#to my knowledge this is the first time we ever got a full backstory on how he clouds minds

[diazsdimples]

Do you have any buddie fic recs that is a /must/ read for Buddie shippers ( sorry I don't ship Bucktommy 🥹)

Boy do I ever!!!

honey, when you call my name - @hippolotamus (Explicit)

"Eddie witnesses the Buck/Lucy kiss, has himself a little panic, and decides to do something about it when Buck does his Buck thing and won't stop pushing Eddie's buttons" It's spicy, it's sweet, it's packed full of feels and there was not a dry eye in the house!!

Whatever may come (your heart I will choose) - @hippolotamus (Mature)

"The Story of Eddie and Christopher Diaz" The number of times I yelled at Hippo while reading this,,,, it is incredible!! 30 chapters of Buckley-Diaz family feels, Eddie's heartbreaking backstory and FUCK if I could read it for the first time again, I would!

James Bond AU Series - @princessfbi (Teen & Explicit)

James Bond AU with 007 Agent Eddie Diaz and Buck as Q. Incredible. No notes. Read them back to back in one sitting, and then read them again immediately after. No prior knowledge of James Bond needed (cause I sure didn't have any) but be prepared to have the sudden urge to go watch all the films.

Kink Club AU Series - @princessfbi (Explicit)

"Canon compliant one shots where Eddie works at a Kink Club as a side hustle and meets Buck there before his first shift in 2x01." This series is insanely good. 5 perfect fics of the boys and BDSM, it is incredibly hot, full of feels and just.... yeah. Incredible. Please do read the tags before each fic though, especially if BDSM isn't your thing.

because we'll all arrive in heaven alive - @neverevan (Explicit)

"During a search and rescue, Eddie disappears without a trace, leaving Buck to grapple with the sudden possibility of a life without him." I was literally on the edge of my seat with every single chapter release. It's SO angsty and delicious and absolutely incredible, and I think also very feasible for what could happen in canon should Timothy ever decide to be as mean (affectionate) as Newbie was by putting the boys through this.

Out Of Order, Still In Line - @neverevan (Explicit)

"When Buck finally gets to the Clinic, the long awaited release doesn’t seem to come; cue Eddie to the rescue." One of the first Buddie fics I read and it altered my brain chemistry a little. Lord have mercy. It's just ... you gotta read it. Like, Jesus 🥵

My Blood on Your Skin (My Rose on Your Snow) - @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels (Explicit)

"When Eddie needs cash and fast to take care of Christopher, his LAFD Academy buddy suggests a job as a bouncer at Elysium - an exclusive sex club in downtown Los Angeles. Eddie doesn't care what goes on there, so long as he's paid, but he finds he cares a lot bout the club's enigmatic owner, Evan Buckley, and it's not long before the two of them are violating every boss-employee rule in the book. But there's something different about Buck and the club, something not quite... human. If Eddie wants to keep Buck, he's going to have to delve into the world of immortals, and all the risks that implies." Honestly I think the blurb says it all. I read this at my cousin's wedding (literally just before the ceremony and during the reception fsdkjdfs) because I literally couldn't put it down. Incredible Greek Gods integration and so. fucking. hot. Sorry Caleb, I hope your matrimony is holy but this was so worth it.

stuck now so long, we just got the start wrong - @daffi-990 (Unrated at present)

"Probational Firefighters Evan “Buck” Buckley and Eddie Diaz meet on a call which ends with them at odds with each other. As the months roll by, they keep running into each other on the job, much to Eddie’s dismay and Buck’s delight. Can they put aside their first opinions and misunderstandings and allow the seeds of friendship, and possibly something more, to take root?" This AU has been eating me alive with snippets for the last few months and the chapters are FINALLY being published!! Stay tuned for weekly updates about our idiots being - well - idiots. Daffi has written them so well and I don't think I could yell louder about this one if I wanted.

Cow Eyes - @theotherbuckley (General)

"'Eddie's in hospital and Buck tries not to break down' fic except its actually just a cute silly little fic" Exactly what is says on the tin. Cute, silly, fluffy and entirely adorable. High!Eddie is fucking hilarious and Worried!Buck has my whole ass heart. Love this fic, have read it many times, will read many times more

Both Blade and Branch - @cal-daisies-and-briars (Mature)

"The chances of being struck by lightning twice are incredibly minute, but Buck still manages to pull it off. During a double date with Marisol and Natalia, nonetheless. Eddie manages to resuscitate him, but as Buck recovers from yet another trauma, Eddie can’t help but notice there’s something very different about him. He’s not quite sure what version of Buck he got back." Orpheus and Eurydice vibes but somehow more heartbreaking because it's the Boys? Literally every chapter I was gobsmacked and the fact that I couldn't read it in one sitting due to Life™️ was frankly criminal.

what humans do - @gayhoediaz

""…and the thought that she had just escaped death by such a narrow margin made me realize the intensity of my feelings toward her.” Eddie swallows. “‘What’s the matter?’ I couldn’t tell her, so I kissed her instead,” Buck goes on, and since Eddie’s eyes are focused on the page, they drift ahead a little bit, and the next few lines have him swallowing once again, taking his hand back to brace himself against the mattress as he slowly starts to push himself up to sit. “Kissing is what humans do when words have reached a place they can’t escape from. It is a switch to another language. The kiss was an act of defiance, maybe of war. You can’t touch us, is what the kiss said. ‘I love you,’ I told her, and as I smelled her skin, I knew I had never wanted anyone or anything more than I wanted her…” Buck trails off when Eddie reaches for the book, gently luring it out of his grasp. " One of the best getting together fics I've read. So sweet, so hot, full of feels, and also just very 🤯 in many places. Just insanely well written and perfect imagery.

Also I have a small list of authors whom I love dearly:

@spotsandsocks @exhuastedpigeon @wildlife4life @thewolvesof1998 @thekristen999

@steadfastsaturnsrings @watchyourbuck @fortheloveofbuddie @rainbow-nerdss @bidisasterevankinard

@aroeddiediaz @jesuisici33 @wikiangela @loveyouanyway @kitteneddiediaz

@actuallyitsellie @dangerpronebuddie @loserdiaz @elvensorceress @underwaterninja13

@smilingbuckley

Literally anything these wonderful people (and the authors of the above fics) have written is well worth a read. I would rec all of their words and make individual recs for all their fics but I fear I simply do not have the words.

I might also humbly suggest some of my fics, which you can find here! Happy reading!!!

#james answers things #fic recs #buddie fics #buddie #buddie wip #buddie ao3 #eddie diaz #evan buckley #911 buddie #911 abc #please don't read too much into the fact that pretty much every single one of these are smut #they're just really fucking good okay?

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Re-reading The Fellowship of the Ring for the First Time in Fifteen Years

Hi, Hello, Welcome! The conceit of these posts is pretty self-explanatory. I read the Lord of the Rings for the first time at age 17, in the middle of my parent's divorce (it was messy, we're not going into any details). Needless to say, I remember pretty much nothing about that read, and I would like to give the books a fair shake of a re-read. That's what this is, and there will be spoilers throughout!

I usually do full-book reviews, but if ever I was going to do a chapter-by-chapter re-read, it would be for LotR. The rules are that I'm going in as blind as I possibly can (I have watched the movies and have absorbed like...a reasonable amount of lore from existing on the internet as a millennial) and I'm not doing any research beyond like, defining words for myself as I read. So here we go, and I hope you enjoy rereading with me! Let's talk "The Shadow of the Past."

Good LORD JRR Tolkien can lore dump when he wants to. This chapter was mainly lore dump, which is fine because it was at least interesting lore dump. I'm not a lore girly though, I'm a character girly, so let's go with "we got the One Ring's backstory, now let me talk about other characters because the Ring isn't one just yet."

This is going to sound initially harsh, but it is said with affection: Gandalf is 1000% the pedantic asshole professor who is way too into the Socratic method who you absolutely detest in undergrad but somehow his classes still end up sticking with you more than any other. You then get to understand this prof better as a master's student, and deeply love this prof as a PhD. That's literally the vibe I'm getting from his lecture to Frodo about finding some goddamn pity and compassion for the tragedy that is Smeagol and Gollum. Because it is VERY easy to judge and be critical in the abstract, which Frodo very much is, having never encountered Gollum, and Gandalf has spent time and effort tracking down Gollum with way more background knowledge with which to contextualize the layers of tragedy that Gollum personifies and affects. It's a big ask, to get people to abstract compassion (and do not come in here and argue with me about this, I live in 20-goddam-24, I know what I'm talking about), but Gandalf kind of doesn't let it go with Frodo until Frodo at least softens his position and is open to, if not at, compassion. I've been a student and I've been a teacher, and these conversations are hard from both directions, so kudos to Gandalf for sticking with it, and to Frodo for getting to a place where he was truly listening.

Especially after Gandalf just CASUALLY DROPS that Gollum literally ATE BABIES. I'm not even kidding, he just casually, in the midst of an infodump on Gollum's time tracking Bilbo after losing the Ring, says,

The woodsmen said that there was some new terror abroad, a ghost that drank blood. It climbed trees to find nests, it crept into holes to find young, it slipped through windows to find cradles.

AND THEN WE JUST CASUALLY MOVE ON LIKE BABY EATING ISN'T SOMETHING WE NEED TO ADDRESS HERE. I would like to address the baby eating, Gandalf!!!

Despite not addressing the baby eating though, there was some interesting new information in the Gollum infodump that I understand why it got cut from the movies, but I was low-key fascinated. Smeagol was specifically noted to be interested in roots. Gandalf framed that like literal tree and mountain roots, but this is Tolkien we're talking about. Roots have a metric ton of metaphorical meanings too, and the fact that Smeagol was interested in the origins of things, in where they came from, in what made them as they are, is both deeply ironic and deeply interesting. I kind of hope we do more with that, since becoming Gollum is like ouroborosing roots; Smeagol's interest in Gollum is deeply self-reflexive, which might also be how we end up with that bifurcated personality thing. I dunno, but that would be really cool to follow up on.

I also deeply appreciated Frodo's "WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK" reaction to realizing that Gandalf had let him keep the One Ring for so long. Notably, Gandalf kind of doesn't explicitly apologize for putting Frodo at risk, but he does acknowledge that yes, yes he made a choice, took a risk, and put Frodo in some level of danger. I suppose we'll take it, even as we acknowledge that yes, Gandalf was working with imperfect, incomplete information. We do the best we can with what we know at the time, or something. And if it took 20-odd years to figure all of this out (which makes sense for the kind of field and archival work required here), then y'know what, better late than never.

That said, Gandalf also kind of...LIGHTLY SKATES OVER the fact that even just possessing the Ring and doing nothing with it for 20 years has affected Frodo. He's not aging. He can't cast it away. He's already caught. Right at the beginning, in CHAPTER TWO of this massive trilogy, it's not a matter of preventing Frodo from being caught by the ring. It's a matter of how long Frodo can resist. He was doomed before anyone knew, concretely, that there was a problem. And jaysus, if that isn't how you tee up a tragedy, I don't even know how you do that. Maybe there wasn't a good reason for Gandalf to say that to Frodo, maybe it would have hurt more than it helped, but I do kind of think PERHAPS YOU MIGHT POINT THIS OUT???

I get the sense that I'm going to be very back-and-forth on book Gandalf...this is going to be an interesting thing to watch develop as I keep reading.

In addition to Gandalf's "Backstory Via The Socratic Method 101" course, we also get some additional Samwise Gamgee in this chapter. Saying "I adore this hobbit and he should be protected at all costs" is not new or even interesting, so let's take a different tack. In the films, Sam's excitement for going to see the elves is...ungrounded. It's a thing about him that we just accept. I deeply relate to and adore the sense we get of why and how the elves thing comes about in the book:

He believed he had once seen and Elf in the woods, and still hoped to see more one day. Of all the legends that he had heard in his early years such fragments of tales and half-remembered stories about the Elves as the hobbits knew, had always moved him most deeply.

This might seem ungrounded, but it's deeply aware of how stories work. Sam knows that the hobbits don't have the extent of Elven lore that exists, but he knows that there is a magic and a power in even the fragments they have, and that captured his imagination to such an extent that a yearning to see, to understand, to know that magic, was born in his heart. That grounds Sam in stories just as much as Frodo is grounded in stories, and more than that, Sam WANTS the magic to be real in a way that Frodo, primed on all the tragedy by Gandalf, I don't actually think does. Frodo is "I wish it need not have happened in my time," but Sam is "Me go and see the Elves and all."

That "and all" at the end is particularly poignant, because if Sam knows some of the stories of the elves, I have to imagine a few tragic tales survived along with the magical ones, so Sam isn't going starry-eyed into this as a bumblefuck gardener from nowhere. There's an acceptance there of the magic that encompasses all that magic offers, both good and bad. Yeah, I'm probably over-reading into this, but I support it at least a little with the fact that at the beginning of the chapter, we're with Sam when the hobbits down the pub are talking about strange beings and creatures and *foreshadowing the ents*. Sam knows that the stories tell of more than just elves, but for him, that wonder is enough to warrant everything else. No, I am not taking criticism (constructive or otherwise) at this time.

Other than a wee shoutout to the legendary "Mad Baggins"--and let's be real, if history must become myth and myth must become legend, I want Mad Baggins to stay alive and not be forgotten--that's about all I have for this chapter. Professor Gandalf shows up to school Frodo and kick his ass out the door, and Sam gets to go see the elves. We'll pick up again next time with chapter 3.

#the fellowship of the ring #the lord of the rings #chapter 2 #shadows of the past #reread #HOW DID WE JUST SKATE OVER GOLLUM EATING BABIES????

[agnerd-bot]

So... Goku Vs Superman(2023) was absolutely peak

A lot of people say that Bill Vs Discord was a love letter to the community, and I definitely agree with that. It had so many in-jokes and references to Vs creators and reactors and delivered on one of the most wanted episodes in Death Battle history.

But if Bill Vs Discord is a love letter to the vs community, I'd say Goku Vs Superman III was a love letter to the very idea of vs debates itself, as well as a reminder of why so many folks get invested in these silly little fights to begin with.

If you're not one like me and you don't spend time in endless debates regarding who would win in a fight, a little backstory:

(Also, spoilers. Obviously.)

In 2013, Death Battle released Goku Vs Superman as its finale to its first ever season, an episode over half an hour long tackling one of the biggest rivalries in pop culture to ever exist. And it broke the internet.

While I'll fully admit that this episode has aged significantly since its release, it's also undeniably Death Battle's most iconic episode, and for a damn good reason. It brought in MasakoX from DBZA and ItsJustSomeRandomGuy from I'm a Marvel/I'm a DC, two of the most iconic internet voices of Goku and Superman, was the first Death Battle to have its own original score, and is over ten minutes of non-stop action between two of pop culture's biggest juggernauts. It was a spectacle unlike any other.

Unfortunately with nerd debates like these, you're gonna also get some toxicity, and the results of this episode were... controversial to say the least. While folks loved the fight, the salt and anger it stirred up rubbed many the wrong way.

Then, two years later, after the release of Battle of Gods and several other new movies, Goku Vs Superman II was released.

Originally meant to be a highlight reel of cut content that didn't make it into the original, it was instead released as a full episode and advertised as a rematch. Many people were dissatisfied with this, including Ben Singer, one of the minds behind the series, who straight up admitted its his least favorite Death Battle because of how he felt it as an unintentional kick in the nuts for Dragon Ball fans. And he wasn't the only one, as many folks have deemed the episode one of their worst. While I personally don't hate the episode, it does do a disservice to both Goku and Superman as characters I feel, and like many, I dreaded the idea of an inevitable rematch happening that'd bring back the debate that many felt needed to just die at this point.

So when the news of Goku Vs Superman III came out... a lot of people felt nothing but immense dread. Many were sick and tired of this matchup and thought that this would be another episode that would just end up making people more angry.

And then the episode came out:

God, am I glad we got this episode. While my #1 favorite still goes to Cole Vs Alex at this point, I can't deny how good it felt to watch this episode go down.

Close friends of mine know that I am a massive Superman fan. He's my favorite character of all time, and I'll fully admit that the original Goku Vs Superman was a big reason for that. It really introduced me to Superman as a character beyond the baser knowledge that everyone knew. Similarly? This was the episode that got me interested in Dragon Ball. I'm still very new to the franchise(only got started recently with Xenoverse and FighterZ), but this rematch got me to understand why Goku's such an icon in his own right. I never got into Dragon Ball unlike a lot of folks, and I'll fully admit I didn't really 'get it'. I watched stuff like DBZA, but that's still a parody that doesn't quite get to the heart of who Goku truly is as a character, as much love as they put into it.

This episode does such a good job approaching both Goku and Superman not just as icons of strength or power, but as genuine inspirations to look forward to. Goku symbolizing someone who is always willing to push himself further when all hope seems lost. Determination incarnate always willing to bring out the best in himself and others. Superman symbolizing a simple wish for goodness and humanity. A hero beyond the stars who will help fight back the darkness in any way he can. They're the greatest embodiments of goodness and hope in their respective universe, and inspire countless people inside and out of it.

This further ties into the actual fight itself. In the original Goku Vs Superman and its sequel, Goku and Superman were very aggressive to one another, their attacks vitriolic and seeing the other as an enemy, kind of reflecting the toxicity that this debate symbolized for so many people. But now? They're fighting because they're enjoying themselves, seeing the other as an equal they can find themselves at ease around. Goku is constantly encouraging Clark to cut loose and stop holding himself back, and Superman is realizing that he doesn't have to fear his own strength here. This fight is as much a battle to the death as it is therapy. There's two moments in particular that really draw my eye and love for this fight.

"World made of cardboard..."

Superman is someone who has often been characterized by fearing his own strength in several stories, always worrying if he'll break someone or something, afraid to truly put himself at his limits.

But after this poignant moment... he smiles. Because now, he has someone he can go all out against and encourages him to go even further beyond. And that he does, truly releasing his unrestrained power at his rival's request.

"Finally."

This is such a good moment both in and out of context. In context, Goku's looking on in excitement and pride as he finally, finally gets to see his rival go all out against him, not holding back to let him see him at his best.

Out of context? In both the previous versions of Goku Vs Superman, Superman was treated as an impossibility for Goku to overcome. The idea that Goku could even come close to his rival was seen as something that could never happen? But now? After how hard he's worked? After how far he's come? He's reached the point where he can stand tall alongside him, even if he can't win.

In the end, these two titans meet for their final clash in a beautiful call back to the original Goku Vs Superman, creating a punch parry strong enough to rewrite all of reality itself.

And in the end, when the dust settles?

Goku has lost again, for the third time now. But instead of last time where he simply accepts that he'll never beat Superman, he just goes, "Ah, darnit," and laughs the whole thing off, saying he'll work even harder to win next time. Because even in the face of the impossible, Goku will always try to make it possible.

And how does Superman respond?

He smiles, admitting "That was actually pretty fun!" He enjoyed himself, a far cry from his somber and serious nature in the previous fights. He got to let go and really unleash his limits thanks to Goku, and has come around to the Saiyan's lighthearted sparring(well, lighthearted for them at least).

This episode has a wholesomeness that not many other Death Battles have, and definitely not as well. So many people have come out expressing how much they've loved this episode and how happy it made them, and I think the episode itself does a fantastic job at encapsulating why.

"There's more than one way to appreciate something. We're having a great time talking about awesome characters, and slamming action figures together. And that's okay!"

The debates on who's stronger or who would win are never going to die. There's always going to be something new to bring to the table, new arguments to be had, new thoughts to debate. And... there's nothing wrong with that. At the end of the day, we engage with these nerdy debates because we love these characters and we love them interacting. Who wins or loses doesn't matter, what matters is that we simply have fun with it. I think that's something folks have forgotten at some points, myself included.

Hell, Death Battle is the reason why I started writing in the first place. It's how I chose to put myself out there by writing combat fanfiction with my friends, and it's how I found my own footing as a writer. I would not be where I am today without this silly little internet series, and I'm so grateful that it's still going on to this day.

It's so amazing to see where Death Battle started and where it is now. Season 10 has given us so many fantastic episodes, to the point that every episode this season, at least one person I know has claimed an episode to be their favorite. It's been so fun with this season, and it's honestly given me a lot of inspiration to pick up writing again, both for Vs and in general.

If you somehow haven't seen this episode, please watch it. It's grand, it's heartwarming, it's overwhelming, it's so many things going on at once.

And at the end of the day, it's just... fun.

"Let's go again."

"You're on."

#death battle #son goku #superman #kakarot #kal-el #clark kent #dragon ball #dragon ball z #dragon ball super #dc #dc comics #long post #Youtube

[dropthedemiurge]

Look at me being a Boston defender

I changed my stance on this character 2 episodes ago when I got to understand him better – and oof, this episode I wanted to run someone over with a car (Atom, walk carefully on the street)

But also I'm once again is fascinated by how much Only Friends love using parallels! This show just LOVES putting characters in the similar scenes or use same composition/camerawork but COMPLETELY flipping the narrative. And I felt it very strong today.

Atom being a little unsatisfied dramatic shit (no offence to Title but he acts annoying guys very well), lies to his sister about what happened between him and Boston, and of course Cheum reacts firsts and analyses maybe never. And of course, Ray and Mew give her full support as they just made up as friends, now their group is back and everyone else is kicked out.

All of them just took the information they were given by one very lying side and ran with it like they are used to feeling oh so superior and though i kinda dislike mew and cheum, i still have positive feelings about all of them, but at that moment I thought omg guys fuck you maybe

And I was surprised by a strong reaction I was having and the very righteous desire to protect Boston and prove them wrong! Then I realized something. It's interesting, because we had almost the same scene in the hostel.

We started from the Friends POV and we saw Boston intruding on a safe/home place where Ray, Mew and Cheum chilled. And we knew Boston was in the wrong there and did some shit so it was so satisfying to watch him be almost annihilated and drowned, the hurt feeling from everyone translated very well to a viewer.

And then we have the scene in Boston's home during him doing thing he loves aka taking photos (even not nude), where the Friends are now intruding without care.

And everything is the same. Boston did a shitty thing sleeping with a person close to one of his friends, Mew, Cheum and Ray have each other's backs and yell at Boston, same vindication atmosphere – BUT it made a complete 180 turn.

Because it's clear how we shifted POV to Boston, and we know his backstory, we know what actually happened and we've already been in his mind for quite some time so we understand him. That he just has a different frame for relationships and sexual activities and he doesn't understand how to navigate communication correctly, but he always tells the truth and this time he did it too.

Only no one believes him! Because his "friends" operate on all their previous reactions and knowledge of Boston. Of course, they would believe a poor little brother of Cheum, of course evil Boston tricked him and threatened him into sleeping with him.

Boston always told his side of the story but no one ever believed him or didn't want to understand him, and that's what makes you so frustrated and angry with them. They keep blaming each other without trying to understand (Cheum, I am SO looking at you and your double standards and oblivious perception) and they keep scolding him because they feel morally superior (Mew, I really don't like the new you and you probably always been like this but storytelling hid it from us and ugh).

I'm kinda not sure about Ray because at first he obviously protected Mew didn't expand the fighting, and here he's closed off and... looks conflicted? His only scolding was about "it's your friend's brother!" and that might be headcanon but we know Ray had to spent quite a lot of time with Boston before, and he's not a saint himself, I feel like if it was just two of them, Boston could even explain himself properly and change Ray's opinion. But definitely not when all friends ganged up on him and didn't believe ANY of his words. They weren't even ready to listen, they just came there to accuse.

I don't know, I'm ready to fight for Boston, dude isn't always pleasant but he needs someone to listen to him and tell him he's a worth being, because he already hides and cuts off his dreams and things he wants in life and his feelings too, and all his coping mechanisms are shitty and he gets blamed and hated for anything he does, even though he doesn't know any better or he gets blackmailed and defamed.

Of course he looks in shambles and on the verge of breaking down and seeks Nick out because at least someone is reckless enough and has a big heart to love him no matter what.

BUT I WAS TALKING ABOUT THE PARALLELS! Only Friends make so many parallels and each one of them is so delightful and fascinating! This show is so complicated and good.

#ofts #ofts meta #only friends the series #ofts boston #ofts cheum #ofts mew #ofts ray #boston #i said i was thinking about not writing any of meta but here i am writing about boston of all characters #it's all because one night i couldn't sleep so i suddenly thought of what i could write as boston's pov #and man i feel bad for him #just like story wants me too and i am not mad at following it #dropthemeta #only friends #only friends meta #thai bl #bl drama #gmmtv bl #gmmtv series #thai series #only friends boston

[majormeilani]

What are your thoughts on the DLCs and Mafia Town? I know that you also think that Battle of the Birds is the best chapter and that you're not too fond of Alpine Skyline.

hattytime thoughts.... okay.

on mafia town:

i think it's an alright chapter? i mean, i think it's full of a lot of character and environmental storytelling that helps you put everything together about what happened on the island. it also leaves you to wonder a lot about it too. the only thing that kind of disappoints me about it is that we don't really learn that much about mafia boss and his intentions are left extremely vague as well. i also kinda wish the acts had a more cohesive purpose to being there and didn't seem all over the place and random. like the race one is just there for no reason it seems like lmao okay? i know that was probably a leftover from cut content tho (riding a rocket)

i know a lot of people think that mafia town is an 'ugly' level but personally i think it's rather nice looking and i think its kind of 'gummy' look really adds to the degradation of the island.

i do really kind of wish that we got more out of it or some resolution that was properly set for mu as well because i feel like there's so much more we need to know about her.

one underrated part of the level that is probably my favorite is heating up mafia town. not only is the concept really funny but it's actually a nice and light little challenge for the early-midpoint of the game. i love what it tells us about mu and her knowledge of the island as well, so again some rather nice environmental storytelling. i also thought the little feast that the mafia goons had made for her was kinda sweet, even if they were assholes to her and what they did to mu sucks 😔 but the statues that are there and them calling hat kid their "hero" really makes me think......................... like augh.

on the arctic cruise:

i liked this chapter but i wouldn't say it was one of my favorites. i wish it were a little bit longer but tbh i don't know what else i would have personally expected from it in terms of gameplay. it was rather challenging to do ship shape and i remember having such a hard time playing it the first time. i played that level for like over an hour before i got it. i think part of it is really nailing the layout of the level and knowing all of the shortcuts, which is really hard to do in your first time around.

i liked rock the boat however, even if that one was also really challenging. i mostly liked it though for what it told us about hat kid and her character. that instead of just abandoning everyone for how rotten that they treated her, she makes the effort to save everyone. and you could tell that hat kid really regret her decision and felt remorse like idk i love that a lot. esp bc some people took hat kid to be the type to not care about any of them but it goes to show that she did, at least a little bit.

i think walrus captain does deserve some more attention too but it's kind of sad that he doesn't play all that big of a role in the dlc. but he seems like a good guy just very depressed to the point that he can't really find the energy to be more involved in things. also his little backstory is really tragic and you can tell he used to care deeply about everything until he experienced loss. i think grief is one of the most interesting things to have a character endure and i'm kind of thankful that they had a character in ahit going through it. it's also really sad to me that he wanted to go down with his ship, like he didn't have anything else to live for at that point but hat kid still pulled him out of it and carried him to safety. even if that part is played off like a joke kind of, like everything else serious in the game really, it's still very. sad.

there's also the deep sea rift that was like the worst fucking thing ever, at least first time i tried to figure it out. that level genuienely made me turn on assist mode for the first time ever playing ahit it was that bad for me LMAOOOOOO. like aesthetically it's very pretty but augh. very unforgiving level for sure. HOWEVER i will say that i've gotten much better at that level and the trick for those who are struggling: collect as many pons as you can on the first levels and you should have enough to skip one of the really difficult ones.

deathwish itself since it's a part of the dlc i have many thoughts on it. i'm probably in the minority in that i actually think a lot of the deathwishes were lots of fun! my favorites were wound up windmill and killing two birds. wound-up windmill is just a lot of fun for how fast paced it is and i've always really liked a lot of the platforming for the windmill. and for killing two birds, y'know as a dead bird studio enthusiast that's kind of a given. but more because that deathwish actually makes me laugh hysterically to play, especially since dj grooves and conductor can actually damage each other with their attacks. and that deathwish is prone to the funniest glitches i've ever seen. i don't even mind dying a thousand times because i'm just laughing my ass off. also both of those deathwishes have the best osts too like i can unironically listen to both of those for hours.

though in general i think all the deathwishes are really cool. i like the bonus storybooks too they mean a lot to me tbh. the only deathwish i cannot for the life of me beat is the 'no jumps' candle for trainrush like i've tried so many times and i don't think i'll ever get that one...

we also can't forget that deathwish also brought us the peace and tranquility smug dance which is iconic LOLLL

on nyakuza metro:

ABSOLUTELY ADORE THIS DLC. i think it's genuinely gfb's best work on ahit thus far. i think the animations are gorgeous, especially empress' animation like holy fuck? i love love love the environment design and i think they applied the concept they intended with the free exploration well and in a creative way, much better and less confusing than what they did with alpine. i just think everything about the environment and level designs were so good! and the ambience and character of the npcs also added so much life to the level. it's just. there's so much to praise.

i also love that the finale level instead of being a face off against empress is you escaping the metro with her chasing you. it broke away from the mold but in a good way to where it actually. it told you a lot about empress as a character too in that she usually has others handle her dirty work instead of acting on it herself and that when she has to she's rather ruthless about it, though even a little reckless because she ends up having some fallout to her own detriment in the end. empress also seems to know the metro like the back of her paw as well, seeing as she beats you to the elevator and confronts you which makes her really intimidating.

i also looooovvveeeee all the outfits and hat flairs that you can get from the metro cats and the buying food mechanic was cute and unique, i love the little voice acting with it too. i also love the stickers and the charm they add and how fun they are to collect. the badges are also lots of fun ever though they're cosmetic mostly. also it kind of gave end game players a way to spend their pons, which i think is really awesome because you always end up with so many of those lmao.

in regards to the storybook for the dlc i'm a little bit disappointed we don't learn all that much about empress or any of her background from it. but that timerift was really unique and fun to explore. i like to believe that the rift taking place in a rumbi factory tells us that empress used to work in one as a mechanic but that's just me.

by far my favorite dlc though!

on vanessa's curse:

this one was one i was very excited for when they made an announcement for it. it kind of was a little less story than i was expecting to come from it but it think despite that it was really impressive for a creator dlc.

when it first released it was so cool to explore all the corners of the manor and figure out the mechanics of it. even though it still can be glitchy at times, it does run rather well despite that and i play on a laptop LOL.

i think what they tried to do with it was a cool concept as well. it took the collect-a-thon aspect and built off the multiplayer concept that was implemented in an earlier addition to the game and made those work in a real time environment for challenging collaborative play.

i think that the level design is very pretty and well thought-out too, even though i often still get a little lost sometimes. i've especially a fan of the interior design and decor.

i think my favorite thing about the dlc though was all the cosmetics. i loveee how there's hat flairs that actually did unique things with hat kid's powers. like how the ice hats give you a different ice sculpture and the brewing flairs add unique splatter and explosion effects. i think my favorite flairs have to be the dweller mask glasses, the crown, the donut and the lampshade. the dyes were also really pretty and i loved that we got another unique weapon variant. i'm a sucker for the cosmetics they make me happy. ALSO i love hat kid's little pigtails for the punk dye. it's about time that she got another unique hairstyle.

overall i think vanessa's curse is fun but idk. sometimes i wish there were a little more? but i suppose what we have is good too.

thanks for asking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#not readmoring this bc i don't want to #i'm sure i have many more thoughts but these were brewing in my mind at the time of typing this #long post #🎩⏳ #answered asks #crescentblossom66

[cookieblobber]

what the fuck | Y Pokémon Legends Z-A is an Xtremely Important Game

how

HOWWWWWW

EVERYONE THOUGHT THIS WASN'T EVER GONNA HAPPEN...THE FRANCHISE MOVED ON SO QUICKLY FROM GEN 6, XZ AND YZ WAS ALLEGEDLY CANNED WHEN 3 YEARS PASSED, ZYGARDE WAS SO HAPHAZARDLY FORCED INTO SUN AND MOON

WHAT DO YOU MEAN POKEMON Z IS A REAL TITLE????? IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE JUST A LEGEND (haha see what i did there), A PLAYGROUND RUMOR, LIKE POKEMON WATERBLUE, POKEMON GRAY, POKEMON DELTA EMERALD....ARE WE NOW GETTING SUPER MARIO 64 2 WITH A PLAYABLE LUIGI???? IS SONIC AVAILABLE IN SMASH MELEE NOW??????? IS MEW ABLE TO BE FOUND UNDER THE TRUCK???????

ALL THE RECENT RUMORS DEBATED ON GEN 2 OR GEN 5 REMAKES HAPPENING, SV DLC HINTED AT GEN 5, THE PRESENTATION THAT HAPPENED TODAY HINTED AT GEN 2, HOW WAS THIS NOT LEAKED PRIOR?!?!???!!?!?!?!!?!? AND IT'S A LEGENDS ENTRY!?!?!??!!?!?!?!??!?!?!?

----------------------------------------

The fabled Pokémon Z

Backstory: After BW2 was made, Game Freak had to start working on X and Y. X and Y was the first mainline Pokémon games to fully be in 3D, but it also came with the cost of a potential "definitive version" not being possible. Now, I'm not too familiar with what Pokemon would do after Gen 4 (not cuz I wasn't interested, I just never had the money to keep up with this franchise fully), but from my knowledge over the years (and watching a bit of DYKG), there were plans for a "definitive version" being like Black and White's, where it's not just only an expansion of the two games, but it changes the story and characters so much that it's practically a sequel to the story that was already made.

They wanted to do similar with X and Y for this fabled "Z Version" possibly titled Pokemon XZ and YZ. Of course though, it never happened. What remains are the fact the anime calls itself “Pokémon XYZ” and having episodes involving Zygarde, the fact Zygarde and it’s whole ordeal got shifted into Sun and Moon, and two random new X and Y games hidden in the source code of X and Y. They would eventually get to do it again with Sun and Moon ala Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, the DLCs for SWSH and SV would serve more as epilogues of the stories that came along (less full experiences worthy of being sequels and more so add-ons to the initial games), and that’s about it. X and Y…left in the dust, no expansion or anything….until now.

———————————————

Pokémon Legends - Awkward Position

Pokémon Legends was introduced with Pokémon Legends Arceus, and it looked to be the massive change up the franchise was desperately needing after how lackluster SWSH felt, showing that Game Freak does want to actually do greater things and take advantage of this new hardware (contrary to a lot of popular belief). Many agreed it was a little rough in some areas but, that barely mattered when the game just felt so refreshing and fun to play. A lot of worries still were afoot with this franchise, mainly if it will truly pave the wave for a new way to enjoy Pokémon.

Legends Arceus released on January, a month after the Diamond and Pearl remakes, which those games were clearly saved for holiday releases (and we all know holiday releases mean easy money from parents wanting to get gifts), so theoretically a lot of people into Pokémon or wanting to get a new Pokémon game for their child probably would’ve spent some money already on BDSP in time for Christmas. The game would also then…basically be forgotten as it would receive its last update next month and on top of that, the new generation of Pokémon was revealed for this holiday year (not to mention since both games were huge projects developed by Game Freak and BDSP was from ILCA, it only put the quality of SV into question).

You can guess after the release of SV, it made many skeptical about what’s next for the franchise. While SV offered some great ideas, Legends Arceus felt like it was truly a brand new foundation to look into for the franchise going forward, and it seemed like it did really well for what it was. As of right now it’s reached 14M sales, to put that into perspective: SWSH made 25M, theoretically both versions making around 12.5 each, so Legends Arceus may have made just as much, if not more, sales than a version exclusive title, which really shows how hyped people were to see what this game had to offer. So suddenly having the franchise move on from it, almost as if they weren’t confident in the game to begin with, it seemed a bit worrying.

Until now

————————————————

Pokémon Legends FUCKING Z-A

this is a real title. It is insane they pulled a Metroid and just revived a well known canceled name to make something completely new out of. I think what’s most wild is how not a single rumor or alleged insider ever hinted at this being a possibility, it was either claims of Gen 2 remakes ala Let’s Go style, or Gen 5 remakes because obligatory remakes of games from half of whatever generations we have now ago. I mean Gen 9 hinted at constant relations with Unova, especially in the game’s DLC iirc. And as we all saw, they kept teasing constant Gen 2 Pokémon and events in the Pokémon Presents, all to just throw a massive curve ball and introduce Gen 6. All those jokes about Paldea being based of Spain, being near France (which Kalos is based on) implying Gen 6 remakes were coming were just suddenly true I guess??? It’s almost as if within the team behind all this they made up the idea of Gen 2/5 remakes just to mess with potential leakers.

Now, confession: …I have yet to still play Legends Arceus. Again, not because I don’t want to, I just don’t have the money, so take some knowledge on gameplay and the like with a grain of salt if brought up 🥲. However, I am certain there’s still plenty of other stuff to bring up in other ways, starting with: What kinda game is this?

Many assumed if Legends was ever going to be a series, it was supposed to involve exploring past of a region. Many people making their “Legends Celebi” or “Legends Kyreum” mock-ups would believe it would give us an interesting look in what Johto/Unova respectively used to look like back then. Makes sense since speaking of legends as a word usually involves the past, what was widely believed long ago and the like. However, nothing about the trailer of Z seemed to imply this is supposed to be the ye olden days of Kalos, it all looks more like our times.

I think Tahko put it the best

They’re essentially remixing these games old themes in a fascinating new way. Usually when we see the inevitable Pokémon remakes every 2 generations, they’re obviously made with the intention to port an old almost barely accessible game to modern consoles (When Gen 3 came out, you couldn’t trade Gen 1/2 Pokémon. When Gen 4 came out, you couldn’t play GameBoy games in DS so you couldn’t migrate Pokémon with the GBA slot. When Gen 6 came out, GBA Pokémon games were not playable on 3DS). They have their own merits and reason to exist, they’re usually sorta reimaginings of these older experiences with a modern take on them with new features and such, and honestly that’s all they need to be: familiar, yet still new enough to be worth experiencing all over again.

These Legends games on the other hand seem to be attempts at revisiting these old regions and themes but put them in a completely new perspective/world and having a bigger focus on a possible legendary Pokémon that didn’t get enough time to shine. The reason why Pokémon Legends Arceus was all about time travel and the past wasn’t because “Legends means past,” rather Gen 4 had themes of time and space, so ofc it makes sense for this game based on Gen 4’s region to have a plot line involving well, time and space. Similar to how Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Explorers, the PMD games that came out in Gen 4, were about time traveling and saving the future and the fabric of space and shit, Legends Arceus follows suite and is supposed to be viewed as if it’s an entry to the Gen 4 titles. Honestly, this is a really great thing, as while it’s nice to explore the lore or history of these different locations, it could get a little boring and possibility limiting if every Legends games was solely about Pokémon history and the like. It’s a concept worth revisiting sometimes, but not as the defining identity of the Legends series.

————————————————

The themes of Gen 6 seem to have a focus on Life and Death. It’s not easy right now to determine how exactly these concepts will be involved for Z, but seeing how this game will take place entirely within a massive more in-depth version of Lumiose City, the best I can assume is how there will be more focus in the lives of Pokémon in a more domesticated setting ala Ryme City from the Detective Pikachu series; the polar opposite to being out in the wild and seeing how feral and savage Pokémon can act towards humans back in Legends Arceus. The death side…is unknown, maybe I need to play the X and Y games to get a better idea 💀

Ah yes, I forgot, it was announced the main setting will be Lumiose City

And as shown in the trailer…it is definitely way larger than what X and Y initially had.

I’ve seen some people feel a little worried that this game will take place solely in this one city, as Pokémon is well known for having to travel setting to setting, and being stuck in one city could maybe make things feel boring with little variety in environment. But, if games like GTA and Yakuza can be city games so well beloved by many, I don’t think it’d be hard to pull off making a really compelling environment with just one city for Pokémon, it just needs to have interesting and varied landmarks, which shouldn’t be any different from practically any other Pokémon game ever, it’s just making a whole new region but surrounded constantly under this one city.

Again look at Detective Pikachu, specifically the movie, it’s whole setting was based on this one city, a lot of the plot was able to take off by exploring this city, and the climax and final battle took place in the city. I feel like they can really pull it off if they play their cards right and just make Lumiose this wonderful bustling town, and plus I’m sure there will be some parts of the region that will still offer open wild areas to find Pokémon and the like. Hell, the Pokémon themselves might carry everything if they make some really adorable or fun interactions, seeing them just living a calm lives with their trainers/human partners.

Again, a lot of this is still hard to discuss since we’re going off of simple city and title reveals, so we’ll have to further wait and see what else is planned here.

———————————————

There’s been claims too that they’re completely skipping over Gen 5 in the remake department, since again it seemed like it made the most sense to make Gen 5 remakes now due to SV hinting connections with it, but…….nah bro 💀. Everyone was out here sighing relief that they’re not gonna have ILCA butcher the Gen 5 games when, they’re probably just being saved for Gen 10 since again, this happens every 2 generations (minus the Gen 1 remakes).

To be honest though, even if ILCA is brought back for it or they once again don’t really attempt to make these Gen 5 remakes take advantage of new console hardware, like they don’t turn Unova into an entirely different region with open world setting and want to stay as close as possible to the original game’s layout and all…personally I wouldn’t mind it. Ever since the jump to home console, expectations and products of the mainline games have evolved significantly, they’re WAYYYY different from what Pokémon games actually looked like. At least back on the 3DS, games were still relatively linear, so being able to remake RSE in the way it is with the XY engine didn’t seem to out of place, it didn’t risk a whole lot. We now have more focus on open zone/world and shit, while something like Diamond and Pearl was more tile/grid based and really limiting; imo trying to remake DPPT in this sorta open zone type deal that the SWSH engine offered would’ve possibly compromised part of DPPT’s identity, some might argue that DPPT being compact and linear is what makes it enjoyable. Now, this isn’t to say BDSP was a massively faithful remake, it’s considered to be worse than the original games in many ways and a lot of it felt like they went way too far in trying to be “faithful” to the source material, they could’ve easily just made the game akin to Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee. But again, some fans would’ve still been disappointed that it doesn’t seem like Gen 4 is getting some proper treatment in using the hardware and play style that the recent title now had to offer.

This is where the Legends series comes in, where one series of games can continue being considered faithful to what they’re based on, while the other can just do whatever the fuck they want with old material while also using what current hardware is capable of. BDSP and Legends Arceus were a great showcase of this sorta decision making, do you want the game that you easily recognize the moment you boot up (something more simple in power)? Or do you want the game that uses stuff you remember in whole new ways that it’s practically a completely new game (something that takes advantage of what kinds of games are possible now)? The same sorta deal might happen with the Gen 5 remakes.

Plus, I don’t think Black and White’s whole look can even be ruined, like I really think it’s impossible. BW aged pretty well due to its usage of 3D environments and camera angles and the like, so if this next faithful remake were just basically port the game and upscale the graphics and all, it would still look really great, if not better upon getting to see these 3D environments in HD. With the game already look great visually form the get-go, people won’t really have much problem with how the game looks as a lot of the 3D world environment would already be done for them. Does that make sense?

As for Gen 2 remakes ala Let’s Go Pichu and Togepi or whatever……………nah……nah that shit ain’t happening 💀

Let’s Go was made as a way for new fans from Pokémon GO (which came out a year prior and was widely successful) to be able to get into the rest of the franchise, with the Switch finally being out, it was a brand new beginning for a lot of fans. And ofc, it used Kanto cuz that’s what most people remember Pokémon for. I’m not sure what the point of Gen 2 remakes of the same style would be for, and as far as I know there isn’t much reason for Gen 2 to be relevant at the moment outside of certain Johto Pokémon making a somewhat noticeable appearance in the recent SV games. Sure, it could be argued it’s just like what I said earlier, it’s done to make these games that are not at all playable on a current console more available, but the usual remakes just seem like tradition at this point, Let’s Go remakes is still unknown if they’re necessary. Especially since yk…we have that one new feature of the Switch that allows us to play old retro games, and they’ve been allowing GB/GBC/GBA games to be playable as well……I’m just saying they could easily just work on there instead…

—————————————————————————

With all that being said, why Gen 6? Besides I guess Kalos being next to Paldea according to their real world counterparts, there hasn’t been much brought up about Gen 6 lately. Just like Gen 2, it hasn’t had much relevance, and it’s not the next generation that needs a remake compared to Gen 5.

How I see it, I think it’s less about monetary business reasons/series synergy or tradition or whatever, and more of a symbolic reason.

Gen 6 felt like a missed opportunity according to many people. Now, sure you could say that for a lot of recent Pokémon games, but like I said earlier, at least they had their opportunities to expand their stories and lore and such. Gen 6…did not get that special treatment. It was the first 3D Pokémon game and it set some stuff up for possible expansion in the usual third version or sequel games, only for time constraints to get in the way. Hell, some people consider Gen 6 to be where Pokémon started to have its downfall, the whole “[franchise] had a rough transition into 3D”, due to the game lacking features and the like that Gen 5 had in spades, or being the start of showing how flawed the franchise is and how it’s starting to fumble trying to manage itself. Having to make brand new games with a whole new region, new set of designs, new gimmicks, everything that will be the identity of the franchise for the next 3 years, until they start over again? This plan was not started to seem viable anymore, especially when Gen 8 rolled around. And as of lately you see people stupidly suggesting Pokémon needs to return to 2D and only stay as a 2D franchise, cuz that’s totally a great mindset for a franchise.

To me, this is Game Freak feeling confident that they can manage this, they have more experience in how they want to create these titles with this new home console hardware and massive expectations. Gen 6 was the game that started a new era for Pokémon, it only makes sense to use that era defining title to prove this new formula of Pokémon is indeed a new series to dive into now, one that shows off what they’re capable of now that they’re not held back by being on portable consoles for another 20 years. This is them giving a game that deserved more attention a new look and the expansion it deserved, possibly a way bigger one than any other generations that came after.

Seeing how this game is being saved for 2025 (presumably for the Switch 2 or whatever), if this truly is being worked on for another year and a half, being saved for the next holiday season maybe, then I think this means the franchise is finally starting to slow down and take it’s time. However, only time will tell what’s in store for the franchise.

#pokemon #pokémon legends z a #Pokémon legends #game freak #Nintendo #Pokémon presents #Pokémon

[ubeerosophy]

As You Are He

My favorite time to drive is generally between 4 and 6 am. There is hardly any other traffic on the road during those hours which means less opportunity for me to get upset at the way other people are driving.

A while back I picked up a young man from an industrial setting in the wee hours of the morning.

People aren’t usually talkative at that time of day, especially during the week. The reason for this is that they are either bracing themselves for a full day of work or are getting off a long night of work. This particular gentleman, however, was friendly and open to conversation. It’s obvious when someone is willing to talk. Generally, after they get in and I tell them good morning, they’ll ask a question. Something like, “How’s your morning going?” or “Gotten many rides this morning?” Without exception I will pounce on the opportunity to converse. I have an innate intrigue with everyone and their backstory, but conversation also makes the ride go exceptionally faster.

We only talked for a few moments before it became obvious we had some things in common. Namely the way we look at and approach life. That is to say curiously, if not suspiciously. If I remember right, it progressed quickly to some half joking reference by one of us to the movie “The Matrix.” The Matrix, I’ve found, is a fairly accurate barometer for feeling someone out. If they prefer to wade in the shallower end of the pool, they’ll laugh and either fall silent or just change the topic. If, however, they spend any amount of time questioning the nature of reality and what we think we know about any and everything, they’ll seize the opportunity to dive headfirst into the deep end. This man chose to dive.

After I touched on some things I’m currently into and learning about, he asked me if I’d ever heard of the “egg theory.” Shaking my head, I looked in the rear-view mirror and told him no. What he explained sounded something like a form of reincarnation, but given that it had its own name and some random stranger was sitting in my back seat talking about it, I assumed there had to be more to it. As soon as he got out of the car, roughly fifteen minutes from the time I picked him up, I typed “egg theory” into the notes on my phone so that I could revisit it. A few days later I remembered the conversation and typed it into google.

“The Egg” is a short story written by a man named Andy Weir in 2009. It’s a very brief read, and presented primarily in the form of a dialogue between you and God, immediately following your death in a car accident. I don’t want to spoil every detail, but it plays with the notion that every time we die, we are reborn into another person that has or will exist throughout history. It doesn’t happen in chronological order, and the process will continue until you have lived every life that has ever existed on earth, accumulating their experiences and knowledge in the process. You are unaware this is happening while you are “alive,” and once you are done, you will ascend to a deity like status. In essence, the universe is an egg, whereby we are growing and will eventually hatch into another form of being.

A couple blogs ago, I referenced near death experiences, a topic I will likely revisit often. One of the reoccurring themes on the other side in NDE’s is the discovery of an interconnectedness we all have. The first couple times I heard this mentioned in an experiencer’s account, I thought it sounded overly cliché, but the more NDE’s I listened to, the more I began hearing it from a diverse group of individuals with varying pre-death beliefs and backgrounds. They weren’t just saying actions have a “ripple effect,” but that it goes even deeper than that. Like on a molecular or quantum level. According to these people, who have legitimately died and been uploaded with knowledge we seem to have once possessed and will possess again, when we do something to someone else, we are literally doing it to ourselves. It would seem that at least unintentionally, that’s the notion that the author of the “egg theory” is toying with. Everyone operating in that system is just a different version of the same person, so we are constantly interacting with ourselves. Whatever you do to someone else, you are literally doing to yourself.

For even the most zealous person of faith, in a monotheistic sense, this isn’t incompatible with their belief system. Not necessarily the egg theory itself, but the concept of literal interconnectedness. If you believe in a singular creator, then we all derive from the same source. No matter what we are made of or instilled with, our origin is the same. That’s true for pretty much any atheistic belief as well. Whether you consider us star dust or the breath of God, we each derived from the same place.

This concept can be found across all cultures and religions throughout time. In a philosophical sense, it may be referred to as the “Ethics of Reciprocity,” but one popular version of it is called “The Golden Rule.” It goes, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” While those words are valuable council even on a surface level, they take on another layer of meaning when one applies the aforementioned concepts. You are literally doing unto yourself anytime you do unto another. Even if just in a quantum sense, whereby we all originate from a singular source and retain a level of energy connectedness, we are still doing to ourselves on some physical level.

The ego seems to be a major problem for the ethics of reciprocity. I often wonder why we were allowed to have it, or why it was allowed to take the dominant role in our lives and behavior that it does. The ego seeks to serve the self, and approaches life from the vantage point of the individual’s wants and needs. That is, unless that’s the point of life. To identify the ego as problematic and then work to suppress it for the good of the collective. It seems so obvious.

Unless, of course, the universe is just an egg.

The UBeerOsopher

And now…a haiku:

if all that matters

could be fit into an egg

we’d just scramble it

“We meet ourselves time and again in a thousand disguises on the path of life.” ~ Carl Jung

#egg theory #the egg #andy weir #reincarnation #near death experience #nde #lyft #uber #philosophy #carl jung #the matrix #reciprocity #golden rule #energy #liberal arts #psychology #beer #rideshare #indiana #lafayette #university

[pheita]

Flash Fic Friday: You are not alone

So, finally I make it to write something again @flashfictionfridayofficial This is just some little backstory piece for my MC Aleena, namely how she got her full nymph powers. Tagging @kainablue @bloodlessheirbyjacques @jezifster @eternalwritingstudent @ashen-crest @weaver-of-fantasies-and-fables @zmwrites @queerlilchinchin @pen-for-sword @violetcancerian

Nervously, Aleena entered the nymph clearing. Her aunt Fiona just smiled encouragingly and reached out to her. "Don't worry, this won't hurt. You might get a little dizzy and have strange dreams for a few days." Aleena rolled her eyes. She'd gotten that explanation twenty times that morning alone, starting with her grandmother and then from every half-nymph in the house she ran across. From the side, Cleo's golden mop of curls came into view. "By mother, Aleena! You've grown so much!" "That's what happens when you don't see each other for three years," Fiona commented sarcastically, getting a smack on the arm from Cleo. Aleena took the moment to reacquaint herself with the clearing after the time.

"I know that myself." A moment later, Cleo stretched Aleena by her long arms and looked at her questioningly. "Yes, aunt Cleo, I know. It's time for me." Unconsciously, Aleena rubbed her ear. Sometimes it was annoying that every nymph in her family immediately sensed the state of her powers. "How old are you, fifteen? Sixteen?" "Seventeen..., I'm seventeen, so next year I'll be able to go to the Shieldmaiden Coming of Age Ceremony." Visibly, Cleo exhaled, only to stiffen immediately. "Have you been to the bathhouse yet?" "Yes, Master Swea brought me here when it became clear that my abilities were breaking through. Gwen and I went there yesterday. I'm completely energized." Inevitably, Aleena laughed as she saw the two adults look off to the side, a little embarrassed. No matter if human or mystical being, no one likes to admit their teenage kids have sex. "We did everything right with you," Cleo sighed in relief, kissing Aleena on the forehead. A moment later, she stepped aside and made room. The birth tree stood unobtrusive yet present in the center of the clearing. Ever since they had entered her grandparents' house two days before, Aleena had felt it calling her. Uncertainly, she looked once again at Fiona, who had gone through the same thing only a few years ago.

Cautiously, she stepped toward it and placed her hands on the trunk. A moment later, she felt the familiar warmth flood through her that she already knew from Mother Earth. Immediately after, Gaia appeared in her mind with a smile. "Welcome, child. It's time for you, is that right?" "Gaia! I didn't know you could be here." "I am only an image of Gaia to welcome half-nymphs into our circle. It's time for you?" "Yes, it is." "Come here, let me do everything. Relax. From now on, you won't be alone. The memories and experiences of all the nymphs and half-nymphs who came before you will be with you from now on. You will be a part of all nymphs and half-nymphs around the world, just as you will be a part of nature, and all of it will be part of you. Part of a whole, intertwined with and for each other." Little by little, millennia of information flowed into Aleena's mind, flickering like the memory of a dream in the morning and then disappearing again. How long it lasted Aleena could not say, but eventually she was back in the clearing. She looked down at her hands, which were still shimmering a little brownish-green, and then that was gone, too. "Wow, that's a rad feeling," Aleena giggled. "It really is," Fiona confirmed with a laugh, wrapping her arm around her. "But why did Swea bring me here..." Before Aleena finished speaking, a thought popped into her head and she gasped painfully. "First time accessing the hive knowledge." Fiona's knowing grin inspired Aleena's inner serial killer. "That was quick, but we were expecting it," Cleo took Aleena in her arms, "But come on, the rest of the family is waiting, and I think your mum wants to give you a hug." "If I get pizza from grand-père in return, it's all good." Shaking her head, Fiona led the way. Aleena waited another moment until she was out of the clearing. "Something's bothering you," Cleo observed. "I owe mum a lot, deservedly so, for letting me join the Shieldmaidens. If I'd known how hard it was for her..." "You work it out with her." With gentle force, Cleo pushed Aleena out of the clearing. "Yes, but there's one more thing you need to explain to me?" "What is it, little one?" "Why did you expect me to access the hive knowledge so quickly?" Cleo stopped abruptly and giggled in that slightly insane way that never boded well. "Because you're too ¾ nymph. We figured you'd handle it better." Thoughtful and open-mouthed, Aleena looked at her, but then nodded. "That makes sense, oddly enough." "Now come on, before the tuna pizzas are gone."

#writblr #writing #flashficfriday #flowers of fire #backstory #aleena

[whimsicmimic]

if you want to! tell us more about your lizard PCs because i’m so angry on your behalf from those tags

ohhhh i will HAPPILY talk about my old lizards, Especially the First Lizard, Avra Ree, because Avra Ree went on a fucking Journey.

So this! Is Avra Ree, she was a copper dragonborn and a death cleric, and she was my First Ever DnD Character. She was a fucking mess, both wrt stats (because none of us knew what we were doing; fucking TAZ:Balance taught me more about mechanics than my group at the time, and Balance was. Hooo boy.) and in terms of group cohesion, but that’s okay, because I loved her!

The gist of Avra was that she came from a clan of dragonborn that worshipped a goddess of death and rot. It was a heavily isolated group, and in leaving it to go on a pilgrimage, this would be Avra’s first time encountering the new world around her. She was full of love and joy, and she was Terrified of rain and water. She was a mortician, and regarded death with a certain gentleness and love. She also had a brother, who died from illness at a young age; she never really moved on from the grief, and kept his skull, which she kept with her and used as a spell focus.

The core themes of Avra’s character were isolation, love, and grief.

I’d play her like a few more times over the years (once in another campaign that never really took off the ground, and a few more times in one-shots) but it wouldn’t be a while until she came back.

In February of 2019, my buddy Hollis wanted to run a campaign. We were RP partners at the time! I went yea sure count me in!!!!!!

I knew I wanted to play Avra again, but I kinda wanted to mix up her design after the last few years of Lizard. so ENTER!!!! Marvey!!!!!!

Avra Ree would be rewritten as a firbolg grave cleric named Himemiya “Marvey” Llue.

Over the course of Everything, there’d been more lorework and detail given to her backstory and the setting of it.

She’d be from a clan of firbolg living in an archives that once was the hoarde of an ancient silver dragon, which was regarded as the savior of their people. They were dedicated to the preservation of knowledge above all else. Though the Great Dragon was long dead by the time Marv came about, the logul people were dedicated to the preservation of the hoarde and its expansion! On occasion, people would leave the mountain to go back out into the world and gather more books, articles, papers, newspapers, paintings — anything they could get their hands on, really. Go out, learn more about your field of study, come back and report what new discoveries had been made, if any.

Marvey’s mother would leave on a pilgrimage. She’d leave her kid and her husband behind with bright eyes and promises to be back in a few years, and then she never came back. So! Later on. Marvey would also leave. Head out into the world, find out what happened to her mother and maybe find some closure.

She’d become a cleric of Jergal, after finding a dilapidated temple of his that’d been taken over and inhabited by all sorts of imps and other nasty critters + helping clearing it out and tidying it up.

Core themes of her character were once again love, death, grief, and isolation, and some of her central conflicts revolved around trauma as a result of heavy childhood neglect, (more) grief, and also unlearning harmful shit from your upbringing and environment.

Also? Anger. Oh my god. Anger.

Marvey had ! Many, many issues. There was a big conflict between her and another party member early on that neither one of them really recovered from, and it ended up becoming a big issue that was slowly driving the party apart. Marvey was also fucking, deeply deeply angry and felt things VERY intensely, which ended up causing a lot of problems vis a vis character bleed for me, and it ended up negatively impacting my mental health to the point where we made the hard decision to let Marvey go + start playing another character.

We never found Marv’s mom, and Marv never got her closure.

Instead, Marv joined the mafia. She now — post campaign — acts as a doctor for the mob + runs a small community clinic by herself. She’s a fixture of her newfound community, and she’s fiercely protective of this small corner of the city she’s made for herself.

HOWEVER.

Avra Ree had a Real Cute Design, didn’t she? And I kinda wanted to play a lizard again after so many years. I made a lot of mistakes with Marvey; she was a source of conflict, when I wanted her to be more soft and warm, the glue that holds the party together. So when Marvey and Ish (Marv’s replacement)’s campaign ended, we decided to return to lizard.

Enter: Tamara Bhatt

This is Tama, my sweet beloved Tama. I love her So Much. She’s a brass dragonborn gunslinger/rogue. She is!!! Just A Guy! And i’m Insane about her.

She’s the oldest of five, and she comes from a very small town. She left home to head north into her country’s capital to apprentice under a weaponsmith. The way that she joined the party/campaign? Her mentor was having her deliver a package in person to one of their clients (an npc named Yu Huang, a famous actor and important political heir a few countries over. Tama and Huang would later become Best Fucking Friends.)

She’s Just A Fucking Guy, but she’s got some of The Best characterization I’ve EVER done, and I just really have a fucking blast playing her. I love this lizard so much. She’s just a guy. Just a small town lizard who went into the Big City to deliver a package, met some people, and now she’s so thoroughly entangled in this deep web of conflict with no way out. To protect one of our party members, our only options are to Get Famous, or Die Trying, and now? Tama’s in far too deep.

If I had to assign her core themes, they’d be identity, what it means to be brave, family, and isolation vs community. And Love, of course. You can fit So Much Love in this lizard.

It’s been really interesting though! Because Avra most certainly became Marvey, but Tama’s character was certainly informed by mistakes I made with playing Marv. Marv was a character who would’ve been really fun to read in a story, sure, and I love her to bits! But ultimately, she wasn’t a character well-suited for an improvisational cooperative game. She was too heavily developed, and it made her incredibly rigid. She was sweet and friendly, but INCREDIBLY stubborn and Driven. I wanted her to be a stabilizing force for the party, but she ended up becoming a source of conflict.

With Tama, though? I’ve actually managed to succeed! Tama is likeable! She’s the Big Sister of the party, the one people turn to for comfort, the mediator. There was a two-session gap where Tama actually died during combat, and her body had to be left behind, causing a lot of uncertainty and grief in the party because That’s Tama, and We Left Her Behind, and What If We Never Get Her Back? and ngl, it was genuinely Fascinating to see the hole Tama left in the party, because her absence was VERY MUCH felt!!!! You could see the arguments play out and all the spots where Tama would usually step in and help work things out, and it was ROUGH!!!!!!

But ! Idk man, I just think its Neat. That’s the story of my first DnD character, Avra Ree, who paved the way for Marvey and Tama, all three of which who are Distinct, but also kinda overlapping still. Its neat!

#sometimes you ship of theseus a lizard #and you end up with three distinct characters #one of which is actually a cow (firbolg) #this is the rough and quick of it though! #i started playing avra in……..2016? marv i began playing in feb of 2019 and tama i began playing in july of 2021 #tobi talks #marvey #tama #SORRY IT TOOK ME A MOMENT TO SEE THIS KEEBS #deerkibble

[rueitae]

Season 2, Episode 4: the fashionista caper

Liveblog for @csweekly

I’d like to start off by saying how blown away I am that the writing team keeps each caper so unique and fresh in a formulaic series. It’s one of my favorite things. I never once find myself truly bored with this show even watching it so many times.

Player….making a My Big Fat Greek Wedding reference? Out of anything they could start the episode with. Not sure what to make of that one besides cultural osmosis. It’s a little before his time.

Love Dash Haber as a villain. Capers not boring and neither are the operatives.

Lol the Cleaners just stop. Don’t react. Move on. Not dramatic enough for their viewing pleasure.

Is this when we get to say “no capes”?

Ever since Paper Star clipped Carmen’s hat once, Carmen is able to save it every time.

Tug of war over the hat is so funny to me.

Carmen doesn’t win all the time. Keeps things interesting.

You know, since it’s coming from Carmen, I legitimately can’t decide if she’s being overtly satirical, or if Coach Brunt actually does knit as a hobby. …no. No way Brunt has the patience. Carmen’s just mad.

APOCALYPSE. One of my favorite Zack moments.

Ahh the home base conversation. Equal parts touching and even mORE guilt wrenching for Shadowsan to hear. “If only I knew more about my past..” If only we could see his face when she says that line.

“The only thread I could pull…” Player making puns literally in his sleep at this point.

Shadowsan filling in Fashion Fest and the team’s REACTION to it. And then just his “Countess Cleo always took an interest.”

Cleo backstory!!! At least a basic one. Just makes me yearn for more. I get the feeling we would have gotten a lot of criminal backstories if we’d had more seasons.

Cookie! I’m glad they had her back for a full caper. Really tho, Carmen totally got her entire look from her LOL. There’s not as much ode to 90s Carmen in this episode through her than the laying it on thick they did in the first. I can’t decide if I like that or I’m disappointed there’s not more. Because in this caper she’s her own thing.

Zack is ALREADY including Shadowsan as dad please I’m so emotional about those two and what it says between the lines of Zack and Ivy’s past. This boy LATCHED onto the first male adult he was allowed to and said “we are going to bond”.

Julia it should be illegal to be this adorable.

Yeah. Different capers like I talked about in the opening paragraph. Going after 16th century gowns. This is a homage to older CS. Always the caper is something historical and unique rather than simply money or jewelry. Keeps the vibe from older iterations.

Also. Again. This entire episode foreshadows the dark red arc, everything leads to it. Brainwashing Carmen was ALWAYS on the table.

Oops. Sorry Zari (Stockholm is totally revenge for this moment)

Ahh and the beginnings of trusting Julia. Carmen’s got her pegged completely. Knows her heart is in it for history, and that whatever act she’s putting on isn’t really her. All that she could glean from their first and only interaction in India. Carmen almost ALMOST knocks her out like Zari, but ever the quick thinker, Carmen takes a chance with the knowledge she’s been given. She’s done the math and needs one more person.

Although I absolutely would have roared if Shadowsan got up on that stage.

The runway scene. Fantastic. And really you get a feel that this is actually the beginning of Julia’s arc in gaining confidence in herself. She already sticks up for herself, but this scene is what cements that 1. Carmen is not the bad guy 2 if she can get on that runway, she can stick her neck out with confidence for what she believes in. She doesn’t waver after this.

Also color theory. Carmen gives her her hat. Julia’s red shirt is gone but Carmen gives her this lifeline of friendship. Literally by verbally putting her in charge she’s telling Julia that she trusts her and wants to let her in on what the team is doing.

Ivy and Zack PLEASE. I love you enough already. You don’t have to go so hard on the runway.

It’s kinda cool how the models still walk like models in between the fighting.

Shadowsan’s strength is literally terrifying

LOL her eyebrow of incredulity to “which modeling agency are you with”

“Hackers can wear white hats after Labor Day” my gosh I love their banter. Everything is building up to Player’s s4 zinger of all time.

This hq idea is SO clever. Literally hiding in plain sight. The most home that Carmen can get right now. It’s my favorite thing.

“Zack got to have gelato and pizza” I love this family.

Huh I wonder if some or most of those silhouettes are based off of older iterations of ViLE operatives.

Such a solid and fun episode.

#carmen sandiego #carmen sandiego netflix #carmen sandiego 2019 #cs weekly #csweekly #carmen sandiego weekly #I was beyond incapacitated last week #so catching up now #cs liveblog

[sanguivor]

Okay. I can't take it any longer. I NEED to ask you to tell us more about Velthryn, if you'd like to just. Dump anything about her, her backstory, campaign, art, what she looks like, whatever. I wanna KNOW.

I am so incredibly happy for this ask because Velthryn is my pride and joy, she's the best thing I've ever done, and she breaks my heart.

she's my very first d&d character and I played her for over three years in a campaign with my friends, we finished it last year actually and I'm still thinking about it. everything about the campaign was homebrewed, from the setting to the lore and the history of the people that live there, and it's so incredibly rich and detailed it's incredibly impressive considering that was the first time my friend dmed anything, so the story and the plot are entirely him but everything Velthryn was like the weirdest love letter between the two of us. I'm so incredibly proud of how her personal story played out.

I've talked a bit about her before (I have a tag for our campaign here) but never went into detail because I managed to keep her backstory a secret for THREE YEARS for plot reasons so this is the first time I'm going in depth about her like this I'm excited.

Velthryn is an assassin rogue moon elf from the far north, a land constantly blanketed in snow and ice even in the summer months, and under near constant night for most of the year. she's specifically from the Black Cathedral (Astaeran in Mavel'en, the archaic language moon elves speak) which is one of only two places inhabited in the far north, the other being the city Leirion, and both are inhabited solely by moon elves - the rest of the continent is separated by mountains, superstition, and sometimes the moon elves blades.

the Black Cathedral is a cult where generations of moon elves are raised in isolation to make offerings and prayers in blood for the Night Father so he might usher in what moon elves call the eventide, endless night and sleep not just for them but everything and everyone. a gentle end of the world. Velthryn was one of five moon elves called Nightdaughters, who are chosen every half a century to bring death to what the Cathedral call the five fated to die on the continent. just before the start of the campaign she and her sisters (Maevan, Ylaria, Helle, Honoria) found the first of the five; a farmer and his children still asleep in the early hours of the morning, and their deaths were not gentle. Velthryn, raised with the belief that death was a gentle mercy, could not reconcile the bloodlust she shared with her sisters so she did what no Nightdaughter should ever do or has ever done. She fled, and by sheer luck or fate ended in the company of the three others who should have been her sworn enemies but ended up being her greatest and only friends.

knowing full well a Nightdaughter who abandons her pilgrimage and her sisters should take her own life or be hunted by her sisters Velthryn stayed with what became our d&d party not because she thought the Cathedral was wrong but because she thought she could fix what she and her sisters had done. She was going to give a proper end to the five fated to die, give a proper prayer to the Night Father.

and for the next three real life years I got to figure out how Velthryn would navigate a strange world without the safety and familiarity of her sisters and their pilgrimage, how she would come to terms with the knowledge everything her Cathedral taught her was a lie, from the pilgrimage's purpose to the very existence of her gods, I got to make the heartbreaking decision in session where she sacrifices herself in place of one of the five fated to die in an attempt to save them and to atone for leaving her sisters, her pilgrimage, her god and her belief, only to come back from the gentle peace of death by the very god she died for who wanted more from her. she watched and felt most of her sisters die, dealt the killing blow for Maevan, she and Ylaria spared one another but went their separate ways, and Velthryn returned to the Cathedral alone. the campaign ended with Velthryn realizing the only mercy she could give the Night Father was the gentle peace of death, and as his last Nightdaughter she was the one who held the blade that brought the end to the old gods, whether they are or ever were gods no longer mattering.

she also once did 144 points of damage in a single attack. I LOVE assassin rogues <3

she's incredibly quiet and soft spoken, a good liar not because she's charismatic (the opposite actually) but because her expression is as unchanging as ice, she's intimately familiar with death and killing but she's not cruel, does not abide needless suffering. the first time she spilled blood on solid ground free of snow she slipped on it. she killed an oni single handed in two turns of combat (my dm is STILL mad at me) before anyone else had a turn. she's so unnerving she spooks horses just by being near them, and she hates them for being foolish and clumsy. she's so unused to sweets she thinks they're gross. she has a passive perception of 24, absolutely nothing got the drop on her. she's a rogue but she can't pick locks or pickpocket to save her life. her party had a paladin and a cleric and she was somehow the most devout of all of them. her fave colour is purple because of the purple in the arctic lights. she's my babygirl she's a murderer she's my everything <3

visually I've always had Vel compared to a ghost, piercing white eyes and hair with unnaturally pale skin in constant contrast to the black garb gifted to Nightdaughter's and her uncanny ability to disappear (+17 stealth by the end of the campaign lmao) she's often likened to a specter in appearance and thematically throughout the campaign. she was fully supposed to die but post campaign she's replaced the previous Elders of the Cathedral who she and the party killed in revenge for what happened to her and her sisters, it's the only time she was never merciful in her killing, and with centuries ahead of her she means to ensure the old gods rest is not disturbed.

I have a tag for her: x

two playlists: x + x

and a pinterest board: x

also a tag for her complicated love and rivalry with maevan: x

and a playlist for them too: x

there are so many different things about her I haven't even touched on, like the fact she and Maevan took the places of the fourth and fifth meant for sacrifice, but soooo much of the lore and campaign plot ties into the other party members and those aren't my stories to tell (though feel free to ask @mismageus about Áine, the little sun elf cleric who's saved Velthryn's life in more ways than one I know she'd love to talk about her)

anyway thank you soooo much for the ask I love talking about Velthryn <3

#this was so much longer than I expected lol #lipsie #asks #heretics campaign

[lonelier-version-of-you]

I’m not quite sure what to make of that Casualty episode. I didn’t hate it, but I can’t say I was a fan. I think it just had too many Casualty tropes that I despise for me to fully appreciate it. I’m also not quite sure what to make of the new character yet. This is not an episode for which I can sum my opinions up quickly, so here I go into analysing my episode thoughts.

Welcome, Dr. Max Cristie! AKA, to many, Dennis Rickman from EastEnders. Lol. I think I’m gonna be calling this guy by his full name, surname, or “Dr. Cristie” a lot, because it’s already inconvenient enough having to differentiate between Max Walker and Max McGerry without adding a third Max into the mix (I think there have been more, but I’ve only watched these three). Honestly, they’re getting almost as overloaded as the Sams at this point.

Anyway, Max (who gets called by his first name for his first review post) is... interesting so far. He feels a bit generic and bland, to be perfectly honest, but his connection with Dylan keeps me intrigued. Some part of me is still convinced they’re exes after seeing this first episode, especially as the history between them still hasn’t been explained yet. It wouldn’t be the first time a long-running Holbyverse male character has been established as bi through the introduction of a male lover from med school - Henrik and Gaskell, anyone?? Though obviously I hope Max doesn’t turn out anything like Gaskell. The closest to Gaskell that Casualty should ever go is Stevie.

They really went out of their way to establish Max as very protective over children, first with the little girl he brought in (whose hair he was awkwardly stroking??) and then the teenager being groomed by her football coach. I’m almost certain Max will have a backstory where either he had a child who died, or he suffered some sort of trauma in his childhood (possibly abuse-related as it would add further complication between him and Dylan due to their similar trauma, and the useage of this SA storyline in his first episode, and how angry he was at the football coach, and also he reminds me of Greg Douglas, but it could be something else) that’s made him protective towards kids. It’s one of those Holbyverse cliches - if a character is protective of children, you know they have some sort of trauma.

Anyway, it’s not this guy’s fault so I’m trying not to hold it against him, but the introduction of a new character named Max really, really worries me because the most obvious option for who they could declare as CEO now that Henrik’s left is Max McGerry. But they wouldn’t want a new character and a CEO with the same name, as that could get confusing. So this makes me think it’s more likely that Casualty will retcon Henrik leaving, and we’ll have to be burdened with the knowledge that he’s still stuck in the job that he is utterly incompetent at and literally hates, rather than away from Holby with the man he loves. Sigh.

Robyn may or may not be leaving, Paul almost definitely is. Meh. I don’t really have strong feelings about Robyn, but I despise Paul. I’ll accept Robyn leaving if it means we don’t have to put up with Paul anymore. It would be a shame for the show to lose Amanda Henderson, as she is a very good actress when they actually give her worthwhile material, but Robyn as a character has hardly had any decent storylines or development since the excellent Glen story.

I don’t know why Robyn would want to marry Paul. He’s so annoying and irritating and bland. But if he makes her happy, then, er, good for her I guess??

I am really, really angry that the show had Faith turn out to be right about the football coach grooming the teenaged patient. Portraying a character who is literally an attempted rapist as some kind of hero to a rape victim is absolutely disgusting. I was hoping that this would be a story where Faith got it all wrong and ended up with egg on her face, so to speak, but evidently not. If anything, it feels like they’re saying “see, Faith’s not an abuser, look at all these men, that’s what a real abuser is!”. And as disgusted as I was with the football coach tonight, or the man hurting his daughter in that storyline a few months ago, I am equally disgusted with Faith and find it disturbing that the show wants to paint her as a hero to abuse victims.

Not only is this deeply frustrating, it feels like an utter letdown coming from Jon Sen, who did one of the best female-on-male sexual abuse stories I’ve ever seen on TV during his time at EastEnders (Mick’s storyline about being groomed by his foster worker). I know he can tell stories about female abusers better than this. So why is the show still romanticising and glorifying Faith? As a queer person whose abuser was a woman, I hate that the show doesn’t seem to care about people like me or Lev.

I know the storyline was more to provide an establishing moment for Max when he confronted the coach in the hall (and I was totally cheering him on when he did!) than it was anything for Faith, but in that case, why include Faith at all? Why not use a character who wasn’t an attempted rapist - someone like Marty, perhaps - to recognise the grooming situation? Or it even could’ve been Jacob! That would tie into all the Tina aftermath lately as well.

On the subject of domestic abusers in Casualty, Marcus is becoming more of a disgusting monster by the episode. Poor, poor Stevie. It was so upsetting tonight, seeing Stevie in one of the most vulnerable moments she’s ever had, and Marcus using it against her to isolate her. This storyline is so hard to watch, although I suppose that’s a good thing with a topic like this, but it’s still distressing. Stevie deserves so much better. <3

It looks like in the next episode, we get those scenes from the trailer with Jacob trying to use his own experiences with Tina to help Stevie see that Marcus is controlling her. I’m very interested to see how that plays out - it’s a genius bit of writing, and I’m glad the writers are having someone other than Faith help Stevie.

#BBC Casualty #Max Cristie #Stevie Nash #Casualty spoilers #tw;abuse #tw;csa #tw;grooming #tw;rape

[jumpscaregoose]

What are your thoughts on the character writing in Shaman King? I think it's pretty interesting since it doesn't always spell out everything for the reader.

sorry for leaving this for like 87 years I was deliberating my opinions and then I forgot

pinkie promise to not ignore more asks for this long please give me more things to drabble on about

this triggered an unskippable cutscene so I'm adding a read more but if you don't wanna be here for years me complaining is still above the cut (though I recommend being a nerd with me I have a graph)

anyways I have a running bit with myself whenever I'm googling something mankin related (like when capitalism was invented or the average altitude in hokkaido or something about lsd for the fiftieth time) that I do more research than takei did originally writing the damn thing. the exact words I say are usually "I should stop expecting takei to be good at his job when I do this" because takei does suck at his job sometimes. directing you towards him using the entirety of pre-colonial mesoamerica as a grab bag of random traits that results in hell for me googling stuff because ohmygod

I think the character writing is where this happens the least (though there was one point during my flowers reread where I had to step away from my computer because I forgot he did a thing and it was the SINGLE WORST THING HE COULD HAVE WRITTEN for those characters with that plot element but I digress that is a whole other thing that I am not qualified for)

the writing of our main characters (specifically pacing) is funny though one second I have a graph

these lines display (roughly) the points in the story where we're introduced to our five main characters and also the points where we get full backstory reveals

as you can see

takei what the actual fuck why is it so imbalanced

I think it's a cool funny haha but sir did you forget that one of your most important characters didn't have a full backstory for like four years

not much else to say about pacing except the manga is already really zoomy and when you don't give them enough episodes to adapt it you get an any% speedrun wr 19 hours 50 minutes whateverI'mnotdoingmoremath seconds also look at this typo I made writing this it's very important

ok right where we we

actually answering the ask sounds like a good idea now

overall I really like the characters in the shaman king manga, reboot anime, and what I've seen of the 2001 anime. I've already written an entire post about how much I love yoh and hao's writing. hana and alumi are neat and red crimson is an excellent manga but we're no here for sequels

also it's important to note that I have been staring at shaman king for like two years straight, I have no sense of what's obvious knowledge and what's obscure nolifer wisdom ( no idea where I fall on that spectrum basically)

recently I've been in a real x laws appreciation phase, I think lyserg's arc specifically is a neat and complex take on justice and healing. it feels like something that could realistically happen to a person, minus all the supernatural stuff of course

ever since I first watched the 2021 anime the summer it started airing I've also really liked ren. he's got the zuko type redemption arc thing going on, and while that's an age old trope something about the way he was written always gets me. watching 2021 episode 27 for the first time the day it came out (as the first episode I watched weekly btw, rip osorezan arc you're beautiful but the first time I watched you I was so preoccupied) was one of the most memorable media experiences I've ever had. 😲 face the entire time

horo's another fave writing wise, again mostly because I think the ridiculous pacing of his arc is Hilarious, but if you interpret it as takei being good at his job (possible but unlikely) his introduction scene is fantastic at establishing a character without letting you know you're missing something. I for one didn't notice until the narrative pointed it out at which point I freaked out a bit because oh no I ignored my son by accident. the wisdom kings fight still makes me lose it every time I watch it scene of all time as well (voice performance has to be my favourite part of that I don't think it would go half as hard animated without that)

those three are my favourite characters writing wise. I also think jeanne is cool but her entire arc is very similar to both lyserg's and ren's so I shan't elaborate. I will however tell you about the time I was sitting in math class when my teacher mentioned joan d'arc, I had what can only be described as a eureka moment, and spent five minutes frantically googling things until I zoned back in to him talking about the time he almost drowned in quicksand on mont saint michel

there's also some neat stuff with plant and flower symbolism that I haven't looked into in months but is pretty neat (I like the part where weed shows up because I am so very mature)

don't even get me started on the musical leitmotifs and themes (no seriously don't I have no real musical knowledge and no one to fact check my bs) but I did write another post about some of it if you haven't read it

uh in conclusion I don't think takei knows what he's doing sometimes, character writing in shaman king pretty good sometimes me likey, I will make graphs on a whim for basically no reason

here have another one I did in two minutes to explain ren and jeanne's parallel character arcs once

giveb me more mankin asks if you have any I have so many OPINIONS and TANGENTS I wish to be PROMPTED

#shaman king #long post #mankin ask #look at my graphs aren't they beautiful #love me some tangents in a trench coat pretending to be a coherent answer

[thedoverbitch]

Because a Blended Family Is Overrated

"Summer is an evil season" my friend once told our group chat. She was referencing the ninety degree heat and the way SSRI's make you burn even under SPF and clouds, but she was correct on many fronts. Today it is an ice cold eighty-five and I'm pacing my messy bedroom. The last few months have felt like constantly being spun in circles then pushed out into the unknown. Everything's turning and I've forgotten how to walk by myself. The world doesn't care; the world keeps on spinning. As I'm writing this I have just received the latest whiplash inducing spin in the form of a phone call with my father.

But first, a bit of backstory. A few months ago my father got married for the fourth time to a woman I have met twice and that he had known for nine months. After their Vegas elopement I realized that this meant -- in the legal sense -- that I now had a step mother and two step siblings. I have never met these step siblings and only learned the girls name a week ago -- which ironically is the same name as the friend I quoted earlier.

The news is that the time has come for me to meet my new step-sister. Dearest reader, place your bets now on how you think this meeting will take place. A family dinner? A holiday celebration? Of course not. We will simply be in the same place at the same time. No introduction, no formality. This is how I imagine it. My teenage step-sister, let's call her A, enters the front door of her now home to find me and my two adult best friends pet sitting. (My dad and his wife live at the beach + A will be in Disney World while they're gone + my friends and I can't afford a real vacation = pet sitting vacay.) So the house is now A and three twenty somethings she has never met, one of whom is technically her step-sister. This shouldn't be awkward at all. As for me and my friends, she's either going to think were the coolest or the most annoying people she's ever met. No other options.

I'm grateful my friends will be there, but at the same time I feel guilty for making them experience my dad and his new family. The whole situation is strange to me. I don't even consider my own father family, now I'm legally related to people I don't even know. It's like I've been dropped into a play with no script or even synopsis of what it's about. I'm expected to smile and know things and be happy about something I have no knowledge or control over. I'm expected to like these people I don't know and also pretend that my father isn't the reason that my Google calendar is full of red slashes reading "therapy". But if I don't perform, somehow I'm in the wrong. Summer is an evil season. Not just for the heat, but for placing me back within the lives of people I've been trying to outrun for years. I must remind myself that even in the suffocating months there is a beach where my friends and I will read. There's a palace we'll explore while pretending to be Jane Austen characters. There's a kitchen we'll cook and laugh in, even if technically belongs to a cruel man. There may be no love, no family in that house, but that's okay. We've always been good at making our own.

#thedoverbitch #thedoverbitchblog #tumblog #family #parents #summer #beach #booklr #complex ptsd #friends

[pridepages]

eARC Review: City of Vicious Night

A HUGE thank you to Netgalley and North Star Editions for providing me an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐

GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:  

RELEASE DATE: 5/23/2023

See my full review under the cut!

This book is a sequel to City of Shattered Light, which I previously wrote about here.

I don’t want to repeat myself too much, so here’s what you need to know about my expectations coming in to follow-up City of Vicious Night.

1. Slow Down the Pacing I described the pacing of Shattered Light as a video game or an action movie. The plot lurched from side quest to side quest. Each one unlocked lore like an achievement. But with that much lore flying at you that fast, you don’t have time as a reader to process it all. After a while, I found the best way to enjoy was to stop trying to it make sense, accept that we’re doing Stuff because of Reasons, and just enjoy the banter and the girls falling in love. Yay!

2. Character Development Unlike Winn’s world, which is highly developed to the point of overload, every one of Winn’s characters is a walking talking trope. To be fair, all writers start their characters that way to some extent. But the expectation is that those characters will be fleshed out through the drafting and editing process to make their inner journeys unique and realistic. We want characters to feel like people instead of constructs. But if characters never break the mold, and they just go around Doing Things in response to Plot Twists, then the whole thing starts to read like a fanfic where writers don’t have an obligation to do any of that pesky character development because readers already got it in the source material. So--weirdly--this original novel reads like a fic even though, to my knowledge, it didn’t start as one.

Still, I saw SO much potential, particularly for the inner journeys of Asa and Ty. Asa is still nominally heiress to a Big Bad Corporation that is violating bioethics! Questions of morality, of being forced to choose who to save between equally victimized people, were never addressed in the first book but could have been explored in the sequel! Similarly, readers were set up for a Fall-From-Innocence journey for Ty, who was abandoned in a dangerous place at the end of Shattered Light.

Unfortunately, my hopes on all fronts were disappointed.

To be clear, Vicious Night isn’t worse than the first book. It’s just...more of the same. The plot rocketed around between Events. Backstory and lore got even more convoluted. To be honest, I found myself skimming the last pages. It just felt like when I want to check out of a Marvel movie in the last 45 minutes because I know they’re gonna win the Big Battle and I just want to tune back in for the Happily Ever After.

And those character arcs? Pretty much non-existent. Asa never gets any less self-involved. For her, it’s always about setting HERSELF free, trying to save the people SHE loves...ironically making her just as selfish as the father she claims to revile, just in a different way. Ty? He’s able to rationalize any disappointments in love, any conflicts of his moral compass, and any trauma he underwent as a lab rat. Nothing to see here, folks!

So would I recommend City of Vicious Night? Sure. I would have wanted to read it because I like to know how things end and I’m glad to have left the Boomslang crew in more of a satisfying place. I would also recommend it to people who just want something that reads with lots of action but doesn’t ever slow down for things like character arcs. If you like video game or film novelizations, this one’s for you.

But if you’re looking for thought-provoking, beautiful queer science fiction? Give this one a miss. There’s more out there for you.

#city of vicious night #earc review #wlw #sapphic #lgbt reads #queer lit #bisexual

[ultraericthered]

Anime Update V2 53

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 - Wasn’t much feeling this one. The focus being on Mari isn’t quite as interesting as when it’s on Mirai, I guess.

Hunter x Hunter - Kite revealed he’s got a whole research team working with him as they, Gon and Killua along with them, start looking into the recent strange activities by the Chimera Ants. And oh boy do we learn more about them! This dumb kid named Kurt and his little sister get abducted, killed, and eaten by the ants and it’s through this that the Queen has developed a taste for humans. Spawning not just new ants but beast men who take on the features of whatever she consumed to spawn them, including Kurt now reborn as the winged “Colt”, the Queen is demanding more humans to feast upon!

Fruits Basket - The famed episode with the school play, titled “It’s Cinderella-ish!” (the episode AND the play itself) was both every bit as gloriously off-the-walls and entertaining as promised and also a bit of a letdown since the play lasts for only half the episode when I’d have rather it carried on for most of it, I was enjoying it so much. Not to say the content we got after the play was bad, but it inevitably fades from memory in comparison to what we saw in the first half.

Re:ZERO - Another set of three episodes, these ones covering the big chase and fight against the gluttonous White Whale that Subaru initiates by finally putting all the knowledge he gained from previous loops of trial and error to the best use, sucessfully negotiating with both the Crusch and Anastasia camps and uniting their forces to valiantly hunt the whale even at risk of all its horrors. In particular, Wilhelm van Astrea plays the Captain Ahab role when it’s revealed he lost his wife, the realm’s previous Swordsmaster, to the whale and has long yearned for vengeance and closure. This backstory sort of comes out of left field and it is impressive how much I gave a damn about Wilhelm here, it’s so well done in selling to you that all of these people have their own lives and own stories regardless of what Subaru does or does not know about them. Seeing Subaru actually figthing smarter and braving the odds against his own weakness, and that being a source of inspiration for others, was so satisfying. He’s actually growing up and doing better now! And how in the end he earned the respect of Crush and Wilhelm really warmed my heart.

Speaking of heartwarming - Rem! Yeah, last time I’d said I was not keen on how Rem’s feelings of love for Subaru got set up despite the payoff being specatacular, if semi-lacking. But now that said payoff has come and gone, Rem and Subaru get to settle into the sort of relationship they’ll be having from here on out, and it could not be more delightful. I love not only how selfless Rem’s love is but how comfortable she is with loving, protecting, fighting alongside, and simping for a guy she knows full well isn’t going to return her exact feelings and satisfy her romantically. It sets such a good precedent for Subaru himself to follow whenever he gets back with Emilia, and makes Rem very reliable as a sidekick. Subaru is truly blessed!

Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works - At the part where at school after hours, Rin finally makes her move to try and kill Shirou herself only for them to end up helping each other in an encounter with Rider outside, forcing another armistace between the two.

Symphogear GX - Just as I’d predicted, Maria wants to fight alongside Tsubasa and the others, and she’s taking this as an out for her forced continous idol career. Also learned more about how Carol does alchemy, how her doll underlings and the Alcanoise are made from it, and why her clone homuculus Elfnein defected from her - Carol seeks to complete some sort of super weapon to destroy the world! Hibiki is starting to get on my nerves in this series with her sudden “I don’t want to use these cool powers and arsenal to fight anyone anymore!” pacifism, but at least the episode gave me ever more Kirika and Shirabe goodness to offset this. Anything else? ...Oh. Oh yeah. The beef stroganoff song. What. even. WAS THAT?

Eureka Seven - Cracks are already beginning to show in Renton’s new life with Gekko State. He’s made to do chores he’s not used to doing, no one takes him that seriously, Holland ignores him, Talho is a busybody towards him, and he’s not even informed when he has to carry a box with a smuggled human organ! To be fair, he brings much of it on himself at this point in time and having absurd notions like that the little kids Eureka looks after might be her actual biological children does him no favors. Matthieu proves to be a really nice guy and I’m glad to have him, though Kirk Thornton voicing a black guy is something unthinkable in this day and age, so it’s a nice sort of time capsule effect. On the sidelines, the united federation council decide they’ll grant Dewey Novak freedom from prison and get him back in a position of leadership within the military. Real solid idea there, guys!

Gintama - Something about Shinpachi’s estranged childhood friend showing up as a member of a bike gang only he’s still just as bullied as he used to be, Odd Jobs fighting with the bike gang, and a big wacky race against the gang leader where it all came down to him VS Shinpachi, and Otae was also there being funny and awesome as always. Another silly episode but one that works surprisingly well as character development for Shinpachi too. Gintama can do both!

#Anime Update V2 #Anime Update