERY DIFFICULT PROPOSITION TO WORK THROUGH. What we’re facing here is that there may be people, SA survivors in particular, who related to Type’s homophobia. This is Type’s fictional homophobia -- as written by a very real, assumed-to-be female author. At the same time, I myself very much acknowledge that I still see stereotypes against the queer community, in a very Asian voice that I am familiar with, in MAME’s shows.

Let me tell you why this gives me, personally, the jibbles. Let’s assume that MAME is an SA survivor. As someone trained in the social services, I am not sure that I would advise a potential client to create very public content that is potentially harmful towards a minority community, as a means of their own personal processing. MAME is FAMOUS. Her work is POPULAR. Can we justify the dangers that her work poses -- the stereotypes and assumptions she traffics in against our queer family -- for her own psychological processing?

If I am her therapist, I am guiding her to instead journey map, to meditate, to advise her of HUNDREDS of other therapeutic psychological modalities to process her pain -- all modalities that do not set up a minority community to be stereotyped through very publicly consumed content. 

I posit here -- MY OPINION, FAM -- that MAME has leveraged her own personal bigotry against the queer community in her shows for clout with Asian and international audiences that would not quibble about the harmfulness of the stereotypes that the show portrayed. And she’s gotten away with it for the utter control she has over her own content. AND SHE KNOWS THERE’S AN AUDIENCE FOR IT, so she keeps making what I call bigoted content.

I thought TT was a DANGEROUS show for perpetuating harmful stereotypes about queer family. And I am distraught at the BL industry for seeing dollar signs against that clout and investing in it. 

The equivocating in support of TharnType certainly exists. There are people who view this show with nostalgia, as there still wasn’t the volume of BL content, with heat, in 2019 as we have today. There are people out there who may very well openly relate to Type’s homophobia as a character, and MAME’s homophobia as an author and as a human. Hell, Foei Patara, who we see in everything these days, shared a very anti-LGBTQ+ video on his Instagram just recently.

I DO have to give a nod to nostalgia. I have to try to be fair here. This is the ENTIRE POINT of the OGMMTVC. BL fans in 2019 wanted a thing. High heat, high chemistry. I know that there are fans that are AWARE of these high-level issues of MAME’s work. And yet, there are many that still look back on TharnType with fondness, because it brought something new to the field. 

What I’m suffering from here is the equivocation of MAME’s work by way of analysis against a presumed opinion -- NOT fact -- that MAME is an SA survivor. That seems to open some sort of door to allow us to watch her work, despite the dangers of the stereotypes contained within her work.

The ethics of this. I’m not a strong enough person to go near that equivocation. Because I am not a survivor. I’m an Asian. In MAME’s voice, I hear the stereotypes against the queer community that I grew up with. And that’s where I’m writing this review. I’m hurt and appalled by her proliferating what I term to be dangerous viewpoints against my queer sisters and brothers -- assumptions that I heard growing up in my Indian community.

Fuck. Am I ever glad that I DIDN’T watch this show in 2019. I’m protected by a fortress of past and present works that I can rely on that proves that there are other arenas in which BL is being leveraged for good, for progressive art, for the introduction of ideas that support our queer family, AND that might also offer critical commentary on issues that affect other minority or vulnerable corners of society, à la Moonlight Chicken. 

I haven’t even gotten to the MewArt scandal and the problematic nature of the MewGulf ship. All of those are also very important issues, but I can’t bring myself to get deep about them, because just talking about the show itself is a lot. But Mew Suppasit’s past alleged behavior is certainly problematic, and is worth considering if folks were to think about watching this show.

In any case: I’m never watching another MAME show again, ever. And as a side note, MewGulf didn’t do it for me. At this point in 2019, I feel like we’d seen ships with much better chemistry and even heat, like PerthSaint (a MAME ship, actually), OhmToey, MaxTul, and even OhmSingto and their utterly brilliant acting. @he-is-lightning-in-a-bottle noted in the comments of one of my TT late-night posts that they didn’t see the MewGulf chemistry, and frankly, I didn’t either -- I didn’t see that these guys, as the acted characters of Tharn and Type, bodily and ferally WANTED AND VISCERALLY LOVED each other in fiction, the way that actor pairs like EarthMix, OhmNanon, FirstKhao, and others have since perfected in their work as their respective characters.

This post is about the responsibility that so-called “artists” bear when taking up the mantle of created content about a minority community, as well as the responsibility that we bear, as fans, as the majority cishet female fanbase, to consume this content. MAME and the slices of the BL industry that support her MUST understand that perpetuating stereotypes about a minority community WILL HAVE VISCERAL SOCIAL IMPACTS in REINFORCING THOSE STEREOTYPES, among a majority cishet fanbase and across society, to the danger of the existence of our queer family. 

THIS IS WHY WE NEED MORE QUEER CONTENT BY QUEER FILMMAKERS.

That is the way in which this paradigm will be broken over time. And us in the cishet fanbase MUST STAND READY to support art -- in the words of dear friend @wen-kexing-apologist -- by queer family, for queer family, about queer family. We in the cishet majority bear a responsibility to break the paradigm of dangerous stereotypes, perpetrated by who create content through their own bigotry, either consciously or unconsciously -- or both.

[I finished TharnType in record time. I needed to get it out of my system. And now I’m fully invested in OffGun and having a DELIGHTFUL time with Theory of Love: I AM OBSESSED WITH THIS SUBVERSIVE, MINDBENDING SHOW. Ooooooooooooooooooh. Right up my alley! Hopefully I can muster my usual Monday review for ToL -- let’s see. I still feel somewhat broken by TT, but ToL and OffGun have been SUCH a salve.

Here’s the list as it stands currently. We have two changes! First, thanks to a suggestion by @wen-kexing-apologist and @lurkingshan, I’m adding a non-BL (!!!!) to the list in 3 Will Be Free. I have a number of separate Jojo Tichakorn priorities to achieve before Only Friends airs, and this is a big one; as this is a show from 2019, I want to see where GMMTV was willing to go in pushing queer content in non-BLs, and this is the perfect time to watch it. I’ll still include a review in this space! 

And, per @absolutebl Sensei’s suggestion, I’ve added YYY (2020) to this, to enjoy Cheewin unhinged in what seems to be a disaster of a show -- but an important one for real queer representation (THANK YOU, SENSEI!). I’m excited for chaos. I’m watching it out of chronology with ITSAY and planning it as a mental break. As always, I’ll take any feedback on the list as it stands!

1) Love Sick and Love Sick 2 (2014 and 2015) (review here) 2) Make It Right (2016) (review here) 3) SOTUS (2016-2017) (review here) 4) Make It Right 2 (2017) (review here) 5) Together With Me (2017) (review here) 6) SOTUS S/Our Skyy x SOTUS (2017-2018) (review here) 7) Love By Chance (2018) (review here) 8) Kiss Me Again: PeteKao cuts (2018) (no review) 9) He’s Coming To Me (2019) (review here) 10) Dark Blue Kiss (2019) and Our Skyy x Kiss Me Again (2018) (review here) 11) TharnType (2019)  12) Senior Secret Love: Puppy Honey (BL cuts) (2016 and 2017) (I’m watching this out of order just to get familiar with OffGun before Theory of Love -- will likely not review)  13) Theory of Love (2019) (watching) 14) 3 Will Be Free (2019) (not a BL or an official part of the OGMMTVC watchlist, but an important harbinger of things to come in 2019 and beyond re: Jojo Tichakorn including queer content in non-BLs) 15) Dew the Movie (2019) (not an official part of the OGMMTVC watchlist, but I want to watch this in chronological order with everything else) 16) Until We Meet Again (2019-2020) 17) 2gether (2020) 18) Still 2gether (2020) 19) I Told Sunset About You (2020) 20) YYY (2020, out of chronology) 21) Manner of Death (2020-2021) (not a true BL, but a MaxTul queer/gay romance set within a genre-based show that likely influenced Not Me and KinnPorsche) 22) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) (review here) 23) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For The Sake Of Rewatching Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS 24) Lovely Writer (2021) 25) I Promised You the Moon (2021) 26) Not Me (2021-2022) 27) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) (thesis here) 28) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) and Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (2023) OGMMTVC Rewatch 29) Secret Crush On You (2022) [watching for Cheewin’s trajectory of studying queer joy from Make It Right (high school), to SCOY (college), to Bed Friend (working adults)] 30) KinnPorsche (2022) (tag here) 31) The Eclipse (2022) (tag here) 32) GAP the Series (2022-2023) (Thailand’s first GL) 33) My School President (2022-2023) and Our Skyy 2 x My School President (2023) 34) Moonlight Chicken (2023) (tag here) 35) Bed Friend (2023) (tag here) (Cheewin’s latest show, depicting a queer joy journey among working adults)]

#turtles catches up with old gmmtv #turtles catches up with thai BLs #turtles catches up with the essential BLs #the old gmmtv challenge #ogmmtvc #tharntype #tharn x type #type x tharn #mew suppasit #gulf kanawut #mewgulf #bigotry in asian media #discrimination in asian media #discrimination in BLs #allyship

[daebraeksan]

Scared to talk to Bachira about him hurting your feelings (but then you do it and he apologizes and you forgive him)

Genre: comfort, established relationship, pro player Bachira

Contents: anxiety, insecurity, implied trauma, trust issues, fear of confrontation

Wc: 1289

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

You’re in a little bit of a catastrophic spiral. You feel really tender and sensitive and like anything could send you over the edge. You feel like you’ve done everything wrong (what specifically? Everything. What more explanation could you possibly want?) and you feel like everything is going to be taken away from you.

You get like this sometimes. You try not to. But it’s hard to outrun a childhood. And you aren’t really trying to outrun it. You just want to be happy despite it.

Having Bachira in your life is one thing you have tried to remove from the list of things you have periodic freak outs about. You want to work on your trust issues, and you have, and you know Bachira is trustworthy. He has never done anything to prove otherwise. Logic doesn’t really help your anxieties or insecurities but you still feel the need to point out the facts.

You’ve been off kilter for a few days in a row, situations not going your way, some major, some minor, and you hate it. You hate that you can’t just coping-strategy all of this away—all of these feelings away. You pace around your house. You sit down at the dining table and rock yourself. You curl up on the couch in an incredibly uncomfortable position and don’t move. 

Normally, you are pretty good at feeling secure in your relationships with people. You’ve worked hard to get to this point. You don’t have to second guess their motives, when you’ve known them for a long time, and they’ve demonstrated nothing but respect and kindness towards you. But this week has been crazy for Bachira, too, or something—regardless of the reason, you felt ignored one too many times, felt like you were snapped at, and felt like you were expendable. You don’t blame him at all since it’s your interpretation but at the same time you know from experience that invalidating your emotions isn’t going to make any of this go away.

And then you’ve gone and wrapped yourself up in your old habits of being afraid to talk about something. Your classic fear rears its head: you’re too much trouble, way more trouble than you’re worth, and everyone is going to leave you.

Bachira comes home, drops his stuff off haphazardly in the front doorway, and makes a beeline straight towards you. He ruffles your hair and presses a kiss to the top of your head. 

“I’m home,” he sings.

You smile at him, but you feel crazy. He must notice something is off—how could he not?—because he cups your cheek. It has the intended effect—you indeed feel soothed. You nuzzle your cheek into his palm. You want to be completely engulfed in his touch. You hate everything you’re feeling right now. It’s too hard. 

“What do you want to do tonight?”

You know sometimes he asks this as a formality. He always likes having something to do—but he is content to “compromise” with you and create an “event” for something very normal and calm and low-key that you also want to do (at home. Definitely at home.) (You hate that word because it still feels like both people lose something but whatever the word is for both people are happy with the outcome lol.) 

“I don’t know,” you half-lie—at the very least, you know you have to talk to him. The words coagulate like mucus in your throat. You’re so stupid. This shouldn't be that hard.  Bachira loves you and he’s going to listen to you and nothing is going to be wrong.

You can tell yourself these things. And it won’t help. But to be fair, being mean to yourself won’t help either, but. Yknow. You aren’t going to win every battle. Definitely not this one today.

Not that you want this conversation with  Bachira to seem like a battle. You don’t. 

He studies you for a bit. “We could…just relax together until we think of something?”

You like having a specifically-designated task, something delineated, and can make you feel like you aren’t a failure and aren’t causing a fuss or scene or trouble. You aren’t ruining everyone’s night, this still “counts” as “successful”—you give in to all your old habits, all your rigid, self-scaring habits. Why not? When it rains it pours, or whatever. Let the dam break. Etc. 

You hear him heating up food in the kitchen and he spreads everything out on the coffee table in the living room. You look at him adoringly. He knows you don't eat when you’re like this. That bastard. Loving you and taking care of you. 

How dare he?

You both start on your food, him digging in, and you nibbling. 

“Can we talk?” you ask. 

“Always,” he says, and a few pieces of rice fly out of his mouth onto the table. He picks them up and tries to feed them to you.

“No!” you bark jokingly as you twist your head away, scrunching up your face, trying not to laugh because then he will put the rice in your mouth.

“Don’t waste food!” he admonishes seriously.

“Stop!” you finally let out a giggle. He eats the rice himself and settles back down. 

You stare at him and he stares at you.

“Sorry,” he says. “It’s your turn again.”

“Thank you,” you say. You figure you might as well ease yourself into it. You don’t have to accuse yourself of manipulation or lying or whatever—you just need to let yourself be. You’re trying your best. You start off with talking about some random topics that were bothering you this week to set the scene. You explain the headspace you’ve been in and how you’ve been feeling.

He puts down his food. “I’m sorry that happened,” he says. “Can I hug you?”

You nod. You put down your food just as he throws his arms around you and squeezes you tight. He kisses your cheek. “I don’t mean for those actions to make you feel those ways.  Is there anything I can do to show you that  I didn’t mean any of that, and that I love you so much?”

You are very embarrassed. You hate to ask for anything—even normal boring stuff, and now, this feels like you are being asked to ask for something extra special. Asking someone to make amends to you feels so wrong. It feels like you’re not supposed to cause other people trouble. But anything you say, Bachira probably has already done before, and is okay with it, and some, he’s even done on his own volition before, and you  might not have even known it was what you liked or wanted before him.

You make your requests of how you want to spend some time with him doing your favorite activities and he happily acquiesces.  

“I’ve been wanting that, too,” he says. He peppers kisses all over your face. “I’m sorry you had a bad week,” he says. “That’s so stupid.”

“It was really stupid,” you say sadly. 

He shakes you. “Do you want me to beat them up?” he asks in the most chipper tone.

You sigh and shake your head. “No. Let’s just watch tv.”

He grabs blankets, and you finish the rest of your food while watching your comfort show, snuggled up next to Bachira, who waits patiently until you’re done eating so he can hold your hand. 

Nothing can make the bad events of this week less bad—but you also don’t have to carry your insecure energy into next week. You know you can do what you need to do and you know it’s okay to feel this way sometimes. And if there’s anyone who believes in you the most, it’s Bachira.

#established relationship #bachira #bachira meguru #bachira my beloved #bluelock #blue lock #bluelock fanfiction #blue lock fanfiction #bluelock x reader #blue lock x reader #x reader #bachira x reader #bachiraxreader #bachira fanfiction #reader insert #bachira reader insert #fluff #angst #comfort #bachira comfort

[fumifooms]

You mentioned being open to marchil fodder, right? Well, let me ask you this how do you think these dysfunctionally functional lil guys would handle one or the other being sick, not with anything major but like a light flu or cold type situation.

Yanno things with chil kinda parenting marcille a bit or marcille lowkey panicking like chil is gonna die but he won't. What's your take on it since it's a common hurt comfort type premise?

Thank you for the ask!! I’m gonna start by talking about the clues that canon gives us because I have no self-control, but you can also just skip to the hc part and you wouldn’t miss anything about the meat of the topic heh~ Both of them would handle it really differently, both surprisingly well and surprisingly not

On Chilchuck’s side:

Chilchuck does have some nursing in him, but usually in small, casual ways, like how this dad compilation of him shows lol. He has no problem helping his party members around, and even scolding Marcille and warning her not to work herself sick. But, if he worries he tends to suppress it/not show it, and overall he’s pretty nonchalant over it. As seen with Marcille being hangover, unlike Laios he’s not worried over it at all and preaches the good old method of "drink water and rest!". I think he’d be a rather by the book caretaker, would do all the classic things for someone who has a cold. It bears remembering that Chilchuck is a father, a father of three even. Even if I’m sure he tended to leave most of it to his wife, he’s no stranger to loved ones being sick with colds and such, and would know the basics of homely nursing. With the second page I put above, I wanted to show though that while I think he certainly can nurse, he tends to leave that to others. When Marcille is out of mana, he stays out of the way rather than doing things for her. He’s someone big about roles, "My job is the rogue so don’t expect me to fight I’m here to help you get around, also no talking I’m just here for my job" "you’re the healer so get to safety because if you die we’re fucked" etc etc, and I think he tends to relay the responsibility of caring after someone sick onto others he thinks are more suited to it. Though as we see with his dad moment compilations, it’s not like he doesn’t feel the urge to care after people at all.

In this last picture, he leaves the comforting to others, which he probably think are "more suited for it" besides just being "yikes I’m staying out of that", much like Izutsumi here. He tries staying out of emotional talks.

There’s also a fun scene where Chilchuck is like "Healers having to be so in contact with people is a problem you know, it complicates relationships and is bad for a party". Take that as you will for how he likes/dislikes being nursed, though in this case he’s mostly referring to the touch aspect of it in a social situation with a group.

On Marcille’s side:

Whereas Chilchuck is pretty laissez-faire and competent though somewhat stays distant, Marcille would fuss and do too much.

Interestingly, Marcille is rather desensitized to wounded people. She’s also not shown worrying over her party members when they’re hurting over "recovery pangs". She’s shown healing Chilchuck a couple of times.

What’s interesting in her case is that she’s a healer, she’s very familiar with treating wounds and injuries with magic, but magic doesn’t heal illnesses much. Which, illnesses would def be a source of existential despair for her with her trauma, so I definitely can see her stressing over it a lot.

All that to say that she’s no stranger to nursing people, just not in the way that would really matter when it comes to treating a cold instead of a broken bone. On top of that, she’s a mom friend that naturally seeks to care after her loved ones, nurse them and take care of them. She’s shown being a real worry wart, fussing over Falin, from the time when she thinks Falin got stolen away by Laios to mid-canon, and we see that habit of caring after others with Izutsumi too. The only times that can qualify as her taking care of someone sick I think would be Laios with his kraken parasite, which since she could just physically heal the wounds it left she didn’t stress over it much, and with her dad which she was too young to really do anything about.

All that to say that unlike Chilchuck, the caring role suits her just fine, and that unlike him she STRESSES. She has the best of intentions, but she can try to do too much or go about it in a clumsy way, tends to be overbearing.

Headcanons time!

If Chilchuck was sick:

Since Marcille is shown to have some misconception about short-lived races/half-foots in canon, I def think it’d be possible for her to be like "half-foots have a frail health!! Even this cold might be grave!!! AAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!" but I think that in that case, she’d run everywhere, getting him a cold compress and buying him the best quality take-out food and throwing herself at the feet of his bed sobbing and Chilchuck as soon as he’d pick up on it, while his snot goes everywhere and he looks 10 years older from his eyebags and his voice is raspy and he’s feeling dizzy from the fever, he’d explain that he’ll get over it soon and there’s no reason to overly worry about it, "so just get me some soup or something". And Marcille would go "Well you SAY that but you’re known to not take care of yourself enough and make yourself work too hard so I can’t trust you on this", but he’d be serious and comforting about it so she’d eventually relent and be more chill about it. But she’d still 100% take the day off from work to stay with him as much as possible, and would be ready at any second to jump to fulfill his every request. It’d end up being a pretty cozy day. She’d sleep hunched over the foot of his bed/his side or leaning back in a chair in the corner of the bedroom with a blanket. If it’s that bad, she’d stay awake and change his cold compress every hour or so and dab the sweat off of his skin with a damp rag. She’d stare at his sleeping face a lot, tired and worried but also feeling comforted at watching him breathe. Maybe in the dead of night after a day of caring after him frantically, she’d muse about illness and how fragile life can be, how there are bumps in the road and things can go unexpectedly, but it’d be like pressing on a bruise for her instead of sharp stabs, and she’d push the thoughts back, holding his hand for her own sake.

She’d 100% tuck him in and take some enjoyment from getting to nurse him too. Since Chilchuck doesn’t like showing his needs, being vulnerable or relying on others much she really doesn’t get to treat him in such an overtly caring way like this, his pride gets in the way of that. She’d spoonfeed him his soup and Chil would ONLY mildly complain. She’d rub his back as he pukes in a bucket, while he fumes at having her seeing him like this, like a mess. Can’t very well keep his usual bravado of cool and composed in such a situation, and he’d grumble and be frustrated about it. Marcille resists the urge to give him pecks-kisses to not get sick too. That has to happen at least once in their relationship lol, and then Chilchuck gets to be a little condescending and vindicated like "Told you so". Chilchuck complains every time she does it but he secretly enjoys it, he’s just like "gross, you’ll get sick too" (give me one more pls…). Her lips would be cool to the touch and he’d also really enjoy it if she were to put her hand to his cheek, if he’s feverish enough he’d more transparent about it but if he stil has his wits about him he’d be his typical tsundere and act totally unaffected.

In Chilchuck’s pov, he’d be frustrated at being sick for sure. He hates feeling unproductive or weak, at first he might argue that he can still do work, but at some point he relents and realizes that he might be undermining it, he does know that pushing yourself when sick only makes it worse after all, which doesn’t help productivity in the long run. He’s not fully a workaholic anyways, so he would partially enjoy the opportunity to kick back and relax, even if he can’t have alcohol… Being malnourished and underweight def doesn’t help sicknesses, so maybe it actually WOULD be more dangerous than people would assume, though I def think he’d stop his harsh diet post-canon. If he has enough headspace for it, I think he’d bring small chests and such that he has to unlock for his job, and it’d be like casual little puzzles to keep him busy as he tries to picklock them open. He’d like that sort of puzzle fidget toys I think. But if he shivers and his agility his reduced/it’s difficult he’d get really frustrated over it not being as easy as usual and being more tedious so he’d end up flying into a gamer rage and cussing and maybe even throwing the locked things away unless Marcille is there and soothes him lol.

In the aftermath, when he gets better, I think he’d try to treat her extra well. He’d bring her a nice eggs and french toast breakfast in bed and maybe they’d go out together that day. He’d be a bit embarrassed and grumbly but he’d thank her sincerely, probably hug her and sigh and be like "Sorry you had to see me like that." Marcille pats his back and is like "Don’t apologize come on. Yes I was worried and yes you were gross with puke on your chin… But also I got to see you being cute and depending me a bit while I nurse you ☆😋" cue pissing off Chilchuck and he retaliates and they end up bantering

Dish for sick people: Soup with pasta that easily goes down the throat with simple broth, sort of minestrone soup-like. She’d make sure not to put too much salt it soup hah, but she’d frantically remember Senshi’s lessons on nutrition and the importance of getting sick people nutrients and minerals, so she might go overboard a bit trying not to make it too barebones. I’m not good enough to do a nutrition traits wheel meal rating like in canon though haha

If Marcille was sick:

They notice pretty quick that she’s sick because Marcille loves to complain every time she feels a mild discomfort or inconvenience. At first Chilchuck brushes it off because, again, her complaining is common place, but one can only take so many "My throat feels scratchy" "It’s so hot in here" "I’m cooooold" (‘just put on a jacket’ ‘I have!’) "This doesn’t taste like usual :(" "Man why am I sweating so much today" "Chilchuck I feel bad" before they pick up on her having a cold. Her whining doesn’t end there however, even as he leads her to bed and gets her a cold compress and measures her temperature with a hand to her folder, she would dramatically talk about how she’s feeling and complain. Chilchuck even gives her a scalding diss of "you’re as whiny as my daughters when they were 5". "Chiiiiiil" she calls from the other room "What?" he shouts back, "Can you bring me my dog plush-pillow?" and he huffs but he does it. Caring for someone like that for a whole day wrings him out, but it does feel worth it when he goes to check up on her or bring her a heated pad or book at her request and sees her being all sick and mopey, yet still be her usual self. Unlike with Marcille nursing him, caring after someone like this does feel like work to him and there’s not one bit of him that’s happy to be doing it, but it’s work that’s worth it, work that leaves him feeling satisfied and content though tired out. He would care after her as many times and for as long as she’d need, and if he complains while doing it, well, it’d only be fair with how much she complains too. Although, he’s surprisingly gentle and quiet while she’s sick and caring for her, he still scolds when she does something less than ideal, like sitting up when she should stay laying down or puking besides the bucket, but he’s overall incredibly patient and lenient compared to usual, supportive rather than criticizing. While feverish and sloppy, unlike Chilchuck she wouldn’t try to maintain her composure at all, letting herself be a slob. She’d be eating her porridge and her hair would get in her mouth since it’s down, and Chilchuck would tie up her hair in a comfortable braid or other simple hairdo.

Chil nursing someone would be very by the book I think. He believes in home recipes and methods. Wouldn’t let her get out of bed, would make her basic porridge, would keep track of her temperature and such. He might skip over some fancier treatments or details though, like dabbing off her sweat unless it’s excessive. He would change her bedsheets though. He might even take a break from work and keep her company, and chat with her so she’s less bored and even hold hands. He’d even indulge her in a forehead kiss to bid her good night, telling her to call out his name if she needs anything during the night, and if they usually shared a bed at that point in their relationship then he’d sleep on the couch instead. Marcille would dramatically ask for a kiss but Chilchuck would ruthlessly refuse. He’d grumble about her taking her cold too lightly probably, but he also wouldn’t really worry about her. Being sick happens sometimes, and he knows she’s tough. It would pass.

Sick, feverish Marcille would be even more emotional than usual. Chil would cringe and brace himself for it every time she opens her mouth, but nurses her like a champ anyways with the patience of a saint. She’d go on rants, would keep telling him that she loves him over the smallest things. Her eyes would sparkle as she stares lovingly at him, and Chil def notices it but sweats and tries to ignore it all like :| If she gets delirious enough, at some point she would say "Chilchuck… I gotta tell you something…" "Hm-hm?" "I cheated on you." Glass breaking, Chilchuck falling over, "W-what? How?!" Marcille sniffles "The other day… An elf ambassador came to the castle… And I thought he was really pretty." She sniffles again, Chil’s heart is pouding, "And? What happened?" "And… He was really pretty! I’m so sorry. I thought he was really pretty, I’m not faithful!" and then Chilchuck realizes she’s just being dramatic over aesthetic attraction and he’s so PISSED, he untenses and his soul leaves his body a bit, he steps out of the room to go scream in a pillow because he knows he can’t take it out on her for having scared him. Pushing it even further if she in one moment can’t recognize him, and like he leans over her to give her a cold compress or something and suddenly her hand shoots out and push him away by the chin. "No! I am a taken woman…" and he’s torn between feeling touched and so over it, his neck hurts now. She calls him a tall and dark handsome stranger. Chilchuck considers calling for a doctor.

In the aftermath, Marcille is super thankful and keeps thanking him and praising him but Chilchuck is just like "I didn’t do anything special. If you want to thank me then finish cleaning up your puke bucket.". She wouldn’t stop though, making up for the time that she couldn’t cuddle and touch him while sick to be super affectionate. She’d be all over him and he’d be exasperated but also lowkey it feels nice too, he also missed her cuddles in the one day she was sick. Feels like getting your battery recharged. If people come by or like she goes to the castle she would tell everyone listening about how her lover was SO KIND and ATTENTIONATE and NURSED HER and is VIRTUOUS and COMPETENT and PERFECT and—

Dish for sick people: She wouldn’t praise his cooking skills then though. Chilchuck’s go-to for sick people is a bland af oatmeal porridge. It does its job. It’s easy to eat and keeps her alive well enough. She feels grateful over it and it gets brownie points from her because Chilchuck cooked it FOR HER with his HEART but she still can’t bring herself to rate it more than 3/5 stars aloud.

-—-

They would be so marriedcore 🙏 Now I’m tempted to write a fic like this ngl. I’d prob call it Chills bc I love puns and that sounds like smth I can work in prose about heheh. Could even do two birds one stone by having it start by Chil getting sick and then Marcille indulging in kissing too much then Marcille gets sick haHAH ohhh yeah it’s all coming together 🔥 This took me all morning thank you for enabling my brainrot 💕💕 This is what you call a uhh whump fic right. I did have a fic planned like that except it’s an injury and not sickness

#Dungeon meshi #marchil #marcille donato #Chilchuck tims #headcanons #character analysis #bc I can’t control myself 😭 #Btw anyone reading this feel free to use my hcs as prompt to write a fic or such go ahead if you want to #cw emetophobia #I HOPE YOU ENJOY THIS WORD SOUP <3333 #Whump #Ask

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Psycho Analysis: Gus Fring

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

Breaking Bad is known for its fantastic cast of characters, all of whom have some level of critical acclaim and iconic status. Seriously, go to Wikipedia and go to any character’s page from the show (basically every major character has one) and look at the “Reception” part, pretty much all of them are universally beloved. Chief among that crowd is the only villain in the show to give our rascally villain protagonist Walt a run for his money, the criminal mastermind that is Gustavo “Gus” Fring.

If you think I’m going to do anything other than add to those heaps of praise, you’re surely mistaken; I love Gus as much as anyone else who has seen the show. But where most are willing to overlook certain aspects of the character that don’t work so well because he is cool and gay, I acknowledge those flaws and love Gus anyway. We are not the same.

Motivation/Goals: Gus is a businessman, plain and simple. Be it Los Pollos Hermanos or his secret meth business, Gus wants perfection in every aspect of his professional life. That being said, he’s a pretty fair boss, and if you pull your weight you will be rewarded; he treats his employees at Los Pollos Hermanos so well that you know the show takes place in a fantasy world, because no boss is that nice. And he was way too lenient with Walt all throughout that man’s career working with him.

Of course, Gus is also driven by revenge. Don Eladio, Hector Salamanca, and the rest of the cartel are responsible for the death of his lover Max, and Gus refuses to rest until the entire operation has crumbled, with only him left standing tall and Hecor lefty broken and crippled to be finished off last as he’s the one who pulled the trigger. It’s a very classic villain motivation, and it helps give a little bit of sympathy to a character who is otherwise too cold and mysterious to really delve into the mind of. At any rate, it makes it very easy to root for Gus and cheer him on as he plays his supposed superiors for suckers and orchestrates their downfalls all while coming up with dozens of plans to cover his own ass.

Performance: Giancarlo Esposito has such an air of elegance and menace to him when he’s playing Gus. You can really see why he man ended up typecast after this, playing cunning antagonists, because he really kills it here. He does have one incredibly major flaw, though: He’s not a native Spanish speaker like Gus is. This leads to pretty much any point where Gus is required to speak the language falling flat, especially since most of the time he’s up against actors who are actually fluent and even if you’re not a native speaker you can pick up on how clunky he is in comparison to Michael Mando or Tony Dalton.

Final Fate: Gustavo Fring got outplayed by both Walter and Hector, and the result is perhaps one of the single greatest villain deaths of all time.

As many have pointed out, it is genuinely hilarious how Gus hated Hector so fucking much that he refused to die in the same room as him. And hey, maybe this isn’t very accurate to how a person would realistically look after taking an explosion directly to the face… But it’s one hell of a cool visual. Sometimes it’s better to check realism at the door for the sake of symbolism and cool prosthetic gore.

Best Scene: I think it is genuinely hard to top Gus’ awesome moments, even if he doesn’t ever really get an entire episode of focus. I think his crowning moment, the moment where we as an audience and Walt as a character learn that us is not even remotely fucking around, is his silent preparations before he comes up to his lackey Victor and violently slits his throat in “Box Cutter,” before equally silently getting dressed once more. Right before leaving, he simply says, “Get back to work” before leaving a stunned Walt, Mike, and Jesse behind.

There’s also Gus taking down Don Eladio and all his capos in “Salud.” It’s such wonderful, beautiful vengeance, and it’s all made better by the fact Gus poisoned himself, went to the bathroom, neatly placed a towel on the floor and knelt down on it, and then induced vomiting. This man would pick the fruitiest way imaginable to save his own life.

Finally, there is his scene in “Fun and Games,” the first and only time we see Gus just out enjoying himself. We get to see him pretty obviously flirting with a sommelier, but as soon as the man leaves for a moment Gus makes the decision to commit himself fully to his mission and rule out the possibility of love again after what happened to Max. This is the moment where we see Gus fully become the man we know him as in Breaking Bad, and it’s honestly pretty tragic. He could have been happy if he’d just let go some of his hate, and maybe he’d even still be alive.

Final Thoughts & Score: Gus is one of the best villains ever to grave television, and considering he’s in a show filled to the brim with some of the greatest villains ever devised, that’s really saying something.

Part of what makes him so genuinely great is just how utterly unknowable he is. Over the course of both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, he is almost like a god of the criminal underworld, untouchable and mysterious. What very little tidbits we get of his past paint a conflicting picture that could mean any number of things, and at every other point he manages to command respect and fear from all those around him, with those not wise enough to do so ending up dead by his masterful machinations. It ultimately makes the single scene where we see him not doing business, the one where he flirts with the man at the bar, so much more impactful. We see that Gus has rejected his humanity, his chance at ever being happy again, so that he can be consumed by his work and his vengeance. Gus is what he is by choice.

It’s why, even if it’s not really “good” that Walt won, it is so satisfying and cathartic. Gus spends his screentime pulling off superhuman schemes and feats of vengeance, orchestrating the deaths of the entire Salamanca family and his own cartel superiors, and yet he is done in by an absolute bumbling buffoon of a criminal like Walt. It’s a classic case of David and Goliath, with the untouchable adversary being taken down due to viewing his foe as so far beneath him that he didn’t realize he was screwed until it was too late. Gus was sadly too smart for his own good, never bothering to consider the erratic chemistry teacher could ever pull off anything big enough to defeat him.

With all that, Gus gets a 10/10. With how much I love Gus and how I consider him one of my favorite villains ever, you might be wondering why I didn’t bump him up to a 10.5 to denote him being a cut above the garden variety 10. Well, Gus has one issue with his character that I feels really hampers him in crucial moments: His inability to speak Spanish. Giancarlo Esposito, despite being an absolutely fantastic actor in every other regard, does not speak Spanish and needs his lines given to him phonetically. Native speakers have called his accent stilted and unnatural, and it has led to moments that should be epic and powerful such as his monologue to Lalo before killing him becoming nonsensical gibberish to trained ears. Considering that character is a native Spanish speaker, this is an absolutely unforgivable and glaring flaw. It certainly doesn’t ruin the character, but it does hold him back just a little bit.

But it really does speak volumes that as soon as Gus is taken out, the quality of the villains just plummets. The final season has Walt facing off against a bunch of Nazis and fucking Lydia, the annoying businesswoman. The final season is still peak, but boy are those villains living in Gus’ shadow. In spite of his flaws (or, well, his singular but rather major flaw), he’s still one of the greatest villains in television history, and is up there with Walt and Saul as the greatest villains in the series.

#Psycho Analysis #Gus Fring #Gustavo Fring #Breaking Bad #Better Call Saul #giancarlo esposito #Youtube

[ecargmura]

Wonderful Precure Episode 1 Review - Very Wonderful

My review of the new Precure show is finally here! Thanks to Hirogaru Sky, I find the franchise quite entertaining! I can’t wait to see what this show has to offer as it has a different feel to its predecessor!

While Hirogaru Sky was a more high-stakes, fantasy/storybook type of story with princesses, knights and nefarious villains, Wonderful Precure feels more light-hearted as it seems to have low stakes. I don’t think it’s necessarily bad. Pokemon had its fair share of light-hearted anime series and so does Yugioh; I’m a fan of both franchises, so I know what it’s like to enjoy the mature, darker aspects and the light-hearted ones because both are precious. Remember that the target audience for Precure are little kids.

I love the animal themed premise of Wonderful Precure. It seems that everyone in Animal Town have animal companions and live harmoniously with them. Even the major characters have pets. Iroha Inukai owns a Papillon dog named Komugi. Mayu Nekoyashiki owns a cat named Yuki. Satoru Toyama owns a rabbit named Daifuku. There’s also the classic “other world” that Precure often has that is filled with animals too. The GaruGaru, the episodic villains, all seem to be possessed animals in a way.

The fight scene with the GaruGaru doesn’t seem to be as intense as its predecessor as Komugi doesn’t really do kicks and punches and prefers to use barriers and hugs to purify the enemy. Will this change? I mean, I don’t mind the hugs, but not all animals would be susceptible to them in the future if one were to make assumptions. 

The transformation scene is actually super short. I do like that Komugi moves around a lot in a short sequence. Not all transformation have to be minute long segments that is basically rinse or repeat. This sort of reminds me of the evolution scenes in Digimon Ghost Game where it’s not an entire segment, but a short, brief one that has good animation nonetheless. Given how choppy and messy some transformation scenes in Hirogaru Sky were (I’m looking at you, Majesty and Prism), sometimes, it’s best to keep it short and simple.

The series introduces its first animal Precure as Komugi is granted the power to become a Precure in order to protect her owner Iroha (note that while Tsubasa from Hirogaru Sky is technically a bird who can transform into a boy, he’s more of a bird fairy as he’s a fictional bird race and not an actual animal). As a dog, Komugi has typical dog traits from being a menace to their owners when its time to wake them up to having separation anxiety when apart. In Komugi’s case, her separation anxiety is very bad. She gets upset when Iroha leaves for school and even wishes to become human just so she can spend more time with her. As a Precure and a human, Komugi’s dog traits are still present as she says to the GaruGaru that being bad won’t get you treats and thinking running off means racing. She also speaks childishly given that dogs have the intelligence of a two-year-old, so it makes sense that her words and dialogue are a bit choppy. Since this episode mainly showed Komugi as a dog with crippling separation anxiety, I do wonder if her character arc is about overcoming it. Now, it pegs the question of whether Komugi will lose her Precure/human form towards the end of the series because the Mirror Stone/Wonderful Pact is the reason she is able to transform and become human. Losing it means she reverts back to her dog form, most likely. Given how light-hearted this show seems to be, I can’t help wonder how the depressing moments will come in when the time comes? Props to Toei for using a rather obscure dog breed as the main dog. I don’t think I’ve seen media where a Papillon dog is used as a mascot or as a character in a story. I’m not too familiar with Maria Naganawa as a voice actress, but her voice is super cute. It fits Komugi’s childish and cute nature perfectly; it makes her sound like a kid, which makes sense given dogs behave like children at times.

Iroha is actually a lot different from what I expected of her. I didn’t expect that she’d be so outgoing and polite at the same time. I like that! She greets all the animals she sees but is still able to be a conversation starter as she was the one who went up to talk to Satoru without second thoughts. I do like that she has a strong sense of justice as she wanted to protect the boy and his St. Bernard dog by diverting the GaruGaru’s attention towards her; she also plays volleyball. She also seems to be a bit astute as she quickly realized that the girl standing in front of her is Komugi and that the whole situation became too wonderful for her, as she did wish to be able to talk to animals when she was younger. Oh boy, Iroha is gonna have A LOT of explaining to do with her parents regarding this newly bizarre scenario. Iroha is voiced by Atsumi Tanezaki. I’m quite familiar with the name as she voiced a lot of mainstream anime characters like Anya Forger from Spy x Family and Frieren from Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End. I think Tanezaki is extremely talented as I cannot hear Anya or Frieren in Iroha. 

Satoru and Mayu make small appearances, but their personality is shown a lot. Satoru is a bit reserved, but likes to learn. He’s very interested in learning about the origins and background of the Mirror Stone as it’s called the Mirror Stone, but people’s reflections aren’t shown. He’s also the type that seems to get flustered easily as Iroha tells him that she hopes they’re in the same class together. It makes me wonder if they’ve been friends since elementary school. I’m also curious about Daifuku; that bunny is adorable with its basket and lop-ears. Also, I didn’t expect Takuma Terashima to be his voice actor. If you’re not too familiar with voice actors, Terashima is known for being the voice actor of Mahiru Shirota from Servamp and Shiki from Edens Zero. He’s married to Satomi Satou who voiced Tsubasa’s mother in Hirogaru Sky. In terms of magical girl shows, he’s been on one before this, as he was Gero Akoya from Boueibu (a Magical boy show that parodies usual Magical girl genre). Given that his voice actor is quite reputable, it makes me wonder if he’ll continue the trend of having male Precures. I do wonder who Daifuku’s voice actor is and what gender the bunny rabbit is because Iroha used “-chan” which COULD mean the rabbit is female, but it’s mainly used for pets regarding of gender.

Mayu reminds me a bit of Kokone from Delicious Party Precure with her shy personality, but they’re a bit different. Kokone doesn’t really mind being alone or not having people talk to her while Mayu is a nervous wreck around people. Her cat Yuki’s smug expressions are HILARIOUS! I can see why she’s being memed on social media. Mayu is voiced by Reina Ueda, who’s a rising star as of now. I know her as Kanao from Demon Slayer and Miyo from My Happy Marriage (an excellent show if you like supernatural romantasy). Given that Precure characters are expressive, I can’t wait to see Ueda’s range when it comes to voicing Mayu as it does fall into her usual reserved character tropes, but the first episode alone also disproves it. Yuki, the cat, is voiced by Satsumi Matsuda, who voiced Beryberie in Hirogaru Sky. It’s cool that they get voice actors who voiced characters in past shows in this one.

Iroha’s parents seem intriguing too. Yoko, Iroha’s mother, is A BABE. Holy heck, she is beautiful. I’m a woman and I find her dazzling. I do feel bad for her as Komugi doesn’t seem to like her as much as Iroha or her husband. Speaking of Iroha’s dad, he is JACKED! Wow, I guess Iroha’s athletic sense comes from him. It’s cute to see him in a frilly apron and cooking. Komugi does seem to like him a bit more than Yoko as he gives her food; dogs always obey those who give them food (I would know because my dogs follow my mom around thinking she’ll give them snacks or table scraps when they’re mainly loyal to me).

I’m curious to see what this show has to offer as it is a new Precure show. Will it be cute? Will it be depressing? Will I be able to see cute animals? What I am seeing so far is good, so I can’t wait to see more. What are your thoughts on the premiere?

#wonderful precure #precure #Komugi Inukai #Cure Wonderful #Iroha Inukai #Mayu Nekoyashiki #yuki nekoyashiki #Satoru Toyama #Daifuku #Yoko Inukai #Tsuyoshi Inukai #review #anime #anime review #arum journal #ecargmura

[spinningbuster98]

Castlevania Symphony of the Night Part 4: Nocturne in the Moonlight

Up until now I’ve been singing this game’s praises and, to be fair, I will continue to do so in future videos. However I believe the time has come for the other shoe to drop so to speak and ask a very simple yet tricky question:

Is this a Castlevania game?

Some may think this question to be stupid but others may understand what I’m getting at here

Sotn marks a major departure from what had previously been established in this series. Keyword being MAJOR

Nowadays we live in an era when popular game franchises are applying drastic changes to their formulas, often taking elements from other more popular series, in other to gain more appeal. Zelda and Sonic have gone open world, God of War has gone The Last of Us with RPG mechanics etc

And honestly? Sotn is not different in this regard

This game not only has barely anything in common with the previous ones but it’s also their complete opposite in many ways

Gameplay wise? The classic games were linear, level based, tough as nails and gave you limited movement and resources that you had to make the most of

Sotn is non-linear, it’s one big map, it’s FAR easier and it gives you a ridiculous amount of movement options and items, 90% of which you’re never even gonna use

Story wise the Classics were very simple, Sotn and onwards will try to be more story focused (well relatively speaking) and melodramatic. Some future stories also jump the shark according to some fans but we’ll get to those in the future

Even its artstyle! I love Kojima’s artwork don’t get me wrong, ESPECIALLY her work in this game which I think is her strongest, but I absolutely hate it when people talk about her as if she was the one responsible for creating the series’ visual identity, as if the previous games had no art directions

I know people joke about Conan the Belmont Simon but...that was the series’ artstyle! Gothic, drawing a lot from classic horror but with super macho barbarian men dressed like He Man! We only chuckle at them now because Kojima’s bishonen artsyle replaced them. And no: I am not bitching about “muh yassification of muh manly men” or anything like that, mine is an issue of visual identity: the series literally flipped the switch from one extreme to another

Some poeple may say that at least narrative continuity is kept with the previous entries but that’s not fully true either, as this game retcons Alucard and Dracula’s backstories in order to introduce the stuff with Lisa, when both characters already had a backstory as told by the japanese manual of Castlevania 3! And yeah I do prefer the version introduced in this game, as I feel it creates at the very least more narrative contrast between Alucard and his father, for them to draw their opposite resolves from the same tragic events. But the point is: rather than trying to fit into the established canon, this game’s story forces its way into it by erasing the parts that don’t suit it

For as beloved as this game is, there are quite a few fans who despise it, everything it stands for and everything that followed it, considering it Castlevania in name only, something that killed the actual series and then went around wearing its skin

And honestly?

These people are...not exactly wrong

At least when other series change, even drastically, you can usually tell that their later games are supposed to be part of said series. Yeah Frontiers is a BOTW knockoff, but it still fundementally plays like a boost game, a formula that, while divisive, still derives its most basic idea from the general concept of “hedgehog goes fast and busts up robots” of the first few games. Yeah BOTW has alienated lots of old Zelda fans due to its hyper focus on open world design vs actual dungeons, but at least said open world structure had already been contemplated in a way by the past titles, not to mention many other gameplay mechanics from older games, like lock on and sword fighting, are still being used

If you take away the ability to get hearts from destroyed candles and the classic subweapons that is it. Gameplay wise it’s got nothing else in common with what came before and for that alone I can’t say that the people who hate this game are unjustified, not to mention that it’s got flaws of its own even ignoring any identity issue, though more on that at a later time

I, however, am not one of them

Let me ask you another question: if this game is not Castlevania...then what exactly is it?

Because, to go back to the earlier comparisons, games nowadays (hell ALWAYS if we’re being honest here, remember all the Sonic knockoffs in the 90s?) tend to quite clearly chase trends and you feel it when they’re just chasing trends because they tend to just adopt elements from what is hot and popular at the moment without actually doing anything truly unique with it

I can’t quite say the same about Sotn

Oh sure it quite clearly uses Super Metroid’s design philosophy as an inspiration, and the devs themselves have stated that Zelda was also an influence (and of course Simon’s quest), but it doesn’t just stop at emulating that formula

Keep in mind that back then there was no Metroidvania genre, there weren’t a million indie games taking a crack at the style, there was only Metroid, which had 3 games and wasn’t super popular. That formula had been established by only 3 games and by a generally strict set of features. Sotn was the very first game to look at Metroid’s general design philosophy and decide to do its own spin on it

Because to say that Sotn is just a Super Metroid clone and little else would be untrue I believe, as the two games, despite their similarities, play very differently

Metroid has a greater focus on mobility and acrobatics, on speedrunning and long-distance shoot em up combat

Sotn has rpg mechanics, close quarters combat using swords, spells and features transformations as a way of getting around fast

Yes there are clear similarities but it’s sort of like comparing Mario and Sonic: the latter was very clearly inspired by the former as they both are in the same genre, and since Mario defined platformers as we know them today, it’s inevitable that Sonic would take plenty of cues from him, but to say that Sonic plays the same as Mario just because he adopts those same base gameplay mechanics that the plumber introduced is untrue

Does this mean that it’s unjustified to criticize the game for how different it is? No. What I’m saying is that I don’t believe Sotn to be a simple case of just shamelessly ripping off another series. It has certainly shed its previous identity in an unceremonious way and that is absolutely a problem, but in the process it also created for itself a new identity that, while not for everyone, is absolutely its own and no one else’s, complete with its own set of positives and negatives, just like the Classic games before it (because yes people: Classicvanias also had issues, which is something that I generally don’t see people talk about a lot, probably because the discourse tends to boil down to “old game bad”, but maybe for another time...). If you wanted to play a Metroidvania game back in the 2000s your options were limited to either Metroid or Castlevania, and there were good tangible reasons to play one or the other. There is a reason why Sotn is considered the forefather of the genre alongside Super Metroid: one founded the formula, the other showed that it was flexible. Of course I have to admit that I’m a bit biased, since I already love Metroid’s core formula so Sotn’s style naturally appeals to me, but generally I’m someone who tries to look at the positive aspects of a game, even when it doesn’t necessarily respect its roots, as I believe that if something is good and fun, at least to me and my tastes, then it doesn’t deserve to get thrown in the trash on principle. But I can totally understand those who don’t think themselves, I myself have my limits on this as well

So to answer the question: no Sotn is not a Castlevania game. But it’s also a Castlevania game, just one that is its own thing that is unique

If you ask me most of this issue boils down to Konami deciding to focus exclusively on this formula while completely ignoring the Classics. If they had tried to keep a sort of balance, to release games of both styles in tandem things would have probably been more balanced. But I suppose this just wouldn’t have ever happened in the 2000s, when short level based sidescrollers not named Mario were seen as old news

#youtube #akumajou dracula #castlevania symphony of the night #my gameplay

[kneelesssharks]

Ramble On

Content: Eddie Munson x fem!punk!Reader

Named after the Led Zeppelin song that has the same name, but not necessarily inspired by the lyrics or anything.

Warnings: some swearing, reader gets knocked over and goes to the nurse but nothing graphic, over all pretty fluffy

A/N: i’ve been reading so much eddie munson fanfic recently because i l o v e men with that eighties hair rock hair with a punk style who has a thing for rock and roll, is a little stupid and an asshole, but is also a huge nerd, because that’s me. and while i love everyone who’s pumping out these fics for him i keep seeing people wanting to see him with a shy type or a really hyper femme type and i appreciate that and that those people are being represented with a character that they want to be paired with. but as someone who very much dresses in the punk style and listens to a fair amount of eighties and earlier classic rock who has a tattoo and dyed hair and piercings i thought ‘hey i’d like to see him with like me, i think we’d really like each other’ and instead of bothering someone else with it i thought i might as well give it a go. again i’m really not a super experienced fic writer and i have thus far only written harry potter but i wanted to dip my toe into the stranger things world. NO SPOILERS IN THIS.

Eddie Munson and you seemed like you were bound to be together, right? I mean you had the punk rock look, wore the leather jacket and the sturdy leather boots. If you weren’t wearing a pair of ripped patch jeans you would no doubt be sporting a pair of fishnets that maybe had one too many holes in them. You’d given yourself a couple stick and pokes before you turned eighteen and could finally get something more serious, and you’d put at least one too many holes in your body than most people around town deemed fit.

But somehow you went unnoticed by the leader of the Hellfire Club. Sure you didn’t feel the need to go walking around on top of the cafeteria tables at lunch, but you’d gotten enough stares just walking down the hallway.

Sure, maybe you and Eddie only had like one class together this year, and before he had been above you in grade so you couldn’t share a class. You thought he probably just saw you as an underling. Just someone else who went to this stupid school that would move out of town for good or be stuck here like the rest of them.

You weren’t shy, at least that’s what you told yourself. You could talk to anyone who approached you, give a compliment to a stranger, help someone in class, and besides some brief name calling no one really tried to fuck with you. You weren’t a pushover that’s for sure, but something about Eddie fucking Munson made your heart speed up.

Now Eddie had an entirely different perspective on you. He thought you were the most badass chick he’d ever seen. You walked down the hall with your headphones on blasting whatever cool ass music you had picked out that morning. He knew you had a major collection because of how often he’d seen you in and out of the only record shop in town.

You’d often worn the t-shirts from the band you enjoyed the most, able to hunt them down through some family in the city. Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Quiet Riot, and Eddie’s personal favorite Black Sabbath.

He thought the pins through your ears were badass, and the small tattoos he could see were the sexiest thing on the planet. You were his punk goddess and he could only worship you from a distance.

Walking down the hall with your music a little too loud you’d been searching through your stack of papers to grab the one you needed to hand into your teacher when you’d run into something. Or someone, or multiple someone’s.

“Shit I’m so sorry,” Dustin exclaimed as he and Mike scrambled to pick up some of the papers you dropped.

You were laying on the tile in the hall blinking slowly up at the ceiling. With your headphones knocked off your ears and the back of your skull lightly throbbing you were slightly dazed. Dustin entered your line of sight waving a hand in front of your face. He looks up when you don’t make a move to get up and before you can register anything you see the man of your dreams lean over you. His hair falling around his face, his brows knitted together with concern.

“Y/n,” you hear asked, almost through a haze. Part of you can’t believe he knows your name, the other part of you is realizing you’ve probably been on the floor for a concerning amount of time. You move to sit up in order to save yourself from further embarrassment. “Hey,” Eddie lightly smiled as you slowly push yourself up, “don’t rush, you got knocked down by a couple natural disasters,” he joked.

You let out a soft laugh as you took Dustin’s outstretched hand to help you stand up. You’re a little wobbly on your feet but Eddie’s right there behind you, wrapping his arm around your waist as you lean a little bit too far to one side.

You laugh, “What had you two in such a rush,” you look between an embarrassed Mike and Dustin, trying to ignore the butterflies in your stomach for the fact that Eddie has yet to let go of your waist.

Mike rubs the back of his neck, “We were on our way to a Hellfire meeting before lunch.”

Well that explains why Eddie was so close by.

“Go tell the others the meeting can wait until after school, I’m taking y/n to the nurses office to get this bump on her head checked,” Eddie instructs the two freshmen who just nod their heads and hand Eddie the stack of papers you’d been carrying, before scurrying off behind you.

“You don’t have to take me to the nurse Eddie,” you turn your head to finally look up at the man, who’s currently laser focused on getting you to the nurses office. “It wasn’t that bad of a fall, I was just listening to Sabbath a little too loudly and not paying attention when Dustin and Mike ran into me. Really I’m fine, plus I need to get that paper to O’Donnell’s before lunch or she said it’ll be late.”

Really you just didn’t want to spend any more time feeling your legs turn into jelly because of your proximity to the long haired man, whose silver rings you could feel through your shirt. You didn’t want to spend anymore time thinking about how his hand fits so comfortably on your waist, his arm sitting against the small of your back and how he smelled just ever so lightly of weed. You’d found it funny really, how it just engrained itself into his very being. Around him you didn’t think you’d ever need to smoke, you felt higher than you could have imagined.

“We’ll we’re already here,” Eddie huffs finally looking down at you. You’d already been staring at him, and he had definitely caught you.

You quickly turned your head and pushed open the door to the nurses office, Eddie still supporting you as you walked in. The nurse just motioned to the bed for you to sit on it. You reluctantly leave Eddie’s hold to sit on the knock off hospital bed.

“What happened,” the nurse asked barely looking up from her paperwork.

“I-,” you started before getting cut off.

“She got knocked on the ground and hit her head, has a bump on the back of her head,” Eddie informed the nurse.

Setting her pen down the nurse stood up and made her way over to you. She used the small light to gauge your pupils to decide whether you had a concussion.

“Doesn’t seem like you have a concussion at all, your eyes look fine.” She pulls a glove on before gently pressing at the back of your skull, you wince as she puts pressure on the aforementioned bump. “You do have a bit of swelling here but it should go down by tomorrow, there’s no blood and doesn’t appear to be any scrapes.” Tossing the glove in the trash she tells you, “Make sure you eat and stay hydrated in case you have a minor concussion, but you should be fine.”

“Thank you,” you tell her, scratching the back of your neck. “Um,” she turns back to you with a questioning look, “could you write me a note for Ms. O’Donnell? I need to turn in a paper before lunch and,” right on cue the bell releasing classes for lunch chimes through the halls.

She gives you a soft smile before turning and writing the note. As she hands it to you you’re standing from the bed. Before you can really say any further thanks to her you’re being dragged out of the room by your hand by the boy you had forgotten was in the room with you.

“To O’Donnell’s room,” you say catching up to Eddie, who was still holding your backpack, with the mess of stuff you’d been carrying in your arms when you’d been knocked over, stuffed in. You were still holding hands and you could feel the heat in your face from the action.

“You know you’re kind of surprising,” Eddie says looking down at you. Your brows furrowed and you tilt your head. “What I mean is, you’re a lot more responsible than I would have guessed.”

You snort out a laugh. “Hey, just because I listen to heavy metal and rock music doesn’t mean I can’t still be smart. I just want to graduate man, I mean, I can’t stand most of the people around here.”

You stop in front of the now empty classroom of the teacher who’s class you dreaded the most.

“I’m the exception right,” he smirked, trying to play it cool but internally his heart was beating wildly like an animal in a cage. Your hands were still locked together, becoming a little sweaty from both of your nerves, and now you were standing face to face, just looking into each other’s eyes.

“Yeah,” you quietly breathed. You cleared your throat, looking down at your boots that were a little worn out. “You are.” When you looked back up to meet his gaze his eyes were shining and his smile grew from a teasing smirk into his beautiful genuine smile.

Feeling the buzzing in your face from the excitement and nerves, you grabbed your bag from him, letting go of his hand in the process. You felt a little disappointed but turned to go into the classroom anyways, one hand still gripping the not you got from the nurse.

“I’ll wait for you out here,” Eddie called out to you. You turned back to him with a small smile you were trying to stop from growing. You just nodded your head with confirmation.

Eddie had never felt better as he leaned against the lockers smiling to himself and staring off into the ceiling.

“What’s up with you,” Gareth asked, shoving Eddie’s shoulder.

“I just got an opening to hang out with the coolest, hottest, most badass chick in the whole fucking school that’s what,” Eddie boasted. “All thanks to those Dustin and Mike not watching where they were going.”

Gareth was about to question who Eddie was referring to when you quietly walked out of the classroom and stood next to Eddie, picking your flaking nail polish from your fingernails. With a nod to Eddie he just walked off laughing to himself.

“You want to sit with the Hellfire Club at our lunch table,” Eddie opened, after a beat of silence.

You nodded your head, adjusting your backpack strap on your shoulder.

He’d decided against initiating physical contact again, figuring that he’d already been holding your waist before he’d grabbed you hand. If you wanted to hold his hand though, he would not stop you.

Instead you’d elected to just walk at an easy pace right next to him, your shoulders brushing every couple steps.

“Thanks for taking me to the nurse’s office by the way,” your head turned to see him already looking you, “and for grabbing my stuff. It would have been a pain in the ass to have to go grab my stuff after everyone had walked through the halls and shit. Who knows if someone would have taken it, you know being one of the outcasts.”

He just smiled and knocked your shoulders together. “I think being an outcast is cool. I mean,” he gestured to himself, “look at me. I’m like the king of the freaks, I think they’re much more interesting people. Plus you’re like a total badass, no one would fuck with your stuff.”

You laughed, “You think much higher of me than most. I mean, yeah I definitely intimidate people but that’s because I walk around looking like I hate the world,” you laugh at yourself. “They think because you wear black and listen to heavy metal and like tattoos and piercings and shit that you’re possessed or some shit.”

“That’s a fact, but if it helps, I think you’re the second coolest person in this school.” You’re about to ask him who’s the first when you look up to see him smirking.

You laugh and he joins you, throwing his arm around your shoulder as you’re rounding the corner into the cafeteria.

Part of you feels like no one cares and no one’s looking at the two punks walking into the cafeteria cackling holding each other, and the other part, the part that can actually see people, knows you two are the biggest spectacle currently taking place. Following Eddie’s lead you just ignore them, letting him guide you to his club’s table.

All the other kids are staring at the two of you when you reach the edge of the table.

“Everyone, this is y/n,” Eddie present you to the table.

You just smile and wave. “I only know Dustin and Mike,” you state looking over the faces.

Eddie chuckles next you you, “Yeah your own personal natural disasters.” The two younger boys look embarrassed as they wave at you. Eddie goes around the table and introduces everyone else to you before pulling you down to sit next to him at the end of the bench. It’s a little bit of a squeeze so you lift your leg to put it over his to make you both more comfortable.

You can feel him tense up at your position so you lean over to him, “Is this okay? I just figured it would help with space.” When he turns you’re just a couple inches away, he swears you looking into his eyes like that was his new favorite thing on the planet.

He leaned down to your ear, “It’s more than okay,” his hand slid around your waist and your eyes widened a fraction.

Lunch with the club had been more fun than you’d expected. You’d normally eat lunch out by your car listening to music and working on homework if you needed to. You’d never pictured you’d enjoy a group’s company as much as you did with the Hellfires.

As lunch was coming to an end and you’d have to head to class soon, one you didn’t have with Eddie much to his dismay.

“Hey,” he grabbed your arm as you stood up with everyone else when the bell rang. Everyone else was waking away from the table with their stuff and whatever lunch trash they’d had, while you and Eddie stayed back. “Would you maybe want to go out sometime? Like go get food or go to the record store together or something,” his eyes were darting around you and his fingers were drumming a little beat against the table.

You smiled at how nervous he seemed to be. Like, how could the coolest most confident guy in school, the one who literally waltzed around on tables in front of everyone, be scared to ask you out. You felt like just a plebeian in his presence.

“Or you know you don’t have to or anything,” Eddie started standing up still avoiding eye contact.

Your eyes widened as you realized you’d taken way too long to answer him. Your hand grabbed his arm, gripping his wrist to stop him from walking away. “Yes,” you say quickly. You cleared your throat, “I mean, yeah, I’d love to go out with you.”

He let out the biggest most dramatic sigh of relief you think you’ve ever seen. “Oh thank god,” he sat down, draping himself over the table and the attached bench.

You laughed, rolling your eyes. You started walking away, needing to go to class. He jumped up and grabbed your wrist this time. “Wait, I need your number so I can call you,” he smiled. Your head felt fuzzy and your stomach was full of butterflies. You nodded you head before grabbing a pen from the side pocket of your backpack. You rolled up his sleeve and gripped the wrist of the arm that was still holding yours before writing down your number, drawing a little heart next to it.

“Don’t mess it up,” you wink as you walk back through the cafeteria to get to your class, passing period almost up.

Eddie smiled stupidly at the number on his arm, right before pumping fist fist in the air letting out a whoop in the practically empty cafeteria. He planned to call you that very night.

This was the start of something epic.

#stranger things #stranger things fluff #eddie munson #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson x reader #eddie x reader #eddie stranger things #stranger things fic #eddie x punk reader

[co-mixed]

Fall of X (either a breakdown or a rant)

Full of spoilers 

We all know Marvel has an affinity for soft reboots. It seems things are going to change radically. But then after a big boom nothing really changes. I personally am still wondering whether Fall of X is going to be like that or if it’s about to shake up the status quo (again). 

I don’t know. I hope changes are coming because Krakoa isn’t my type of setting. But even if not much is changing, I’m still here for the ride. Because the ride is really something.

What’s up

After yet another Hellfire Gala things go awry because of a series of simultaneously executed attacks. Because the majority of Mutants are forcibly relocated from Earth (supposedly), we are left with a small group. Among them are Kamala (who is still coming to terms with even being a mutant), Emma (who is rightfully pissed but surprisingly well prepared), Nightcrawler (who is now spider-man), Firestar (playing a traitor), Shadowkat (who now kills) and some others. 

See that’s why this arc works for me. Everyone is pushed to their absolute limit, and everything they do now is dictated by revenge and despair. Say whatever you want, functional and healthy doesn’t work in fiction quite as well as the opposite.

That’s why I already love this event. 

Nostalgic vibes

It started for me with Mutant First Strike. An attack on a small town is staged by Orchis to look like an act of mutant aggression. We see a Krakoan relief team at work and it’s quite enjoyable. Because the whole thing reminds me of the classic X-men motto - protecting those who fear and hate them. It’s an idea that Krakoa stepped away from and for me, it never felt true to the core idea of the series. 

And then, narratively, the story pushes you back to the good old Civil War days and Stamford. 

Naturally, you see propaganda at work, Orchis and comrades spinning the events to present a twisted image of what had happened. It’s vivid and very actual. But that’s when I felt that the classic X-men aren’t really that far gone. 

Reliving past experiences

The event sure has many great storylines. Like yet again Jean dies (or so, again, we think). This leads us to a story by Louise Simonson which kinda works as a stunning epilogue for the character. Jean goes back to pivotal events in her life and wonders what could she have done differently. A what-if style story that Simonson gets very right because come on, mutant legend here. The issue with time-displaced Jean stuck with me more than the rest. Maybe it’s because I genuinely enjoy AUs, or maybe it’s because Jean is still very much a plot device and her young version isn’t. She also makes a pretty sick old-school Magneto.

The other arcs are about Phoenix and Maddie. The former is as big and bad as ever, the latter just reminds you how lousy some characters have it. Maddie really deserves better (but that’d be boring).

Jean though… she comes to terms with all she’s ever done and accepts it. I mean… if there’s a perfect moment to let her die for good, this is it. But what are the chances… 

Origins

I love an origin story, the last one I got with Escapade (loved it!), but now it’s Ms. Marvel. Let’s skip the story of why she has to be a mutant and get to the interesting stuff. Kamala is all about her identity. Her hobbies, her family, her friends and teams, being inhuman, hero, etc. But as soon as she awakes on Krakoa, she embraces another identity. And see, I love how she almost immediately puts on an X-men uniform. (Unlike Disney’s Kamala who just throws away mutation as another label! What’s wrong with ya girl???) 

Anyway, before she gets to snap on the X-belt, she has a fantastic exchange with Emma. Because let’s be fair, no one schools teens better than Emma. When Emma continuously tells Kamala that she has to be really careful because being a mutant on Krakoa and being a PR stunt for a thriving nation is one thing, but living what they’ve been living before is completely different. and now with Orchis getting the upper hand, it’s straight up terrifying. Of course, Kamala doesn’t listen, she actually rushes into it because she wants to stand with her fellow mutants and that’s amazing (regardless of her mutant power never having been activated). Which is another thing well approached. It’s not even about power, but it’s about who you are.

Multi-layered, right? From Hellfire Gala we spin into the story co-written by Sabir Pirzada and Iman Vellani. It’s a character story with a ton of self searching and it’s definitely something that hasn’t been as common for mutants lately. More of them deserve their own arcs away from teams. I don’t know how well Marvel’s gonna do with separating Ms. Marvel from the X-men but so far she has enough on her plate. Plus, the character’s pretty popular so… who knows. 

This was definitely one of my favorite runs in this event. 

Weddings (and still no funerals) 

But let’s get back to Emma. If life on 616 is a chess board, Emma is a queen. You always expect her to be two steps ahead of everyone and she’s been very very smug. But after the gala she, while still reasonably prepared, is devastated. She believes the cuckoos are dead, her teammates are scattered, and she is pissed at everyone. Plus, she doesn’t know it but Kate’s killing humans now. Things are pretty bad. 

She teams up with Tony, things for him suck too with Feilong taking over his company and tech. In the process, comics threw in giant iron-man-looking sentinels which is something I’d love to see in the MCU. So Emma and Tony accidentally come across each other while fighting an iron sentinel, and end up in sewers plotting revenge on Feilong. 

That’s what leads to their “wedding”. No, they aren’t actually married, and Emma didn’t even use her real identity. But you know what… you know what? Emma and Tony have always had good chemistry and despite this being an almost business relationship, it really should be more. I mean if anyone could be a power couple… they’d be like ‘Roro and T’Challa but without the crown. And we could use a power couple. Not like Scott and Jean who are pretty much just a couple and not like Emma and Scott, the living proof that behind every mediocre man, there’s a great woman. 

So yeah I’m rooting for them. Give me a fake relationship romance in the middle of my superhero story. Note - all the fun parts happen in Invincible Iron Man, not in any of the X-Men titles. 

Where the hell is Storm?

I already mentioned that Krakoa was attacked but so was Arakko. And this is where I have some room for a negative rant. I don’t particularly enjoy this sci-fantasy setting. It gave Storm and Sunspot a couple of good stories mostly showcasing their power and smarts. But really, I think they both should be on Earth. Arakko mutants are really random, their dynamic is very fantasy-like, they have no thought-out place in any story so they’re stuck between being an interstellar problem and something four or five mutants from Earth have to deal with. Neither really works. Not for me anyway, and this is my breakdown. 

The amazing Spider… crawler 

Kurt’s never been bitten by a radioactive spider but yet there he is, wearing Peter Parker’s backup suit, and getting into a complicated ship with Silver Sable. The fun part is he’s doing whatever (or whoever) a spider would do. All the elements of a classic spider story assist Kurt in trying to reimagine himself and atone for the little murder rampage. But of course, being a mutant and pretty much banned from Earth, how well do we think this is gonna go? I love this run because it’s a fun mix and again, character-centric. Plus, it has romance or at least strong character chemistry. And to make things more interesting a distressed delirious Mystique is running around. Meanwhile, in another book, Destiny is falling apart because she believes Mystique is dead. 

Let them people go

Actually, this is one of two other arcs I don’t particularly get. One focuses on the misplaced mutants on a piece of Krakoa with Mother Righteous, Hope, and Exodus with religious euphoria turned up to a 100. Does Krakoa sound more and more like a cult? Yeah, it does. 

And then Realm of X is Saturnyne again. I was tired of her after X of Swords. So I read it for continuity but I don’t really feel like talking about any of it. Skip. 

Everyone gets an arc

Iceman gets a solo arc. He’s dead and preserved by his inhuman boyfriend. The concept is certainly interesting and I’m excited to know what’s happening next. Because if there is poetry in it, I’d like to see where it leads. 

I love when mutants mingle with the rest of the world as much as possible. That’s probably why I was pretty happy to see Unity Squad back in action. It’d be absurd for the rest of the heroes to just ignore mutant issues like they often do. So only fair that they try and rebuild at least some of the trust. Can’t be easy with heavy propaganda but will definitely open up possibilities for creating good stories.

Here we go again

I definitely have to mention murderous Shadowkat. All her recent development culminates in that. And it’s pretty damn realistic. On one side, who can blame her? On the other, kill no human and all that. 

But to me, that’s what Krakoa was always about. Not peaceful coexistence (which may not even be possible) but a utopia that eventually leaves you hollow and angry. Which brings to mind parallels with Jasmine’s world peace from Angel s4. 

Also, this again reminds us how cultish Krakoa is (was?).

Kate’s actions though, like Emma’s are rooted in despair. Both are convinced that the desert-dwelling portion of non-combatant mutants is dead forever. That feels sorta like Age of X-man, in my opinion, unfairly hated for no good reason by many fans. I genuinely enjoyed that arc. But remember how Blindfold kept saying that this is forever and Scott was convinced she meant that everyone else is forever gone. Yep, same thing. (Except it’s with the Five alive and well so resurrection is still present. And still bugs me a lot.) 

I’m still not fully caught up on what’s up with everyone. For instance, I haven’t been keeping tabs on Rogue and Gambit, mostly because first their Excalibur stint bored me and then they lost the spark they had when they weren’t married. I might still change my mind but I’m not holding my breath.

I might not like everything that’s going on but there are arcs and runs I enjoyed immensely and that’s more than enough reason for me to keep coming back to X-runs. 

All that writing and I still forgot Children of the Vault. What's even up with them? Idk but looks interesting.

#x men #xmen #marvel #marvel characters #marvel comics #mutants #long reads #comics #comic books #krakoa #fall of x #jean grey #emma frost #kurt wagner #kate pryde #iron man

[crosseyedcricketart]

Sephora 2024 Spring Sale

The spring Sephora sale is upon us! This one is always fun for me since my birthday tends to fall in this sale, so I get a sale and a birthday present for me. So, this is my own little wishlist I have for Sephora, and what I’d really like to get during this sale.

my little wishlist:

saie,

dew blush liquid blush in spicy, baby, chilly

sun melt natural cream bronzer in fair bronze

slip tint concealer in 1

glow sculpt cream highlighting blush in pink glow

slip tint tinted moisturizer in 1

glossybounce lip gloss oil in bounce, push, dip

merit,

flush balm cream blush in rouge, stockholm

the minimalist complexion stick in silk

bronze balm bronzer

signature lip satin lipstick in millennial, l’avenue, 1990

signature lip matte lipstick in vermillion, power, maison, classic

day glow dewy highlight in cava

shade slick tinted lip oil in sangria, pink beet, falcon, taupe, bel air

I have really been wanting to try out merit and saie beauty recently; I have absolutely loved their branding and philosophies so it’s only a matter of time before i get some of their products for myself. I am someone who doesn’t really like traveling with powder products since they are more likely to shatter; i’d rather have cream products, where even if they break, i can use them in a different container instead of having powder everywhere. All of these formulas are creams or liquids that are perfect for me to travel with. Plus, all of these products would be what I would reach for when I wanted a little pick me up, not so much full glam full cover makeup. I think the last time I did that was for my high school senior pictures. Because I was being professionally photographed.

I do have a larger beauty wishlist, but these are my want-wants, really, as opposed to what i would like to try and use daily.

makeup

yves saint laurent couture mini clutch eyeshadow palette in 100, 400

rare beauty soft pinch luminous powder blush in happy

rare beauty positive light silky touch highlighter in enlighten

tom ford eye color quad in nude dip, rose topaz, sous le sable

tom ford shade and illuminate contour duo in 0.5 intensity

tom ford eye defining pen eyeliner

huda beauty creamy obsessions eyeshadow palette in natural brown

patrick ta major headlines blush duo in just enough

patrick ta major dimension III matte eyeshadow palette

huda beauty rose quartz eyeshadow palette

mango people dewy glow cream highlighter

mango people cream blush & lip stick in cherry

tower 28 all-over hydrating concealer

natasha denona my mini dream eyeshadow palette

tower 28 shineOn lip jelly gloss in xoxo

natasha Denona glam eyeshadow palette

skincare

alpyn beauty super peptide & ghostberry moisturizer

farmacy lip smoothie lip balm

saint jane beauty luxury sun ritual sunscreen

mara sea silk lip balm

mara algae + moringa sea sculpt body oil

chia + moringa algae enzyme cleansing oil

mara seadream crème moisturizer

soft services speed soak gel body moisturizer

soft services buffing bar exfoliating body bar

soft services carea cream moisturizing + softening body lotion

merit great skin instant glow serum

oui the people hydrating body oil in orange blossom

summer fridays rich cushion cream moisturizer

Most of my skincare wants are just more rich moisturizers. I tend to have dry skin, unless it’s peak summer when it feels like I’m in a rice cooker, since that is super humid.

No matter how much I love beauty products, I do not wish to have the 2016 makeup collections, where there is so much that it is useless. If I ever get there in my career, I fully intend to give that surplus to someone who could use the bulk of it, like a makeup artist. I don’t know if I’ll ever get there, but I know I don’t want 80 foundations just rolling around in a drawer. That goes for skincare too; I do not want the skincare tiktoker collection that will expire in 6 months. I think, in a small thought, the best way to actually review that much product without wasting it would be to keep notes on the different products and how they worked, and how they compare to other products as a frame of reference, then use the product. I know for me that if I really need to use a skincare product before it goes bad, I’ll use it on my body. But that also would take more effort than a lot of people want to put into something, and I’m aware of that.

That is my little Sephora round up here for this spring and summer, and if you’d like, you can share with me what you’re looking at for this sale, or what you’re not looking at. Knowing me, I’ll end up just getting two products from this sale.

#beauty #beauty post #beauty editor #🤍 lifestyle tag #makeup #makeup blogger #makeup products #beauty products #makeup of tumblr #beauty of tumblr

[realityraccoon]

Looking for mutuals

Hey! 👋🏻

I just recently got back on tumblr and am looking to make some mutuals and get back into the tumblr community because i missed it so much ✨

My pronouns are she/her 🪐

I’m 20 so i’m preferable looking for mutuals who are 18+ 🍄

My interests include;

English lit , I major in it alongside History. I love books and any form of spilled words or poetry as well as philosophy and interesting thoughts or feelings. I absolutely love to write too and I’m always looking for inspiration and writing ideas and advice.

I love music, in particular indie rock or alternative pop. My favourite artist at the moment is The Backseat Lovers <3. I can also play the violin and have a love for classical music too!

I love movies, I am a complete film nerd and I would consider myself both the best and worst person to watch a movie with lmao

I like to watch anime too, I haven’t watched a lot a lot of anime but i’ve dabbled in it a fair amount and really like it. Some examples of ones i’ve liked are Attack on Titan (obvs), the promised never land, puberty syndrome, jjk, chainsaw man, cyberpunk and some more I just can’t think of right now 🐸🐰

I also love playing on my nintendo switch and cosy gaming aesthetic. The games i’m currently enjoying are botw (no surprise), harvestella, omori, little nightmares

I am obsessed with digital art even though I don’t make any myself and I am a terrible artist I am in absolute envy of those who do digital art and I love consuming the content so much

If you are also interested in any of these topics or are interested in becoming mutuals then please give me a message 🐥🌻

#mutuals #penpals #internet friends #new mutuals #looking for mutuals #eng lit #love poetry #poets and writers #poetry #books #old books #dark academia #nintendo switch #nintendo #cosy gaming #whimsigoth #journal #english literature #history #vintage films #film aesthetic #movies #attack on titan #anime aesthetic #retro anime #please send me a message #I want new internet friends so badly

[andresylupin]

Btw do you have headcanons for what kind of poetry Lupin would enjoy? I know there’s that one poem about the willow tree he recited in the Confessions of Arsene Lupin, but I’m curious about other people’s thoughts :D (I also failed to track down the author who wrote that poem?) Do you think he’d read William IX or Marie de France? I’m a literature major myself and I got take a little peek at medieval French poetry in my courses

Interesting question! I am unfortunately not much of a poetry person, so I'm probably not the best to ask what Lupin's taste in that area would be ^^'

Although that doesn't mean I have nothing to say on the matter hehe. First of, the willow tree poem is an excerpt from Lucie, élégie by Alfred de Musset. The whole poem is quite long, and it begins and ends with the stanza about the willow tree.

"Mes chers amis, quand je mourrai,

Plantez un saule au cimetière.

J’aime son feuillage éploré ;

La pâleur m’en est douce et chère,

Et son ombre sera légère

À la terre où je dormirai."

"Friends beloved, when I die,

Plant a willow over me,

Through its leaves the night will sigh,

Kindly will its shadow be,

And its drooping boughs shall weep,

O'er the earth wherein I sleep."

(not quite accurate as far as translation go I'd say, but that's the first official translation I found online, and translating poetry is SO HARD anyway, so I'm leaving it as is)

Secondly, there are literary references, quotes, nods, etc, everywhere within Lupin stories, whether from Lupin himself or from the narration (found this really neat article about intertextuality by Leblanc in Lupin, which lists most of what we can find and goes into a bit more details than I did here→) Looking at it from a watsonian perspective, this is simply Maurice Leblanc's way to reconcile more "classic" literature with the more "common" style of Lupin: by making his character quote Musset, Shakespeare, Chateaubriand, Milton or Pline, Leblanc elevates Lupin to a learned scholar, and signals that he, as an author, is also a reader of that kind of literature. From a Sherlockian perspective, it just makes sense that Lupin be well learned in everything: he is a man of culture, that's precisely what sets him apart from regular thieves. Going by what we can find in the text, he seems to favour XIXe authors and old classics, which is not very surprising, since, remember, this is mostly a reflection of Leblanc's own library. So I fear french medieval poetry might a bit out there in that context, but as far as headcanons go, I really see no reason why he wouldn't have something by Marie de France on his shelves! The man's eclectic 😌

Somewhat related, there's also Gérard Baupré the unfortunate aspiring poet from 813, who Lupin treats rather condescendingly, disparagingly even. Now of course Baupré is nothing remarkable, and Lupin is only using him as a pawn, which explains this attitude (+ Baupré dares fall in love with the same woman as Lupin, and even *gasp* pursue her!). But it's interesting with how Lupin adresses him, always calling him "poet", making a mockery of it: further proof imo that Lupin is very much presented to us as a literary connaisseur, and in this case specifically poetry, thus making him able to judge whatever Baupré's scribbling, and evidently he doesn't think much of it.

And there you go, hope this was somewhat what you were looking for :D honestly I think headcanoning Lupin as a reader of pretty much anything really, is fair game. I like how french/European his references are (because, again, so are Leblanc's), but I'd be interested in him reading outside of European literary canon as well!

#answered #picaresquevoleur #Arsène Lupin #on all levels except physical lupin is a nerd

[obeymycok]

What Metal Bands They Listen To

Dad raised 2 metal heads so this is what my sister and I think the bro’s favorites would be 😊 CW: Have you ever listened to some of these bands? Literally every trigger warning imaginable (not in this fic really, but if you wanna look up the songs beware)

Lucifer

A good old-fashioned Slayer man

The songs really speak to him and unlike his classical records, they fuel his rage and he’s able to let go

Basically in the longest emo phase since the beginning of time (fuck you dad I’m my own demon)

I feel like his favorite song would be South of Heaven or Angel of Death

South of Heaven is self explanatory and I feel like he’d think the Angel of Death song was about him (it’s about Dr. Mengele)

Mammon

I feel like as far as standard metal, goes he’d love Overkill

Speed metal has the perfect energy for speeding down the highway in his Demonio 666 Lexura, screaming the lyrics all the way

He can’t choose a song because he loves the whole W.F.O. album

HOWEVER, I also feel like he’d be into Limp Bizkit

He’s a rap boy and if he can combine that with the energy metal has he’s all for it!

His favorite song by them is Rollin’ just because of the vibes and energy it has

Leviathan

BABYMETAL

No but really, he’s not really into anything that isn’t anime themed or something.

That being said, I feel like he’d eventually listen to Metallica or Disturbed because one of their songs is in one of his games

It’d start playing and he’d lose the game from being so distracted

It would definitely be more popular songs like Creeping Death by Metallica and Down With The Sickness by Disturbed

Satan

I could see him liking Cradle of Filth

Just completely 100% satanic band with high and low vocals and phenomenal music, he’d love it

He’d feel like he’s getting to know human culture more and how they see demons/his brothers and him

His favorite song would be The Smoke Of Her Burning because of how similar the lyrics are to describing him

Their music is also a stress reliever to him, he can indulge in the rage of others

Asmodeus

Asmo was a little hard for me but I’m thinking Korn

The vocals aren’t too deep most of the time and the way sings and distorts his voice would be very interesting to him

Their beats are also pretty steady so i could honestly see him clubbing to them

I think his favorite song would be Love Song or a classic like Freak On A Leash

A fair amount of higher singing voices but still major drops in the beat

Beelzebub

BEEL👏IS👏A👏DEMON👏

He's eaten both people and demons alive and it hasn't bothered him one bit

That being said, I think he'd like Cannibal Corpse

He can't always understand what they're saying but he loves that unrecognizable growl and the gore they sing about, though he does tend to stay away from their sexual songs (plz do not look them up if you'll be triggered by SA)

This band is definitely not for the faint of heart but it really pumps him up when he's working out especially if he tries to stay on beat with them

Belphegor

When Belphie listens to metal, he is A W A K E and most likely angry at someone/something

Pantera is his perfect kick ass, fuck you, I don't give a FUCK band

He got woken up by Satan trying some new bands out and, at first, craved violence (the lil menace😌)

But the music just seemed to fit so perfectly with his mood, when he got to Satan's room he just started spitballing questions about who that is

Instantly fell in love with the entire Cowboys From Hell album and does call himself a cowboy from hell

#obey me #obey me headcanons #obey me shall we date #metalhead #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me levi #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me asmo #obey me beelzebub #obey me beel #obey me belphegor #obey me belphie

[sketching-shark]

I bet Tanzang is the most hated character in jttw lol

Sorry if went to deep with this rant but I hate tang with a passion XD

I mean he’s emotionally abusive towards wukong and treats him like a scapegoat and believes he’s holier than thou (from my perspective) I know he’s the reincarnation of the golden cicada but that’s no excuse (how did Jesus make it easy when it came to understanding others lol) Like my guy wukong saved your ass, so the least you can do is be more thankful to our monkey man (wukong literally represents the human mind so it be wise to listen to him since he’s the logical one! No wonder he tried to kill him)

he plays the blame game with wukong most of the time only for sha and bajie to join in, even when I he gets his ass into trouble before getting nearly eaten by some demon or nearly killed by a mf ,

If only in a retelling tangzang actually isn’t close minded and actually listens to wukong when necessary instead of being in denial, he’d actually be more likable

Correct me if I’m wrong about all I’ve said since I haven’t read the og novel fully yet, especially my view of tangzang.

Weeellll in all fairness the Monkey King WAS and for a good portion of the journey still is a monkey of ultra violence (in all honestly I'd probably be crying & falling off my dragon horse all the time too if I was traveling with three yaoguai who had expressed a desire to kill and/or eat me). THAT SAID, you would think that after the upteenth time of Sun Wukong being proven right and expending a lot of effort and/or getting seriously hurt to save Tang Sanzang the monk would at the very least be more willing to trust him. This does raise an interesting question though if in the og classic TSZ could be said to have changed in any major way...from what I remember he was quite the complainer throughout, and I don't recall him ever actually apologizing for a number of the times that he used the torture headband against SWK. Not to mention that whole dynamic of him being like "as a monk, I would rather die than kill someone!"/"AAA Monkey save me from the yaoguai through using violence!" & "SWK you suck because you killed a lot of people"/"the Tang emperor is so admirable even though everyone knows he killed countless people to get his way :)" can make him seem a somewhat hypocritical figure. I'd be willing to bet that's why a lot of contemporary versions have done a fair amount of rewriting to soften the Tang Monk's more abrasive traits so that he acts more like the ideal holy man that he purports to be. It's been interesting too seeing a number of more contemporary retellings insert new scenes that are specifically about TSZ apologizing to SWK. The monk giving the monkey his due is something it seems a lot of people want.

This is making me curious though as to whether anyone's actually done something akin to a fan poll as to who their most beloved & most belothed figure from Journey to the West is asdfaesdf.

#journey to the west #jttw #xiyouji #sun wukong #monkey king #tang sanzang #and speaking of jttw retellings #come to think of it there seem to be quite a few floating around that just write the monk out of the story entirely aaaaaaa

[desultory-suggestions]

Heyy, idk how to say this but im gonna try putting it in words, i took two gap years for giving an exam and now i won't make it, i can't find the right option to choose what to study and everytime i think about studying for a certain course, i get bombed with what if i hate the job that comes with and im scared. Do you have any advice for me? Ive been clueless thinking about everything and its just idk what to do

Hello, darling. This is a very common fear. It’s always been so frustrating to me that we’re expected to not only choose one thing to turn into a career, but do so at such a young age. So many people choose something and burn out because of this. However, it doesn’t have to be that way. I think taking those gaps was a great idea, you deserve all the time you need to explore and rest from academics. Here are a few centering questions and points I think may help.

Do you want to go to college? Do you feel like you should/have to or do you want to but feel worried?

Many people feel college is the only way. While there are fair concerns about starting a career with no degree, many forms of work don’t need one. A good example is trade work, which is often hands on learning. These are worthy pursuits! Additionally, if you want to pursue something such as art but feel no need for a classical education, maybe finding a job that lets you do that is better.

What are your top five passions?

They don’t need to make sense for university or a career. Say they’re bread, crayons, Russian literature, snails, and gaming. Those are all tangible things! Make a list and then think about what makes you so happy about them. What’s the common ground? How can you make these your study?

Have you considered not choosing one thing yet? Or at all?

Many universities and colleges offer unique opportunities in two ways. One is to be undeclared as a major. At my university and others they place you in University Division, where instead of starting right away on one topic, you explore any and all that interest you. Nursing? Sure! Painting? Yes! Finance? You bet! This was you can test what you like and don’t like. Secondly, many places now offer a whole degree that’s tailored by you for you. For example, my university has an office that will help you create a major. I know a student who’s studying music and neuroscience as one cohesive major.

Are you doing this for you?

So many people attend a university for their family or social standing. Please remember that this won’t be good for anyone, it will only burn you out.

What’s so bad about changing?

A consistent fear of students across the globe is “what if I change my mind?” It’s a valid fear, but not so scary as it sounds. A perfect example of this is in fact my brother. He got halfway through a BA in political science and well. He hated it. It wasn’t engaging the way he thought it would be, he didn’t enjoy his classes, and he was afraid of his future work. So what did he do? He went to his advisor, they talked and by gosh he changed his major. It delayed him a little while, but now he will graduate spring of 2023 with a degree in outdoor education and parks. Hold space for the fact that change is possible and ok. It will not be the end of the world. A woman I know for her PHD in economics and then became a minister. You won’t be the wildest story.

Quick Tips: Interview people with jobs you’ve considered. Literally just email and ask them! Most people will love to talk to you. Ask your professors as well, and chat consistently with them. Never underutilize your advisory office. They seriously know what to do. Take one class every semester that’s completely out of what you normally study, challenge your mind.

In the end no matter what happens it truly is okay. If you change your mind you do. But I know somewhere in your heart is a bright passion for something. You’ll find it, by typical methods or not. I’m here if you have any more questions! I love talking about academics and education. Also I have a good track record of helping people choose majors. Best of love and luck!

-Evan

#asks #anon #academics #academic advice #school #education #university

[shihalyfie]

I don’t remember whether you’ve discussed this before (and I’m really sorry for bringing it up again if you have!) but why do fans believe that Frontier “killed” the Digimon Franchise?

I noticed you mentioned recently that the creators believed the franchise was on its way out anyway since Tamers, plus I recall that Savers came three years or so after Frontier ended. Since I wasn’t active in the fandom during those discussions, I’m curious to know why fans used the drastic term “killed” when talking about Frontier. I’m guessing it has a lot to do with Frontier being the only season to not have the classic “partner Digimon” concept?

It's really nothing more than faulty logic. Frontier was the last series before Digimon anime screeched to a halt (at least until Savers). So that means, clearly, it didn't do well enough for the franchise to continue. If it had done well enough, they'd have made another series, but they didn't, so that means it was a failure and killed the franchise. Makes sense, right?

Well, technically, it is true that Frontier did badly enough that the franchise died for a time. That's not actually false. It's also true that a yearly anime like Digimon not getting renewed for another year is a very bad sign, and that ever since Frontier the franchise has always been in serious danger of dying, with Savers, Xros Wars, and Appmon all being false starts that never succeeded in fully bringing it back. But it's also true that in order to have saved the franchise from the downward spiral it was already deep in by the time of Tamers, Frontier would probably have had to perform some kind of absolute miracle to save the franchise from not dying. It takes more than just a year to kill a series! Let's look at Digimon toy sales figures from Adventure through Frontier:

Adventure: 16.0 billion yen

02: 14.2 billion yen

Tamers: 7.9 billion yen

Frontier: 4.5 billion yen

So yeah, Frontier's figure is undeniably bad, but a basic understanding of economics tells you it just happens to be in the unfortunate position of being the last one to take the fall in what was already clearly an exponential curve downwards. (In fact, I had the benefit of recently speaking with a Japanese Frontier fan -- and reading their posts even when they weren’t directly talking to me -- who said that they remember Digimon merch lines already starting to die out when Frontier was starting to air, meaning that it was in that self-feeding loop downfall position where they weren't producing the very merch that was supposed to help it gain revenue. We've still never gotten a complete soundtrack release.) And these things fall outside the purview of just Frontier too, because there were also the issues of:

Changing family structures leading to lower viewer ratings and other issues across the board for all anime from all companies

The Pendulum Progress (the V-Pet that Bandai released during Frontier's era) completely bombing, especially due to Bandai's attempt to venture into the Southeast Asian market being handled clumsily

The Toei Anime Fair (that is to say, Toei's structure of showing back-to-back short movies in theaters, which all Digimon movies were released under up until Frontier) bombing at an abysmal one-fifth of the previous year's revenue, resulting in Toei never holding another Anime Fair ever again (previous Toei Anime Fairs with Digimon usually involved sharing with a major big-ticket franchise like One Piece or Doremi, but here it was really just…uh, Kinnikuman)

Basically, it was just a disaster in all directions, so, again -- while Frontier may have been one of the last straws, it also probably would have needed to pull some kind of amazing miracle to yank the franchise out of that rut.

Now, keep in mind that the "Frontier killed the franchise" mantra mostly came from a fandom from 10-15 years ago, when a lot of fans were probably teenagers who didn't know or think much about how anime or media mix franchises are produced, but unfortunately this fanbase does tend to have a lot of preconceived notions like those that a ton of people just…never bothered to reconsider even after they became adults and should know better. And to be fair, not everyone happens to know about the above franchise statistics, and some of them were only translated, let alone released, very recently. From my understanding, the Japanese fanbase seems to have less of a perception that Frontier was the sole perpetrator, if only because they have easier access to said statistics.

But, well, you know, as much as it sucks to think about, a lot of people in this fanbase love to be rude to Frontier, so the idea of it as a "franchise killer" conveniently suits that angle, especially because Tamers also has a tendency to get put on a sacred cow's worship pedestal (and a lot of Tamers fans wouldn't dare admit that Tamers was just as big of a part of the problem, at least in terms of financial performance). So Frontier's an easy scapegoat. It's the weird series with no partner system! (Insert any complaint anyone has about Frontier's writing.) Clearly that must have made it able to singlehandedly tank the franchise in one fell swoop, and the Digimon franchise would have totally still been a profitable behemoth if they hadn't made it! Right? Yeah, uh, no. That's not how it works!

Now, as for the question of whether Frontier would have been successful if it'd come out under much better circumstances...well, of course, we'll never know. Media mix franchises have so many parts that the answer could probably honestly be anything. But to end this post on a happier note, the Japanese Frontier fan I spoke with went to DigiFes and wrote about the experience. They were worried about whether this year’s DigiFes would be popular when it was mostly about a movie with very little info and an anime series that hadn't had much in 20 years, only to have their fears completely blown away with how absolutely wild and feral the crowd went at everything, especially Miyazaki's performance of The Last Element. Which also led to their conclusion: Frontier has been getting so much love this year because, quite simply, it has a lot of fans who love it. That much is undeniably true, no matter what.

#digimon #digimon frontier #ominous-meme #shiha's ask box